Living my dream

And then, it literally drove off down the road

We set the alarm for 1.30am. Just enough time to wake the kids, get everyone dressed, in the car and around to the new house. The moving company had told us they would be there at 2am and they weren't far wrong!

It was the middle of the night, so very dark but our lovely neighbours had given us their key to use as they were away and we settled in with a cup of tea able to watch the whole move easily and in comfort. Plus their outside light was helpful in getting a bit more light for my photos. Grin.

We were totally intriqued by how the trucks worked! During the day, one of the sets of tyres had sunk into the ground. But they easily fixed that. It's all done by hydraulics!

Even the movement was done by hydraulics. There was one man on the truck working a lever which pulled the truck forward, lifting where necessary. And slowly our house seperated.

As you can see, the tyres kept getting 'bogged down', but they just worked through it each time. Lining the area with bricks/concrete/wood basically anything that would keep it solid, then the hydraulics went to work and pulled the truck forward a little bit more.

We weren't sure how the house would get from this point, to a 90 degree turn onto the road properly. But inch by inch, they did.

And then all of a sudden we could see the sleep out from our neighbours. That's not normal!

 

You can see here how close the fence is. But amazingly, they just worked around it and it was no worries! Inch by slow inch it came off our site and onto the road....

 

The boys were in their jammies, Sarah had gotten dressed, but all three of them were enthralled by what was going on.

Funnily enough I didn't feel too many emotions as the house left our site. I think I'd said goodbye to it when we moved out. This was just 'par for the course'. But our gorgeous girl, she felt it go.

It seemed to take such a long time to get onto the road, and then all of a sudden it was off...

There were a couple of cars up front, and plenty of people watching, making sure everything was going to plan.

At this point we jumped in the car and raced around to see it coming up the main street.

 At this point, those trees broke the windows as it drove along. The noise was so loud in the early morning stillness. But the kids probably found that to be the highlight of the whole thing. LOL.

I think what I found most interesting was how they were able to lift the base of the truck up so it went over the cars that hadn't been moved off the road. Incredible.

And then we drove back home, got back into bed and slept. It was 4am when we got 'home' again. What a wonderful couple of hours that I hope the kids will remember for a long time to come.

Preparing a house to drive down the road.

It's been a while since I blogged last. And there is so much to talk about. We've had such an exciting few weeks, but to be honest, I don't know if there is much that can top watching your house drive off down the road!

To get it to that stage, quite a bit of work is involved. I didn't realise just how much - why would I? So it was incredibly interesting to go by and watch what they were doing.

First they had to smash holes in the base of the house to locate things and start demoing the base so they could jack the house up, and of course take the chimney down.

We happened to walk past just as the demo guy was bashing into the chimney and we saw it all fall down. First a pile of dust came out, then a pile of what looked like insulation, then the bricks and everything fell off. The kids LOVED it (and just quietly so did I).

Once most of the base was dealt to, they could then cut the house in half (through the kitchen), jack it up and prepare it for being loaded onto a truck.

 

See that bloke up on top of the house?! Amazing what they did. On top, underneath, they scurried everywhere needed to ensure it was moved efficiently and safely. I take my hats off to them as I sure wouldn't like to be under a house when it starts moving (more about that later!).

That pile of rubble, it used to be our front concrete porch. It had a door going off it into the boys room, and was a sun trap. Every sunny Sunday morning you'd find Andy out there with a cup of coffee and/or his guitar.

Can you see how this front part of the house is higher than the back? That's because it's been jacked up on the steel jacks you see on the side of the building. Because our section is narrow, they had to take the house away on two trucks on two different nights. They got this front part away first.

 The kids are so involved in the whole process. They love being in the photos and telling anyone who would listen what was happening to their house. It was pretty cool.

At the end of this day, 30th Sept, we were still hoping the truck would arrive, but it didn't. It had got stuck on another site. It had been raining a bit and so grounds were soggy. So we had to wait.

The next morning, nice and early, I got a phone call from our neighbours, the truck is here, thought you'd like to see.... it's going under the house. We all raced around to watch from their deck (and as close as we were allowed)....

 

 It was amazing to see how all the guys worked together to get the truck lined up correctly. See the guy there on the back of the truck? He's using a hydraulic system to move the truck back and forward, up and down until it's in the right position.

Then below, you'll see legs sticking out from under the house. They are there making hand movements which are passed along by the guy at the front of the house so the hydraulic guy knows when/what needs to happen next.

As the truck pulled the front part of it into place, you could see the gap widening between the two halves of the house. It was so strange.

 

 You can really see here the gap between the two halves of the house. And funnily enough the 'new' front door steps we had to put in earlier when we had to destroy our beautiful concrete steps to allow a digger to get past. Andy put those stairs up well as they survived until the site demo occurred!

