Moving House - Week Seven and WE'RE IN!

Alrighty. Where was I up to? I believe that it was around one week until move day and we were plastering and sanding. Here's a long post to bring you up to speed.

Darren took the whole of the last week before moving off work and I moved my days around accommodate working on the house and impressing the new CEO with my brilliance (I don't think that he even noticed that I existed). Darren's father came over to help out. 

By moving day, Darren had plastered, bogged and sanded all of the rooms, I had gap filled all of the rooms except for the kitchen, study and master bedroom, and Peter, Darren and I had painted Miss 1.5's room (not the trims) and started on the laundry.

We did a last vacuum and some final runs of possessions (our neighbour brought over a car load and then helped to vacuum the house) and then it was moving day! And wasn't that fun? No. We'd moved anything that we could fit in the car over the last two months, which was great because it was mostly moved, but terrible because it was shoved in no particular order to make way for the renovations and we had a frantic last minute move of everything out into the massive garage to make way for the furniture and items that we actually use, like clothes and forks. It was a hot day and it looked like Darren would have to go to work, so it would be me and the "twins" moving the large items and the essentials with the hired moving van and two hired men. Thankfully, Darren had a change of plans and stayed home and my next-door-neighbour took the girls whilst the truck was being loaded. It was all moved in time for dinner, but was mostly chaos.

The next days were the weekend and we somehow had organised ourselves into going to swimming lessons, a 60th birthday, a 30th birthday, two 2nd birthdays and netball. I had a melt down at this stage and rebelled, so we send our apologies to a few of the events. A friend came to help us unpack and we got the house a little more organised.

Over the next week we started to find our stride, but the dogs, chickens and fish were still living at our old house, so we had to go back every day to feed and walk them (obviously the fish and chickens weren't going for a walk...). We didn't have the Internet for a week, but I made some sales on madeit and eBay which I had to co-ordinate. And the delivery of 16 boxes of fundraising mangoes arrived from Queensland to be distributed.

The fencing had been delayed by a week, so it started in the first week of December and was done in a couple of days. It's amazing what a difference the new fence has made to the property.

The dogs came across and were thrilled with their new playground. They were followed by the chickens, moved by our neighbours and Darren and a little perplexed by their temporary accommodation, and some of the fish (the rest are staying with my brother until we finish the bathroom renovation). We unpacked as much as necessary, without unpacking too much because we haven't finished painting yet. The ugly garage is a blessing for hiding away things for later. I painted the laundry whilst the "twins" napped and Miss 1.5 poured blue food colouring into the cream carpet (!).

Big thank yous to our wonderful helpers and toddler distracters over the last few months: Peter, Robyn, Teena, Andrew, Trish, Dan, Nat, Kat, Gillian, Jon, Elle, Pat, Bob, Derica, Gemma and the magically appearing Helen.

I wonder why Darren and I are tired?

Still here...

We are moved in and the Internet is back. The dogs and the chickens and some of the fish are here. I'm tired. Will share some pictures with you soon, I promise.

Moving

'kaetoo' Canvas Photo Boards is moving house today. I'll be without Internet access until next Friday, so will be scamming it from work and other places. So no Blog updates and slow replies over this period.

See you soon.

Are they twins?

Every Thursday and Friday for over a year now at least two people ask me if Miss 1.5 and Miss 2 are twins. "No, they're not," I reply. "One belongs to me and one to my friend." People look confused. Why would I purchase a second car seat and a double pusher to look after a child that is not my own?

Well, it's because when I was pregnant and thinking about the logistics of children and work, I talked to my friend, Kat, who was also pregnant and thinking about the logistics of children and work. We don't live that far from one another and we have similar values and parenting techniques. So, we arranged our part-time work days to be complementary and once Miss 2 was about a year old and Kat was going back to work two days a week, Miss 2 started staying with me on Thursdays and Fridays. And when Miss 1.5 was about one year old and I was going back to work three days a week, Miss 1.5 started staying with Kat on Mondays and Tuesdays (on Wednesdays she hangs out with Grandpa).

