Down the rabbit hole

The decorator dramas, 14 hour days and then suddenly we were finished and the open homes began. I spent every day cleaning and trying to live with none of our stuff. Everything was in storage so we could present our house beautifully. Agents here every day for private viewings, open homes on thursday, saturday and sunday. Having to take Frasier away in the car (which he hates) so that he wouldn't misbehave during the open homes (he is a Bengal...this is his territory...misbehaving ranges from quietly seething from under a chair, to yelling a lot, to peeing on handbags). And then finally, after a month the big day arrived and the auction began...Flash and I sat in the hallway straining our ears to hear the auctioneer on the deck, 40 people in attendance, 4 bidders...and then it started...low - ohmigod too low...and then it struggled and suddenly it steamrolled closer and closer to our reserve...and then it stopped. We looked at one another, the agents and auctioneer descended on us. We took 10 seconds and said "yes" drop the reserve...too many places aren't selling and we don't want to sit around, and two minutes later that was it, the house was sold.

It took days for the relief to set in, to stop the obsessive tidying (but the house is still like a showhouse...we are both enjoying that!) to start cooking dinner in our own kitchen (and cooking curries and chillies, as the smell didn't matter any more). The agent dropped us like a hot potato as is their wont, and the cat was allowed inside again (although he now overnights in a dog crate in the garage which is working well).

I am in a form of suspended animation, just doing the bare minimum to the veggie garden, cleaning out the spent plants and saving seed, not much more, no planting for next season as it is no longer 'my" garden. I have no work as my studio is packed and my website now reaches an Otago audience (I already have some bookings down there which is great!) and designing knits just seems impossible with my scrambled brain. So I am knitting my own and others patterns, planning some cowls and balaclavas to protect my cheeks from the cold. I am watching homesteading docos and catching up on  new photoshop techniques. I'm trying to spend my time doing positive things that will pay off in six weeks time when we hit the ground.

I have "met" (virtually) a few of our neighbours to be and they are lovely, I am now receiving the community newsletter and have answers to many of my questions. our internet connection will be enough to watch netflix and for Flash to telecommute, so we are happy with that! the grandchildren are getting more and more excited (donkeys, ponies, donkeys, ponies), but they will have to make do with chickens until we have spent time on the land and worked out what it needs. Exciting times ahead!