76 down, 83 to go

 

phew. celebrated in style with the girls & sparkling elderflower / wine on friday - must confess not a lot of unpacking got done but celebrating the house move was lovely. luckily, one of the girls returned this morning & helped me break the back of the unpacking while we put the world to rights. the kids were mega excited especially when they were asked to help scrunch up the wrapping paper by stamping it all in boxes (pictures to follow once i have retrieved the necessary equipment from somewhere in the remaining 83 boxes). still haven't identified my coffee machine! eeks. ok - i'm on decaf these days but still. i like my latte in the morning. managed to squeeze in a trip to the theatre with the kids in the afternoon, totally amazing, sorted out eldest's long anticipated pink storage furniture from scandinavia's online store (as i dreaded the thought of going in there myself) and found an orchid kindly delivered from the lady who looked after eldest & youngest from when they were miniscule until we moved west (she's so generous, i'm sure she has made a massive net loss on us by now). unpacking, i retrieved many items from my single days that had been banned to attics or outbuildings - my lovely pear wood dining room table i had to save up for for many months before i could afford it, my tall candle stick i bought on texel when i first went there with her, my frog on a reed and other sculptures that were basically 'lost' in our old mansion but now feature quite prominently in my lounge... ok so i'm not even halfway through the unpacking, the brand new boiler keeps packing up, when i tried to plumb in the dishwasher i discovered the builders forgot to put in the socket for it (there's a loose piece of electric wire dangling in its space....), the spare room is stacked with boxes i do not intend to unpack in this house (books, books, and more books) and i foresee at least one trip to the tip despite my ruthless decluttering expeditions before the move. but already, i couldn't feel more at home. can't wait to put the pictures up!