Our New Home

OK - all I can do right now is get some (very bad) photos (from my phone) posted - the story will follow but at least you will have some idea of what I am talking about and what our new home looks like (apart from being a mess !!!)
Here goes :

View from the lounge room with A's shed in the middle.

The veggie gardens are in the middle of the pic.  A has

used the whipper snipper around them so that you 

can at least see that they are supposed to be veggie

gardens.  The trailer is A's work trailer which has been

a life saver getting all his 'stuff' moved from storage

back to his shed.

Our property goes to the road at the bottom - it isn't

a very steep slope but it certainly isn't flat either !

More of the view from the uncovered deck.  First project is 

getting a roof on this deck.  The hammock was

part of the cr*p they left behind.  As much as I have always 

wanted a hammock - I'm not sure this is the one for me.

There was a lot of mist around this morning - it was just beautiful.

View from our bedroom

Self explanatory

View of the loo from the passage.

There is no door to the ensuite !!  While we are a pretty

open kind of family, this is just a tad too

open for me - especially when you forget there is no door and 

A brings the Austar techies through the garage and

down the passage into the house !!!

The "much bigger than we had at Wewak extremely 

badly designed" ensuite (which we did know 

when we bought it - one of the priorities on

 the ever growing To Do List)

View from the loo - a long way to stretch if you forget to

close the bedroom door and some stranger, cue Austar 

techies, arrive and walk through from the garage !

Smallest bathroom vanity I've seen in a bathroom

this big !

Entrance to ensuite and WIR - that is the size of the WIR.

All hanging space (too short for maxi dresses) and one shelf

that hanging rail is screwed into.

These are only boxes of books and my chaise lounge

- another long story !

Looking towards what will, eventually, be my reading

nook complete with bin from the bathroom because

K just dumped it there after taking it out to empty it.

We have to get used to a new bin day !!!!!!

The entrance hall complete with TV cabinet (right),

computer cabinet (left), box of swimming towels on

computer cabinet that won't fit in the laundry.  On the floor

next to the computer cabinet is another cabinet that goes

on the wall and a pottery water filter - all of which we

will be advertising to sell when I find my camera and can

take decent photos to load onto ebay or gumtree.

Am considering cutting the TV cabinet down so that the

bottom section can be used in the TV lounge to hold

DVDs and videos (yes, we still own videos and a video

machine !!!)

Dining room complete with two kists and boxes still to

be sorted and packed away

Kitchen with bin and recycle bin in the loungeroom

because there is no room in the kitchen without

having to move them every time you want to open

a cupboard.  They are motion sensor bins and drive me

scatty when I walk past and they keep opening !!!!

As K's boyfriend said on Saturday night when he was there

"I see you are still rocking the double lounge suites" - yes, 

until the roof goes on the deck and the cane lounge suite moves

outside, we will be 'rocking the double lounge suites' 

inside !! 

View from part of the loungeroom out to the small vernadah.

The first door on the left is the laundry door.  The next

little window is the toilet, then the bathroom, then the study.

The orange bit next to the little pub fridge is the dogs' bed. 

On the project list is getting rid of the lattice work - I can't 

stand it !

The TV lounge with the yellowwood coffee table I brought home

from work (where we had been storing it) yesterday.  It won't

be staying there.  Am considering putting the kist my grandfather

made in so that whoever is unlucky enough to sit in the middle

of the couch will have somewhere to put their feet !!!!

And so now you have some photos from some of the rooms in our home.  The study and spare room are still full of boxes although I did start to make some headway in the study over the weekend before other things became more important !!!  My therapy room was all done and looking amazing and then K got her new bed and so her old headboard and foot of the bed and mattress are now in there along with the new pillows I bought - some of which she snaffled for her new doona set - only to give back two nights later saying she didn't need 4 pillows (I think she realised it's more of a pain picking them up and arranging them every morning and that 2 would be sufficient !!!).  The passage has the frame of her bed in it.  The laundry is full of boxes as there is no storage space other than a wee cupboard and two little shelves.

