Thursday, June 28, 2012

20 mins of indulgence

With all the hustle & bustle of preparing for moving day in 2 sleeps, I stole 20 minutes tonight to soak in a hot, bubbly bath. Okay, so maybe it was closer to 30 mins. I really wasn't timing it. I just know it was longer than the 15 mins I said I wanted the bathroom for!

An hour later, I still feel like I am floating.

What's your indulgence?

Karen xx

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sushi anyone?

Yesterday, Ray the Hubster & I finally had a day together with no kids. No, no, it wasn't a slow, leisurely day.

He spent his day painting the dining & lounge rooms & I spent it cleaning windows. My mother in law came over to help with the windows. And she came back today to help us some more. She's such a gem!

(In case you are not up to speed, we are moving to a new town 5 hours away this weekend. So our place has to be extra clean, ready for our tenants to move in this Sat).

We are running down the food supplies (I have to turn the fridge off on Wed), so we decided to take ourselves out for lunch. Oh yes we did. And we splurged. Oh yes we did. Because we don't get to do that very often. Oh no we don't!

So we checked out Sushi Train, recently opened locally. And we loved it. The welcome starts as soon as you walk in the door - all the staff call out in greeting. Although we didn't realise until we were already seated and noticed them doing it whenever someone walked in. I had just thought it was a surge of people chattering. I don't understand Japanese, you know......and they weren't saying konitchiwa.

The chefs are in the middle, constantly making more plates of yummies to go around on the conveyor of nom noms. So fresh, so colourful, so tasty. So tempting.







It's the kind of place where you could sit all afternoon and watch the goings on. Oh, and nibble all afternoon........thankfully we had lots of moving house preparation waiting for us, or else we may just have done that!

We were not paid or sponsored to write this post. We paid for our meal. They don't know that I am writing about them. We just loved it so much that we thought I should share it.

Have you been to a Sushi Train? Ripper? Or rip off?



Friday, June 22, 2012

8 sleeps until moving day.

I feel like this move is taking over my life.
DER, Karen, of course it is. This IS your life.

What I mean is, every conversation I have seems to be about our move. With people who are not moving. My friends must be sick of hearing about it. 

My days are consumed with organising stuff & discovering more things that need to be done before we leave. Yeah, I should probably make that to do list a paper one instead of a mental one.

This week has been a week with lots of "lasts" in it. My last Tuesday = Grandma Day, our last playgroup session, Zac's last night at army cadets (we have found a unit for him to join after we move), Zac's last band practice & last guitar lesson. I worked my last shift on Wednesday night. Hubster Ray finished up at his job today (& is currently still at the pub celebrating lol!). I had my last lunch with the ladies today.

We still have our final tae kwon do, Mass, preschool and school days to go.

Then we are kind of gypsies for around 10 days, staying in a motel, then a temporary house until our furniture arrives & we can move into the rental property we have secured. I have been told to pack like we are going on a holiday. The removalists will pack everything else. Even our dog is being transported.

So we are being well looked after. Another thing for me to be thankful for.

We are all looking forward to our move. Nobody has given us any negativity, they've all respected our decision to go. I'm surprised how many have said they couldn't do it. I have always told Ray that I am happy to move wherever his job takes us. This is only 5 hours away, so it's not too difficult for family & friends to visit. We are simply giving them another holiday destination!

I've been laughing at myself the last couple of days. I've been feeling the cold. But it is nothing to the cold nights we will experience soon, I need to swallow some concrete & harden up! Or buy some more winter clothes.

Would you do it? Up & move your family for your partner's job? I am!

Leave me your thoughts,

Karen xx


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Thinking of Trish today.

My thoughts, along with many other bloggers today, are with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys, who is in hospital having both her breasts removed after being diagnosed with breast cancer last week.

"I can live without boobs." she says, I like that positive thinking! As much as I love my own boobs, I love my family and my health more, and I would probably make the same decision if I was in the same situation.


