Well we're here at last. We survived the move & whilst stressful on the day it went without any major hitches. On moving day itself we still haven't finished removing our stuff from the old house by mid-day but we'd already completed & our buyer was screaming for the keys. As he's not due to move in for 6 weeks I thought that this was a bit unfair but we got them to the estate agent as soon as we could. However this meant that we were unable to wash the kitchen & living room floor but apart from that the whole house was left in an immaculate condition - I just wish our vendors had been so considerate.
When I opened the front door to our new home I made an unpleasant discovery - the previous owners had left the house in the most disgusting state
The carpets were unhoovered & sporting huge stains, everything in the kitchen was wearing a thick covering of grease including the cupboards which hadn't even been wiped out when they removed their food & the oven was filthy & totally un-useable. The bathroom stank of pee, the basin still wore toothpaste & the bath with it's added extra colours of yellow, black & red where they'd washed out paint brushes & trays, has the lower level of tiles hanging off the wall & knackered silicon. All windows were foul & DH even discovered a trail of mold inside the conservatory window where food had left untouched for so long that the spores trailed down the glass.
A couple of friends had joined me to help & one quickly went out to buy buckets & we tried to tackle some of the grime before the removal men arrived with the contents of our old house.
Moving all our stuff was bad enough but the whole process was made far worse by the state of the house. Dinner that night was an Indian takeaway & DH managed to find the plates minutes before the delivery guy turned up at the door.
For the first few days I just kept thinking what have we done? Especially two days after we moved when we had water pouring through the kitchen ceiling as the shower cubicle has botch job plumbing. We knew that the kitchen was rough compared to our
old house & had planned to replace it pretty quickly. However the bathroom is in a far worse state & as we're a shower family without a working shower this takes priority.
However the house has grown on us now. The area is lovely & we're now officially in a village although it seems a bit big to call it that to me. 10 minutes walk & I can get to a bank, chemist, hardware shop, fantastic deli & the most wonderful Italian bakery you could imagine. Our neighbours are both lovely & it's so quiet
The garden is lovely but was VERY overgrown:
our new gardenThis photo was taken before we did anything to it & it looks very different now. We're currently trying to release two trees at the back of the garden from the grips of a vicious creeper & crowbars have been employed amongst other tools as it doesn't want to let go.
front garden/driveFor the first time ever we've got off road parking which is a real luxury. Especially when you arrive home with a boot full of shopping & don't have to park far from home. DD's feet can be seen on the left as she took a break from whatever she was helping with.
DD hated it at first due to the dirt & lack of a shower but she now loves it as well. Her room is a bit smaller but she's at the front of the house with her desk in the bay window & is enjoying being nosy & watching everybody as they walk past.
The cats have really surprised us both. They're both 17 next month & I was very worried about Pam. In our last house she lived in the garage & never came into the house. A week before we moved as we were rapidly dismantling her former palace she ventured into the house much to our surprise. But now she's totally transformed & loves the house.
Pamand garden:
PamMonet has discovered a new lease of life & has made the most of the recent sunshine:
Monet
Monet enjoying the sunshineThe dogs seem to like it as well but we're not letting them out into the garden as I don't want it ruining as two female dogs would destroy the lawn. So are having lots of walks & eventually DH is going to build a low fence across the patio so at least they can go outside & we can leave the back door open.
Knitting has taken a back seat over the past few weeks but is to be taken up again as I'm going away tomorrow for a few days as DD is doing some
swimming workshops with a top coach and brushing up on her stroke technique so I'll be sat by poolside as usual knitting away.
Monet will no doubt still be enjoying the sunshine:
Monet sunning herselfand I'll leave you with a photo of one of my favourite plants in the garden:
Red Robin10/4/07:
I can't believe I forgot to mention the most important thing when I wrote this post last night. DD has got a place at the school she/we wanted!!! The day after the move I spent some time sorting out the paper work & managed to get it faxed to the right department before starting on the massive degrease of the kitchen. The next day we got a letter confirming her place so the whole thing was worth it. She's really relieved that she doesn't have to go to the school she had been allocated & so are we.
So I've been finding quotes & can hopefully can get it repaired rather than scraped. All 3 of us had backache that morning & had to see a doctor. DD luckily is fine now & has played football & swam twice since the accident but both her friend & I have whiplash 
& are in agony. I've not been able to sleep for two nights & keep waking up as I'm in so much pain. So it's just as well that we've decided to hire a removal firm to move us rather than doing it ourselves.
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