Category: The House

ummm what?

/ Renae / Leave a comment

It has NOT been that long since I last posted!?? I mean I’ve been thinking about blogging every day. That counts for something doesn’t it?

Too much is happening and my brain is mush. I’ve been unpacking boxes like a mad woman and they’re still not done.

I did do a fun little project today though. I turned this:

20150310_110537

Into this!

20150310_172014

Which was fun and exciting since I’m not really known around these here parts for having any idea about design! It’s for the kids play room for toys and books.

Anyway I’m seriously falling asleep here. I promise I’ll be back here again sooon!!

Another update

/ Renae / Leave a comment

We’re in Brisbane.

Mum and the kids and I flew down this evening. Hubs suggested it and i agreed. He and Darby and I are flying to Melbourne this weekend for a wedding so there wasn’t much point in hanging around up there when the was no power.

He is staying with another Doctor we have been friendly with this last month, as he had electricity, being on the same grid as the hospital. We are so grateful for him opening his place to us – we’ve been hanging out there the last 2 days enjoying the air con.

It’s been rather hot up there…

20150222_124014

This is me after busting my arse all day yesterday with Dad, getting all of our stuff out of the temp house.

We can’t move in to our new place til the floors are finished and they can’t finish the floors until the electricity is back on!

It’s all very amusing. So if you’re in Brizzie and want to catch up I’ll be here all week. Try the beef. It’s from Rockhampton.

We bought a horse

/ Renae / 1 Comment

*house. We bought a house. Though, when I texted my friend with this autocorrect gem, she was pretty excited that we had embraced the country life and bought ourselves a steed, and perhaps not quite as excited when I corrected the error.

But yes, we are in the final stages of buying a house. I don’t exactly know how it happened. One minute we were looking at rentals and the next we were joking about how we should buy something instead. Just like we joked about going to Mount Isa for a year.

I’m sure this venture will work out a little better…

Some people spend months looking at places and look at dozens of houses before deciding on one and putting in an offer. We looked at this one house and decided. It was the right location, the right price (after talking them down a little) and we put in an offer 2 days after our walk through. We haggled a bit for the next 36 hours, but then the deal was done and the contract was drawn up.

I never thought I would say this but our Real Estate agent is fantastic. He’s probably in his 60s and the business is his own. He is a softly spoken, genuine guy and we just feel like we’re being well looked after. Plus whenever we have mentioned his name to locals, they have all sung his praises which is nice.

We got off to a bit of a rocky start (ha ha. Rocky…) as I rang him at about 4 and he agreed to meet us at the house at 4.30pm on that rainy afternoon. By 4.50 he hadn’t turned up and I was getting really annoyed. I rang him to see what was going on and he said “Renae I’m on my way right now.” I was all huffy, saying to Hubs “If this were a half million dollar house I’m sure he would have been here on time.” Anyway he showed up and apologised and said to me that after he got off the phone to me something came up and he completely forgot about our arranged meeting.

And you know what? I really respected and appreciated his honesty. He could have made something up to make himself look busy and important but he told the truth and from then on, he had me on side.

It’s rather exciting really. The house needs some cosmetic work – if that’s what you call a new bathroom and kitchen – but according to those who have inspected it, it’s a good sturdy house, and it has a beautiful view that is just dying to be seen from a huge wraparound deck. Yes we have big plans for the place. The first thing is to rip up the carpets and have the floors sanded and polished before we move in.

Settlement date is tomorrow week and everything is in order to go ahead. I’m really quite excited actually. I thought that the idea of living in a house being renovated would make me throw up in my mouth a little, but I really can’t wait to get stuck in to the place and make it our own. We have been scouring Gumtree and garage sales and have already bought a beautiful leather couch, a set of bookshelves and an awesome fridge, complete with ice and water dispenser. Next in my list is a washing machine.

We should be moving in on the weekend of the 21st of Feb and mum and dad are coming up this weekend for some extra help.

So even though is not a horse, it’s a big “adult” decision and I couldn’t be happier. Can’t wait to start showing some before and after pics!

Catching up

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Today has been a good day. I heard Chanbe stir at 5:45am this morning, but then he went back to sleep for another hour and was ready to get up as Hubs was getting ready for work around 6:45am. He was in a good mood, and so was I! We said goodbye to Hubs and had brekky together and then had a lovely play before going for a walk. He then went down for a nap around midday, after lunch, and I thought I’d have a little lie down 2. My alarm went off after an hour, then an hour and a half, and then after 2 hours I felt rested. Chanbe is still asleep, 2.5 hours later! Which means he’ll wake up happy and we’ll have a lovely afternoon together.

