Sunday, October 19, 2008

Christmas

Its only October and my mind is already thinking about Christmas and gifts and stuff. I've made a decision that I don't want to get a load of useless 'stuff' this year as the house looks lovely and spacious and I want it to stay that way!

To that end I'm asking my parents to give me money thsi year so that I can club it all together and buy myself a fancy ice-cream maker! Then K will be able to buy me some knickerbocker glory glasses/sundae bowls and help with her gift buying troubles.

The next stage involves convincing my friends that gift giving should now be restricted to birthdays only. Not sure what kind of reception I'll get but it should save people a load of money (which is in short supply this year) and reduce the amount of 'stuff' to integrate into the house when its over.

The only problem I have now is what to get K. There will be no repeat of last year's extravagant laptop giving (no need it still works) and my usual standby of a Radley handbag won't work either as she hasn't used a handbag for months. I've got a couple of ideas but nothing too exciting at the moment. Perhaps I need to start to think of a custom gift?

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Post Storm Update pt 2

I've made the obvious mistake of leaving this update far too long as I can now barely remember what happened in the week after we moved. Random thoughts (and in no particular order).

* I surprised myself (and K) at how calm I remained in IKEA when we spent 3 hours (and a significant portion of cash) trying to find appropriate furniture for the house. Z sucking the face off his own reflection in a wardrobe helped keep the mood light (and thanks to Krista & Chris for keeping Z amused for so long!)

* I love my new kitchen and the baking mojo has returned! The ice-cream maker is providing a continuous supply of fattening treats and K is doing loads of great cooking too.

* We have space enough so that nothing is hidden away in boxes and all our books and things are on display.

* Having Mum & Dad so close hasn't been terrible (although they were away for 2 weeks so that probably helped a bit!) and apart from wanting to stab Dad with a screwdriver when he was helping us unpack we haven't had any fallings out.

* Its great to have my brother so close (but not so great when he gets rushed into hospital!) and having him discover a joy for cooking.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Post Storm Update pt 1

The storm has passed and we're now all settled, so I thought it time for an update.

Moving day was nearly 3 weeks ago and actually went much better than expected! Having got up at 5.30am to prepare for the movers at 7 was only slightly annoyed that they turned up at a quarter to 8. Was also slightly alarmed to see that there was only 2 of them but after on;y 2 hours of cheerful carrying they were fully loaded and ready to go! Amazing! We fannied about a bit (hoovering, returning keys, forgetting to take meter readings) and then set off on convoy for The Midlands.

I had expected the lorry to crawl up the M1 so was slightly perturbed when I got a phone call from my mother (collector of keys and meeter of men) to said that they had arrived and had started to unpack! We were still at Cambridge services feeding Zachary sweet potato!

Finally reached Long Eaton in good time to watch them empty the last few boxes into the correct rooms and wave us goodbye. Had to prevent my dad from giving them money (I'm a grown up and had already taken care of that) but I can heartily recommend having movers, however much they cost!

The house itself was only a little like I remembered it! Much bigger and scruffier (its amazing what you can hide behind nice furniture and vases) than I remember but felt like home almost straight away!