Moving Day is today!

Just had a lovely morning at the Farmers Market, chatting with new friends and buying cakes and apple juice (it was originally $4, but the lady let me pay $3, as a 'Welcome to Ohoka' present, and because I told her that everyone told me I had to buy her apple juice, as it was the best for miles, and it is very nice:).

The lawyers have just called to let us know that the settlement is complete and the owner will call us this afternoon to hand the keys to us. The vendor is very particular and wanted to spend today cleaning the house for us so it was perfect for our arrival, and who were we to argue with that? Tonight we are planning takeaways and a glass of celebratory wine (not apple juice) on the floor in the house before Crown Removals arrives at 8am tomorrow to deliver and the hard work begins!

In the meantime, I will show you some more things I have found on TradeMe.

I am stopping now, honest!

A lovely sofa bed, it is a great shape, but the covers are a little worn. Fortnuately for me, it comes with some spare cream covers that have never been used. So fingers crossed it will look great with the new covers on. I haven't picked it up yet, as I didn't want to fill the barn here with even more stuff. I will pick up next week. I hope it fits in my car! Benny would like it in his room, I can imagine it with blue and green and white cushions all over it. We'll see.




A beautiful cane table and chairs. Picked them up last week, it all fitted into the car perfectly and is currently taking up space in the barn downstairs with the bookcase and desk. Perfect for ladies Devonshire teas in the garden on hot summer days, ahhh...




So excited! Better go and have my lunch and then start packing the car, woooohoooooo!!!

Love
Est xxx

Found some Wellies!

One day to go and as you can see I am busy preparing for the move;) It is obviously important to look the part for a new life in the country so I have been doing crucial research.



It's says on the website that they are perfect from everything from shopping to dog walking, but that begs the question...are they too perfect for something as messy as gardening?

And the best thing is that they come with complimentary coordinating twin set and pearls!

Alex, I think I've found my birthday present!!!!

Love
Est xxx

A Doggy Tail

Two days until we get the keys to our house and we can not wait! Benny and Naomi started at their new school (yes, another one, but hopefully that is it for a while now), Ohoka School (the one next door to our new house) on Monday and they seem to have settled in really well up to now. I am so proud of them, and how well they have dealt so well with all the changes recently. Naomi ran out out the first day with a big smile, proclaiming that she had had a 'lovely day' and social butterfly Benny has already been invited on a playdate and is swapping phone numbers!




The mums I have met up to now have all been lovely and friendly and welcoming too, so it has been a good start all round. Eleven new children started on Monday which shows there has certainly been some growth in the Ohoka region recently.

With that in mind, someone really needs to open a cafe/wine bar here soon, I am sure it would be a huge success, it is very cold standing around the school gates chatting. I hope someone else does quickly though, as otherwise Alex is talking about us doing it, and that all sounds like a lot of hard work to me. You know I would much prefer to sit and drink and talk in a cafe rather than having to actually do any work in it (and imagine the food poisoning court cases!). It reminds me of the (very short) time that I worked in a pub, I really didn't like it, dealing with all those drunk people. I definitely know on which side of the bar I belong thank you very much!

Anyway, with two more days to go until the start of a new chapter in our lives, conversations about doggies have been taking place. Even Alex has started mentioning our dog, and where it is going to sleep (NOT in Ben's bed apparently), so the brainwashing techniques have been more successful than I imagined!

I looked on Trade Me, where I seem to be doing all my shopping recently, and found that there is an organization called Dog Watch in Canterbury who are trying to save and re-home the dogs from the pound who otherwise may lose their lives.

So, whilst Naomi is very keen for the pitter patter of a small white fluff ball like this...




Or this...



I have seen Tess, a little labrabor cross puppy who looks just divine.




Or maybe Jake, a greyhound cross, from the SPCA?




Naomi and I went to Animates pet shop a few days ago, just to have a look. Naomi saw a lovely little one, so we were watching it for a while before it had to do it's 'business' on the floor. We then watched, shocked, horrified and open mouthed, as it turned around and proceeded to eat it's own poo!!!

'Awww, we should get that one', said Naomi, her eyes sparkling with a look of delight, 'it is so good, it tidies up it's own poo so we don't have to clean it up!!!'

Love
Est xxx

It's All about Me

In NZ there is a bit of a craze at the mo, I don't know if it has reached England yet, but I suspect that, like everything here, it was probably all the rage 18 months ago (Coronation Street is having it's 'celebratory' 50th year 'Armageddon, everyone gets killed, well hopefully Norris Cole does anyway' episodes THIS weekend!) but here, the latest thing is to tell the whole world, and certainly everyone who has the pleasure to be travelling behind you on the road at that moment, who is in your family (like, 'thank heavens you told me, I was wondering! I can sleep to tonight now that I know, thankyou!')

Carefully unpeeled and placed in position on the back windscreen under the logo 'My Family', you can chose from an assortment of characters, mums, dads, grandpas, grandmas, girls, boys, babies, dogs, cats, horses and goldfish (500 pics available, $5 each from participating retailers, buy 5 get one free - hey, you deserve it for having that many children) who you share your car and your life with, portrayed in humourous stick figure cartoon illustrative form.

Of course, in response to this we have seen the 'My Zombie Family' stickers and the (slightly angry I thought) anti, 'I don't give a bleep who is in your bleeping family' sticker.

But I have something different. I really don't want to try to interpret too closely what it all means, but recently Alex and Benny and Naomi gave me a little gift.

It's me! I knew you would recognise me! Tell me, it was the shopping bags wasn't it?





So, bless them, I do love 'My Family' so very much, but ultimately they do know, it's all about me:)





Love
Est xxx

P.S. And yes, it is on the side windscreen. Wouldn't want to be like everybody else now would I?

Bright and Beautiful for a Rainy Friday

Just found this beautiful room on one of my favourite blogs, VT interiors. Makes me so happy that I have changed my background on the iPad to it, much to the rest of the family's confusion...




Am so inspired, I have found a similar fabric in a lovely shop in Rangiora which has gorgeous European fabrics at very economical prices, my favourite kind of shopping!




It's Friday again, only two more weeks 'til we get the keys to the house. Crown will be delivering the first lot of furniture (yes we have two!) on the Saturday and the second on the Monday. Mum told me yesterday that we can't move on a Saturday, 'nobody moves on a Saturday in Ireland Est', but we will take a few things in on the Friday to start, so as not to to upset any Irish sentiments.

Going to Wellington today for the weekend for a 40th birthday party tomorrow. Getting my hair done specially tomorrow morning, and Alex has just told me it's a wig party!!!!

Love
Est xxx