Big Announcement

Ah, well here goes - end of 'the dream' and we are selling up. Adrian and I and the girls will move back to the uk and my folks will stay here. Before you all panic and start calling the estate agents to try to get away, fear not - we won't be going back to the west country, can't afford it! Not exactly sure where we'll be yet, although we do have an idea in mind. And anyway, it won't be for a long time, bit of a limited market for our kind of place, we think maybe a couple of years (hopefully not any longer).

Apologies for announcing like this, but there are so many of you to tell (well, a few anyway), it's the easiest way. And besides, I get to find out who's reading the blog or not! I won't go into reasons why here, but if you really want to know the ins and outs, please feel free to pm me and I'll explain.

Small announcement

I know that there are occasions when I might put my hubby down a bit on here, but it's only ever done in jest and let's face it, I'm don't exactly do myself any favours either. However, I would just like to take the opportunity to tell the world that he is in fact a wonderful hubby and I don't know what I'd do without him. And I thank him for all he has done and for all he has to put up with (not me, I'm wonderful, truth be told).

Big announcement to follow in next few days......

This week

Georgia learnt the word 'Why?'

Isabella asked for her ears to be pierced. ('Mummy, I want holes in my ears' 'No' 'All the other kids have them' 'Who?' 'Enkara' 'Anyone else?' 'Margot' 'Anyone else?' 'Um, no' 'Wait 'til you're older' 'Why?' 'Oh my God, not both of you. I'm going to lie down')

I had been wondering when these events would occur, not sure that I deserved for them both to happen at the same time.

Added up our outgoings and projected income. One is higher than the other. It's not the income.

Compared my 'average' weekly shop this week, with that of the same articles (or very similar) available online at Tescos. €20,00 cheaper at Tescos! That's €1040,00 per year!

Adrian and I actually went out for a meal of an evening. I think the last time was on our wedding anniversary, months and months ago. Very nice it was too. Steak and chips, can't go wrong! (Actually mine was bison, Adrian had the cow. Talking of which, they have slightly different chocolate items over here at easter. I saw a chocolate cow in the shop the other day and the thought occured to me, I don't know if I would be too happy to recieve that as a gift. I think it could be misinterpreted).

Saw the first swallows. I saw one, Adrian saw two. Or maybe the same one twice. Anyway, Adrian is sure that this is two weeks earlier than last year (he thinks it was second week of April) and appararently this means we are in for a good summer. Sincerely hope so.

Still no piece for the kitchen cupboard. We go into the shop every week now and every time they say 'next week'.

Failing at frugality

We recently changed our phone and internet package, which provided hours of fun in french and I believe I may have mentioned it in passing already. Anyway, four reasons for changing it: to be able to provide Wi-Fi for our guests (they want it all these days - whatever happened to going on holiday to get away from it all?), to have faster internet access, to have free phone calls abroad and mainly, of course, to save money.

With this new package we are supposedly saving ourselves approx €15,00 per month. However, setting it all up proved not to be straightforward and involved several long phone calls to the helpline, on our mobile, which is pay-as-you-go (as we hardly ever use it, so normally this is cheaper for us, except when making long calls to helplines). The phone calls cost us approx €30,00. It also involved buying a long length of ethernet cable to use purely to set it all up, because it wouldn't set up on Wi-Fi. The cable cost us €15,00. We've also had to buy a range expander in order to boost the signal around the grounds (it seems that Wi-Fi does not like three foot thick stone walls and large trees) at a cost of approx €60,00. It will therefore be 7 months before we actually see any savings on the new package. Nothing like being frugal.

Georgie on her 'new' bike. (Bought from friend, together with the helmet. We were going to spray it pink, but the paint would cost more than the bike, so that's not going to happen!)

At the beach in March

A little bit of snow in February

Spring! Well, almost anyway.

These pictures are supposed to be further down, but I can't figure out how to do it, I just keep deleting them, so I've given up!

Well, spring seems to be on it's way, the daffs are starting to come out and all the bulbs and the seeds and what have you are out in the shops. I've put the potatoes out to chit (I think that's the term) and bought a few seeds that I don't have (mostly I'm going to use what ever's left over from last year, I think you're supposed to by new each year, but what a waste of money when I've already got some.) I was looking back through this blog the other day when I noticed that I started planting out the carrots on 14 March last year (a year ago today), but I think I'll wait a bit this year, it's been very cold and damp.

I did eventually manage to find some sweet pea seeds the other day and Georgia and I planted a few up in some toilet rolls to start them off. She was quite disappointed the next morning when she found they hadn't grown yet. I'd like a bit more colour in the garden this year. When we were in the UK we had a lovely flowery front garden, really nice to come home to at the end of the day and I do miss that, so hopefully the sweet peas will add a bit of colour and attract a few butterflies and bees maybe.

We also had a couple of old ceramic belfast sinks lying around the place (see photos). Unfortunately they are very shallow and not easy to plant. They used to have alpines in but they don't do it for me; I tried salads, but they didn't work, so we splashed out (€5,00) on some violas, hopefully they will be happy there and again, provide a bit of colour.

