We are 2 sleeps away from moving into our new home.  That really isn’t long.  Especially when you consider how much is left to pack.  Hey ho, we’ll do our best and see how we get on.  The last couple of days have been pretty stressful  with peak stress hitting this afternoon.  On being informed that we might not actually be able to move in on Friday despite having the movers booked, the house (sort of nearly) packed and our rental being up on Monday.  I’m pretty sure that Stephen simply held the phone away from his ear for half an hour as I screamed my lungs out in the basement, generally expressing that no I didn’t think that was a good idea.

Luckily that no longer is the case.  Despite issues with e-coli in the water (actually a common problem in new wells in case you are imagining a bubonic plague type situation), over due samples and people just basically not doing what they are supposed to be doing, we are still able to move our stuff in on Friday.  Tonight Stephen is staying at the house painting and working on hooking up computer stuff until 1am, when he will go outside into the frosty night and run a hose that will run for 6 hours or so to clear the system out after being shocked.  Then he’ll drive 30 minutes home and fall asleep, get up in the morning, go to work and then go back to the house to do a few more hours work before coming home, falling asleep to get up and move house the next day.  Seriously.  There should be some kind of medal he gets for all this, and for putting up with me but that is another story.

In the meantime my Dad is here and doing a lot of this:

And when I say a lot I mean A LOT.  He’s painted the ceilings in three bedrooms (they are 9ft high and sloped so it is quite a challenge) done Huwyl’s bedroom one coat, then a coat of white because we didn’t like the colour (without a murmur of complaint), redone a colour in Huwyl’s room, done Neirin’s room with two coats and a coat of colour in my bedroom.  And when he isn’t doing that he’s generally being super nice and keeping me on the straight and narrow.  I’m lucky to have these two men in my life that’s for sure.

My mantra is “We are nearly there”, I find myself saying it all the time whenever the panic threatens as I think about how much there is to do and how little time and energy there is to do it with.  My other mantra is “We are getting there”, and we are.  But when you find out your water is temporarily poisonous or that one of the electricians has spilled juice all over your shiny polished concrete floor, then left it there to stain it because he couldn’t be bothered to get a cloth, you can feel a little discouraged.  I can feel a little discouraged.  But really, we are getting there.

The house is looking fabulous.  The bathrooms are almost finished (glass doors in the main bathroom  and glass screen for our bathroom tomorrow), the appliances are all in (not switched on but that is being resolved tomorrow), the HVAC needs to be balanced (next week) and there is some finishing to be done inside and out.  But.  We can move in.  On Saturday morning I will wake up to the sky outside and know that we are in.

Worth it.

I’m also sending love out to my dear friend who is having to be braver than anyone should have to be.  I am reminded that the things I am facing really aren’t so bad and that life and love need to be held very tightly while we have them.  Even those who don’t know her, please take a second to send a moment of strength, I know she’ll feel it and I really believe it will help a little.  But as I know better than anyone, even a little help goes a long way.