Pack Up Your Dirty Books, Your Songs That Have No Hooks

This is a late post, mainly because I just dug my computer out of its packing box and connected it up. We have been in a world of: packing, house-sitting and unpacking and now, as the fetid breath of the approaching school year blows hot upon my neck, we are still waiting to get into our new house.

Here's what I wrote on the 18th December:

I am a week out of my house. This time last week I was collapsing, exhausted, in post traumatic stress, in Sydney, after a month of pandemonium.

What I had not computed when signing the all important house sale contract, was the significance of the date. It had been booked sixth months earlier, a flight to Sydney courtesy of the BA's father, for his annual Christmas bash. I asked the agent to suggest that we rent back a week or delay the settlement by 5 days (to give us time to return from Sydney and thoroughly clean the house etc before moving) but both suggestions were rejected. We had 30 days to get out of the house, and find somewhere else to live....

I continue the story today, knowing that I have about 5 posts up my sleeve with respect to the
ensuing chapters in our journey. There is

• The Pool Fence story: this one will curl your hair
• The Sydney trip
• House sitting in North Adelaide over Christmas NY with an Account of Dog Whispering and Home Organisation
• Dabbling in Paint whilst waiting...and waiting
• Getting the keys and the Wallpaper Saga
• New Floors

OK.....maybe six....

But maybe I'll start with  a few shots of the new house. These come off the real estate site so they are naturally stretched and shopped to make them more appealing :-)

This one is pretty good though. It's taken from the stairs down to the house and is a pretty faithful rendition.

Now this is is the lounge room:

And this is the family room (LOVE those carpet tiles....not)

This is the dining  room:  

This is the kitchen.

And this is the wasteland of a backyard which discouraged me from offering on it in the first place.

Looking up from the bottom of the yard.

As I finally finish this post, it is nearly 2 months since I started it.
Our world was changed suddenly and shockingly by the death of the husband of a dear friend, whose house we had stayed in over Christmas.
The  pictures I uploaded over a month ago, bear little resemblance to the chaos that is my house at the moment.
I still have lots to catch you up on.......
But I am happy.

Best Shot Monday: Nurturing Independence

Here is my favourite shot from the last few weeks.

People have asked me why I am such an 'independent woman'? I have changed tyres, shock absorbers, tappit cover gaskets, hefted furniture, put up guttering, removed plaster, raked out cavity walls, dug sump drains.....

I could not quite remember where this had come from until recently; until Grandma and Grandad bought the Baby Angel some new drawers from Ikea.

The whole buying thing happened whilst I was at work so I was delighted to hear that Grandad and the BA were going to put the drawers up together on the weekend.

I particularly like the picture of the little man in the left hand corner above; the one with the question mark over his head. The caption should read....'remind me again why I didn't avail myself of their 'erecto' services??'

I hung around for the first set of drawers and helped sort screws and bolts and the like.

But the two of them pretty much had it wrapped up. There was discussion about the different types of screwdrivers available, about ratchet screwdrivers and how to use them, about nudging dowels in with a mallet and other useful bits of DIY advice! And I think suddenly I remembered why I had become such an independent handy-woman. Our dad has always encouraged it in us.

May it stand you in good stead Baby Angel.

For more wonderful photography, check out Best Shot Monday.

Stretching the Umbilical Cord

Today was a calendar day.

The Bestie's mum and dad live in a satellite town about 40 kms north of Adelaide and during the week the Baby Angel decided she would like to go and visit them.

This took me somewhat by surprise and I struggled to think about time frames; hockey matches, 50th birthday parties, sailing and a whole host of other events which are scheduled for this weekend and which would impede my ability to drive her up 'north' for the afternoon (about an hour and a half's drive from start to finish).

"No, Mum," she explained in an exasperated tone, "On the train! On my own!"

Oh.My.Goodness.

She was serious. She rang Bestie's Mum, who was delighted to hear from her and the next thing I knew she had the train timetables up on the internet and was giving me departure and arrival alternatives!!!!! (just quietly, many of my Year 10 Maths pupils would have been hard pressed to get the train timetables up on the web, let alone read them !!!! ) Decisions were made. She would catch the 10.23 from Adelaide station and the Bestie's dad would pick her up at 11.17am.
Now all I had to do was come to terms with it.

And so we set out this morning.

Much to her mortification I had to have a word with the Railway employee and inform him that he had a young person on his train who was travelling on her own for the first time (apart from the three days a week she catches a train to my school but that's only 4 stops so it doesn't count).
"No problem," he quipped,"she should be alright at this time of day."
"Err...what do you mean 'at this time of day'?"
"Well, I wouldn't travel this line at night ma'am. In the business we call the stops between Womma and Everard Park 'indian country'."
"Because of the large ex-Bombay population?" I asked hopefully.
His cynical smirk spoke more of pulling the wagons into a circle.

Mum! Enough already with the photos!!!!!!!!!So she is off into the big wide world. Next thing I know she will be back packing around Europe (do they still do that sort of thing?).
PS: The phone call came at around 11.45am. She has been safely delivered into the bosum of the Bestie's parents and they will bring her back tomorrow when they come down for Sunday lunch....