The internet can do that???

iinet, after saying it would take 5 -10 working days to hook me up, are not to be outdone by Telstra..... and on the 4th day, there was net! My comworld is complete :)

Troy, cos 'only boys can use the Kanga', had a ball moving stuff around .. until it became work. The lil machine was worth every cent of its hire money .. the pile of rocks became smaller piles in more appropriate places, the crusher dust got dispensed around the house perimeter and 8 cubic metres of top soil was spread around my lil back yard .. with a bit of help from me and Zoe and Megan, and a board and some rakes. Bear was supervising until we got sick of him barking orders and confined him to the laundry. We also put in a few sleepers for garden edges and naturally I had to go buy a few bushes and flowers :) Gotta have some of the fun part .. some pansies, and marigolds, and a mini lavender.

Tomorrow the zoysia arrives ... I am sole turfer .. I will be there forever except I have to go to work on Thursday to recuperate.

I will put up some piccies when I get the camera back .. especially the OOPS one.

Why don't you give me a call?

Well .. full marks to Telstra!

They ported the phone from Optus on Monday 5 August (and sent me a letter last week telling when they were doing it!) .

I rang yesterday to sort out the 'lines on which house' problem and got an operator (they've all been Aussies for Telstra) who had a brain. He decided the best thing to do was cancel my 7407 number (the old house one) and then change the 2541 (new house, temp line) to 7407. Easy as. No physical unhookings and it would be completed by Friday 7th, he said. Gave me the Seibel reference number (just in case).

Well it was completed before midday today, a day ahead of schedule!

I already put my net application in as, of lunchtime. Let's see if iiNet can do as well.

Much fun to be had this weekend with a skip for all those things we thought we needed all these years but didn't really. And a Kanga! with attachments. The boys have baggsed it already. Looks like I'm in the hayfever brigade, throwing out rubbish.

Ring Ring

I am slowly going mad (madder?) and I am being driven there by telecommunications companies at an ever increasing rate of knots.

The first problem was that the phone box (pit?) out the front had to be upgraded - which took weeks and weeks.

The next problem: move the phone line (and number) from the old house to the new house.
Simple, you think? Apparently not.

Optus: We can't do it. Our systems can't handle two houses (lines) on the same address.
WTF? what if I had two phone lines? or had to replace a line?
Optus: You have to get Telstra to port it back to them; they install a new line to new house then they can move the old number onto the new line (we also can't install new lines) ; then you can re-sign with us.
Can I keep my old plans eg. the internet one cos your new ones suck
Optus: Nope. New plans all round - and more money for less. And it will all take weeks. Months. Possibly years!
Needless to say, the complaint I lodged has not been answered after a month.

Telstra: Can't understand why Optus can't do it. Sure we can do a new line into the house.
and they did - within a week. Told me exactly what I had to do. Port back number, cancel temporary number, move old number onto new line. Easy peasy!

Telstra: Port it back? not a problem!
except it has been a month - and as of this morning, I'm onto my third application cos they keep losing the others or the system cancels them accidently. (They are using Seibel - so does ATO, so I fully understand how this happens)

This is the quick version without the long phone conversations, back and forth, and forth and back. And the cold dark trips up to the old house to check emails, submit assignments or check the answering machine.

I have resorted to a 30 metre extension line (well, 2 x 15 metre with an adaptor) patched into the Starserve, which I hooked up yesterday. It is working well so far; hope it doesn't rain. Or someone trips over it.

I keep asking myself how much I want to keep the phone number I have had for the past 20 years. VOIP is looking good. So are carrier pigeons or smoke signals.

Fox wasn't much better until Troy got a supervisor. We could have had satellite the following day but opted for the few days wait for the cables to be installed. So we are Foxed if not Phoned.

And I thought the dramas finished when the house was finished. *cue maniacal laughter*

Moving in very slowly

After getting the keys on Friday 17th, it has been a slow haul with moving in. At least we can take our time unlike most people who have to do it all in one day and then spend months unable to find anything. Not that I can find anything lol.

Dramas with tanks, pumps and pipes last weekend. The concreting in entry, laundry entry and al fresco was done on Saturday 18th which makes a huge difference to the amount of dirt getting tracked in. I'm glad I don't have carpet in the living areas!

We will eventually have phone and Foxtel in the new house - they're just very slow. So at the moment, the old house is the entertainment area.

My favourite toy is the dishwasher. The kids are loving having a nice kitchen and a real oven instead of the old OffNBurn. I haven't cooked anything so far! Troy was first off the rank on Saturday night with a roast leg of lamb; this was the first night we all had moved into new house. Andrew followed up on Sunday with devilled sausages and potato bake. Apparently my new Scanpans are 'okay' too.


A few quick pics of the chaos:


My walk in robe with the Elfa system. I think I need to get a few more colours in clothes! Everything seems to be black or red. Actually most of my t shirts are blue (or black) but they are in my chest of drawers.

My new bed with Mr Squishy. I need to get a new quilt cover. The rest of my room is total chaos.

