Settling In

It's been almost a month since the last update and it's been a busy one! First off the girls are home and for the most part doing great! We signed the paperwork for our house on Oct 30th, so when we picked them up from the quarantine we were able to bring them by the new house to see what they thought. They absolutely love it!! Thank goodness, cause they were the primary factor in us picking this house! I can't tell you how many times a day they ask to go out to the backyard. It's almost annoying, but I know they are super excited to have the freedom to run around again! Not too mention the space inside the house. It's a bit different from the place in Singapore.

The house we are now in is the same one I told you about last time. It took almost 2 weeks of going back and forth but we were happy with everything in the end. It took about a week for us to actually stay here, but we wanted to wait until all of the shipments arrived and most of the furniture was set up and the cable was on. The Internet has just been connected (it took 3 weeks for them to turn it on!!) which is why this update is a little late. Here are some photos of the house and the girls enjoying the backyard!

(Front view and part of backyard area)


(Budder on the patio and Punkin in the grass)


We received 2 shipments for this move. One with our items from Singapore and another from Houston that we had sent over with more of our furniture. Unfortunately this move of our stuff didn't go as well as last time and we had several items that were broken and even a few that were stolen! We are in the process of making a claim with insurance and hopefully everything works out. I'm not concerned about the broken items being replaced (as I have proof of those damages) but the missing items are another story. It's their word against mine, but I do have the inventory sheet that we filed with the insurance company to get the policy before we moved. I am afraid that the moving company may come back and say that there is no proof those items were actually in the shipment, and they would be correct. They don't take an inventory of every item, only a general description of what is in the box (i.e. glassware, shoes etc.) as they pack. You are suppose to go around and watch them, but you can't watch 8 people at one time! Guess we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. I don't have my hopes up.

Other than that things are going great. Jamie and I are really enjoying the area and things really feel like home! He is actually away on business right now (Singapore and Thailand) but will be back in about a week. Looks like I'll be spending Thanksgiving on my own! Although I haven't had any luck finding a turkey anyway! Everything for my nursing license has been approved and at this point we are just awaiting the results of my English test, which should arrive in a few weeks.

On another note, (some of you have already heard the news) but for those that don't know Jamie and I are expecting a little girl! I'm sure you are thinking "I didn't even know you were pregnant" but don't feel bad. No one did. We found out shortly after we arrived back in Singapore from our home trip and decided that we wanted to tell our parents in a special way. In order to do it the way we planned we needed to know the sex of the baby so we decided to wait to make the announcement. All grandparents seem to be thrilled as are the expecting mom and dad! We have decided to name her Kylie and she should be arriving around the end of April. So far everything is going really well so hopefully it continues!

Other than that it's life as usual around the McMillan household. We've started the count down for our trip home for Christmas and it couldn't come fast enough! Only 28 more days to go and I'll be sitting at the new Buffalo Wild Wings in Pensacola giving Kylie a taste of some real food!

Australian Update

It's been a while since we've done an update but things here have been pretty busy. We've been looking at houses, getting the lay of the land and adjusting to our new surroundings. So far everything has been great, and we're really enjoying the area.

We bought a car for me a little over a week ago and it's been so nice being able to get around on my own! I'm starting to get the "driving" thing down, and I only hit a minimal amount of curbs these days! We call it my little "go cart" because it's so small. I got a 2009 Toyota Corolla hatchback. It's so cute! Funny thing is, we paid almost the same for this car as we did my Mazda 6 back in Texas (well, about $2000 less for this car) but my Mazda was fully loaded. I can't think of one option we could have added to it, and my little Corolla only has power windows, for the front seats! Funny how the price of things can vary so much depending on where you are in the world.

We've also made an offer on a house and are in the middle of negotiations as of now. Hopefully that will get settled soon, as we just found out today that both of our shipments (one from Singapore and one from Texas) have cleared customs and are ready for delivery.

I've been to see the girls once a week since we arrived and they seem to be doing well. We will pick them up this Saturday morning and I can't wait!! I miss them soooo much I can't stand it!

Guess our big news for this update is that Jamie celebrated his 29th birthday this past Sunday. Unfortunately for him he had to have a wisdom tooth taken out on Friday, so he didn't feel too much liking celebrating! The dentist decided he didn't need to be put to sleep to have it taken out and well, lets just say the job she did was less than par! Way less!! Jamie was in lots of pain after it was done and all day on Saturday. Jamie never takes pain medication, and by Friday night he was begging for it! His poor face was so swollen, and the inside of his mouth looks like a bomb went off! His stitches look horrible, and we're still trying to figure out why she cut the area she did to get that tooth out. Not gonna lie, it looks pretty bad!

For his birthday I decided to get him a new set of golf clubs, since he will hopefully be getting a membership over here. But, since he was feeling so bad he really wasn't up to going to pick any out. We were able to go out to eat on Sunday though, and enjoy the ice cream cake I got for him that night. Hopefully we'll be able to get his gift this weekend and he'll be able to take advantage of this great weather and get some use out of them.

