Time for a change

Hello all

Many thanks for all your comments and suggestions about a new name, now that we have moved into our new home in seaside town.

I am going to keep on blogging, about living here, about making our brand spanking new house into a home, and about all sorts of other things, no doubt, and I hope you'll keep letting me know what you think.

I would love to hear if there's anything you would like me to write about?  My friend Steve is much more writerly than me, and has a super blog called Shores of Night.  He's been doing a blog roulette.  The idea is that readers suggest things to write about and he picks one somehow.  Seems like a great idea to me, so, is there anything you'd like me to write about?

Whatever it is, I'll be writing at the new address which is (drum roll) Oh we do love to be...  See you there!

Bring me the head of Talk Talk

It may take you by surprise when I say that I really really like to communicate...

When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time on the 'phone. Arranging to meet people, and not being the last one to hang up in daily chats with my boyfriend (who lived far away).

When I went to University I discovered the wonders of Pegasus Mail. You could get a list of all the people who were logged in, and choose one whose name you liked the look of to email. I would have long rambling conversations about life, the universe, and everything, with people who never seemed half as interesting when I actually met them!

Later I got into hotmail, then googlemail, and into Bebo, then Myspace, and now, glorious Facebook. I love writing, I love sharing pictures, and I love communicating with friends, and friends of friends. I think of Facebook as being like a big room where lots of friends are having conversations, which I can choose to join if I wish. Sometimes I find some of those conversations ugly, and in those circumstances I generally ignore them and move on, but sometimes I have unfriended people. I know that means I don't get an accurate view of the world, but it's my world.

I love that I've now got a smart 'phone, and it's always been fine that I have limited internet access with my package as I just go on wifi at home... so I was a bit worried that Talk Talk were going to take a couple of weeks to bring us broadband... but I figured I could manage a couple of weeks, right?

Not so much.

I quickly ran out of internet access on my 'phone, and have been using Kenny's, when I can (when he's in, not using it, and it's got enough charge), which is painfully slow, but I thought it would be alright for a bit...

Until Kenny 'phoned up Talk Talk, who had agreed to provide our telephone, broadband, and television, and helped us set up a direct debit to pay for it. We were wondering exactly when we would get our television box, and broadband, and why we still haven't got a home telephone connection...

Oh, they said, it's you, they said, erm, well, yeah, we don't cover your area, so that's why you've got no 'phone...

So, we've got to find another provider, after TWO WEEKS of nothing, and the light of communication at the end of the tunnel is still far, far away... in fact, we've not signed up with anyone yet. So what do you think? We can get BT Vision or Sky. Recommendations anyone?

Little girl is not pleased about not getting to watch her on demand programmes!

Looks like we've moved!

Hello all

Well, as you'll have gathered, we have moved.  We don't have anything left in rainy town, and we are now citizens of seaside town... but it's going to take a bit of getting used to!

So I was thinking of keeping up the blog.  Partly to discuss home decor (and the garden!), partly to discuss our experiences in seaside town, and partly because it's good to keep writing, and to keep in touch with you all.

But 'Looks Like We're Moving' isn't such a good title any more, so what do I go with?

• Looks like we've moved?
• Living it Largs?
• Oh we do like to be beside the seaside?
• Have you got any ideas?

How we're settling in

As you'll recall, last time on the blog I was feeling a bit bad about the poor big girl, and how she was having a hard time settling in at school.  I think we've all been in a bit of a funk, not just because of everything being topsy turvy, and not knowing anyone, but also because the weather here in seaside town (I know!) has been utterly dreadful for the first week we've lived here.

With only a few interruptions (which were magnificent), it has rained, and it has been windy, and it has just been dreadful.  Lots of days when if we didn't have to go to school and eat and so on, we would all have just stayed in our PJs.  Ugh.

However, the weather seems to be picking up a bit, so hopefully our moods will too.

Jenga van - created by Kenny and Rob.
Picture by Rob (stolen with thanks)

The little girl (along with the other children) was feeling fed up that the telly wasn't working and there were very few toys, but a man came and fixed the telly on Friday (thank heavens), and Kenny rented a different van (from Enterprise), which boldly went and fit all the rest of the stuff from the house in rainy town in one load (many thanks to Rob, for helping Kenny load up the Jenga van).  Fantastic.

I have been hanging out in the library quite a lot.  It seems a pretty good place to find out local info, and it's got a great kids section.  It's also open EVERY DAY!!!!  I was delighted to discover they do Rhyme Time sessions there too, so that was our first social occasion for the little girl.  The first one wasn't like the ones in Saxmundham (which were great), but it was lovely.  The little girl also chose a book to read at home - The Gruffalo's Child - in Gaelic!  She was determined she wanted it, and she sat through the whole thing when I read it to her, so I guess she must be bilingual.  Sadly, I'm not! We went back to Rhyme Time this morning and the little girl had a great time (plus it was more fun).

Our next sociable foray was to a toddler group on Thursday.  It was one of those ones in a big church hall, where childminders and Mums drink coffee, and kids go wild.  The little girl ran straight into the middle of things, and had a great time.  I got a coffee and attempted to speak to people, but didn't do very well.  One person I spoke to told me about some of the other toddler groups, which sound like they might suit me better.  We'll try a few out.  I hate having to start making friends all over again.  But I've made lots of great friends so far, so I guess I'll make some more.

