Sunday 27 January 2008

That's all folks..

Greg and I handed back the keys to our old place last Friday.

It has been a hard experience for me to move on someone else's terms (i.e. not by my choice). Life suddenly does not feel like it is in my control. Which is actually true to some extent. I cannot control everything that happens in my life.

I was very happy with where I lived. I lived there for 6 years and felt totally at home and settled there. It is a big loss to me. In the words of Darryl Kerrigan from The Castle "It's not a house, it's a home." I have a lot of fond memories of that place.. it's where I celebrated my 30th birthday, I lived there when I got engaged and married, it's Cleo's first home, ...

I do know that I can make a new home somewhere else with my loved ones (kiss to Greg and Cleo). But the feeling of life being out of my control and the loss of my home has been hard. In fact my immediate reaction was to find a place to buy - to try and take things back into my control! I do love the idea of owning my own place for security, being able to change things I don't like and for the investment aspect. But part of wanting to own a home is also the expectation that I should buy a place - it seems everyone else does it.. so I should too?? I am constantly asked when I am going to buy a house and told that it is the best way to invest my money. But then I don't know where I want to end up living, I don't want to buy something and then have to sell in a couple of years and I don't want to give up my lifestyle. To me lifestyle is WAY more important than money and investments. I'd rather enjoy life and not be stressed about money and be able to do the things I love and enjoy.

Having said all that.. a goal of mine is to hopefully own my own home in the future. But I don't think it has to be now. And if it never happens.. well is that really a problem?

Anyway, there's some of my random thoughts that have been running around my head the last few weeks.. And so I say bye to the old and hello to the new.

Thursday 17 January 2008

An impromptu trip.

Greg and I decided to go away for the weekend, so that our holidays aren't only about finding a house, packing and moving! Using wotif.com I managed to find a good deal on accomodation in Daylesford. We stayed in an old train signal box that has been converted into a B&B. We spent our beautiful, sunny days at Daylesford lake - walking and reading. It was very relaxing .. I only wish we could have stayed a little longer.

Our accomodationDaylesford Lake

Trying to take a picture of us.

Monday 14 January 2008

New Year.

My new year started at the beach in extreme hot weather (over 30 degrees all night). We swam, ate and drank in the new year. A very nice way to celebrate in such temperatures I think.

Now that I have a spare second to think about the New Year I must say that I am not going to miss 2007 - the year of two robberies, one car crash, losing our home, a very sick grandfather, the loss of a grandmother, an awful illness... There were good times too.. but the year was marred by the few (unusual) bad times.

I am hopeful that 2008 will be a better year. :)

Thursday 10 January 2008

New abode.

This week we were offered two places for rent. So we chose the better of the two and signed the lease. The place is not ideal - a little smaller than where we are now, a LOT less storage space and I'm not happy with the location. But it's live able and I don't think we will be unhappy there.

Our dilemma this week was whether to keep looking in the hope that we find something better. But we decided not to risk it. And it's a relief to know that we will not be homeless in February!

We'll send more details in an email once we've moved.

Monday 7 January 2008

Moving.

Sometime in mid December we received a phone call to inform us that we need to move out of our home by mid Feb (due to pending renovations). It came as quite a shock and we're not happy about having to move. We've been here for about 6 years now and think of it as our home. We weren't planning to stay here forever but leaving on someone else's time frame isn't much fun. It means we cannot spend time searching for an ideal place but instead need to find something quick 'that'll do' for now. My holidays are now consumed by trying to find a place and later they will be spent packing and moving.