Breaking glass as stress relief

 We're down to the last few little annoying fiddly bits left now - odds and ends that have been on shelves for so long we don't even notice them anymore, like candles and the odd ornament, pens, screws or little tools that husband has 'put that there for a minute' and then never moves.  There are also 3 or 4 pictures still left on the walls, which husband missed.  The utility room needed clearing of all his accumulated junk as well, which I asked him to do, as well as emptying the (already half empty since my sorting out months ago) wall cupboards in there.  I thought whilst he was getting on with that, I could be packing our store cupboard extra supplies of tinned and dry foods ready to take over to the bungalow on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, husband seems incapable of deciding what should be kept or thrown away - he was coming to ask me about almost every item, even stuff that was his, not mine.  So I said to him that anything that's broken, or we haven't used in a year or more, can be chucked, he doesn't need to ask me about every little thing.  We did another tip run, taking an old ottoman we've had for years and a couple of boxes of junk, one full of his stuff from the utility room and a boxful of old/surplus to requirements glassware and jars.  It's very therapeutic and strangely satisfying chucking glassware into the glass bins at the tip, I love the breaking sound! (Yes I know I'm weird 😂).

Today it's charity shop stuff, two boxes of oddments already loaded in the car, more stuff to go in this morning, such as a bar stool from husband's bedroom that he only ever used as a clothes hanger, and a couple of spare table lamps.  I imagine we'll have perhaps 2 more tip trips of house stuff, then whatever husband's got to chuck out from his garage.  Except he's just told me there's still a lot of stuff up in the loft!  Including 2 bagfuls of wool, apparently, which clearly I'd forgotten was up there....depending on the colour and type, I may keep it or else it'll go to the charity shop.

I've done the menu plan for meals up until the night before we move, using up the last supplies in the freezer, there will be less than a bagful of frozen food left to go in the cool box.  I'm trying to keep on top of the washing, so husband can disconnect the washing machine early next week.  I've got a couple more phone calls to make today and a bit more admin stuff on the computer.  Last week I ordered our last lot of medications from the surgery, two weeks early but I needed to ensure we have them to tide us over until we've registered with the new surgery, which we'll try and do this week or next.  It's all stuff like this which I have to keep on top of, I keep remembering odd things I haven't yet done.

Lovely day, and feeling energised

 What a lovely night's sleep - think I slept for about 7.5 hours!!

Yesterday morning it was thick freezing fog here - when we got over to the new place it was gloriously bright sunshine streaming in through the big lounge window, it was absolutely lovely, although very cold outside.  We put the heating on and it warmed up the whole place very quickly, the heating seems far more efficient than here.

We had a really good morning - I got husband unpacking the boxes of glassware and cookware tins we'd taken over and putting them away, and then his bag of clothes.  I got out the Christmas tree, set it up in the lounge and dressed it, whilst listening to Christmas songs on the radio - such a nice, calming morning.  Think I'd like a few more baubles for the tree, but it's getting there:-

Terrible photo, sorry about that

Next time we go, we'll take a small side table to stand the tree on.  I also need to get a star or fairy for the top (probably a star, husband's eyebrows would go through the roof at a fairy 😂) - whatever I had last year (I can't remember) wasn't in the Christmas bag so I suspect it got thrown away.  I've got some tinsel to wrap around the base.  

When we got home I quickly packed another box, did some new potatoes to go with a quiche and salad for dinner, and then sat down and did nothing much for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Watched Strictly, of course, and had another early night.

I'm feeling so much better today, positive and raring to go again.  The BT thing (I'm heartened to see that we're not the only ones to have had troubles with BT) has really annoyed me, I can't believe (well, I can actually) that they're so bloody incompetent - still, years after we had the first problems with them.  And as I mentioned yesterday, they've made yet another cock up in the package details they emailed to me, so that's something else to sort out.  I will be putting in a formal complaint - but not right now.  Right now, I need to let it go for my own sanity, accept the likelihood that we'll be without a landline or internet for however many days it takes them to get their finger out, and just get on with the things I have to do.  

