Moving weekend!

What an exhausting weekend! Other Half got the keys on Friday morning
and starting shifting boxes over to our gorgeous new flat. I finished at 2.30pm and drove straight over to meet the landlord who seemed like a straight forward kind of guy. I asked if we could put pictures up on the wall and he basically said we could as long as we leave the place as found i.e. no picture hooks, no holes and the whole area repainted! As the lounge, dining and kitchen are open plan, it means redecorating a large area – this decision will take some serious consideration!

The most delicious chocolates ever!

Saturday passed in a blur of packing boxes, loading vans and cars with many journeys back and forth.
I climbed up and down stairs so much, you would think I was in a biggest loser style fitness event! Having eaten pizza for tea, by 8pm we fell into bed for some tv and M&S choccies (have never tasted better chocolate ever!) and spent the night in our first home together.

It poured down all Sunday but we still got a bit of retail therapy done with a trip to Ikea and Argos. By late afternoon we had dining room furniture, a kitchen bin, water filter and a diddy rollerball Dyson along with Other Half’s family who popped in for a cuppa. Our first bit of entertaining was helped along as they brought tea bags and cake (we had 3 coffee sachets and milk!) We didn’t actually get time to do any food shopping so pizza, KFC and more choccies carried us through the night.

Can you remember your first meal when you moved into your new place? I have to admit, the chocolates were a pre-planned treat on my part…!

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Work blues…

I’m almost at the end of my fourth week temping and the good news is that they are keeping me on til Christmas (I was due to finish tomorrow), the bad news is that I fear my brain is slowly turning to mush. When they first explained that the job wouldn’t be very taxing, I embraced that thought, having experienced the most stress I have ever felt in my last job. The first few days were fun but now it’s only the thought of regular money til Christmas that is keeping me going. 

The reference from my last job meant they knew I have a variety of skills and there was talk of this telephone work ending so I could take on meatier online copywriting challenges, throwing in an hourly pay rise for my skills. Great I thought naively, I can stick out this phone work til then. Sadly, I have a green tinged personality so I constantly keep believing what people say and it lets me down time and time again. Turns out they want me to do something else, but they haven’t got time to sit down and think about it so I’ve just got to keep calling Europe and America for the next 6 weeks. My excitement levels peaked today because I was asked to write a press release about an industry I don’t understand but was all too willing learn about quickly, it was the most interesting thing I have done at work for 4 weeks. Apologies for moaning because I do know I am lucky to be working at all in this climate but my brain really needs some exercise!

Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can do your job for the love and for the money, which one do you think is the most important?

Packing up…

After a mad weekend back at my parents house, visiting friends and trying to empty the loft, I am finally starting to realise just how much stuff I actually own. Although it feels like a lifetime ago, six years ago I moved back in with my parents, after an 8 year relationship and 4 year marriage and became part of one of those 2 out of 3 couples that get divorced. I wore my ‘just another statistic’ label for a sad first year and second happier year before I met my current Other Half and realised that life really starts at 30! I have never been happier, healthier or more confident and I recommend growing older and wiser to everyone, (although the talk of age defying lotions and potions is a whole other post!)

Looking through all of my worldly goods in the loft, I just couldn’t believe how much has been sitting there for the last 6 years, waiting patiently for me to get my act together, meet the right person and start a new life. I came across my wedding album and old holiday photos and could look at them feeling no regrets. I was young and naively believed that everything would work out because I wasn’t the ‘divorce type’. Thank goodness I was that type because that experience helped shape the much stronger, more worldly-wise woman I am today, who still believes that love can bring you a happily ever after…

We are moving!

We went flat hunting on Saturday as time is ticking away and we need to move out of Other Half’s parents house in the next 4 weeks. Booked to see 5 flats and houses both in and out of our rental range with everything crossed. Ended up seeing 3 and the third was a jaw droppingly gorgeous, ground floor flat. It was a shoes off kind of place and Other Half was ahead of me through the door, when he turned round with his chin on the floor, I knew something special was ahead of us.

We walked into a large lounge diner which had patio doors leading onto a large paved outside patio. The kitchen was small but modern and included our wish list slimline dishwasher plus 5 burners on the cooker top, one of which is for wok cooking! (note to self: buy a wok!) The master bedroom was a good size and included wish list TV point but also had a wow-that-would-be-great large en-suite. The main bathroom was also a nice size and I could see us mentally noting who would get which area!

As I walked into the second bedroom, I experienced my very own Carrie Bradshaw moment when Big builds her a huge closet – the length of the wall is all wardrobes and drawers and behind the last set of doors is a pull out desk / dressing table. There is enough room for a double bed too so we can invite people to stay, our dream flat was just right there in front of us. There is enough room for both our cars and we get access to the couple of acres of grounds the building is set in plus an onsite tennis court (note to self: must buy tennis racquet!)

We called the agent and put in an offer to get the ball rolling. It was refused but the agent felt sure he would come down a little in price (this was one of the out of our price range properties!) We put in our final offer which was still a little below the asking price and were told he would consider it over the weekend… 2 days of wishful thinking, looking at Ikea online and sleepless nights followed until a phone call this morning – he accepted our offer, woo hoo!! We are finally doing proper grown up stuff and it’s brilliant! Can’t wait to fill in paperwork and have bills to pay, I can hear you laughing at us now and I know we will probably be moaning about it all in a few months time but for now, there is nothing we want more…

We both have a lot of things stored in our parents lofts and one thing I am looking forward to is putting up Christmas decorations in our own home. What was the first thing you wanted to do when you moved into your own place?

Rescheduled interview…

Got my rescheduled interview tomorrow afternoon, the poor woman is out of hospital now, hope she is ok. Strange feeling this time round, not as nervous as usual as have the comfort of this nice temping job to fall on if it doesn’t work out. My agency lady told me it’s always best to be last in the interview queue as you are the one they remember most fresh in their mind and any problems that have been thrown up earlier can be mentioned. She said that’s the way X Factor works, they always put the person they want to keep on last… She then laughed and told me I would watch it now to see if she was right but apparently, she was taught that a long time ago in sale school!

What do you think? Is going last the best way to come first?