Missed it!

I had my dutiful son Maxim18 take this photo last Tuesday as we drove out of Melbourne bound for Adelaide. I planned to blog about it when I got there. Never happened. Adelaide for me is like a vast black hole in which all time, strength of mind and energy are sucked from me. It's something to do with the 5am waking grandchildren, the fact that I need to catchup with family while I am there and the reasons I go there. This visit was to help Jess (picklesticks) and her family move house. It sounds like a fairly easy operation but when you add in three lively young kids (one extremely busy boy and that early riser girl) it's just not that simple. We also were there to help Molly20 move. We had a lovely time and I caught up with all my kids which was wonderful. Our daughter in law's mother is losing a battle with cancer at the moment and she is spending every available moment with her, understandably, so we didn't get to see her. These are dark days for our son and his wife, and her family.

So, I missed the end of February and the beginning of March, fortunately it all happened without any input from me. I am home now and my first job is to work on finishing the sewing room redo. I am sorely tempted to stay online and find out what the blogging world has been up to for the last week, but that won't get anything finished here, will it?

Tuesday

Miss 19 dueting with her Dad

I'm packing and dreaming of the time that such musical soirees will be happening again at my house. Packing just makes the house so upside-down. So many harsh words and disagreements! We all must be out of sorts here at the moment. Let's hope we are back to normal by the weekend! (I wonder if our landlord will be bothered by the fact that I. Never. Want. To. Move. Again. Ever.)

Full Circle.

About twelve months ago we were preparing to move to Melbourne from Adelaide. Some 700-odd kilometers away. Today's discussions brought all that back to me. We were discussing Miss 14's upcoming birthday and what the celebrations for that birthday might include. Last year was very different. Both Miss 14's and my birthday were celebrated in a tent, not while we were on holiday, but while we were looking for a home in Melbourne.

Miss 14's birthday cake 2010

Almost twelve months later we are preparing to move again because our landlord wants to sell the house we are renting. My Bradley joked that we would be fine no matter what happened because we could always put the tent up in a caravan park again. (I think he found that thought comforting. I told him it wasn't funny!) Anyway, the tent just won't be happening because we have found a house!!! It is only two streets away and hopefully we will be able to live in it longer than twelve months! We like the area and the kids wanted to stay here. Miss 14 loves her school and is planning to finish her high schooling there(two more years) so we needed to find something close by and we have done it! So now we have to begin packing in earnest. A friend suggested in jest that all we need to move is a wheelbarrow. We are hoping that our trailer will suffice.

Today has been a slow day. I did do a little sewing, some preparation for a scrap quilt that is calling my name, and working out what fabric I will need to back a quilt top that is almost finished. (You'd never know I had done two maths subjects in high school AND passed!) More about the sewing stuff tomorrow. Tonight I am just being happy that I know which roof will be over my head during 2012.

I came home...

 ... a week ago now. We came home a little early because our stuff (furniture and things) arrived in Melbourne. There was much excitement (I now have more than two pairs of shoes!) and we figured that my Bradley would need some help to unload the stuff. (And he did because he hurt his back three days before the stuff arrived.) Mr 17 stayed in Adelaide to hang out with his friends and Miss 25 travelled there the day after we arrived home to help that 9 months (and counting!) pregnant picklesticks. (Still waiting for that little girl to arrive!) So the stuff moving was down to me (on the left, and then clockwise), my Bradley, Mr 10, and Miss 14.

Our feet.
Sad to report that Mr 10 is now wearing a men's size 10 shoe. Shocking, isn't it? No longer can I say, "Act your age, not your shoe size!" because they are the same. Our two older boys have BIG feet so I guess Mr 10 will go that way too.

Last Thursday lunchtime the first POD arrived. (Portable On Demand storage) And then a second on Friday. And a third on Saturday. (Yes, a lot of stuff!)

This gantry contraption takes the POD off of the truck and delivers it wherever you want it.

Mr 10 at the unveiling

It was a pretty full on three days. And of course, it hasn't stopped since. Lots of unpacking, furniture building and rearranging to do! One thing that has kept up our spirits has been the messages Miss 19 wrote back in January when she helped us pack. The one below is quite tame. There was one that read "I'll give you $10 if you can guess what's in this box!" (Mr 10 is still trying to claim that one!)

A message from Miss 19, who helped us pack, but didn't move with us.

And this is what our family room looked like after the pods were emptied. Yep. Lots to do. I may never sew again!

Just a tiny walkway was left!

We're here.

We started moving in to our new house one week ago. Last Friday. Are we settled yet? No, not really. We are lucky enough to have a double garage here which is currently full of unopened boxes, so we're not living in a cardboard jungle at least! On Saturday night I opened the front door and this is what I saw. (Tilt your computer on the side to make any sense of this photo. Google seems to think it should be this way up and I can't convince it otherwise!) I uploaded this photo especially for my friend Sue. She is autumn crazy and this is just to make her jealous. I have autumn on my doorstep Sue!

I don't have a separate sewing room at the new house. I have appropriated the casual dining area as my own which means that I am set up opposite the kitchen. Hopefully this will mean fewer burnt dinners! (I tend to get engrossed in the sewing room and forget dinner! Do you do that?) This is my new room this afternoon. Still unpacking, but the required shelves, desk and ironing board are in place!

You know "reality tv"? (Which isn't actually real at all. How many times have you lived in a house with a bunch of strangers and no contact with the outside world? Never? Thought so, and yet that is the premiss of "Big Brother" one of the originals of reality tv.) Well this is "reality blogging"! I kept wanting to wait until my sewing room was perfect to photograph it and show you, but I worked out that if I wait until then I may never blog again! So, I'm back. Still unpacking. Still organising. And now I'm blogging again too.

We're moving!

Finally! We're moving! We have been looking and looking for a house to suit our larger-than-average family for about 10 months now, and this week we found it. We heard today that we got the house. Much joy and excitement from all quarters! So, there will not be much sewing done here for the next little while because we will be packing and moving. Can't wait! (It's pretty, isn't it?)