Everything has changed...

Kia ora koutou!

I haven't been around much for a while, and I have really missed checking up on everybody, taking part in Thematic posts, reading people's wise and funny words - I'm planning to be back to something like normal, as from now. 

The first 4 months of 2012 have been incredibly busy and very stressful. We sold the house we had been in for 23 years, then spent the next 6 weeks frantically sorting, packing, chucking out stuff we didn't need... it's incredible how many things can be accumulated by a family of hoarders! At the same time we were looking for somewhere to rent, inspecting houses for sale, then, when nothing appealed, looking for land to buy and build on.  

Oh, and working.

Moving day came all too soon, and our remaining stuff was moved to the very comfortable house we had found to rent. Later that week we signed up for a piece of ground on which, with luck and a lot of money, there will be a finished house later this year. Not too much later, hopefully.  

People always say that moving is one of the most stressful things in life, and I would now certainly have to agree with that! Things were not helped by the fact that on moving day I managed to badly pull a muscle in my lower back, which has caused me a great deal of pain and discomfort over the last five weeks - it has finally started to improve over the last few days, thank heavens.

Kites at New Brighton Beach

Two weeks after we moved it was the end of our summer term, always a really busy one. Then I was off on my long-planned 2-week trip around the South Island of New Zealand, including 4 days in my poor old earthquake-battered Christchurch, visiting my sister and brother-in-law. Seeing my home town so changed was very depressing, but it was something I needed to do, I think.

Crossing Cook Strait

There will be pictures. Lots - my road trip around parts of the country I had not seen for many years was good for the equilibrium.

Autumn in Arrowtown

So. here I am, back in our temporary home, ready to start school again tomorrow. But I still feel rather discombobulated - I keep hearing the words of one of my favourite Lucinda Williams songs:

Faces look familiar,

But they don't have names

Towns I used to live in

Have been rearranged

Highways I once traveled down

Don't look the same

Everything has changed

Everything has changed

See you soon.

Changes

I mentioned some time ago that we had sold our house and were having to prepare to move. Well, everything went through, the process has processed, and we will be moving out of here on the 24th of March (gasp) - 2 weeks from yesterday.

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” ~ Deepak Chopra

Ever since we signed the bits of paper we have been packing, sorting, cleaning, throwing out. We have been in this house for 24 years. And we both have the hoarding gene.

Inevitably, there is to be a yard sale (here, it's called a garage sale). Next Saturday. Some things are just too good to send to the rubbish dump, and we'd like to make a little money,  Already I'm panicking; do you put prices on stuff? or just signs that say 'Make an offer'? I've never been to one of these occasions. 

Apparently people turn up at the crack of dawn, or earlier - and I've heard dark stories of subsequent burglaries, after the potential junk-buyers have cased the joint.

We haven't been able to find a house we like enough to buy, so we are renting one while we go about buying a section (= lot) and building a house. 

Guess how much fun that's going to be?

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied 

by drawbacks and discomforts"

~ Arnold Bennett

Changes are not just affecting us. Our daughter and son-in-law are preparing to move to Australia, taking with them our two beautiful grandchildren, aged 3 and 1. Guess I'm going to have to save those air points!

I'll keep y'all posted ...

Back to school

I haven't been around the blog world very much lately, I'm afraid - just a quick check now and then, the occasional comment. I have been day-blurringly busy, and I do 

miss having the time to linger.

Our new school year began on February 1st. I had gone in most days for several weeks before that, and felt as if I was pretty well prepared - HA! The reality of kids in front of you plus the million things associated with the beginning of the year - plus the sad sudden death of a just-retired colleague - all of it has been making me feel as if I don't have a second to spare. Last night I took the dog for his walk at 10.30! 

Apart from that there are lots of changes happening in my outside-school life, connected with selling the house we have been in for 24 years, all of the stresses that go with clearing out stuff, packing stuff, looking for somewhere to live ... whew. You get the picture.

I hope to get some time to myself some day week month soon. I haven't forgotten y'all!

In the meantime, have a wonderful day today