Yeeee!! So excited!! We are no longer homeless!!
We were very excited yesterday to phone the seller of our new home and advise him that the funds transfer was complete and we were coming to collect Cara that afternoon. We took him a little by surprise as we were a couple of days earlier than we had expected the pick up to be and had to wait when we all arrived for him to empty out his belongings.
However about an hour later we were driving away with our "house" having had instruction on all the ins and outs and how to's.
Cara is a 2006 Coromal Lifestyle 600. She has triple bunks for the kids, a queen sized bed for us, stove top, grill, rangehood, microwave, large fridge, hot water to the kitchen, r/c air conditioning, built in stereo cd player, loads of storage space, comfy lounge and dining table. She is a lovely pale timber veneer colour with navy trim and pale blue curtains. Cara also has a large roll out awning and full annexe. Lots of space for a family of five.
The kids were very excited to get Cara back to Grandma and Pa's. They had to check out all the cupboards and hidey holes. There was the expected debate over whose bunk was whose, and the demands for the beds to be made IMMEDIATELY so they could be tested out that night. So make the beds we did, and we all slept our first night in Cara in the driveway.
Today was "moving in" day. We did a trip up to our storage container to retrieve all the belongings we thought we would need. A trailer full. Add that to the trailer full that we had already taken to Grandma and Pa's and we were starting to wonder just how we would manage to fit everything in! We unanimously agreed that all the external stuff would be hubby's domain and all the inside stuff would be mine. Much like a real house in which I take care of kitchen and bedrooms and hubby takes care of the shed and yard. We just have a much smaller "shed" now (in fact it is so small that the tool box wont fit in!), and our yard is the size of Australia (lucky he doesn't have to mow that!). I spent the day pottering about, deciding what would go where, and trying to jam all our clothes into a very, very small space. In fact I think the sum total of the wardrobe space in Cara is still smaller than my personal wardrobe space in our old house. For a person who has somewhat of a clothes fetish this is quite alarming, and has been the cause of several minor panic attacks in the past few months. Anyway, Cara is now loaded, the kids are super happy that they have their own bedding (and just quietly, given the son of a gun job it was to make the beds, I may not change the sheets again until we stop travelling!!). Everything is in, I know where it all is, now it's time to start using it.
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Friday 17 May 2013
It's the very last night.....
So, tonight is the last night in our house. We move everything out tomorrow. Earlier today I made a comment that I was not at all sad or sentimental about moving tomorrow. This evening I'm not so sure.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a whole new life. Everything about our lives is going to change, and life will become like nothing we have known before. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about it I could bust, but I suppose it would be strange if I didn't have some kind of less than excited feelings about leaving the place we have called home for over six years.
Six or seven years seems to be a catalyst point for R and I. We seem to make lots of big changes at about that interval. We had been in the Riverland for six or seven years when we decided to move back to Adelaide, we had our first child six years after becoming a couple and now we have been in Adelaide for a bit over six years and we are moving along again. I wonder then, will we travel for six or so years before we settle down again? Or will we find somewhere to stop and leave there again in another six years? Or could there be some other big event in six years? Time will tell I suppose.
Hmm, how life has changed since we first moved to Elizabeth Street. We were so full of excitement when we bought this house. We had two children and didn't think at that stage that we would be having any more, we were the text book family. We had been looking for a house for a few months by the time we found this one. We were smitten by it as soon as we saw it too. I remember coming for our inspection. Toby took off out the back door and spent the whole time we were here running up and down the driveway. We just loved it. It was perfect. Beautiful house, huge yard, huge verandah, lovely quiet cul-de-sac. What wasn't to love? We had decided within 5 minutes of leaving that we wanted this house and rang the real estate agent straight back. So, within 3 days of having gone on the market, the house was sold and it was ours. We were certain that this would be our long term home, our family home, the place our kids would grow up and always consider home. The place to put our roots down.
We have seen several other neighbours come and go from the street, but have been very lucky that, with the exception of one lot of tenants in the neighbours house who had a rather limited but always very loud and colourful vocabulary, all have been lovely. We have made some fantastic friends here and will remember our time in the street with smiles. Especially when reminiscing about christmas street parties and the friendly competition and banter around the light displays.
We made some changes to our house, but nothing major, window furnishings here, air conditioner there. The biggest change was probably to the front garden. We ripped out the existing garden with grand plans for the new one. However changing our minds several times delayed the process, as did a shortage of funds, and we are very grateful to our neighbours for putting up with our bare, dusty or muddy (weather dependant) dirt front yard for well over 12 months. Isn't it a shame though, that so often we only get our homes the way we always wanted them in time to sell them? Well, we do anyway. We had been saying for six years that we would paint throughout, but only did so when we decided to sell. We lived with an un-working dishwasher for several years, but replaced it with a working one so we could sell.
Well, life changes, circumstances change, and while there will be a tinge of sadness that life here didn't end up the way we had planned, we are very ready to leave and move along and we wont be looking back.
