School update - I have organised Hayley’s textbooks for year 8, the 3 girls need iPads for the school so we went and got them here last week and there was much excitement in choosing colours, covers and Hayley got a keyboard with hers to use as a laptop. The uniform list is all in Italian so not sure what I am ordering the girls but I’ve ordered them to arrive at the school when we land. We have an appointment to meet the teachers and principal the day after we arrive at 930am. The girls will spend the morning in their classrooms, although they will be super jet lagged.
House update - Tuesday 20th Nov at 6pm the house was open AGAIN after it had been open 4 days that week already so we had to keep it sparkling constantly. Sometimes I left the girls in the car while we did finishing vacuuming touches. We were going on 7 weeks of open houses and moving the price from $1900 to $1700 already. Someone came to view the place, put in an application that night for 6 months and wanted us out by Friday (3 days). Impossible and the next morning we negotiated $1500 and they signed a year lease (which really gave them 2 months free so a very good offer) and I said we could be out the following Friday 30 Nov for the lease to start Sat 1 Dec.
Moving and storage - we booked the move and storage with Crown Relocations 2 weeks ago, no one was returning my calls, the person who did the proposal resigned (or was fired) and I have no confidence in the person handling our move, insurance was misquoted, the date for moving was incorrect and they never called me back. SO finally on Friday I called Smoothmoves who can fit us in this week and we are moving a day earlier (Wed 28 November & Thursday 29 November), Friday is cleaners and farewell party. Saturday the new tenant moves in and the lease starts 1 December for aa year.
29 Nov - 10 Dec homeless - We have to move out of our house Thursday 29 November and needed somewhere to stay until we leave. AirBNB in the area is approx $400/night so $5,000 and then the universe came out of nowhere and gorgeous Erin and Keith have offered we can stay in their empty house around the corner from us for the entire stay. Can’t wait to squat at their place, sleep on air mattresses, borrow towels and linen from family and buy what food we need on a daily basis. Can’t believe our luck and the generosity of our friends.
Car - After trying to sell the car and realising we’d need to drop it in price and lose $15-20K, we have decided to store it for a year which only costs $3,000 and then we can have the car when we get back, so excited about this decision.
Meals - Our house is a little like Masterchef right now, since we move out in 4 days its’ just eating what’s in cupboards, anything goes, let’s use those condiments and whatever groceries we have, eat what’s in cupboards and mix some odd stuff together. The girls had alphabet soup pasta and apple turnover for breakfast today. Yum! Let the adventures begin…
I’m even trying not to buy toilet paper so constantly moving the rolls around all three of the bathrooms, hope we use the perfect amount by moving day. Now theres a challenge! I keep telling everyone to go spare on the toilet paper squares.