Sorting Through the Mess

Having spent most of today sorting through some boxes of photos and stamp collections, craft supplies, kids' shoes and dress-up costumes that have been in our garage since we moved here in March...

...I have concluded that I already own everything I am ever likely to need, apart from food and some clothes, for the rest of my life.

Perhaps I should take these pictures with me the next time I feel like shopping for more stuff.

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Two Years in Adelaide

Next week marks the second anniversary of our new life here in Adelaide.  I can't believe how the time has flown.

I still feel like a newcomer in many ways, I expect because Adelaide still feels fresh - I haven't started to take it for granted yet.  And there are so many places in South Australia that we have yet to visit.

A few days Rhonda from Down to Earth wrote about blooming wherever we are planted.  I think she makes some excellent points.  The secret to a satisfying life seems to be embracing whatever circumstances life throws at us and not just making the best of things, but choosing to thrive.

Some of the things that I am grateful for in Adelaide are:

• four beautiful, healthy children who have learnt much about resilience and turning strangers into friends
• a church community that immediately made us feel at home
• wonderful friends who have welcomed us into their lives
• our new house which strikes me anew with her beauty every day
• a garden which I am slowly turning into my own, which will one day be full of fruit trees and roses and vegetables and herbs, and hopefully even a few chooks.

“Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.”

 

 Charles Dickens

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Neighbours

I baked the orange cake for Mr Marco and Violet but it came out a bit burnt around the edges - the perils of working with a new (to me) oven.

The kids devoured the cake but I have promised myself I'll try again on Friday, when I don't have to work.

After meeting Mr Marco and Violet I have been thinking a lot about neighbours, and how important they are.

In Sydney, I lived in the same suburban red brick house my whole childhood. I knew almost everyone for streets around. Every day during the school holidays the kids would congregate in a nearby cul-de-sac and play street cricket or any number of games that we made up, including the pole game and brandings (don't ask!)

In summer we would all head for somebody's backyard swimming pool where we would play Marco Polo unsupervised - fortunately above ground swimming pools are usually pretty shallow. We were expected to play outdoors unless it was raining. Late afternoon the mothers would call out "tea-time' and we would all head home to eat, dirty and happy.

Later in Melbourne, my husband and I had wonderful neighbours. In particular, Sue-next-door (to distinguish her from Sue-two-doors-up and Sue-across-the-road) and I raised our children together until I moved to Adelaide in 2008. Sue-next-door's daughter Kate-next-door (to differentiate her from me), was my daughter's best friend from babyhood and they still write, ring and text each other regularly.

I hope that we will become friends with our neighbours here in Adelaide. It is difficult with so many mothers working (including me) to have that easy give-and-take that existed in the past. However, I am sure we will build relationships over time.

What do your neighbours mean to you?

image is from www.tripodgirl.com

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Decluttering Books

Of all the things I find hard to declutter, books are the very hardest. I am deeply attached to my books.

However, we have limited space for bookcases and limited funds to pay for them, so I am going to have to donate some of my (hundreds of) books.

Our red house in Melbourne had fabulous storage. There was a wall of bookcases with cupboards underneath in the Family room and each of the kids' rooms had long built-in desks with bookshelves above. We gave most of our freestanding bookcases to friends and charities because we no longer needed them.

The house we rented for our first 18 months in Adelaide had almost no storage so most of our books lived in boxes for 18 months. We have now bought two tall bookcases for our new house but at least half the books are still in boxes.

While rationally I know that I will never read all these books again there is the chance that I might. I love knowing that my library is at hand should I think about something in a book or remember a quote and need to be able to find it. I know I could use the internet but books are just better. And they feel good. And I love my collection of old second-hand books that are filled with other people's memories as well as my own.

I now have a box of books that I am planning to give to the Salvos - if only I can bring myself to part from them.

What possessions do you find hardest to declutter or give away?

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Stitches of Friendship

June 2008 was a very difficult time. After months of uncertainty we were about to make the decision to move to Adelaide, a city where we knew no one. After ten years we were about to say good bye to our dear red house - although at the start of June I didn't know that yet. And at the start of June I won a sweet little stitchery from Tracy from Beyond My Picket Fence.

Tracy is one of those bloggers that I know would be a true friend should I ever meet her in real life - and I believe we will meet one day. She has prayed for me, laughed with me and even cried with me over the past two tumultuous years. At a time when I was having to say goodbye to friends of a decade, it was good to know that friends like Tracy were there by my side.

