Why, hello there... from our new house!

We moved in on Thursday - and it's starting to feel a little more like home and a little less like 'the new house'.

There's still loads to do. Blinds are being installed this week, the cable television is being put in, and if we're lucky and the weather is good, the driveway should be laid on Thursday. And let's not even talk about the unpacking, or the cleaning, or the organising. I'm slightly {completely?} obsessive-compulsive about how I want things to be, so it's probably taking me a little longer than it would a regular person... but I hope it'll be worth it in the end.

Oscar and Evie are loving the new place just as much as Jase and I do. They've gotten really comfortable, really quickly - and they've already scoped out their new favourite places. Oscar is up and down the stairs constantly, which we're hoping will help him loose his gigantic pooch belly. Evie is getting bigger every day, and is such a snuggler. The last few nights have seen all four of us relaxing in our new living room - Oscar and Jase on one sofa, Evie and I on the other. It's lovely.

I don't have too many pictures just yet, but I promise once the house doesn't resemble a pig-sty, I'll get a whole batch up here for you. In the meantime - how about a sneak peak? It's not the greatest one, with all the sun glare and what-not, but it's cozy all the same.

This time next week, we'll be in our new house.

Say... what?

I am counting down the days until Thursday. I'm so tired of running back and forth between our apartment and the house, but that's going to be my life for the next 6 days while Jase is working. We have appointments and deliveries and tradesmen coming in to the house daily, so I need to be there to let them in and to be there if they need me.

We thought we'd get lucky and not have to worry about a real estate inspection before we move out, but we spoke too soon - there's an open home on the apartment tomorrow. So, instead of just relaxing and packing at our leisure, I've spent today cleaning like a fiend and removing every trace of cat fur in the place. (Yes, our two kitties are living here illegally. But only for SIX MORE DAYS.)

The flooring is looking really good - timber downstairs, on the staircase & in the upstairs living room. The carpet is already completed in the four bedrooms and looks great too.

I'm so, so relieved that this is going to be our final big move for a long while. I've packed and unpacked and moved about way too much for my liking in the last three years! :) I don't have a lot of pictures uploaded at the moment, but I promise I'll take more once the new furniture and appliances are in later this week. For now, here's a sneak peek of the floorboards.

You know, I always thought I was a pro when it came to moving house.

Moving to the UK doesn't really count, since I left most belongings at home & focused on packing my humble little suitcase. The first real move that we went through was the switch from East London to West London, halfway through our time overseas. I loved packing our things and getting everything sorted and labelled. {Though I didn't love the cleaning that came along with it, I'll admit.} I loved being able to unpack at our leisure, to be able to choose where I wanted things to go: which drawer, which cupboard, where to put the furniture? Call me obsessive compulsive, but I loved it.

We packed up ready for our move back to Sydney too, of course - but I can't comment on that just yet, since our boxes are currently somewhere in a port waiting to be examined by quarantine: if we get them back sometime in the next year, I'll be happy.

Also, a brief side-note: I feel like I've paid more than my due's to the Australian quarantine sector, first the obscene amount of money needed to get the cat brought over, and now for our boxes - I'm just going to put it out there and say NO, we have not smuggled in any exotic birds, wood products or seeds, and I'd really, really like it if you sent our boxes to us soon because I'm tiring of wearing the same four summer outfits over and over again. Phew, epic sentence right there. Sorry about that.

Moving right along: this is the first time either Jase or myself have moved house here at home. I found the perfect rental apartment before the holidays, but the move-in date wasn't until Friday gone by - so we had plenty of time to prepare. After researching removal vans & nearly dying at the insane cost of hiring one for a few hours, my dad offered to drive a rented van for the day, and he, Jase & future-fil spent the day loading and unloading box after box.

We were lucky. Our flat came unfurnished, but we had hand-me-down furniture from both of our families, and we had lots of accumulated gifts {mostly kitchen related - like fry pans, kettles, cookware} that made it super easy to move. Add in a crazy trip to Ikea with Miss K a few weeks ago, where I picked up a trusty dining table, bookshelf and side table, and we ended up moving a lot of stuff.

The apartment is gorgeous. It's brand new, never been lived in before - done up in very neutral colours and has a lot of space. We even upgraded to two bedrooms, a good decision because of the amount of belongings we have now. I can't show you a picture yet, because it stills look a little like a war zone, but it's fabulous. The only downside is that it's upstairs: the boys were completely stuffed after hiking up and down carrying furniture and boxes. We couldn't have done it without them! There have been a few minor problems so far: we only got one key for the front door instead of two, our intercom doesn't seem to work, and it turns out there is no phone line connected in the place.. but they're things we can work with.

The hardest thing we're dealing with right now is keeping Oscar-cat a secret. We smuggled him in on our first night with no problems, but we have to keep him hidden for the whole time we are here. It doesn't help that for the last two nights, he's cried. all. night. I've hardly slept for fear that someone is going to knock on our door and complain, though I'm sure the walls are thicker than I'm imagining.

Pictures to come soon, but in the meantime - tell me what's the favourite room in your current place? Maybe it's because this room is the most 'finished', but I don't want to leave our new lounge/diner area. Like, ever.