The dog is growing!! He's already 7.2 kg and towering over the cat (they were the same size when we brought him home 4 weeks ago). I'm sure he does stretching exercises in the night when we can't see him. He's gone very leggy at the moment. Still - he's wonderful - very well behaved, intelligent and learning quickly. He's already off the lead in fields and walking nicely to heel. Recall is good, and he'll sit, lie down and give a paw nicely. Not bad at only 13 weeks old. I'd prefer it if he didn't chase the cat quite so much, and left the shoes alone - but we're working on those! ;-)

Causing chaos!!

Oh dear. The phone saga continues! It appears not only do we need to have the main road dug up by the house to have a cable installed so we can have a connected phone line - BT also need to put a new pole up as well!!! It had to be us really - we don't like doing normal easy things!! ;-)

Meet Blue

This is our little bundle of chaos!

And this is him playing (sort of) nicely with the cat!

We're back!!

Finally! 2 months of no internet access has been rather strange! Especially when moving house and setting up things like utilities - it's quite staggering how much is now set up to be accessed online. Even things like terms and conditions of new policies and so on - you can phone up and arrange contents insurance, but for the full details they say 'you can see those on our website'. Err - no I can't actually. Quite odd. In a strange (albeit occasionally frustrating) way it's been quite liberating not being tied to such things.

Anyway - there is a ton of stuff to update you on so I'll try and stick to the headlines only.

1. We haven't got a landline yet I'm afraid. I've bitten the bullet and gone for pay as you go mobile broadband for now - it was the only option available. They have been to connect the line - but it seems there aren't any spare wires available in the closest exchange box. Which means they need to install more. Which means they need to dig up the road to get at it. It may be some time before this is resolved....!

2. We've settled in really nicely - loving the new house, loving the area, the village is very friendly, we're near friends and Anthony's family here as well - everything is just as we wanted it really. No regrets about leaving St Ives at all - we both grew to loathe the place. Still - this place is great and we're really happy here.

3. We've got a dog! "Blue" is a black and white border collie - currently 11 weeks old - with one traditional dark brown eye and one a piercing blue colour (hence the name). He's gorgeous, very intelligent, incredibly friendly and seems to get on with everything and everyone we've thrown at him so far! He's also appearing to be very easy to train as well, which definitely helps. Once he's had his 2nd vaccination next week we can get out and about with him properly. Lots of long bouncy walks with this one I think! The cat seems to be coping with him as well.

4. I'm still not at work but working through the process of feeling better. It has its ups and downs but I think overall the curve is heading back up again which is a relief.

That's enough waffle for now. I will get pics of the dog up on here soon.

S x

Well - here I am on the eve of the move to the new place! It's very exciting although it's been a pretty exhausting process along with everything else I've got going on as well. We can't wait - it's really our new start together finally.

We were hoping to have exchanged contracts on this place today but unfortunately it's not happened yet - nothing to worry about just not quite everything in place this end. The buyers suddenly announced last Friday morning that they were ready to exchange and complete that day! It was the first time they'd actually given any indication of their preferred dates. Unsurprisingly we weren't quite ready! However in an ideal world we will exchange sometime in the next couple of days and complete on Thursday or Friday (although they may be simultaneous). Fingers crossed! It'll be nice to know I haven't got this silly mortgage to pay any more.

The phone line is ordered but will take a couple of weeks to sort - and broadband can't be organised until that's done so it's likely to be a good 3 weeks or so before we can get back online properly (although I may give in and check emails from my phone once in a while).

So - I've no idea whether I'll get a chance to post anything tomorrow / wednesday. If I don't I'll post again from the new place once we're in and set up again.

Sx

Getting there

We're finally getting somewhere I think. The current tenants of the new place are moving out on Monday next week, so unless they've done something monumentally destructive we'll move in on Tuesday. Yay!

Plus we've also now signed the contracts to sell this box - hoping for a quick exchange and completion now - possibly even the end of next week! Double Yay!

I'm sorting out things like sending out new address details - although sadly there isn't a landline at the new place at the moment. We will get that sorted but it may take a while - there's other stuff to prioritise first. It does mean an impending lack of internet access although I guess we can always use the mobiles if we get desperate!

Still packing. Still sorting. Still getting rid of stuff. It's quite nice though. I'm sort of getting rid of the person I'd artificially become. The person that cared about material "stuff" and matching things in the house, and designer label clothing. That's not really me - I've always been the hippy at heart. The one that didn't even own a hairdryer for a long time, let alone designer brand make-up. It's really really nice getting rid of all that stuff I'd accumulated. It's actually quite scary how much I'm getting rid of! I've got 3 whole large sacks full of clothes - all in good condition and some never worn. I've got another sack full of shoes, boots and bags. Ridiculous really. Some would say I've STILL got too many clothes - even after getting rid of all that lot. Ah well.

We're both really looking forward to the new start the new house will bring. I'm waiting for an email of confirmation today from the agent and then I'll start sending out the new address etc. (I don't want to tempt fate by sending it out until we're absolutely certain of it happening.) But fingers crossed this time next week we'll be moving. We both think it's going to make a massive difference - and for me it's my completely new start with a fresh slate. A new beginning with a new focus on what really matters in life rather than the plastic trappings I became part of before. I can't wait.