Kenny is doing pretty well.  He grew up near here, and so has some friends who stayed here.  Also, he's been working here for a few months now, so he's already got football, squash, and the odd night out in place.  It's good that we do know the area a bit, because at least we're not finding everything out.  On Saturday, when Kenny was busy finishing our house move, the kids decided they'd like to go to a soft play in a nearby town.  It was good to go somewhere they knew, and where it didn't matter that they hadn't made friends yet.

We'll get there.  I'm trying to keep in mind Julian of Norwich's excellent mantra "all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

How the kids are doing

Hi all, well we've been in seaside town for a week now so I thought I'd give you an update on how the kids are getting on.  It's taking me ages to do as we still have no broadband, and I've run out of internet on my 'phone.  I'm now stealing Kenny's, which is pitifully slow.  Grrr.  Also, this is the fourth time I've written this, so who knows what's going on with Blogger!?  Do you have these problems too?

So, the topic in hand: the children.

The two big kids started their new school on Monday last week. They've got their new uniforms, and they're getting new school books and new routines.

They are getting the hang of having to pay cash for their milk and their lunches, although that's been a steep learning curve!  I think it's a good learning experience for them to pay for their lunches, but it seems a bit tight to me to ask kids to pay for their milk... I'll just blame the Tories (works for most things).  It's a bit of a nightmare finding change all the time too, but we're getting into the swing of things.

The boy has gone into a composite class wherein most (if not all) people are younger than him.  He's finding some stuff easy, but mostly it seems about right.  And it's good to have him in a class where's the reading is a bit more interesting (their old school didn't focus so much on the reading, and had them on Biff, Chip and Kipper for aeons!).  He's doing a topic on Romans, which he's really interested in, and he's thrilled to bits that he's going to be going to school in a toga one day this week!

The big girl has gone into a big P1 class with two teachers.  Unfortunately, due to illness and bereavement her teachers have been out of the classroom a lot during her first week, which has been hard for her, and she's been crying quite a lot.  I feel really bad for her, but I know that she'll get through it.  I've spoken to one of her new teachers who isn't worried about her academically, or socially, but she has gone up two stages in her reading books so as to catch up with the others in her class (she's reading the book fine, but is feeling a bit phased by the gear shift), and is having to learn a three verse Scottish poem for next week's poetry competition, which is really blooming hard!  Mostly she is missing her friends.  The girls in her class are making her wee pictures to bring home, and they are trying to include her, but she's feeling shy and sad.  She'll get there.

At the moment she's crying her heart out when she gets to school in the morning, and not wanting to let go of me.  I have been walking her to the nearest playground supervisor, handing her over and saying goodbye.  I don't want to encourage her being daft, but I don't want to make it worse than it need be.  I was thinking of saying that this week I will stay and see she gets someone to talk to before I go (rather than walking her in), and gradually shifting away.  How do you think I could help her get over this morning wobble?

Other than that she says she gets worried and sad in the day while she's at school (and she's certainly wiped out at night).  I've asked her to talk to the teacher, but she is again feeling shy, and she says they're busy.  If you know her you'll know that when she's sad she shuts down, and kind of folds in inside herself, and that often seems to go unnoticed, but when I spoke to her teacher she mentioned that she sometimes goes quiet and that seems to be when she's upset.  They're trying, but it's so hard without all the fantastic transition stuff.  Have you got any ideas how we can help her enjoy school again?

That's enough for now I feel, I'll give you an update on how the little girl, Kenny, and I, are doing next time.

Tales of a van

My apologies for the delay in updating this.  We have no broadband, and at least 1,000,000 things to do, so I've decided to have a cup of coffee and do this!  I was trying to check the details with Kenny, but we've both had bigger fish to fry, so this is just pieced together from what I've heard.  Not sure it's fair to ask him to go over it again :-/

...When we left you last time Kenny, his Dad, and his mate, Iain (Kenny and co), were heading off down the road to rainy town to get the second load of stuff from the house.

I neglected to tell you about the dodgy rental van.  Other than that it was dodgy.  When they went to pick it up it was a mess, and looked to be in poor condition, but they were told the other ones were worse than that, so they took it anyway.  They needed help to get into it, because the door was bent and needed a good kick to get in...  They went to fill it up with diesel, and after that it juddered along very poorly.  They stopped to see what the problem was and at that point the registration plate fell off.  Slightly daunted, but carrying on anyway, they fixed it on with tape.

It took them ages to get to rainy town, and when they got there it was very snowy.  The neighbours conservatory had collapsed, and she had broken glass everywhere, and water running over electric lights, so they took some time sorting all that out, before they got a chance to get the house sorted out!