Final effort to get the house ready to drive down the road, is to get lights on. At this point, we were told it WAS moving that night.  They later advised what time and we promptly set our alarm clocks ready to get up. Thank goodness it was the middle of the school holidays so that the kids weren't too affected by lack of sleep that night.

I'll leave it here for now. Next build post will have photos of the house in the middle of the night and what happened then. It was flippin amazing! Anyway, my last photo of today I had to take. Too funny. That not only was a house moving that day, but our neighbours too.

Til next time...

First we were on the move, then we had to get our house ready to...

Sitting here in the house we're renting thinking back on the last few weeks, it all seems a bit of a blur. It is all happening so quickly now, but it also feels like FOR . EVA for things to happen.

We've had to realise that things don't always go to plan and to imagine that they will, will only cause stress and drama.

Examples:

House move date originally 26th, then 1st Oct, then actual 2nd for front of house and 3rd for back of house.

Site clearing: 3rd / 4th Oct. Actual 8/9/10th October.

Landscaping for back section (we have two sections/titles): 6th october, due to clearance delays, actual will be tomorrow as the start date....crossing fingers!

Build start date: 20th October. We'll see how this goes. But builder is raring to go, we just need to hear from the council who have had our application since 1st Aug. Sigh.

So Andy and I have actually sat down and discussed this and decided that we'll try to be more patient. And for things we can't influence (like weather) we just put up with it and don't stress. Even for the last few time delays, we've been pretty good. I keep on saying to myself, that it's only the beginning. I can't get stressed too much yet!

So once we'd moved, we needed to get the house ready for moving. We organised with the power company, the gas company and the phone company to come and decommission the house (yes, if you say disconnect, they won't actually take the lines away, we had to talk to them saying imagine this, the house driving down the street on the back of a truck before we got them talking to us in the right way! So so much to learn!).

However, even having confirmed dates didn't mean it went smoothly. The power and phones were amazing! In fact I would like to give them big ups! They were amazing. The gas. Even after 3 phone calls in 3 days couldn't find our details. Let alone confirm they would decommission the house. What? Poor Andy was on the phone to them so much over those last few days. Eventually, they came and the people doing the job were amazing. They had to dig a trench that was 1.8m deep before they found the line! Wowzers! We couldn't even see the man digging it and yes, he did it all by hand! Poor bugga! (but he did call in the digger to fill it in again! LOL).

Once that was all done, it was the weekend, and we had to do a couple of things ourselves. We took down the front fence, and got rid of all the hedge along the side of our section.

The kids decided that smashing the fence would be a wonderful job! I agreed (although was a little jealous! That was going to be my job! Grin).

The kids had a couple of friends over, and they were keen to get into it too. Unfortunately we didn't realise they didn't have shoes on and so had to stop things while they walked home and got 'saftey gear' on! The boys were funny coming back with ugg boots on. Ummmmm, No boys! Back you go again! LOL!

We also took a photo of the family in front of the house. It's a little tradition we do every time we leave a house.

I love this photo. It's so us. And a great memory. I've already scrapped it using the Prima October Special Delivery kit (oh yeah!) I can't wait to show you once it's released!

On top of the fence, we also needed to cut down the hedge so it was ready for the stumps to come out.

That's 30m of hedge gone. Just like that. Well not quite. A bit of a mission for Andy and I. But hey, we did it and saved a bit of money along the way. Grin. I feel sorry for our new neighbours who would move in the following Wed. Even though before they brought the house we told them they would be moving next to a building site and the hedge between us would be going, I felt for them!

So it took all day to get to the above and below stages:

To get to this point was a little difficult, but we had a wonderful neighbour help us with his truck to pull out the fence posts. They were in good! Grin.

The boys must've pushed themselves. I found Matt in the corner asleep in the afternoon.

And thus we were ready for the house to be jacked up, cut in half and moved to it's new home in Waipu.

That'll be the next installment....

The move

Unlike my normal self, I took no photos of the move. How did that happen? I don't know! But I still want and need to record it for future reference and especially the kids so here we go.

The move started at 8.30am. I had walked the kids to school and on my return the vans turned up. Rose and Heather were already there moving our bed, but while I had been gone the arborists had arrived. It meant we had 4 trucks on site. I looked and laughed thinking this is just the beginning.

The moving van was invaluable. We had packed everything ourselves, but needed to get it around to the new house. We put everything into it. And I mean everything including the trampoline and chickens in their coop. It worked so well.

It took 3 loads using 3 strong men and one huge truck, plus us of course!

We had help from a couple of friends which again was invaluable, if not a little embarresing.... you know what it's like when you move things. Ugh.

(like all that dust behind where our draws were! Ugh!)

