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I just cried to the TPG lady. How are you?

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Suppose I’m due for a blogging brain dump, might as well start with how I just cried to the TPG lady because my internet install isn’t until Jan 8, and I read the text as today because you’d assume the internet would be installed the week you said you were moving house.

*breathe*

So we’re currently tethering on our Aldi sims with the excessive amount of accumulated data we have on our family plan. The plan that just went up from $80 to $95 a month because of course it did.

So, the move is actually going okay. Most stuff was moved in the truck Tuesday. The new place was dirrrrrty including a sly sprouting potato in the cupboard. But you know, we’ll leave our old place spotless because that’s how it works. I removed the last of the items from the main house yesterday, and decobwebbed and vacuumed. Next step for me is wall washing, bathroom scrubbing and bleaching and kitchen cupboards and oven, So I’ll head back Sunday armed with cleaning products and dig in. Tomorrow is supposed to be 41 degrees so we MIGHT get the carpet cleaner and do the only two rooms with carpets because they have the aircon. But aside from that, I’m clearly exhausted, plus I’m sore from rolling my ankle moving boxes the other day. And I did 20k steps yesterday on said ankle.

So everything feels hard, I keep feeling like I’m going to get in trouble for something. But I’m setting up my little house. Set up the coffee yesterday morning. Found everything to make dinner last night – despite having already tried to burn the place down and setting a box on fire I sat on the stop and the stove had been knocked on. So I’m down some kitchen items, like a vege peeler, some knives whose handles caught, and my cutlery tray. Ugh. So, yeah, the fire alarms work, but three people stayed in bed.

So I’ll hopefully get down to the community centre and op shop in Cooranbong next week before they close for the Xmas break and can replace some of the kitchen stuff and pick up a few other things. I think their food bank closes Thursday. I stocked up on short dated chocolates at the little church one near the old place yesterday that has its last week next week til school goes back in February.

If anyone’s feeling generous and wants to buy us some things for the new place off our wishlist the house one is here and mine is here. The kids could do with more size 3 nappies, bub is 4 months old now and growing well! Also my new monitor did NOT survive the move :'( Not that it matters if I don’t have a proper internet connection. My “plan” is to get back to streaming and practicing Japanese on Duolingo and Twitch in the new year, and find my happy little routine in the new place. There’s a local fish shop and butcher next to it and I’m hoping to be able to get us fresh meat and seafood there and have it with veges that are in season and either in the fruit and veg box I’ve got the first one coming today from Farmer’s Pick, with supplemented excess veges from OZharvest when I figure out the local foodbank hours and routine. I got a bag of frozen pies from the Woodrising community centre yesterday which the kids have already started on which is good because then they’re eating something at least. I’m supposed to be doing more for me and less for others. Let’s see how that goes!

17 days til Xmas

Spoiler alert: My GP didn’t go back to bulk-billing

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Like, I wasn’t actually EXPECTING them to go back to bulk-billing pensioners, other concession card holder and children despite Labor members spouting on about the triple bulk billing incentive and how they were saving medicare and bulk billing and helping disabled people in this cost of living crisis. Or wait, they didn’t actually say disabled people, they only talk about us when it’s about us being all diagnosed with Autism and getting on the NDIS. 

So, I am again just before pension day with less than $20 to my name, because I had to hand over $69 this morning for my GP. Who is unfortunately moving to Queensland next year. Like, this might be a chance to attempt to find a bulk billing doctor near my new place, but ugh, I hate trying to suss out new doctors and feel like they actually want me there. 

We’ve been super stressed here with the move to, I was worried I was gonna take too long with the doctor today and have to pay for a level C consult, but fortunately we realised he could only give me my scripts, reassure me that things will be easier after the mood, and tell me it’s okay to take a little more Quetiapine til the move’s done since I’m so agitated.

I just wish it was all easier. And cheaper hey?

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Having your adult kids move in and not on the lease is the new having undeclared pets in a rental

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There was an article in the Guardian this week “‘You can’t send them to their room’: the tensions and challenges of parenting adult children” and credit to my parents who took my sister and me back in as growned ups, a certainly not in easy times in our lives. But this is my challenge now, parenting 18 year olds, when I didn’t even parent them as kids. While they themselves are parents now trying to figure out how to do that too.

Yes, I’m a mountain of stress at the moment, moving house before Christmas wasn’t in my plan, but here we are, and I’m glad that the finding part was so short (8 days between finding out the owners were selling and being accepted for a place). But this next month is gonna be crazy. Crazier than normal for a homeful of neurodivergent people just trying to find their place in the world. At least we’ll fit into the new place – aside from the purple bathtub it has a secondary bathroom that I get to relegate the kids to!