When they got to the house, they got everything loaded up in good time, and drove back up, with the van finally going fine.  We unloaded it up here in seaside town, and, with the van in fine fettle, Kenny and co decided to head back down to rainy town for a second load.  They refuelled the van, and once again it started juddering along slowly.  But they figured that it had got better before, and it would get better again, so they struggled on.  Filled it up with stuff a second time, and brought it back up the motorway.  This time, it didn't perk up.  They had trouble getting it to go above 20mph!  By the time they got to seaside town it was midnight, and all of team seaside were in their beds.  Still, they emptied the van, and then decided to take it back to Kenny's parent's house, where we were staying the night, intending on returning it, with a few choice words in the morning.  The van limped along the road, but conked out when they were nearly there.  It had to be towed along.

The next morning, Kenny's Dad, the master of complaints, called to say the van would need collecting, and they weren't going to be paying for it...

There's still at least one more load of stuff in rainy town, but we'll just have to get it next week.  This week we've had enough trauma!

Hello seaside town

Having survived our arctic trek across Glasgow on Friday, we arrived at seaside town and went to see the new house.  It was empty, but the kids played hide and seek anyway, rampaging around the place while Kenny and his Dad did important DIY.  Right then, there wasn't much else we could do, so we went to get a good night's sleep, or at least attempt it, at Kenny's parents house (thank goodness for them).


Kenny got up bright and early on Saturday, and headed down to rainy town with his Dad and a mate (let's call this team Kenny & co) to empty out the house into a big van. Meanwhile me and the kids hung out, waiting for Kenny's Mum to get home (from babysitting her other grandchildren, poor woman!), and for Ken's brother and more friends (team seaside) to turn up to move more stuff. It was quite a chilled morning for us. Not so for Kenny and co who had nightmares with the incredibly dodgy rental van, and then arrived in rainy town to discover our neighbour's conservatory had collapsed! Poor love, she was really shaken up, so Kenny and co helped her make things safe, which took ages. Then they set to work on our house.


The way they packed that van was a wonder of modern engineering.


They brought the first load of stuff up to seaside town – well behind schedule and rather stressed, and arrived just as I was boiling a kettle and opening a packet of onion bhajis (who says sympathetic magic doesn't work?). Team seaside had been moving stuff over that was already up at Kenny's parent's house, and now they all joined forces, unloading the van, stacking things, and drinking tea. Kenny and co headed back down the road for another load, and team seaside put together all our furniture which had had to go into bits. We have the best friends and family people could wish for, and we're really grateful.

Next time, I'll tell you about the fun Kenny and co had with the dodgy rented van!

Driving in the snow

Reader, when I left you last time I was about to set off on an intrepid adventure through the snow... I'd fed the tired and grouchy children and was hoping they would all go to sleep...

One out of three wasn't bad.  The other two bickered happily as I set off up the motorway toward Glasgow.  It was really very snowy, and the motorway was down to two lanes, but I found a speed I found safe at, which seemed popular with other sane people too, and all was well.

Kenny had advised me to go a different way to normal, and I had set up the satnav on my 'phone accordingly, but then, in Glasgow, my phone happily chirped 'GPS lost', and started drawing circles on grids. The traffic was awful, and the children were properly fighting, and the littlest one had woken up to tell them to shut up, and I was joining in too, and we still had the Tall Ships CD on track 1 because the little one likes it, and then, I saw a familiar sign, and I followed it.  Oops.

The trees looked like this!  Although the sky didn't.  This pic is from here

It wasn't too bad.  It was incredibly beautiful.  I could just about see where I was going. The trees weren't like Christmas card snowy trees; they looked to have been blanketed in cotton wool.  Some numpty overtook me, and then was stuck in front of me for a long time, probably unaware that the children were hurling abuse at him (which seemed fair).  We briefly got up to 15 miles per hour.  The numpty turned off to go to a golf course (can you even play golf in the snow?), and the children started hurling abuse at each other instead, so I threw chocolate at them, and got a bit shouty.  Anyway, the road got better and we got up to 30, and the children were very fed up that it was taking so long to get anywhere. And then, down we came, closer to the sea, and we drove out of the snow, and into the green.  It was like walking through a door.

Next time I'll tell you about getting into the new house... Promise.

Leaving rainy town

Just a partial update I'm afraid - more will follow.

The children and I spent Friday morning finishing off packing up the house (me), cleaning (me), and watching inordinate amounts of TV (the children).  We were all tired, emotionally wrung out, and wishing that the whole thing was just done and dusted... which may have made for a little more ahem, grumpiness than usual in our household... but packing is very very boring, and saying goodbye to friends does totally suck, and I completely agree with the children on that.  

One little problem.  Snow has come to rainy town!  I mean, obviously we have had snow before, in fact, there was snow on the ground the day before, and to  give it its due I have never known snow to hold rainy town back.  They know the value of grit (as do its residents, which is why it's always running out), so I wasn't particularly worried about getting out of rainy town.  I was worried about getting past Glasgow!  Kenny had called to say I shouldn't bother coming over because it was snowing too hard, and I could come the next day, but at that point I'd virtually finished packing all their belongings, so they had nothing to do but stare at the television (even their sledges were packed).  I'd also cleaned everything so they were getting their heads bitten off if they so much as looked at something with sticky fingers.  We had to get out.  

