On Friday we moved to our new unit! We hired men to move our stuff which was not cheap but it was so worth it.

I learnt a lot in this move and next time I'll try to remember the following...

1. Rent a truck that comes with men... if they have a 'hire an extra man' option, take it!

...It took 3 men 5 hours. I don't even want to think about how long it would have taken if we had had to do it by ourselves.

2. Disassemble your furniture before the removalists get there ... It will save you time and money
.... We didn't do this but we should have. It would have saved us about an hour.

3. If the company says a truck will do for a certain size of house, beleive them!!
...Another mistake on my part. I was like, surely we can fit into the 3 bedroom truck even if we have 3 bedrooms plus a study. I was wrong. They fit all of our bedroom stuff and boxes in the first trip, but had to make a second trip for the living room, kitchen and laundry.

4. It isn't going to take only 2 hours... So make sure you get enough money out for at least 4!
...I got out enough cash for 2.5 hours. Karen had to make another trip to the bank for an additional 2 hours, and so did I. We stretched the limit of both of our bank accounts and had enough money for 6 hours. I was getting a little worried they were going to take longer that we had money for, but it worked out in the end.

Yesterday we spent all afternoon cleaning the old house.

Currently I'm waiting with thousands of others to start walking/running the city2surf. The only group left to start is the the yellow pack of the pack group. It's been a while since the first group started... In fact they are probably approaching the finish line now. I think our group is starting out now, but we're still not really moving.

Ah, it's official, someone just crossed the finish line and we have yet to cross the start line. This is what you get when you go in a race with 75000 people. This the first big event in a series of big exercise events in August to October in Sydney. Yay Sydney!

So, I have exciting news!  There is a great possibility, or me thinks I should say probability that I will move in with Karen to a house her parents are in the process of buying.  Now this house will be (after the renovations) much nicer than our current shambles.   (When I say house I mean unit with a backyard...)

Karen and I are not the cleanest of creatures... we both find cleaning a futile struggle against the inevitable accumulations of dust, mold and dishes.  We try not to be slobs by sweeping semi regularly, removing hair from the drains (woe to the hair, Karen's is so long!) and attacking the mold with scrubbing brushes.  Tragically Karen's parents are still not terribly impressed with our cleaning habits.

Both Karen and I are concerned about keeping her parents house clean.  This led me to make the suggestion of being accountable to them for keeping the NEW house well maintained and tidy with a list of weekly/monthly tasks.  I thought it was a great idea!  Aunty Heather thought it was a good idea too, but she wants us to start being accountable straight away!  "Get into good habits!" she says.  Woe, woe, woe!  Foiled again!

Yesterday Karen and I embarked upon the epic task of Switching Rooms. Believe me, it was epic. Epic, and we triumphed! The rooms are now officially switched... and CLEAN. I would go as far to say dustless, but they are pretty good! This was the beginning of our wondrous APEC weekend.

We rented The English Patient, Chicago, The Children of Men, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Crash, Tristan and Isolde, and A Beautiful Mind as a part of our fun filled movie watching and knitting weekend. So far we've watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and all of the above except the last two. So far (save Indiana Jones) they are all movies I'm glad I've finally seen, but probably won't see again. They are (generally) rather good!

Karen is knitting a blue mohair jumper with a nice neckline and I'm knitting myself a white jumper with dark blue fair isle patterning.

Tonight we are dressing up and putting on the heels to go out to dinner with our cousins Hannah and Abi. It shall be fun AND exciting! I just hope we can find a restaurant.....

So....

( Couch )

( Update on the fence )

( APEC weekend plans )

I have after many many months finally taken some pictures of our Burwood House. They are located here: http://sigma.phispace.net/photo.html under Hornsey Street.

( Here is a picture of Karen in the living room )

Easter was fun! I went to Grafton to see my grandparents for 4 days. We ate a lot of meat and 5 veg, viewed slides, had computer lessons and such.

( Before Easter, Mum and I went to the Easter Show )

Yesterday Karen taught me how to knit and I'm knitting a baby jumper for one of my future cousins. It's very cute and little. The needles are quite small though and the wool is fine so it's taking a while.

The house continues to be an interesting and stressful experience. If anyone ever suggests that I should live with two dog owners at the same time again, I will run away in fear. The good news is Jenny is coming up for 8 weeks :). Yay!

It's terribly exciting, my bed has arrived and is set up in my room. I spent today cleaning up the room in preparation of having a real bed. It's lovely. It's a king single which is 3'6 by 6'8 instead of a Single 3 by 6'2. I'm looking forward to sleeping on it momentarily.

I just finished up the second chapter of my Project Management text book. This is a very readable text book. So readable that I'm actually sympathizing with the case studies. I felt really disappointed for Tom Walters when his initiative to force students in his college to lease laptops fell through because of poor project planning! Poor Tom, no laptops for him.

I moved successfully on Feb 10th. My house was mostly good, but there was no bed, no fridge and no phone/internet. Very distressing.

My room is lovely, I will post pictures once I have more furniture. I ordered a bed on the weekend, and it will arrive next Saturday. Boy am I looking forward to that! I also bought a rug, a wardrobe and a tv stand. I probably bought more things, but I'm too tired to remember.

Karen moved in on the weekend, and my life got immediately better. Suddenly I had someone else to talk to! It's fantastic! Today she stayed at home so the phone guy could come in and fix our phone line. Hurrah!!! Now we have phone and internet!

So too tired to say anything else, must collapse on my overly blanket piled thermarest. The blankets are for padding not for warmth.