Kate and Andrew Scott

The renovation has started….

August we’re declaring the monthof ‘the new house’. Settlement went through smoothly and then it all kicked off. From stressing about light fittings (gee, that was a fun Saturday, Kate and Andrew having a heated discussion about which light fitting was less ugly, Harriet broke the tension by throwing up on the lighting store’s carpet, but we think we got away with it :), to choosing all the paint colours (surprisingly easy once we got into the swing of it), to selecting the carpet and lino styles, it’s been a big, house-focused, month.

And wow, it’s all starting to come together. As you can see in the photo opposite the plaster has made the most massive difference to the back two living areas, and given that we had the scrimp in other areas of the budget to have it done, we’re so glad that we made the sacrifice, as it’s made an amazing difference to the house. No longer a dark, dank area, the back two rooms look completely different, really welcoming and, well, light. We can’t wait to see it painted. And having all the tiles ripped up has also made a huge difference to the rest of the house, as has having the mirrored tiles taken off the bedroom walls (really trying hard not to think about why those were put in…). As they say, we love it when a plan comes together, and this one certainly is starting too. We’re getting very excited about moving in, until we come home and look at all the empty boxes that need to be filled with all our stuff, but still, it’ll be worth it.

With the many visits we’ve made to the new house (still hard to think of it as ours, let alone that we’ll be living there by the next post, the removalists are booked for the 24th Sept) we’re started to research the cafes and local shops. Right at the top of the street is a pretty reasonable, trying so hard to be super hip, cafe that does good coffee. We’ve also had a good breakfast, fantastic bacon, a couple of doors down but sadly the coffee left a little to be desired. And we’ve sussed out the great fruit and veg place, the library and the Video Ezy store. Plus a new Coles has just opened a km or so down the road which will be handy too. And as an aside our Safeway (the next closest supermarket) has really upped the anti the last few weeks with the competition moving so close, with lots of food tastings, Andrew was very happy the day they had the Lindt tasting stand, Kate less impressed with the apple and banana stands they had out the last time she went. So it’s all looking good for our new stomping ground.

Aside from the house we’ve been up to the usual stuff. Did manage to fit in seeing the new Harry Potter, while Kate’s brother Ben undertook his first babysitting duties, Harriet was an angel so he may come back :), and it was pretty good. Kate’s birthday was celebrated with a yum lunch with the family. Harriet discovered a love of BBQ pork buns, and loved watching all the people and waiters bussle about. We’ve also taken on a couple of repairs to our current house, fixing the shed door so it shuts, painting the front fence pickets white, you know, all the things you never get around to while you’re actually living in a place, but at the first whiff of moving out you suddenly find the energy and interest to tackle. We also did our first toy library duty, and will never borrow any of the big construction sets as they are such a bugger to count up all the pieces to make sure everything’s going back! And we completed our first 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It was actually easier than some of the others we’ve done, as the picture had no big blocks of similar colours, but it still took a while to complete. We’re still admiring it, but it’ll have to come apart this weekend as we need to pull the dinning room table apart so we can start filling the dinning room with boxes (one of the problems of a small house, were do you stack the boxes?).

Harriet’s changed a lot this month. She’s become very mobile, no long liking to sit and play. Still no crawling as yet but she’s very, very close, let’s just say that we’re moving at the right time and hopefully will only have to baby-proof one kitchen! She loves to pull herself to standing, and has also finally mastered sitting from lying down, which is a relief! She’s discovered a whole new world of vocal tricks, and currently loves to do her Daffy Duck impression (back of the throat grunting). Mummum and Dadda are in common use, and she’s making a couple of noises that she often uses when she wants things or when she wants actions repeated. Bird watching remains one of her favourite pastimes, and she also has re-discovered light fittings and ceiling fans, and loves to point at them. Waving and smiling are her two favourite things in the whole world, as they always garner a response from strangers (the cult of Harriet has a lot of members) and her current party-trick is nose finding on command, Daddy’s nose goes ‘beep, beep!’ which she thinks is very, very funny. And did you know that bath tubs have plugs? Harriet does and she loves to pull it out, and then put it back in again. She also has a second tooth that’s just cut through (much less pain and stress than the first) and lots of hair, cowlicks and all. Amazing to think that her birthday’s just a few weeks away, brace yourself for a soppy post next month…. :)

love, A, K and H