Secret Garden

[BriansMum]

Hope this works, a shiny new thread girls - come on in .

I don't know how you do it Leo!and study too.

The answer to that Deb is 'not very well'

Sorry for my absence. I have been a bit hectic.

The good news is that our original buyers have found new buyers of their own, so we are all back on with the sale . Of course this came 3 days after switching agents so the old agents who have the sale are being jumpy about the new agents and are rumour mongering again. The new agents are being fine about it but are, according to the old agents, calling up our buyers and trying to upset the applecart. The new agents hotly deny this and I suspect they (new agents) are telling the truth. So that is taking up a bit phone time. Additionally we need to find a house that we want to buy. There is a house we both liked that I showed Stitching but I am getting windy about whether the large village it is in is too far from a bigger town. As I type I am thinking of Deb in a properly remote area and realising how silly I sound. Maybe I will try and do some links later on.

Lots of other things to reply to, but will have to come back to them as I need to make a shortlist of things that we want to view this weekend.

LaG, sounds good about the sale, please send links to the houses or the name of the village, then we can suss it out.

do you know, I don't think that we're that remote here , suppose it depends what you're used to!

Very pleased to read that LG (apart from the agent shenanigans1).

Am off to try and revise. Fingers crossed things don't kick off upstairs!

The village vs town is interesting. We constantly change our minds about whether to move to a probably smaller 3 bed house in a decent catchment area/nice area or move out of Edinburgh altogether to commuter-ville and get a much bigger house for our money but not the convenience of living in Edinburgh itself. Decisions, decisions...

Good news laguerta- do post details when you can.

Leo am I right in thinking your house is on market or you were thinking about that

Deb how was today at work?

One of my particular mates at work finishes tomorrow for ml. Will miss her . Last ti,e I didn't want to rush into having baby and got annoyed at suggestion of finishing up. Now am tired and keen to get to jan so can stop fretting (I still do) and moan about newborns instead. Laguerta/mud wiggle- please remind me about newborn horrors again...

We haven't put it on the market yet G - in the Spring I think. We had been planning on doing it this year but never got round to getting all the jobs done. We've just had the front of the house painted (well, the wooden panels) along with window ledges etc. The bathroom needs some work - re-tiling, new shower screen, new bath panel etc and the kitchen ceiling needs re-plastered. Hoping to get all that done before Christmas then I think I'll take a week off Jan/Feb and give everywhere else a lick of paint to freshen everything up and then we'll get it on the market. Quite a few properties round here sold quite quickly - it's at the cheaper end of the 3-bed market for Edinburgh so we're hopeful it won't drag on too much. I think it's worth spending a few hundred quid on the presentation though just to help us along.

The house LG is talking about is to die for ! However, I'm a townie all the way so it would certainly be too rural for me, but it's what you're used to isn't it? I love being walking distance from shops, restaurants, pubs, train station, etc. and I would worry about being a taxi service in future years when teenagers want to get out and about. But, as I said, the house is amazing !

Great news about your buyers being back LG, but I'll be very to see you go .

Thanks for all the pressie ideas - we probably have done Duplo to death but the PILs are going to buy this so we'll probably buy Jupiter to go with it. We're going very sparse with presents this time given our experience with Alex's birthday when he opened two presents and then lost interest!

Thanks for all your views on sleepovers - very mad! I agree with you Deb, about rushing through childhood - why do some parents want to have given their children every experience going before they're four?! This particular mum is a bit of a funny one too as she is obsessed with asking the only other girl in the group for a sleepover whereas her daughter actually gets on better with one of the boys. The gender divide at 3 makes me very .

Leo, totally agree with you about doing the house up before you sell - makes such a difference and you'd be amazed how many people don't do it!

News from here, I've been offered a freelancing job writing SEN statements. Not my dream job but will help financially and with my CV .

Good job news Stitching.

The house we liked is this one: Storrington

But if you have time (not you Leo ) here is a search that covers most areas. BigSearchArea We can go a bit further west as far a Storrington; as far north as East Grinstead, and as far east as Lewes. I'm not keen on Haywards Heath (dull) or Burgess Hill (v dull). Brighton might work but we want a proper size of garden for football etc. Most of what appeals there has a courtyard.

Not much to consider then .

mordernbutrural

alsorural

bargainousbutugly

I love Storrington, it reminds me of the one they bought in LLL last night, and I also love alsorural, that was just with a quick glance, how rural is alsorural

Hi laguerta- dh says newick nice (grew up in seaford and went to school in Lewes)- there is a village website. the bargainous one made dh started laughing in an unpc way as apparently this was source of playground jokes as had local mental hospital There (this went on for about five minutes ).

I would agree with stitching comments re rural life so would probably going for in/around Lewes.

