Santa dropped into see Amie's football team
http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2105868_santa_drops_in_to_see_reeves_rangers_youngsters
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Happy New Year
Here we are again, at the start of a New Year. I don't make New Year resolutions,if you want to make a change in your life why wait till the calender says it's a certain day. So this year I'm not making resolutions, just putting plans into action for improvements. So improvement #1: Stop impersonating a pregnant woman. I didn't look this fat when I was pregnant, so why I'm suddenly looking like I'm smuggeling cushions under my jumper is anyone's guess. It's certainly not connected to the habit of drinking cider and eat a packet of crisps every evening. Still, nothing like your 4 year old telling you you look pregnant to get the ol motivation going.... Weight watchers here I come (again) for the ritual humilation and patronisation that eventually leads to you eating less just so that you don't have to listen to your leader simpering on about "Why do you think you might have gained 2lbs this week?" as though she expected any other answer than "Um, I ate my bodyweight in pringles".
Rich and I on the start of our walk today. You can tell it was at the start of the walk as we are both smiling.
So today the kids were both back in school, and Rich had the day off work. What were we going to do with ourselves for 6 hours of freedom? Wipe that smirk off your face, we are married now in case you'd forgotten and besides, I said 6 HOURS (not six minutes). Rich came up with the idea that we should go for a nice country walk. I wasn't paying attention so when he looked up a walk online and shouted to me "Do you want to go for 6 miles or 4?", I thought he meant did I want to drive for 6 miles or 4 to get to the start point, so being a rebel I said 6. He actually meant 6 miles, or tracking through fields in the middle of nowhere and ploughing through fields full of sheep and horses.... 2 hours later we arrived at the pub at the end of the trek which only served Courgette Risotto as it's veggie dish. I hate courgettes so we drove back to Wokingham where I had a nice plate of cheesy Nachos (looking forward to telling the leader THAT on Saturday)
Kendal
Kendal
We went up to Cumbria and to Bolton over the New Year to see Rich's sister and his parents.
OK so improvement #2 is to try to improve the children's sleeping habits, as although they go to bed early they mess about every evening till around 9:30. We've sort of just let them get on with it as long as they don't come downstairs and annoy us, but it's not really good for them so have been policing them a bit more and also have stopped them watching tv for an hour before they go to bed as apparently watching tv changes their brainwaves and makes it harder for them to sleep. We shall see how it goes.
This policing is in direct opposition to improvement #3: Stop policing the children all the time. I get sick of hearing myself nagging them about how much tv they are waching, computer time, psp time, game on camera time. I think these things are great for short distractions but hate to see the children on them for too long as I have this urge to think they are somehow either damaging their eyes, or stunting their development (This is how bad it gets!). Ok, I realise that this is not the reality, so I'm easing up a little but also making an effort to set up some other things for them to do. Screen free Sunday is going to be making a MAJOR comeback. If I had my way there would be a Snoopje Saterdag... where they get to eat sweets on Saturday only, but that is just not going to happen. Our friends in Sweden did it and I thought it was a great idea.. but I think I've let the sweets and treats in the door.. so cutting them back will be a bit harder. But it can be done, right? At the moment I'm contenting myself with limiting their chocolate to after dinner treat..will see how it goes.. everyone needs a treat eh?
So today the kids were both back in school, and Rich had the day off work. What were we going to do with ourselves for 6 hours of freedom? Wipe that smirk off your face, we are married now in case you'd forgotten and besides, I said 6 HOURS (not six minutes). Rich came up with the idea that we should go for a nice country walk. I wasn't paying attention so when he looked up a walk online and shouted to me "Do you want to go for 6 miles or 4?", I thought he meant did I want to drive for 6 miles or 4 to get to the start point, so being a rebel I said 6. He actually meant 6 miles, or tracking through fields in the middle of nowhere and ploughing through fields full of sheep and horses.... 2 hours later we arrived at the pub at the end of the trek which only served Courgette Risotto as it's veggie dish. I hate courgettes so we drove back to Wokingham where I had a nice plate of cheesy Nachos (looking forward to telling the leader THAT on Saturday)
We went up to Cumbria and to Bolton over the New Year to see Rich's sister and his parents.
OK so improvement #2 is to try to improve the children's sleeping habits, as although they go to bed early they mess about every evening till around 9:30. We've sort of just let them get on with it as long as they don't come downstairs and annoy us, but it's not really good for them so have been policing them a bit more and also have stopped them watching tv for an hour before they go to bed as apparently watching tv changes their brainwaves and makes it harder for them to sleep. We shall see how it goes.
