Winter’s log, earthdate 201508.07

Seven days to go…

I’m starting this a titch later than I would have liked – I’ve just been fiddling, re-fiddling, and re–re-fiddling with the header… I’m still not sure that it’s right – it just doesn’t look centred to me – how does it look to all of you? Should I try to move things over to the right a bit? The trouble is, this template treats the full area of the screen as being “the blog”, so the header is, according to the template parameters, centred on the screen. It’s just not centred over the actual text portion of the blog, which makes it look a bit “off” to me, if you see what I mean… *sigh* (bloody temperamental templates!)

This time next week we’ll probably be wandering around our new home, planning where we’re going to put this, that, and the other! Now, apparently this is the order of things for next Friday. Our solicitor will meet with the Vendor’s solicitor in some undisclosed room, somewhere in the CBD. In fact, if I understood Joy (that’s our solicitor’s name) correctly, all of the house sales being settled on the 14th of August will be occurring simultaneously in this undisclosed room! Once all our necessary papers have been signed and the cheques handed over, she will ring us to tell us that settlement has taken place, and that we can go and pick up the keys. Then she rings the selling Real Estate Agent (that would be “Julian-the-Agent”!) to tell him that settlement has taken place, and to expect us to arrive momentarily to demand pick up the keys. I told her that I fully expected that at precisely 12 noon, Julian and I would arrive outside the Real Estate office, and wait in the car until we got her call – then we’d race in, and grab our keys! 🙂 Well, I don’t know if it’ll happen exactly like that, but it’ll be something along those lines, anyway 😉 We’ve also contacted “Julian-the-Agent” to arrange to go and look at the place again next Tuesday, at 11.am. We’re basically going over to be instructed on the care and use of the air conditioning and heating, the ducted vacuum cleaner, and where the “fluff-holder” that we’ll have to empty out – whenever – lives (how often do you have to empty out the “fluff-holder”, anyway? I wouldn’t have the foggiest notion!) We also want to have an up close and personal with the dishwasher – I think it’s a Bosch – I know the stove is – but I could be wrong… We both prefer dishwashers that have a cluttery drawer on top, rather than ye olde cluttery baskets which take up so much room on the bottom of the dishwasher (yes, Julian, I know it’s “cutlery”, not “cluttery”*sigh* 😛 ) But if it is a “basket” dishwasher, we’re prepared to give it a go before we go forking out more money for a “top cluttery drawer” one. We also need to see what the water pressure is like in case we have to have a “something-or-other-suppressor” put on it for the washing machine – and lots of other little things like that. Of course, my favourite eldest daughter will be coming over, so we’ll probably go and pick her up before we head off to Stillwater – I’m sure she won’t object to seeing the place! 🙂 (Oh dear! Flipper has just noticed that Daddy has left the house – he’s gone over to pick up the Dry Cleaning – and she’s running around the place screaming for him! (she does that whenever he goes out!)) So anyway, we’ll go and have an “information tour”, and then we’ll come home, seething with ideas, and suddenly remember questions that we really should have asked while we had the opportunity, but didn’t think of at the time! (but isn’t that always the way?! 😉 )

We went over the road this morning for my Warfarin blood test, and while we were there I thought it might be nicer if I went in to Oscar Oscar in person, rather than just ringing up to see if I could change my appointment next week… As luck would have it, Elliot was there, and from being fully booked out on the Thursday, I have an appointment at 4.30, so I should be able to walk into our new place the next day with my hair should looking nicely cut and neat! Oh, and I got my blood test results back – I’m to stay on the same dosage for now (3mg Mon – Fri, and 4mg Sat – Sun) My INR has gone up to 2.4, which is really good, and my next test is due on…. the 21st, when all the furniture will be arriving! So we’ll go the day before, on the 20th (a day or two either side isn’t really a problem, but you wouldn’t want to make it any longer (or shorter!) ) So that’s all good…

Tomorrow I think we’re going to see if we can have a look at the Miele clothes dryer – I really don’t know why – we know what they look like (we have one, which we’re leaving here!), and it’s not the store that delivers it, it’s Miele who do that… But I do want to go out anyway, because I also want to look for blinking floor lamps – we were very disappointed in Beacon Lighting – they didn’t really have much at all, apart from those utterly hideous “retro” pretend “spotlights” on rickety looking tripods… I’ll have another look around for lighting places tonight – and now that Julian’s brought home the Dry Cleaning, perhaps I won’t freeze to death when I go outside tomorrow!

