Social life in the sticks

I find it quite amazing that although I live in a place where I only know a very few people, I often end up having quite a social life.

Take last night as a good example. They don't sell fresh milk in the shops. So you buy directly from the farm. Yesterday, I stopped around 5.30pm to buy milk from the farm. I ended up staying for dinner and chatting with my friend. I only got home at 12.30pm this morning.

Naturally I overslept. 

People out here in the countryside are just so friendly.  I am loving it. It's very different to the cities (particularly my life in Johannesburg). 

Less suspicion amongst people just makes socialising that much easier.

I'm loving the fact that crime is low. I can safely walk to shops, to friends even at night.

Where is my home?

One bank has just turned down my bond application. I am still waiting on the other banks in the hopes that someone will find value in this little house I like.

The valuer says the 3 bedroom house, double garage, double car port on 5000 square metres of land is worth no more than R150 000. I don't know what planet he's living on, but where in South Africa can you get all that in any condition for that price he's given.

So it looks like I probably won't get my house. While I'm not admitting defeat, I have decided that it's high time I moved into a comfortable rental home where I can settle in properly while I'm house hunting.

Another friend seems certain that the universe is blocking my purchase of all property because he thinks I'm supposed to be living near Cape Aghulhas. He and his wife will know by the end of September if they can afford their huge game farm there. 

At this point, I'm willing to take a look once they've bought. Maybe he's right - maybe that is where I am destined to live. At this point, quite frankly, I have no clue.

I'm being blocked left, right and centre so maybe Andre has a point. Another month or two of looking certainly won't kill me. And if there is a perfect place for me, I look forward to finding it.

A garden full of horses

I've been approached by potato farmer who wishes to use some of my huge garden to farm potatoes. He'll give me a few pockets of potatoes as payment.

He also asked if it's ok if one of his assistants lets his horses graze in my garden. Since they won't eat my herbs, I'm fine with that idea.

I went to go look at the horses this morning. They're not only beautiful horses but friendly too. There are 2 of them with their little foal. It's so adorable. 

Living in the countryside is definitely suiting me. I love all the farm animals that are in the area. And even in my new town, I will be living in the rural section so will be surrounded by horses, cows and sheep. Still debating if I should get a big animal of my own. Which animal would I get - probably a horse. But that is something I can worry about much later.

I still haven't found the card reader to get my photo's from my camera to my pc. I cannot wait to move to my new house and unpack everything. Thankfully the new place has cupboards (unlike the rental), so I'll actually be able to unpack all my boxes.

Snakes in the garden

Well, I've had a chat with the current owner. I asked him whether he's ever had snakes in the garden or house. He said that the only snakes they ever found were 2 boomslangs when they first moved in and nothing since. Hopefully I won't find any when I am living there.

But that is something worth noting since boomslangs are venomous. Thankfully they say you usually have a few hours before the venom actually starts acting. Thank goodness.

I definitely like the idea of having time to get to the doctor or vet should myself or my kitty ever get bitten. Also, I did read that they are not very aggressive and will only bite if threatened.

I guess climbing trees is not such a good idea and any clearing of the back garden will need to be done carefully.

And of course, I also need to be very careful of spiders since I'll be on the outskirts of the town, in the rural district. Eek - with my arachnophobia that won't be fun.

The hunt for a house

I know it's been quite a while since I have posted on here. Between working long hours, a visit from my family and house hunting, I haven't had a chance to sit down and gather thoughts.

I have been looking at houses in many villages all over the langkloof and surrounds for the past 2 months. I've looked at beautiful houses with no garden, not such great houses with lovely gardens and much in between. I even saw a stunning house that had everything I wanted except that it had major water problems.

But eventually I found something that was just right for me.

It has a lovely big kitchen with space for a big kitchen table.  There is a main bedroom with dressing room plus a guest bedroom. A spacious lounge. And a lovely little sunny room which  will become my office.

The garden is huge. And when I replace the ceilings with wood ceilings, I'll then have a attic which will be big enough to turn into an art studio or a guest room.

Here are the pictures of the house. Unfortunately there are none of the 2 spare rooms or the bathroom.

There is a lot of work to be done on the house since I want the kitchen and dressing room to have wooden cupboards. I'll probably have to settle for wooden veneers over the current chipboard since new cupboards will cost a small fortune (especially with the amount of cupboards that will need replacing).

I also want to put a shower into the bathroom. And possibly re-tile the bathroom. Although I cannot remember what colours where in the bathroom, it was pretty nondescript and certainly nothing to write home about. Thankfully it was a decent size with adequate space for both the washing machine and the shower I want to install.

I'm still trying to decide on colours and style for both the bathroom and kitchen. With the kitchen, I also have the option to leave the layout as is and just put my kitchen table in. Alternatively, I could put a centre line of cupboards with a big work surface in, effectively breaking the kitchen into workspace and dining area, putting the kitchen table on the other side so that it would be more like a smaller open plan kitchen with a casual dining area on the other side.

As for the bathroom, I need to decide what type of shower, what colour tiles, if I want any layout changes or not.

And then of course, I want to replace all the ceilings with wooden ceilings (except the master bedroom which already has wooden ceilings. And Bourne Gleam all the wooden floors. And I'm seriously tempted to put carpets into the bedrooms since they have tiled floors currently.

Of course I also want to repaint inside since most of the walls are not a colour I would have chosen. And I need to put new fascia boards on plus redo the gutters. And I definitely need to get a fireplace installed.  Thankfully not everything has to be done before I move in, since I'm on a limited budget. 

I'll start with the gutters and fascia boards and then see how much I have left. Thereafter I will be able to tackle one project every month to three months depending on how much money I can scrape together and what the cost of said project will be.

And the garden needs some more trees, possibly a few fruit trees. Some herbs, my veggie patch.

So it looks like my next year or two is cut out for me. With lots of projects to keep me out of mischief.

The search for the perfect home continues

Today I went to look at 3 houses. 2 unfortunately had very tiny gardens although stunning houses and the other one was a very tiny house even though the garden was adequate. I could buy it and build on an extra room. But I think I will first look around for other options.

I'm sure when my dream home presents itself, I will actually recognise it. 

And on Sunday I'll be looking at a few more properties. This is all very exciting. My only worry is that I do not find something I fall in love with before my lease runs out. I really do not want to buy a house that doesn't tug at my heart strings.

At the end of this weekend, I'll try and post some pics of the houses I've viewed.

Living without built in cupboards

Well, the countryside is lovely. Although rather chilly.

Unfortunately for me, these old houses don't come with built in cupboards. At this point, I just don't have a clue where to store everything. My entire life I have lived in places that had built in cupboards. So as you can imagine, I don't have much in the way of cupboards now that I'm in a place with none.

It's quite scary just what my house looks like. Shoes are still living in boxes. Half the kitchen stuff has to live in boxes. Where am I supposed to go with all these boxes I wonder.

And I am still trying to find a property to buy. I've heard of a few, spoken to some people. 2 neighbours have said they'll take me to see properties. I'm just not sure when.

In the meantime, I guess I will just have to be patient. And I honestly don't have the drive to start a veggie patch in a house that I can only stay in until December. Same goes for putting in cupboards or fixing up anything.

Goddess grant that I find something soon. Living in limbo is so not my favourite way to live.