Today my flatmate and I decided to go and explore the area a bit more, as neither of us had really done much exploring since we moved in, and my spacial awareness is not the greatest, so I get easily lost and confused.
My flatmate had been wanting to check out the prices and the cost of membership and the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, so we walked there and had a look around, and from there we walked to Darling Harbour where we had some lunch, and then back home. It was a long day and a lot of walking (or pushing), but it helped cement the routes to different places in my head.
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
Friday, 25 December 2015
Christmas Day at my place
I'd always planned to have Christmas Day at my place this year, but had no idea how close to Christmas Day I'd be moving it. I was lucky to get in just in time, and yesterday I had 14 people here for Christmas. It was kind of a Christmas/family housewarming party combined. Everybody contributed to the food, which I really appreciate as I had always planned to some cooking for the day, but hadn't factored in how disorganised I am, and then when the time came, had no time to do anything.
I loved welcoming my family into my new home. I showed everyone around, and they could see how excited and happy I was to be in. It was a great day with lots of food, family and fun, and was the first big test of how many people the apartment could handle comfortably, and it passed with flying colours!
I loved welcoming my family into my new home. I showed everyone around, and they could see how excited and happy I was to be in. It was a great day with lots of food, family and fun, and was the first big test of how many people the apartment could handle comfortably, and it passed with flying colours!
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
The next chapter has begun! I'm finally in!
Please excuse the silence on the blogging front, but as you can see from the title of this entry, my flatmate and I have finally moved into my dream apartment.
We moved on Saturday. The moving truck came a couple of days earlier and took a few boxes of stuff, as well as furniture. And then, on Saturday, it was our turn. After a couple of car trips that were just taking more stuff to the apartment, he took my flatmate, and then came back for me. Apparently she was delighted and ecstatic, and I'm so happy that she was, because she hadn't seen the apartment until now, whereas I had seen it twice.
So today is Wednesday, and I've spent 4 nights here. It's absolutely amazing, and everything I have wanted in an apartment. It already feels like home, even more than the house that I grew up in, dare I say.
My bedroom is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. It's spacious, roomy, bright and fresh, and I have a big bathroom connected to it. When the door between my bedroom and the bathroom is open, the area looks huge. My flatmate has her own bathroom too, which is nice after 4 months of sharing a bathroom when she was living with me and my parents. The kitchen is big enough for 2 people to move around in without being too cramped, and I have a sink and a stove which are at my height, and are a bit bigger than the sink and stove I had in the kitchen at home. The dishwasher is a drawer dishwasher, which is extremely handy for me, as being in a wheelchair, it is difficult to bend down and reach the bottom of a standard dishwasher to put a plate in.
I'm absolutely in love with the place. It really feels like home. 'm happy and comfortable being there when I'm alone on a day off when my flatmate is at work, and I'm equally happy when she around, because we do things together, and we also have our own space. It is paradise. An absolute dream come true, and definitely worth the wait. I love listening to the gentle hum of the traffic on the Western Distributor as I'm going to sleep at night, and I love sitting in the sun on my balcony, a cup of coffee made with my new coffee machine and a book in my hand in the morning. Pure bliss!!
We moved on Saturday. The moving truck came a couple of days earlier and took a few boxes of stuff, as well as furniture. And then, on Saturday, it was our turn. After a couple of car trips that were just taking more stuff to the apartment, he took my flatmate, and then came back for me. Apparently she was delighted and ecstatic, and I'm so happy that she was, because she hadn't seen the apartment until now, whereas I had seen it twice.
So today is Wednesday, and I've spent 4 nights here. It's absolutely amazing, and everything I have wanted in an apartment. It already feels like home, even more than the house that I grew up in, dare I say.
My bedroom is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. It's spacious, roomy, bright and fresh, and I have a big bathroom connected to it. When the door between my bedroom and the bathroom is open, the area looks huge. My flatmate has her own bathroom too, which is nice after 4 months of sharing a bathroom when she was living with me and my parents. The kitchen is big enough for 2 people to move around in without being too cramped, and I have a sink and a stove which are at my height, and are a bit bigger than the sink and stove I had in the kitchen at home. The dishwasher is a drawer dishwasher, which is extremely handy for me, as being in a wheelchair, it is difficult to bend down and reach the bottom of a standard dishwasher to put a plate in.
