Long Overdue!

I just realised how long it has been since I last posted. 18months! So I thought for those of you still out there in blog land I should update with a few recent photos. We've done a lot! Or should I say, Bikeman has done a LOT. He has done an amazing job and I'm so proud of our beautiful house. He's had great vision and has done that hard yakka to pull it all off.

We've done a heap inside, too. Painting all done (except garage) and some of those things that needed to be touched up... well that hasn't happened. But no-one notices, not even us anymore! Still to do are the walk in robe fitouts, have kitted out one with an ikea box setup which looks great (not finished putting stuff away yet!) and have bought the stuff for the others, just need to put it all together.

So .... now all we need is some warm weather. Can anyone tell me when winter finishes? We have our lovely solar heating for the pool now, all we need is a couple of 35degree days to test it out!

House is lovely. We are very happy here. We love Romsey and the people we have met. Takes a little bit longer to get anywhere but we just have to factor that in when we go somewhere. Thanks to all who have helped us during our mammoth effort. We love you all and are so lucky to have such wonderful, special family and friends. xxx

Some photos...

The 'pool slide' !!!

Boxes to hold all the pool toys etc.... doubling as handy seats as well!

Beautiful sunset tonight ... no photoshopping here, this was the real deal!

New washing line (yes string needs to be tightened a little!)

More progress - mirrors, moving, showers, skirts, and a washing line!

We're still moving on.. although a LOT slower than we have been moving the last 12 months! Too much swimming in the pool, hehe. And the kids started back at school which meant for me finishing the rest of packing while the kiddies aren't around to say 'but mum that's my favourite toy ever!'. Nearly done, bringing boxes back as I go so it's not so daunting all at once! Our mirrors were installed a couple of weeks ago, which is really exciting. Sorry I haven't had a moment to take photos, but will put them up when I get a chance. Mirrors in ensuite, bathroom and WC and it makes such a difference to those rooms. Bikeman and Rizzo had a crack at putting up one of the shower screens - took a long time and a lot of frustration when it became apparent (after the first screen was up) that it was smaller than noted on the box ... put all the measurements out... eep! So a bit of ingenious fixing by Bikeman and we have half a shower screen - better than the scraps of plastic underlay I had taped to the sides of the shower to stop the walls getting wet! What else.... ooooh I have a washing line, which is pretty exciting. It's very high up at the moment as we're going to have the concrete paths done soon - lucky I'm tall! Laundry is working brilliantly, is it incredibly dorky to say that I really like my Laundry and all its storage? It is?? OK. I won't say it then. :) Our new couches arrived, they are really comfy and suit the house beautifully. If only now we had time to go looking for a new table, the old green plastic table is starting to look a bit out of place now! We have one in mind, just have to find it. Skirting boards are pretty much all on, apart from one area that is going to be a built in cupboard eventually, so not sure how skirts will affect the cupboard - in place just not painted or nailed on. The rest of the house are nailed on, and have at least the first coat on (80% of the house). I'm seeing the end of painting ... I can see the horizon!!! Oh and then I remembered the doors. Doors need painting, whoops! It's amazing the things you 'don't' see after you move in. Like the blue painting tape around the windows for instance. Some of the windows have been finished already but still the blue tape remains. Almost like part of the window now! Best get cracking and remove it actually, as the window furnishings have been ordered and should be turning up in the next week or so. Will be glad to have my quilt covers back and off the kids windows!! Thanks to all the lovely visitors we have had and the kind comments. We've had a blast, really, during this whole process. There have been a few ups and downs but for the most part it has been great. And we are soooooo lucky to have so many great family members and friends who put in time to help us - thanks to you all. We love you heaps and couldn't have done it without the help from you guys. x That's it for now... photos to come soon.

Cats and Couches are in .... we are officially living at 'The Block'!

Except that now calling it home feels a little odd. The kids still refer to it as the block even though we don't have much stuff at the old house (although admittedly a lot of their toys are still at the old house - need to have a massive 'cull' before packing them into boxes!). And we had our first official visitors since moving in - the Rizzos. Plus the smaller two from the Sandhurst Clan came to stay a couple of nights, so we really have had a full house! Has been lovely though to put all those rooms to good use. So now we have couches to sit on and all of our clothes... yippeeee! And the washing machine, although that only lasted one wash before a leak in the waste pipe put a stop to all that. Bikeman has to get a plumbing part to fix it and then it will be up and running again. And the cats are here - Tiger is now roaming the house quite comfortably (and would like to go outside, thankyou very much) but Purple rarely leaves the safety of the laundry. Every now and then she sticks her head out, may even venture to the room across the hall, hears any little noise and runs back into the laundry behind the dryer. She's not quite ready for the big outside world yet! So we're here - and now have a bit of a role reversal with the houses - now at the old house we don't have a fridge, and had to take the 'building' kettle back there - but have had to stock up on UHT milk so we can have a coffee when we go there! And the cleaning has begun .... oh my god 11 years worth of dust behind things is not a pretty sight. Especially after being in such a sparkling clean new home. Time to roll up those sleeves and get it on the market....

The pool is open for business!

After many hours spent by the Sandhurst Crew and Stevie B, we had a beautiful setting for our very first swim in our fantastic new pool. Hard to believe that only a week earlier it was so murky and green... amazing what some great advice from Ze Pool Man can do (oh and a lot of chemicals and some elbow grease from Bikeman!). We swam and it was GREAT! It was a little chilly to begin with but Pink was in there, straight out no hesitation. It could have had ice floating in it and she would have been in there regardless. Blue had a wonderful time, he has been waiting sooooo long for this pool to be up and ready. And just in time, with a few 35+ days in a row it was the perfect antidote to a hot day (or days)! In the days following we have had lots of visitors which we are really pleased about - why have a pool if you can't share it with friends? Not enough words to describe how much fun it has been. Amazing. Cooling. Delightful. Friends. Perfect.