Goodbye no1, we'll miss you

I checked the roads.  It looked bad, but not too bad.  Was my journey strictly necessary?  Yes.  Yes it was.  But first we went out for farewell lunch at Arietes, where we saw some friends, unexpectedly, and shared brown sauce satchets.  It was gorgeous.  I hoped that food in their tummies, and a poor night's sleep would send my little darlings straight off to the land of nod.  I'll tell you all about the journey next time.

We gone got a house!

Just a quick update to let you know that while I have spent the entire day (apart from a delicious tea and chat at a friends house - thank you Lisa and David) hobbling about, packing, and cleaning, in a desperate rush to get all this done so we can get out of here tomorrow (that's just me and the weans, so the men can get on with the fetching and carrying)... The very lovely Kenny McKee has been in seaside town buying school uniform (I hate school uniform, don't you?), and picking up this little beauty!

He's also been for a look around the house, before our stuff arrives to mess it up.

Here's the kitchen... you'll have to wait for other rooms!

Meanwhile, to give you an update on my ankle.  It's still sore, but a lot better than yesterday and I finally have some bruising (in lots of wierd places).  It's still swollen too, but I can move all my toes now.  Thanks everyone for your concern and your help.

Down to earth with an ouch!

I have been packing like a packing demon, and we are all incredibly excited about the impending move.  Today our money left our bank and went to our solicitor (who wanted more, naturally, so we gave her more).  I have more empty cupboards, I've had a lovely goodbye coffee with lots of friends, and even got hugs off the owner of the cafe (the little girl is REALLY going to miss going there to see all the animals), I've taken down the curtains and lampshades, rolled up (some) rugs, and it is all coming together.  Feeling good about things, and then this little chap popped by to join us for lunch.

We often see him (I'm guessing it's a him, I might be wrong) at lunchtime, and the little girl loves to watch the bird while she's avoiding eating any vegetables.  I have been trying to get a photo of him for AGES, so was very pleased he consented today!  

After lunch we went to the tip where the nice man (such a nice man, with an awesome amount of statistical data about the sheer quantities of rain in rainy town) helped me put stuff we're not taking with us, that's of no use to anyone else, into skips, and then the little girl had her nap, and I got lots of admin and packing done, and was all in a rush to go get the big kids from school, carrying a waking little girl to the car, when she arched backwards, which she does often when she's waking up, but this time, I lost my footing on the steps in front of the house and I fell.  

I don't know what happened in the intervening period but I did ensure I put her down as slowly as possible, but face first, on the snow, and I ended up lying on my back on the snow.  I couldn't quite reach her, but she was lying on the snow, which, as I was doing it too, seemed a bad plan.  It was cold, and it was melting.  So I barked at her to sit up, which she did.  I don't know what I did to my ankle, but it was hurting A LOT, so I was trying to figure out how best to move, and how to help the little girl, and if I was going to be able to drive, and what would happen about all the rest of the packing, so it seemed the best idea to continue lying in the snow, and get the little girl over for a cuddle.  She came.  She was worried about me.  She tried to hoik me up.  I sat up.  It hurt my ankle.  I had to stand up, and there was going to be nothing dignified about it.  She wanted to help me, but I was in too much pain to do that.  So I stood up.  It hurt a lot.  I hobbled over and locked up, and then got the little girl in the car.  I didn't seem to be able to move my toes properly, but the best thing to do was go to school.  A friend went by in her car and gave a cheery wave.  I waved back.  So I went to school.  It hurt.  A lot.

At school the little girl was worried about me, so she wanted to get carried.  I carried her and went to wait for the other kids.  I was in lots of pain, and I was so worried about how I was going to get everything done.  I cried outside of school.  That's not the worst bit, though (although that was excrutiating).  People saw, and people were nice to me.  So I cried more.  I didn't want to.  Urgh.  

Anyway, one of the other Mums, who is a nurse in A&E, was called over to inspect me.  She had to help me get my sock on and off, which was embarrasing, and painful (although not as painful as it was when I was trying to do it).  She prescribed frozen peas and sofa time and regular standing up.  Thank goodness.  So, I sat on a sofa, while my kids sat on a different one (to make sure they DON'T TOUCH THE FOOT), and we watched a terrible film, while they ate biscuits (easier to reach than the fruit below apparently).  I did make them a proper tea as well, but they were all magnificent.  The boy changed rubbish bags, and did lots of carrying, the big girl got everything organised so everyone had their own space and all homework would be dealt with (mainly by me 'saying, no, we won't bother doing that, we'll be gone before its due'), and the little girl drove everyone potty.

I'm hoping that taking to my bed will give me a near-full recovery come morning, and I can finish getting everything packed tomorrow.  Anticipate radio silence.

Thank you to all my friends for coming out this morning, and looking after me this afternoon.  I'm really going to miss you.

I think we're making progress!

Hello all, apologies for sporadic postings but I'm sure you understand how busy I am, what with packing, and lots of annoying admin!  Yesterday I had to drive into our local big town to sort out lots of bits and bobs, and didn't have much time for massive quantities of laundry (washing machine is now unplugged), packing, and generally stressing.  I was very lucky to have a friend who offered to feed the children (and me - delicious cauliflower cheese soup), which gave us all a much needed break, and one less job to do.  Thanks Gillian!  Hopefully we can return the favour when she and her son come and visit us in seaside town.  I know my boy will miss hers horribly, they are both funny, bouncy, smart, gaming, longish haired little stars.

