I am still here.....

It has been a very, very long time since I posted anything *slap wrists*, so thought that I would just pop my head in to say that I am still alive. I have also not looked at any other blogs since I last posted, so lots to catch up on.

Anyway, Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Oahu

Have been back a few weeks now and only now have had five mins to myself to add some pics of our fantastic holiday to Oahu Hawaii. We arrived to get our flights on time but discovered when we went into the terminal that United had changed terminals about four weeks previous. We trotted across to the other terminal with time to spare and found our check-in desks. They could not find us at the self service desks so we were sent to the usual desks. That was when we were told that the travel agent had not confirmed our tickets with the agents so the airline had to cancel our tickets!! I felt sick. The lovely lady at check-in then took us to the sales desk. In the following hour OH and United tried to get us on a flight. OH had not luck but thankfully United did. We were put on stand by for a flight to LA and then a connecting flight to Oahu. Thankfully we got on that flight but we had to run for it!! Not the best start, but even being up for over 24 hours it was well worth it when we arrived. It is beautiful and the weather is fantastic.

2 Days And Counting..

Wooooooo, hoooooo!! We are off to sunny Hawaii on Wednesday. I cannot wait. Most of the ironing and packing has been done. Just a few odds and ends to finish. Not sure how the cats and dog are going to take being away for so long. Bella can be a real miserable so and so. Poor Azlan is bound to be given a hard time lol!

Olivia is back from camp and had a fantastic time. However I think she had a better time last year. No pics unfortunately. OH and I got her a new bed, wardrobe, desk, lights etc when she was away as a surprise. She loves it and now spends all of her time in it!!

All Off....

For now anyway. The market is so bad at the mo that we have taken the house off the market. We dropped the price to practically what we paid for it three years ago and had one viewing and even they were not even on the market. If we had sold the house at that price we would not have been able to buy what we wanted in Italy. Being sensible about it, we have decided to hang on until the market picks up and maybe start paying off the mortgage early in the mean time. It still is hugely disappointing =-( In the long run I know we are doing the right thing.

A couple of weeks ago OH went to Italy for six days on business. Yeah right!! The first day he arrived the chap he was doing business with did not fancy doing any work so they spent the afternoon in Venice. Tough life!! I cannot complain as he brought me back two gorgeous bracelets. He also went to watch the World Superbike at San Marino. I am clearly in the wrong line of work!!

The children broke up for the summer holidays on Thursday. They are already driving me mad!! Olivia is off to camp tomorrow for a week and then we are all off to Hawaii. I cannot wait. However I am not looking forward to the flight but I cannot get round that. While Olivia is at camp I am planing a few days out for Amber and Luca =-)

Still Here

We are still waiting for our second quote to come back. Fingers crossed, it should be ready Monday or Tuesday next week. I had a call from the estate agent and they have a viewing for us on Monday. I am not holding my breath. I almost cannot wait for the contract to be up and at least then I will know either way if we are selling this year or not. It is a real pain not knowing.

OH spent last Sunday rearranging the rear garden. It had to be done as the play house was making the back of the garage damp. So he has moved the playhouse, taken down the chicken run that he put up and put the original Eglu run back on. He has also had to move a couple of sleepers. 15 bags of bark later, hey presto!!

Belated 1 Year Anniversary

Well I have been doing this blog now for just over a year and we are still no closer to moving to Italy =-( Patience is a virtue as they say. I am trying to be optimistic about it all. I spoke to a friend of a friend who has a friend who moved her family to France (get all that!!). She has four children and they settled in really well. I think they were 12, 9, 7 and 3 when they moved. That has always been a worry for me, that Olivia will be to old to adjust to the new language etc if we leave the move any longer. However I feel a bit better about that now. Besides it is all out of our hands at the mo. We have decided that we are defiantly not going to extend the contract with the estate agents at the end of the month.

We are currently looking to extend and have had one quote back of £47'000 +vat!!!!! We would be removing several limbs to go with that particular contractor! We are now waiting for our second quote which we should get back next week. Life is never cheap!

On a very sad note, I had to have Henrietta put to sleep as she took a real turn for the worse. It was not fair hanging onto her. The vet I saw who owns chickens herself found a lump that the previous vet missed. OH has said that I can get some more. The breeder that we got Henrietta from has hatched some this year so I will be going back to him. OH has also said that I can get a Cube from Omlet once we have rearranged the garden, which holds more chickens then the Eglu. OH has chosen an orange one, which will go lovely with the greenery of the garden =-)

Poorly girl

My fav chicken Henrietta is very poorly =-( She has not been herself for a while. Lethargic and generally not herself. I have wormed her as she had a runny bum, treated her for mites just in case. She was wobbly on Friday so I decided to take her to the vets. He thinks that it is some sort of tummy bug and has given me a week of antibiotics. If this does not work then I think I am going to have to let her go. The thought of that just brings tears to my eyes. I am soooo attached to her. She is such a lovely natured chicken. I have had her since she was a young chick.

On more depressing news, we are still no closer to selling the house =-( The market is getting worse, not better. We are having a builder round next week to measure up and see if our plans to extend are possible. If we do manage to pull it off then i think that when it comes to sell it will be more attractive as it will have a dining room and large playroom. We will only do this if we do not sell by the time our contract runs out. OH and I are really looking forward to our holiday, we need it lol!