After reading that Guardian piece, I was thinking about the situations of having to move back in with your parents, and how I did that, but I was moving in with parents who own their own home. While it puts pressure on everyone, one big strain that’s come from having the kids here is us renting this place (and the next place) and them being here being in breach of the lease agreement that only two adults maximum would live here regularly. After three months it’s certainly regularly. Them being in their mum’s house but over 18 and not on the lease was included as a reason why they could be considered homeless by the social worker before bub was born, because they could be asked to leave at any moment.

I guess that makes them homeless still now.

So, when they moved in and shortly after we were informed of an inspection. my fear was that the real estate wouldn’t take too kindly to there being extra bodies in the house. Which is one of the reasons why that inspection and trying to get everything clean was so stressful, not a hair outta place was the aim. And getting the kids to get their stuff done was a task in itself with the new bub and mental health issues and so forth. Fun. But we got there. And then we thought we’d get to stay.

PSYCH!

So, they’re coming to the new place with us, again not on the lease, and I was thinking, are adult children that aren’t on your lease the new undeclared pets that you hide at your mates when it’s inspection day? That you could have legally had one they were under 18, but full time as adults is naughty naughty and it’s not like you’re going to try to GET them on the lease when you apply since, like not declaring your dog, they make you lower down the list and youth don’t look good to any real estate agent?

So, I was able to stay in the home my parents owned, but then we’re smuggling kids here in our rental, risking our own tenancy and not just our sanity. And their kids? I can’t exactly being the teenagers back to my parents like Jen did with her bubs either.

It’s also not even about saving for a house deposit any more. Somehow they’ll need to find at least $3000 upfront for bond and 2 weeks rent when they DO find a place. Hard to save for any, impossible on youth allowance, and I know there’s bond loans but ugh they do now look good on paper do they :/

Good luck out there x

Well, that was a fast turnaround (MY NEW BATHTUB IS PURPLE)

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What rental crisis?
Yeah sorry I know it’s terrible out there and yes prices are stupid but I’ll bask on the glory of getting the second place I inspected, 8 days after the possibility of having to find a new place was raised when we were informed the current creekside house was going on the market and we could be given 30 days notice if the new owner wanted vacant possession.


And I was so close to breaking in that short period of time. I was soooo restless, sleeping terribly, pacing, picking. Managed to mount a kerb in my AU the day of the second inspection (yesterday) and Busted my 17. Of course I didn’t have a spare so Bruce had to show up with a 16 (though he ended up bringing a 15) to get the car home.
I called him in panic, then had to compose myself and impress the agent at this private viewing.
Which I suppose I did woot woot cos she put us forward to the owner and called me this morning to offer us the place.

And yes, it has a freaking purple bathtub

So yeah. It’s $60 more a week (geez thanks for that $13 a week rent assistance increase Jim) and we have the time and expense of moving and cleaning and overlapping rent weeks and yeah.
At this stage the kids and bub are coming with, maybe being more out of town will motivate them to look for a place and then we can really feel how horrific this rental scene is. But we’ll see how we go, and we don’t have to make them homeless with a 3 month old.
So, sorting stuff. We have bulk waste collection conveniently the week of the 27th so if in doubt, out the front it goes!

I may have set up my xmas tree and some lawn lights already but from the 4th I can set up at the new place. New place new vibe. Get that lemon theme kitchen going hard-core to complement the purple wash room.

And babies first Christmas in the new place will surely be fun!

And for our next stress – our house is being sold

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This post was supposed to be a fun one about my new car. a blue 1998 Corolla we went up to Singleton to buy the other day. Her name is Bluey the Hello Kitty Corolla.

She doesn’t have any Hello Kitty yet, but by golly gee she will, and you can help this madness by buying me Hello Kitty car stuff like stickers and floor mats off my wishlist. I’ve got stickers coming to stickerbomb the dented left guard. The car is delightfully basic, manual window winders and the like. But it’s got great air con. We need to put in a new head unit, but we’re on that.

But no, of course, just as things were looking like settling down again, I missed a call coming back from taking my niece to her psych today, and it was the real estate. I call her back opening when she asked me how I was with well, always a bit wary when the real estate calls. She sounded so apologetic, but what can you do. We’re month to month, so we’ll have to wait and see if the buyers want vacant possession or to keep us on (presumably at increased rent). She did say if we find something we can give 21 days notice. but yeah. Let’s see how this goes.

I joked to Bruce at least our landlord didn’t die, only because my sister’s landlord died a few weeks ago and she’s seeing how that plays out. I’m thinking we need an old convent or similar to house us all, Growups and teens and tweens and kids and bebes and cats and dog and whoever else we pick up along the way.

SO yes, things are stressful.

We got my Nanna’s old fridge and bed on the weekend since her place has now sold, in an effort to accommodate the 3-4 adults and baby in this house depending on if my stepsons here for work too.

But how long we get to keep them here?

Argh

Hate the uncertainty. Hate it.