Incidentally, whilst at the new place yesterday, I had a sudden flurry of texts and WhatsApp messages on my phone - the signal had kicked in, albeit briefly.  This is the first time that's happened....the BT guy on the phone yesterday did suggest we could use our mobiles whilst waiting for the landline/internet to be connected, and I let him know that actually we couldn't, as EE signal (our mobile service providers and now part of BT) was non-existent there.  He said he would look into that, not that I believed him.  But perhaps he actually did, and somehow boosted the signal ❓

I'm going to spend today and tomorrow packing more small things.....we're down to odds and ends in the rooms now, we're really clearing the decks.  I'll pack our store cupboard spares of tinned and dry foods to take as well.  I've done an inventory of the remaining freezer stuff and will make a menu plan for the remaining days here (only 10 more days!!) - there'll be almost nothing left in the freezer by the day before we move so I can switch it off, the few remaining freezer bits can go in the insulated cool box in the unheated utility room and we'll eat them up over the first couple of days in the bungalow.  We've got another couple of tip trips to do, and husband is clearing out his garage today.  And then we'll be more or less ready.  I'll have some empty plastic boxes for oddments to be thrown into on moving day, and a bag for laundry.

Thanks so much again for all the lovely messages, you're all so kind.  🤗  

Almost at the end of my tether

 Sue of A Simpler Life made a very good suggestion yesterday - have a day off of all things moving, reset your mind and feel invigorated to re-start the moving madness.  So that's what we're doing today....well, kind of - we're doing just things we want to do today.  We shall be going over to our new home - and it certainly does feel like our new home now, every time we go there.  We'll be taking a few more things - including the Christmas tree....I've decided we will be having that up, even if we don't put up anything else.  On the way to the new place, there's a bakery which sells lovely filled rolls and hot things, so we'll pick up something for lunch (saves me making sandwiches).  Whilst I'm not enjoying the process of packing and emptying this place, I am really enjoying unpacking over there, with every bit making it our new forever home.  Oh, and it will be our forever home.....we have a year's introductory tenancy, at the end of which we are, provided we haven't shown ourselves to be tenants/neighbours from hell(!!), granted a lifetime tenancy.  Which is immensely reassuring.

I certainly need a day free from stress - BT have cocked up yet again.  (For overseas readers, BT is British Telecom, our landline phone and internet providers).  11 or 12 days ago, we, well husband, rang them (getting through to them on the phone is a challenge in itself) and arranged the changeover from this house to the new place.  When he came off the phone he said that it was a trainee young lady (my heart immediately sank at this) who didn't seem too sure about some things and kept having to go and check with her supervisor.  However, he said it was all arranged, they would be sending us a new SmartHub through the post and a supervisor would be ringing us within a couple of days to check that everything was ok.  Well, neither thing happened - no SmartHub delivery and no phone call.  So husband rang them back yesterday, putting it on loudspeaker so I could hear (he did it at a very inconvenient time though, just as I was getting lunch prior to him having to take Betty to the vet).  It transpired, after several minutes of being put on hold, that the order hadn't gone through, it appears the trainee hadn't completed it.  So a new order had to be put through yesterday and it now seems we will be without landline or internet services for 3 days after we move in - all due to their incompetence.  I am furious but am trying to ignore that problem and focus on other things - it's yet more hassle and I am just TOO BUSY to cope with any more.  I am looking at it with the view that 3 days without internet or landline phone will actually enable us to get settled in properly, without interruptions.  It's a bloody nuisance that our mobiles have little or no signal there, but I guess we can always get in the car and drive a short distance if we really need to use the phone.  Oh and just to reinforce their incompetence even further....in the summing-up email I received from BT yesterday evening, they've made a(nother) mistake in the products in our package deal, so that means yet another phone call to them to put it right.  I despair.

