Monday 2 July 2012

Two sleeps to go!!

(My apologies for the lack of paragraphs, the editor has gone funny!) Well, it turns out that packing, being a temporary single-mum and running a business is pretty time-consuming! I haven't blogged for months, literally!! And in those months we've ... found a tenant for our house ... found a house for us to live in ... quit the day job ... organised the removals guys and ... are moving in two days!!! Eeeek!!! I can't believe it's here already. We put the small people to bed at home for the last night tonight, they had their last supper at home, their last bath, their last tea. They're having a day and a sleepover at Grandma's tomorrow so hubby and I can concentrate on organising and packing. So that means it's our last night with a snuffling, trumping lump of baby in the cot in the corner of our bedroom. Sad ... and quite looking forward to having a grown-up bedroom again! Since my last post I've taken the children to visit Daddy in The Shire twice. The first time we went, we found a nice house in a little hamlet. It was fairly close to Hubby's work, fairly nicely decorated, fairly close to a good school and facilities. But it had a very smelly utility room! The previous tenants kept their dog in there and it stank of dog wee! At first the owner was happy for us to organise the floor being replaced but we were worried that it had soaked into joists, skirting boards etc etc and we wouldn't be able to use the room. In the end, the owner promised the house to someone else, so it all worked out. This visit was the start of convincing the children that the move will be a good thing. We were out on a drive when a deer ran across the road in front of us, they saw so much wildlife, breathed fresh air, didn't have to sit in traffic jams, it was lovely! During our second visit, we found an idilyic converted mill at the end of a track. It's a little place called Minnonie, near Banff. Minnonie consists of four houses along a track ... it's perfect!! I really can't convey how perfect it is! We're never going to want to leave!! We decided it would be best to rent for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we'd loose too much money if we sold our house just now. We bought it right at the height of the market and it's worth about £20k less now. So we're keeping our foot on the property ladder and renting it out. Secondly, we don't really know the area in The Shire yet, so renting gives us time to explore before buying a piece of Scotland. This second visit really cemented the idea with our eldest. We visited castles, beaches, the local towns ... he came home and started painting the beach, with the rainbow which ended in the sea just in front of the beach, and announced "this means I'm starting to like Scotland now". Minnonie Mill is a converted mill, which was built from the stone of a nearby castle when it was demolished. Our nearest neighbours will be cows! There are four bedrooms, a playroom, a utility room, a bootroom, the kitchen, conservatory and 10m living room, guest en-suite with corner bath and walk-in shower, house bathroom, garage/workshop, underfloor heating, integral vacuum system, resident owl in the chimney, 3/4 acre of garden/countryside, stream, pond, oh, and two waterfalls! Not to mention the visitng deer, otter and heron! It's serious child-paradise, and I think the grown-ups will be pretty happy there too! We've already got the guest rooms booked up for August, and I've even bought a specific wall calendar for visitors so we don't double-book!! Just need to pack this little house up now! We've been living in a state of half-packed-ness for months and it's driving me mad. We've just had an ill-timed week in Scarborough too with the in-laws, giving us 4 days between getting home and moving, and squeezing in a farewell party too! We've run out of packing boxes, so I physically can't do any more now till the guys arrive at 7am on Wednesday morning. I managed to convince Hubby that it wouldn't all fit in a Luton van, so he agreed to hire a man and a van (well, two men and a van!). It's not much more than doing it ourselves, and they're finishing the packing and dismantling too which is a huge relief. Most of our stuff is in toy crates/baskets and things anyway so hopefully it won't be too bad. The children are at Grandma's from tomorrow morning till we pick them up to set off on Wednesday so we can pack most of their things without them being too distressed. The logistics of it all has been stressing me out a bit but I just keep thinking "it'll be fine, we've got professionals"! Still, moving a house-full of stuff 400 miles is no small feat, and the last time we moved it was just the two of us and two cast ... no business, no children! It'll be fine, it'll be fine, it'll be fine ... (goes off to rock in a corner) ...

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