Happy holidays from us!

Phase 1 - Complete

OK, I finished Phase 1 of the Christmas grocery shopping today. All of the meat, root vegetables and dry goods are safely tucked away in the kitchen. Well, apart from the turkey and gammon joint. Our fridge is too small to accomodate everything so the meats are in a big plastic bin in the garden with a lead weight on top of the lid to keep out the foxes. It'll stay nice and cold until I start cooking them, starting with the gammon on Christmas Eve (Barry, I know you don't like ham so I have some chicken breasts for you.) I'll complete Phase 2 on Christmas Eve with the breads, salads, fruits and creams. All those things that are best eaten very fresh.

The grocery store was a madhouse, but at least a good natured one. Everyone was filled with the Christmas spirit and there were lots of smiles and jokey jostling over the brussels sprouts.

Jason has gone out to do the last of the Christmas present shopping. We're very behind this year because of the move and our near constant state of illness over the last few weeks. I've got to do the American presents online tonight (you'll never guess what you're getting... no, it's something different this year... well, slightly).

And to end on a jolly note - Rosie's latest habit is saying that she loves everything. We saw some reindeer at a Christmas fair and Rosie started shouting "I love reindeer!". It can be anything... looking at smoke detectors at B&Q "I love those!". Right now she's behind me shouting "I love grapes!" Well, today Jason was taking care of Rosie while Toby and I did the shopping. They had a drink in Starbucks and then J needed to go to the loo. Rosie was standing by the loo door saying "Are you doing a wee Daddy? I can see your willy Daddy."... and then very loudly "I LOVE YOUR WILLY DADDY!" Ah, that's one for the memory book.

Whew! We're in.

I can't believe it's been almost a week since we moved into the house. I think because we still had the flat until Friday it felt like we hadn't totally left yet. Having the flat that bit longer was both good, because we weren't totally rushed on the moving day, and bad because we couldn't totally let go. God bless J for going back to the flat Thursday night to clean and collect the rest of our bits and bobs that were there. I'm so glad to have my paper towel holder! Yes, Nik, it's the one that you brought over for me. The one that was mistaken for a vibrator. I love that paper towel holder.

Unfortunately we've all been quite ill with a bad strain of cold or virus which means it's taking much longer to get rid of all the boxes. I'm typing this now surrounded by boxes holding books and office stuff. I'll be very glad once they're all empty and gone.

The kitchen is mostly sorted out but we still have some work to do in the bathroom. Need to get some blinds up (how can someone have a bathroom with big windows and no blinds or curtains?!), need to get the medicine cabinet sorted out and a few other things like that. No pictures on the walls yet either, but there's time. Toby and Jason finish school and work on Wednesday and then they're both off until after New Year so we'll be able to get some stuff done over the holidays.

J's parents are coming down for Christmas and I'm very relieved that we managed to get the sofabed delivered out of storage in time. We weren't sure if it was going to happen. Hopefully things will be reasonably calm by the time they arrive on Christmas Eve. It's just going to be a bit of a chaotic, disorganised Christmas this year. (Note to self: Must buy some presents!)

I have been calming my moving/illness nerves by watching the Nigella Christmas Special on a loop. I've also watched Gary Rhodes Christmas and the new James Martin Christmas Feast a couple hundred times too. Something about watching people cook food is so calming. I'm thinking about doing the Christmas pancakes for Christmas morning. They sound easy and I can make them in advance and just warm them up on the day. Anything to make life easier right now!

No turning back now

The movers came today and packed most of the flat. Tomorrow is the big day. It's all going smoothly so far (touch wood) but poor Rosie is in a tiz. She's walking from room to room saying "Where Toby's toys?! Where MY toys?". We've tried to explain to her about moving to the new house and having a big playroom but it's a lot for a two year old to understand.

J and I both have colds and are heavily medicated but I think the decongestants are taking the edge off the stress and we're both pretty mellow. God bless drugs.

Now we just have to get there and get everything out of the boxes and put in an appropriate place. Daunting but I do love organising and I'm sure the old obsessive compulsive urge will kick in and sort everything out.

Oh yea, we still haven't exchanged contracts on the flat so the earliest the Canadians will move in is Friday. That does take some of the stress out of tomorrow as normally we would need to be gone by noon. It does add some concern that we might not sell the flat in the end but J has Plan A, B and C to cover all eventualities and I'm happy to leave it in his hands. I've run out of worry.

Finally some pics

Rosie and her new kitchen




Toby performing with the school drama club




Rosie with her party hat and bag at Mary Catherine's birthday party (Annie Hall eat your heart out)

The bad karma continues...

Just picked Toby up from school and was told that he was involved in an 'incident' today. He and two other boys dunked another boy's coat in a puddle. The school takes these things very seriously and I'm worried that Toby is going to get labelled a bully. It's not the first 'incident' in which he's been involved. I think Tobes is usually a bystander rather than an instigator but it's still not good.