We went to the farm office yesterday to pay our final rent, still having heard nothing from the landlord.  I'd decided to stay in the car - just in case I felt the urge to give him a piece of my mind....we still want our deposit back, after all!  As it happened, the landlord was just coming out of one of the barns as we drove in, so he saw us and came over.  When husband got out of the car, the landlord grumpily said we'd chosen to move right in the middle of one of his busiest periods!....it was just as well I stayed in the car as I'd have been sorely tempted to tell him we were moving at our convenience, not his, and in any case he has an accounts clerk to sort out his office stuff!  He also said he'd have settled up with us once our final December rent standing order went through.....which was just as I suspected, he was hoping to get the entire month's rent from us, hence why he'd kept quiet and didn't reply to my emails!  Just as well I cancelled it then, and paid in cash the amount I'd calculated we owe until the date we move out, as I'm sure we'd have had a bit of a fight on our hands to get back the overpayment.  Although we've enjoyed our years here and made some good friends, we're glad to be moving out to what is increasingly seeming like the perfect home, with lovely neighbours and support from what the neighbours say is a fantastic caring housing association.  Incidentally, our deposit is held in a legally protected deposit accounts scheme and the landlord's (very nice) office clerk has assured us she will do everything in her power to ensure we get the deposit back by the end of December at the very latest.

I am just so tired of everything being a problem or a hassle - I wish I could click my fingers, go to sleep and wake up on the 14th December, the day after we've moved in.  Last night I just cried.

I do feel more positive today though, despite having woken up ridiculously early again.

On the home run

 Thank you so much for comments yesterday.  I know I am relatively organised (and actually doing fairly well), but I think I just got overwhelmed with all the mess in a room which a couple of days previously had been fairly well sorted....until husband started chucking stuff in there unbeknown to me.  I know he can't help being the way he is (disorganised, scatterbrained and oblivious of time), but when there's so much still to do, I need him to help, not hinder.  The only way I can get him doing what needs to be done is to say to him "Right, I need you to do this, this and this today.....start with this, and do it now please".  My head is full to bursting with so much stuff that it's all spilling over - it's not just the physical stuff of sorting, packing boxes and lifting/carrying, it's all the admin stuff that needs doing as well.  Every day I have to make a couple of phone calls or send some emails to do with the move, which takes time - especially phone calls when, more often than not, I'm stuck in a queue for ages.  Seems to be the way of things nowadays - lack of staff since Covid I expect.  And then there's still meals to prepare every day, the odd bit of necessary shopping, washing to do, etc - I'm afraid housework has mostly gone out of the window, I haven't got time (and frankly don't really care anymore, as it no longer feels like our home).  So other than quick basic cleans of the kitchen and bathroom, that's it, I'll give everywhere a hoover and wipe down on moving day as the furniture in each room gets loaded in the van.

Do you know, we've still not had any reply from our landlord - I don't know what his problem is.  So I've calculated the remaining amount of rent payable and husband will take the cash to the office and pay it this morning - and yes he will get a receipt from the office clerk.

This morning it'll be at least one tip run and charity shop dump, I also need a couple of items from the supermarket.  Betty's got a routine vet appointment (an ear check, nothing drastic) just after lunch, and I'm having my last haircut of the year this afternoon.

Hasn't it turned cold all of a sudden - blimmin freezing. No snow here though, thankfully - well, I haven't actually looked out of the window yet this morning but there wasn't any yesterday!

A mini meltdown

 We managed to buy all the last remaining things on our list - I think (hope) that's the spending done now.  I certainly hope so!