I'm absolutely in love with the place. It really feels like home. 'm happy and comfortable being there when I'm alone on a day off when my flatmate is at work, and I'm equally happy when she around, because we do things together, and we also have our own space. It is paradise. An absolute dream come true, and definitely worth the wait. I love listening to the gentle hum of the traffic on the Western Distributor as I'm going to sleep at night, and I love sitting in the sun on my balcony, a cup of coffee made with my new coffee machine and a book in my hand in the morning. Pure bliss!!
Saturday, 12 December 2015
11/12/15 - The moment I've been waiting for!
I received some exciting and great news today. The final documents have been signed!! No more delays, I can finally start moving next Friday. Those final things that haven't been packed yet like clothes can finally start to be packed.
I have to say I'm not as excited as I should be and as I wanted to be. Yes, I'm excited that I will finally have my own place, but its been a LONG time coming and there have been so many delays along the way, that I just want to get in there, like NOW! I'm sure the excitement will come back though, especially on the day. I can't wait!!
Monday, 30 November 2015
Finally, it might be happening very soon... I hope!
As more of my things are packed into "the moving box", and more decisions and plans are made for the move, I receive some news. Another document has been signed. I'm one step closer to moving into my dream home. In fact, it could be a week away!
I'm trying not to get too excited because there have been so many false alarms and set backs up to this point, but I kind of feel like this is the most convincing sign yet that this finally might be it! I'd better start planning my housewarming party!!
I'm trying not to get too excited because there have been so many false alarms and set backs up to this point, but I kind of feel like this is the most convincing sign yet that this finally might be it! I'd better start planning my housewarming party!!
Wednesday, 25 November 2015
And still the waiting game continues...
... and 3 months (that my flatmate has been staying with us), turns into 4. That excited remark of "3 weeks to go!" becomes less and less likely, and eventually the date that I had estimated to be moving passes. It's beginning to sound like a joke. Every time I get my hopes up that this might actually be it, they are dashed by the fact that there is no progress report, and no official word from the people in charge.
My bedroom is looking more and more chaotic as the days pass. The boxes, which up until now were sitting folded in the front room, are making their way, one by one, into my room. Huge and heavy rolls of packing paper have been bought, and each and every item that I have decided to keep so far is being carefully wrapped with the paper regardless of whether it needs to be or not. Each bundle has then been carefully placed back in the moving box as if it is cargo of the most precious variety.
I've sorted and tidied my bookshelf, and found things I forgot I had in the process. Lesson notes from my school days 9 years ago have finally been thrown away (why was I keeping them anyway?), and folders have been emptied, ready to be used again at a later stage when I need another filing system to keep important documents.
My bedroom is looking more and more chaotic as the days pass. The boxes, which up until now were sitting folded in the front room, are making their way, one by one, into my room. Huge and heavy rolls of packing paper have been bought, and each and every item that I have decided to keep so far is being carefully wrapped with the paper regardless of whether it needs to be or not. Each bundle has then been carefully placed back in the moving box as if it is cargo of the most precious variety.
I've sorted and tidied my bookshelf, and found things I forgot I had in the process. Lesson notes from my school days 9 years ago have finally been thrown away (why was I keeping them anyway?), and folders have been emptied, ready to be used again at a later stage when I need another filing system to keep important documents.
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Further down the track
Fast forward a few months... This year has been a pretty big one for me in several ways. My independence has grown, and a lot of the goals that I set for this year have been achieved.
In the 1st week of September I went into hospital to have some major surgery that I had been thinking about having for a few years. This operation was going to change my life and make me more independent, as rather than relying on the help of carers 4 times a day every day, I would be able to be able to do more things for myself, by myself. But there were risks involved, and the operation wasn't always 100% successful, which was one of the reasons I was so hesitant, as well as not wanting another scar on my body, to add to the rest of the collection. I finally went ahead with the surgery with the view that this was the beginning of the new me and my new life, and that I would be glad I did it in the end.
September came and went slowly, but I was too preoccupied by recent events to think too much about the move. Most of October went the same way too, until one day Dad told me that there was "about 3 weeks left". 3 weeks?! This was getting exciting. I started making lists of things I wanted to keep and things I wanted to throw away, as well as things I needed to get for my new place. Packing boxes and a suitcase arrived almost out of nowhere (that's a slight exaggeration but never mind), and I began to fill them with the things I wanted to have in my new place. I also started a countdown to the approximate date of the move, which I had eagerly estimated.