B
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a whole new life. Everything about our lives is going to change, and life will become like nothing we have known before. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited about it I could bust, but I suppose it would be strange if I didn't have some kind of less than excited feelings about leaving the place we have called home for over six years.
Six or seven years seems to be a catalyst point for R and I. We seem to make lots of big changes at about that interval. We had been in the Riverland for six or seven years when we decided to move back to Adelaide, we had our first child six years after becoming a couple and now we have been in Adelaide for a bit over six years and we are moving along again. I wonder then, will we travel for six or so years before we settle down again? Or will we find somewhere to stop and leave there again in another six years? Or could there be some other big event in six years? Time will tell I suppose.
Hmm, how life has changed since we first moved to Elizabeth Street. We were so full of excitement when we bought this house. We had two children and didn't think at that stage that we would be having any more, we were the text book family. We had been looking for a house for a few months by the time we found this one. We were smitten by it as soon as we saw it too. I remember coming for our inspection. Toby took off out the back door and spent the whole time we were here running up and down the driveway. We just loved it. It was perfect. Beautiful house, huge yard, huge verandah, lovely quiet cul-de-sac. What wasn't to love? We had decided within 5 minutes of leaving that we wanted this house and rang the real estate agent straight back. So, within 3 days of having gone on the market, the house was sold and it was ours. We were certain that this would be our long term home, our family home, the place our kids would grow up and always consider home. The place to put our roots down.
We have seen several other neighbours come and go from the street, but have been very lucky that, with the exception of one lot of tenants in the neighbours house who had a rather limited but always very loud and colourful vocabulary, all have been lovely. We have made some fantastic friends here and will remember our time in the street with smiles. Especially when reminiscing about christmas street parties and the friendly competition and banter around the light displays.
We made some changes to our house, but nothing major, window furnishings here, air conditioner there. The biggest change was probably to the front garden. We ripped out the existing garden with grand plans for the new one. However changing our minds several times delayed the process, as did a shortage of funds, and we are very grateful to our neighbours for putting up with our bare, dusty or muddy (weather dependant) dirt front yard for well over 12 months. Isn't it a shame though, that so often we only get our homes the way we always wanted them in time to sell them? Well, we do anyway. We had been saying for six years that we would paint throughout, but only did so when we decided to sell. We lived with an un-working dishwasher for several years, but replaced it with a working one so we could sell.
Well, life changes, circumstances change, and while there will be a tinge of sadness that life here didn't end up the way we had planned, we are very ready to leave and move along and we wont be looking back.
B
Wednesday 15 May 2013
By Toby
I cant wait in till we go.I really want to see snakes crocodiles and many more animals.The place i really want to go to is Tasmania so i can see snow.The place we are going to first is my aunties house in geelong. I am going surfing with my cousin Mitchell. We are sleeping in John the caravan, i get the top bunk. We are tacking my lego so i can make the sydney harber briege.
Tuesday 14 May 2013
By Erin
I'm excited about our holiday because I am going to Tasmania. and i'm going to the snow. i'm going to bild a snowman. and i'm going to put a carrot on it. i'm going to sea world and i'm going to the waterslide. i'm going to go really fast on the slide. i'm sleping on the floor now because mum pakd my stuf up. we are mooving to grandma and pa's house.
Monday 13 May 2013
It's the final countdown..... (dah na na naah, na na naah na na)
Wow! What a crazy few weeks it has been. I have barely had time to scratch the proverbial, let alone write a blog entry.
Quick update......
It is 28 sleeps until we drive out!!!
We put the house on the market and sold after our first inspection. Thank goodness because I don't know if I would have kept it together if I had to keep the house immaculately spotless like that for much longer!! Cleaning bathrooms and toilets three times a week is just ridiculous!! We actually knocked back our first offer on the house, but then on the advice of our fantastic agent we agreed to their amended offer the next day. And thank goodness we did as while there has been several enquiries since, there has been no solid interest which may have generated an offer. This Wednesday is the finance cut off date for the purchasers and according to the last communication from our agent everything there is on track so we should have a sold sticker on our sign by the end of the week. :-)
So after reaching the end of the cooling off period R has, much to his delight, given his notice at work and as at tonight he has 14 trips up and down the hill to complete and then he can wave goodbye for good!! (Not that he is counting at all!!) R's work have been very generous to us though. R negotiated the purchase of our 40 foot shipping container through his big boss, and he has agreed to us being invoiced for it, so as to allow us to have it before the settlement date enabling us to actually move out of the house. He has also arranged for the yard staff to transport the container up from Adelaide during the week, and has allowed R to use the truck on the weekend to deliver it to our house (and gee, doesn't it look pretty sitting out the front of our house!), pick it up and return it to the yard and finally store it in the yard for as long as we need at absolutely no cost. We are very thankful, and think that it really does go to show that the old proverb of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" really does ring true. Finally R is getting some very handy and helpful recognition for all his hard work and for all the times he has gone the extra mile to help out the boss.
