Monday, October 22, 2012

Moving Day in 9 days!!!


So currently everything we own that we got from New Zealand is crammed into the basement and my parents in law place. Usually Id be bummed as I was back in June when I had to give away or sell a lot of stuff that I had spent a significant amount of time buying and collecting. The boxes that were shipped from NZ all sit stacked neatly under the bunk bed my father in law WAS working on. But you know what? Im really excited. We've got a house lined up. Its got a working gas fireplace, insulation throughout, a washing machine and dryer, the living room is really decent, the bedroom is tiny but we've got a spare room to use as an office and the kitchen is pretty neat and best of all - no earthquake damage! Even more cooler is that we live next to a forest and bears are apparently as common as squirrels. 

My mother wouldn't be surprised about this but every now and then (usually once or twice a day) I 'sneak' down to the basement and just stand there staring at our stuff with longing. I used to do this from about the age of 10 when I first started collecting homewares and the like. I started off with shoeboxes and would fill them up with particular mementos I knew I would enjoy as an adult and the odd gadget. Those shoe boxes were my first glory box in a way. Then in my teens as I earnt money myself I started to buy serious kitchen items like utensils and teatowels. My shoeboxes were placed in larger boxes and by the time I started polytech I was buying and storing and hunting to no end. It became like a decade long game to find the item that matched perfectly my idea of what I was looking for. The majority of items were meticulously organised in numerous large boxes that I stored my my mothers attic. And every time I added a new item, Id climb into the attic to place it carefully with the rest then sit there with the torch going over in my head the inventory of items, occasionally, looking for a specifically wrapped item, unwrapping it, then holding said item as I visualised (ok ok fantasized) how the item was going to be used in the future, usually involving a more lengthy fantasy about a particular recipe. Then when I was finished Id carefully wrap it up again and put it back exactly the way I found it. Those boxes did take up quite a bit of space which my mother loved to remind me, BUT as Id say to her now, at least I was organised and I kept it out of the way in the roof instead of leaving my room looking like New Orleans post Katrina or chucking it all crazily into the garage. As a result, on the day I moved my stuff into my first house with my husband a week before our wedding, unpacking those boxes with all those items that I had spent years investing my time and money was like at least 5 Christmas mornings all in one.

So now, its kind of happening all over again. After a lot of heated debates with Steven back in June, he finally backed down and allowed me to ship my most beloved kitchen items to Canada - my pots. Individually bought, heavy stainless steel with copper bottoms. My mother has a similar set but nowadays theyre extremely rare to find esp in New Zealand.The other important items are all our books. We were hard pressed to reason giving up the majority since they were individually bought by either myself or Steven and all our books are regularly reread. Im absolutely giddy with excitement with the thought of rearranging our new home with OUR things esp it being a whole new country for me. And I think it would help me a lot seeing my things that remind me of my family, my passions and ideas and taste in decor etc. I can't wait!

The other big reason for my excitement - privacy. Don't get me wrong, not many women are blessed to be ok with, let alone genuinely enjoy living in the same house as her husbands parents as I am. But Steven and I are still technically newlyweds - at least we still act like we are, and the spontaneity required of doing newlywed stuff is extremely limited when theres the chance of his parents hearing or seeing something by accident, so yes I looking forward to that extra bit of freedom and privacy that separate homes allow. Although I will miss their outdoor jacuzzi very much....









*Sigh!!

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