In the 1st week of September I went into hospital to have some major surgery that I had been thinking about having for a few years. This operation was going to change my life and make me more independent, as rather than relying on the help of carers 4 times a day every day, I would be able to be able to do more things for myself, by myself. But there were risks involved, and the operation wasn't always 100% successful, which was one of the reasons I was so hesitant, as well as not wanting another scar on my body, to add to the rest of the collection. I finally went ahead with the surgery with the view that this was the beginning of the new me and my new life, and that I would be glad I did it in the end.
September came and went slowly, but I was too preoccupied by recent events to think too much about the move. Most of October went the same way too, until one day Dad told me that there was "about 3 weeks left". 3 weeks?! This was getting exciting. I started making lists of things I wanted to keep and things I wanted to throw away, as well as things I needed to get for my new place. Packing boxes and a suitcase arrived almost out of nowhere (that's a slight exaggeration but never mind), and I began to fill them with the things I wanted to have in my new place. I also started a countdown to the approximate date of the move, which I had eagerly estimated.
Saturday, 14 November 2015
The Next 6-12 Months
Over the next 6-12 months the predicted finish date was extended... and extended... and extended. Instead of being the end of 2014, it the building was now predicted to be finished at the beginning of 2015, and then 'the first quarter of 2015', and then June, July and August.
On 31st of July this year, my future flatmate, who is also a friend, came to stay with me and my family, because the rent at the accommodation she was staying at had run out. We had agreed to take her in as a boarder until our place was ready, which we were assuming would be a month. A month came and went, and turned into 2 months, which turned into 3...
On 31st of July this year, my future flatmate, who is also a friend, came to stay with me and my family, because the rent at the accommodation she was staying at had run out. We had agreed to take her in as a boarder until our place was ready, which we were assuming would be a month. A month came and went, and turned into 2 months, which turned into 3...
Friday, 13 November 2015
The Journey Begins
When I found out that Mum and Dad had bought an apartment in the yet to be constructed building, I was ecstatic. I was sick of being behind the 8 ball in so many things that people my age were doing, and moving out of home was a huge step in feeling more independent and equal with my friends. I couldn't wait to move there. Completion was due to be the end of 2014, but looking at the vacant block of land, that date felt like forever away. The sooner they start digging, the sooner they can get building!
Over the next couple of weeks or months, Dad went to many meetings about the development, to learn about how it was going to progress, and what features the apartment would have. One day he brought home a large, book style brochure with details of what the finished apartment was envisaged to be like. I immediately pulled out the digital picture of the completed building, and its been on my bedroom wall ever since.
Over the next couple of weeks or months, Dad went to many meetings about the development, to learn about how it was going to progress, and what features the apartment would have. One day he brought home a large, book style brochure with details of what the finished apartment was envisaged to be like. I immediately pulled out the digital picture of the completed building, and its been on my bedroom wall ever since.
Thursday, 12 November 2015
How it all began
It all began with a simple drive. Mum and Dad went for a drive one morning, and when they came back, they told me they had come across a piece of land that was going to be turned into a block of apartments. This piece of land was in Pyrmont, a suburb buzzing with excitement from tourists and nightlife, a short walk to Darling Harbour where I work, and above all, it was my favourite suburb in Sydney. So when they asked if I wanted to live there, of course I answered with an enthusiastic "Yes, I absolutely do!"
An introduction to the story
Moving out of home for the first time is exciting for anyone. Exciting, nerve racking, all sorts of emotions will come over you and your family.
Moving out of home for the first time for a person with a disability is even more challenging. There are a lot of things to take into consideration.
My blog will give an overview of the journey until now, as well as continuing the adventure over the next few weeks, as I finally move from the home I have lived in with my family for the last 27 years, to my own, independent accommodation, where I will begin the next chapter of my life.
Moving out of home for the first time for a person with a disability is even more challenging. There are a lot of things to take into consideration.
My blog will give an overview of the journey until now, as well as continuing the adventure over the next few weeks, as I finally move from the home I have lived in with my family for the last 27 years, to my own, independent accommodation, where I will begin the next chapter of my life.
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