Nice Life Reminders Pip-Life Taking Stock

Taking Stock: December

December 18, 2021

Oh my goodness we moved again. We somehow managed to move from Tasmania back to Melbourne in a jumble of logistics and false starts and sleepless nights. Now we are back. Back in a whole different world where COVID is all around and most things are a short drive away. It’s been an adjustment! We arrived on Tuesday and have been getting used to the busyness of a city and suburban life, swarming carparks, flat terrain and fewer trees and rivers and moody skies.

It’s been so lovely to have the kids all together again and the dogs are very happy to have a big grassy backyard to do Zoomies in, rather than the more rugged terrain we had in New Norfolk. Initially we had signed a lease on a small house in Coburg North, but when Rin went over to do a FaceTime call with me, we realised that the video inspection we had before the lease was signed did not show the extensive water damage at the property!

With our things already en route, we quickly secured another house through the same agent the very next day and the Coburg lease was voided. The next day the moving truck pulled up – with the change of address processed in the nick of time. It was all such a scramble but we have a roof over our heads now and are living in a cute little house in Fawkner. It needs a lot of garden-planting and some TLC, but was within budget and looked nice and cosy. If you think about the house in Edward Scissorhands, you’re kind of on the right track.

We’ve been in since Tuesday and we are really enjoying living the suburban dream! We’re very close to a train station and ten minutes from the Preston Market. And it’s (weirdly) quieter than our house in Tassie – no logging trucks, no roosters crowing, no bush hens!

I am sure I will have more stories to tell soon, but in the mean time I thought why not TAKE STOCK?! It’s good to take a breath before the holiday season truly sets in, don’t you think?! Let’s do that …


Taking Stock

Making: A house a home. Sort of.
Getting: A crash-course in ‘living with COVID’
Cooking: Things on the charcoal grill. I am bad at it. I think I need a charcoal chimney?
Sipping: A bolstering glass of cold white wine.
Reading: Cookbooks from the op shop. (Have started replacing the books I had to cull to move already!)
Thinking: About what might lie ahead. I hope it’s good. Or at least fine.
Remembering: How it feels to have alone time. I have not had much of that over the past year or so.
Looking: Forward to feeling more settled.
Listening: To Justin Bieber in the car with the kids.
Wishing: I could sleep for a week. Or at least rest.
Enjoying: Living Northside.
Appreciating: The double Bosch oven and grill in the house, but not too sure how it works yet. I made a focaccia yesterday and it turned out okay, but I am still wondering what all those symbols on the oven control panel mean.


Wanting: To catch up on my study.
Eating: Bahn Mi. Laksa. YUM!
Finishing: Not much. Lots of starting though!
Liking: New op shops to explore.
Loving: My little bedroom.
Buying: House things … sticky hooks, a clamshell pool for the dogs, garage shelves from Bunnings to use at bookshelves (for now), op shop crockery, pink carnations.
Watching: 90 Day Fiancé. I am a sucker for it. So bad/good.
Hoping: Everyone reading this is faring okay.
Wearing: A flowery cotton dress.
Walking: On the creaky floorboards.
Following: This cool new development at the Australian Women’s Weekly.
Noticing: All the fresh new-to-me things in my new neighbourhood.
Saving: Very, very little. It’s a spend-y time.
Waiting: For our modem which was delayed. We only have our phones for internet at the moment.
Bookmarking: This piece by Liane Moriarty. I had a ‘please come back to see us again’ mammogram the year before last and had to spend Christmas not knowing what was happening, as I waited for my follow-up appointment. It was very stressful but I was lucky enough to get the all-clear in the following January.
Coveting: A less virus-y world.
Feeling: Tired, pleased.
Hearing: The air-conditioning huffing away.


Here’s a blank list for you to copy and complete, in case you want to do that!

Taking Stock

Making:
Getting:
Cooking:
Sipping:
Reading:
Thinking:
Remembering:
Looking:
Listening:
Wishing:
Enjoying:
Appreciating:
Wanting:
Eating:
Finishing:
Liking:
Loving:
Buying:
Watching:
Hoping:
Wearing:
Walking:
Following:
Noticing:
Saving:
Waiting:
Bookmarking:
Coveting:
Feeling:
Hearing:


Love to you, dear reader.