The great news is, it feels like all this work is finally paying off.  We have lots of cupboards that are mostly empty, but as of yesterday we have our first emptied cupboard!  And we have a lot of packed boxes!

Today I'm starting off with a load of change of address letters, while watching Julia Donaldson cartoons with the little girl, and then we're going to pack up the kids rooms.  Bring it on!

I'm also putting together a cleaning kit which will be the last thing to leave the old house, and an essentials kit which will be the first thing into the new house.  So far, in the essentials kit I've got: 

• Toilet roll
• Towels
• Soap
• Washing up liquid, and 
• Coffee

What else should I put in there?  Any handy hints?

Yet more admin

Yesterday was spent in a hungover blur of packing, and today I have been busy on the computer, trying to change address, redirect mail, and generally have a technological nightmare.

This is my world at the moment, and I'm not over keen, although I must focus on the good stuff that's around the corner.

I've discovered that one of the reasons I'm having trouble is that my new address is not on the Royal Mail's PAF (the who's who of addresses) as yet.  This means I can't set up a redirect, or get lots of companies to believe that the house exists.  Sigh.

So I have taken up the baton and emailed Royal Mail to let them know the address needs adding.  They wanted to know which houses it was next to, and I haven't a clue if it's sequential or evens/odds, and which way it goes anyway.  Normally I'd try to work it out from Google Street View (another one of my favourite things on t'internet), but we're not on it yet (I've told them we're there too).  Our street isn't even on Google Maps yet.  This is an incredibly new house!  I'm feeling a bit nervous about it.

Apart from the house I'm in (which is about five years old, and is what converted us to modern houses) I've only ever lived in older houses, so I've never had all that 'settling' and whatever else goes on in brand new houses. I'm more used to old house problems, like terrible insulation, crumbling plaster, and holes in the roof!  So, what have I got to look forward to?  What should I look out for?  Is the NHBC 10 year thing a bit like a warranty on a washing machine - i.e. you can expect the thing to break the day after it runs out?  Tell me your tales of new houses... and I'll get some packing done.

Go!

Kenny got a call this morning and we will be moving next Friday!  So we've been going mad, packing stuff, arranging things, and being VERY EXCITED!  I can't believe we've only got a week left with our friends in rainy town (which isn't rainy at all at the moment, but has been sunny since lots of snow settled on Saturday, more snow forecast tonight!).  I wish we could take them with us.

I also can't believe it's only going to be a week until we live in seaside town!  It looks rather small in the picture above, which I've taken from Ayrshire Bed and Breakfast Association's website, but it's the biggest town I will have lived in for a long long time!  It's got a train station!  And a swimming pool!  And shops!  And ice cream!

I've run out of parcel tape, and while Kenny's out getting more (and getting the children) I thought I'd give you a quick update.  A week is a bit mad, but I'm sure we'll do fine!  EXCITED!

thinking about the boy's room

The boy got the short straw when it came to bedroom selection, and is going to be moving from his big room here, to a smaller room in the new house.  He is a very style-oriented boy, and I want to ensure his room is a safe space for him, which feels like his.  These are his colour selections for his room (blue carpet and zigzag curtains).  The walls will be white, at least, to start off with, and I've got him some colourful spots to decorate his room (pictured).

The problem is that the boy's got a bed, which he loves, and he's not willing to swap, but I'm not sure how it's going to work in the bedroom.  The only place I can see it fitting is against the wall that the radiator's on, and it's going to block the radiator.  Here's the room (below).  To the right of the door are built in wardrobes.  The room is 9'11" by 8'8", so the bed could fit in along the shorter wall, but it would be blocking half of the wardrobe...

Part of me is thinking, he's a boy, he likes scruffy clothes, is wardrobe access really necessary?  But, maybe it'll look rubbish.  Hmmm

Here's the bed, below (replete with boys - mine and some of his best mates).  It's got high walls around one side and the foot, and a shelf unit on the head.  What do you think we should use it to block?  The radiator?  The wardrobe?  I guess we'll have a better idea when we're actually in there, but it's nice to have a plan... I think.  What about you?  Do you like to work things out before you go, or wait until you're in the house?

Ready... steady...

The boy running in the park beside the house -
we're all going to need to start running!

Sorry for radio silence yesterday – nothing was happening, and I couldn't bring myself to say anything about it. However, *whisper it* there's a rumour that we've got an entry date. It's not been officially agreed yet, but the solicitor has been talking to the mortgage company, and they've talked to us! I guess, seeing as it hasn't been agreed yet, formally, it can change. The solicitor can re-arrange things, and we should probably not book removals vans yet, but, it's still exciting!

The thing is, and I haven't worked out if this is good or bad yet, the entry date they're talking about is next week. NEXT WEEK! This would indicate that I should get off the computer and do more packing! This is good, because we don't have much time to procrastinate, and faff about, we can get packed up and go, and get busy settling in. This is bad, because we haven't got time to faff about and procrastinate, and because I haven't organised a leaving night out yet!

