IN a matter of hours, my life has been transformed. Again.

Today, the children started at their new school. We secured a house to rent last week and the next job to tackle was to find a school for the boys. Just a stone's throw from our new abode is a relatively new school, full of vibrancy and, well, newness.

We put in a phone call at 2.15pm on Friday expressing an interest in signing up the boys as new starters and by 3.40pm we were in Frankston kitting them both out in the school's colours. The uniform came as a bit of a shock to me. Always one to choose muted shades over any other, I was both shocked and stunned to see them come out the fitting room in cobalt blue and tangerine.

And this isn't any old tangerine. It's full blown tangerine. In fact, more tangerine than any tangerine I've ever seen in the fruit aisles of Somerfield.

$300 lighter, we left the store with two bags and headed off to hunt for shoes. Then stationery. Then lunchboxes. Then cash for next week's two school trips - the first to learn about the Aboriginees followed by a two day course on beach studies.

The house is a different place altogether now. It's tidy. Organised. And even better ... quiet. Sitting on the balcony, sipping away at a Flat White and looking out to the sea, I'm seeing all sorts of things I've never taken in before and we've been here THREE weeks.

The birds are no longer afraid to perch in the trees in the garden and I just caught a glimpse of a possum on the roof. With the noise of two pesky boys around the place usually, these creatures have kept themselves well hidden.

Understandably so!