Good riddance 2014

And so the last day of 2014 dawns hot and humid. And still. Did I mention there is no airconditioning in this house? We have this...

... but if there is no breeze blowing outdoors there isn't much air movement indoors. The only fan just stirs the hot air about. As fans do.

I'm happy I think to be seeing the back end of 2014. It's been difficult. Not the caring side of things really, they haven't been too bad considering. But financially, wow.

The argument with the bank goes on. They won't negotiate, even with the collectors they've appointed. So where to go from here, we shall see what 2015 brings. I hope something works out.

Yay! The weather finally cleared and I can catch up with the washing. Fan-bloody-tastic. I have decided I really like seeing the laundry floor. I don't care that it's the same floor as the rest of the house, I like seeing it. Hello floor!

I think I mentioned that Niece has only one set of sheets. Apart from the winter ones. I really need to look at buying more but she has a king single and sheets are really hard to come by. I think I've only seen them at Target. I took a quick peep yesterday while looking for something else but didn't see any. I probably should have bought a single bed, but I had visions of her trying to sleep with her feet poking over the edge. Heh.

The Christmas tree is up. Yeah! Squint hard, you might see it.

It's the only decoration I have left after the move. I hope Salvation Army managed to find a good home for the rest, and the tree. The very odd looking black and gold foil tree. *ha! that one might have been difficult to adopt*

Niece took her first flight to return to her mum for Christmas. We made our way to the check in queue. I decided against just bag drop so I could check that a request I had made was noted on the booking. It seemed to take forever to get to our turn. Why does it always seem to take forever? I like to make sure I have at least half hour between when I'm checked in and boarding. We had less than that so as far as I was concerned we were cutting it fine. The chap at check in *justin* just laughed. Cutting it close, says he, is checking in 5 minutes before boarding. We made it through security just fine and then had to find the gate. Niece figured out which direction to go to find the gate, until we got to a junction which said that gate 26 to 36 were down this way. She couldn't figure out if 29 came before or after 26 and 36. I had to make her stop and think as she kept trying to guess. But she worked it out.

She was nervous and excited but the Qantas cabin staffer seemed to be lovely. She and the girl at the boarding gate were very helpful. The cabin staffer escorted Niece down the skywalk, across the tarmac, and on to the plane. I waited a little but left it then before take off when MOTH sent me a text to say he was bringing the car round.

Since then, it's been very quiet at home. Ma tells me that Niece survived the trip and to the time we last spoke, had been behaving herself.

Christmas Eve eve we invite Stan over for dinner. He brings with him a bottle of wine and a pottery wine cooler. The wine is my second favourite *yay!* and the cooler is lovely. He leaves it with us as a gift. It's a lovely evening as of all the Club, I like Stan the best.

The day after Boxing day is off to celebrate with Bestie and her family. It's great to catch up with them again, and friends we only see at her house. We meet a new one as well. It's a great way to spend the day.

A friend who has relocated to Sydney has come back to visit her daughter. She comes over for dinner, and bearing cheesecake. Sara Lee admittedly but I'm not going to argue! Yummmmm! Dinner is a simple one - steak and salad with Sizzler style cheese bread. Okay, the others have beef steak, I have kangaroo. I much prefer that to beef. It takes me a little while to work out how to do the bread as the non stick pan is now sticking and the cheese burns to the pan instead of toasting on the bread. I switch pans and presto! Cheese bread. It goes down well.

Today is nearly over but it's still way too hot. I am so missing airconditioning! How did we ever survive without it... ??

What a year...

I can't say I've found 2014 to be a good year. Here's hoping that 2015 is better. For all of us.

I'm also not sure if this house and I are going to get along either. Nothing much has gone right since we moved in....

Now it's Jerome's turn to be sick. He has tummy ache and it's all over the place. And he's puked under the table. All this at 4:30am. And I have to bathe him to get him clean.

Last night, MOTH found something sharp with is foot. It then disappeared. Until I found it. Twice, with my foot. Seems something had broken. Or a box had some broken glass in it. The silly thing is that I've unpacked most everything and I didn't notice anything chipped. I'm sure I would have!