My two little witches eating their booty
after going out 'guising.

Tomorrow the builders are doing an important check which has an important incomprehensible name, and I guess, after they've done that, they might let us know an official moving date. Fingers crossed.

Today I have packed up a load of stuff in the study and am about to move on to the lounge. I'm kind of hoping it will be next week. What do you think? Do you like time to work out what you're doing, or just to get right on with it?

I'm trying to do what I can to get a confirmed date of entry, although to be honest, I think my best bet would be to do a magic spell and sing an incantation – it might not work, but it would give me something to think about (and if it involved eating chocolate I'd have plenty of helpers)!

we are on hold...

You know that feeling when you hear on the 'phone that 'your call is important to us, we are experiencing a higher than usual call volume, you are held in a queue, and your call will be answered shortly'.  What's better?  Adverts?  Musak? Some sort of beeping sound to let you know you can still hear?  Being on hold is never pleasant.  They say we Brits are famous for queuing, and I guess being on hold is like a 'phone version of a queue.  Maybe they should let us talk to each other to relieve the monotony?

Well, the missives are concluded, and we will be buying the house in seaside town, but we don't yet have a date of entry.  We can't arrange removals, change of address, insurance, or, it seems, anything else, until we have a date of entry.  When will we have a date of entry?  When the sellers give us one... Meanwhile here's a nice picture.

It's not unrelated (the picture), it's a view from Kenny's parents' garden, which is just down the road from seaside town.  I can't wait to have seaside views like this.  I can't wait to get the move done and dusted, and start getting to know the area...

Still, wait I must, so, while I've been waiting I've been continuing to pack (it's a slow process), and trying to work out where to put things in the new house. And I'm stuck. I have two cupboards that I love, which are currently in my bathroom. We won't have enough room for them in the bathroom in the new house, so where do we put them? They might fit in the utility room/toilet, but should they go there? Or maybe the dining area? What do you think?  Are they definitely bathroom cabinets or could I get away with them elsewhere?

Hoping we'll still see old friends

Today my best childhood friend was supposed to be coming to visit for the afternoon with her family. It's always great to see her. We eat, laugh, and set the world to rights.  She couldn't come today because of the snow, so we've had lots of fun playing on sledges and building snowmen instead.

When we moved to rainy town from sunny Suffolk, we were looking forward to being nearer to both our families, and to our friends. We hoped we would see more of our families and friends than we had done, and we have. My Mum's been to visit several times, and we've seen some friends too. Now we're moving further North, and we'll be a lot closer to Kenny's family, but two hours further away from most of mine. I'm concerned that we won't see as much of friends and my family. My brother (pictured here) never visited us in Suffolk. He's hoping to visit us in seaside town. I hope he will.

We've all made lots of good friends here too (some of them are pictured below), and will miss seeing as much of them.

However, we are moving to a lovely seaside town with lots to do and good train and air connections, and we'll have spare beds to sleep on, so I'm hoping lots of friends and family will come and visit (we've offered to take them out for ice cream to sweeten the deal).

Some of my lovely friends in rainy town - part 1

Part 2

I'm sure my Mum will still come up, and will probably enjoy not having to drive any more, and it will be really good to see much more of Kenny's family. Also, no doubt we'll make new friends. We'll get involved with the school and toddler groups, and try not to look too scary! But I do hope our existing friends will come up and visit us, to help us all have someone to share our adventure with. They'll all be most welcome.

Do you manage to keep in contact with old friends who are far away?  Do you see them sometimes, or just chat on Facebook and the like?

Getting rid of stuff

Good morning! I'm feeling better this morning. A day off really helped.

So this morning I am going to talk about one of the joys of packing – getting rid of stuff.

My parents live in houses that are so cluttered up with stuff that they have less and less room to live in. I like stuff too, but I don't want to live like that. Kenny is great at getting rid of stuff, but I have a genetic tendency to hoard, so I find it really hard.

The boy contemplates the sheer weight of stuff.

I had a look online at what other people had done and found a really inspirational post from Positively Sorted, which reminded me to only keep things we need or love, and also reminded me that things I don't want can be useful elsewhere. Personally I'd rather give things away than sell them, mainly because I can't be bothered with ebay, but either way, I think you win.

I am really enjoying getting rid of stuff! I've offered some stuff free on rainy town's local website (you can do the same on Freecycle, or some local Facebook pages), and although there hasn't been any uptake on that yet, when I asked for boxes on the same site I was deluged with offers (thanks everyone).

I'm passing some of the kids stuff on to friends we know will get good use of it, and I love that other children will get enjoyment out of things my children have loved, but grown out of, and that our cot, used by my children, and my god-daughters before them, will carry on being used by another lovely family.

I'm also enjoying passing stuff to our local Barnardos shop. I think Barnardos is a fantastic charity, and I don't have any spare money at the moment to pass to them, but I've got lots of spare stuff, so hopefully they can turn that into money. It's all good!

Are you good at getting rid of stuff?  What do you do with it?