Last week in Townsville was hard work, but it was a very successful trip. My main reasons for going were to get a feel for the town and look at some houses in the areas we are keen on. I looked at 14 houses for sale (yes! We’re getting all responsible and grown up!!!) and there were 3 that I/my support crew felt would be a good investment. You see, we’re only going to be living there for a year or 2, then we want to rent it out indefinitely. We are currently in negotiations about one of the houses, but I’ve started having some doubts about it so we’ll see how things progress over the next few days.

We had such a great week up there, Mum, Chance and myself. We stayed with family friends who are around my age and who have a 5 year old girl and 3 year old boy and the kids had a nice time playing. Chance was an absolute dream and had a great week with his Gran looking after him while I raced around (drove sensibly) looking at houses. It was hard without Hubs there – he had to work – but we might make another mad dash up in November/December before we move there for good at the end of December.

Only 4 and a half weeks until we move, and I’m trying my hardest to get things organised. Mum and Dad get here in just over 2 weeks, so it will help having them around. In 2 and a bit months time, we’ll be in Townsville. Hard to imagine…

Back in business

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Our internet finally got connected yesterday (woo hoo!) after almost 3 weeks of being off-line. Apart from our phones. And the Library. And Hubs’ work. But it’s different to just being able to sit anywhere in the house (hooray for wireless!) and surfing/blogging/paying bills/emailing to my heart’s content. My neck didn’t cause me too much grief and it was all better within about 5 days, thankfully. We are still unpacking but the end is nigh. These bookshelves that Hubs made really helped!!

Pretty gorgeous hey!? So I spent yesterday filling the middle and top shelf, and I’m now left wondering what to do with the bottom shelf. It might work nicely as a little desk for Chanbe actually. And who says unpacking has to be hard and boring? (Excuse the sound – that’s me laughing hysterically…)
So we’ve had some fun over the last few weeks as well as working very hard. We have a very busy few months coming up, with going down to Melbourne for a weekend, then I’ll head up to Brisbane for a week for a wee holiday and a couple of celebrations while Hubs stays home to study, then he’ll head to Shep for a while for exams, then we’re taking a trip over to Adelaide in July to visit friends which I’m REALLY looking forward to! And lots in between! So much for staying put for a while. *sigh* At least we love our house. 
More pics to come!

Taking deep breaths…

/ Renae / 1 Comment

…and knowing that we’ll be settled in to our new place 2 weeks from now. But for now, the chaos continues. We have to be out of our current place tomorrow, and we only just found out a few hours ago that we can’t move in to our new place until the 13th of April. Which was the original date they told us, just before telling us that the current tenants want to leave earlier so we might be able to move in earlier. I’ll admit it. I got my hopes up WAY too high on that one. I was convinced that we would get a phone call last week saying “you can move in over the weekend” and everything would work out a little too perfectly.

I know that this isn’t a big deal, and we have had 3 offers to stay with people here in MB in the interim which is so generous and lovely. It’s just not what I had planned in my head. But life sometimes throws us these curve balls and you’ve just got to roll with the punches. (anyone for a cliché sandwich?) It will just make moving in to our new home all the more sweeeeeeet…..

House news

/ Renae / Leave a comment

We got the house (rental) in Wang that we (I) wanted!!!! SO EXCITED!! The only thing is, we don’t have a date we can move in as yet. The current tenants’ lease doesn’t finish til the 13th of April, but we are hoping they’ll want to move out earlier (this weekend would be ideal!). We have to move out by next Wednesday and it would obviously be best if we could move straight into the new place. But the real estate agents haven’t gotten back to me about that, so it’s not looking good. It took a week for the landlord to approve our application which was annoying, and they couldn’t ask the current tenants if they would be prepared to move out early, until we were approved. Which is a shame because it would have worked out really nicely.

It could still happen though. Otherwise, we’ll be looking for somewhere to stay for the week in between moving out and moving in. That wouldn’t be much fun, but this house is totally worth the wait.