Although we've added an extra raised bed for this year, I don't think we're going to fill it. The winter has been very wet and it seems to drive the moles away, so no mole hills to provide soil for my veggies. They will be back at some time, (they never seem to go far, perhaps it's the top facilities that we offer here) so the beds will get filled eventually, but I've had to re-think the plans for this year a bit at not grow as much as I would have liked; but whatever, it will be more than last year.

New Car

I just have to say that I do like our new car. In fact I never knew that it was possible to have such a good ride in a car (in the driving sense anyway). I'm still having issues driving round build up areas because of the size and being on the wrong side of the car, but out on the open road as it were is very nice indeed. I always thought that cars were things that got you from A to B and nothing else, but now I think I might have to go out driving just for the sake of it - be one of those annoying Sunday drivers, with nowhere to go, just enjoying the drive, no idea that there's ten cars lining up behind them. Well, that wouldn't actually happen over here, because french folk are bred with an inability to stay behind another car, they always have to be infront and there is nowhere they wouldn't overtake.

We keeping finding new things that it has and does, which is most exciting, although it doesn't have a handbrake or a key, but apparently that is Modern Technology and perfectly ok. In fact, got in the old car the other day and was revving it so much, wondering why it wasn't going anywhere, when I realised that I needed to take the handbrake off. We did check before we bought it however, that it's not a completely french car and that it does have indicators all round. They are optional extras on cars over here, and most of them don't seem to have them. But it's ok, because they know where they're going.

The new car is still a bit flash for me, I keep thinking that really I should be some gorgeous immaculate woman driving it, not some haggered old mother running late on the school run in comfortable shoes and practical clothing and paint-stained hands. (Current colour of choice - bright aqua-blue. I'm painting the wall in the garden of one of our gites. We really wanted a darker shade, but you can't get blue exterior masonary paint, so had to dye some white paint, but it can't be more than 5% dye in the paint, hence we have the lighter, brighter shade. I'm sure it will be fine when it's got some plants in front of it.)

Still waiting for a call from the DIY shop to say they have the part in for the cupboard. Tomorrow is Friday; I expect I shall be popping in for a chat.

Yesterday we were walking past a jewellery shop and Adrian offered to buy me something 'sparkly'. (I think he'd forgotten to take his meds in the morning.) Actually, it was lovely to be asked, but I refused on account of having turned into Mrs Practical Person these days, saying that there are far better things to spend money on for me (my current wish-list: a bike, a greenhouse, a bathroom) or even has he thought of saving it? Luckily I always carry a paper bag around with me for such occasions as this when he starts to hyperventilate at my radical 'money-saving' ideas.

Good God! We've got a new computer with a new screen which isn't bust like the previous one. I've just looked at my blog page - it's a bit bright! Why didn't anyone tell me?! I'll sort it now.

Ordered a new kitchen for one of the gites recently. Well, a few units anyway, it's not very big, although it's costing a small fortune for what we've got. Anyway, placed the order at the end of January and was told three weeks for delivery. Three weeks came and went and heard nothing. Went into the shop to discover that they had lost the order. Eventually they found it, then they couldn't find the items, so I had to go out back into their warehouse to show them which were our items. Then they said couldn't deliver that week, would have to be the following week. Yesterday they turned up, five weeks after placing order. Tried to put it all together today. It must be the worst flat-pack ever, the instructions are terrible, the screws are the wrong length, there's no dowels, no holes screwed where they should be, and so on. Worst of all however, is the lack of a side panel on the tall cupboard, which means we can't put the cupboard together and can't therefore put the kitchen together.

Went back to the store this afternoon, expecting the usual french shoulder shrug of dismissal, but the guy was actually quite helpful and is ordering the part 'urgently'. Well, I did tell him that the kitchen was for our only gite and we had people arriving in two weeks and so it was a desperate situation. A little white lie, but we can't afford to wait any longer, we need the kitchen done so that I can update the photos and advertising and also, the weather should be getting warmer soon (fingers crossed) at which point we need to stop working inside and start sorting out the mess that is the garden. He says he'll have it sorted next week....

Lady Gaga rocks! Why did it take me so long to find out?

A day at the beach

After far too much rain of late, we finally had a day of sunshine an little while back (although the wind blew), so we took the girls to the coast for the day. We had a lovely lunch of galettes (savoury pancakes) and crepes at Le Croisic, a lovely little harbour town, and then went to the beach for the afternoon. Managed to find a fairly sheltered little beach and off we went rock pooling and collecting shells. It was great to get away for the day, have a change of scene and spend some time with the girls. Then Adrian, who just happened to have brought a large bucket with him, went off collecting mussels (and I found a clam). We took them home in our new and spacious estate car (what a joy to have a car with room to move inside and space in the boot to put loads of unecessary stuff in). Then the following evening Adrian cooked them up and we ate them with a bit of french bread. Am pleased to report that they were very nice, very sweet and I think all better for having been free!