OMG!!!!!

The romance of the honeymoon period has collided with reality with a very loud thump this week.

I finally got the keys to the house on Monday and was on a huge high walking up to the front of the house to open the door to my newlife as a home owner. Opening the door, however, was a HUGE mistake!

The incredible STINK when I opened the door literally knocked me backwards. I knew the previous owner/tenant had cats, and could smell a bit of an odour over the scent of the incense when I went to inspect, but I though it was mainly caused by the litter tray and would dissipate fairly quickly. WRONG!!!!! After 4 days of leaving every door/ window open day & night, 12 bags of bicarb soda sprinkled over the entire floor and spray deodoriser over every wall and hard surface the incredible stink of cat pee can still bring tears to your eyes!

And unfortunately that was only the beginning. Over the next few days every time we went to the house we discovered another problem we hadn't seen before. The first few things were obvious - holes in the wall and whole sheets of plaster missing that had been hidden by appliances before; disgustingly dirty walls, oven, shower, etc. Then we started checking light switches - and spent hours running back and forth to the switchboard to re-set circuit breakers and safety switches. The final straw was when it startedto rain yesterday - and found we have a water feature in the loungeroom!!

So if you have read this blog before you may notice that the "To-Do" list has suddenly doubled in length. On top of that I am pretty much flat broke at the moment - having had to pay a mortgage and rent for the past 2 months (the rent paid by the tenant didn't cover the rent at my own place) as well as saving for a removalist, etc. (My other half has broken his wrist and we can't save by doing it ourselves)

Fortunately the troops are all rallying for a bit of a working bee this weekend, and my daughter who is with us on holidays at the moment is slogging away every day. I also have 10 days annual leave starting from today and we don't actually move until next weekend, so hopefully we can make it habitable in time for the move.

As for the rest, well my boss said to me this week that it will be mine for a very long time - so I have plenty of time to do all the repairs! So I guess I just have to focus on the things that made me love the house in the first place - and grab the scrubbing brush and get down to work!!