When we moved to our rental house in Adelaide, Tracy's stitchery went on the table near my front door and reminded me daily of the meaning of friendship.

Now we live in a home of our own and I finally feel free to spread my wings and put down roots (pardon the mixed metaphors) in Adelaide.

And Tracy's little stitchery sits on the table just inside my front door again.

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Still Our Red House

When I first moved to Adelaide in 2008 I wondered if I should change the name of my blog. I had named it after our home in Melbourne which was built from red clinker bricks, and sadly, that dear house was my home no more.

Funnily enough, we are living in a red house again. Although the front is a mixture of sandstone and painted bricks, the sides and back are all red bricks, as you can see in the image below.

Underneath the paint, the painted bricks on the front of the house are red. I know this because there are several other houses like this in our street, and many in this part of Adelaide. Sandstone-fronted, red-brick sided cottages are typical of the era (our house was built in 1915).

The garage, while a fairly recent addition, also follows this theme. The front is a sandstone veneer...

but the sides are red brick.

Welcome to our (new) red house.

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A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month

There's a children's story called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Everything seems to go wrong for poor little Alexander and he decides that he wants to move to Australia. The book ends with his mother's assurance that everyone has bad days, even people who live in Australia.

I can assure you that Alexander's mother is right. Things do go wrong for people in Australia.

This month has been one of the hardest I have ever lived through. It has truly been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month.

Starting with Tom's accident on the 1st and continuing with the delayed settlement on our new house due to not one, but two caveats listed on it, life has felt awful indeed. There have been many sleepless nights, many mornings when I threw up before work from stress (and no, I'm not pregnant.)

Even moving day on Wednesday was difficult as the removal van broke down with all our goods on it, causing a delay of over an hour.

And yet, and yet there have been blessings too.

Tom is recovering well and is even able to ride a bike again.

We have a renewed realisation that family and health are much more important than material possessions.

We finally have a place in Adelaide that we can call home. The second caveat was thrown out of court on Wednesday and settlement went ahead yesterday without a hitch.

I am thankful more than I can say that all our prayers of the last month have been answered.

(I'm writing this on the library computer as I still don't have home internet, so no pictures just yet. They will come, I promise. We should be up and running by next Monday. Yay for Telstra - not!)

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Dumbfounded

For those not familiar with recent events, let me provide a summary:

In July 2008 our family moved from Melbourne to Adelaide. We thought we would buy a house here quickly but in the end it took about 18 months to find and purchase our dream home. We were due to settle on the house on 15 March and had planned to move in the next day.

However, someone with a grievance against the seller listed a caveat against the house the Friday before settlement which meant that settlement did not proceed and we were unable to move as planned. This caveat was thrown out of of the Supreme Court last Friday and we thought our ordeal was over. Settlement was planned for early this morning.

Well, guess what - the (unspeakably horrible and malicious) person who listed the caveat has gone and listed another one. Even though listing a caveat against the same property twice is not allowed.

*#!!!!*$#!

And I don't usually swear!

This afternoon we signed a license to occupy which means that we can move in on Wednesday, but we won't own the property until the case goes before the courts again - hopefully before the end of the week.

What a month!

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House Update

I am writing this at the library as we currently have no home internet. I have to type quickly as I only have a 15 minute slot.

As you will know, settlement of our new home was delayed due to a caveat listed just prior to settlement.

The drama continued all week and was terribly stressful. The case between the vendor (seller) and the caveat-lister came before the Supreme Court on Friday. To our enormous relief the judge threw the case out of court.

As it was too late in the day for settlement we are now settling on Monday. However, we met with the vendor last night and they gave us keys to the property. They have been as stressed as we have been as the caveat seems to have been a spiteful action intended to hurt them and their reputation, rather than anything based on fact.

Anyhow, the house is as beautiful as ever and we will be (finally) moving on Wednesday. I promise that I'll have lots of pictures once our broadband is working again.

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The Saga of the House

Tonight was supposed to be our last night in our rental home. The real estate agent was going to deliver our keys and we were going to drive over to the new house for a look around. After that we were planning to order Indian takeaway and opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

Unfortunately today did not go according to plan. On Friday somebody with a legal grievance against the vendor lodged a caveat against settlement of our new house. Our conveyancer only found out about the caveat this morning and settlement did not proceed.