This policing is in direct opposition to improvement #3: Stop policing the children all the time. I get sick of hearing myself nagging them about how much tv they are waching, computer time, psp time, game on camera time. I think these things are great for short distractions but hate to see the children on them for too long as I have this urge to think they are somehow either damaging their eyes, or stunting their development (This is how bad it gets!). Ok, I realise that this is not the reality, so I'm easing up a little but also making an effort to set up some other things for them to do. Screen free Sunday is going to be making a MAJOR comeback. If I had my way there would be a Snoopje Saterdag... where they get to eat sweets on Saturday only, but that is just not going to happen. Our friends in Sweden did it and I thought it was a great idea.. but I think I've let the sweets and treats in the door.. so cutting them back will be a bit harder. But it can be done, right? At the moment I'm contenting myself with limiting their chocolate to after dinner treat..will see how it goes.. everyone needs a treat eh?
Sunday, 25 December 2011
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Moving on... not literally unfortunately
I've already got a new EA in my life. Tom is popping round this morning to value the house. He's part of an internet only EA... so that means lower fees. I guess you could say I found him via internet dating...sort of.
Anyway, we shall see. Had a couple round on Thursday that the current EA said had lots of positive comments, but haven't heard back from them so still haven't sold this house!
Anyway, we shall see. Had a couple round on Thursday that the current EA said had lots of positive comments, but haven't heard back from them so still haven't sold this house!
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Breaking up is hard to do
Relationships are complex things. When they work they involve two people achieving common goals in a way that brings happiness to them both. When they don’t work, they usually bring frustration and anger to the surface, until the point that it gets too much and one of the partners calls it a day. I’m sad to say that I’ve reached this point. After a few weeks of uncertainty, frustration, anger and complaining to anyone who is unfortunate enough to be within earshot I’d finally reached the point where I could see it wasn’t working. Now I just had work out how to tell him….
So here’s the sorry tale of how I finally worked up the courage to break up with my estate agent. He’d arranged to come see me at home to discuss how things were going. I was tempted to cancel the meeting, I knew what he was going to say and I’d no interest in hearing it. But at the end of the day I thought it would be best to tell him to his face. I’d been taking longer and longer to return his calls, and speaking to him no longer filled me with hope but like most men, he obviously had failed to read into the signs. He arrived at the door full of vim and vigour, his little briefcase clutched in his sweaty hand, full of printouts to show just how much he’d been thinking of selling this house and how hard he’d been working.
I had to be blunt, better to be cruel to be kind. Before he’d even sat himself down on the sofa I told him I’d decided to hand in my 2 weeks notice, as and from the 28th Nov we’d no longer be together. He did seem a little taken aback when I thrust my handwritten (the printer was broken) letter of termination of contact at him. And he may have had the right to feel a little hurt when I got him to sign the (also handwritten) letter saying that he’d received notice of termination. Where’s the trust? he must have been thinking.. do I mean nothing to you?
What followed was a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ conversation, where I assuaged his feelings that I wasn’t happy with him or the amount of work he was putting in. It’s me, I said. I’m tired of having to rush home at a moment’s notice to clean the house from top to bottom so some person can walk round it for 5 minutes and decide it’s got the wrong aspect and they don’t want to buy it. I’ve got exams coming up in December, and it’ll soon be Christmas. I just don’t have the time to invest in this anymore.There's nothing out there that I want to buy, and I can't sell this place. I'm sorry, but it’s over.
His little face looked so disappointed I had to resist the urge to pat him on the hand and say “Don’t worry, you’ll find someone else with a better house, a bigger house with more commission to be earned. You'll soon forget about this place".
Rich of course made me feel like the female Alan Sugar, for handing out the ”you're fired” letter so soon into conversation. But I didn’t want the poor man to be lead on now did I ? Better to let him know there’s no hope.
Now all I have is his little print outs of the statistics of how our house is performing on Rightmove (above average clicks … but no bidders). What use is it to me to know how many bored people are gawping over our property details? I need someone to come here and give us a half decent offer. That’s why I told him I’m leaving him for someone else. Someone who won’t require so much effort and money, someone who can deliver on their promise. Someone who can sell our house.. I just need to find them.
So here’s the sorry tale of how I finally worked up the courage to break up with my estate agent. He’d arranged to come see me at home to discuss how things were going. I was tempted to cancel the meeting, I knew what he was going to say and I’d no interest in hearing it. But at the end of the day I thought it would be best to tell him to his face. I’d been taking longer and longer to return his calls, and speaking to him no longer filled me with hope but like most men, he obviously had failed to read into the signs. He arrived at the door full of vim and vigour, his little briefcase clutched in his sweaty hand, full of printouts to show just how much he’d been thinking of selling this house and how hard he’d been working.