Since my last post we have also put down a deposit on our new house - the one with wheels. After spending countless hours scouring the internet for a suitable house we spent a day dragging three very reluctant, restless and bored children from one caravan yard to another and from one private home to another looking at possible contenders. As we expected, trying to keep children off the beds in caravans is near impossible, especially when your attention is elsewhere. The last caravan we looked at was the one that I had been eyeing off for some time on the internet. It seemed to be exactly what we were looking for, and true to form, it absolutely was!! I was so excited but didn't want to jump up and down like a school kid (or like one of my kids) infront of the current owner. We spent quite some time with the owner talking about all the pros and cons, talking about travel experiences, and tow cars. Finally we thanked him for his time and said we would get back to him. We hadn't even gotten all the way out of the driveway before R and I decided that this was definitely the van we wanted and we weren't even going to negotiate on the price. We stopped the owner in the middle of the street and said we wanted it. We had already discussed that we would not be able to pay for and collect the van until after our house settlement and he was fine with that so we paid him a reasonable deposit and left saying see you after the 24th.
Later that night, while looking at photos of our new house, I decided that it would most definitely need a name. I decided on a name and announced it to R who just smiled and shook his head at me. Anyone would think he thinks I am silly........
Cara it is!!
Cara van -Dyck!!
I thought it was very fitting and very clever, and thus it is the reason for the new name to this blog.
So, what else? What else have we been doing??? More like, what haven't we been doing?? I have now taken out memberships in SA Ambulance, RAA, Big 4, Top Tourist, and Family Parks. I have bought our copies of Camps 7 (the free campers bible) and its companion book Caravan Parks Australia. I have lodged the kids school exemption forms and have given C's notice to daycare. I have made and attended doctor and dentist check up appointments for several of us. I have a print out calendar of may and june and I don't think there is a day between now and the time we leave that doesn't have something on. I have written list upon list upon list of things to do, things to buy, things to pack, and even some lists of things I have to write lists for. I know I like to be an organised kind of person but surely that is getting just a little crazy??
Last Saturday Erin very bravely came with me to take our cats to their new furever home. I was ok with taking them, but poor Erin was a bit upset as I was expecting. Thankfully their new home is on a property so Erin was distracted from being upset by the offer of feeding the hundred or so goats there. I did, however, get a little upset on Sunday when I realised that this was the first time since I was four years old that I have not had a pet in the house. :-(
I have also packed box, upon box, upon box of household stuff that will be going into storage. Poor R is going crazy. I have packed up most of the kitchen with the exception of the things that will be going in to Cara and have stacked it all into one cupboard of the kitchen, needless to say he can't find anything he wants and keeps opening empty cupboards looking for it. Hehehehehe. I am getting quite a giggle out of watching that. LOL. The kids are now sleeping on matresses on the floor. Their beds have been dismantled ready for packing. They have their one tub of toys and one tub of clothes. Everything else has been taken out of their bedrooms except for the empty furniture. Thankfully, they think that sleeping on the floor is kinda cool and somewhat of a novelty.
So, between now and drive out day we have more appointments, car services, moving house, bon voyage parties, family dinners, school excursions, caravan collections, school, day care, work, and crying over the fact that my coffee machine has to stay in storage and wait for me to come back. Enough to keep us busy!!
Until next time........
Quick update......
It is 28 sleeps until we drive out!!!
We put the house on the market and sold after our first inspection. Thank goodness because I don't know if I would have kept it together if I had to keep the house immaculately spotless like that for much longer!! Cleaning bathrooms and toilets three times a week is just ridiculous!! We actually knocked back our first offer on the house, but then on the advice of our fantastic agent we agreed to their amended offer the next day. And thank goodness we did as while there has been several enquiries since, there has been no solid interest which may have generated an offer. This Wednesday is the finance cut off date for the purchasers and according to the last communication from our agent everything there is on track so we should have a sold sticker on our sign by the end of the week. :-)
So after reaching the end of the cooling off period R has, much to his delight, given his notice at work and as at tonight he has 14 trips up and down the hill to complete and then he can wave goodbye for good!! (Not that he is counting at all!!) R's work have been very generous to us though. R negotiated the purchase of our 40 foot shipping container through his big boss, and he has agreed to us being invoiced for it, so as to allow us to have it before the settlement date enabling us to actually move out of the house. He has also arranged for the yard staff to transport the container up from Adelaide during the week, and has allowed R to use the truck on the weekend to deliver it to our house (and gee, doesn't it look pretty sitting out the front of our house!), pick it up and return it to the yard and finally store it in the yard for as long as we need at absolutely no cost. We are very thankful, and think that it really does go to show that the old proverb of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" really does ring true. Finally R is getting some very handy and helpful recognition for all his hard work and for all the times he has gone the extra mile to help out the boss.
