Valentine’s Day Week!

Time is flying! Where did last week go? I was back at work Monday for a short week of just 4 days. My mum came to visit me for a few days and see the house for the very first time. I’d shown her pictures at Christmas time but due to her living about 450kms away from the house it wasn’t possible for to see it before now. She was most looking forward to coming. She arrived on Wednesday night on purpose so I could meet her after work and welcome her. She loved it! For the 10 and a half years I lived in Sydney she always expressed how much she hated Sydney. I have mostly lived in share accommodation so it has been difficult to have anyone visit with me and stay. So it was nice to finally have somewhere nice for my family to stay complete with their own bedroom! She is pleased I have left Sydney to live! ;-)

She spent the day at the house on Thursday helping me out by cleaning some windows and cleaning the oven. She also made us dinner, zucchini slice! One of my favorites and it was nice to know I was coming home to a home cooked meal. Thursday was also Valentine’s Day and my first time with T as my Valentine! It’s really important to us to value and appreciate and love each other every single day so I wasn’t too sure how we would spend or celebrate the day, and considering my mum was there we weren’t able to get up to too much mischief! But to my delight T surprised me at work with a massive bunch of red and pink roses in a beautiful round vase! 

 When we got home, I surprised him with memberships for both of us to the Newcastle Knights. I’d bought our memberships a week before but I wasn’t sure how present the gift as I had nothing physically to give him. I’d bought a card and a few love heart chocolates so thought it might be fun to write him a cryptic message for him to solve so he could work out what his present was :-)

I took Friday off work so I could spend a bit of time with Mum. We fiddled about and went shopping and in the afternoon we drove to Newcastle so she could meet T’s family for the first time before she traveled home. After that T & I went to a Jet’s game (A League) and decided that we were spending the weekend alone together as a Valentine’s weekend – just the two of us. We didn’t care that we had jobs to do the most important thing was that we were together. And it was wonderful, just what we needed. We finally had our first swims in the pool!

 

I also got to work unpacking my clothes. I’ve got about half way. I moved 6 months ago and pretty much didn’t unpack when I moved so a lot of my clothes needed a freshen up so I decided to wash everything which I am the middle of doing now. I have never really had a wardrobe or clothes cupboard to put my clothes except when I lived with my parents. It feels strange and it’s taking me some time to get used to. For the past 9 months I’ve lived with 1 bag of clothes and a washing basket, traveling between Sydney and Newcastle. Now that I have everything I have been wanting for so long, I don’t really know how to feel about it. I know I love it! But it’s just taking some time to adjust and get used to it. Maybe it’s hard to believe that this is really our house and not just a holiday house we are staying? I’m not sure if anyone else has felt like this when they first get a home that is really theirs. For so long I haven’t felt like I haven’t had a ‘normal’ life and maybe I don’t feel like I am worthy or it’s really happening. I’m not sure. 

It is feeling more like home as each day goes by. It’ll be a work in progress I imagine and I’m ready to embrace this awesome change in my life. And I still feel so incredibly lucky to wake up next to T each day. That in itself is a dream come true.  

Home Owner

Hello from a brand new home owner! We have been in our new home now for 5 nights and let me tell you that time has flown by! I am still getting a feel for the place and finding it hard to believe it really is ours. I look around and look at the pool and it still hasn’t quite sunk in yet. This is just a quick post as we don’t have internet at home until sometime later this week so this is a quick update from work.  

So we got the keys! I got the keys around lunchtime on Wednesday, headed to Sydney early afternoon to pick up a moving truck from Balmain Rentals, loaded up and then headed up to the Central Coast in peak hour traffic. When we arrived we got stuck right in, unloaded the truck and we all had some dinner (delivery from pizza hut) once we were done. After that we sat around the pool for about half an hour just taking it all in, then re-built my bed then headed back to Sydney with the truck to drop it off so we didn’t have to face traffic again. By the time we drove back to the Central Coast T & I had a much needed shower and fell into bed it was about 1am – but we were having our first night in our very own home! 