We hope that the issues between the vendor and the caveat-lodger are resolved in the next day or two and we can move in before the weekend. We definitely hope that there aren't protracted legal issues.

In the meantime we are stuck with a house full of boxes and nowhere to go. We have had to cancel removalists, cleaners and others.

We are exceptionally thankful that a new tenant has not been found for this house. Otherwise we could be looking down the barrel of homelessness.

Who has ever heard of a house sale falling through because the vendor defaulted? I certainly hadn't. The conveyancer says this is the first time this has happened in her 15 year career.

This has not been a good March.

At least we can still have the Indian takeaway.

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Packing Up and Shutting Down

With only three days now until we move the time has come for me to say good bye - well, at least until we are settled into our new home. Later today or tomorrow I will be packing up the computer and then there will be no more blogging - for now.

Telstra has advised us that it will take four days to reconnect our broadband, so I expect that I may be without an internet connection until late next week.

In the meantime, I'm planning to take lots of photos so by the time I'm back on line I'll have lots of house and garden pictures to show you.

While the house has been renovated beautifully there will be things to change - for example, the room my two youngest boys will be sharing is pink - so I'll also be asking for decorating ideas and suggestions.

I am looking forward to sharing the next stage in our red house journey with you.

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Five Days to Go

the new house


I shouldn't be writing this at 11 o'clock at night as what I should be doing is sleeping.

I really do need my beauty sleep, what with the stresses of packing boxes and going to work and caring for my injured son and three family birthdays in the first two weeks of this month and having potential tenants go through this house to decide if they want to rent it. I know that last sentence was too long but that's how every day feels at the moment - crammed full of far too much activity.

The only way I can get through it all is by not stopping, and by working as hard as I can every waking minute. It's amazing how much one can achieve when fueled by adrenaline, coffee and chocolate.

However, my eyes are barely open and my bed is very comfortable, so I'd best be gone.

Sweet dreams until tomorrow.

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A Picture of the New House

This afternoon we went to the new house to learn how to use the security system, heating and cooling (and also, of course, to have a surreptitious look around and think about where we are going to put things.)

I couldn't get any pictures of the inside because the owner was with us the whole time, and, in any case, the house is as full of boxes and half-packed items as ours.

Anyhow, the picture above is of our new front porch. And with only nine days to go we are longing to cross that threshold and move on in.

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What a Week!

This has been one week that I am totally and utterly glad is over. Between the stress and anxiety of Tom's accident and the pressure of preparing to move house in 11 days, this week has been almost unbearable. Add to these the need to keep the house spotless to impress potential new tenants who have visited, and you have a truly horrible week.

However, there have been some good things: the kindness of others after the accident; Tom's small, daily improvements; the fact that every day brings us one day closer to living in our new home.

In addition to the real-world support of family and friends, I have experienced great support from the blogging community. Thank you so much everyone who has left a comment here, who has emailed, or has taken a moment or two to pray for my family. I am honoured to know you.

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Moving Tip # 5: Take Time Out with Your Family

You know how it is when you're packing to move; you can get so caught up in all the details - packing boxes, organising new schools, arranging for the mail to be redirected - that you forget to stop and relax.

One of the things I wish we had done before leaving Melbourne was visit our favourite places and say good bye to them. It would also have been good to have made time to visit some of the places that we had always wanted to visit, but never got around to.

If I had my time over again I would stop all the packing and worrying for one day each week and go somewhere with the family just to be. I would pause more to hear about how they felt about the move. And I would try to be less frazzled about the whole thing - even though it was exceedingly stressful.

This time we are only moving about 500 metres so we aren't really saying good bye to anything, but I am mindful not to let the move take over my life - well, no more than absolutely necessary, anyway.

So this is my moving tip for the day: take time out with your loved ones. Savour the place you are leaving. And spend a little time dreaming about the future together.

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Surrounded by Boxes

I hope I'm not boring you with all this talk of moving house. The thing is, when you are in the process of moving it hard to think about anything else. And everywhere I look there are the boxes as a continuous reminder.

Still, progress is being made. I am itching to get to the new house, as is the rest of the family. We will be moving in just over three weeks and we're counting the days.

Hopefully then I'll be able to think and write about more normal topics again.

