Blogging break
I’ve been having a blogging break. I had been posting fairly regularly for ages and what with one thing and another I felt I deserved a holiday. In the meantime we have been super busy so now there is tons to report.
The main item of news is that we have bought a new house. It all happened rather quickly. We had been half heartedly looking for a while, but we still didn’t know exactly what we wanted. Did we want to stay in the same area as we are now? Did we want to move to Glasgow? Did we want to move to the country? Would I be prepared to get a new job to move nearer to Nick’s work? Should we stay in our house and buy a flat in the city for Nick to live in the week?
All these ideas would result in such change in lifestyle we found it really hard to find an answer that suited all our requirements.
For ages we were sure we didn’t want to leave the town we currently live in. I work here, it’s a really nice place, but it means Nick travels for 3 hours a day to get to work. Nick was getting more and more exhausted, working long days and feeling he was sinking. As an experiment we rented a small flat for a month right next to his office so he could stay there 3 nights a week. It was handy, and cut his journey times to 7 mins each way but Nick found that he only stayed there for 2 nights a week, and when we calculated the cost of the flat it didn’t really make financial sense. Also we found that living apart for the week was not really how we wanted our marriage to work. It works for some people I know, but I love being with Nick and go a bit crazy on my own, so from a selfish point of view I wanted him around!
So after handing back the keys to the flat we were back to square one. On the off chance one Thursday night we arranged to see 4 houses in a town called Kirkintilloch, about 20min drive from Glasgow. Well, what do you know! We found our dream house!
Naturally it was way over our budget, but it seemed perfect, and suited all out requirements. After frantic calls to our mortgage lenders, cashing in all our savings, and a quick salary re-negotiation for Nick we decided that, even though we are going to be eating beans for the next 10 years, we would go for it!
I have to admit that it seems a very grown-up house for me to own. It’s got a sitting room and a posh lounge that is for use when important people come round for tea. It’s got a laundry room and a garage and a greenhouse and space for the chickens. It’s got a fabulously overbearing Victorian dining room and 3 bedrooms, one of which has a cute arched window. It’s got a gorgeous front garden that I’ll have to keep nice so I don’t let the street down. Here are some snaps from the estate agents website.
Everyone who has ever been house hunting will know the feeling you get when you walk into a house. You know one way or the other within seconds. With this house I knew even before the lady had answered the door that I loved it.
We put our house on the market the next day and had 14 viewings in 4 days. We could have sold it on the first day, but we decided to hold out to get the best price we could. We were suddenly very grateful we did all that work to it 2 years ago. We went to sealed bids after 5 days and sold the house for way over what were expecting, which has made our new house a bit less of a stretch.
Here are some snaps of our current house. I think somewhere in the archives of this blog are pictures of what it was like when we moved in. (Pretty gross)
We are moving on the 14 September, 3 weeks tomorrow, and frankly I can’t wait.
Another bit of news that I know Jane R will not be surprised to hear – I have learned a new craft recently. I was trying to think of a way to use all the beautiful egg shells laid by my hens, so decided to try and decorate them using polymer clay (Fimo) After a couple of broken shells I mastered the art and have created some really pretty eggs. I also taught myself to make millefiore canes, which is great fun.
Naturally I went totally over the top and have made loads which I don’t know what to do with now. As a thank you for your loyalty to getting to the end of this post and still logging onto my blog despite the recent lack of posts, I am giving away some eggs. If you would like me send you one then e-mail me (info@rachelsimonsdesign.co.uk) and I’ll pop one in the post to you.
How’s that for a nice summer treat?
The main item of news is that we have bought a new house. It all happened rather quickly. We had been half heartedly looking for a while, but we still didn’t know exactly what we wanted. Did we want to stay in the same area as we are now? Did we want to move to Glasgow? Did we want to move to the country? Would I be prepared to get a new job to move nearer to Nick’s work? Should we stay in our house and buy a flat in the city for Nick to live in the week?
All these ideas would result in such change in lifestyle we found it really hard to find an answer that suited all our requirements.