But, other than the above, (OK and lots of other issues not covered in this post) we are in and loving it.  The dogs are ecstatic with the extra space - even though I never imagined Rosie would even worry about the extra space.  I have never seen her run so much or drink as much water as she has in the past 10 days - it's just beautiful.  She has also pulled her Houdini tricks and got out (and led Alfie astray) on more than one occasion.  The fence has been fixed and, as long as we remember to close the gates (A left one down the side of the house open on Saturday after they brought the BBQs and outdoor furniture back from storage), they seem pretty happy to stay in the yard.  When we got home from one of a few trips to IKEA on Friday night at about 10.45pm, I saw that the skin above her nose was torn and bleeding quite badly, and we realised that she had obviously been 'fighting' with the fence trying to find where she had escaped previously.  We cleaned her nose up and since then she hasn't tried again, so that is a good thing.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get to post more photos and show the progress we are making (or not !!!) - on Saturday afternoon, after K and I got home from shopping and looking and trying to find all sorts of things, I was using the blower on the driveway to get rid of all the little bloody stones that are so sore on my feet if I walk outside without shoes on, and I started to pull weeds from the 'bed' (for want of a better word) alongside the driveway - 1/2 a wheelie bin of weeds later, I thought A would be thrilled when he got home and saw what I had done - he didn't notice much difference even after I showed him all the weeds in the bin !!!!

Have the best day and I hope to be able to pop by and catch up on some blog reading soon.

TFTD : It doesn't really matter if your glass is half empty or half full.  Be thankful that you have a glass and that there's something in it.

This is so appropriate for me at the moment - 

I hope it resonates for you too.

What Do I Know This Week ?

First up, I know that this is the 1st March and this year is flying by faster than you can say Jack Flash !!

I know that I am sick of packing and having my house look like a tornado has passed through it.

I know that I am sick of having a second lounge that is full of packed boxes and empty boxes with bubblewrap coming out of them.

I know I am sick of having packing tape lying on the diningroom table where I am doing the packing.

I know I am sick of having a back that aches.

I know that I can't wait to move on 14th March BUT I also know that we got a phone call at about 5.30pm yesterday asking us if we would extent settlement date by a week as the seller won't be able to finish everything that needs to be done by the 14th.  Really ????  He has known he is selling his house since whenever he put it on the  market.  He has known he has a buyer for his house since we signed a contract on 23rd December.  He has known we were going to be moving in on 14th March since we signed a contract on our house on 6th February.  He has known since 24th January the issues that were picked up in the building inspection that needed to be rectified.  Now, two weeks before we are due to move in he says he needs more time.  And, in order for him to stay there another week, we have to move our furniture into storage, stay in a motel for a week and then move our furniture out of storage - sorry mate, I don't think so.  We are still waiting to hear what it is that he hasn't done that he needs another week to finish, so I am figuring that it probably isn't that much and he is just looking for more time because it's easier to procrastinate over doing something than actually doing it.

I know that we have driven past the house on numerous occasions since we signed the contract looking to see whether he has made a start on what needs to be done outside and, up until earlier this week, no start had been made.

I know that I am happy that all the loan documents have been signed and are being processed by the bank.

I know that, while I said I was going to die in this house, that has changed and, given the size of the house and property we are moving to, I have to think that there will come a point in time when we will downsize to something smaller - I sure hope that will be our last move - I'm not cut out for all of this.

I know that Optus don't offer a service to our new address and I know that I have handed the whole telephone change-over to A to deal with - it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond my capability !!

I know that I managed to get our electricity changed over.

I know that I am more than a little annoyed that we lose our 44c government subsidy on the electricity buy back - and, not only do we lose the 44c that we currently get, but when we move and it changes to 8c, we lose that from 1 July meaning that there really is very little financial incentive for anyone to install solar.

I know that I am a day late linking this in with Miss Cinders at The Miss Cinders but, better late than never !!

Have the best weekend !

Do you have any packing tips I could use ?

What do you know this week ?

TFTD : When nothing goes right .............................. go left

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that I have a husband who understands how telephone lines and internet connections work.  I tried to move our home phone and internet online this morning but, sad to say, Optus advised that, due to network constraints they are unable to provide a service to that address.  My mind immediately said we would have to change to Telstra and all that would entail as far as a new family e-mail address etc etc etc.  And, because I don't pay attention when A talks about these things, I called him and told him the bad news and he didn't seem too phased by it and said we could do xyz to get around it and then we could do abc to get that done and then efg to do something else - so I very nicely said that, while I had been happy to move the service over, I felt that it was way beyond my understanding of what we needed and could I please put him in charge of getting the phone and internet moved and he said yes - woohooo thanks A !!!

