Gee...Time really does fly....

....rather you're having fun or not. As some of you might know, we have recently, for the past 3 months, have been relatively homeless as we wait for our current tenants to move out of our place in the city. Due to this displacement it has been very difficult for me to keeps tabs on this blog. Hell who am I kidding, I had trouble keeping tabs with the blog even when I did have a place to plug in our computer. Regardless, I am happy to announce that if all goes well that by the beginning of next week we should have a new place to call home. That's right the tenants are in the process of moving out as I type and as it stands we have the movers scheduled to move our stuff out of storage and into our place on Friday. I'm hoping that after everything settles I will be able to focus on this blog and most definitely be able to get back into my 12 of 12 photos. So, all I can say is fingers crossed and watch this space as it should be showtime all over again in the next coming days. Until then take care and stay out of trouble...

Moving on up, or is it moving out?

Well, it's a little bit of both, as we are on the path to moving back into our apartment in the city. By city I mean Sydney. We have found ourselves quasi homeless after living in an apartment under my husband's parent's house. It wasn't it an optimum situation but it provided us a space, breathing room and most of all time to help make decisions about where and how much we wanted to spend on a new home back here in Sydney. For those of you who who are up to speed, we recently moved back to Sydnay after living in Tasmania for the last 5 years. We unfortunately had to move back to Sydney for several reasons, health being an important player. We kept our house in Tassie and are renting it out which will provide us with a nice bit of change to spend on our new mortgage. It will at least make the payments.

Anyway, here we are back in Sydney. We are planning on moving back into our apartment in the city which we were letting out for the past 6 years. We had to unfortunately give our current tenants notice. They were good tenants but we need a place to live. A place to live I might add that is mortgage free, so no monthly rental for us to lay out. We plan on living back in the apartment for probably a year at which time we hope to have found a new house to purchase. So wish us luck and here's to hoping that our current tenants find something sooner. The sooner the better as we can stop living out of suitcases, moving from hotel to hotel and other various forms of accommodations.

Oh and while I'm on the topic of moving and being homeless, seeing that all all of our worldly goods, bar three suitcases of clothing, are in storage, I will not be able to participate in March's 12 of 12. I probably won't be able to do Aprils and possibly May's unless as I said we are able to move back into our apartment sooner. It all depends on the current tenants. We shall see...

Moving in a forward direction....

...or at least moving back to Sydney for me/us that is. Yes, the move is still on. The days are counting down with only fifteen more days before we fly out of here and on to the beginning of new adventures albeit on familiar territory. We have a huge to do list that we have to get through before the movers arrive on the 21st and begin to pack. I'm happy to say that we have made considerable progress on that list, in fact I'd say that we are almost 3/4 of the way through the list. Hopefully by the end of next week and the beginning of our last week here all we will have to do is wait for the movers to arrive and let them do the rest. In a sentimental turn we made reservations at the same hotel that we stayed in the first night we arrived here five years ago as we waited for the movers to arrive with our stuff from the mainland. Now five years later the same movers will be moving us up to the mainland. It all seems to have come full circle except that we have grown since then.We have changed a lot over the past few years and we learned a few things also.

We look forward to our move and what a better way to begin that move than with the start of a brand new year and an entire new decade ahead of us. We are excited about looking for a new house and more so the fact that we will be able to take our time while looking so as not feel as if we have to grab the first place we see. The same holds true with the work prospects. I plan on checking with a few of the local non-profit organisations to see if I can do some volunteer work while hubby will start looking for his first job outside the medical field since he got his Masters degree in Education. There are all sorts of endless possibilities and it is great feeling as we begin another greater chapter in not only our individual lives but also of our life together.

I will miss our little house. We both really love this house and as I may have mentioned that is one of the reasons we will be renting it out instead of selling it. We never say never and we don't know what the future holds and maybe the right time will come along when we will be able to move back here, although I don't see that happening for at least a good 15-20 years. I'm sure that if this house can make it for 115 years a few more won't hurt it. I'll miss the quiet that living in a smaller city provided and will admit that the noise of the big city is not something I look forward to but the way we will get around that will be to move to a place that is not right in the city like the apartment we lived in when before we moved here. We still rent that place out but I have no intention of moving back there as it would be defeatist and would feel as if we had made a huge step backwards when it is so very much the opposite. We have made huge strides in our lives over these past five years and a lot of things have happened over that time. We have had many good times but also a few sad times. There is no guarantee that all will be a bed of roses once we settle back in Sydney but then again I would worry if everything was too perfect. I think we'll just take it one day at a time just like we did when we first moved down here.