For ages we were sure we didn’t want to leave the town we currently live in. I work here, it’s a really nice place, but it means Nick travels for 3 hours a day to get to work. Nick was getting more and more exhausted, working long days and feeling he was sinking. As an experiment we rented a small flat for a month right next to his office so he could stay there 3 nights a week. It was handy, and cut his journey times to 7 mins each way but Nick found that he only stayed there for 2 nights a week, and when we calculated the cost of the flat it didn’t really make financial sense. Also we found that living apart for the week was not really how we wanted our marriage to work. It works for some people I know, but I love being with Nick and go a bit crazy on my own, so from a selfish point of view I wanted him around!
So after handing back the keys to the flat we were back to square one. On the off chance one Thursday night we arranged to see 4 houses in a town called Kirkintilloch, about 20min drive from Glasgow. Well, what do you know! We found our dream house!
Naturally it was way over our budget, but it seemed perfect, and suited all out requirements. After frantic calls to our mortgage lenders, cashing in all our savings, and a quick salary re-negotiation for Nick we decided that, even though we are going to be eating beans for the next 10 years, we would go for it!
I have to admit that it seems a very grown-up house for me to own. It’s got a sitting room and a posh lounge that is for use when important people come round for tea. It’s got a laundry room and a garage and a greenhouse and space for the chickens. It’s got a fabulously overbearing Victorian dining room and 3 bedrooms, one of which has a cute arched window. It’s got a gorgeous front garden that I’ll have to keep nice so I don’t let the street down. Here are some snaps from the estate agents website.
Everyone who has ever been house hunting will know the feeling you get when you walk into a house. You know one way or the other within seconds. With this house I knew even before the lady had answered the door that I loved it.
We put our house on the market the next day and had 14 viewings in 4 days. We could have sold it on the first day, but we decided to hold out to get the best price we could. We were suddenly very grateful we did all that work to it 2 years ago. We went to sealed bids after 5 days and sold the house for way over what were expecting, which has made our new house a bit less of a stretch.
Here are some snaps of our current house. I think somewhere in the archives of this blog are pictures of what it was like when we moved in. (Pretty gross)
We are moving on the 14 September, 3 weeks tomorrow, and frankly I can’t wait.
Another bit of news that I know Jane R will not be surprised to hear – I have learned a new craft recently. I was trying to think of a way to use all the beautiful egg shells laid by my hens, so decided to try and decorate them using polymer clay (Fimo) After a couple of broken shells I mastered the art and have created some really pretty eggs. I also taught myself to make millefiore canes, which is great fun.
Naturally I went totally over the top and have made loads which I don’t know what to do with now. As a thank you for your loyalty to getting to the end of this post and still logging onto my blog despite the recent lack of posts, I am giving away some eggs. If you would like me send you one then e-mail me (info@rachelsimonsdesign.co.uk) and I’ll pop one in the post to you.
How’s that for a nice summer treat?
posted by Rach at 12:07
8 Comments:
Welcome Back. I too am having a blogging holiday. I will probably not post until after my holiday in September.
Sometimes it's necessary. I was really struggling to think of interesting things to write about amd rather subject you to crap I thought I'd just keep schtum.
Have a nice holiday, and I hope you build up some good rants for your return!
What a lovely house. I bet you can't wait to move in.
Hey Rach, so you are giving away your eggs! I don't think I will have one though, cos I think it might show up my wobbly ones and make them look bad in comparison! But I would love to make some more sometime, I really enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoyed your hols in Kerry. I am off to the oul sod myself for the weekend, very much looking forward to it.
Good luck with the move!
X
The new house looks fabulous, and yes - very grown up!!!! It looks like the kind of house that will have 'the Guardian' popping through it's letter box every morning. It's nice to have you back, by the way!!!
You house look great, and I'm pleased you are blogging again.
I am sure all your regular readers are breathing a sigh of relief that you are back!!
Hey Rach!
Glad to see you back! Blogging breaks are definitely good, I've not been posting as much lately either.
Your new pad looks superb, the chooks will love that back garden!
Happy packing!
L xx
Nice to see you back. House looks great. Tricia
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