Since my last post we have also put down a deposit on our new house - the one with wheels. After spending countless hours scouring the internet for a suitable house we spent a day dragging three very reluctant, restless and bored children from one caravan yard to another and from one private home to another looking at possible contenders. As we expected, trying to keep children off the beds in caravans is near impossible, especially when your attention is elsewhere. The last caravan we looked at was the one that I had been eyeing off for some time on the internet. It seemed to be exactly what we were looking for, and true to form, it absolutely was!! I was so excited but didn't want to jump up and down like a school kid (or like one of my kids) infront of the current owner. We spent quite some time with the owner talking about all the pros and cons, talking about travel experiences, and tow cars. Finally we thanked him for his time and said we would get back to him. We hadn't even gotten all the way out of the driveway before R and I decided that this was definitely the van we wanted and we weren't even going to negotiate on the price. We stopped the owner in the middle of the street and said we wanted it. We had already discussed that we would not be able to pay for and collect the van until after our house settlement and he was fine with that so we paid him a reasonable deposit and left saying see you after the 24th.
Later that night, while looking at photos of our new house, I decided that it would most definitely need a name. I decided on a name and announced it to R who just smiled and shook his head at me. Anyone would think he thinks I am silly........
Cara it is!!
Cara van -Dyck!!
I thought it was very fitting and very clever, and thus it is the reason for the new name to this blog.
So, what else? What else have we been doing??? More like, what haven't we been doing?? I have now taken out memberships in SA Ambulance, RAA, Big 4, Top Tourist, and Family Parks. I have bought our copies of Camps 7 (the free campers bible) and its companion book Caravan Parks Australia. I have lodged the kids school exemption forms and have given C's notice to daycare. I have made and attended doctor and dentist check up appointments for several of us. I have a print out calendar of may and june and I don't think there is a day between now and the time we leave that doesn't have something on. I have written list upon list upon list of things to do, things to buy, things to pack, and even some lists of things I have to write lists for. I know I like to be an organised kind of person but surely that is getting just a little crazy??
Last Saturday Erin very bravely came with me to take our cats to their new furever home. I was ok with taking them, but poor Erin was a bit upset as I was expecting. Thankfully their new home is on a property so Erin was distracted from being upset by the offer of feeding the hundred or so goats there. I did, however, get a little upset on Sunday when I realised that this was the first time since I was four years old that I have not had a pet in the house. :-(
I have also packed box, upon box, upon box of household stuff that will be going into storage. Poor R is going crazy. I have packed up most of the kitchen with the exception of the things that will be going in to Cara and have stacked it all into one cupboard of the kitchen, needless to say he can't find anything he wants and keeps opening empty cupboards looking for it. Hehehehehe. I am getting quite a giggle out of watching that. LOL. The kids are now sleeping on matresses on the floor. Their beds have been dismantled ready for packing. They have their one tub of toys and one tub of clothes. Everything else has been taken out of their bedrooms except for the empty furniture. Thankfully, they think that sleeping on the floor is kinda cool and somewhat of a novelty.
So, between now and drive out day we have more appointments, car services, moving house, bon voyage parties, family dinners, school excursions, caravan collections, school, day care, work, and crying over the fact that my coffee machine has to stay in storage and wait for me to come back. Enough to keep us busy!!
Until next time........
Saturday 4 May 2013
Houston - We are go for launch.
Launch of our marketing campaign that is. Yep, we are now all signed up with our agent. Dotted the i's, crossed the t's and our house is officially for sale.
Wow, when I think back over the last 6 frantic weeks this is quite an achievement. Let me see, since we made the decision that we were going to sell back on February 24th 2013 we have:
It has to be worth it though. Our agent was absolutely gob-smacked when she walked back in to see the final product last week. She couldn't believe how much we had done and achieved in such a short time. And thankfully our marketing price reflects this.
All of these changes have got me to thinking though.......
We have finally gotten the house looking exactly as we had always dreamed of it. It's painted, it's clean and tidy, the gardens are finished. You would expect that at this point we would be having doubts about wanting to sell it, but for me at least it's the complete opposite. I can't wait to leave now. Not only because of the adventure that awaits, but because now it just doesn't feel like MY home anymore. It certainly isn't Vogue material, but it is a lot closer than it was 6 weeks ago, and it's just not right. I was happy and comfortable in my home before, now I'm not. I can only hope that we have set it up for someone else to be just as happy as we had planned to be in it.
When we bought this house it was our plan not to move out until it was into a retirement village or a box. This was going to be our long term family home, and we stretched the budget to the max to do it. We had said that we wanted the roots down place to call home for our kids. Hmmm, funny how things change. I guess we have to accept that sometimes the universe has different plans for us.
I am a great believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason. I also believe that sometimes we know, sometimes we don't and sometimes we never will know why something happens in our lives but that we just have to trust and have faith in the universe that whatever it is, it is for a reason and it is for the betterment of ourselves in the long run.
And so, back to the house, the sales agency agreement is signed, the photographer has been and as of tomorrow we will be up on the internet. Fingers crossed that the universe has someone waiting to come and take advantage of all the hard work that we have put in over the last 6 weeks. We are ready to move on, ready for our next adventure, ready to explore the country, ready to dedicate ourselves and our time to our children, our marriage and our lives together. Bring it on!!
Houston - we are go for launch!!!!!