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Moving Tip # 4: Label Everything Clearly

This tip is short and sweet. Many guides to moving house will suggest that you write on each box what room you want it to go to.

My tip: Also write on each box what is in it, in detail if necessary. It will take a little extra time but can save a lot of time in the end. Such as when a young child suddenly decides he needs a special toy. Now. Or you need to find where you packed the can opener.

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Moving Tip # 3: Declutter, Declutter, Declutter

Moving house provides an ideal opportunity to declutter your possessions. You have to sort through everything you own to pack it, so why not declutter as you go?

This is one reason why I prefer to do my own packing, rather than employ a removalist to do it. We have all heard stories of someone whose rubbish was packed by removalists and brought to their new dwelling.

Moreover, (and don't tell my family I said this) other family members are less likely to notice if something of theirs goes missing if you declutter their stuff when moving house.

Decluttering is especially productive if you know where you will be moving, and have an idea where you will put things. If you are moving a long distance and don't have a relocation allowance you may prefer to sell or give away most of your possessions as transport costs can be very high.

When we moved from Melbourne to Adelaide I hadn't seen a layout of the house I would be renting, and I thought I would only be living here briefly, so it was difficult to picture what I would need and what I could leave behind. My biggest surprise was the lack of storage in this house, which has made clutter a very real issue.

The new house has a double garage with a storage room at the back, a bigger kitchen than here (although not a particularly big pantry), an underground cellar (common in century-old Adelaide homes) a big linen cupboard and plenty of laundry storage. The main bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe and two of the kids' rooms have built-ins. We will install a wardrobe in the third kids' bedroom.

Fridays are going to be my main packing days, so I hope to make a delivery of unused and outgrown items to the Salvos every Friday afternoon for the next few weeks.

Tips for Decluttering When Moving House

• Think like William Morris: he wrote "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  
• Be sensitive when packing others' things: despite my facetious remarks above, I would never dispose of any of my children's most treasured books or toys without checking first, even if they appear to have outgrown them. (Ugly school-made craft items are another matter entirely!)
• 3 box packing: As you pack, have a rubbish box, a giveaway box, and a packing-to-move box with you at all times.
• Think about hiring a skip:if you have large items and/or garden waste to dispose of
• Shred any documents: if you are disposing any documents that include personal details, please use a shredder. Identity theft is a real issue.
• Consider a garage sale: I have never held a garage sale but moving house is of course the ideal time to have one.
• Think about where you are moving to: the layout of the house, if you know in advance; the cost of transportation; the climate - friends who moved from Canada to Adelaide now have no use at all for their winter gear and sporting equipment.

Do you have anything to add? Please leave a comment.

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Moving Tip # 2: Pack from Least Used to Most Used

When moving house always pack the things you use least first. Things that may fall in ths category are:

• unseasonal clothing and sporting gear (but don't pack everything in case you get unseasonal weather!)
• kids' clothes in 'between' sizes
• seasonal decorating items
• anything kept in a very high cupboard - if it lives up there you don't use it much
• ornaments and pictures - they may be pretty but you are not likely to need to 'use' them
• rarely used kitchen appliances

Conversely, the things that should be packed last are those that you use every day:

• cutlery and crockery
• bedding
• special toys
• clothes you need
  

Unfortunately, there are usually many items that are used every day, which is why most of us are up very late the night before moving.

You may be wondering how my packing is going. The answer is that so far I have packed one measly box. Based on the principles above I filled it with our antique silver tea services (we have two), other silverware, framed pictures and candlesticks. I was limited to what I could pack in the room where I was watching Desperate Housewives. After a long day at work it was all I could manage.

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Moving Tip # 1: Write a List

Moving house can feel like having to scale a mountain. There are boxes to pack and possibly a house to get ready to sell. There may be schools to arrange and upset family members to condole. Add to that farewell parties, organising utilities, redirecting the mail and any number of other tasks, and life for the chief packer can feel very out of control indeed.

Before starting, it is well worth taking a deep breath, sitting down somewhere comfortable, and writing out a list of things that you need to achieve. Try googling "Moving house checklist" if you are unsure what you need to do - there are lists from all over the world. Set rough goals for each of the remaining weeks, but don't beat yourself up if you are unable to meet them.

I promise that no matter how well prepared you are you will be up very late the night before your move doing last-minute things. And no matter how disorganised you are, somehow the day that big truck pulls up outside your house you will be ready to go.

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