The next morning T had to go to work so I set about trying to get some stuff done. I fiddled about and had to be home and wait for the delivery of our fridge and washing machine. They arrived at around mid-day and I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out the kitchen cupboards as everything was left rather dirty and sticky. The most random thing left in the house was a yellow raincoat that was hanging in the garage! On Thursday night T brought a load of things from his home in Newcastle so did not get home until late – we moved a heap of boxes around so at least they were in the right area to be sorted through and that was our day done. We sat at the kitchen table and had dinner and looked around our empty lounge room and we were alone and it was just us and it was awesome! 

Friday morning T started work early and I had a locksmith coming at 8:30am – he arrived right on time but ended up leaving and coming back 4 different times as he needed different parts from his office. By the time he was finished it was 2:30pm and I went out to buy a dress for the wedding the next day and then drove up to Newcastle to load up T’s truck for when he finished work. Once we were loaded I drove the truck to the Central Coast, we unloaded then drove the truck back to Newcastle. I was quite proud of my efforts as I had not driven my truck from Sydney and I felt really competent and like I’d mastered a new skill! Right until I went to fill the truck back up with diesel and swung the truck too tight in next to the petrol bowser and hit a sign, scraping the side of the truck (&*@$#!!) The damage wasn’t too bad and we didn’t say anything when we returned it, they didn't notice anything. The petrol station however said I might have to pay for the sign to be re-painted and bolted back into the ground as it ended up on a bit of a lean as I'd knocked the bolts from out of the ground!

But it was done, we were moved! On Saturday morning we were a bit exhausted and T’s phone had completely died so we had to take it to a shop to get repaired. My brother drove down from Coffs Harbour with a lounge for me and he arrived around lunchtime. They didn’t stay for long, maybe 30 minutes and as he left we got ready for the wedding we were going to that afternoon.

We drove to Sydney and raced to the wedding.. and we missed the wedding (only just) so then had to wait around for the reception which was at the Opera House. We had never been to such a fancy wedding. The food was amazing! It was catered for by Aria restaurant, which is co-owned by one of the chefs I have admired for quite some time - Matt Moran. We had a lovely time and arrived home around midnight.

Dessert - came with topped with gold!

The next morning T’s mum came over to help me with the kitchen and get some of the ‘stick’ off everything that I have been struggling to get clean. We also had some other friends come over and deliver coffee and lunch and help set up the TV and the lounge rooms. Everything is now set up in our front lounge room with the TV and surround sound all set up. Just one problem we discovered though we can’t actually get TV! There is either a problem with the aerial or socket but I was happy to see part of the house coming together!

And today I have tried out the first half of the commute this morning and now I’ve got to run to get the train home!

New Home

The week that we have been waiting for has finally arrived. It has felt, at times, like I have waited a lifetime for this and in some ways I have. This is the week that we will finally have a house to call our very own. It is the week we will finally have a home!

Things that are happening this week:
1. Pre-settlement inspection
2. Money exchanges and my home loan changes from $0 to what will be a big scary number
3. We get the keys!
4. I am moving from Sydney to my new home with a lot of hard yakka – renting a truck and carrying boxes
5. My boyfriend (who I will refer to as T on this blog) will be moving from Newcastle
6. We need to organise home/contents insurance, an electrician and locksmith
7. I will await the deliveries of our new fridge, washer and dryer
8. Clean my old bedroom/bathroom and clean the new house – I am not sure what kind of state it will be left in until the final inspection
9. Work! We are both still working. T all the weekdays, and I have managed a few days off at the end of the week
10. Meet my brother who is driving 6 hours to deliver a lounge for us and turn around and go home the same day
11. Meet my mum to say hi – she is traveling to Newcastle on Tuesday night for a concert
12. And.. Saturday we are going to a wedding in Sydney! We committed to the wedding before we knew our settlement date, and we like to be people of our word. When we say we are going to do something, we do.

By Sunday we will be surrounded by chaos and boxes, and most likely exhausted… but I know one thing for sure it’s going to be the best feeling in the world! :-)