Now tomorrow I just need to see if I can get onto Origin again as I managed to get myself locked out of the account today by trying, incorrectly, three times to access our account online.  I may have to resort to a telephone call to get this done EXCEPT that the bill is in A's name and I bet they will want to talk to him about it even thought he would have told them a gazillion times that I deal with anything accounts or paperwork related.

So, today I am thankful that (a) I have a telephone line and electricity that I can transfer and (b) that my husband is happy to handle the stuff that he knows is beyond my comprehension !!

Have the best Thursday e-v-e-r !!!

What are you thankful for today ?  

Have you joined in with Rhianna from A Parenting Life ?

TFTD : When we stop resisting what we don't want to feel and embrace the state that we are in, we move through the difficulty and confusion must faster and find out way back to truth and clarity.

Packing and packing and packing

Who would have thought it would take so long to pack up a kitchen ?  I know it's a big kitchen and the kitchen we are moving to is a lot smaller - but that's OK because I have come to realise that the more space you have, the more 'stuff' you have as well.  Lifeline, Red Cross and AWL or whoever else my parent's are dropping our stuff off with, will be smiling from ear to ear because I am being ruthless.  Most of the time.  Except for the vases I had flowers in when I was a child.  Those are staying.

I have to say that it is really cathartic getting rid of stuff - especially because I know that someone else needs it and will actually use it.  While I am excited about having a big pantry, at the rate I'm going, there will be nothing to put in there.

I have left out a couple of pots, the wok and a couple of casserole dishes because we do still need to eat.  What I haven't left out are any cooking utensils - oops !  I have left out the knife set but no spoons or spatulas or egg lifters - oops !  Maybe I should just pack up everything in the kitchen and we live on whatever we can buy in until we move !!!!!

K got home just after lunch on Saturday from baby sitting and helped me heaps - getting stuff from the low cupboards and the high shelves which was great because my back has decided that it doesn't really want to play along anymore.  She had another baby sitting gig at 6.30 and A and I went to the movies to see Last Vegas - what a great movie !  If you want a laugh - this is definitely the movie to see.

Sunday saw me lying with a wheat pack on my back popping panafen plus the whole day BUT I am pleased to report that A has made great in-roads into his shed.  He even threw some stuff away which I am MOST grateful for.  He still has a long way to go but I figure, getting started is definitely a step in the right direction.

After watching the Suns snatch the game from Essendon last Monday night, we decided to book a mini break to Melbourne over Easter to watch them play the Demons on 20th April and then go to the Cats v Hawks game on 21st - now if I could just buy tickets for the game, I would be really happy - as would my in-laws as they have changed their holiday in Melbourne to coincide with us being there and we will go to the games together.  Well my SIL is coming to the Suns game to experience the MCG but she won't be coming to the game the next day - she has no interest in AFL.

This break will be the thing that will get me through the next three weeks because this time, in three weeks, we will already have had 4 sleeps in our new home !!!

Have the best day !

TFTD : Today, surround yourself with people who lift you higher - those who see the great potential in you, even when you don't see it in yourself.

I'm Still Here

I cannot believe how quickly time is going.  I used to think that it was because I was getting older but even some younger people that I have spoken to have said how quickly time is passing.  I wonder if maybe 1 second is no longer taking 1 second to pass - maybe it's really only 1/2 second and so what we previously knew as 1 minute is actually only 1/2 minute ?  Oh, I may just bring my mind back from wherever it was going with this train of thought.

The paperwork is all signed.  Today the contract on our place goes unconditional.  And, three weeks on Friday we move - eeeeeeeek - that is just around the corner.  Having said that I am quite glad we have a reasonably quick settlement as it means we can get on with the adventure in our new home and all that building entails !!

If only I didn't have so many things on at the moment I could get heaps more packing done.  Monday night we went to the Suns v Essendon NAB challenge game.  While we were very scrappy in the first two quarters, they seemed to pull their fingers out in the second half and, in the dying seconds of the game kicked a behind to win by 1 point.  A real nail biter for the first game of the year but I think it would have done their confidence the world of good - being able to come back like that after the start that they had, shows their commitment to winning.  In some ways I feel a bit like that - we seem to have struggled for a while with the whole house thing and now we are so close to the end and being able to pull it all off - we just need to get through the next couple of weeks before things can settle down again.