Weigh-in this morning. Boy, when that bounce-back hits, it’s gunna be a doozy! I went down another point today, from 79.6kg to 79.5kg!  I can hardly believe it, you know – I’ve lost 55kg since August 18th last year, I now weigh less than Julian, I’m wearing size 16s on the bottom half of me, and sizes “S” (small) and “XS” (extra small) in tops! Plus, I’m so much fitter – I can walk up and down seven flights of stairs, three times a day, with no problem – I don’t even get puffed! (mind you, the first Stair Walk in the morning really hurts my knees, and makes me feel cold and clammy, but I think that’s because my body thinks that it should still be in bed, and that I’m just having a bad dream!) Let’s see what transpires tomorrow morning. I’ll probably skyrocket up to 80.4kg, or something! (oh lord! I hope not!)

So it looks like we’ve just about got a full dance card! Shopping for clothes dryers and floor lamps tomorrow, The Tarken Glacier awaits our “cleansing” 😉 on Sunday… I’m not sure about Monday, but it will probably involve some packing… Tuesday we have the appointment for the “information tour” of Stillwater, Wednesday will probably see us packing a bit more, Thursday I have my hair cut, and Friday is settlement! Saturday we meet up with Clarke at Stillwater to discuss en-suite doors, cabling, etc. – and rinse and repeat for the rest of the week, until Thursday 20th! On Friday 21st, the furniture arrives, Saturday and Sunday will pass by in a blur, Monday will see the packers back here, and Tuesday…. we move! Our cleaning lady came today, for the last time, and we won’t see her again until after we’ve moved. She has bad arthritis too, and has virtually been living on strong pain killers – but two weeks ago she went and had two cortisone injections into her back – I have heard remarkable things about this treatment – apparently, if it works, it’s like a miracle – E. says she hasn’t taken any strong pain medication for two weeks, where she was pretty much living on them before – but… these injections are extremely painful, and I’m one of the most devout cowards that you’ll find this side of the edge of the universe, when it comes to pain, and I simply will not have anything injected into my spine. Too much has been done to it in the past for me to dare to contemplate or risk further damage to it, no matter how wonderful the results. Besides, it doesn’t work for everyone – so I guess I’m stuck with my pain medication. Besides, it’s not too bad, as long as I can lean on something 🙂 And with that fairly philosophical note, I shall bid you all a fond au revoir, until I “see” you all tomorrow night! Don’t forget to check whether or not we’ve managed to get ourselves the right sort of clothes dryer, and if we found some semi-decent floor lamps, or if I froze to death first! This morning, I was shivering so much I could hardly stand upright! Julian said, very helpfully, “I’m not cold!” to which I replied somewhat testily, through chattering teeth “That’s because you’re wearing a coat, and I’m wearing a very thin jumper with a nice “pretty” scooped neck!” – and it occurred to me to wonder why nearly all women’s winter clothing is fairly skimpy, and has ruddy low scooped necks! Unless you’re going for tracky-dackies, all women’s tops today seem to have scooped necks! What happened to the old-fashioned “crew necks”, that hugged the base of your throat?! The only ones you can get today are those sloppy, baggy, tracky-dakkie tops, with logos and words and pictures all over them! I want an old-fashioned, clingy and “shaped” (alright, “form-fitting”!) crew or turtle neck, and the only way I can get one of those is to buy a Men’s jumper, where the shape is all wrong, and the sleeves are w-a-y too long! If I could still hold knitting needles, I’d knit myself a proper jumper, but I can’t hold knitting needles long enough to even cast on the stitches! Ah well, I guess winter is almost over, and we’ll soon be into the skimpy, sleeveless, low-necked tops, which I’ll also complain about because the tops of my arms are so “saggy-baggy” that there’s no way I’d allow myself to be seen in public in a sleeveless top! Ya can’t win, can ya! 🙂 So, until tomorrow night, bee good, remember that while we can’t help everyone, everyone can help someone! Don’t forget to take care of yourselves, to keep warm, and to drive carefully… but most importantly, don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