Hopefully my next update will be about us moving into our house. We've got the beach house for a few more weeks, but it would be nice to have everything moved in and set up before we have to be out of here.

We're here!!

All 4 of the McMillan's are now in Perth, safe and sound. The weather has been great. Around 70 - 75 and sunny during the day and in the 50's, cool and breezy at night. It feels a little weird having "winter weather", but I must say it's a nice change from 85 and humid as hell!

We were able to see the girls on Tuesday and they seem to be doing well. Budder is a little stressed out and has managed to lick her top lip raw. I think part of it was not having a "baby" in the crate with her so the girls up at the quarantine were going to take care of that. The people up there seem to be pretty nice, and they just adore Punkin and Budder!

Jamie and I have been busy trying to get things going. We've got some house appointments scheduled for this afternoon, and we spent yesterday afternoon looking at cars for me and getting info on cell phones. I think Jamie is adjusting well to driving on the wrong side, but I still get pretty nervous about it. I've managed to only drive twice, and that was basically in the neighborhood going to eat and to the grocery store. I can't really explain it, but it just feels wrong! I'm sure I'll get used to it but for now I'll let Jamie drive.

The area we are staying in is gorgeous! We're in the Cottesloe Beach area, which is one of the beaches we visited when we were here in February. With a one minute walk I am at the beach and the views are just amazing! We'll probably start taking pictures this weekend to show everyone.

So far the move has been good but we've got sooo much to do! It will be a busy couple weeks ahead but hopefully they go by fast!

Last night in Singapore

It's been a busy week, but we've managed to get everything taken care of! Tuesday was the last vet appointment, and instead of it being the basic check up it was scheduled to be Punkin ended up having amoebic dysentery....AGAIN! It started Monday and I was so afraid the symptoms wouldn't clear up before she had to leave and that would have just made the trip that much more difficult for her. Luckily, we started her on antibiotics Tuesday morning and she was doing much better by Wednesday night.

Thursday was a very LONG and EMOTIONAL day for me, but I somehow managed not to drive Jamie completely mad! The girls and I left Thursday morning around 9:30 to head to the Changi Quarantine Station for their inspection and kennel sealing. I walked them around while they were getting the paperwork settled and they were sealed in the crates around 10:45. We then went to the agent that would weight them and get them on the plane. Their flight was scheduled to depart at 2:20 with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. They landed in Perth around 11:30 that night, but because of the time they were not taken to the quarantine station in Perth until 6 am the next morning! They had to spend almost 24 hours sealed in their crates, how miserable!! They had a very long journey to say the least. I am very excited to say that they did arrive safe and sound and when we spoke with the lady in Perth she said they were adjusting well. She kept talking about how "cute" and "adorable" everyone thought they were, and that made me feel much better. We have an appointment to see them and take them for a walk on Tuesday and I can't wait!

So, now we're in the hotel we stayed in when we first visited Singapore. The condo is packed, cleaned and the keys turned in. All that's left for us to do is board the plane in the morning and start our new adventure in Perth! We're excited, but we know there's a lot that needs to be done in the next few weeks. I'll try my best to keep everyone as updated as I can!

My husband, Mr. Fixit

Things around the McMillan household have surprisingly been going pretty smoothly. The rabies antibody test results arrived last Thursday and everything was good. Jamie got the paperwork filled out by the government vet in Singapore Thursday afternoon and had everything sent off to Australia on Friday morning. Monday was a holiday for us, but not Australia, so we received out last approval on Monday afternoon!! Whoo Hoo, Australia here we come, finally!!

As of now everything is in order. The girls flights have been booked and confirmed. Quarantine space booked and confirmed, and we're down to our last vet appointment before they go (which will be on Tuesday). We had a very relaxing weekend and by Monday night I thought it would be smooth sailing until we left.

I must have forgotten that usually when I run into a streak were everything is going well something bad usually happens to knock me back down. A few weeks ago Jamie's mom was telling me that she discovered a new way to clean our diamond jewelry. She heard somewhere that if you soak them in straight vodka it would do the trick. She tried it and it worked, so I thought I would try it out too.

Monday morning I filled up a small glass with absolute vodka and and began to soak most of my diamonds in it. I had my wedding set of course, three sets of diamond stud earrings (1.5 ct total, 1 ct total, and .5 ct total) as well as my 3 stone necklace. That night before bed Jamie said "don't you think you should get these out of the vodka now?". My reply was " I was going to do it in the morning". I should have listened to myself and done it in the morning!

Since he had brought it up I thought "I should just go ahead and do it". So... I took the glass into the bathroom and filled the sink up with hot water. I made sure the stopper was in and locked, and poured the glass of vodka and jewelry into the sink. The water was off at this point, and I was going to start rinsing the pieces off in the water. At the exact moment I put both of my hands in there the stopper popped up and everything started going down the drain!!

