Building Woes

Pfff, what a week! We've had loads of ups and downs with the house. Things are progressing, but slowly slowly. The new windows and glass doors are in (although not yet finished around the edges) and we have a front door! That does not sounds very logical, but there was a day there, last week, when we had no front door, and then we had one, but no-one willing or able to actually hang it in the new frame.

Andrew the builder really has been absolutely fantastic. Those of you that know us and need a builder, give me a call, I can recommend this guy big time. He knows the time pressure we are under, and has pulled out all stops to get things moving. He had his whole crew working over the weekend to get the balcony railing up and the house ready for the guys to come and sand the floors. We now have nicely sanded floors throughout the house, and are waiting to see what it looks like when the first coat of polyurethane is on. Then sometime later this week, the inside brick wall will be bagged and all the wall edges and trimmings are to be done, and then the whole house can be painted. There is the slight problem of the electricity company doing some work in the street on Thursday, cutting us off the electricity, and stalling us for a full day. Argghhh. Still, once the railing is on the balcony and the floor polish and paint have off-gassed, we can then finally move in.

At least today I had the satisfaction of getting our new front door keys cut. Now that did feel good.

On Thursday we have to move out of our old house and into the temporary sanctuary of their grandparents' house, just around the corner from our new house. This move greatly worries the children, and they have been very frazzled and cranky - I think they are just very worried about leaving what is, in effect, "their world". I have explained many times that we will take everything with us. I told them about the two strong men that will come to carry everything into their big truck and take it either to the new house in storage, or it comes to Oma and Opa's house with us. Still. Despite having told them numerous times, they can't get their heads around this, and are very worried that we will leave something behind.

Mister Determined is very worried that his Echidna will get lost, so I have had to make firm promises to keep her with me at all times. He is especially worried that the men will pack her up in a box - that is a big no no. The other day, he was staggering around, holding his bag in one hand, and Echidna in the other, trying to get down the stairs. I asked him why he didn't just put her in his bag. He looked at me with this look that said "are you a complete idiot?", rolled his eyes at me, and asked me "Would you put Boo Boo in your bag?" Yeah, right, what could I say to that? The kid may have learning difficulties, but his emotional intelligence seems fine to me!

Possum, on the other hand, is just worried that all his toys make it to the big new playroom. He would actually like us to pack up his Francie the Frog, as he thinks he would like to "discover" Francie again when he gets unpacked. They come from the same parents, but they are so different. Possum however is very concerned that we don't forget the food in the fridge and is really curious about the new owners. "I wonder what sort of stuff they have" he said this afternoon.

This afternoon we had another long discussion about the move while having a milkshake at the local cafe. I promised the boys that I would take them to the empty house after school on Thursday so they themselves can go and say goodbye to the old house, and check that we really have left nothing behind. They seemed to be a bit re-assured by that idea, so hopefully they will settle down a bit. I never thought I would say this, but now I just want to get it over and done with and move out of this house.