... and I'm going away again...

It's time for a new adventure, so I'm moving this blog to a brand new site called Cecily. Mostly.

You'll find this blog, plus others dedicated to books, family, craft and of course autism on the new site, plus a whole lot of stories and articles I've been wanting to publish for a while.

Please come over and let me know what you think. And thanks for reading here for so long.

No more posts - that's all folks.

I'm baaa-aack

It's been a month since I posted last, and finally I am back.

In the last month, we have moved the contents of a four bedroom house (two truck loads), unpacked it in two days, slept, slept some more, lost our dog and found him again, went on holidays for two weeks, got creative about entertaining children in two weeks of rainy days, figured out grocery shopping, started new jobs, schools and preschools, and met a gazillion new people.

Amazingly, I'm sitting here incredibly relaxed and happy. This place - the village and the countryside around it - is just beautiful. Our house is fantastic. I can't quite believe how attractive and liveable it is. The children are content and it is all looking really good.

I have big plans to change this blog around over the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to work out how to combine all my blogs and writing stuff onto one site. If anyone's got any ideas on how to do that, I'd be happy to hear them!

Thanks for your patience (if you're still here) and I'm looking forward to blogging again.

Insurance guys know what's going on

Help! Rescue me from boxes and mess and washing and cleaning and dreams where all I do is pack or run away from people who are trying to kill me... I wake up more exhausted than when I go to sleep.

Husband got on the phone tonight to change our details for our home and contents insurance. The very pleasant and affirming HUMAN customer service representative* on the other end of the line said, "Oh yes, I don't envy you. Moving is one of the most stressful experiences a family can have." I nearly cheered.


*If you'd like to know which company, I'll untell you.

Absent

Some things have taken a back seat in the last few weeks.

1. Cooking interesting meals.
2. Washing.
3. Blog.

My energies have been directed elsewhere, specifically: sorting out cupboards; organising an enormous garage sale (eight neighbourhood families and their stuff); sorting out furniture needs for the new place; saying initial goodbyes to friends here.

You may be interested to know that if you are trying to buy a lounge on ebay, it would serve you well to live in Melbourne. They seriously have the best furniture!

I doubt I'll emerge fully from this hibernation before June. We move on 18 May and then take some holidays. After that, there will be big changes for us. Two children will be at school (yes, I finally admit defeat) and one at preschool three days down in the new place, so I will have free days.

Hopefully, see you after that!

Patersons on the move

Finally I am free to blog again without self-censorship. Tomorrow we will officially announce our move to beautiful Kangaroo Valley, which is south-east of here, about a 30 minute drive. My husband will be the assistant minister of Berry/Kangaroo Valley parish, but effectively the minister of KV church.

Apparently Kangaroo Valley is 24 in the list of the 100 best spots to live in New South Wales. Lucky us, hey? It's lush and green and pretty. It's also only accessible via three really winding roads.

We move in about five weeks. Now the real hard work begins! How I LOVE packing...

Garage sale

There is waaaay too much stuff in this house. Most of the cupboards are full of things we haven't looked at/played with/gotten out for the two years we've been here. So we have decided to have a garage sale.

This will be my first ever garage sale. So far I have filled seven boxes with toys, books, linen and bits and pieces. I'm sure there will be more. It's a great feeling to pull things out of cupboards and think "I will be free of this soon!"

I am trying not to be sentimental. If I have to ask the question 'Should I keep this?' I think the answer should be no. The only trouble will be hiding the stuff from the little boys who will suddenly remember things they last showed interest in two years ago if they see it again.

In addition, we are selling furniture. We have a cream leather lounge suite which is beautiful and in good condition, but we have realised we don't sit in it because we feel too formal in it. Somehow a fabric cover feels cosier. So we are hitting ebay for a new/second hand fabric one, and are open to offers for our cream leather. The very bad picture at the top of this post shows one of the armchairs - there are two, with a 3-seater lounge. It was probably worth about $2500 when it was new 3 years ago. (And if you have little children, don't dismiss it because it is cream. It cleans up really easily!) As they say on ebay - pick up only, no postage. Hey, I'll even consider selling you our new rug that we bought to go with it...

We are also selling a dark wood TV cabinet with doors that close the TV up when you're not watching, and a computer cupboard with doors - shelf, 2 drawers, pull out keyboard , room for printers, CPU, everything. Also a basic pine king single bed frame and mattress (although we won't charge for the mattress... it's seen its day.

Just let me know if you're interested.

I think I have ADD

Below, allow me to list all my unfinished projects sitting around my house.

1. Hexagon patchwork. Begun ambitiously, soon discarded
2. Double bed quilt - sewn, basted, and left to one side temporarily....
3. Braided rug for my daughter.
4. children's book started and not finished
5. editing project for a friend begun and not continued (hope he's patient)
6. another children's series begun and now 'pending'
7. Friendship book still in process. At least I'm making progress on this one
8. Two other books begun, not continued...

Seriously. I think I might have some sort of attention disorder. Or I just get bored quickly.