An Eglu With A View

I am still here.....

2009-01-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

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

2008-09-10T02:36:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-08-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-07-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-21T02:09:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-13T04:52:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

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!

My boy....

2008-05-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Vasco. Here are some recent pictures of him enjoying being out in the field with his best friend Oliver. I am really enjoying him.

Facebook

2008-05-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

OH and I are addicted to Facebook at the mo. Its crazy. We both go on having a look for friends during the day and then again at night. So far I have found my best friend from primary school, who I have not seen for over 20 years!! I am sooo excited about finding her. We hope to meet up over the children's summer holidays. She has two sons, 9 and 2.5. It only feels like yesterday that we were kids wearing dodgy 70s/80s clothes and playing british bulldog!! I do love the internet =-)

Gardening Therapy

2008-05-14T03:05:00.000-07:00

I have just spent the past couple of hours pottering around in the garden, tidying, mowing, de-pooing etc. I am no gardener as I have the brownest fingers and seem to kill every plant in my care!! But as with most things that are OH jobs, he stops doing them and I then seem to adopt them as mine. The therapy has helped this morning as I have spoken to our estate agents.... If we want to sell, the long and short of it is that we need to drop the price again. OH and I are going to chat about it tonight. I must admit I cried a little after getting off the phone, I feel as if everything is against us. The housing market and the Euro *sigh*. Its enough to turn me to chocolate...

On a good note, Olivia turned 9 at the beginning of the month. We got her an iPod Touch (OH idea, not mine) as she was saving for a Nano and a Nintendo Wii and a couple of other bits and pieces. She had a lovely day, apart from having to go to school. Olivia wanted a duck pond cake which a friend makes but I only found out after eating the last piece of it that the poor girl never got to have any. I feel awful, poor thing. We also took her to London to go shopping in Hamley's (its not what I remember as a kid!) and lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. We had a fantastic day. Got a fast train to Waterloo and then a taxi straight to the door of Hamleys. Lunch was a real experience. The restaurant has about 4-5 waterfalls, the ceiling is hanging with plastic foliage and various creatures are hiding about the place. Oh and about every 20 mins there is a thunder storm, thankfully without any rain!! We sat near a huge fish tank and got to watch the fishes over lunch.

My Little Man

2008-04-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

This past week it has dawned on me that my little boy is growing up and fast (sniff). He now calls me Mum instead of Mumma (I think he is far to young to be doing this! lol), he was singing along (in his own funny way) to a song in the car today, his speech is getting better all the time and he is just getting physically bigger. At times as a parent you are wishing they were more independent but at the same time you greave (not sure if that is the right word) for the time when they were babies. Sigh.....

Aloha

2008-04-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

We booked our summer holiday yesterday. TWO weeks in Hawaii, woooooooooo, hoooooooooo! OH really needs it. I am sooooo excited, I feel like a big kid. OH has always said that he would like to take us all there. The only places that I really fancy going to is Hawaii and New Zealand. Roll on August =-)

On another happy note we have a viewing today with a couple who viewed our house on Thursday evening. So we are keeping everything crossed. They are also viewing a couple of others for the second time. However our estate agent said that he did prefer our house out of the three that they are viewing. Lets hope they feel the same.......

Let It Snow.....

2008-04-06T02:12:00.000-07:00

Woke this morning to five inches of snow!!! What is going on? So the kids and I were outside this morning at 7.30am playing in it. When the weather people say that we are going to have snow it usually means a handful of flakes that do not settle. We only ever see this sort of snow when we go skiing. The dog loves it but our eldest cat Bella was not at all impressed. However Azlan seemed to enjoy himself pouncing on the snow and charging through it.

Our open house did not go very well. We had ONE couple turn up. I am not sure if the weather helped, it was chucking it down with rain. I spent the whole day cleaning, dusting etc. Grrrrrrrrr! I even got rid of the kids and animals. However we have had a couple of viewings since then. We are still keeping everything crossed for a buyer.

We had a lovely easter. Olivia more then us as my sister took her to Disneyland Paris with her cousin by eurostar. The rest of us were very jealous. I cannot believe how many rides they went on. They packed so much in. The kids as always got brought too many chocolate eggs. We still have a pile of them. I might melt them down and make some cornflake cakes.

2nd Time Lucky (Fingers Crossed!)

2008-03-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Dropped that kids off at school this morning, came home and spent two hours sorting the house for the estate agents visit!! They looked around the house and seemed quite impressed. They have the same house as ours on there books but on for 10k more. The people who own the other house are in no rush to move so happily over price it. There are some other smaller properties for sale in our estate that will be on for the same price as ours. I am sure we will ruffle a few feathers by pricing ours so competitively. I feel we are just being realistic with the price. I have also decided to do an open day with our house. Never tried that before, what is the worse thing that can happen? The house will not sell that day. At least we would have tried. They took pics and details, just waiting now to check them. OH has just called me with his holiday dates in August, so fingers crossed we hope to be viewing houses that week in Italy….

Once that estate agents left Luca and I had lunch. He then had a nap while I ironed my way through our mountain of clean clothes. I then had to collect the kids from school followed by a trip to the bank and supermarket. Then home and cook the kids dinner. I am pooped.

I rode Vasco three times last week. Bliss. He is lovely to ride and esp comfy with my instructors dressage saddle. Will try and take more pics soon.