I feel like a day off

Everything to do with the move has been a little bit full on, especially since Kenny's started his new job.  I feel like all I've done this week is arrange things to do with the move, talk about the move, and write about the move... and if I wasn't doing that I was packing boxes.

Last night Kenny and I sat with a glass of wine and Go Compare (he was here for the night again - but too tired to be very cheery), and other frustrating websites.

We were trying to find the insurance we need for when we move.  However, we still haven't got confirmation about when that will be (although we have officially concluded the missives now), so we can't set it up yet.  

It was frustrating because all the comparison websites come up with a list of great prices, and then we'd have to fill in more details specific to each quote, and the prices would start going up, so you can't really compare at all.  There's a stream at the bottom of the hill we're going to live on, which would require a miracle to break its banks and get all the way up the hill to flood our house but because it's within 200 metres it raises the insurance cost.  Bleurgh.

It's all so incredibly boring.  I wonder if anyone managed to find one that does what it says on the tin?  

I have been packing lots as well, which has depleted my supply of boxes (I've still got enough to be going on with though - thanks everyone), but doesn't seem to have reduced the amount of stuff in the house.  What's that about?  All I seem to have achieved is making a mess.  So, this afternoon I am avoiding doing anything useful at all, for a while at least.  I need a day off!

Coming right slap bang up to date!

So far everything's been back story, but this time we're finally coming up to what's happening right now!  We've caught up.

I've had a conversation with our solicitor this morning (it's a beautiful pastel shaded morning here in rainy town), asking her to conclude the missives.  It's terribly exciting.  The sellers have got back and the solicitors have been talking the kind of talk that keeps them employed, and the end result is we're agreeing to buy the house!

There is bad news too though... the house isn't quite finished yet, and we can't agree a date of entry until it's finished.  I'm trying to find out when that's likely to be, but I don't know yet.  Hopefully not too long after when we were hoping to move in.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Kenny has already started his new job, and so is staying up near seaside town in the week.  We really miss him, but we're glad he's enjoying his work.  He made a special effort last night to get home to see the children, and to let me go to my writing class, for which I was truly grateful.  The children were delighted to see him, and so was I.  He's managed to arrange meetings at his old workplace, so we'll see him tonight too, before he heads back up the road tomorrow.  We are kind of used to him being away, but it's so much better when he's here.  He's a great Dad - great at doing all the fun stuff, and encouraging fascination in the kids.  Recent scientific experiments have included learning about freezing points by making icecream (winner), and learning about energy and engineering with water rockets (they go VERY high).  Here he is with the little girl (not sure he'll thank me for this picture!).

One of the great things about this move is that Kenny will be working nearby pretty much all the time, so we'll get to see him lots.  Also, this is the first time we're moving and actually expecting to stay in one place - until the kids finish school, hopefully.  So it's a really big deal.  We've got to get it right, and if we do, it's going to be great for our little family.  So no pressure there then!

What are you especially good at doing with your children?  Do you manage to do it?  Or does boring stuff get in the way?

Moving adventures for kids

It's a beautiful morning today, and we have just got back from walking/scooting/ biking to school.  The birds are enjoying the break from the rain as much as we are, and are flying about all over the place, and we got to enjoy a colourful sunrise on our way to school.  I am having trouble with formatting today, so it's taking me a while to make this look OK.  I hope it works!  Do you have these problems with blogger sometimes?  It's the first time it's happened to me!  Walking to school is such a great thing to do, even though I feel like I can't be bothered, it leaves us all feeling happier for the rest of the day!  The children were fantastic this morning, helping each other get ready, and get to school on time.  We are very lucky to have three clever, funny, and kind children (there's the big girl, to the right).  They are being fantastic about moving house, but they are worried about it.  It's costing us all sleep!

The last time we moved was two years ago, when they were 5, 3, and a few months, and for the girls it was no problem, but it was hard for the boy.  He had built up strong friendships down in Suffolk (with boys he still counts as friends), and had a hard time making new friends here.  They were a great bunch of boys at his school, but they already had friends, and it took a while for him to feel happy.  

This time we are moving to a place we all know, a bit at least.  Kenny's parents live nearby, and the children are really looking forward to seeing more of them.  I am too!  We have never close enough to relatives to have occasional babysitters, and I haven't been able to do much by myself since becoming a Mum.  I wouldn't expect them to do very much, but just having a possible backup will be marvellous!  We'll also be living in a town with lots of things to do - like a swimming pool, a beach, parks, and great sports facilities, plus a train, so we can easily escape for the day to the big smoke!

On top of all that, we'll only be a couple of hours away from where we live now, so the kids will be able to visit their friends, and have them come to visit too.

I'm hoping all of those good things will make it easier this time.  But it's still going to be hard, of course.  The boy has built up friendships here now, and he is doing very well at school.  He's going to make new friends at the new school, and do well there too, but it will take time.  I'm not worried about the little girl (pictured with her favourite brother below - she's the one with eyes like a pod person).  She can't even remember her friends' names half the time.  The person I'm really worried about is the big girl.

