MC and I have moved into our new home. Hence the lack of recent writing. Hence the lack of pretty much everything in life with the exception of work and oven cookable dinners. I'm sitting in the new house alone for the first time since we got the keys a week past Friday. Contrary to MC's fears the previous owners did not decide at the 11th hour to refuse to part with their home, nor the bank fail to release our mortgage funds, or the lawyers come up with some other calamity effectively making us homeless.
It was all decidedly civilised and not hugely stressful. We had lots of help with the move in the form of one of MC's brothers, one of mine and a friend. Unfortunately I had the world's worst cold and wheeze thing going on so I was restricted to being the van driver for four days. And I didn't crash or bump it. Go Mrs P.
Sadly the previous owner appears to have been a bit of a DIY cowboy and in the space of a few short days MC's brother has re-hung the front door so the locks actually lock, I've re-sealed the bathroom and kitchen that were otherwise sealed to the tiles with cracked grout and grime, and nearly everyone in the house has had a go at trying to make the kitchen floor look clean. It's never ever been cleaned and the damage is irreparable. GHANTO!!! New flooring (and kickboards) will be required as soon as we can save up the pennies. My personal bonkerdom manifests as mild OCD so I find other's people mingingness unbearable. Thankfully I'm feeling more sedate now I'm psychologically secure in the knowledge that although the kitchen floor may look diabolical, it has been bleached to within an inch of its life, many times over.
Other excitement: the electrician has declared us safe despite the DIY nobrainers of the previous occupant, Papa Johns delivers (yee-ha!) and we are now the proud owners of some furniture. All praise Ikea. My comfy chair is my especial favourite article of furniture so far (although our new bed is pretty awesome) and I'm looking forward to life settling down so I can sit in it with a trashy novel, a cuppa tea and Papa's Pepperoni Plus.
Bonkerdom prevails. There's a few more people living here at present than had been planned on. But that's life. MC's brother has been a furniture building superstar and my brother has been mocking me less relentlessly than usual while helping me with sanding and polyfilla-ing the very many nooks, chips and great gaping chasms of this house. It's a good thing it's a spacious house. Our official lodger moves in month end and I have many projects lined up for the interim period and beyond.
We are home owners now. Officially. It's nice to be fixing up the cracks in our home rather than ignoring those in a landlord's for forever. A few thank yous in no particular order; to our families in general for foregoing your Christmas presents with good cheer, to the Scottish Ministers for approving us for the LIFT scheme which allowed us an affordable mortgage and minimal deposit, to MC's Mum & Stepdad for helping out with said deposit, to MC's Dad & Stepmum-to-be for flying his brother over to help us out, to said brother for his insane skills with a screwdriver (this trip must equate to possibly the worst vacation EVER!), to my brother for being an unexpected but handy box-lugging floor cleaning house guest, and MC's good friend (you know who you are) for lifting, carrying and spectating the pandemonium that ensued when our sofa proved too large for our living room doorway. Fun times had by all, and we couldn't have done it without every one of you.
Good bye magnolia, hello cacophony of colour.