And now our phones don't seem to be working. They were working this morning. I have a sneaking suspicion that our phone provider might've disconnected us early. They are so crap. That would just be the icing on the cake of my day.

OK, I know I promised pics...

... but I need to vent. Have you ever gone through one of those times when nothing seems to work? We've had all the house stuff this week and now everything seems off kilter. Bad karma in the air. It's the little things that are killing me.

For example, yesterday a little brother of one of Toby's friends kicked the milk bottles off of our porch. I guess he didn't realise that they were glass. There was broken glass everywhere. Thankfully and amazingly no one was hurt but it was not a great end to what had already been a stressful afternoon.

Earlier in the day I tried to cheer myself up with a little Christmas shopping. I bought a few rolls of wrapping paper and some snowflake window stickers for the children. As I was walking across the parking lot back to the car the bag split and rolls of wrapping paper went everywhere across the wet pavement. I had to get on my hands and knees to dig some out from under a car and the whole time Rosie was shouting at me because she was hungry.

After lunch we went to get a few groceries. I was using a handheld basket since we just needed a few things. Halfway through shopping the handle broke on the basket and my shopping went everywhere. At the same time Rosie jumped out of the stroller which promptly fell over without her to balance out the weight of the nappy bag on the back. Groceries, nappies, toys all over the place. I must've looked like a madwoman because one guy stopped to help me then asked "Are you OK?... Are you sure?"

Today we had a stressful morning getting Tobes ready for school. I had to do some work for the school panto but thought I would go for a quick coffee to treat myself and hopefully calm down a bit. As I was getting Rosie out of the car her stroller (empty) started rolling into the road. A nice man grabbed it before it was hit by a car and brought it back to me. Again I was asked "Are you OK? Are you sure?"

Then I went to buy a parking ticket and pushed the Coin Return button rather than Print Ticket button TWICE before finally getting my ticket. I was ready to kill someone at that point.

I did have a nice coffee with Marija at Costa then went off to work on the seat allocation for the panto at another mum's house. While there I managed to fall down the stairs. Yes, my ass is still suffering from the bumpy ride down. I didn't fall all the way to the bottom but it was close. I also spilled tea down my jumper and choked on a biscuit.

We finally came home, dropping nappies in the street on the way. I'm tempted to not leave the house for a few days. It's just too dangerous.

No wonder it was so crap

I've been counting up our house moves...

1. May 1992 - We move me from San Marcos into our first apartment in Austin. I have to drive the big U-haul because J doesn't have a US drivers licence.

2. Dec 1993 - We move from Texas to England and live with Jason's parents in Raunds.

3. April 1994 - We move in with Jason't friend Craig in St Neots. Very "Three's Company".

4. June 1994 - We move into our first flat in Cambridge on Newmarket Road AKA "The Condemned Building".

5. June 1996 - We decide to try living in the country and move to Stow-cum-Quy into a 250 year old cottage with no central heating and ninja mice.

6. June 1997 - We move back into Cambridge and live across the hall from Jenny & Kieran in Chichester House. Happy times.

7. January 2000 - We kick off the millennium by moving to London and have a tiny flat on Glentham Road in Barnes. Still manage to play cricket in the hallway during one rainy Boatrace day.

8. March 2001 - Move to Japan and have a 7th floor apartment in Kio-cho, Chiyoda-ku in Tokyo, just down the road from the Imperial Palace.

9. March 2002 - Back in the UK and we head back to Barnes. This time we're on Castelnau Gardens which becomes Toby's first home.

10. March 2003 - Follow friends and move out of London to a flat in Mulbarton Court, Chislehurst, Kent.

11. October 2003 - Buy a little two bed Victorian terraced house in Chislehurst.

12. October 2005 - Miss London too much and while the rest of our friends are moving deeper into Kent we buy a flat in Blackheath, SE London. Rosie is born two weeks after we move in.

13. 2007 - Our thirteenth move. The one that didn't happen...

Yep, it's happened

Our house purchase completely fell apart today. Thank goodness we saw it coming or I would be freaking out even more than I already am. I do feel more calm than I did this weekend. I think it was the not knowing that was the worst for me. Now that the decision has been made I just want to get on with what we need to do. Activity is always better than sitting around waiting.

So, we've found a lovely house to rent already. It's right here on Quentin Road so it'll be less of an upheaval for the children. Toby does not react well to a move and I have no idea what Rosie will be like but we thought it best to at least stay in the same neighborhood. We'll be seven doors down from Toby's best friend, Max, which does smooth things over with Tobes a bit. The house has a HUGE cellar so we can easily store things at the house if we need to. All in all, we'll be fine.

Now I just want to get there so we can put up a Christmas tree and enjoy the rest of the year. We're hoping to move next week but our usual movers can only do Monday or Tuesday and it looks like we won't be able to move until later in the week (of course, nothing is ever easy is it) so I've got to find a new moving company. Our buyers need to move in by the 15th so it'll happen sometime next week. Just got to coordinate it all now.

If you want to check out the rental house it's here and it's a 4-bed house on Quentin Road in Lewisham.