I had intended to keep up with my blog off-line and then just post all the entries when I was hooked back in, but guess what … nope, it didn’t happen!! This is the first time I have really set to putting anything down, so it’s all going to be retrospective, which never makes for such a good read, but hey-ho, sorry folks!!
‘Big’ move is perhaps a slight understatement!! We hired a big Luton, with tail-lift and I think it took about 6 loads (the last two not being quite full, but bulky bitty stuff, like garden accessories). We had also run a whole load of boxes over in our Tourneo a couple of nights preceding, so I think we might have filled all six in reality! We are eternally grateful to our very good friends, who without their help, it would have been almost impossible to do ourselves. By the end of moving day my kitchen was virtually unpacked and functional (thanks to my super efficient girl-friends), the majority of the house had been wiped down and out and some of the windows had even been cleaned. The garage was well stacked (cough, cough - another serious understatement) and although there were boxes everywhere I was amazed that we still had space to move about. Whilst packing up in the old house, we had really run out of anywhere to put the packed boxes, but whilst they were all just being piled in here thick and fast at the end, we still had room to put mattresses down to sleep on and space to move and sort in. I don’t think I had really realised how big this house actually is until I started to move our things into it. When we had looked around it empty, perhaps we were tainted by thoughts of another certain house, but we had perceived this one as not being very big, or workable enough for us (layout wise). In REALITY though this house is HUGE. The only place that is not so big is Paul’s study. It is much more of a work space and less the kind of ‘comfy Pastor’s space’ than he had been looking forward to, but none-the-less, with a little modification of our desk arrangements, it is perfectly functional. The rest of the house is so big that the ‘comfy’ spaces can be found in other ways anyway :)
I was very grateful too, that Paul’s mum was able to come and spend moving week with us. She was a tremendous help - and managed to land herself the job of staying behind at the old house giving it a rough clean through, whilst the landlords ‘moved in’ around her! They decided they did not want us to have the weekend to clean up behind ourselves (which I was very unhappy about as to be perfectly honest, after a month of packing and pulling dust out of every crack and crevice, it was filthy. I did not want to hand it over that way and given my choice would have given it a thorough scrub down - it was not to be - but that’s another story…) Once firmly seated in the new abode she was more than helpful here too - cleaning down stair railings (cast iron trellis sort), bathrooms, windows, you name it, she cleaned it - and she helped with the kids a lot too, which was a true blessing in itself. I know she went home totally wiped out, but at least she could take her time to recover now that she is retired :) Two weeks following she joined us (with Dad this time) at conference for a ‘relaxing’ family holiday - glutton for punishment or what!! :D
One thing that slowed me up a lot over the whole time (and still is a bit) was that that my right hip has been giving me a lot of pain. It clicks a lot and constantly throbs and aches. Most days I would get to a point where I could barely walk anymore and bending over was agony. I know I put a lot of weight through that hip when I lift and carry things (and being over weight doesn’t help at all), but the more I did the worse it got, and that was very limiting and frustrating - not just to me! Compensating for my painful hip I began to use my arms more and consequently my right shoulder became painful again (I’ve had problems with that in the past). I became very aware of how reliant I am on my right side - even though I am left-handed!!
I have tried to maintain my photo-a-day, but to little avail and in all honesty there was not a great deal to capture other than towers of slowly emptying boxes. The children have just played a whole lot and have been amazing to be honest - quietly amusing themselves together in quite elaborate games of Mums and Dads (and other things) with not very available to them to play with. This has continued on in the new house too :D Before we moved we had pretty much managed to keep school running too, with internet access making it viable, but since we moved, school has been pretty non-existent and I now realise how important the net is to our school life! I have to keep telling myself that it doesn’t matter if they have extra weeks off, perhaps we can do a little over the summer - on rainy days maybe..! Back to photography - I have taken some pictures as when it’s been worth it so do check over on my 365 to see the ‘catch up’ post :D
No comments:
Post a Comment