My mat. health nurse said that she had never met anyone who had an arrangement like this before.

There are lots of benefits. Miss 1.5 is with someone who I know and trust, in a home environment. Kat and I can share stories about what the girls did each day and call up if we just want to say "hi". Miss 1.5 learns things that are different from the things that I focus on - for example, Kat taught them shapes and letters before I thought to.

The girls are great friends and learn more from one another than I think that they do from adults. They keep each other entertained, which means that they are less dependent on mum. They also have massive fights, but that is part of learning how to share, so I think that it's good.

From my point of view, the arrangement is much more flexible than childcare. And it's free (yippee)!

The bad things? It's like having twins, really, so it's a pain when one of them is sick. The other one is bound to get sick (more specifically, Miss 1.5 is bound to pass whatever illness she has on to Miss 2) and looking after two sickies is hard work. You have to purchase double of all the baby stuff: car seat, pusher, cot, highchair. A bit more organisation is required to co-ordinate going out and to stop escapes in shops. And when one of us goes on holidays or gets sick, things can be a bit tricky.

I miss the year that Miss 1.5 and I spent at home alone, when it was just the two of us. I think that it's sad that I'm never going to have that time again with future children.

I think that for this to work, you need two families who have similar ideals and parenting styles. And to talk to each other, remembering that this is a friendship, not child care. But the child sharing arrangement is working really well for us and I'm looking forward to more double trouble from the "twins"

In The Kitchen - Round-up 16-22 November

Whip-around my kitchen...

On Friday 16th, Darren and I went to Radiohead and had a quick takeaway dinner with friends beforehand. Miss 1.5 was with Grandma and I made them both garlic roasted chicken with potatoes, red onion, carrot and mushrooms from allrecipes.com for dinner. I had a quick sample: tasty.

Saturday 17th, Miss 1.5, Darren and I went down to Glenferrie and had dinner outside on the street, watching the trams and trains go by (Miss 1.5 loves large transport vehicles).

 

On Sunday 18th, Darren cooked up tasty seared pork skewers, in ginger, garlic, fish sauce and Chinese cooking wine, using the recipe from 'The Essential Asian Cookbook'. This was really good - make again!

Tuesday 20th was tuna bake, cooked up on Monday and reheated. Wednesday 21st was grilled chicken seasoned with cashew za'atar and bush tomato and served in wraps with salad and chutney and cheese. Last night, Thursday 22nd, was a beef korma curry in yoghurt and sour cream with potato, spinach, zucchini and cauliflower.

Beef korma curry.

Countdown to Christmas

There's little more than a month until Christmas and with all this renovation and packing, I have not even started Christmas shopping! Very boo!

The countdown, however, is on. Here are some madeit and Etsy advent calendars to help me take the impending festive season a bit more seriously.

Advent Christmas Snowman Calendar by Joy Sisters

Christmas Advent Calendar by Enchanted Creations

Christmas Advent Calendar by Tied With A Ribbon

Christmas Advent Calendar Bunting by Bekahdu Handmade

Advent Calendar Timber by Modern Malady

Christmas Advent Calender by Gozi and Pop

Moving House - Weeks Five and Six

I have been slack in updating you about how our house renovations are going. We had the whole house rewired and networked, which made an awful lot of mess and meant that the interior was pretty much out of bounds for two weeks.

In the meanwhile, Darren and our neighbours from our old house dug a trench along the fence and lined it with chicken wire, before refilling it. This should slow down our dogs' attempts to visit the new neighbours.

I attacked the out-of-control roses a bit more. My neighbour, obviously not feeling used enough after taking four loads of green waste to the tip and digging a trench, came over to help me devise devious plans for removing roots.

Miss 1.5 is exploring all the new parks.

And now we are plastering and sanding and prepping for painting in our last week before the official move! It's not going to be finished before we move, or for another 5/10/500 years, but it's going to be home!