I am trying to get around to read blogs but haven't been as successful as I would have liked.  Please don't think I have forgotten about you, I haven't, I'm just running short on time.  I am trying to get ahead of my work so that the time I take off when we move, isn't made more stressful by knowing that I left work undone in the office.  We had already planned on going away in April and we have canned that trip - it was just getting too hard trying to tie it in with the move and finances.  We are hoping to get down to Melbourne for a weekend while we are off in April but will wait and see if that happens or not.

Have the best day that you can !

Do you have any tips to share about moving ?

Especially if you have lived somewhere

over 13 years and are married to a hoarder.

TFTD : Always go with the choice that scares you the most, because that's the one that is going to help you grow.

Deep Breaths

While our contract for the house we are buying only goes unconditional on settlement of the sale of our home, the contract on our current home goes unconditional next Thursday.  As far as we can tell, it looks like it's all a go as there was nothing major in the building and pest inspection and it appears that they have finance sorted - the bank valuer was around yesterday and, as he was only there about 8 mins, I figure he is either going to pull the plug on the deal or it was a no brainer they would get it - I'm going with, it was a no brainer they are going to get it.

Poor A is so busy with work, I think there are times when he doesn't even know what my name is never mind where he lives - in fact, I don't think he gives a rat's butt where he lives - so long as wherever it is he has a comfy bed to come home to, he will be happy.

This may prove to be a little more than a little challenging for us over the next 4 weeks - settlement is 4 weeks from today which means that all his cr*p in the shed, in the garage, around the yard and down the side and back of the house - HAS TO BE MOVED.  This will be no small feat.  And, given he is working tomorrow, that is one Saturday that nothing will be done.  Factor in we received a pile of docs (probably about one trees worth of paper) in the mail yesterday that we have to read, understand, sign and send back to the solicitors asap - which means we probably won't get much done on Sunday which will be spent going through said pile of documents - which in turn means there are 3 weekends left before we move.

Oh yes, on top of this we have one truss in the roof which needs to be fixed and one shower which needs to be re-grouted / sealed / something done to - hopefully there is nothing else in the building report that entails us having to do anything other than pack !!

I am astounded about the truss in the roof - apparently it looks like it was cut by the guy putting the air-conditioning into the lounge room.  Wouldn't you think that if they needed to cut something like a truss to get the aircon installed, they would at least have said "Hey mate, we cut a truss to get this thing installed." so that we could get it fixed ?  Well clearly I think they should have but maybe I am wrong about this !!!

Anyone who has been reading my blog will know that A is a hoarder - in fact, he is a hoarder of note. During the week when I was packing up the sideboard, I put in a pile some old table cloths that we no longer use as well as a three candle holder - a wrought iron one that I think we may have brought from South Africa with us.  It is not a pretty candle holder.  It is not even a candle holder that we have used in forever.  This is the conversation that ensued :

A : What are you doing with this stuff ?
Me : Giving it to Lifeline.  No actually Mom said she would take it to somewhere else as if you drop it at Lifeline, people go through it before it gets collected and just pinch it so I told her I didn't care where it went so long as it went.
A : What about this runner ?
Me : That's on the pile - it's going too.
A : Why don't you use it on the side-board ?
Me : Because it doesn't make anything in the diningroom and we don't need a dust collector.
A : What about the candle holder ?
Me : That's also on the pile - it's going to.
A : Why ?
Me : Because we haven't  used it in forever and we don't need another candle holder that we don't use - IT'S JUST STUFF and we are getting rid of it.

I thought I made myself pretty clear in the above conversation.  Clearly I didn't.  A little while later I see the candle holder and a few other things by his keys on the kitchen bench.  I didn't say anything because I thought he may be taking them to work to see if someone there wants them.  Why they would I don't know but hey, so long as we don't have it anymore I don't care.

Last night I went into the garage - and what do I find ?  The candle holder !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don't know if maybe he is channeling his feminine side and going to put candles up in his shed when he is working there - or maybe the electricity isn't sorted yet and so he needs light - I don't know.  What I DO KNOW is that that bloody candle holder is not coming inside again !!

On that note I had better go and see how many decent packing boxes I can find.  Luckily I work close to a pool supplies wholesaler and they have some really good packing boxes they are happy to save for me - I just need to keep carting them down and trying to fit them into the car.

Have the best weekend !  And, if you live on the Gold Coast and have a free hour and want a laugh - pop in and watch me sorting through cr*p  and trying to decide whether A will remember we had a particular item before taking my life into my own hands and tossing it into the 'give it away' pile !

