We MOVED! Yippy!! I love this house! There is so much to it and everyone is starting to feel at home. Really... NOT! We feel like we have come here on vacation and have a gorgeous house to stay in while we are here. It doesn't feel real and all I keep thinking about it how something just has to go wrong because it is just too perfect. For some reason I just keep thinking about the movie The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.
Entrance way
Living room and office
Dining room and Kitchen
Dining room - 3 sets of doors to enter into living room
Living room - Wardrobes and pieces left for kids to use- door by the blue shelving is our bedroom and you can see the doors to where you go up to the kids rooms. That area by the stairs will be their study area. This also leads to the utility room and half bathroom downstairs.
Conservatory- Love the natural light in here!
Stairs to the kids rooms
The master bedroom and the stairs to the loft where our bathroom and linen closet is. Love the closet in this room!
The Good old Money Pit, I am not sure who has or who has not seen it. I know Mom has and probably many others but for those that have not, the theme of the movie is a couple that buys this big beautiful house for a really good price. From day one of them moving in everything goes wrong and they have to redo it all. The movie is a classic. So I sit here during the day and just think... is this too good to be true like it was for them? I don't think so and if it were, hey it is not ours, we just rent!
So on Friday we moved house. We had people coming in and out and met with the landlords who were still completing some of the things that needed to be done before we moved in. The base did the walk through of the house. Everything was marked that was knicked, scratched, dented, dirty, etc. to protect us and the owners of the house. Signed the lease and it was ours for at least the next year! We went through everything with the landlord. Learned how the electric worked on a timer with things like the Water Heater and Heating to make electric bills cheaper. In England they have something called Economy 7 where at night the electric is cheaper so many houses run things during those 7 hours to keep costs down. After doing some research on this, the hours start at 1:30 or 12:30 depending on daylight savings time or whatever they call it here. I do not think Ill be staying up until 1:30 to wash and dry clothes! So Ill be up around 6 after Mat goes to work to do that a few times a week.
While we were waiting for everyone to come to the house to do all the paperwork, the kids went upstairs and chose which rooms they wanted. Of course Mathew chose the Blue room to be his! He was set on that room from the start. It is the first room you enter when going up the stairs to the kids rooms. Mat took the second room on the left as a storage room for all his military gear. I am not sure if all of it will go up there because you never know when you need another room for the plethora of guests we might have coming! I think Mat talked Paige into taking the room with the Bathroom. So now each kid is in charge of keeping their bathroom clean. Lets see who loses bathroom privileges first!
After the signing of the contract, we had some time before the base movers were bringing our items so we went to grab some lunch. We found a local place called the Sandwich Bar. We went in ordered some food and sat down. There were only 3 tables in this little area and a couch to sit on. We chose to sit at one of the tables and one of the ladies brought us our food. Mathew and I got the Smokey T while Paige and Mat got some type of Mexican Panini. Both were delicious! I still have to adapt to their "Crisps" (Chips) here as they are way different than the states! Mathew chose a type of chip that tasted like Buggles and bacon. Not my favourite at all! But that is a place that we definitely will have to revisit!
We headed back to the house for the delivery of the rental furniture. That came and they brought us some super stylish couches! Nothing like floral cushions! The beds were pretty comfy. The fridge is super small! It is the size of one side of a side by side fridge. There is not much you can keep in there at all so that is a big adjustment!
After the delivery, we headed back to base to pick up the rest of the items that we were not able to get on the first go round. We checked the mail and headed to the stores to get other items we needed for the house. We did our grocery run as well. Then headed back to the house.
Before bed, we went outside and the kids picked apples from the apple tree behind the house and also some pears. We are going to try our best to make some Apple pie with these and see how they turn out. I am hoping that we will be able to make something very yummy!
The house was pretty cold due to the windows and doors being open most of the day. It was a good thing that we picked up some nice warm soft blankets to go on all the beds or we would have been super cold! The kids rooms were not too bad since they are on the upper level but our room was quite a bit chillier than the rest of the house. That night we all climbed into bed, kids with movies and mom and dad with a movie and we all slept quite well!
Saturday we had a lot of running to do to get things for the house. We were in and out all day and barely stopped. We did find time to go to Frankie and Benny's which had Wi-Fi so that we could talk with Mom on her Birthday. The connection was not the greatest but we were able to sing twice and see everyone even if we could not really have much of a conversation due to the noise level at the eatery.
