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.
Showing posts with label house move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house move. Show all posts
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Calm before the Storm
Apart from a few odds & sods (collapsing bed & cot, taking legs off sofa, wrapping TV, emptying last remnants from fridge etc) I think we're almost there.
To be honest I thought I would feel more sad at leaving our house of nearly 7 years (our first) and moving away from Ipswich where we've lived for nearly 8 years now. I don't know whether its because of the trauma of moving but it hasn't given me chance to stop and think about the things I'm going to miss. Since having Z I gotten so fed up of stuff everywhere that at this stage its almost a relief to be moving.
What will be nice is that we can come back for holidays to Suffolk. There are some lovely places along the Suffolk coast but never far enough away to justify holidaying there when you live so close by.
The coming week is likely to be mental...not least all the unpacking and getting new furniture to put on the unpacking on/in. We've tried really hard to sort stuff as we've gone along and loads has gone to the tip or to charity, but I fear we're still going to have too much stuff for the new house. I sense a really serious cull is in order even if it means getting rid of some boardgames! We found an old copy of Atmosfear in the loft yesterday and part of me wants to add it to my collection on BGG but then another more sensible part says that since the video player is in storage why am I keeping a game that relies on a video to play? I think its time to be brutal (and of course brutality means I can justify buying new games to replace it! Ones that we'll actually play!)
To be honest I thought I would feel more sad at leaving our house of nearly 7 years (our first) and moving away from Ipswich where we've lived for nearly 8 years now. I don't know whether its because of the trauma of moving but it hasn't given me chance to stop and think about the things I'm going to miss. Since having Z I gotten so fed up of stuff everywhere that at this stage its almost a relief to be moving.
What will be nice is that we can come back for holidays to Suffolk. There are some lovely places along the Suffolk coast but never far enough away to justify holidaying there when you live so close by.
The coming week is likely to be mental...not least all the unpacking and getting new furniture to put on the unpacking on/in. We've tried really hard to sort stuff as we've gone along and loads has gone to the tip or to charity, but I fear we're still going to have too much stuff for the new house. I sense a really serious cull is in order even if it means getting rid of some boardgames! We found an old copy of Atmosfear in the loft yesterday and part of me wants to add it to my collection on BGG but then another more sensible part says that since the video player is in storage why am I keeping a game that relies on a video to play? I think its time to be brutal (and of course brutality means I can justify buying new games to replace it! Ones that we'll actually play!)
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sunday Update
Not sure why I'm updating so early on a Sunday morning but I've just had a terrifying dream about G&S committee members, fried food and being scared of pub toilets. The alternative is to top and tail Z but the unexpected 30 minutes of extra deep sleep have caused me to be vague and unable to function properly at the moment.
House things proceed apace, the Long Eaton survey is being done on Tuesday, the mortgage is agreed pending the Tuesday valuation and we're getting an electrical safety certificate done next Monday. Its then down to when the sellers want to move and how quick our solicitor gets his act together. Sadly K and I have already worked out in our heads what new furniture we need to buy and where its going to go as well as deciding where all our existing furniture is going as well!
The Olympics started on Friday with a frankly spectacular opening ceremony (although I still have got 3 hours of it taped to watch) which (according to the BBC) had 10,000 performers, as well as 2,008 drummers, had been in the planning since 2001, rehearsed for more than a year and cost somewhere in the region of £20 billion!!! I just know we're going to have Chas n Dave and some Morris dancers in 2012 and we'll be the laughing stock of the planet! That aside I do like the Olympics. I'm not a keen sportsman but when it is an Olympic event it is infused with something that makes me want to watch. The fact that I can choose what to watch thanks to the magic of digital makes it even better! Despite the unwanted politics the Olympics is such a symbol of hope and community and comradeship that makes it so compelling to me.
After the great Friday apple sauce debacle Z has managed to have his first meal of baby rice! Hopefully better sleeping beckons, although judging by last night I'm not sure we should hold out for a miracle!
House things proceed apace, the Long Eaton survey is being done on Tuesday, the mortgage is agreed pending the Tuesday valuation and we're getting an electrical safety certificate done next Monday. Its then down to when the sellers want to move and how quick our solicitor gets his act together. Sadly K and I have already worked out in our heads what new furniture we need to buy and where its going to go as well as deciding where all our existing furniture is going as well!
The Olympics started on Friday with a frankly spectacular opening ceremony (although I still have got 3 hours of it taped to watch) which (according to the BBC) had 10,000 performers, as well as 2,008 drummers, had been in the planning since 2001, rehearsed for more than a year and cost somewhere in the region of £20 billion!!! I just know we're going to have Chas n Dave and some Morris dancers in 2012 and we'll be the laughing stock of the planet! That aside I do like the Olympics. I'm not a keen sportsman but when it is an Olympic event it is infused with something that makes me want to watch. The fact that I can choose what to watch thanks to the magic of digital makes it even better! Despite the unwanted politics the Olympics is such a symbol of hope and community and comradeship that makes it so compelling to me.