What are your plans for the weekend ?

Are they as much fun as mine ?

TFTD :   I have discovered the patience of miracles and how, when you wait for them, they will show up, often in disguise but there nonetheless.

Woohooo !!

WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON OUR HOME  !!!!

While our home hasn't been on the market for months and months, or heaven forbid, years, it has been a rather stressful time for me since we put it on the market on Christmas Eve.  But, today, we finally agreed on a price with a prospective buyer and have a contract on it.  Now it's just for the bank to find value in it and the building and pest inspection. Then we are good to go !!!

Well - sort of - there have been a few hiccups with the place we are buying BUT, I had another win this morning when A agreed that even if the purchase of the place we want falls through, we will rent and be a cash buyer and just look for something else - win, win all around !

If you had told me years ago that I would be the one who was positive about a tree change and happy to let my home become someone else's home, I would have laughed at you.  I would have said that you 'were smoking your socks' (as we say in our family).  I can see just how much I have grown and changed my attitude about how I deal with issues that come up.  I have, finally, realised that there is no point in worrying about the things that I have no control over.  I have realised that worrying about the things that I cannot change is a waste of my energy.

Today I am thankful for the contract that we have on our home but more importantly, I am thankful for how I have grown and how my attitude has changed to allow me to enjoy life more fully instead of spending so much time worrying about the things I have no control over.

Have the best day !

Have you joined in with Rhianna from The Parenting Life for Thankful Thursday ?  

What are you thankful for today ?

TFTD :  It's better to look back on life and say "I can't believe I did that," than to look back and say "I wish I did that."

I Know, It's A Process

And I have to be patient but honestly, I. Have. Had. Enough.

Four weeks into having a house on the market and I am totally over it.  Four weeks ago I was the positive one, the one who believed that there were heaps of people out there who would just love to live in our home.

Four weeks ago, I believed that having 60 days to sell our house would be more than enough time.

Four weeks ago, I believed that by the end of February we would be in our new home, planning where we were going to build for my folks.

Four weeks ago, I was naive enough to believe all of the above.

Four weeks on I have come to the realisation that I am no longer that positive.

Four weeks on I have come to the realisation that I don't know if there is anyone who wants to live in our home.

Four weeks on I have come to the realisation that people don't read adverts properly.  Nowhere on the advert is 'Living on water' mentioned or even implied and yet people turn up each week to our open house and leave, disappointed, because it isn't on water.  I guess they thought it was a real bargain at that price on water !!!

Four weeks on I have realised that I am not as patient as I thought I could be.

Four weeks on I just want to pull the pin on the whole thing and get back to living my life like normal instead of living around open houses and wondering about what is going to happen and when we are likely to move.

Four weeks on I don't want my lack of positivity to hinder the process but I am battling to 'keep my chin up' and remember that 'what will be will be' and that 'everything happens for a reason' - right now it all sucks big time and I am feeling miserable.

I know it's a process that has to run it's course but I feel like a petulant toddler who wants to throw a tantrum by lying on the floor and screaming the roof down.

But, because it's Tuesday and it's been forever since I have joined in with the lovely Jess from EssentiallyJess for #IBOT.

Do you have any experience in

selling your home ?

Was it a good or bad experience for you ?

Please let me know I'm not the only one

who gets impatient with things like this.

TFTD : Yesterday is gone.  Tomorrow has not yet come.  We have only today. Let us begin.

A Theory

A has a theory that all the good ideas are his and, at that point in time I think that they are cr*p.  Then, after a couple of years, I come around to the idea and then claim it as my own - and he may have a point to a certain extent (and sadly I think that K may have learned this trait from me !)

About 1992-1993, A's oldest brother and sister-in-law were talking about immigrating to Australia and he was keen to do the same.  Me, not so much.  I didn't think that there was any way I could leave my folks behind.  We are very close and used to see each other at least once or twice a week and talked every day.  In 1996, the night that the National Party pulled out of the coalition government (it was a Sunday night and we were watching the news), I turned to A and I said "OK - I'm ready to leave" - he had no idea what I was talking about - it was about 9pm on a Sunday night - where on earth would I be going to ?  I explained that I was ready to move countries becaused I realised that if we stayed in South Africa, we had no future and more importantly, K would have a very dismal future.  So much so that I could see her finishing school and then moving countries - and by then A and I would be too old to get into another country (except maybe NZ because it used to be really really easy to get in there).

