Fountainhead We Love You

[unrelated Christmassy photo]

We've had a very significant turn of events at our place. Coming home from our caravanning holiday, which we took in a desperate attempt to help Ian's depression and things only getting worse made us realise that the doctors and their drugs were not going to help us at all (but really we already knew).

The blessing in all of this is that we found an amazing treatment/retreat centre in Queensland where Ian spent the last three weeks of November. I put one husband who was at the bottom of the pit of despair on a plane and received a non-medicated, ten kilos lighter, glad to be alive husband in return. The change in him is amazing, it's like they work magic over there, though I know Ian did the work of examining his beliefs and releasing things from his past.

We keep being told that the most important step is acknowledging you have a problem, but then what? We had the hardest time finding good help. Sending Ian to the Fountainhead Organic Retreat has been life changing for our family and though not cheap is the best money we've ever spent and worth every penny. I'm just so grateful that somebody finally helped us.

I hope you are all well and able to appreciate all that is good in your life!

much love
Mx

Caravaning

Just a few of my favourite photos from our last minute caravan trip down south. It was nice to spend some family time together and I'm glad to have some photos taken with the big camera for our photo book this year, I thought it was almost going to exclusively be Instagrams!

Mx

38

That's how old I am today :) We had friends come up from Perth on the weekend to celebrate and warm the bowling club a little before we have our official house warming. It was wonderful, I am happy to report that the house worked really well for a party and sleeping six couples and a couple of kids.

We've been in the house for over seven weeks now and I am in love! It really is making life better and easier. I still intend to do some before and after photos, but who knows when that will happen....

Mx

We're In

But don't be fooled, these photos were taken in my pajamas on the Saturday morning as the first load from the old house was being strapped on to the truck. The new house is still pretty much a disaster. What a trauma! I never want to move again!! Well not for the next ten years at least anyway...

It was a mistake not to pack everything in boxes before we shifted. Large pieces of furniture got shifted on the first day but so much was left behind and then all of that got dragged over and emptied out of its box in order to reuse the box (if it even made it into a box). So much little stuff! It was like a shit explosion at the new house.

All of this wouldn't have been as traumatic if it wasn't for cleaning the old house and weeding and tidying the massive garden that had been only intermittently maintained over the last three years. My mother is a saint. She came twice and weeded that garden by hand from sun up to sun down, for days. Even whilst she was unwell with a cold. I'm not sure that it's right that a 37 year old woman still relies so heavily on her mum, thanks Mum!!! I don't know what I'd do without you!

I will post some lived in photos once it isn't so shamefully disorganised, and hopefully the painter can make it soon to paint all the doors and trim. It is wonderful to finally be here.

Mx

Moving

We have one more sleep in our old house, the only house these two munchins have ever known or would remember.

I am over the moon to be moving in to our own home, and can't wait to leave behind all the annoyances of living in an old house that needs some love and attention, but I know a part of me will get nostalgic tomorrow seeing empty rooms where we have done so much living.

I wonder how the littles are going to go with it too. We are only moving to the next street in our small town and we have been going to the "new house" since not long after Mia was born, but I suspect there will be some tears when Charlie realises we will no longer be living and sleeping at the "old house".

I'm in total denial over the fact that this is actually our last day in the old house as I've only packed one box from the kitchen and one and a half bookcases..... but I rationalise this by telling myself we're paying three extra weeks rent and it will all be okay. Truth is I think I'm just so overwhelmed I don't know where to start. I'm frozen in inaction :|

I was hoping the guy that has been fitting internal doors all week would be finished by today so I could clean AGAIN and take some after photos before we move all our crap in. I love the spaces without all our stuff cluttering it up, I will use that memory to help with my purging and shedding efforts which I'm happy to report are going rather well.

I hope you'll all be having more fun than I'm anticipating having this weekend.

Mx

Minimilism

I love home design blogs as much as the next girl and I would love a beautifully styled home, but honestly sometimes I would settle just for clean and tidy.

I am not a fast mover, and feel like I spend all day doing housework just to have a house that is as messy when i go to bed as it was when I woke up. I've figured out that the only way I'm going to find any joy balanced between my speed of doing housework and the amount of housework I need to do is to have way less stuff.

I am making progress though. I downloaded Clutterfree With Kids by Joshua Becker to the Kindle app on my phone and was totally inspired to start living with less stuff. I heard about the book on Ginny's blog. I am getting more ruthless as a chucker as one of the benefits of less stuff getting in my way is that it's making it easier to keep things tidy around here. I love it!

I also love the dishwasher which is helping, and my robo-vac :) Just being able to push the button on that little 'sucker' and have floors that don't crunch when you walk calms me so much. I'm hoping that when we move in to our new place having all new surfaces makes it easier to clean too.

Where do you fit on the clutterbug scale? Any great tips?! "Do it now" is one that has helped me, thanks to Andrea Dekker and her simple living blog.

Mx

Getting There

At times it feels like we aren't making any progress at the new house and then all of a sudden things are happening. We are so close (well I think we are) but Ian says there is still a lot to do. Since I took the last lot of photos on the weekend the plumbers have been and fitted the sink and taps in the kitchen and laundry and fitted out the ensuite. Now once the electrician comes and finishes his stuff we just need to get the flooring finished and we should be able to move in. There is still all the little things that Ian can see that still need doing, like hanging doors and painting all the gloss work on the trim but all I can see is that we are nearly there!!

Mx

Settlement

We sold our flat, the place that Charlie was born, and it settled today. I am a little sad, but relieved. It will ease up our cash flow and once we consolidate our renovation mortgage with the mortgage to purchase the bowling club we will only have one mortgage instead of 4! (We're also getting rid of the mortgage to Beverley)

Anyway, it made me go searching back through my photos for photos of the flat...

[a cute friend in fancy dress]

It was such a good little flat for us, smack bang in the middle between Ian's work and mine. Close to Freo, close to the beach. Our first home we bought together. At only 50 square metres and one bedroom though it quickly got too small once Charlie was born. But he was born there, right there in the living room! Such wonderful memories we made there. I still love you little flat, I'm sorry we had to let you go! But at least I have the memories and some photos to remember you by. Take care little flat, I hope your new owner has many happy times inside your walls.

Mx