On The Move Again

We knew this house was for sale when we moved in almost a year ago.  We had to get out of the Thompson Street place as the owner, the Town Bike, wanted to move back in having broken up with yet another boyfriend, and there wasn't much else on offer, and I did like the idea of the pool.  We knew they were asking way too much for this place and we were right, the price has gone down several times since it was first placed on the market and it's still not even close to being sold.  The selling agent is not the agent who we rent through for some weird reason, and they are arrogant to say the least.  I have told them on more than one occasion they are not to leave messages when they want a sales inspection, they must speak to me directly and inspections are not to be before 11am.  I checked my phone last night and there was a voice message that came through at 4.30pm to say they wanted an inspection today between 9.15am and 10.30am.  I don't think so.  They are, by law, supposed to give 48 hours notice.  We have been very accommodating with them, even after the rocked up unannounced one day with hordes of people and then even more people turned up late and let themselves into my house while the others were out in the backyard.  We closed all the blinds and went to Young after we dropped Josh at school and another call came through saying they had "left several messages".  Grr, they left one that I didn't get till after hours.  I told them so and reminded them that they had to give us 48 hours notice, and they could come at 11am on Friday if they wanted.  She then asked if they could take the people through in our absence!  Of course I said no, and she said these people were only in town for the morning.  What, they just found themselves in Cootamundra, looking for a house to buy all of a sudden?  They hadn't planned their visit here?  What a load of crap.  Anyway it was the last straw for me, I'm sick of having people traipse through my home, I suspect a lot of them are locals who just want to stickybeak inside the house, which is well known and very imposing from the street.  We decided we'd have a look at a place that was on offer, which was originally more than we wanted to pay but they have dropped the rent down to the same as what we're paying here.  It was originally offered as a furnished house which obviously wouldn't suit us.  Now the tenant can choose what they want to stay and the owners will put the rest in storage.  They are "grey nomads" who are travelling for at least a year, and perhaps three which would be perfect for us as Josh finishes school in less than three years and we will want to be moving on then, probably back to Western Australia so they can go to uni there and we can be close to Kate.
The house is a bit unkempt outside but that can be fixed with a few new plants and some weeding.  Inside is a very similar vintage to this place, but renovated properly unlike here.  It has three conventional bedrooms, two have sleepouts off them which will be perfect for the kids.  The kitchen is much nicer, although smaller, but has two lovely windows on two sides.  It's carpeted which I'm not keen on but the kids are older now and our carpet guy is a miracle worker.  It has an inside laundry, bliss!  No dishwasher but I will buy one and Phill can set it up in the laundry which is close to the kitchen.  We will keep their lovely stainless steel fridge and get rid of our older one and keep our new one somewhere else.  It has a big family room which houses a pool table, juke box and pinball machine which we can also use.  The room Emily chose has an ensuite with a shower, basin and toilet and there is another bathroom with a bath and shower and basin, also a toilet off the family room.  The yard is small and easy to mow, and there is what looks like a large rabbit hutch that we can use as a chicken coop so we can have hens again!  A carport and a garage off that with a mezzanine level, we didn't get to see inside as our PM didn't have a key.  I wasn't too keen at first, the idea of moving again is daunting, but when Kris rang to say the house was ours if we wanted it I realised that we will have to move eventually anyway when this place sells and I want to see the back of the horrible selling agents.  We are going to keep a couple of the wardrobes (we have built ins here) and a nifty fold out bed as a guest bed in one of the sleepouts.  It's walking distance to town, we can see the main street from our front yard, and the kids only have to walk across the park to go to school, so I won't need the car so much when Phill needs it.  We got a bit worried when the required 21 days notice here coincided with our beach holiday but a phone call to Kris put our minds at rest when she said we can move in whenever we want, and later is better than sooner from the point of view of the owners who have to arrange storage for the furniture they want to remove, and the stuff we don't want.  So it's all looking good.  I will miss this house, as much as it's a bit of a dump, I like it and feel comfortable here, and I'll miss the trains going by.  The new house has ducted heating and cooling though, as well as a gas heater in the lounge and dining areas so we'll be very cosy this Winter, and no pool to maintain.  We thought the kids would be in it all the time during the Summer but they didn't, and it's costing us a fortune in chemicals and electricity for the pump.

So we went up to Young and had brekky then went shopping.  I got Josh a clock radio/iPhone charger like the one I have, and a soft rug for his bedroom, it's so bare in there with floorboards, he has little rugs on either side of the bed but the big one just makes the room more cosy.  We won't really need our floor rugs when we move but they will protect the cream coloured carpet somewhat.

Yesterday I bought two bushy, fragrant, coriander plants and we put them in a long planter, and some in the graves with another parsley plant.  It took me years, and the advice of a green thumbed Texan to realise that coriander grows in Autumn, not Summer!

I went in to put clean sheets on Joshua's bed and Harley was asleep.  I asked her nicely to please get off but she ignored me.  So I put the fitted sheet on and she just stayed there.  I was going to put the doona on but I caved.

I had to push her off though! She was settled in for the night.

I've been making soup.  I made some chicken stock from the Easter roast, with the carcass still holding meat, bay leaf, celery, onion, carrot, bouquet garni, and peppercorns.  Simmered that then strained it twice.  Sautéed about four cloves of chopped garlic in a little butter, then added the stock to that.  Cut up some of the chicken meat and added, with some chopped rice stick noodles.  I had a bowl and it was great, and managed to freeze some for whenever anyone gets sick, it really does help.

I also made another soup out of bits and pieces I had in the fridge, a bit of sweet potato, pumpkin, a potato, cauliflower and lots of garlic and chicken stock, then pureed it the next morning.  I was blending it in my lovely blender when I took my hand off the lid for a minute.  The bottom came away and soup cascaded all over my bench top before I could catch it.  I didn't even know the bottom could be detached, I've had it for a few years now.  I managed to salvage most of it, luckily the bench was clean.  I put some curry powder in it as well and it was pretty good.  Froze several containers of that too.  I love making soup.  Our freezer in the non kitchen fridge is full now of frozen meals and soups.

So soon it will be time to think about packing up this house, we've moved so much I can pack with my eyes closed I think.

But first will be our little holiday to the coast.  We went to our vet to ask about boarding the cats there, but they are booked out for the school holidays, so we rang another boarding kennel and have them booked in and they can stay together which will be good.  The vet said this kennel was well regarded so our two cats will get a country holiday while we have a coastal one.  Max will have someone to come in and make sure he is okay.