Stitching - yay re freelance job.

Leo- I think you are sensible to do the repairs and wait til spring. How much difference would out of town make to you and dh? You do seem to love town living from all I can see so would that suffer as well as how hard is a commute (I say that as despite having an ok commute I felt sick due to heat/crowds on train today).

Ventured onto my antenatal thread to lurk- not sure I will join as can get all support I need here.

Very funny about the mental hospital. I would like Lewes too but it is pricey to the point where the house that best meets my aspirations is on at £1.1m . For our budget in Lewes we would get 3 beds or 4 with a courtyard garden.

Back later educating Essex is on

deb - Alsorural is on the edge of Newick down a small lane. So not wholly isolated.

However all the ones I linked to last night we don't have viewings with at the moment. I left Dh in charge of calling agents as he was off sick today but had made it to the sofa by lunch. Turns out that was a step too far, so we have a couple booked in Storrington first thing and a couple in E Grinstead at the end of the day. I need to fill in the lunchtime schedule.

The houses I clicked on all looked lovely LG. I hope you find something that ticks all the boxes.

Yes G - I do like a bit of city living. We live on the outskirts of Edin just now anyway though, so am used to commuting/driving everywhere. In an ideal world I'd live in Edinburgh and I would really love to live somewhere with a community feel and decent amenities in walking distance but we're going to struggle with that, plus good catchment in Edinburgh.

Very weary here - DS was up at 2am having a screaming fit for 1hr plus. I wouldn't be surprised if he had woken the whole street It was hours before we got back to sleep. And then he refused to cooperate with getting ready this morning which led to me missing an early morning meeting I really shouted at him quite badly and have been feeling guilty all day. However, as he's still grumbling upstairs at nearly 10pm my guilt has lessened somewhat. DH is away until later tonight and I'm dead on my feet. Unlike the wide-awake devil child upstairs

Sorry, am moaning in self-obsessed fashion again. Keep posting property porn for me LG - I can look at it in my study tea breaks (though no revising tonight clearly!).

Ok need tips - bloody nursery lost not only all clothes edie went in (all labelled) as got wet but all her change. Have moaned about this before but aibu to moan and also where is the cheapest place I can get stuff from. Usually opt for saisnburys but it still adds up ESP like today when they were all new stuff (and I have written off any hope of ever getting socks back as they seem to take them off when she goes in sand pit then never reappear).

I will stop now as know am being obsessive and If e like her big step brother we have years of lost stuff ahead

That is soooooo annoying G. Where do you think the stuff ends up? If I ever get anything home that's not ours (Inc socks) it goes straight back the next day. Not sure re cheap stuff - eBay bundles?

Oh, btw DS slept ALL night in his own bed

re s in own bed - I can imagine how happy that makes you feel!!

God knows where it goes (I don't think parents are type to "borrow" stuff) as I also send back stuff we inherit .

Aaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhh. DS is at the top of the stairs screaming and begging for a cuddle. Am so fecking fed up. I hate evenings - I've started to dread coming home. I just really don't know what to do. Am very

Sorry for moaning AGAIN.

I'm calm again. Have beer and a quiet DS. As you were

i would suggest sleep training but are they going to tell you anything you don't already do (ie calmly put him
Back to bed) ESP as they cant help on how bloody hard it is to enforce it when you are done in

Thanks G - yeah I agree. I know all the strategies and they've all worked on a short-term basis. I'm just really weary of it. Gah. I'm blessed with him really, but it's just so tiresome!

Anyway, how's everyone else? Any nice plans for the weekend? The heatwave is carrying on over the weekend south of the border isn't it? Rain forecast here tomorrow - boo. Scorchio today though - even I felt very wrong transporting Christmas paper into the car today . Someone in the office is a Pheonix trader - they have lovely paper.

of Phoenix paper- I desperately want them to come to work soon and book people (not being disloyal stitching but it's for cheap cookery books) so can do
More Xmas shopping.

Having bad braxton hicks in heat but thin tomorrow is e swim lesson then rugby . Dh taking dss to uni on Sunday so quiet day then.

Asda for cheap stuff for e for nursery, and you're not being unreasonable to moan about it.

First proper work for ages has done me in, so relaxing I hope tomorrow, maybe a picnic somewhere lovely with a stream to play in, if weather keeps up, rain due by sunday here leo.

Found price of Rectory, 280-290,000 , going on market next week, wonder if we could be cheeky and phone vicar to see if we could have a sneak preview,or do you think it's worth us starting going to church , I've been trying to find a link to the house but as it's not on any details yet I can't, it's at the end of the Hude in Middleton in Teesdale if anyone's looking

LaG, how were the viewings? Found your "forever" home?, don't you hate that phrase?