I had to be blunt, better to be cruel to be kind. Before he’d even sat himself down on the sofa I told him I’d decided to hand in my 2 weeks notice, as and from the 28th Nov we’d no longer be together. He did seem a little taken aback when I thrust my handwritten (the printer was broken) letter of termination of contact at him. And he may have had the right to feel a little hurt when I got him to sign the (also handwritten) letter saying that he’d received notice of termination. Where’s the trust? he must have been thinking.. do I mean nothing to you?
What followed was a ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ conversation, where I assuaged his feelings that I wasn’t happy with him or the amount of work he was putting in. It’s me, I said. I’m tired of having to rush home at a moment’s notice to clean the house from top to bottom so some person can walk round it for 5 minutes and decide it’s got the wrong aspect and they don’t want to buy it. I’ve got exams coming up in December, and it’ll soon be Christmas. I just don’t have the time to invest in this anymore.There's nothing out there that I want to buy, and I can't sell this place. I'm sorry, but it’s over.
His little face looked so disappointed I had to resist the urge to pat him on the hand and say “Don’t worry, you’ll find someone else with a better house, a bigger house with more commission to be earned. You'll soon forget about this place".
Rich of course made me feel like the female Alan Sugar, for handing out the ”you're fired” letter so soon into conversation. But I didn’t want the poor man to be lead on now did I ? Better to let him know there’s no hope.
Now all I have is his little print outs of the statistics of how our house is performing on Rightmove (above average clicks … but no bidders). What use is it to me to know how many bored people are gawping over our property details? I need someone to come here and give us a half decent offer. That’s why I told him I’m leaving him for someone else. Someone who won’t require so much effort and money, someone who can deliver on their promise. Someone who can sell our house.. I just need to find them.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Boo
It's not a great picture, or even a good picture but it's the best Rich could manage since the kids had got at the camera and changed the settings. I've got them back to normal now, and bought a new memory disk having lost the old one (ironically I can't remember where I put it), so you can expect more pictures and less waffeling on here from now on.
Just had the kids parents evenings.. very interesting as Noah has already attained the level expected for reception child at literacy and numeracy after only 6 weeks. Which on the face of it sounds great, but does make me worry how low the level actually is if he's surpassed it before he's got his bum on a seat. Fortunately that doesn't mean he gets to take the rest of the year off..... I think he'll be filling his time playing at being a lion and trying not to swallow anything he's not supposed to.
Amie's report was a bit less clear cut...she's great at thinking outside the box, creative writing and socialising and to quote her teacher "Certainly does not suffer from any self esteem issues". How to take that one? BUT she does find it hard to follow instructions and her listening skills aren't great.. she's likely to go off on a tangent and do her own thing rather than what she's supposed to be doing (good for her I say... far too many people joining the dots... RUN FREE MY CHILD RUN FREE I SAY .. though not to her teacher of course.
We haven't sold the house, we have had an offer in but won't be able to buy a 4 bed if we take it. Have to weigh that fact up with the fact if we hold out for a higher offer it could take up to 2 years to sell this place.. then Noah's only on top of the waiting list, and so realistically there's probably no point in changing him as Amie will be getting ready to leave Hawthorns school anyway.
EA rang me this morning to suggest a meeting to "discuss the situation" which means he's going to come round and tell me we need to lower the price.
Just had the kids parents evenings.. very interesting as Noah has already attained the level expected for reception child at literacy and numeracy after only 6 weeks. Which on the face of it sounds great, but does make me worry how low the level actually is if he's surpassed it before he's got his bum on a seat. Fortunately that doesn't mean he gets to take the rest of the year off..... I think he'll be filling his time playing at being a lion and trying not to swallow anything he's not supposed to.
Amie's report was a bit less clear cut...she's great at thinking outside the box, creative writing and socialising and to quote her teacher "Certainly does not suffer from any self esteem issues". How to take that one? BUT she does find it hard to follow instructions and her listening skills aren't great.. she's likely to go off on a tangent and do her own thing rather than what she's supposed to be doing (good for her I say... far too many people joining the dots... RUN FREE MY CHILD RUN FREE I SAY .. though not to her teacher of course.
We haven't sold the house, we have had an offer in but won't be able to buy a 4 bed if we take it. Have to weigh that fact up with the fact if we hold out for a higher offer it could take up to 2 years to sell this place.. then Noah's only on top of the waiting list, and so realistically there's probably no point in changing him as Amie will be getting ready to leave Hawthorns school anyway.
