Box City...

We are on the final countdown to the move here now!

It has been a b.u.s.y but productive week...
I have been dutiful at following a to-do list on my phone.
- I don't know what I would do without it really, because I find that unless I write it down as I think about it then it weighs on my mind and I start to stress out about the millions of things left to do.
With such long lists it is easy to forget to do something important.
Since my phone is always near my side, using the reminders app has been ideal for me as I can then jot down my notes where ever I am, set reminder alarms if necessary, then tick them off as I go.
Too easy.
I highly recommend it.
Of course it would be even easier still if I didn't have to do the jobs in the first place, but never the less it makes it a lot less stressful trying to remember the all ;)

During the week my house has gone through various stages of looking like this;

Because I've been trying to use the lounge to sort and store.
Having everything centralised makes it a bit easier to group the last random things in to a somewhat sensible order.
It just makes for a very messy house.

Keeping on top of the clutter is especially tricky now that there are no homes for things, and as a person who likes order I find it rather frustrating having mess everywhere.
{Having 2 guests in the house who are also living out of suitcases probably does not help that either.}
With two little "helpers" in the house it is often an exciting adventure finding out what the kids have stashed in our suitcases or packing boxes next ;)

This week the boxes have been packed,
the cleaning has began,
the garden has been tidied,
windows washed,
painting has occurred,
more trips to take things to the charity stores,
and yet more boxes have been packed.
Just the kitchen and last minute linen to pack and I think we are done with the boxes...

Oh yes, I am so sick of packing!
I feel like I've been doing it for mooooonths. Which partly true I guess because I did start months ago.
Thank goodness we are nearly to the end of it all...
It's so hard to believe that there are only 6 more sleeps to go!!
In 6 sleeps this house will be emptied of our family and we will hand the keys over to the next family.

We have loved our little house by the lake and sea.
This has been our first home as a family of four -
As a complete unit.
And it is currently the only ones the kids know.
It will always be dear to our hearts.
I can imagine that we will each shed a few tears as we say goodbye to it.

But it is time to move on to the next adventure...
I wonder what life will have in store for us next.
Not long until we get to find out...

19/52... Happy Mothers Day...!

    **  A portrait of my children once a week, for 52 weeks...

Hannah:
You got to hold the biggest wad of $100 bills that I've also ever held in my lifetime this week when we sold our car. You thought it was quite fine to hold that much cash I must say! Didn't we all. Shame it had to go straight in the bank to buy a new car when we get to NZ and we couldn't spend it together instead hey ;)

Abbie:
Here you are showing Nanna & Papa the very beautiful penguin island... Pretending it really feels like Autumn by wearing gumboots and a hat, except today the sun shone and it got warm again.

From my family to yours - Happy Mothers Day folks!!

Please excuse evil eyed Hannah. She was in a bad mood about something. Just keeping it real :)

I hope you've had a great day Mums!

S.u.r.p.r.i.s.e...

Well, well, well... A funny thing happened today...
This morning Miss Bella (who is quickly becoming the most blogged about cat in history) went off to the "fix it shop" to be spayed.
My instructions from the vet were to ring back after 4pm today and see what time I should pick her up.
So I did.
However, instead of reception, who I normally get when I ring, the vet himself picked up.
When I told him which animal I was enquiring about Bella he knew immediately who I was talking about and had a little chuckle...
It went like this...

The vet: "Ahhhh  yes, Bella... Funny story about Bella..."
Me: "Okkkk. Sounds good. I take it she's alright though?"
The vet: "Yes the surgery went well, it just didn't exactly go as originally expected... You see I opened up her tummy, as we do to do a 'spay', and low and behold I had a bit of trouble finding her bits. There I was thinking "that's strange, where are her darn ovaries!" and I could not find them. I've been doing this a long time, and it usually only takes me about 15 seconds to find everything, so the nurse and I looked at each other in confusion and lifted up Bella's tail, and how about that but there were some Testicles...
So... not a girl cat, a boy cat!
Usually reception check as they check the animal in, but this time clearly not. But don't worry, Bella is doing absolutely fantastically. After that little confusion his surgery went without a hitch, and the good news for you today is that the boy operation is cheaper..."
Me: *Big pause.... then "Bahahahahahahahaha!!!"

I mean what can you do but laugh.
This cat, who we bought as a "female" on all her paperwork, turns out to be a "Billy" and not a "Bella!!
Wow!

I even remember at the time of purchase that the girl at the shop was scandalised that I bought Bella a blue litter tray and bowl set because apparently "you CAN'T buy a little girl kitten a blue litter tray!"
{Pfft, you can if it's my favourite colour and "she" doesn't know any different!}
And it definitely says female on all her paperwork!!

The funniest thing of all is that Bella was a gift from my bestie who is a vet nurse and she didn't even notice the mistake! We just both assumed we were being told the correct information and didn't think to check. When rung her before and told her what happened she just about wet herself laughing.

It is beyond me how all this time Bella survived my friend's affections, 2 round of vaccinations and her microchipping (both at a different vet to that we normally use and took her to today I might add) without that mistake being picked up!!

Do you know, I have looked at "her" several times and thought "I'm sure all our other girl cats in the past didn't have bits as bulgy as Bella's.."
But then who am I to know any different.... I thought I would look like a complete dumb dumb asking about that to the vet LOL...

So there you go, a totally unexpected event for the day.
Now I have to go through all her paperwork and redo it so that immigration doesn't go
"what the what... this is a boy cat, why does it say female on all the paperwork - is this the right cat?!"
Then of course there is the question of what we do about "her" name...

When I told Hannah that Bella was actually a boy cat it was fair to say that she was less than impressed!
Yes the hysterical crying and indignant yelling of "NO, Bella is a girl!!!" kind of gave her thoughts on the matter away.
So I think that our new Mr cat will just have to stay Mr Bella. Because otherwise we might have both the small people in our house start a riot.

I think Bella is shaping up to be the most interesting pet we have ever owned!!
Makes me wonder what is coming next ;)

**  Oh, and just in case you're wondering if in fact it is Bella that came back to us, or maybe another random cat and case of mistaken identity, I asked them to check her microchip number. 

So yup, it's definitely the original Bella!