Can’t wait to show it to you! But here’s a sneak peek in the mean time…

(Disclaimer: it probably won’t be furnished as nicely when we move in, unless Vinnies is particularly well-stocked at the moment 🙂 )

They arrived!

/ Renae / Leave a comment

Hubs and I arrived home last night after 3 days and 2 nights away together, alone, in Melbourne. I had a wedding to officiate, so we decided to make a weekend of it. Chanbe stayed home with Mum and my aunty Mandy (Mum’s sister), and it was a great weekend all round! Hubs and I got to relax, unwind and do not much at all, while Chanbe got to stay at home and get spoilt! (Thank you thank you thank you Mum and Mandy!!!!!)

And waiting for me at home, were these:

And the bigger picture?

Yes, I’ve started packing. (Well, emptying out cupboards and stuffing the contents in bags. Packing, right?) Anyway, more about that later.

I still haven’t decided which one to read first. I’m leaning towards Vivian’s autobiography I think. I’ve had a lot of free time the last few weeks, and now that I actually have something specific to read (apart from random blogs) I don’t have the time to read it! Oh well, things will settle down in a month or so (won’t they???) and I’ll hopefully get cracking on them then. Who knows? I might even remember to tell you about them once I’m done!

Back to the packing. I found a house on Thursday in Wang that was just GORGEOUS!! And in our budget and in a nice area. Tick tick tick! We had looked at a couple the day before, and although they were okay (read: liveable) they certainly didn’t get us that excited. But the gorgeous one? It’s just so US. Hubs hasn’t actually seen it yet. Oh yeah. That’s how much he trusts me. I know what he likes and I know what he wants (a shed) so I’m super confident he’s going to like it as much as me. (It has a shed.) We put in the application at 4pm on Thursday and by 5pm, 3 out of 4 of our referees had already been contacted! How on the ball is that! Considering the debacle of finding a rental in Wang last time, I didn’t hold high hopes of dealing with real estate agents, but so far so good. We haven’t got the house yet, but I’m hoping to hear today. And hoping to be moving by this time next week.

So how about that packing?

Cheap skate

/ Renae / 2 Comments

The thing about not having a lot of spare cash is that we tend to lean towards the cheaper “things” just to save a few dollars here and there. Problem is, more often than not we have to end up buying the more expensive “things” down the track because the cheap stuff is… well… it’s cheap. And nasty. We have had cheap buyer’s remorse for the following:

Shoes – cheap pairs that have lasted only 1 year instead of good pairs (e.g. Colorados) on special that will last years and years.
Fibre – yes, I take fibre every day. I’m old okay? I had Metamucil to start with, but the Chemart brand was on special for a huge $3 less so I bought it. And it tastes like cardboard. (Funny about that.) So it’s just sitting there… (pun anyone?)
Shampoo – the last 2 bottles of shampoo I bought were on special for $2.99. When I went to buy new bottle the other day, I splurged on the $5.99 because I’m sick of my hair feeling like straw.
Nappies – We put Chanbe in disposables over night, and I mostly buy Huggies because they seem to be the most absorbent and it means I don’t have to change nappies during the night due to leakage which, if you’re a parent, you know this is a bonus. I’ve bought the cheaper ones and have had a few explosions. Not fun.
Flights – we have bought a few cheap flights and flown in and out of the Gold Coast, in and out of Avalon, and have flown at 6am and 10pm. It’s worth the extra $50 not to have to do any or all of these things.

I think I’m getting better at being a bit more objective and thinking a bit more long-term, or at least the short long-term (long short-term?). I think in the end, it saves us more money if we fork out a little more at the start. This is how I talked Hubs into renting the house that was a bit more expensive, but fully-furnished. This way we don’t have to buy anything (well, not much!) and don’t have to waste time trying to get settled into a place that’s only half-furnished. This was a good decision. Plus did I mention how absolutely fabulous the kitchen is?? Happy Wifey, happy lifey. 🙂

Help accepted!

/ Renae / 1 Comment

I went and had a cuppa with my neighbour this arvo and told her I had some housework to do when I went home and she insisted I leave Chanbe with her so I could get it done without interruption.

I accepted and it was bliss. I got SO much done – the bedroom, kitchen and half the loungeroom in just over an hour. This would have taken me DAYS if Chance was around looking all cute and distracting me. It feels so good now, to be sitting back on a Saturday night with a mostly clean and tidy house.

Aaaaaaah.