We are mid-move and already completely exhausted, stumbling between optimism and enthusiasm to despair and frustration. We have just a few days left to vacate our lovely old house, construct a kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms in the vineyard shed and move in - all within our strict budget of zip! To keep myself motivated, I have taken to watching episodes of Grand Designs on Youtube in the evenings, favouring those featuring unemployed vegans with impossible builds in foreign lands on miniscule budgets.
We plan to move in physically on Saturday, but managed to move a significant amount of furniture and boxes today - in 40 degree C heat! To top it off, we realised the vineyard water tanks are full of sludge just as the pump blew up up leaving us with no water OR sludge...and something smells very nasty in the bathroom drain....
The To Do list now includes:
- plumber in on Friday to fix pump and septic system
- install second had kitchen including stove and rangehood
- electrician on Friday to install rangehood and kitchen power points
- finish painting new wall separating bedrooms (what was one large open plan room upstairs has been turned into two bedrooms... the children will just have to share for a while...)
- finish bathroom floor
- destroy population of red back spiders living in the bathroom
- clean house - carpet cleaners booked for Monday morning. Struggling with moral inclination to clean carpets professionally for a few hundred dollars and tight-arse inclination to spot clean them myself because most people don't bother to have them professionally cleaned...but will begrudgingly take moral high ground just because it's the right thing to do grumble grumble...)
- tidy lawns and gardens of house
- secretly dispose of bags and boxes of crap that Jamie refuses to throw out
- disconnect/transfer internet, telephone, power, gas,
- Buy beer and sausages to feed the gang of great friends who have offered to help on Saturday
- and something else very important I have forgotten....
Hi Jules,
ReplyDeleteI think number 12 on the list should be to sneak back to the house on Saturday night for one last languorous bath in that divine old bath... candles, book, music, Sangiovese! It has to be done.
Sorry we can't be there to help out on the weekend, but we'll be thinking of you from the West. I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities to help out with laying pavers or some such task.
Good luck dear friends, I admire your optimism and determination. Be certain that we are all behind you in this new venture.
with love and best wishes,
Liz
Jules
ReplyDeleteI also feel pangs of gulit that I cannot come by to lend a hand. Good luck with it all I sure it can be framed as a grand adventure in the big scheme of things although I sure with the heat ( which I know you love almost as much as hot tubs) it is very trying to say the least.
Wishing you and your family cold weather and light items.
Peace and Love Pete