Life's a roller coaster

It has been a stressful week.  I have been faxing documents, taking conference calls, and getting woken up at 4 am by nervous financial advisors from half-way around the world.  It all sounds very whirl-wind exciting, but is actually just incredibly exhausting.  We take possession of our property on Monday and have been getting everything set up for that.  There is just so much... to do, to pay for, to set up.  It all becomes a bit much sometimes.

They have these television shows here where couples (usually English) decide to move to another country and set up a business.  Most of the time, the people are completely unprepared for what they are getting into.  There will be an accountant couple who decide to move to the south of France and set up an organic farm/bed and breakfast in order to spend more time with their family.  As you watch the couples go hopelessly through the many, many trials and tribulations of figuring out what they are doing, a narrator comments (in a snide tone) on how they have forgotten all about key issues.  We used to snort at their ineptitude...  

Yeah.  My life has become one of those episodes. 

Well, ok.  It's not actually that bad.  I mean, we know what we are doing as far as a vineyard goes, but all this business/legal stuff... not to mention the huge (to me) amounts of money that we are dealing with at the moment... and the amount of debt that we are taking on... it's enough to make you want to curl up in the fetal position with a nice bottle of... well, anything!  There is just so much for us to learn and we feel so stupid when we make mistakes or forget something.  For example, I had totally forgotten that we had already payed a deposit on the property (Yay!  Extra money!!!), then was reminded two days later that we have to pay GST (Crap!  You mean we need to pay more?!).  Fortunately, the GST is only slightly more than the deposit was, so we have everything we need... but I was really pleased that we had some extra money for those few days.

That example actually says so much about how things went this week.  Highs and lows.  Something great would happen, followed by something really crap... or visa versa.  So, I guess things are balancing out, but I'm just really worn thin by it all.  

However... I feel so very grateful that we have such great people working with us.  The solicitors that we are using in both Napier and Nelson seem so on top of everything and really looking out for our best interests.  I know that is what lawyers are supposed to do, but you don't always feel that way.  We feel it.  We also have this amazing bank manager who seems to be moving heaven and earth for us.  And these guys really believe in us.  We need that right now.   

Greg is coming up on Wednesday for a week!  I am SO looking forward to seeing him.  It seems like every time we talk on the phone, there is some other issue that needs dealing with.  He's great as a partner in crime (You and me against the world, baby!), but I really just want him here as my husband for a bit... for a nice cuddle.

Sporadic posting

Sorry for not posting much over the past month.  That's probably how things will be going for a while with this blog.  Just rest assured, if we're not posting there probably isn't much going on.

So, what is going on?  Greg has now moved down to Nelson while Burg and I remain with the house.  The housing market has really slowed here.  There is no telling how long it will take to sell the place.  Still, we are hopeful.  We had three viewings this week, after a month of no one looking at all!  Of course, one of the people set to view the house drove by and canceled the appointment after seeing our driveway.  (It is rather steep, but not that bad.  Wimp!)  But one of the other families seem interested... we'll see.

Greg is busy meeting with lawyers and accountants as we get closer to our possession date for the land.  He feels very much like a fish out of water.  I usually handle these sort of things, but this is all new territory for both of us.  Fortunately, we have some very knowledgeable and helpful friends at EIT who teach just this subject (Agribusiness) and they have given us some excellent advice/background information.  I'm planning on baking up a storm over the next week to shower them with thanks and scones.

Other than that, Burgess is currently on school holiday for two weeks.  He has many sleep-overs and play-dates planned - which is fine with me.  I can always send the boys outside if they get too load.  They'll play in the park across the street for hours - making forts, spying on people walking the trails, shooting down imaginary bad-guys.  It's the way school holidays should be spent.