Sunday we stared at the walls again, did some running, and visited a lake that Mat wanted to see about Trout fishing in. It was very pretty and large. Mat and Mathew were in Heaven! But he needed to find the ins and outs of it all. In England you have to have a Fishing License but also every bit of water is owned by someone so you have to have an additional permit to fish. So it can get expensive.
On our way home from the fishing hole, we turned a corner and saw a man's car sticking out of the brush. He had rounded the corner and went head first into the brush on the side of the road. OF COURSE... Mat had to stop being the helpful citizen he is... Make sure the guy was alright.. he was... and then try to get the car towed out of the ditch and brush. He hooked up one of his 5,000lb tow straps and tried once and the strap broke. That car was wedged in there. By this time, there was a line of traffic in both directions. Everyone was getting out of their cars and watching as Mat tried to rig up another way to tow the guy out. Another Englishman came up and showed him an area on the car that you could hook a strap to that was used for that very reason... Good to know. Another Man came up and was commenting on the truck and could not believe that the truck had not gotten it out yet... not the trucks fault if the strap would have held it would have worked. He was a funny man and only wanted some Fish and Chips... but he got his show before dinnertime. Mathew did not understand why the traffic did not just go in the field next to us and drive around. The first car to stop was an Audi... Not sure they were going to drive that through a field! Mat gave it another try and scared me because now the strap was really short and the car not too far away from our back end. But he slowly pulled it out and placed it back on the street. He said it did not look too bad in the front but you could see fluid coming out. Right after we finished, we packed it up and left to get home.
On our way home from the fishing hole, we turned a corner and saw a man's car sticking out of the brush. He had rounded the corner and went head first into the brush on the side of the road. OF COURSE... Mat had to stop being the helpful citizen he is... Make sure the guy was alright.. he was... and then try to get the car towed out of the ditch and brush. He hooked up one of his 5,000lb tow straps and tried once and the strap broke. That car was wedged in there. By this time, there was a line of traffic in both directions. Everyone was getting out of their cars and watching as Mat tried to rig up another way to tow the guy out. Another Englishman came up and showed him an area on the car that you could hook a strap to that was used for that very reason... Good to know. Another Man came up and was commenting on the truck and could not believe that the truck had not gotten it out yet... not the trucks fault if the strap would have held it would have worked. He was a funny man and only wanted some Fish and Chips... but he got his show before dinnertime. Mathew did not understand why the traffic did not just go in the field next to us and drive around. The first car to stop was an Audi... Not sure they were going to drive that through a field! Mat gave it another try and scared me because now the strap was really short and the car not too far away from our back end. But he slowly pulled it out and placed it back on the street. He said it did not look too bad in the front but you could see fluid coming out. Right after we finished, we packed it up and left to get home.
Monday, our things came! Woohoo! Boxes galore... and things everywhere! The start of the madness began! Some of the things we had got broke or lost. The organ lost a key and a half on the journey over. They decided to pack the tree stand onto of the organ. SMART! Many of our boxes were wrapped with Customs tape. Many of those boxes had items that had gotten broken.
Truck #1 Gotta Love Customs!
I started with the kitchen and emptied many of the boxes out... I was able to place things in the cupboards and finally we had everything we needed to make food! The thing that stinks the most is that almost all of our things are 110 and not 220. So that means I can not use them to make things without a transformer box.
The kitchen was a mess by the end of the day. I did what I could to get everything on the counters cleaned up and then moved on Tuesday to the Dining room. I had to search between the boxes to make sure the shot glasses and all Mat's other glasses did not get opened as they are staying in boxes until we move into our final home back in the states. Mat went to work while the kids and I tried our best to get as much done as possible. The kids focused on their rooms and the playrooms and got some things done but there is so much more to do! I am ready for all of this to be done and never to see a box again! Friday will be a great day when we can move some of this stuff to the other house and get this house all put together.
Well it is off for now and I have Many Many things to do. Goal today is to get the kids rooms and playrooms all done. I was able to apply for their school yesterday so now it is time to get them all ready for the next step in our journey here in England.
Thoughts so far...
Love the house
Love the area
English folks are nice overall
Hate unpacking boxes
Food in England is pretty yummy
The country of England is big on saving energy
Some things are made more difficult than they need to be
Procrastinating is never a good thing!
= )
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