Things I'm Loving About My New Home

We're settling in slowly to the new house. Things are coming together - but not very fast! The garage is still filled with boxes. The playroom is still half filled with boxes. There's a lot we can't find. But it's coming together!

Meanwhile, here are a few pictures of some of the things I love about our new home...

I love the outlook from my sunny kitchen table (which is a good thing too as I spend a lot of time here!). We eat here, I make phone calls here, I work here, I supervise homework here...

I love some (but not all!) of the lampshades the previous owners left behind...this is one of the good ones but there are a few I need to get rid of too! 

I love the stained glass window in our lounge room - so pretty! 

I also love sitting by the fireplace in our lounge room on these chilly winter evenings...

For years now, I haven't really done baths - as much as I love to do it, I haven't really had the time to lie around soaking in bubbles. (NB I do still wash though - I just use the shower!). But we now have an extra long (1.8 m) claw foot bath and I have already managed three indulgent, long soaks since we moved in! Bliss....

Outside, I love the knarly old Pohutakawa tree outside our bedroom window - the kids love to climb it, and the Tuis love to sing in it, but I just like it to look at it.

I love the views of the mountains all around us....

And I love my flourishing herb garden - there's plenty of rosemary, thyme, sage, bay and basil to last me a lifetime!

Moving House

Well, that was WAY harder than we'd expected it to be!

We took a few weeks, spending each weekend and every evenings sorting things out & boxing things up and giving things away to charity and cleaning every nook and cranny. With each day the pile of boxes grew and grew.....we had less things available to use.....we became tireder and tireder...and the dust mites swirled around and made Molly unwell again.

For the last couple of weeks the kids had no toys left out, but happily sat and read books in amongst the boxes and the mess every evening instead. 

We started living in the same clothes every day (we couldn't find anything different). Cooking one-pot meals every night. We stopped having the kids' friends over to play. We stopped washing our hair (the shampoo got packed too early & we couldn't find it again) and applying eczema creams (ditto). Life was becoming a bit smelly and disorganised. 

And then we moved.....

This part was made a whole lot easier by our lovely group of amazing friends who looked after our kids, shifted boxes, humped fridges and BBQs, re-arranged shelving, delivered pies, loaned their cars, baked cakes and brought us flowers. You guys were fantastic, we don't know what we would have done without you!

Ten days later and we STILL have boxes everywhere and we still don't know where anything is - but it feels like home and we are all very very happy!

The Great Storm of 2013

I remember England's Great Storm of October 1987 very clearly. Wind speeds got up to around 120-130 kph, millions of trees came down, and people lost their lives.

My clearest memory is of making my way home from school that day. The train line was blocked and I had to get off a stop earlier than normal so I was walking home along the high street when all of a sudden a huge gust of wind picked me up off my feet and literally blew me hard against the bus shelter which I was walking past.

That was enough to completely stop me in my tracks and I remember going into the off licence next to the bus shelter and asking them to call my mum for me.

My mother, bless her, drove out to rescue me.

Last Thursday/Friday, Wellington experienced a similar storm.

We all knew something big was coming, so the day before most people I know had been to the supermarkets to stock up and we had our torches and emergency kits ready. But the initial forecasts were that we'd get a big drop in temperature and possible snow. The South Island got the snow - masses of it - but Wellington got an extreme hurricane force storm. It's not easy to predict the weather here, as it's so influenced by the oceans  and mountains all around us, so hats off to those forecasters for just knowing something extreme was on its way and predicting the time of its arrival almost down to the minute.

Wind speeds got up to 200 kph, and the rain fell in buckets out of the sky. Media reports indicate that we haven't had a storm like this for 37 years, and are comparing it to the infamous Wahine Storm of 1968 which sunk the Inter-islander ferry.

Several days later and the city is slowly being cleared of fallen trees, and we've all been living with closed roads, no trains, missing roofs, houses full of sea water, fences blown away, there are thousands of houses with no power and a lot of closed schools.

Meanwhile, our new garden now has a tree that sits at a 45 degree angle, and we're not quite sure what to do about that.

Other than that, our biggest drama was when we got a knock on the door in the night from a man who lives across the street - it turned out our next door neighbour's big trampoline had blown right over our fence, across our garden, across another fence, over the road, smashed through another fence and gone through the man's window. The fire services rescued it the next afternoon, but the man's window is still missing...

How Many Toys Do Kids Actually Need?

Life is fairly chaotic at the moment, in fact it would be fairly accurate to describe it as bedlam.

We've spent every spare moment packing up the house. I think we're about 75% done now, which is a great achievement as we still have 11 days to go, but it's made me realise that we actually really do own a lot of useless rubbish.

As well as packing alot, we have thrown away, given away, sold and donated a lot of our old stuff. What's left is just what we need on a day-to-day basis: a few clothes, kitchen appliances, toiletries, stationery, etc. That means the 75% of stuff we've packed in the billions of boxes is what, exactly??

Once we get to the new house I'm aiming to have another big throw out.

With so much sorting, packing, organising and cleaning going on, there's been little time for other things. I am missing my regular fix of Zumba and my once-regular mountain walks have dwindled to maybe once a fortnight.

But I still LOVE starting my day by climbing up to watch the views whenever I can. On a clear day I can see  right across to the snow-capped mountains on the South Island. It always looks different when I'm up there, depending on the season.

I'm also still finding snippets of time for coffees with the other mums whenever I can! As a freelancer I do miss the chance to chat to office colleagues whenever I want to. Skype meetings and chatter via social networks are my version of the "water cooler" discussions, but you still can't beat a regular gossip over coffee!

Meanwhile the kids are coping amazingly well with having most of their toys packed away. In fact, now they're older, I don't think they actually need quite so many toys, and although we've given a lot away lately and reduced down to just 5 toy boxes, I still think we'll be reducing it further once we get in the new house.

All Molly really wants these days is a cupboard full of arts & crafts, a bedroom full of clothes and accessories, and some music (she is glued to her recorder these days, loves playing keyboard, and is usually attached to her MP3 player).

And all Alfie really needs is something to kick or throw or ride, a few electronic games, and his Bey Blade set. He's a very sporty little chap and came first in his school Cross Country Run last week. He's also completely embraced Ripper Rugby this season, he usually scores a few tries at each match, and was awarded Player of the Day this week (oh ok, so actually they take it in turns so that each kid gets a go at being Player of the Day - but he doesn't know that!).