I also love how the online community comes together when we are faced with challenges in life, and when we are celebrating successes in our lives. One of the Mums from playgroup reads Trish's blog and even commented to me this morning about Trish being diagnosed.

So please spare a thought for Trish whilst you go about your day. Every thought is like a prayer going up for her. And if you don't believe in God, consider each thought a virtual hug instead.

And check your own breasts. Today.

Karen.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

A bit emotional today


Yes, today I have felt rather emotional. And this is a selfish post about how I am feeling, when others are feeling a hell of a lot worse.

In the past two days, a friend has lost her Mother and another friend has lost her Father.

I still have the luxury of having both my parents, my stepdad and my Grandma around. And my mother in law, however we lost my father in law 7 years ago.

I still don't fully understand the grief my husband went through and continues to go through after we lost his Dad. I grieved of course, but it's not the same. My role was (and is) to be there as a support to my husband. I will never fully understand the loss of a parent until I lose one of my own. That's not taking anything away from my father in law, it's just a fact.

I have watched my friend grieve, particularly this past week, when it became obvious the miracle we were all praying for wasn't going to happen. Grief starts before the death. I hate to see her in pain like this. There is nothing I can say to make it go away. "I'm sorry" simply isn't enough. I have hugged her and cried with her. I never even met her Mum. But they were also best friends. And she is hurting. And crappy stuff happens to good people.

So I can only imagine that my other friend who lost her Father is going through the same thing. Another caring, gentle and positive lady who, along with her family, has to say goodbye to someone special.

I know it's the life cycle and all that. I know that parents are meant to go before their kids. But it still sucks.

God Bless these families, let the ones You have taken be at peace now.

Karen.



Friday, June 1, 2012

Moving to the country.

Crazy week. Exciting week. Flat out week.

It is said that moving house is one of the most stressful events in life. Golly, I can see why! My stress levels peaked this afternoon but they're just fine now, thanks for asking.

Yes, we have made the decision this week to move. But not just within the same town like we did 6 years ago. No, we are moving to a town 5 hours away. That I haven't even been to yet. Yes, I have agreed to pack up our whole family & move to somewhere that I have never seen. Except online. Thank goodness for google maps, where you can place the little yellow man on the street and walk up & down and round & round.

I've been quiet on the blog front for a while now because I was scared I was going to let the cat out of the bag. The job application was submitted a while back. We have been living in limbo, wondering if it was going to come to fruition. I've slowly started clearing out stuff in case we were moving. I haven't committed to stuff in case we were moving. Just 2 weeks ago, somebody (that I know) at a school fete meeting volunteered me to run the book stall in Nov because I do it every year. I deliberately hadn't attended the meeting so that I wouldn't have to say that we may not be around.

But now it's happening. Crazy exciting. Crazy energy. Crazy stress. But all for good reason. When we are in our 40's we need to take offers that we may not get again.

So the BIG cull started today. And will continue every day until we leave. In about 4 weeks. Lots of donations, lots of dump trips, no time for a garage sale. Fed up with people not picking up items that I've advertised for sale online.

Rental properties are scarce where we are going. Nothing available for us to view when we take a whirlwind trip next week. The company is giving us access to a furnished place for a month if we need, and I'm thinking it will be easier to secure a rental once we are actually there. Just trying to get a property manager to return my call is hard enough! I realise they have lots of enquiries but we need somewhere to live.

Grown ups are keen, kids are keen. Even though we are leaving everything we have ever known. I have been in this area since I was 10. Ray was born locally. I met him when I landed in the same class as him in Year 5 in 1980, having moved from interstate. Our kids attend the schools that we went to. Our church is the same one we were married in & our kids were baptised in. We have a big history here.

But we are brave people. We will make friends, we can integrate. I am not afraid of that. I know we are doing the right thing for us as a family. Nobody has given us a negative comment over it yet. We will miss our friends and family of course, but they have phones, they are online, and this is our time.

But that doesn't mean that I won't stress out in the process!

I'm off to find my new village.

Would you ever consider uprooting your family like this?

Karen xx