We are in

Sorry, no pictures yet... though I think we will have to patent the driveway technology employed to get the stuff into our house on the wettest November day in Melbourne for two years.... Should have taken a picture of William Thwaites Boulevard, which was flooded again.

We have to give a big thank you to the people who helped with the moving and cleaning, without them we wouldn't be here:

• Nat who was the first to arrive and one of the last to leave for his packing expertise; and his wife Mel who helped at the unpacking end.
• Keith and Daniel who pointed out that once you are wet, the rain doesn't matter any more. Worked all day like Trojans and didn't complain about the lack of tea making facilities.
• Ryon (brother-in-law), who raced over to our house to be there for the deliveries that came before we got back with the truck, and was part of the inside team putting things where they needed to go.
• Roy and Linda (in-laws), who packed and moved and cleaned and baby-sat and drove the truck through rain and sleet and snow and mud, and whose help we just couldn't have been without.
• Mum and Gary, who helped keep our girls out of trouble and threw bits and pieces into boxes ready to be moved, then moved them and then some.... Who said having a guest stay in your house on the day you move in was a bad idea?
• Dad and Lorraine, who loaned me the car that allowed me to be where my wife wasn't, the logistics would have been horrible without it.  Also big help with cleaning the rental house, getting it ready for hand back to our lovely land lady.
• Rachel, who quietly helped put things away in our new house and generally supported my wife on a stressful day.  Rachel and Mel basically put the kitchen back together, and cleaned our feral fridge (it looks new now)
• Tony who borrowed his work truck to move the trampoline in one peice - just as well, as I've lost the tool to put the springs back on.  And his wife Danielle who always brightens my wife's day.
• Rebeca, who looked after our little cherubs over the moving period on numerous occasions - of more value to us than we can say.

If we forgot anyone, we are sorry, and blame the sleep deprivation.

Oh yeah, and thanks to Debra for sorting Telstra out for our street, as we had no trouble getting an excellent internet connection (best I've had anywhere).

Let's just say, we are very thankful to be in our lovely new home.... even with all the boxes of stuff we haven't seen for two years cluttering up the place.  It already feels like home.

We have a date - and the Champagne to drink on it

Just a quick note, cause I can't help myself....

Here's the summary of events:

Thurdsay 17^th - Bank inspection

Friday 18^th - I ask for timelines am assured paperwork will be processed in 24 to 48 hours, transfer of funds another 24 to 48 hours, call builder to suggest that perhaps Wednesday would be a good day to organise things for. (Can we have a "date", we need to organise some things?)

Monday 21^st - I advise our builder that the money has left our loan account any sign of it on their end... no our "Client Liaison" has not "been made aware" of it.

Tuesday 22^nd - We receive the receipt for the final payment from the accounts department, call our Liaison and ask for the status... hoping to hear "I was just going to call you, payment received, SS advised, when can you come in".... no still "not aware" - apparently Australia Post beats internal mail - and that's with the poor postman having to get off his bike to deliver it as the footpaths are being replaced.

Wednesday 23^rd - We have the keys!... with stuff organised for tomorrow as the "awareness" wasn't smacked through her pretty little head (by us) until too late in the day... the gift box looks yummy, and we have champagne to spill all over the new carpet and put the cork through the plaster.

Alls well that ends well?

Anyone for Tiddlywinks?

For those not acquainted with the game of tiddywinks, you can get all the details here... at the moment it seems to be a bit more fun than waiting for handover, and feels about as frustrating and fiddly getting all the little bits to go where you want.

The house has effectively been finished for the last two weeks.  We had our inspection on the 4^th of November, and there were only little bits of painting to be fixed, and a chip in the en-suite shower base (poly-marble) which they will fill and polish and we will never know it was there.

The big hold up are the gas and bank.  The gas line people have been busy/late a lot apparently, and between no prompting from the office to call our bank (or perhaps call them themselves?) and the busyness of the people involved the bank inspection isn't until this Thursday (17^th)... and we still don't have a hand over date!

I think we won't have a handover date until the day before... really painful, and we had to give notice on our rental as we don't want to have the place for 4 weeks after handover - so the deadlines are rapidly approaching... here's hoping the winks will all drop in the cup soon eh?

On the positive side, the finials have been painted, the temporary fence, skip bin and porta-loo have been removed, and we drove by this morning to find that the gas line has been installed - so all we need now is the gas meter and we will be cooking with... ummm... gas!

I had to delay the Telstra connection (optimistically booked for this morning)... which I really hated to do, as I figured it is usually the other way around.  Here's hoping neither of us will need to delay it a second time.

My apologies for keeping you all waiting and guessing... wonder if the builder will ever offer a similar apology to us?