I wasn't prepared for how strenuous the whole thing would be. We haven't moved for 8 years and I just forgot. I'm glad that once we move from here back again, we won't have to worry about that again for a while (touch wood!).

One thing I've decided is that I need to declutter more often. I need to go through stuff, get rid of it, clean behind things more. Move furniture around and get behind it (especially in the kitchen!).

I've always had a thing that I need to get beds set up and made in the new house first. Before anything else. So that if time gets tight, at least you have somewhere to lay your head, so that was first priority. And worked well. Meant the house looked good without doing too much.

One thing we knew was how much smaller this house is. Even though it's built in the same error and tradition, it doesn't quite have the same amount of room. It's meant we've had to put a ton of stuff in storage. Which was fine until we realised the place we did this had holes in the roof! Eeeeek. Pays to look up aye?! But meant we needed to find tarps and put them up for the next few months. It's also made me rethink just how much stuff we have in storage. As soon as things settle down a bit, I'll be going back through the boxes to see if we can get rid of anymore (well, that's the aim!).

I hadn't realised but it was the last week for Matt to attend cubs and we nearly didn't take him. We were exhausted. But soooooo glad we did. It was his last night and he was moving through from cubs to scouts. It meant they did a little ceremony for him and his friend who was also moving on. It was a wonderful ceremony to attend and I'm so pleased we didn't flag it because we were tired (we'd forgotten this was happening).

I think the move and what Matt was going through was a great connection and I was moved to tears as I watched my son grow up in front of me. Cubs was amazing for him. It gave him focus, responsibility, achievements, and many other things. I'm so very glad for the Scout movement which has given these things to our children.

There is so much more to add, but this is enough for now. I'll try to put down some more memories in the next post.

The Perfect storm - what happens when you have everything converging in one week

By now, most of you know that we're in the process of moving due to a new build happening where we currently live. It's been a long time coming and we've been through many highs and lows and I'm sure more are to come. But this last week has lead to extreme pressure as we need to be out of our house to move into the rental so the house can be moved off site.

But as with the movie "The Perfect Storm" sometimes timing could be better. This previous week has been shall we say hell on earth for me. Just about everything that could happen has happened this past week. It's been a real challenge.

Let me tell you about it.

A bit of background, we move on Wed. This Wednesday. That means we need to be packing up a house. Working out what we need in the rental and anything else goes into storage. Not a problem. You know I've been working on things for a while now and it's been good. BUT, add in the following and it becomes a little more than one person can cope with comfortably.....

1. A sugar free diet. Mmmmmm, yep back on that for the last 2 weeks. Not the easiest for an addict, but something that needed to be done for my health.

2. Andy traveling. Yeah. He left last Sat, only back this morning. So I had to run the house, pack the house and all the normal stuff in between. Oh . my . goodness!

3. I designed and packed a scrapbook class (instructions still to be written).

4. Packing up my 'now' scrapbooking. It took 3 days. Flippin heck! Oh yeah, and I did this before designing the class. Hmmmmm, didn't think through that did you Trina! LOL!

5. Having my garage sale - thank you all so much for coming along! - And don't get me wrong. I loved doing it and maybe will do another again one day, but this week was bad timing Trina. Sheez girl!

6. Fighting off a cold. My voice is going. My chest has been getting tight. ARGH! I think all the vit C I've been taking this week has had a huge effect on it not progressing too much! Thank goodness! Although if it does eventuate it will be the first one this year which is a miracle in itself! Yes!

7. We said goodbye to Bertie our chook who died yesterday. She was meant to be female but turned out to be male. And there are lots of funny stories to go with that. We'll miss him. A very sad time.

8. Dealing with kids who know they are feeling weird and sad and nervous, and acting up because of it. But they don't know why. It's easier for us we can put those feelings into words for a start, and then work out why we might be feeling that way. Littlies don't have that luxury so are having to feel their way through all the mess.

Hmmmmmm. Is that all? I don't know. But as you can see a bit of a mission for me this week.

Thankfully I did have help in the way of my sister taking the kids for a sleepover this weekend. Yay! Thanks sis! And of course Claire helped me set up the garage sale. I literally could not have done it without her. Thanks Claire!

Bring on this Friday when we're all moved and hopefully settled a bit more. I think we all need to feel a little more settled.

Random thoughts on the build

As I walk around our house tonight I realise it looks and feels different. It makes me nostalgic again. It's not that there is packing and boxes everywhere (although that is true), it's that there is nothing on the walls anymore. Most of our paintings, pictures, things hung on the walls have been taken down and packed up. It means that walls that used to have things on there are now white. That means they reflect more and so it feels so much brighter. It's a very visible difference.