After the great Friday apple sauce debacle Z has managed to have his first meal of baby rice! Hopefully better sleeping beckons, although judging by last night I'm not sure we should hold out for a miracle!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
June - Update
1. If we get an offer on the house, should I lower the offer we're making for the house we want in Long Eaton since the average house price has fallen 5% in the last 2 months. But what if they then accept someone else's offer!
Apparently the buyers found other houses that were "better value". After a long talk we've decided to be bold and stop taking baby steps with our price. As of now its on for "Offers in excess of £105,000". Apparently this does what it says on the tin and we should expect offers in excess of this amount. This helps us stand out from the crowd of of £110,000 houses and hopefully encourage more viewings. We'll almost definitely have to put in a lower offer on the Long Eaton house should we get any offers at the new price. But the maths still seems to work and First Direct should be able to lend us what we need without too much of a hike on the mortgage repayments (although extending the term back to 25 years would help with this).
2. D&D 4th edition. This looks great and I'm tempted to buy the rule books even though I have no-one to play with! Listening to a podcast over at Penny Arcade/D&D website and the new rules sound fantastic. Am wondering if I could get a group going when we move back to the Midlands...I wonder if K will want to play?
Had a read through of this in Waterstone's today. Looks good but trying to stick to my limited spending so this will have to wait until I get my bonus.
3. Cradle Cap. I shouldn't be allowed to hold a sleeping baby who has cradle cap...too tempting to pick until I've picked it too much. Fortunately the Nurse Prac. at the surgery wasn't too worried and just gave K some Coconut Oil so we're giving that a whirl.
Ok so perhaps the coconut oil has worked too well. We washed his hair this morning and I poked at a bit and it literally peeled off!
My poor patchy headed son, what have we (well mostly me) done to you?!
I also broke my no spending rule and bought some books in a 3 for 2 offer. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs, Death Message by Mark Billingham and Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman.
Hmm can I be arsed to make a Battenburg (complete with homemade marzipan) this afternoon?
Apparently the buyers found other houses that were "better value". After a long talk we've decided to be bold and stop taking baby steps with our price. As of now its on for "Offers in excess of £105,000". Apparently this does what it says on the tin and we should expect offers in excess of this amount. This helps us stand out from the crowd of of £110,000 houses and hopefully encourage more viewings. We'll almost definitely have to put in a lower offer on the Long Eaton house should we get any offers at the new price. But the maths still seems to work and First Direct should be able to lend us what we need without too much of a hike on the mortgage repayments (although extending the term back to 25 years would help with this).
2. D&D 4th edition. This looks great and I'm tempted to buy the rule books even though I have no-one to play with! Listening to a podcast over at Penny Arcade/D&D website and the new rules sound fantastic. Am wondering if I could get a group going when we move back to the Midlands...I wonder if K will want to play?
Had a read through of this in Waterstone's today. Looks good but trying to stick to my limited spending so this will have to wait until I get my bonus.
3. Cradle Cap. I shouldn't be allowed to hold a sleeping baby who has cradle cap...too tempting to pick until I've picked it too much. Fortunately the Nurse Prac. at the surgery wasn't too worried and just gave K some Coconut Oil so we're giving that a whirl.
Ok so perhaps the coconut oil has worked too well. We washed his hair this morning and I poked at a bit and it literally peeled off!
My poor patchy headed son, what have we (well mostly me) done to you?!
I also broke my no spending rule and bought some books in a 3 for 2 offer. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs, Death Message by Mark Billingham and Fabric of Sin by Phil Rickman.
Hmm can I be arsed to make a Battenburg (complete with homemade marzipan) this afternoon?
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Here we go
I'm gearing up for quite a long stressful weekend. We've got Mum and Dad coming the day after tomorrow to help pack away most of my life into boxes to help with selling teh house.
I do see this as a good idea but part of what I like about the house is all our things that remind me of good times and people we know. The kitchen looks a bit sterile and I think the front room is going to look odd without the coffee table. Hopefully though, the new pictures will entice people to come and view and hopefully buy!
I can't quite believe its been a week since I posted though. And I've fallen off the WiiFit wagon big stylee and just when I was starting to lose weight as well. Monday I had to do the shopping, Tuesday I'd been in the car 2 hours (lets not even talk about my nightmare trip TO Watford...lets just say if I'd had an empty bottle I'd have used it), Wednesday I gave blood (and got the biggest bruise for my troubles) and tonight I just can't be arsed. Once the coffee table is gone and we've got more space it'll be easier.