The big girl has made some marvellous friends in rainy town (she's pictured with some of them below), and she's settled in well to Primary 1, after a fantastic transition process from nursery.  She's a great wet lettuce on the inside, but here she seems so confident.  I'm really proud of how well she's doing, and I know it's going to be incredibly hard for her to start again.  We're trying to sweeten the deal for her a bit.  She shares a room with the little girl at the moment, and is driven mad by her chattering away while she's trying to get to sleep, and her constantly messing the place up.  No one can share with the boy because he gets up at an ungodly hour, and then starts bouncing, so she's had to put up with her, but when we move, she's going to get the second bedroom.  It is much bigger than the other kids' bedrooms.  She is rather pleased about this, but mainly she's worried.

The boy, the big girl, and I are all worried - we're having nightmares, and other sleep problems, and we're all being particularly tetchy. The sooner we get the job done the better.

On Monday we went to visit the school the kids will be going to in seaside town.  I was incredibly nervous about it and the kids were pretty out of sorts so I guess they were too.  It took me ages to decide where to park, so we had to hurry in to the school, and oh my goodness, it was lovely.

It was colourful, it had stuff the kids had made all over the place.  There were lots of cushions on the settle in the reception, in the bizarre school colours (blue, orange and grey!), and then the headie and deputy came out to meet us, and spoke to the children first.  They were wearing nice, comfortable, smart-casual clothes, as were the teachers for the most part.  The headie showed us 'round and the children were respectful, interested, and encouraged to have their say.  There is a school uniform (in the school colours!), but it looked to be pretty loose.  I hate school uniform, but it seems to be inevitable in Scotland, so I was glad to see a school that seemed pretty relaxed about it.  Generally I loved the school.  The boy and the big girl were taken to their respective classes-to-be, and the boy's teacher had a chat with him (she's about 12, so hopefully will have lots of fun ideas).  The boys in his future class were very interested in him, and he said he'd seen someone he thought he'd like to be friends with (longer hair, so no surprises there rock fans), so I'm excited about how he's going to do.  But the girl noticed that the kids in her class were ahead of her in their reading books, and there's a lot of people in the class (it's too big for a single class, but they've decided to keep it as one class, but have two teachers in it, which looks like a great plan to me, but is a bit daunting to her).  I'm worried about her, but I do think she's a wonderful girl, and she'll make friends if she'll let people in, it's just that when she's worried she shuts down.  I hope she can get all the support she'll need.

So, do you have any ideas?  How can we make moving easier for the big girl?  For everybody? How can we get a better night's sleep?

Next time I should hopefully have an update on how things are going with the missives, and if not, I might just get over-excited about decorating again!

I hope this is all going to work out because I want this house!

This is it.  The house we are trying to buy.  I don't know what the black and white poles are, they've gone now.  But this is the house, with our cars parked outside.  It's taken on a mucky day, so you can't see much of the hills in the background, but you can see the grass of the park next door (that's now fenced in), and you can see the front of the house.

Upstairs there will be a bedroom for each child, a bathroom, and a bedroom for Kenny and I, with an ensuite.  The downstairs has an open plan layout.  We have got used to living in a bigger house, so the garage is going to have a lot of stuff in it!

We've been very lucky.  Because we're buying one of the last houses in the development we are getting curtains and carpets thrown in (well, put in carefully).  On Saturday we went and made the final decisions on carpets and curtains.  I am getting over-excited about colour schemes!  The rented house we have been staying in for the last two years is mainly beige, so this house will not have any beige.  Well, it will, because there's already some in there, but I'm going for lots of colour because I have been drowning in a sea of beige blah, and I'm coming right out of it now!

So here are the swatches for the downstairs rooms.  I've tried to tie all the colours in.  I hope it makes my red Expedit bookcase and my big green sofa feel right at home.  What do you think?  I'm worried there'll be too much beige in that first curtain, but I'm hoping the colour-pops will sort it out.

That brown carpet will go on up the stairs and into the master bedroom, which will have brown and green colours and mainly wooden furniture.

The children's bedrooms will all have quite light and bright curtains, and a pale blue carpet (it works really nicely with the girls' pinks and lilacs, as well as the boy's blues and greens).  

All the walls are white, throughout.  For now.  I'm thinking of putting some decals or wall stickers up, but nothing more committed than that until we've lived there for a while.  Probably.

Gosh it seems awfully grown up to be making decorating decisions for a whole house in one go!  Have you ever had to do that?  How did it go?

We took Kenny's parents up to the house with us on Saturday too.  We were all feeling excited about the move.  Ever since we decided to start a family we have been hoping to live in this area, and we are all feeling really good about moving into this street.  Kenny's Dad bumped into someone he knew, who's going to be one of our neighbours.  He came 'round and was telling Kenny and his Dad all about who lives where.  Sounds like we're going to have some interesting neighbours.  I hope they like us!

We went to visit the school the kids will be going to yesterday, but I'll tell you all about that next time, as it's time I went and picked up said kids from school.  It has been raining all day (we're back in rainy town), but we have a wee window of not-rain (I can't put it better than that I'm afraid) at the moment!


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Please note, the above text has been amended, to note that it was not raining at the end of school.  I had previously said it was.  My apologies to the dry citizens of rainy town. ;-)