Hmmmm…to start from moving day or from today?

Well moving day was long and the drama with Morpheus the following morning looks, thankfully, like it was just one of those things caused by who knows what!

So nearly 4 weeks on are we completely unpacked? Almost! There is a box or two of odd things, that don’t get used often enough to have been found a home, still languishing around but apart from that it’s done.

Cooking anything takes four times as long as it used to a) because the kitchen is huge and b) because Sod’s Law dictates that the thing you are searching for is in the last cupboard that you look in. But we can COOK things in an oven again – the first taste of perfect roast potatoes again was bliss.

I’m sure the kitchen will seem to shrink the longer that we’re here bit at the moment it feels as if there is enough space for everyone to be in the kitchen and still swing a cat – although both cats are still enjoying their dog-free holiday at my mum’s house!

I’ve decided that sofas that are ‘going begging’ are like buses – you don’t see any for AGES and then all of a sudden! three of them come along at once and you end up with more seating than you can shake a stick at.

It didn’t occur to me when I saw the BIG sofa squeezing out of David’s car that it would also need to be squeezed in at the other end. This applied to lots of other furniture and getting some of it in and up the stairs was more than a bit Krypton Factoresque! Some things just weren’t going to go upstairs though no matter how hard the were pushed and shoved or eased and cajoled, so Jack’s desk, which was our desk, is now my desk again. Ellie’s desk is now Jack’s desk and my corner computer cupboard now resides in Ellie’s room.

Simon is now an expert in networking computers in houses with walls that are 2 feet thick. Jack can’t pick up a wireless signal in his room but Ellie has phenominal signal strength in hers (there’s irony there somewhere) so solutions have been looked at from expensive flashy signal boosters through to home-made antennae made from Pringle cans.

The bathroom is nice and clean and bright and the shower emits more than a dribble and doesn’t go RED HOT when nextdoor turns any taps on – heaven. The one issue in the bathroom quickly became apparent – LOW WINDOWS! Of course this isn’t a problem all the while you’re sitting down but anyone walking past when you stood up would have seen more then they bargained for. A quick dash to Rosebys for a voile to put up at the window soon remedied this.

The dogs are slowly barking less everytime someone walks past the house but they still can’t control themselves when the chickens from over the road stroll by.

Me and Ellie have been out exploring and the animals are all registered with the local vets in Thrapston (the nearest place with shops – think of a cross between Steyning and Storrington and that’s Thrapston), we are all registered with the doctor there and have yet to sample the delights of Ben’s Chippy – although judging by the queues we’ve seen there it’s going to be good.

Simon and Jack are off on an adventure to find PC World in Peterborough (20 or so miles up the road), then this afternoon the kids are going swimming with Tony at Kettering as part of their training for the Pier to Pier swim in Bournemouth in the summer. And whilst they’re doing that I’ll be walking the dogs with my mum.

Then it’s a quick dash back home to light the fire in time to sit down down with a glass of wine in time to watch the Strictly Come Dancing Final.

That’s all for now – I’ll leave you with a picture of the kitchen

Sarah x