See you back here very soon.

x pip

8 Comments

  • Reply Louise January 31, 2022 at 9:05 AM

    Hi Pip. I wanted to thank you. I bought your beautiful book “when life is not peachy” from my local bookshop in Devonport, and have starting reading. The love in each page is palpable, helping me feel cared for. And now I read you’ve moved from Tassie! My family moved to Launceston / Devonport just over a year ago from NSW. And you love op shops! I will work out how to follow you on FB and your cooking websites, cause I really would like to be more interested in cooking too. Anyways… just wanted to say thank you for being so kind and sharing your gift. ?? Louise

  • Reply CoburgCraftStuff January 14, 2022 at 10:51 PM

    Hey Pip welcome to the People’s Republic of Moreland! Glad everything worked out with the move. There are indeed some great op shops around the neighbourhood & surrounding suburbs! Might have to keep an eye out for you!

  • Reply Denyse Whelan December 20, 2021 at 8:31 PM

    Oh gosh dear friend, now you are back….and wondering “what was that about??”…anyway, here is to new beginnings, better health and happiness as it comes to you.

    With a new to us stove/oven as renters we found Youtube had most we needed to know even with links to a manufacturers’s site where I could trouble shoot.

    Have a wonderful Christmas
    Love Denyse x

  • Reply Reannon December 20, 2021 at 2:01 AM

    This move doesn’t sound like it was easy or straightforward but I love that you always make the best of each situation Pip.
    And forever, the taking stock posts will always be a firm favourite if mine.
    In case I don’t chat to you beforehand, enjoy Christmas surrounded by your kids. And enjoy Turing your house into a home xx

  • Reply Sooz December 19, 2021 at 11:22 AM

    Welcome back! I have an oven with lots of symbols too – not Bosch but maybe helpful anyway? Happy to share a pic from the manual – reach out on messenger Suzie Fry

  • Reply Rose Wintergreen December 19, 2021 at 9:53 AM

    So glad your move went okay, Pip. You must be so exhausted. What a nightmare with the water damage! Well done, getting that lease voided and finding something else so quickly. I hope you do take rest time as you can. It’s been such a slog; your poor nervous system must really need it. I’m not on your side of town anymore but I am in the same city. Would love to help out in whatever way I can. Very pleased for you that you’ve ended up somewhere quiet and with garden potential. I have some beautiful hollyhock seeds my mum gave me that I’d love to pass onto you, if you’d like? If so, shoot me an email rosewintergreen@gmail.com, and I can post to you.

  • Reply Emily December 19, 2021 at 9:25 AM

    Thanks for the great link written by Liane Moriarty; so good to read over a morning coffee.

    I can’t imagine how stressful the change in rental en route must have been for you. Now that you’ve made a few meals I can imagine that you’re already feeling that sense of settling down. I know if I’ve had a frazzled day, spending time is the kitchen that evening really grounds me (especially if I whack a great podcast in my ears and shut out the world).

    I have a double Bosch oven (which I LOVE) but I gave up on trying to match all of the little pictures to the cooking purpose! Now in the main oven I just stick with the fan picture and pretend the rest don’t exist (unless I need the grill). It’s such a luxury that I’m grateful for nearly every night. I don’t own other fancy kitchen gadgets but feel like royalty every time I cook TWO things at once at different temperatures!

    Happy op shop hunting. I’m taking my kids for their annual Christmas present shopping for the family to the op shop on Tuesday… and I can’t pretend I’m not eagerly anticipating many happy moments browsing their cookbook shelves (and possible hinting to them which ones “look great” in the hope they pick up what I’m putting down and grab it for my pressie!)

    Merry Christmas and I hope the new year brings more settled contentment and hours of indulgent cooking (and consuming!)

  • Reply Rachell December 18, 2021 at 8:02 PM

    Glad it all went smoothly, sort of in the end. And you’re in. Looks like you’ve got some good places to eat nearby too, from your Insta stories. Hurrah!

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