Oh, how happy I am to be back here. It feels like an eternity since I was last blogging and relaxing {a little} and in my lovely, oh-so-very-much-missed purple nest.
But a new leaf has been turned. A new path for us to walk. Gently and ever so slowly we will find the clearing amid the forest and be able to see what it is that’s in store for us, just around the corner. Hopefully it’ll be a new nest to call home. A much smaller nest but a cosy, cute one on the lovely block we now own.
For now, home is a very old, run down house. In it’s hay day it would’ve been gorgeous. It’s one of those rambling old places in a pretty old and lovely street. It has some lovely, lovely features which I’m sure, as I settle in a little more, I’ll show you and I can’t help but love those parts of the house. But, oh man, how hard it is to live in an old house that’s lacked TLC for quite some time AND has carpet in the…bathroom! There’s also a leak in a dark and dingy corner that woke me on the first, mildly raining night. Drip! Drip! Drip! Deafening! It filled an ice-cream container {thank goodness for that ice-cream container that was handily placed in the hallway amongst all of the other unpacked boxes and mess} wet the carpet in the hallway. Fun, fun, fun.
On the first day I watched 2 cockroaches make their way about the kitchen. Yum! Cockroach bait is now spread throughout the house, luring those little buggers {no pun intended…this is no laughing matter!!} …I hope. I’m imagining mice would love this place too but so far I have found no evidence. So far so good.
We are all struggling with living so close to neighbours again. Although we had 11 neighbours surrounding us at the purple nest and I did my fair share of whinging about lack of privacy there I didn’t realise how very lovely it really was to live in town on over an acre of land. It gave us so much more space between neighbours and it meant that no one was looking directly into our windows – unlike here. Going to the toilet here is interesting if you forget to close the door. Until the final flush I didn’t realise that the toilet could be viewed directly from the neighbours study {I think???} window. Hmmm…mm mm…great!
Normally I don’t leave the bathroom/toilet door open whilst I’m in there but this bathroom is so dark and damp {think wet carpet all day long with no ventilation to dry it up and think no external window} that having the door closed means the light has to be on in the middle of the day and, well, lights on in the day makes me feel….dirty! I know, I know, I’m weird and my friend, Lynda, loves to make fun of my idiosyncrasies, especially this one but she can laugh all she wants because I can’t wait for her to use the toilet in that room in the middle of the day, with the door closed, her toes crunched up to try to avoid the rank carpet, and see how well she can find the hand soap and tap! See how clean she feels! Ner!
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The move was one of the most stressful things I’ve ever been through. I’m sickened by the thought of how much ‘stuff’ we own. It’s ridiculous beyond belief. I’d say we were at it for about a month but the final week was like an all in sleep-eat-pack routine which had us all exhausted and weary and constantly on the verge of tears {and sometimes the tears fell in great big floods of grief and sheer exhaustion}. Each day I feared we wouldn’t get through it all. It felt waaaay too much and too big and too tiring to tackle.
But get through it we did…some how, miraculously we did. The relief has taken awhile to hit me. I’ve felt really flat emotionally. I guess it’s a lot to take in right now, especially for a home body like me. But I’m so very thankful for this blog, my Feather & Nest home, which remains the same as what it was before the big move. It’s something that’s cosy and familiar to me and I feel so good being back here blabbering on as I usually do.
And I’m also thankful for my stuff. As bad as that sounds – and don’t worry, I do plan to get rid of more of it before too long – but my stuff has made me feel more at home in this strange, old house. My kitchen cabinets that I know are clean, now house our crockery and food {the actual kitchen cupboards are too far gone to put food in them…urgh!}. My old schoolhouse book cupboard now houses all of our clothes. The old drawing desk from the purple nest {which is also the tiny table that I grew up with} is now our dining table once more {it seats 4!} and some bits and pieces of lounge room furniture make the sitting rooms more cosy and ‘us’. It’s funny, I think my furniture actually suits this house more than the purple nest – same era!
And our dog, Poppy, really appreciates her stuff too. She took awhile to adjust to these new surroundings, much smaller and less-escapable surroundings, but she’s loved having her bed to feel cosy and familiar in. She now has her kennel back too which she is really loving. Her own mini doggy nest:)
And I have to say, having my very dear friends {Steve, Lynda & kidlets} go through the very same ordeal at the very same time was such a comfort. Knowing there was someone I could talk to and cry with who knew exactly how I felt…and for Lewi to have a friend who knew exactly how he felt…was so very wonderful. They too had to sell their dream house which they also owner built for very similar reasons to us. They too know how it feels to have people you know buy your house, knowing that the connections will be long term rather {there’s some good in that too, of course}. They too know how it feels to have waaaay too much stuff and not enough time to move it let alone space to re-house it. They too know about over budgeting and down sizing. They too know the guilt of feeling so very disconnected with their children as they have no time to paly and talk and laugh like they usually do. They too know that we are not the planners of our own path…evidently. They too will be able to reconnect with one another and find the joy again. They too will pick themselves up, dust themselves off and begin again. gently and ever so slowly they will find the clearing amid the forest and be able to see what it is that’s in store for them, just around the corner.
So, that was the week that was.
Kim xx
