Packing and Moving House Helpful Hints!

We'll be moving house in the next couple of weeks - yep, we found a place! God opened doors and we got a nice place and they accepted our puppies, too!  Woo Hoo! Bonus! Double Bonus - it has a rainwater tank which is so important here in Queensland with the drought and the house is insulated - another plus and we got a long lease - 28 months!  Move date is Saturday 10 October 2009.

No, we won't be using minimovers for this move, but they offer some great moving and packing advice which I have made reference to, so I thought I would post it on my blog - you never know who might need it!



PACKING HELPFUL HINTS - www.minimovers.com.au

1. Packing. Almost everyone underestimates the packing time needed to pack small items. If packing yourself, start well before the moving date and check our hints on packing your small items section . You can also view our video, Packing and Moving Made Easy. Our packing hints are designed to help you pack properly. Unfortunately our written guarantee of care does not cover items that you have packed yourself. If you are concerned by this, and want your small items covered, then call us and we can send a professional MiniMovers packer, who will pack whatever you need.
2. Items to empty. Wardrobes and desk drawers must be emptied. Chests of drawers need to have breakable, loose, and heavy items removed. Light clothing may remain. Never tape drawers shut. As a rule, furniture with doors must be emptied. Gas bottles and equipment such as lawnmowers must be empty before we carry them.
3. Pack in good boxes. Lots of small open boxes (that cannot be stacked) take a lot longer to move than goods packed in the right sizes boxes. On the other hand, using boxes so large that they become overweight can dramatically slow down the moving process. Using proper removal boxes will not only help ensure a safe no damage move, but it also speeds up your move. 
4. Reduce the number of items. Moving your small items yourself will reduce MiniMovers moving time. However, doing many trips in a car will end up costing you more than it would to have us move it, especially if you loaded the small items while the MiniMovers crew loaded the larger items. The number of items can also be reduced by tying loose items such as brooms and mops in bundles. Leave drawers in dressers.

A BIT ABOUT ME

 

Yes, I am a Canadian but I call Australia my home in the Sunshine State Queensland in the River City - Brisbane. My husband Peter is an Aussie and our two puppies are true Aussie dogs - Kelpie/Cattle dogs - Jessie and Jake. I love writing and photography, so I thot I would have a go at a blog which enables me to enjoy both. Hopefully this will help me develop my writing skills so that I can put them to use doing something else down the road!


To read how a Canadian and Aussie came to be together, check out our story.

3900 SATURDAYS

Hi there,
Now, this is really cool....an article I received that I wanted to share on my blog - hope you enjoy and perhaps the message is something for each and everyone of else to stop and consider in our own lives!

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other.  What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business.  He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about 'a thousand marbles.' I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.... 

' Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much.  Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.  It's too bad you missed your daughter's 'dance recital' he continued. 'Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.' And that's when he began to explain his theory of a 'thousand marbles.'

'You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic.  The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years. 

'Now then,  I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail', he went on, 'and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.' 'I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.  So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had.  I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.' 

 

HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY MOM!

This is the ad that appeared in the local paper wishing Mom a very happy birthday!  I got Mom's endorsement to use this picture!

Mom is the Queen of her Red Hat Gals Group (or Red Hot Mamas I think they also call themselves) and they usually wear red hats at their gatherings/outings.  But when it is their birthday, they wear a "purple" hat which I think is an excellent choice - a colour of Royalty and of passion and many other beautiful qualities that match mom really well!

I sure hope that I look as fabulous as she does when I'm 70!

Love ya Mom. xo

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad

This is the template of what appeared in their local paper.

Mom and Dad were married 50 years to the day of their Golden Anniversary!

They were married in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  Those are the Falls in the background of their wedding picture.

The above is a picture I organised as a gift for mom on Mother's Day a few years ago.  I gathered all of the newspaper articles that were written about her wedding and the bridal showers that were held in her honour and had them framed as a keepsake to ensure they are preserved!

OUR JOURNEY LEADING UP TO THE JOYS OF HOUSE HUNTING FOR TENANTS - PART 1

So yeah, despite the fact that we have been good tenants for the past 4 years, the owner of the property has decided it will be easier to perform the much needed repairs to the house without us in it!  You see, the house has been on the market for sale for almost a year now and he finally got an offer a few weeks ago, but alas, it did not pass property inspection....funny that!  Nope, we were not surprised.

You see, Peter and I have made the property management agent aware of several issues that needed tending to by the owner, but our requests seem to land in the "we'll get around to it" pile.  So, there are roof leak issues in several areas of the house and yep, I've got pictures (must look funny when prospective buyers take a walk through the property and see the dining room light fixture on the living room floor).  Now, it is not that I wouldn't like to put the light fixture back up, but I run the risk of it falling from the ceiling as it did once in the middle of the night and I can be thankful that it actually didn't break away from the electrical cords or the clasps and shatter into a gazillion pieces from the impact onto ceramic tile -  you get the picture I am sure.


The pergola....well, it looked nice when we viewed the house from the inside prior to us leasing it.  We couldn't actually walk outside at our property viewing because the tenants were not home and they had outdoor pets and the property management agent was nervous to go out because the dogs did not know her  Fair enough, but property hunters, beware.....make an appointment to view the place when the entire place inside and out can be viewed......you will thank yourself later!  So, it is like the saying "You can't judge a book by its cover!"  The pergola leaks all the way around, not to mention that the roof doesn't really go out far enough, so when it rains, it splashes back onto the patio; hence, my puppies have virtually no dry area and condition of lease....my pets must live outside!!!  But hey, don't get me started - that's another blog entry!!!

We have not received the "formal" notification to vacate yet, but when we do, the 60 day clock will start to tick.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! TIM HORTONS!

 

Imagine.......a freshly brewed mug of coffee and a donut for only $2.17!!!

Yep, you read correct my Australian family and friends reading this blog.  What a great deal, eh?

The coffee is freshly brewed fresh every 20 minutes.  Tim Hortons have mastered the art of great coffee.  No, it isn't a fancy latte or a cappuccino or frappuccino but it is great tasting and smelling coffee - that I can guarantee!

And convenient?  Oh yeah!  Drive through coffee!!!  Imagine you have just finished your Saturday afternoon shopping at the grocery store or you are just exhausted after a busy day at work or from running your children around to their sports events and appointments and you don't have time to stop at a Cafe, just go to the Tim Hortons drive through and voila, you can enjoy an awesome tasting and refreshing and perk-you-up coffee for pennies! (yep, pennies are still currency used in North America...lol)