In the afternoon I had a bit of a panic attack.  I was upstairs in the big front bedroom (what was husband's bedroom).....it was all such a mess.  Husband collects pillows like other men collect socks (oh, and he's got tons of them too) - he claims he can never find a really comfortable pillow, so buys new ones every few months....only he never chucks out the old ones.  He changes his pillows several times a week, flipping between the 8 or 9 spare ones, whereas I've had the same 2 pillows (1 thin, 1 thick) for a couple of years.  There were pillows everywhere, along with a few king size duvets he'd got out of the loft the other day - all surplus to requirements.  Small piles of his clothes scattered around - he just leaves them lying around rather than putting them away in his chest of drawers.  Several boxes, some packed (by him, and nothing written on them), some half packed.  A few dustbin bags with stuff in....for the tip or the charity shop, although I didn't know which until I checked them (husband had thrown the stuff in them).  I just stood there thinking 'where do I start??'.  And then I heard husband laughing out in the garden - he was leaning on the fence having a good old laugh and chat with the neighbour, whilst I was having a mini meltdown trying to get stuff sorted.  I'm very conscious of the fact that we are MOVING HOUSE in less than two weeks' time!!  And there is still so much to do.  Husband, due to his cognitive impairment, has absolutely no sense of time or urgency, I have to stick a rocket up his backside to get him moving.

When he came in from the garden, I let him know how stressed and panicky I was feeling, because of all the things still to do.  To his credit, he did immediately come upstairs with me and together we got most of the room sorted.  We're going to the bungalow today, taking more things over - rugs and lampshades we bought yesterday, a small desk bought second hand for husband's computer, and a few packed boxes to empty and bring back.  I've told husband that Friday we will be making a couple of trips to the tip and charity shop, things to get rid of are beginning to pile up here and I need the space.  He also needs to burn a carrier bagful of stuff with personal details on.

I actually slept well last night (sheer exhaustion I think) although awake ridiculously early again, and feel ready to tackle everything again today.

No longer a home

 We're now at the stage where our current house no longer feels like a home - with half empty rooms, some of the curtains down, all the pictures missing, boxes everywhere, it's now like living in a warehouse.  And it's just as echoey!  Whereas the bungalow feels more and more like home every time we go over there, especially now all the curtains are up and the lounge and hallway carpeted.  It's becoming very much less echoey there!

Spent the morning there yesterday, unpacking another couple of boxes and putting my summer clothes away in the wardrobe, with Betty watching my every move, whilst the guys were laying the carpet.  They did a great job and we're so pleased with it.  Hannah the housing support lady called in to see us (checking we're still alive 😂), she comes every Tuesday.  We had a couple of minor queries for her, which she's going to sort out.  We got the heating working (now we've activated the elec meter key), it's very efficient and the rooms warmed up surprisingly quickly, considering the place has been empty for a couple of months.  Came home after lunch and I packed another 2 boxes, husband took the stairgate off the stairs - it's going to be used as an outside gate in the car port, so Betty can't run off into the road.  Not that there's much traffic - it's very quiet there.

Today we're going out to look for the last few things on our list of needs - a couple of light shades, rug for the kitchen, shelves, and a small desk for husband.

My cold has gone, thankfully it was a very shortlived one.  Husband hasn't caught it (well, he hasn't yet) so that's another blessing.

We still haven't heard back from our landlord, following my notice of leaving email to them a fortnight ago.  I know he's read it, as we bumped into the landlord's brother in the supermarket last week and he mentioned it, he said he assumed we'd get a reply very shortly.  Well, nothing as yet - how rude!!  I've sent another email requesting an urgent reply, our final rent payment is due this Friday and I need to know how much it will be for the last part month.  If I haven't heard from him by this afternoon (he's almost impossible to get hold of on the phone), then I'll just cancel the standing order, guesstimate the remaining balance and pay it in cash.

By contrast, our new landlords, the Housing Association, are super efficient, they've sent me loads of info about all sorts of things and the housing support lady, Hannah (she's employed by the Housing Association) is a font of knowledge and support.

EDIT

I've cancelled the rent standing order.

A couple of photos

 The new lounge carpet laid this morning:-

And curtains up in my bedroom:-

Betty photobombed the pics 😂