Wow, when I think back over the last 6 frantic weeks this is quite an achievement. Let me see, since we made the decision that we were going to sell back on February 24th 2013 we have:
- Painted the house top to bottom, inside and out (and a really huge, ginormous thankyou must go out to my Dad for his very much appreciated help on this front, and another one to my Mum for having the kids for several days so we could get this done without them underfoot).
- Re-carpeted the front lounge, E's bedroom, and laid new old carpet in C's room. (Big thanks to Jase for coming to do this in his own time and at no cost for us.)
- Had our room and C's room carpets steam cleaned. (Thanks to David from Earth Care Carpet Cleaning for fitting us into a cancelled timeslot the day after I phoned him to book.)
- Sourced and bought two dishwashers to replace the one we had (that surprise, surprise, wasn't working).
- Replaced a toilet seat (and wasn't that an experience, and not a good one, for me!)
- Replaced all bathroom cabinet handles
- Replaced all kitchen cupboard handles
- Replaced kitchen taps
- Replaced family room ceiling fan
- Cleaned every inch of the house, including window and door tracks, ceiling fans, windows, tile grout, light shades, extractor fans and even my son who got in the way of the cleaning cloth!!
- Packed about 20 boxes of stuff
- Moved furniture in and out of the house, in and out of rooms, round and round rooms about 6 times
- Had a garage sale
- Sold stuff on gumtree
- Cleaned, tidied, pruned, raked, mulched, cut and cleared the yard.
- Potted new indoor and outdoor plants
- Washed, brushed and tidied the verandah areas.
- Moved stuff from verandah to trailer to shed and back again about a million times.
- Rebuilt the chook house
- Filled a skip bin to overflowing
- Going to work
- Looking after three children
- Juggling the usual house stuff (washing, cooking, shopping etc)
- Trying not so successfully to get a bit of study squeezed in there (it's going to take a mammoth effort to get that caught up and completed before subject cut offs)
- Trying to sell the camper trailer (thus it has been erected and pulled down about 4 or 5 times and has been dragged around more than ever to leave it on display in various places.)
- And finally, dealing with the grief of losing our fur baby unexpectedly a few weeks ago.
It has to be worth it though. Our agent was absolutely gob-smacked when she walked back in to see the final product last week. She couldn't believe how much we had done and achieved in such a short time. And thankfully our marketing price reflects this.
All of these changes have got me to thinking though.......
We have finally gotten the house looking exactly as we had always dreamed of it. It's painted, it's clean and tidy, the gardens are finished. You would expect that at this point we would be having doubts about wanting to sell it, but for me at least it's the complete opposite. I can't wait to leave now. Not only because of the adventure that awaits, but because now it just doesn't feel like MY home anymore. It certainly isn't Vogue material, but it is a lot closer than it was 6 weeks ago, and it's just not right. I was happy and comfortable in my home before, now I'm not. I can only hope that we have set it up for someone else to be just as happy as we had planned to be in it.
When we bought this house it was our plan not to move out until it was into a retirement village or a box. This was going to be our long term family home, and we stretched the budget to the max to do it. We had said that we wanted the roots down place to call home for our kids. Hmmm, funny how things change. I guess we have to accept that sometimes the universe has different plans for us.
I am a great believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason. I also believe that sometimes we know, sometimes we don't and sometimes we never will know why something happens in our lives but that we just have to trust and have faith in the universe that whatever it is, it is for a reason and it is for the betterment of ourselves in the long run.
And so, back to the house, the sales agency agreement is signed, the photographer has been and as of tomorrow we will be up on the internet. Fingers crossed that the universe has someone waiting to come and take advantage of all the hard work that we have put in over the last 6 weeks. We are ready to move on, ready for our next adventure, ready to explore the country, ready to dedicate ourselves and our time to our children, our marriage and our lives together. Bring it on!!
Houston - we are go for launch!!!!!
De-cluttering really IS good for the soul......
Well, things are progressing along nicely. While we just want this all to hurry up and happen we are not in any kind of mad rush panic to make it happen next week. I have put my request out to the universe that we will have the house on the market in the next three weeks, will sell and settle quickly, that the van we want will still be for sale when we are ready to finally buy, and that we will be hitting the road in early June. That is the plan and I believe that it will happen that way for us. You have to believe if you want it to happen.
As far as preparations go, we have started on the house painting and hope to finish it over the easter break, in the mean time I have been making my way through the house one room at a time sorting, throwing, and packing in readiness for a mega garage sale this weekend.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! How much stuff can one family accumulate???? I took at least three full packing boxes out of my linen cupboard alone, stuff that I decided I don't need to keep anymore, and there is still heaps in there, it still looks full! R has always given me grief over the number of pillows I put on the bed when I make it ( for the record it's 6), but I think he would have just shaken his head at me if he saw how many pillow cases I had stashed away in the cupboard. Even I thought it was a ridiculous number!!
I have been taking at least a couple of boxes a day of stuff out of the house, stuff that I don't want to keep anymore, yet the house doesn't look any emptier. What's with that? I think we must have a house like Mary Poppins carpet bag, from the outside it looks like a normal house but on the inside it is magic and just keep expanding to take in more and more. It seems like the more stuff I take out, the more stuff appears from nowhere. I always thought I hadn't inherited my Dad's hoarding gene (just ask anyone about my Dad's shed!!)..... perhaps I was wrong after all.
