We sold our house ..

I have to give credit where ‘credit is due’. I was against us trying to sell it ourselves from the beginning. As with everything in life (where I’m concerned) I opt for the easy and quick solution/decision no matter if it costs more. Wayne is more patient and insisted on trying to sell ourselves to save on agent commission fee’s.. turns out he was right ! After only having 2 home opens, the house has been sold and we are now well and truly on our way to touring this great country of ours.

Nervous ? VERY….

Firstly, I’ve been saying to anyone who’ll listen – “it’s only a house” – “home is where the heart is” – and “we can build another one”.. I do truly believe this, honestly.. however, for the last 3 years and 12 months before that while we were designing and building our home, I have felt that my heart has been here, in this home with my family. Once we agreed on a price with the buyers, I cried a little.. Happy tears YES to some degree, but also I felt a little sad and to be honest, a little apprehensive. It’s all happening so fast. Things like this never usually happen to Wayne and I. We are the couple that goes out to dinner, we order our meals and they never turn up, or they have sold out of the meat we’ve requested. We never win anything on Lotto, not even $5..I wouldn’t say we were ‘lucky’ and although we’ve always pushed the boundaries and never really shied away from change, it doesn’t always happen or come easily.

In this case however, it seems that we are doing exactly what we were meant to be doing. Our old caravan sold immediately, the house sold within 2 weeks and given that our neighbours are also selling and have had their house on the market for almost 3 months, this is incredible.

Lulu and Sarah aren’t so sure what this means for them. Sarah has been very honest from the start ‘I don’t want to go’.. while Lulu has been excited. However, once we told her it was a done deal, Lulu was very emotional and concerned about leaving her friends at school, missing out on school and also not being back until mid way through Term 1 next year. I know that once we are off the girls will forget about this, but I can’t explain that to them, they’ll have to just wait and figure it out and that’s the hard part. Olivia said to us ‘ you guys (yes, she calls Wayne and I GUYS) always say that we’re going to do stuff and we never do, so I thought you were joking about this).. 2 things.. firstly, wow we mustn’t be very good parents.. and secondly, what did she think we were doing when we were clearing out the house, cleaning and knocking for sale signs in the front garden ?

So, the next big decision is the car. In my mind it’s not a big decision at all. We have researched (Wayne not I) the type of car that is going to best suit towing a 3 tonne caravan and after speaking to many people, reading reviews etc.. we’ve decided on the Pajero. You won’t catch my man buying a brand new car EVER, which is fine as I also think that cars are a waste of money, especially if you don’t have oodles of cash.. however we are getting a 2010/2011 model.

This is the thing.. We know our budget, we know the make/model and the year we want, we have agreed on the colours (pearl white, white or silver – boring) and it has to have leather seats, built in sat nav and dvd player (my ‘must haves’).. so yesterday I found not 1 that fits this criteria, but 2.. yes 2 ! Now let me start by saying these cars are pretty hard to find. They get snapped up pretty quickly, and the fact that there were 2 of them sitting in a car yard not too far away from our house, I thought this was fate. So off I went yesterday before I picked the girls up from school, found the car and jumped in.. Had a quick look around, it had bone colored leather which was divine, not a scratch on it.. perfect condition.. although it had done a lot of km’s, it diesel and everyone knows that a diesel engine can last up to 800,000km’s or more ? So as far as I was concerned, this was something I could arrange.. 1 thing less for Wayne to worry about. I spoke to the salesman.. confirmed that it could pull 3 tonne, which I knew anyway, but had to make small talk and told him I would be back.

Get back in my car, text Wayne and tell him… no response.. Text him again… no response.. So I call him and tell him I’ve found the car for us, we’ll go there tonight, take it for a spin and sign up ! He’s pretty quiet and I know he doesn’t want to offend me, but I also know this is NOT happening.. but I wasn’t giving in. He says ‘Griffo, we’ll talk about it when I get home’.. This quite frankly PISSED me off.

