27 December 2008

Moving House

20081222f Front of houseWe have now moved into our new house. We’ve been here for almost three weeks. Moving house is always a stressful time, but overall it went pretty well. We arranged for the moving company to do all the boxing and packing for us, which took a lot of the stress out of everything.

They arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday boxing stuff up and loading it into the truck. There was a LOT of stuff and they ended up needing a second truck, which hadn’t been budgeted for.
20081204a Moving trucksOn the Tuesday and Thursday I arranged for a nanny to come and take the girls away, keeping them out of the way. They had fun playing at the playground and at Te Papa. On the Wednesday I took the girls to playgroup in the morning and Playcentre in the afternoon. Both girls have really enjoyed their short time at Playcentre and it was sad for it to be our last session (and sad for me too as I also went to that Playcentre as a child).

Thursday night the girls and I stayed in a local motel in Wellington as we had no beds to sleep on. Friday the nanny took the girls again for the morning while I cleaned the house and packed up the things that had been left behind. Meanwhile, Peter was at the new house in Levin receiving all our stuff. He said it took all morning to unload the trucks and he was then up half the night unpacking boxes and putting things away.

It would have been good for me to drive straight up to Levin and join Peter. However we had a wedding to go to in Wellington on the Saturday, and a booking at Wellington Zoo on Sunday (we got to pet the cheetahs :-) ). So we stayed on at the motel for another couple of nights. My first night at the new house was Sunday 7 December.

20081222k Back doorIt’s certainly been a bit of an adjustment moving to the country. Little things that I take for granted in the city, like rubbish collection, clear telephone lines and fast internet. But on the other hand I can just look out the window any time I like and just see green everywhere. It is so peaceful and relaxing.

Levin township is only a five minute drive away, and we seem to go there every other day at the moment. Palmerston North is a half hour drive away. Peter of course drives there every day for work. The girls and I have probably been there once a week so far. Levin has just about everything we need really. And it’s no different from being in a city suburb. In fact it has more than Island Bay does, having McDonalds, KFC, Subway, etc, etc (I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not).

20081222d DrivewayBut I do miss being able to walk anywhere from home. Our driveway is half a kilometre long. There’s only one place I can walk to from there, Clydesdales Museum/Cafe. I went there once with the stroller. It was impossible pushing it across the gravel. I won’t be doing that again. I had been concerned about not getting as much exercise living in the country, as in the city I would walk everywhere. However just walking around our house is giving me PLENTY of exercise.

Life has been pretty busy, unpacking and finding homes for things, but mostly keeping the girls happy and out of trouble. There are so many things I want to do and it is so frustrating because as soon as I try and start something, Kathleen whines that she wants me to play with her, or she wants something to eat, or to go toilet, or Victoria starts crying, or needs a nappy change, or starts eating something she shouldn’t. I’ve attempted to get out into the garden a couple of times, only to have to keep stopping to pull stones out of Victoria’s mouth.
20081208a Moving in to Potts
I’ve started a new blog all about living in the country. It is at farmnovice.blogspot.com . While I’ll still keep this blog up to date with family news, the other blog is specifically about living on the farm.

-Megz


PS: Coincidence or what ... seems I must like moving house at the end of the year with an almost 1 year old baby. This time around we started preparations for the move a little earlier, but the end result was still moving house in December.

Comparing moving from Auckland to Wellington in 2006, with moving from Wellington to Levin in 2008 ...










2006Kat Age2008Vicky Age
Declutter House18 Oct8 mths15 July7 mths
Peter starts new job29 Oct9 mths21 July8 mths
List House for Sale29 Oct9 mths15 Sept9 mths
Conditional Offer28 Nov10 mths2 Oct10 mths
Move Out1 Dec10 mths4 Dec12 mths
Move In14 Dec10 mths7 Dec12 mths

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