Ugh, it had to eventually come to an end, but of Tuesday 3rd of January 2012, I find myself firmly back behind the keyboard, banging out fresh new SurveyThumb code for my wage masters over at Touchwork. In truth, I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks or so off, having spent a lot of time with family and friends, and just generally unwinding as I recharged my batteries in full preparation for 2012!
New Year’s Weekend was very much a Northern Suburbs affair, with Jessie and I traveling through on the Friday to my mom’s place in Bellville, where the three of us spent a lovely day in and out of the pool, despite the nasty little wind that kept popping up and threatening to drive us away. The evening on the other hand was spent back home in the company of wifey, where we got together to enjoy a delicious homemade pizza over a Eagles DVD after a successful putting Jessica to bed routine!
Saturday was literally Braai Day, and after packing both of our little cars to the brim with all of Jessica’s hardware and software, we sped off back to Bellville in order to offload the little one with all her belongings at the Montgomery Clan stronghold, where she’ll be spending the next two weeks with Ouma and Oupa until the Baby Steps daycare reopens mid January. After settling her in with Cheryl, and then promptly grabbing her away again, it was a quick stop off at the local Spar for supplies, before hitting the N1 to Kraaifontein, where Jessie, Chantelle and I joined up with Damen and Michelle, as well as the rest of our friends who had made the trip through for an afternoon New Year’s braai.
With Damen elected tongmaster and stuck behind the raging fire, the rest of the boys dug out a tennis ball and plank, and proceeded to carefully destroy Damen’s backyard with a hearty round of cricket (in a very confined space). Food was eventually served, before the boys once again peeled off from the womenfolk, picked up the XBOX controllers and proceeded to smash each other with a few rounds of FIFA 11.
From there it was back to Bellville as this time we properly managed to leave Jessie behind with Ouma and Oupa, as Chantelle and I headed out back into the breach, this time to Zevenwacht Wine Estate in Kuilsriver, where we joined up with Malcolm, Andri, Michelle, braai master Gary and all of their collective kids at the Ollewage’s swanky pad. There we enjoyed a fantastic evening of good company, good stories and even better food, making it all the way through to midnight for that all important countdown and many ‘happy happy’ wishes!
Finally, it was back to the Montgomery Stronghold in Bellville, where a tired but happy Craig and Chantelle hit the sack for some well-deserved shuteye, the first of 2012!
Sunday was a delayed start for Chantelle who slept in thanks to a massive headache, but when Jessica and I did eventually manage to get mommy out of bed, we persuaded her plus Ouma to join us for a walk around Sonstraal Dam in Eversdal in order to feed the multitude of Egyptian Geese and ducks that call that spot home. After a successful stroll and having depleted our loaf of fresh white bread, we beat a hasty retreat from the busy feathered fiends, heading off to Tyger Manor McDonalds, where Robert joined us so that I could treat everyone to some McDonalds as a late lunch.
From there Jessica, Chantelle and myself shot off to my folks, dropping in at the perfect time to catch both Great Grans (plus Ryan) at Mom and Dad’s pad. More visiting was had, a watermelon devoured, and then it was finally back to the Montgomery Clan where we handed over Jessica to an excited Cheryl and Monty, before hitting the long road back to Gordon’s Bay, and more importantly, our awesome bed!
So yeah, a pretty good New Year’s Weekend after all then I reckon! ;)
Well, we’ve been settled in our new home here at Country Mews for less than a week, and already we’ve entertained twice, the first being a nice Sunday morning visit from Dean, Zania and our uber cute god-child Zandea (with mother-in-law in tow), who stopped by on their way back from a weekend away at Hermanus. Of course having been in the house for exactly one night meant that the place wasn’t exactly ready to be shown off just yet, but technically it counts as the first proper visit – I’m not counting the numerous visits by the Montgomery Clan as they were invited to work (by their daughter mind you) and not to visit! ;) (That will still come, I promise – Chantelle owes you something really special!)
The exciting news on their side is of course that they too have just purchased a beautiful little house in Kraaifontein, though it did come at the expense of poor Dean’s boat, a project that has been teetering on being complete for so many years now! On a side note, little Zandea is growing more and more with each visit and she’s in that absolute cutie-pie stage at the moment which makes me all the more eager for my own little Jessica to come along!