We met with the landscape gardener tonight. Oh dear! He gave us an estimate at the beginning which was half of the quote now. And that's only for the top part of the site. Not the bottom. That's on top of this new quote. Eeeeek. Scary stuff. But I think with what we are doing, it is essential to the whole look. We just may have to do some things later, or cheaper or something. We're going to sit on it for a while and see what we think. At least this part of the garden isn't going to be done for a few months, so we can save up a bit more between now and then!

And good news for us. We have been told we can go through the rental tomorrow. Yes! I can't wait to see what we've gotten ourselves in to! Or can I? LOL! It will be good to have another look at the outside and go inside for the first time!

Talking of the new rental, I've decided I WILL definitely have a garage sale of my crafting stuff when we get over there. Probably in a couple of weeks. So watch this space!

Righto. Off to do nothing! I so need it! Catch ya again soon.

Embarrasing fluffs and the beginning of building stress....

The last few weeks have been a little challenging to say the least. Preparing for classes, numerous meetings with builders, consultants, architechts, landscape gardeners to name just a few. Plus of course the kids ski trip and 5 scrapbook classes and one cupcake decorating class. I was so glad to arrive home yesterday and know that I didn't 'have' to do anything.

But along the way, I've had some really embarrassing things happen and I thought you might like a little giggle at my expense, so here ya go....

First off, how about putting your hand up to help as a ski marshall but not being able to ski 'that' well (I'm capable, but don't like steep, narrow areas). I mean marshall's don't need to ski right, they just watch people skiing to make sure the rules aren't broken. Flippin heck, I went off to do my job (which once I got there was actually quite fun!) and couldn't get down the slope to where I needed to be! OMG. All these little kids from about 7 years up were racing down the slope and here I am standing at the top looking down wondering what on earth I'm going to do. Thinking "I didn't sign up for this!" In the end I kind of slid my way down and didn't make too much of a fool (well that's what I'm telling myself!) of myself. But boy did I feel small in front of those amazing little whipper snappers (my child included!).

Ok, while we're still down at the ski fields, how about staying on the mountain at a beautiful lodge, sharing with your children and their friends and their parents. I happened to have a small cold, not normally a problem right? But it meant that my normal snoring was worse. WAY worse. Like a frieght train. OMG. The poor woman who was sharing my room with me. Turned out I got to share my room with me myself and I for a night or so, she found somewhere else to stay! Oh dear. But what can you do?! I mean I can't help being sick. But soooooooooo embarrassing. Got to laugh right?!

Then yesterday I was feeling good. My classes went well, I had a wonderful time with friends and I just happened to be standing at the right spot that meant I got to be first on the plane (I like this, cause it means if the plane is full, you get to put your bags in the lockers without any issues. A trick I've learnt after many times flying!). Anyway, I'm sitting there minding my own business, when the lady who is sitting next to me arrives. No worries, she puts her bag away and I stand up and let her through. The next minute water is dripping down (FAST!) from the overhead locker. She panics and thinks it's her bag while I sit there feeling smug (I know! My first mistake right?!) cause I don't take water on a plane. But. It's not her bag. So whose is it?! OMG! It's mine! I had a bottle of water in there from yesterday. It was half full. Not any more! The water is everywhere. It's in my bag. It's in the overhead locker, it's dripping down on myself and other passengers. They stewards stop everyone else getting on the plane and everyones watching me, my neighbour and the air stewards cleaning up my mess! I sit back down and as everyone walks past they're talking about it and everyone knows it's me. Seriously! I could have just curled up in my seat with a blanket over my head!

I don't know what's going on, but anything weird or funny, it's gonna be me. And you've gotta laugh right?!

As for building, well, we've found a place to stay in for the build. Yay! It's not too far away and while it's not flash, it's really cute and we all fit in. Well, we do, the human part of our family. The cats will be fine, they're coming with us, but we've given some of our chooks away to be on 'vacation' until we're ready back at the new house. Then they'll come back home.

Normally we would have just left them at home and I'd come and visit each day, but having the landscaping being done in their area, we don't want them digging it up before it can establish itself, so our babies are out amongst a few friends. It's good, but we miss them. We only have 7 at home now which is so few. It really feels so very strange.

Then there is the moving of our current house off site. We'd arranged it through a company, and agreed on a time, then on Sat they ring and say it's really bad timing and don't know if they can do it when we need. Oh really?! Really? If that happens our whole plans are put back. Nothing can start until the house is gone. So I stress on it all weekend and think what can I do? Nothing. This is just the start. Literally the very beginning so just flick them an email, put all the agreements out in writing and see what they say and when it can be moved.

I get an email back, very kiwi like, saying "Jeez Trina, don't worry! It's all good" I love it. All that stress over nothing. So all back to plan. All ready to go end Sept/beginning of Oct.

I can imagine there are going to be a few (lots) of little hiccups like this over the next 10 months so I just need to learn how to deal with them. Here's hoping they are as easily solved at this first one.

Later.