Moving day (the girls)

Little do they know it by they are about to meet two Beagles from Kew.

The girls are now safely with Jetpets enjoying a few days in a kitty hotel while I slave away cleaning the house and trying to squash everything into one suitcase before I leave on Sunday.

Hopefully Vinnies will have come today to take away the old sofas and tomorrow my futon mattress goes next door to be transformed into sofa cushions. Isn't recycling a wonderful thing!

Fighting global warming

As of 10am this morning I no longer own a car. I have one on loan for a couple of days but after that I will be doing my bit to reduce my carbon footprint. Walking to work for a few weeks in NZ should more than make up for the fuel burned to get me there. Or is that just wishful thinking?

It's quite odd actually, I keep looking out the window and having a small panic because I can't see it then realise it hasn't been nicked, just gone to a new home.

My place looks cool on the web!

If you want to rent a great place in Collingwood check this out (don't know how long it will be up so be quick).

http://www.nelsonalexander.com.au/cgi-bin/view.pl?OID=1242801&tp=6_website

The ad went up late last week and according to my neighbours there were lots of people driving past on the weekend. The agent says they have had a bunch of enquiries and we have arranged for an open house next Saturday.

On the other side of the coin I have an appointment next Monday to see some places in NP, one belonging to a lady with 2 cats who is moving to Australia - how's that for a coincidence!

Moving Day (furniture)

Well, it's done. Most of my life is in a container on the way to NZ. It took 2 guys about 6 hours to pack everything (yes, I have a lot of coffee mugs...and shoes...and jackets...and books...) and another 2 guys 3 hours to stack it all in a container.

Staying behind - sofas, buffet, wardrobe, bathroom drawers, matress, me & the cats. Oh and some clothes, food etc to keep us going for a week.



McDuff supervising the packing (yes she really did sleep through most of it)Jess recovering from a hard day following the packing guys

The container arrivesMcDuff supervising the loading of the container from under the sofa

The container, packed, closed and ready to go (once they remove the ramp obviously)

Empty space

Only a little bit and only on the balcony but it means it is really happening. Naomi came over last night and is giving a good home to all my terracotta pots (and the contents) and some of my wine. The packers are arriving tomorrow morning and then it really does begin to get interesting. Must remember to turn off the fridge and drain the washing machine.

A Safeways moment

I bought milk last night on my way home. Not a big deal really but I did as I always do and checked the self-destruct date. Dec 6. I will have been gone for a week before my milk expires. Wow.

More throwing out

What I have discovered:

More name tags
Christmas cards from high school
At least 5 copies of 'Important facts to know about your credit card'
Camp planning paperwork from when I was a Brown Owl
Hundreds of dead rubber bands and paperclips
Heaps of articles that it was obviously really important to have a copy of (not)
Random photos (keeping those)

Another full recycle bin is going out tonight, yeah!

Someone asked me how the cats are coping. McDuff has no idea as her food bowl has not moved and is still topped up regularly. Jess is deeply suspicious and keeps giving me deep searching looks.

How much stuff can one girl have?

On the first survey 42.48 cubic meters. That's a lot of stuff. More than will fit in one 20 foot container. So my challenge, should I choose to accept it, (insert Mission Impossible soundtrack here) is to work out what is not going.
At this stage it is:
Books - yes
Shoes - yes
Jackets/coats - yes
Coffee mugs, wine glasses & platters - yes
Sofas - no
Everything else - up for negotiation
Wish me luck!

Throwing stuff out

I know some of you won't believe that this is possible so I am including photographic evidence.

This is a box of stuff from home ready to go into the recycling and below is a pile of stuff at work awaiting a similar fate. Actually there were 2 piles at work so be extra impressed.

There is an equal amount of stuff going into the bin - bits and bobs that have collected over the years including about 500 name tags and I have just consigned a bag full of UFOs (unidentified frozen objects) to the bin as well. Today being Melbourne Cup Day I have the whole day to really get cracking on the tidying up so am taking full advantage with, of course a break to watch the race. I got Mad Rush in the sweep - rather appropriate me thinks.