The second visit was a far more formal affair, our very visit dinner event in the new house. While I was away at work and then sweating it out at karate, Chantelle busied herself with cooking up a fantastic “Surprise Chicken” meal, complete with pumpkin (butternut) fritters and of course the all important chocolate pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Estate agent Len’s freshly dropped off celebratory bottle of champagne was at the ready as we welcomed Retha and Miguel into our home for the very first time!
The two of them are freshly returned from Spain, and so it was great to catch up on all their adventures over a fantastic supper, good European football (Barcelona and Valencia in one night!) and of course that previously mentioned all important pudding. We don’t have much time with them as in a month’s time they are off to Austria, before a quick trip back here before heading out to South Korea (or was that China? I can’t remember now) for at least a year, so its good to grab a hold of them as much as possible in the next little while!
(Oh, and the gifts they brough back from Spain for us was pretty cool too!)
Of course, the European soccer was of no great interest to Chantelle and Retha, and my wife somehow convinced Retha to give her a proper back massage while the men remained glued to the telly, something which C really, really enjoyed and more importantly, somewhere inbetween afforded Retha the opportunity to feel little Jessica kick for the very first time.
So yes, our little house is probably only at about 80% settled in now, but already we’ve got a visit count well up and running. And hey, we haven’t even begun to organise the official house warming yet!
So on Tuesday 31 August 2010, Chantelle and Craig officially stepped into their new home.
5 Country Mews is now ours – well technically this month it still belongs to its previous owners and then after it belongs to the bank, but in essence it belongs to us – the fulfilment of a lifelong dream of mine to one day own my own property.
Sure she’s compact and maybe a little on the small side, but she’s the perfect size for our little family. She’s in great shape and already looks pretty damn good on the inside – perfect in other words for a man not widely known for his sterling DIY skills.
Chantelle and Craig - Happy first time homeowners at last! :)
So as you have obviously by now figured out, in the end I decided to take up the occupational rent offer after learning that the current owners had accepted a position up in Johannesburg and thus would be moving up pronto, and so although I’m technically paying double rent this month, this does now give me four weeks to move in at my leisure, a process I’m going to enjoy as I happily shuttle along the five minute trip from our current flat to the new home carrying all my little bits and bobs.
As for the 25th of this month, we’ve hired a moving company to take care of all the big stuff, and seeing as the owner is a client of Chantelle’s at the guest house, we’re not even paying an arm and a leg for this one either! Nice.
The property doesn’t appear to have too much work that needs to be done, based on our quick look around of the now empty house on Tuesday evening. The front door needs a bit of sanding and varnishing to fix up all the dog scratches, I need to tidy up the concrete slabs under the car port and maybe throw down some stones to fancy it up, replace some plugs that were removed from some of the extra electrical box installations in order to pass the inspection, remove the outdated TV wall mount unit in the bedroom and finally get the satellite dish reattached to the house as for some or other reason the Pottages had it removed. Something about saving on the electricity or something like that…
Oh, and I need to remember to buy electricity for the prepaid meter now that I think about it.
The alarm on the place is still active so it is going to be fun and games trying to get used to that, but overall this is one challenge that I can’t wait to tackle.
Seriously, I can’t begin to explain just how awesome it feels to open that door and walk into your very first home that you bought and will now be looking after and paying off with your own blood, sweat and tears.
This is it. Just the kid to come in January and then everything that makes life good will be well within my grasp! Happy.
:) <– big, big smile. Bigger than I can indicate by means of a smiley.
Pregnant or not, this event needs a champagne celebration!
Did I mention I now own a house? How awesome is that! :)
Well, we’ve been settled in our new home here at Country Mews for less than a week, and already we’ve entertained twice, the first being a nice Sunday morning visit from Dean, Zania and our uber cute god-child Zandea (with mother-in-law in tow), who stopped by on their way back from a weekend away at Hermanus. Of course having been in the house for exactly one night meant that the place wasn’t exactly ready to be shown off just yet, but technically it counts as the first proper visit – I’m not counting the numerous visits by the Montgomery Clan as they were invited to work (by their daughter mind you) and not to visit! ;) (That will still come, I promise – Chantelle owes you something really special!)
