Slug Hopscotch

Oh how the British like to talk about the weather! It’s been raining quite a lot this week, so much so that there has been a lot of flooding up north. Anyway I was taking the dog out tonight and had to do hopscotch down the road to avoid the plague of slugs (ewwww!) that the rain had brought out.

On another note, I have been making mental notes of food provisions that I want to stock up on before the big move. I know, I know, it’s a long way off but simple things and all that ;-)

Close but no banana!

Well our offer on the house was declined, which to me was really was no surprise. However we now have two options-

Option 1 Make another offer now of about €15’000 more and if that is accepted we will have to sell our house (with the mortgage financial penalties). Spring/summer is the best time to sell. Not that you would know that it was summer with the way the weather has been recently.

Option 2 Wait for another couple of months (after summer) and put our house on the market with the view to completing in the New Year. With this option we have no penalties and it gives us a chance to save a little more. The only downside is that somebody else might buy the house.

I feel sooo torn. We have put in a second offer that will be put to the owners on Monday, so fingers crossed. Here is a pic of me (with my wonky smile!) in the village that we hope to be living in.

Chicken Pops!

Poor Amber has chicken pox or chicken pops as she calls it! Found them last night just before bed. She seems ok with them. OH told her to be careful otherwise she will start to lay eggs, poor kid! So this morning she went to go back to her room to check for eggs in her bed. I did explain that Dadda was tricking her. It's just me who is going mad being stuck in the house! I have managed to tackle some of my ironing mountain and other household chores. I was only thinking a moment ago that this time last week I was in gorgeous Italy looking at houses *sigh*.

What a difference a day (or two!) makes…..

Packing took two minutes, which was a real novelty. I usually take about a week to pack for the five of us! Going through the airport without the kids was also a real novelty, bliss. Apart from sitting on the runway for about half an hour because we had missed out slot, the flight out was pretty uneventful. We invested in the Italian map for our sat nav a few months ago and used it for the first time. So finding our way was a piece of cake.

We were meant to be viewing three properties on the Saturday but unfortunately one of them was under offer. Having said that, the one that I really wanted to see was still available. The road that the villages are on is single track twisting up the hills, which is about 8km long. Not great for my travel sickness!! The first property was beautiful with loads of original features, which I loved. The second property, which is the one that I really wanted to see, is what I imagined it would be like and more. The views from the property are breathtaking.



It has four bedrooms upstairs, which by UK standards are good sizes. The lounge, dining room and kitchen/diner are all big. The only thing that is small is the bathroom. You cannot have it all! From the front of the property it looks like a normal house but as it sits on the hillside, it goes down another two levels that you cannot see from the front.


The first level below the house has its own (run down) kitchen, enough space to convert two bedrooms and also enough space to have a good-sized bathroom. Perfect for visiting relatives. According to the agent we will have them crawling out of the woodwork wanting to visit us once we have moved!! It has a nice sized terraced garden, plenty of room for my chickens! It also has about 5 hectares of land around the village, which we were unable to see because the owner is not entirely sure of where it is!!!! Lastly it also comes with a stone building at the beginning of the village that might be able to be converted into a little dwelling, perhaps for mother-in-law!! The keys were left with a neighbour so we were able to have a second visit on our own, so we went back the same evening and took lots of pics.

On Sunday we got up, had breakfast and headed to Lucca for the day. We hired a couple of bikes and went for the obligatory ride around the wall! Lucca was also full of antiques markets, which was lovely. So we spent the morning cycling and browsing. We then stopped for a gorgeous lunch before heading to the airport to check-in. After a few wrong turns (the air was blue in the car and the sat nav nearly ended up out of the window!!) we finally found it in time. We boarded our plane in time but to be told that we needed to hurry because the airport is closing in five minutes for two hours because of an air display! Pisa airport is shared with the Italian military. Surprise, surprise, we did not make it and had to be unloaded and wait in the airport. I really felt for the families who had children with them.

So after much deliberation, we made an offer on the house on Monday evening. We are just waiting now to hear if the offer has been accepted or not. Fingers crossed!

Disaster

OH called me this morning having spoken to his Dad, as his Mum has managed to fracture a bone in her shoulder (ouch!). Poor thing spent most of the night in A&E. She was clearing up the bbq that we had at her house earlier in the day and she tripped on the step while going into the house. She is not very good at being immobile. She is determined that we will still go away at the weekend. I just hope she feels better before the weekend. She has said that she will be delegating all the lifting duties to Grandad. I am keeping everything crossed!

Potato & Spoon Race

My middle daughter Amber had her last sports day at Kindergarten on Friday (sniff). I managed to stay for two races before Luca caused trouble and I was forced to leave with one screaming and crying toddler under my arm. When questioned after school, Amber said that she won all her races even the one that she fell over in! The picture is of her and her good friend Edward before the potato and spoon race!?! What happened to the good old-fashioned egg? Anyway she is not sure if she is going to marry Edward or Ben. Decisions, decisions!

I finally told big sister that we have plans to move to Italy and she was not surprised at all and really hopes that it works for us. What a relief. I was not sure how she was going to take it, so all that worrying for nothing. We exchange shoeboxes of gifts by post occasionally and I think the thought of a box of lovely Italian goodies might have swung it!

10 Days & Counting!

Woooooo, hooooooo! OH and I are off to Italy in 10 days time to view three properties. I am sooooo excited that I could burst. It helps that the in-laws are staying at our house to look after the kids and creatures. We have never been away without the kids and I cannot wait (of course I say that in the nicest possible way!). We never had a honeymoon so this is sort of it I suppose.

We are staying in a hotel in Bagni di Lucca and all the properties look to be fairly close by in Motrone, San Romano, cannot remember the last! I will take lots of pics and will post some here. We fly out on the Friday, view the properties on the Saturday and have Sunday to ourselves, bliss...