So, he gets home and I can hear him faffing about in the garage for a bit and I’m thinking ‘right, he’s delaying coming inside because he knows the car yard closes at 6pm’. He doesn’t want to argue with me, but I’m up for a fight.. It annoys me that he thinks I can’t make this decision on my own.He eventually comes inside and say’s ‘hey babe, the head gasket has gone on the ute I think, I’ve called RAC and they’ll be here within 30 mins to have a look’… Right I think… another few thousand dollars to spend on that heap of junk.. So I’m sitting at the table, folding washing and looking very forlorn. He comes over and tells me that he doesn’t want to upset me, and he understands that I want to make the car decision and that we can go and have a look at it. I perk up a little..

So within the hour, we are at the car yard. It’s almost closing time but the car is still open. I look around and see Wayne on the floor, on his back looking under the car.. Geez, all I did was sit in the front and looked at the Dash.. thinking this looked ok.. My first error was forgetting that we needed a Roo Bar, although this car did have a Toe Bar and roof racks ?? was that not good enough. The car salesman comes over and has a quick chat to Wayne. Wayne is very concerned that it’s done 90,000 km’s in 2 years, even though it’s a diesel motor etc.. but he is happy with the interior. I’m holding my breath waiting waiting and waiting.. he comes over and say’s to me ‘It’s lovely Jo, but I’m unsure about the km’s, I think we can find a better one’. I’m huffing at this point.. saying ‘right’.. then he say’s ‘come on, let’s go look at some more’.. so we walk over to another car yard, it’s getting darker at this point and as we approach the Mitsubishi dealership there’s a lovely old Irish fella named Bill. I love Irish men, especially older ones.. I ask him ‘are you closing’ ? He says ‘not if you’re buying’ so I say ‘ we are, and we have this much to spend’.. he say’s ‘righto – what you want’.. he points us in the direction of the Pajero’s and we find one… it’s even better than the other one, it doesn’t have the bone coloured leather, it’s all black but it’s a newer model with fewer km’s. I look over at Wayne and I can tell he’s looking at me with his eyes narrowed. He’s not in the mood for my drama, I can just tell. ‘So’, says’ Bill.. what we going to do’ ? It’s $3k more than we want to spend, and it doesn’t have a roo bar or a toe bar.. He asks do we have a trade in, I say yes, Wayne’s says ‘yeh but it’s worth nothing’.. Bill say’s ‘it’s late mate, let’s get a quick sale happening – what can you offer me’.. I’m so excited at this point.. it’s happening I’m thinking.. Wayne squares his shoulders, stands taller and say’s ‘oh Bill.. I’m not ready to DEAL’.. true story, exactly those words.. so I roll my eyes in exasperation and say ‘ oh bloody hell, let’s not play games.. let’s just get this sorted’.. WRONG THIS to say.. Wayne looks or stares at me actually ‘Griffo, we’ve talked about this -it’s not happening’. Bill is still trying to talk Wayne into making an offer, he’s got no hope.. eventually I say to Bill, ‘talk to me, cause I’m the one who can talk him around’.. yeh right.. Wayne’s all ‘Bill, I need to research and I need to know that this is the best deal, and as of this moment I’m not buying’.. Far out.. does everything have to be so hard.. So we leave, not before I’ve booked a test drive however (yes, that’s right.. I was ready to buy this car, without even taking it for a drive or sitting inside as it was already locked up !! silly and stupid, but hey.. once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all right?’.. so as we’re walking away, Waynes laughing (which is better than yelling at me) saying ‘Griffo, 10 minutes ago, you were in love with the bone leather car, telling me it’s the deal of the century, then you’ve just seen this one and you’re saying the same thing’.. what can I say to that ? He’s got me… again…. so fricken frustrating..

So, back to carsales.com.au. I’ve told Wayne that he can buy the car, I don’t want to know about it until it turns up in our driveway, as long as it has the ‘extra features’ that I want, I’m not fussed.. He seems happy with this.

This man of mine does my head in, but honestly.. he gives me so much blogging material and he makes me laugh. .

Countdown is on.. I’ve got some packing to do !!

x