I guess one really big upside to up-ending the house is the fact that we are managing to sell a lot of the accumulated stuff and the funds have been covering all costs of other house fixes and improvements like paint, a new dishwasher (kicking my self now though - if I had known I could get a working dishwasher for $50 I would have done it ages ago and saved myself all those dishes by hand. Grrr.), and a special treat - taking the kids to the circus last weekend. Why we didn't do a clear out and sale earlier so that we could enjoy the benefits of our hard work on the house ourselves I don't know. Seems to be a bit of a pattern we have developed over a couple of houses now. Live in it with patchy paint, broken appliances, no garden etc then fix them all so we can sell the house.
I suppose the other lesson we can take from this exercise is that it really is a good idea to clear out the old, the past, the un-needed from our lives and make room for bigger and better. It is good not only for the physical but the mental as well. De-cluttering is as beneficial for our souls as it is for our wallets!!
Right then, back to the biggest challenge of them all - E's bedroom!!!
As far as preparations go, we have started on the house painting and hope to finish it over the easter break, in the mean time I have been making my way through the house one room at a time sorting, throwing, and packing in readiness for a mega garage sale this weekend.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! How much stuff can one family accumulate???? I took at least three full packing boxes out of my linen cupboard alone, stuff that I decided I don't need to keep anymore, and there is still heaps in there, it still looks full! R has always given me grief over the number of pillows I put on the bed when I make it ( for the record it's 6), but I think he would have just shaken his head at me if he saw how many pillow cases I had stashed away in the cupboard. Even I thought it was a ridiculous number!!
I have been taking at least a couple of boxes a day of stuff out of the house, stuff that I don't want to keep anymore, yet the house doesn't look any emptier. What's with that? I think we must have a house like Mary Poppins carpet bag, from the outside it looks like a normal house but on the inside it is magic and just keep expanding to take in more and more. It seems like the more stuff I take out, the more stuff appears from nowhere. I always thought I hadn't inherited my Dad's hoarding gene (just ask anyone about my Dad's shed!!)..... perhaps I was wrong after all.
I guess one really big upside to up-ending the house is the fact that we are managing to sell a lot of the accumulated stuff and the funds have been covering all costs of other house fixes and improvements like paint, a new dishwasher (kicking my self now though - if I had known I could get a working dishwasher for $50 I would have done it ages ago and saved myself all those dishes by hand. Grrr.), and a special treat - taking the kids to the circus last weekend. Why we didn't do a clear out and sale earlier so that we could enjoy the benefits of our hard work on the house ourselves I don't know. Seems to be a bit of a pattern we have developed over a couple of houses now. Live in it with patchy paint, broken appliances, no garden etc then fix them all so we can sell the house.
I suppose the other lesson we can take from this exercise is that it really is a good idea to clear out the old, the past, the un-needed from our lives and make room for bigger and better. It is good not only for the physical but the mental as well. De-cluttering is as beneficial for our souls as it is for our wallets!!
Right then, back to the biggest challenge of them all - E's bedroom!!!
To ensuite or not to ensuite? That is the question....
Oh my giddy aunt (not you Sandie!!). There are sooooooo many vans to choose from. Different makes, different models, different floor plans, different accessories. How do you choose one, the right one??
I'm kind of stuck in between two completely different options at the moment. Going for the rather sizeable but more comfortable family sized van with an ensuite, decent kitchen, separate sleeping areas for us and the kids, lots of cupboards etc, or a more compact but way more versatile off road van.
I don't know what to dooooooooo.......................
Half of me says we are going away for quite a long time, this is going to be home so make it comfortable. After all who really wants to have to squat behind a tree to pee every day for weeks on end, or have to wash in a bucket night after night. I need lots of storage to carry all those "things" we will need, and I don't want to have to drop tables down to make beds every night.
Buuuuuuuuuut, the other half is saying there is a lot of stuff we want to see and do which requires travelling "off the beaten track" and therefore a 27' monster is just not going to cut it. In which case a much hardier, well built, but much smaller van is a better option. Just think of all those extra places we can get to and stay at if we can drag our house with us off the road.
Oh, what to do, what to do!!!
Which ever way we go I will insist on having fridge, microwave, gas cooker and hot water in the kitchen. Air con is absolutely non-negotiable!! (We are going north, it's humid up north, and anyone who knows me knows how I feel about humidity!!!) Full annexe is also a must. We will need to be able to separate the children more than 30cm apart at some time. As for bathroom facilities, it would be nice to have the indoor ensuite, but I do at minimum want an outdoor HOT water shower and a porta potti which can be housed in a pop up tent. I would also really like it if mine and Robs bed is at least big enough to lay side by side without hanging over the edges or being squashed up against the wall. As for the rest, we will just have to wait and see what the market and the budget bring us.......