EA rang me this morning to suggest a meeting to "discuss the situation" which means he's going to come round and tell me we need to lower the price.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
and more ranting
Last week a family came to view the house at late notice on Saturday (luckily the house was still more or less spic and span.. since I'd been running around the place saying to everyone "Don't do that" "Put that back" and "Did you flush?"). I sent Rich and kids out of the house and showed round a couple and their 3 children. They were moving for the same reasons we want to ... catchment. They want their daughter to get into the school this house is in catchment in... I was VERY nice to their kids... I could sense they liked the place... an offer was hovering in the air... I could smell it (either that or someone hadn’t flushed).
On Monday morning, one of the minions from estate agents figured out how to string 7 numbers together and rang me (or he had me on speed dial) with the news that the couple DID really like the house and were going to put an offer in (Aha, I'm not forking out £3000 a year on a psychology course for nothing) but just to be sure they looked up the history of the house and saw that we'd only paid 240K for it 2 1/2 years ago (ah feck). This put them off and they'd bid for another house. I managed to restrain myself from saying that unless they managed to meet Doc. Brown, and do a Marty McFly back to 2009 so they could offer 241K for this house, I didn't really see what their point was.
Anyway I made the point to him that since we were renting at that time and the property bubble was just starting to burst we'd had people chasing after us with contracts, knocking £40k off house prices and throwing their house keys at us. The people we bought from were retiring, downsizing and had already found a place they wanted… they could see their dreams of a new life slipping away with each day bringing more gloom and uncertainty. So being the kind of people we are, we took advantage of them and got this house for a steal. I told him to tell the couple to go take a look at any other house that sold at that time and they'd see this was how the market was at the time, and not a reflection of this property. I also wanted to add that if that was the way they were picking a house I would have appreciated them doing their online research BEFORE I’d spent 2 hours cleaning the house from top to bottom to save us all the bother. But I didn’t.
We heard no more from our friends for the rest of the week. Then this morning a phone call from EA to say the couple have put forward a bid of £290... very politely said I'd rather not sell at all then sell at that price. EA at this point is trying to push us into lowering my price, with the fact that our contract with them runs out in 4 weeks no doubt on his tiny mind. Luckily we're in no hurry though, Noah is very happy at school and with the help of friends we're managing the school run. Plus we really like this house, and as yet have not really found one we both agree on.
However this couple are going to view the house next door (which is up for sale for £315 with a different agent... This could go one of two ways. It could be that this viewing puts our house and our price in a better light for them OR they are going to become our new neighbours ;)
On Monday morning, one of the minions from estate agents figured out how to string 7 numbers together and rang me (or he had me on speed dial) with the news that the couple DID really like the house and were going to put an offer in (Aha, I'm not forking out £3000 a year on a psychology course for nothing) but just to be sure they looked up the history of the house and saw that we'd only paid 240K for it 2 1/2 years ago (ah feck). This put them off and they'd bid for another house. I managed to restrain myself from saying that unless they managed to meet Doc. Brown, and do a Marty McFly back to 2009 so they could offer 241K for this house, I didn't really see what their point was.
Anyway I made the point to him that since we were renting at that time and the property bubble was just starting to burst we'd had people chasing after us with contracts, knocking £40k off house prices and throwing their house keys at us. The people we bought from were retiring, downsizing and had already found a place they wanted… they could see their dreams of a new life slipping away with each day bringing more gloom and uncertainty. So being the kind of people we are, we took advantage of them and got this house for a steal. I told him to tell the couple to go take a look at any other house that sold at that time and they'd see this was how the market was at the time, and not a reflection of this property. I also wanted to add that if that was the way they were picking a house I would have appreciated them doing their online research BEFORE I’d spent 2 hours cleaning the house from top to bottom to save us all the bother. But I didn’t.
We heard no more from our friends for the rest of the week. Then this morning a phone call from EA to say the couple have put forward a bid of £290... very politely said I'd rather not sell at all then sell at that price. EA at this point is trying to push us into lowering my price, with the fact that our contract with them runs out in 4 weeks no doubt on his tiny mind. Luckily we're in no hurry though, Noah is very happy at school and with the help of friends we're managing the school run. Plus we really like this house, and as yet have not really found one we both agree on.
However this couple are going to view the house next door (which is up for sale for £315 with a different agent... This could go one of two ways. It could be that this viewing puts our house and our price in a better light for them OR they are going to become our new neighbours ;)
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