Looking back to front door. That's my new lounges in foreground. Comfy and much bigger than I'd thought they would be! And heavier!!

Dining area with Megan's table and chairs. Admire the extremely expensive screen doors please - they cost as much as security screen on rest of house!

Kitchen. Troy put the pantry shelves up last weekend. Microwave and toaster live in the pantry.

Al fresco. It's amazing how much sun comes in there during the morning at the moment - it will be nice in winter.

Bear smiling for the camera. He's not a happy dog since he isn't allowed in the new house except for the laundry where he sleeps at night.

I've got a brand new key

This afternoon I became the proud (and much poorer) owner of My House.

There should be drumrolls and fanfares and marching girls (or boys) with pom poms, when you get Handover. Instead it was sort of tame. Foxy came. Changed the front door lock. Handed over the remotes for the garage. Went through every guarantee and piece of paper he had. And that was it. Done. Dusted. Finito.

And I resumed moving stuff into the house - which I had been doing anyway. Tonight I get to sleep there on Mr Squishy. ahhhhhhh! Tomorrow I will be woken at the crack of dawn by cement trucks. Finally it has stopped raining long enough to get the concreting done.

Let there be lights!

After spending most of the Easter weekend twiddling my thumbs because it was raining raining raining and inside the house was quite dark, FINALLY on Tuesday morning Sir Energex rode up in his trusty white steed and connected various things, and I had power.

I am also the proud owner of two electricity accounts .. blah. I think Lucinda has a photo somewhere of me actually flipping the main switch and letting the juice flow - well it flowed after a couple of false starts with the surge protectors or fuses or whatever the hell those switches are. We turned on all the lights and fans (not all at once) and everything worked except one bulb in the main bathroom's heat lamp thing; it's not burnt out so probably just needs a wiggle.

What a difference being able to go in there at night! Luckily I have put blinds on most of the windows because in the living area it's a bit like being in a goldfish bowl at night. Those dark tinted doors no longer protect us from the curious eyes of the neighbours. The dining area has a blind too, as of tonight. I am still trying to decide what to put on the big glass doors - everything is so expensive and I have already spent Mr Rudd's money a few times over. Unfortunately the Lotto fairy hasn't visited me.
I probably owe Stephen about a tanker of rum by now - he has put the rangehood up and installed my dishwasher after I was having problems.

The pump for the tank is having a few problems with its solanoid but should be fixed tomorrow or next day. I am still waiting for Foxy to do his thing. I assume he wants his money and I want my house!! My new bed arrives tomorrow for Mr Squishy to lie on and I am tempted to just sleep there tomorrow night, whether I have had handover or not. Which could be a big surprise if any tradies turn up early the next morning - poor dears. :)

Zoe has vacuumed and dusted the three bedrooms, the bathrooms but wasn't touching the toilet after The Incident. So she has all that ready for them to move into their rooms. My room still needs to be done after the bed arrival. I also still haven't put up the Elfa. Or done the Starserve. Was a bit reluctant to drill holes into walls when I didn't officially own it all but that is wearing off very quickly.
The kitchen has mostly been prepared - the drawers have that rubbery stuff that stops things slipping as liners. Fridge in and on; dishwasher installed. I have pantry shelves to do.

Some kitchen piccies with my pretty glass splashback ....... the metallic doesn't show up as much as I thought it would, just makes it sort of changeable in the various lights.





Sink and the Asko dishwasher beside it - can't wait to have that to use every night!




Looking straight through to pantry door - I haven't done the shelves in there yet. They're on The ToDoList.

View from other side showing my nice new fridge. Freaky thing it is - I plugged it in and the clock inside had the right time on it. dododododododo! Rangehood needs cleaning of Stephen's paw prints.



I also have 10 metres of crusher dust to spread out which got added to The Todolist this arvo.

Six weeks ago I fell off the garage slab and buggered my ankle. It's still 'not right' - stairs aren't fun and running is out of the question. Tonight I fell over some left over mesh and made bleedy bits on my shins and hurt the toe I broke a few years ago. This is the other leg to the ankle. I'll need a bloody wheelchair soon!

Screens and boxes

The sub division is approved to go ahead. It was approved as soon as they received The Letter actually, on 27th. I sure can't fault the Brisbane City Council for being tardy over all this. "Things" have now gone to be drawn, submitted and approved so we get the precious SP number thingy. And then trenches get dug, pipes laid, houses moved, and blood money paid to Project Services.

The rain over the past week has held everything up. The concreter had sand delivered and hasn't been able to get back here since. Luckily Stephen had pushed it into place with the lil husky machine thingy, for him or it would be all over the block by now. Stephen has also installed the rangehood. And I got to unwrap the new fridge and push that into its new home. My expensive screen doors have been installed at last too.

Most exciting is that the Energex guys were seen lurking around the green box today. Turns out it had to be upgraded to a 3 some and this has now been done. (and it means old house should stay connected as well; very handy). The Word is that install of meters is to be done by 10th, which is a public holiday :(
Crossing everything that it is BEFORE 10th. I will have a new house for my birthday!!