I'm kind of stuck in between two completely different options at the moment. Going for the rather sizeable but more comfortable family sized van with an ensuite, decent kitchen, separate sleeping areas for us and the kids, lots of cupboards etc, or a more compact but way more versatile off road van.
I don't know what to dooooooooo.......................
Half of me says we are going away for quite a long time, this is going to be home so make it comfortable. After all who really wants to have to squat behind a tree to pee every day for weeks on end, or have to wash in a bucket night after night. I need lots of storage to carry all those "things" we will need, and I don't want to have to drop tables down to make beds every night.
Buuuuuuuuuut, the other half is saying there is a lot of stuff we want to see and do which requires travelling "off the beaten track" and therefore a 27' monster is just not going to cut it. In which case a much hardier, well built, but much smaller van is a better option. Just think of all those extra places we can get to and stay at if we can drag our house with us off the road.
Oh, what to do, what to do!!!
Which ever way we go I will insist on having fridge, microwave, gas cooker and hot water in the kitchen. Air con is absolutely non-negotiable!! (We are going north, it's humid up north, and anyone who knows me knows how I feel about humidity!!!) Full annexe is also a must. We will need to be able to separate the children more than 30cm apart at some time. As for bathroom facilities, it would be nice to have the indoor ensuite, but I do at minimum want an outdoor HOT water shower and a porta potti which can be housed in a pop up tent. I would also really like it if mine and Robs bed is at least big enough to lay side by side without hanging over the edges or being squashed up against the wall. As for the rest, we will just have to wait and see what the market and the budget bring us.......
Oh Crap!! What are we doing??
So, yesterday afternoon in the midst of pulling things out of the shed left, right, and centre, sorting all that stuff that we have accumulated over the years I wandered down the driveway for about the millionth time and casually glanced across the back yard at the kids play equipment, at the garden that we have altered to make our own and all of a sudden it hit me....... Oh holy crap!!! What the hell are we doing????
Suddenly I didn't seem so excited about this adventure, now I was absolutely crapping my pants and thinking we must be completely insane, which incidentally is what most other people are thinking!! Should we really be doing this? Is selling our house, pulling our kids out of school, quitting a well paying job really a good thing to be doing? This isn't what people do, this is crazy.
I continued my saunter into the realms of the man shed and greeted my husband with tears in my eyes. "Whats up?" he said to me, "I'm just having a moment." I replied. "Are you having second thoughts?" he asked tentatively. "No, I'm just having a moment. This is just so huge, it's kind of overwhelming." I replied. Jokingly he put his arms around me, gave me a squeeze and said "well you're not backing out on me, no way, we are doing this, even if I have to drag you." I laughed and walked away, moment over and all was good. Back to the sorting and packing.
Until this morning....... I spoke with my Dad today. We haven't really talked about this plan since we first mentioned it. I think he was still hoping it was all just talk and we wouldn't really go through with it. He told me he is not at all happy about this hair brained idea of ours. That it isn't fair to the kids to keep pulling them along to new places, that we need to keep some sort of security (ie a house), that we might not find it so easy to get work along the way. "What if it doesn't work?" he said, "then we come back and rent a house" I told him. Owning a house is not the be all and end all of life, is it?
My conversation left me feeling very confused again. I very much respect my Dad's opinion but on this matter our opinions are very, very different. What if he is right, what if this is the worst thing we could possibly be doing? Ohhhhh, now I didn't know what to do or think, so I rang hubby (herein known as R) to seek some reassurance. I told him about my conversation with my Dad, and again he asked me if I was having second thoughts, only this time I had to say I don't know, I might be. To which he replied "well I still want to do it, this is a great opportunity, and I don't want any regrets later thinking that we SHOULD have done it."
He is right of course. I do want to do this, I do want to travel and see Australia, I do want to spend some fantastic time with my husband and children, I do want to jump off the merry-go-round and take back our lives and if looking and moving outside the square is how we do that then yes, LETS DO IT!!! Just because this is not the normal or conventional thing to do does not mean it is not a good idea, it does not mean it wont work, it does not mean we are insane. We are just living OUR lives the way WE want to live them. And after all, if it doesn't work, if we decide that we don't want to live on the road any more we can come back, this isn't a forever decision it's a now decision. Live for today because tomorrow may never come.
I'm standing on the cliff edge, I'm winding up to jump, I just need to build up a little more courarage before I can leap........
Suddenly I didn't seem so excited about this adventure, now I was absolutely crapping my pants and thinking we must be completely insane, which incidentally is what most other people are thinking!! Should we really be doing this? Is selling our house, pulling our kids out of school, quitting a well paying job really a good thing to be doing? This isn't what people do, this is crazy.
I continued my saunter into the realms of the man shed and greeted my husband with tears in my eyes. "Whats up?" he said to me, "I'm just having a moment." I replied. "Are you having second thoughts?" he asked tentatively. "No, I'm just having a moment. This is just so huge, it's kind of overwhelming." I replied. Jokingly he put his arms around me, gave me a squeeze and said "well you're not backing out on me, no way, we are doing this, even if I have to drag you." I laughed and walked away, moment over and all was good. Back to the sorting and packing.