A's most favouite animal

Source credit

This is the first instance of when his idea was a great idea - it just took me a few years to catch up to him.

When we got to Australia we rented a house for 6 months while we found which suburb we wanted to live in and found the house we wanted to buy.  When we found this house it wasn't what we wanted at all - it had one loungeroom and three bedrooms and this stupid little vanity outside the toilet - who does that, and no door to the outside from the kitchen.  No way was I going to buy this house !!!  It wasn't anything like I wanted !!! (or so I thought !).  After a cursory glance through it we left with me passing derogatory comments about the 'stupid bloody estate agent showing us houses that didn't have the things we had specifically asked for'.  Anyway after seeing a few more places, we chatted about this house and realised that we could change the one loungeroom into two and that we could get by with three bedrooms instead of four and really, what did it matter if there was an extra basin and vanity ?  So we came back and had another look and made an offer.  After a bit of bargaining back and forth, we got it for nearly $7k less than we were willing to pay - bargain !!!!!  Needless to say, that extra vanity has been a godsend at times - especially when my folks came to visit and Dad was shaving and K was trying to get ready for school.  K has got very spoiled by having mirrors on three walls and so being able to see all around her hair.  This will be another shock to her system along with remote garage doors (or lack thereof !!!)

I had very clear instructions about the house that we bought - whatever it was and wherever it was - the only time I was moving out was in a coffin (once again, our irreverent approach to death comes to the fore !!!).  I have made the statement many times over the years - firmly believing it each.and.every.single.time because I was not moving - no sir, not for anybody.

We have been very happy here but A has, on more than one occasion, mentioned how much he would like to live on acerage and have horses and a ride on mower.  "Yes dear - whatever makes you happy" was generally my reply (or at the very least words to that effect, knowing full well that, unless he was going to move without me or was planning on offing me in the near future, it was never going to happen) - WRONG !!!

A few weeks ago I went to a bloggers catch up out at Cedar Vale. I loved it (catching up with the other bloggers was so much fun but also the location of where we met) - the open spaces, the trees, the quietness. And my mind started ticking over. But, I had forgotten about his theory of his ideas are cr*p until I have mulled them over for a while and then, once they become my ideas, they are 'brilliant' because, as we all know, our ideas are always the best !!!  After we left there (the bloggers catch up), I got to thinking - the main reason I didn't want to live on acerage was because we packed shelves until 1am, five nights a week, and there was no way I was going to finish at Coles at 1am and then drive another half hour or more to get home.  Now that we no longer pack shelves, that reason for not living on acerage doesn't actully exist anymore.

When A was here last week we took a couple of drives around looking at acerage - man we saw some lovely places - some were 'lovely' prices as well but some were actually quite reasonably priced.  Then he raised the question of asking my folks if they would be interested in moving into a dual living place with us, if we found somewhere.  We stopped off to see them and were telling them about what we had seen and then asked them the question saying "Have a think and a chat about it.  See if you would like us to look at something where you could have your own place close to us and then let us know so we know whether we are looking for something with dual living or just a home for us on a plot bigger than we are currently on."  Well, I don't think A had even finished saying that before Dad said "I haven't spoken to Mom but yes, we would love to come and live with you."

So, once again, his 'cr*p' idea, once it became my idea, suddenly became a 'great' idea - please tell me I'm not the only one who does this.  And, if I am, would someone please tell just a very small porky and say that they do the same so that I don't feel like I'm the only miserable wife who wants all the best ideas to be hers !!!!

And yes, now, while he is working 4 weeks in Townsville and having 1 week of R&R when he isn't supposed to do much at home, we are going to try to fix our house up so that we can sell it and make the most profit possible to put into another property that will fit the three of us and my folks in (with them having their own seperate place on the same property). 

Right now I am thinking that I must have left my mind out on that property in Cedar Vale or have completely lost it somewhere else.  Why on earth did I think, at any point in time, that doing something like this was a great idea ???????????  I should have just kept my big mouth SHUT !!!!  But, as I am sure you are all aware, it's very hard to suck those words back into your mouth once they have been uttered.

Or I can look at it as a total challenge and decide - am I up for it or not ?  Time will tell on this one I think.

Linking in with Jess from EssentiallyJess for #IBOT - have you joined in this week ?

Have the best week !

TFTD : Life is meant to be lived. Take risks. Feel passion. Discover love. Run free.