Our new house

The view from our house at 7am. Yes, I get up early now!

Our new house is lovely. It is definitely winter here now but we're feeling pretty darn cosy. The house has good heating and gets lots of sun, and did I mention the view?!

Our quiet little cul-de-sac looking down towards Kingston beach

Our furniture is still pretty nana, since our Texas gear hasn't arrived yet, but it's all good. Great for Marty-cakes to crawl all over. He's not quite walking but cruising around all the furniture and taking the odd unassisted step when he's not paying attention. He's also taken to climbing on top of the coffee 'table' and kneeling up on top of it like the king of the world! Thank goodness he's now grasped the concept of 'backwards' for getting down off things. Well, backwards or the quick way (plonk)


One of the best discoveries (for Marty at least) about the new place is the bath. Not only is it luxuriously large but the tap has what amounts to a tiny shower head on it. What that boils down to is a lot of pressure which means bubbles! Marty had never really had a true bubble bath before but he loves it! If only we could convince him to drink less of it...

Marty-puddle is definitely a water boy

We're finally settling in, starting to invite people over and feeling generally more 'at home'. Marty is loving the space and basically thriving, even though he's still a teeny tiny little thing (he's built like a greyhound, all lean muscle and never stops moving!) Our cat Purry has finally returned to live with us after 3+ years with the Bears. He's a darling and so tolerant of Marty, who just adores him and wants to show it by ripping out his fur at every opportunity! Purry is a saint. We've been keeping him inside until he gets more settled but I'm pretty sure that if he isn't enjoying the attention, he's enjoying all the sun.

Tiddles darling

I know I'm going on about the view, but after living in the 7th largest city in America and having a view of houses and trees (which I loved, especially at this time of year with the storms rolling across...) well anyway, it makes a refreshing change to look out over water!

More of the early morning. Waking to this sure helps with the whole getting up thing.

Lots more to tell you soon! We're coming up for birthdays for both Marty and I. Sure, his first birthday is way more significant than my 33rd but I can't help but feel a tiny bit jealous! Not that I want to be 1 again. And yes, I know I need to attend to the title of the blog now. I'm getting there :)

Finally getting started?

Last night was our first night in our new house...

Wait, I can't start a post there because there is so much that goes before it that I need to fill you all in on! Lets try a quick and dirty news brief:

• We gave up on the idea of buying a house, at least for a while. Winter is not the idea time for this sort of activity not to mention that it was stressing the hell out of us! Instead we decided to look for a rental where we could ride out the winter, rest for a while and enjoy Tassie and sort through the ridiculous number of possessions we have.
• We found a lovely little house just round the corner from Jo's parents (who we have been living with for the past 2 months, bless them!) It is a bit of a Nana house but it has amazing views (pics to come), a lovely garden, LOTS of storage and it is fairly safe for Marty the Destroyer.
• We picked up the keys last week but since the house had just been painted we decided to let it air before moving in (ha - you'll see why I now laugh at this) and we organised to have the stuff we had in storage here in Tassie delivered so we could at least start sorting through it. Our Texas household goods aren't due until at least the end of July, maybe longer depending on clearing Customs.
• I won't go into the details but the Tassie storage was a huge disappointment (there'd been a water leak into the container at some point so some water damage and lots of mould). So much for airing the house, since now most things we own smell seriously musty! Gah. Anyhow, I'm over the worst of the drama-queening about it and the only sad thing that was destroyed was the day bed Jo's mum had restored for her. The books were ok, the good china survived and most of the rest of our stuff is crappy student gear that we were planning to replace at some point. Hakuna matata.
• Last night was our first night in our new house (see I told you we'd get there) and it was also the coldest night we've had so far (3 degrees - eek!). The beloved was a bit chilly but I was toasty warm on the new mattress under a massive feather doona :)
• I'm looking forward to finishing the pantry restock (no small task from scratch) and getting the front living room in order (the room with the amazing view). I think the beloved is looking forward to being free of the smell of new paint, varnish and mildew - hehe.
• Marty-puzzle is a little out of sorts but he'll settle in. He's mostly missing grandma and papa I think, plus he's also been fobbed off a lot lately while we unpack and clean. He did have his first real bubble bath last night and loved it.

Anyhow, that'll do for now. So much more to come! Sorry about the lack of pics, I'm on the wrong computer. If anyone wants our new address fling me an email.