I do see this as a good idea but part of what I like about the house is all our things that remind me of good times and people we know. The kitchen looks a bit sterile and I think the front room is going to look odd without the coffee table. Hopefully though, the new pictures will entice people to come and view and hopefully buy!
I can't quite believe its been a week since I posted though. And I've fallen off the WiiFit wagon big stylee and just when I was starting to lose weight as well. Monday I had to do the shopping, Tuesday I'd been in the car 2 hours (lets not even talk about my nightmare trip TO Watford...lets just say if I'd had an empty bottle I'd have used it), Wednesday I gave blood (and got the biggest bruise for my troubles) and tonight I just can't be arsed. Once the coffee table is gone and we've got more space it'll be easier.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
I knew housemoving was going to be stressful but I hadn't counted on the insomnia setting in this early!
From K's blog you may see that we've put an offer in on our Midlands house (which has been accepted) but because we haven't sold ours yet they are still taking viewings. I'm now paranoid someone else is going to view it and fall it love with it like we have!
We've had one viewing so far and still not heard any feedback. At this point I'm thinking about raiding the piggy bank to see what we can do to speed it along. I think ultimately its going to come down to price but a tiny part of me worries that no-one will want to buy our house at any price!
Anyone out there want to buy a lovely 3 bed mid terrace conveniently located to the centre of Ipswich?
P.S. Z has been asleep for nearly 4 hours now! (And yes he is still breathing!)
From K's blog you may see that we've put an offer in on our Midlands house (which has been accepted) but because we haven't sold ours yet they are still taking viewings. I'm now paranoid someone else is going to view it and fall it love with it like we have!
We've had one viewing so far and still not heard any feedback. At this point I'm thinking about raiding the piggy bank to see what we can do to speed it along. I think ultimately its going to come down to price but a tiny part of me worries that no-one will want to buy our house at any price!
Anyone out there want to buy a lovely 3 bed mid terrace conveniently located to the centre of Ipswich?
P.S. Z has been asleep for nearly 4 hours now! (And yes he is still breathing!)
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Z's big Midlands Adventure!
If its not been clear so far with my posts having a baby is a life changing experience! I spent some time away this week (as detailed in K's blog but I'm not sure I like being referred to as a cat or my family as mice!) and it was strange. On the one hand I missed them both a lot but also I liked not having to think about anyone but myself (how selfish!) and then the guilt at liking not having to think about anyone else!
I practically flew home from Fleet after my meeting...it only took 2 hours 10 minutes!!! It must be a record! (Well for me anyway!)
The last couple of days can only be considered a success. Z was a bit of a pain trying to go to sleep last night at Mum's (we reckon unfamiliar surroundings and a very hot living room) but managed to sleep for 4 and a half hours straight (another new record!) and then slept for 5 hours in the day! (Will wonders never cease!?!?)
We did manage to see a number of houses...
Great garden, noisy road, smelly and a potential road widening of the M1 that might cause future prices to plummet.
Tiny kitchen, 1 room pretending to be 2 on the particulars, lovely upstairs decor, throat closing combination of cat hair and air freshener.
Nice village, on A6, no parking at all, wet dog, no bathroom, dirty, smelly, under East Midlands flight path, rooms much smaller in the flesh.
Very helpful agent, last minute viewing, lovely interior, noisy road, second viewing with mum in tow, smallish kitchen, flexible options for living, would make an offer if not for...
Nice family, kitchen to die for, smallish outdoor space, no off road parking, big rooms, 2 toilets, good location, underfloor heating in bathroom, offer being made by us on Monday!
I practically flew home from Fleet after my meeting...it only took 2 hours 10 minutes!!! It must be a record! (Well for me anyway!)
The last couple of days can only be considered a success. Z was a bit of a pain trying to go to sleep last night at Mum's (we reckon unfamiliar surroundings and a very hot living room) but managed to sleep for 4 and a half hours straight (another new record!) and then slept for 5 hours in the day! (Will wonders never cease!?!?)
We did manage to see a number of houses...
Great garden, noisy road, smelly and a potential road widening of the M1 that might cause future prices to plummet.
Tiny kitchen, 1 room pretending to be 2 on the particulars, lovely upstairs decor, throat closing combination of cat hair and air freshener.
Nice village, on A6, no parking at all, wet dog, no bathroom, dirty, smelly, under East Midlands flight path, rooms much smaller in the flesh.
Very helpful agent, last minute viewing, lovely interior, noisy road, second viewing with mum in tow, smallish kitchen, flexible options for living, would make an offer if not for...
Nice family, kitchen to die for, smallish outdoor space, no off road parking, big rooms, 2 toilets, good location, underfloor heating in bathroom, offer being made by us on Monday!
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