So that is what is happeneing around here. I'm not sure if I'll get in another post before we leave and get set up in Sydney but if not remember that if you want to also keep tabs on me until then I'm over at Facebook. I will resume regular posts here once we get settled and will be able to share our new adventures with you. I will try to do my 12 of 12 this month but other than that I'll just have to see. So until next time, I wish each and everyone of you the very best for the coming year. Stay safe, take care and enjoy (life that is)

Far too long...

...in between posts that is. Life has been extremely hectic in my part of the world. We of course like everyone else are in the middle of the holiday season. Although, we aren't really in the celebrating kind of mind set. Hubby is still healing from his mum's passing. Money is tight with all of the moving costs etc. I'm usually flat this time of year as it is the anniversary of my late partners passing. in fact that would be today the 21st eleven years on and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Then of course I just spent ten days in the hospital including 3 days in the ICU. I was really sick, but I am home and on the mend. I would tell you what happened but it's long and complicated. As I said I was really, really sick. So with all of that and with all of the moving activities I've not had much time to write.

I can't promise I'll do any better for the next couple of months until we get settled back in Sydney which won't be until the first week in February. We will be in this house until the last week in January. We have not even started looking for a new home yet but since we have made temporary arrangements in Sydney. Those arrangements will give us a few months to look for just the right place. Then of course we both will have to start the job hunt. I plan on volunteering for some non-profit agency like the Cancer Council or alternatively the state library or art gallery/museum. As soon as we get settled I'm sure I'll have a lot of new things to write about and all of our new adventures back in Sydney. Until then posts will be few and erratic.

I know I missed 12 of 12 for December but I was still in the hospital but I will definitely try to do January's and then of course February's will be the first one from Sydney. Anyway, thanks for your patience and if you can be a little more patient I will try to get back to regular posting soon. I am still also available on Facebook for those of you that are that interested. Until next post, take care, stay safe, stay well and enjoy...

Hectic is as hectic does...

As the title implies things around my world are just plain hectic as all get out. We are into full swing with our moving plans. The moving people will be here on Friday to give us a quote for the move. We have set a date and we will officially be moving back to the mainland the last weekend in January which will make the house ready for rent as of 1 February. We still have to get the rental agents out here to also give us a quote as to how much rent they think we can get for the house. We would like to get at least $400.00 a week but we will wait to see what they have to say.

There is a whole list of things that need to be done, like getting painters in and buying a new dishwasher, which I'm bitter about as I have been hand washing our dishes for months and now as we are leaving we are going to get the new one for the tenants. It's not fair but that's life. We also need to have some light fixtures in the hall replaced. All of these thing will make the place more appealing and at the same time when the time comes to retire and if we are still going ahead with the current plans the house will be all ready for us to return.

The main reason we are leaving is because we can not get adequate work here. Hubby has finished his Masters in Education and wants to change fields unfortunately that won't happen on the island as there are limited opportunities. I have had no lucky finding work for over year now. So we will head to the mainland and there will be ample choices for new employment. It will also give us a change of pace in our life. We haven't decided rather or not to buy another house or not. If we do the payments will have to be the same as the rental we are getting from the house or possibly a little more as we also get the rental from our apartment in Sydney and could add that to a repayment for the new house. I know a lot of you would say why not move back to your apartment and the reason we don't want to is that it would feel as if we had somehow failed in out venture down here to the island. We also don't want to be right in the middle of the hustle an bustle of Sydney, which unfortunately is where our apartment is located. I hate to think we will have a new mortgage since it's been over three years since we became mortgage free. We will just have to wait and see what come our way.

Well, that's what is going on in my neck of the woods and it's my excuse for not posting as much. I will try harder and as usual I will always do my 12 of 12. As a matter of interesting facts it will be fives years ago to the day 1 Dec that we moved to this island. Funny how things change. Well until next time take care, stay safe and enjoy...