I look at Niece's sheets. She sweats so much there's a nasty stain on the bottom sheet. I confess to not having washed the sheets for a while. A big no no for me, but I haven't had the chance. And the bloody rain won't stop. So I point it out aaaannnnndddd .... it's not a sweat stain she tells me. It's a vomit stain. On her only set of sheets. And it's been nearly two weeks since she was sick... UGH!

I have to wash my doona cover where Jerome has left traces of himself. And my bottom sheet as well. But it's still raining. Off and on, but it's not good drying weather. And here's another crazy thing about this house. The outside rows of the rotary clothes line aren't long enough to take the full width of a queen sized sheet. WTF? Did only single bed users live here? Bloody hell.

But it's still overcast with light misting rain so I have only washed the doona cover and one of my queen sheets from last change. See, no time to wash or dry anything. I really want to see my laundry floor! Niece's sheets will need to soak over night. Luckily I have my airer for the basic clothes drying. Best $50 I've spent getting into this place.

Back on deck!

Yes! Back on board the internet train!

You just don't realise how much you miss it till you haven't got it, right?

I had hoped for good things with this move but it's been a week and I'm not so sure. Time is slipping through my fingers and the bank account is leaking money like a sieve. It's incredible. I estimate we've spent about $9,000 on the move so far and it's still not done. Of course, that does include rent on the previous house and a replacement couch. But still.

On inspection, yes, this can go here and this can go there. But it doesn't. Finding places for things has been a challenge. I bought a new lounge suite to replace the old ratty one. Elder and Burrich took the old sofa and recliners. Get them here and... no room! My desk is relegated to the back corner with my back to everything. There's simply nowhere else to put it. MOTH lost his full size desk and has gone down to a little workstation.

Spaces in this house are weird shapes. The little cupboards you can see either side of the stove? About as big as the ones you would put the sliding rails for a teatowel. Except they have shelves instead of the rack. The one above the range hood? It's about 3 inches deep so obviously only for show! The pantry? Anything tall like the spaghetti cannister must sit on the bottom shelf (floor) because no other space is tall enough. The linen press in the hallway isn't deep enough to hold a bath sheet folded into thirds. It's crazy.

Jerome has picked up some bad habits, scratching at furniture. And I'm sure there are claw marks in the sill above the loo that weren't there when we moved in. Like the fat thing has tried to jump up but missed. More than once.

Niece has lost the plot and regressed. She's reverted to doing things she knows aren't allowed, and I even have to dig her out of bed in the morning. We had been in the house three days and she comes down sick. And uses the bathroom basin instead of the toilet. End result? A basin full of vomitus and blocked drains. Which effected the whole house. Even the toilets. And no plumber for nearly 48 hours. When he did get here, it was worth the wait. Young and goodlooking with not a crack in sight.

Tee has had her roster changed so we won't be getting the Thursday afternoon/evening long break anymore. We've had to look at splitting it into two lots of two hour breaks.

The school hadn't actioned our change of address for the bus so we have to take Niece to the old house for pick up every day, and be there for her drop off in the afternoon. Luckily, we STILL haven't got all our gear from the house so we have a reason to go there. But it's still annoying.

Niece came down with her vomiting bug Monday evening but seemed okay by Tuesday evening. I came down with a tummy bug Thursday afternoon and I'm still recovering. I'd like to think I was losing weight while I starve myself but nope, nothing happening in that area!

It's been raining every day since the move, or threatening storms and my laundry is piling up. And that's not to mention all the curtains I have to somehow wash and dry from the old house. I've even had to buy a clothes airer as there is no internal clothesline here, and no space to mount one.

The 'net is back on after a week's wait and I haven't begun to touch my assessments. Not since I began the house searching and move. SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON!

So yeah, one of the worst, most protracted moves I've ever undertaken. Remind me next time I think of moving to kick myself in the butt and leave things be, right?