Until this morning....... I spoke with my Dad today. We haven't really talked about this plan since we first mentioned it. I think he was still hoping it was all just talk and we wouldn't really go through with it. He told me he is not at all happy about this hair brained idea of ours. That it isn't fair to the kids to keep pulling them along to new places, that we need to keep some sort of security (ie a house), that we might not find it so easy to get work along the way. "What if it doesn't work?" he said, "then we come back and rent a house" I told him. Owning a house is not the be all and end all of life, is it?
My conversation left me feeling very confused again. I very much respect my Dad's opinion but on this matter our opinions are very, very different. What if he is right, what if this is the worst thing we could possibly be doing? Ohhhhh, now I didn't know what to do or think, so I rang hubby (herein known as R) to seek some reassurance. I told him about my conversation with my Dad, and again he asked me if I was having second thoughts, only this time I had to say I don't know, I might be. To which he replied "well I still want to do it, this is a great opportunity, and I don't want any regrets later thinking that we SHOULD have done it."
He is right of course. I do want to do this, I do want to travel and see Australia, I do want to spend some fantastic time with my husband and children, I do want to jump off the merry-go-round and take back our lives and if looking and moving outside the square is how we do that then yes, LETS DO IT!!! Just because this is not the normal or conventional thing to do does not mean it is not a good idea, it does not mean it wont work, it does not mean we are insane. We are just living OUR lives the way WE want to live them. And after all, if it doesn't work, if we decide that we don't want to live on the road any more we can come back, this isn't a forever decision it's a now decision. Live for today because tomorrow may never come.
I'm standing on the cliff edge, I'm winding up to jump, I just need to build up a little more courarage before I can leap........
The hardest part of all.........
Today I have been working on what is definitely the hardest part of the planning for this adventure. After researching, talking to hubby and other people, and some really hard thinking I came to the conclusion that it just wont be possible to take my dog with us on this trip. Insert really sad face here. So today began the task of trying to find her a suitable foster home for while we are away.
I started with talking to any family and friends that I thought might be able to help but came up with nothing. I googled all sorts of foster/boarding facilities around the country, but came up with the conclusion that we just can't afford that option. Next on the list is a facebook call for help. I have posted on my page that I need to find a foster home, friends have shared my message and we have had a couple of replies. Not sure yet whether any will prove fruitfull though. If this option fails to find her a temporary home my next step will be to contact all the breeders in Adelaide to see if anyone can help or if they can try to assist with finding her a home. At least they will be familiar with her breed.
I hate the idea of having to send her to a foster home as the poor baby has already had to move homes once before. She came to us as a "second hand dog" from another family who could no longer keep her. I know how hard it was on her first time round, I wish I didn't have to put her through this again.
Rest assured, I will be going to every length to make sure that wherever she goes she will be loved and treated the way she deserves.
I started with talking to any family and friends that I thought might be able to help but came up with nothing. I googled all sorts of foster/boarding facilities around the country, but came up with the conclusion that we just can't afford that option. Next on the list is a facebook call for help. I have posted on my page that I need to find a foster home, friends have shared my message and we have had a couple of replies. Not sure yet whether any will prove fruitfull though. If this option fails to find her a temporary home my next step will be to contact all the breeders in Adelaide to see if anyone can help or if they can try to assist with finding her a home. At least they will be familiar with her breed.
I hate the idea of having to send her to a foster home as the poor baby has already had to move homes once before. She came to us as a "second hand dog" from another family who could no longer keep her. I know how hard it was on her first time round, I wish I didn't have to put her through this again.
Rest assured, I will be going to every length to make sure that wherever she goes she will be loved and treated the way she deserves.
Where to start......
Where to start........
So, we have made a decision. A big decision, a huge decision, a life changing decision. After years of talking about it, hubby and I have decided to take the plunge...... We are selling our house, buying a caravan and taking ourselves and our three kids on the road to live the life of gypsys.
Crazy, yes. Insane, probably. Scary, absolutely. Exciting, friggin' hell yeah!!! The adrenaline hasn't stopped pumping since we made the decision.
Where to from here??? Lots of reading, research, buying, selling, saving, planning, phone calls, questions. From schooling for the kids, work prospects, budgets, all the way to phone reception, and re-homing pets. There is soooooo much to consider. But we are so excited and looking forward to our HUGE adventure.
Keep us linked and travel with us virtually, starting now with our planning and especially once we hit the road............ See you out there somewhere.
Crazy, yes. Insane, probably. Scary, absolutely. Exciting, friggin' hell yeah!!! The adrenaline hasn't stopped pumping since we made the decision.
Where to from here??? Lots of reading, research, buying, selling, saving, planning, phone calls, questions. From schooling for the kids, work prospects, budgets, all the way to phone reception, and re-homing pets. There is soooooo much to consider. But we are so excited and looking forward to our HUGE adventure.
Keep us linked and travel with us virtually, starting now with our planning and especially once we hit the road............ See you out there somewhere.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)