I must have let out a scream or something, I don't really remember. But the next thing I knew Jamie was in the bathroom asking me what was going on. He must have seen my fingers down the drain and the horror on my face cause the first thing he said after that was "what were you thinking?". We took out of the sink what I was able to save and the whole time I was getting a lecture on why you don't put your jewelry in the sink. It was at that moment I noticed my wedding band was gone and I started to cry. He asked what I was missing so I began the task of telling him. My wedding band, and 2 studs - one from the 1.5ct set and one from the .5ct set. I could care less about the earrings, but the wedding band I was devastated over. Not only was it my original, but the only way it could be replaced would be to have one custom made, as they don't make my set anymore and the place we bought it was now closed! It would never be the same!

Of course, I start to cry harder as it sets in and this makes Jamie feel bad! He stopped the lecture (as if I didn't feel bad enough without it) and started looking for tools to get into the drain. Some of you may think that this really shouldn't be an issue. It's a pretty simple task, assuming you have a safety catch that everything goes into if it happens to go down the drain. But, you have to realize we are in Singapore and nothing over here is as easy as it seems.

First, you can't see our pipes by looking under the sink. The sink is encased in a marble cabinet that is closed on all sides. There are four screws in the front panel, so we thought it would be pretty easy to get it off and see what was behind it. After we got the screws off we started to wonder why it wasn't falling off. Well, the reason - it was sealed on with grout!! Who does that? We started looking around and found a small hole where the cabinet meets the counter that you could see in, if you stuck your head in there. Jamie had to stick his arm in there and blindly figure out how to take the pipes apart, with one hand. There was no way to turn the water off (that we could find anyway), so we didn't really know what was going to happen once he got them apart.

Eventually, he got the pipes off and luckily it did have a safety catch. We were able to recover all of the pieces of my missing jewelry, including the wedding band. I was so excited I started to cry again.

Morel of the story, I will never take my jewelry into the bathroom again... unless I am wearing it!!

New travel plans

So, today was suppose to be the day that we put the girls on a plane for Australia. As most of you know, that didn't really pan out.

Until last Friday I thought things were once again moving along. We organized all of the new stuff that needed to be done and just when I thought things were going well I called the quarantine in Perth to set up the new date and I was informed that within the last week they had become completely booked until the 19th of October! I gave the very sweet and understanding lady my sob story and she squeezed them into a spot for Oct 8th instead. This was not ideal but would have been okay until we phoned the import people in Australia and they informed us that they would only extend the blood work up to 45 days (instead of the original 30). This meant we HAD to get them out of Singapore by the 5th of Oct, or they would have to go through having the bloods done...again! It took 4 trys to get blood from Punkin last time!

So once again the quarantine was called. Jamie gave them our story once again and managed to get us in on the 1st. (Sigh of relief!) Now that everything is somewhat settled we are basically in limbo waiting on paperwork to be approved and/or arrive.

As of now the girls are scheduled to leave on Oct 1st at 2:20 in the afternoon. The movers will be here to pack up starting that morning and will be finished the afternoon of the 2nd. Jamie and I will fly out on the 5th, so we can tie up any loose ends if needed before we head out. I hate that we won't be travelling with the girls, but since the quarantine rules are a little more strict, and I wouldn't be able to check on them at the airport anyway there really is no need for me to go. I can tell you it will be a long day after they're off, as I won't stop worrying until I know they've landed safely!

My last day of work is Thursday and after that I'll start getting things ready around here. Hopefully there will be no more delays and we'll be in Perth in a few weeks!

Update

After speaking with a few more people in Australia yesterday we've got a plan.

I can fly the girls thru Malaysia and still do a 30 day quarantine if...

They have a rabies vaccination done within six months of export
They have a rabies antibody test done within six months of export and the results show they have sufficient antibodies
I apply for an extension for the original blood work to be good for 45 days instead of 30, and it gets approved
I apply for another certificate explaining why they have to fly that way and it is approved to be an acceptable reason

We have a lot of things in the air right now, but at least there's a chance. I had to leave work yesterday to take the girls back to the vet for their vaccination and blood test. The problem with the blood test is that Singapore does not perform the test here, so they wanted to send it to the UK where it would have taken 4 weeks. Instead, I contacted the lab in Australia and they have agreed to do the test there. There it is suppose to take only 2-3 weeks.

If one thing gets delayed or does not get approved, we basically have to start over. I believe we have good reason to get the approvals we need from Australia, but if the testing takes longer than planned the extension to 45 days will not matter. We will then have to redo the original test anyway and those test will take an additional 2 weeks to get the results.

At this point we are just happy to have "an option". We will keep everyone updated on the progress, and hopefully the continuation of our move!