Things are happening at last!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Hope you're all enjoying your trick or treating and other ghostly goings-on!!!

Well - you will be glad to know that finally something is starting to happen. After getting the offer on the house on Friday, we had another (higher) offer today. And the good news is that these people want to move in by the end of November! Told them that end of November was pushing it and that we'd think about it.

Sadly, the house we liked has now been sold and we can't find anything else we're interested in so we have decided to rent a place down in Hampshire and then start looking for a place to buy in the new year. It will be much easier to find somewhere when living in the area and we won't have a chain or anything.

As we are renting, it will be much more simple to move quickly and therefore we have decided on Monday 12th December. We are going to finish work on Friday 9th, pack all weekend and move on the Monday. Our buyers are happy with that arrangement.

What a relief!! Knowing what's happening is making everything so much easier to handle!!

I've arranged to look at a rental property on Sunday. Pat is on duty but Sonia might come with me. I want to try and get things sorted as quickly as possible.

I've just got one mroe thing to do, now - tell my boss. Have decided to tell her on Monday next week. I could tell her now but I only need to give 4 weeks notice and that's next Friday. The trouble is, I can't guarantee what she'll be like so I don't want her making my life a misery for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Sarah
xx
(Feeling very excited and much more optimistic!)

A miracle has happened - we got an offer on the house!!

As you know, we're in the process of moving to Hampshire to buy a vet business. The whole process has been extremely stressful and it's all moving so slowly! The worst thing has been that the housing market is dead and we haven't been able to find a buyer. We've had about 17 viewings and despite reducing the price - no offers. I kept thinking - what's so wrong with OUR home that no-one wants to live here? Well, yesterday, we had an offer of £10,000 less than the (reduced) asking price. As people's first offers are never the last, we will say no and see how much they up the offer by. But that has really perked me up, I can tell you!!

A few weeks ago, we found the house we wanted to buy and if it's still available, we'll make an offer on it - if not, we will have to have another look at the ones that are still around and see whether any will be suitable. At last, something (albeit a very small thing) is happening!

With regards to the purchase of the practice, not much is happening there. Our solicitor is waiting to hear from the vendor's solcitor with the contract and the lease. They think that the earliest that the practice will complete will now be 15th December.
It's the not knowing that's the worst!!

Otherwise, all is OK. We've cancelled James & Jess this afternoon as Pat has a cold and I need a rest - the stress of everyhing is really wearing me down - I have constant tension at the back fo my neck! I need more Nip/Tuck to ease the tension but am waiting for Sonia to lend it to me!!

I intend spending the afternoon watching films on TV - I hope there's something decent on Sky!!!

Sarah
xx

A bit more about me, my family and my friends

Hello again. I thought I would just introduce you to some of the key people who will keep appearing in my blog so that you may be able to follow who's who.

I am Sarah (as you will probably already know) I was 36 in October and am feeling very old! ;o) I used to work as a manager for a bank running the mortgage lending department, but was made redundant 2 years ago. I decided to concentrate on starting a family and took a year off work. I still didn't get preganant so got an "easy" job as a lettings agent. It's a small company (only 4 of us). The boss is a bit of a bitch and the work is boring so I won't be sad to leave when we move (see below)
My husband is Patrick (or Pat). He is also 36 (37 in January) and he is a vet. We've been married for 7 years and apart from the infertility, we have a very happy marriage.
We live in Hertfordshire but are in the process of buying a vet practice in Hampshire which will mean moving down there.
We love animals and in the absence of children, I have animals who I treat like surrogate children. There is Maureen - a small brown terrier crossbreed who we rescued at age 18 months (she's now 7) and Teddy - a 2 year old cavalier king charles spaniel who we got to keep Maureen company (it worked - they're inseparable). We have Henry - a ginger tom cat who is 14 and who I've had since a kitten (he sprays in the house despite being neutered and drives Pat NUTS!) and our latest acquisition - Lottie - a 5 month old kitten who is gorgeous!!

My mum is Sue - 60 earlier this year. She owns a horse called Paddy who is 6 and who my mum is obessed about. I used to have a horse but when he died, I didn't get another and just ride Paddy when I have time. Last year, my mum had breast cancer and now that she's had the all-clear, she's gone mad living every day like it's her last - and why not??? Mum & Dad live in my home town of High Wycombe and she works part time at the local vets as branch manager.
My Dad is Stan who is 63. He is a sales manager for MFI and is counting every minute of the next 18 months until he can retire!!! He is into classic motorbikes and has a 1960's triumph which he takes out for a spin when the weather is fine - all clad in his black leather gear! (A sight to behold, I can tell you!!)
My parents have recently bought a caravan, a 4 wheel drive car and a trailer for the horse and it's been all go with trips here and there with the new "rig"

My best friend is Sonia. We have been friends since we were 10 (26 years!!!) She also lives in High Wycombe, so I spend a lot of time driving to Wycombe to see my mum & dad and Sonia. Sonia got married 6 weeks after me and Pat, but it didn't work out and nearly 3 years ago, she split from her husband. Since then, there's been no new man to speak of and she's very low about being 36 soon and on her own. She works as a contractor assessing housing benefit which she hates and doesn't help with her general state of mind.

I have 2 brothers. The oldest is Phil and is 33, the youngest is Paul who is 27. Phil has recently aplit up with Helen (who I will mention later) and Paul has bought Helen out and moved into the house with Phil (and Paul's girlfriend has also moved in) Phil is a manager for a printing company and is forever flying backwards & forwards to Kuala Lumpar as he currently has a contract for the Malaysian government. Paul is a child prodigy who knows nothing about life except computers and computer games. (he STILL rings my mum & dad if his car needs to go to the garage and my mum & dad sort it out for him!!!) He works in London writing and designing computer games for huge amounts of money. His girlfriemnd, Alice, is also a genius who at 27 is still a student, studying maths, physics and other really difficult subjects - a bit above me, I'm afraid.

My next best friend is Lynsey who is 30. She also lives in High Wycombe (are you seeing a theme, yet?) We've been friends for 18 years, since we kept our horses at the same yard in the late 80's/early 90's. Lynsey is a graphic designer and she is engaged to Mark who is 39 and is a SAAB salesman. I like him, but Pat doesn't and he thinks Mark patronises Lynsey. Lynsey doesn't seem to mind, so it doesn't bother me - it makes getting together as a 4 awkward, though.

Helen is my other good friend. I got friendly with her when she started going out with Phil. They split earlier this year but we are still in touch. Sonia & Helen are also friends because they're both single and both live in Wycombe so they go out "on the pull" together. Helen is a recruitment consultant in London and loves her job! (lucky thing)

Theresa is my friend who I used to work with. She now lives in Bournemouth and we have a lot in common because she's into horses. She doesn't have children and is happy being single - she's never had a boyfriend in the 8 years that I've known her (mind you - I have a suspicion that she fancies Pat because she seems to "light up" when she talks to him - probably more to do with free vet treatment for the horse than anything else, though! ) I'm visiting her in a few weeks time and taking Paddy the horse with me.

Pat & I have a lot of friends who we see less often who are mainly Pat's friends and who we see as a couple. The ones we see the most are Ross & Liz. Ross is a vet and Liz is a solicitor. Pat met Ross at University and they live in North Wales on a smallholding. We are the most comfortable with them because they don't have children, either. About 6 years ago, Liz had breast cancer and only had a 20% chance of making it through 5 years. Luckily she did, but the chemo has meant that she can't ever have children. Being with her makes me realise that we're quite lucky, really.

James & Jess are our other friends who we see as a couple. I suppose you would call James Pat's best friend as he was best man at our wedding and Pat was best man at his. They live in London. He works as a journalist for the Daily Mail and she works for Channel 4 (so - proper media people!) They had a baby in February so it's a bit awkward for me - being barren and all that. We were supposed to be going to see them today, in fact, but Pat isn't well with a cold so I think we're going to cancel.

I think I'll leave it there. There's a lot more I could say about these people and a lot more people I could talk about, but these are the main ones. There's also Pat's family, but I'll talk about them another time.

Sarah
xx

Finally moving on

I'm finding it very difficult not to keep going back to my old infertility forum where all my "friends" are still having treatment. But I must move on and I must think to the future.

Therefore, I am going to finish my old diary and carry on with this one. (I haven't had time to personalise this one much yet but will do it as soon as I can)

In that regard, I have joined a new website which specialises in infertility and they have a board called "living child free" which I have today posted on. I feel much more comfortable there and as things are at the moment, I can't imagine being anything but child free for the near future.

Will update some more very soon.

Sarah
xx

An introduction

MONDAY

I have decided to start a blog because my online journal is making me feel a bit of a fraud. I started a journal (or diary as we say in England) on a parenting website to record my journey through infertility and (as I hoped) to parenthood. Things have changed in my life recently and we have stopped the fertility treatment for now - and gave up ttc ages ago. On this particular website, all the diaries are clubbed together as "pregnancy diaries" which has never been correct for me, but I hoped that it would end up one.

Being amongst a load of pregnancy diaries just isn't for me any longer, but I find keeping the journal very cathartic and therefore, I am starting this blog.

Thanks for reading.

Sarah
xx