Slimming World

2008-02-27T03:33:00.000-08:00

I joined Slimming World early August 2006 (the pic attached was taken in late August 2006. It is a shame that you cannot see the tops of my arms in the picture) because I had had enough of my weight and none of my larger clothes fitting. I managed to loose 1.5 stone in 11 months which I was very pleased with. However I then went of the rails and have put a stone back on since then!!!! I stopped going in late August last year but have re-joined about three weeks ago because I was finding that clothes that fitted before were now not. I thought I was being very good the first week and was most disappointed that I had only lost 1.5 pounds, so spent the following week eating what I liked (I know it is my own fault) and I missed last weeks meeting (slap wrists!). I am fed up of looking at my overweight self so I have to pull my finger out and do something about it. I went to Tesco earlier and brought myself the Slimming World magazine for some inspiration. They always do fab recipes and it is always lovely to read other people success stories. I am drawing a line in the sand today and am not going to go back to my bad old ways!!

He Has Arrived

2008-02-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

Finally Vasco has arrived. He was collected late on Sunday night, spent the night in Dover (thankfully not in the truck) and arrived at the yard at one yesterday afternoon. The kids and I went to see him at five yesterday evening. He was a little anxious, which is to be expected. My instructor took him into the inside school and let him loose. It was lovely watching him kicking up his heels and rolling around in the sand. A couple of carrots later, we went home. This morning after the school run I collected MIL who looked after Luca so that I could go to the yard. I arrived to find a much more calmer horse. I spent an hour learning what brush to use etc. I have so much to learn, it feels daunting at times. I am having to use all of my will power not to keep on popping over to see him. He is such a gentleman. So willing to give you his feet so that you can pick them out and when he takes food from your hand he is so gentle. I am positively beaming. I am having a sit on him on Friday night but will not start having proper lesson for another couple of weeks. We both need to build up our fitness!! It has been three months since I have been in the saddle and I think I might also be using a dressage saddle!!

I want to cry....

2008-02-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

Just spent all morning cleaning and tidying the house in preparation for the estate agent. He spent two minutes whizzing round the house (he has already seen the particulars on-line from the previous time we tried to sell it!). He has valued it 35k lower them we want for it. I want to cry, well have done a little =-( I think we may have two options, stay here another two years or get a mortgage in Italy. Neither are particularly suitable. We just need to decide now how badly we want to move. Will discuss more tonight with OH. It has really p****d on my fire. Just want to go to bed and hide under duvet but not sure if the kids will let me, besides have to take DD2 riding in 25 mins. TTFN
PS Vasco is still not here (that is enough to make me want to scream!) however have been promised that he will be here on Saturday when I will be visiting my big sister in Devon. I am not holding my breath.

The Story So Far

2008-02-16T06:14:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that it has been a month since I last posted anything. Anyway I have been busy. I ordered a skip so that we could have a major clear out as we do not want to be moving with loads of rubbish and wanted to de-clutter the house ready for viewers. OH said that we should have words with the neighbours and see if they wanted to add anything to the skip. I suggested that we waited first to see if we managed to fill it ourselves. Good job we did as we filled it to the top!!

My horse is still not here =-( The previous yard that my instructor had lined up fell through because the owner got greedy. Sounds like she had over stretched her finances and was trying to make up the short fall by increasing the deposit on the yard. It has worked out for the best because my instructor has managed to find another yard that is closer and loads better. It also has an indoor school which is a bonus. Vasco was meant to arrive last night but unfortunately the previous horses that were collected before him were stallions and behaving like complete arses. So the poor driver was having to stop all the time and sort the horses. Prob best that he did not travel with them as it would have prob stressed him out and they could have hurt him. He is now due to arrive next Wed. Am keeping everything crossed. MIL was due to have the children for the day early next week and I was going to spend the day at the yard. She is still going to have the children but i have decided to decorate the kitchen instead (joy!).

The estate agent is due to value the house on Thursday which gives me plenty of time to sort the house out. Hopefully it will be on the market early next week. The only thing that I hate about selling houses is the strangers tramping around you home looking in cupboards. Thankfully I feel much better prepared this time.

I brought OH an antique map of Northern Italy that I have hung above my desk. Its lovely to look up at it and dream that one day we will be living there.

OH decided that he wanted to buy a running machine. It arrived all boxed up on Wednesday and is still waiting to be unpacked!! I am as keen as he is to use it. I am hoping that it will be the key to me losing weight. I plan to use it while monster chops is having his nap in the day. OH plans to use it after work. I am tempted to keep tabs on who uses it the most. I would like to think that it will be me.

Monster chops has just woken up so I will have to sign off. I did try to add a pic to this post but the b****y thing is playing up and is not letting me do it. I do like to add a pic because it always makes it more interesting. TTFN

Ski Deep

2008-01-16T12:05:00.000-08:00

The first week the kids are due back at school is when we have our annual ski holiday. In the 7 years that OH and I have been together this is only the third season I have skied. Having babies puts a stop to my skiing. However Olivia has not yet missed a season and it shows!! The first season I skied was great but then I had a five-year gap and last season was awful. I was getting panic attacks at the top of the slope and had no confidence at all. Much to the annoyance of OH. He had to carry me back to the chalet on his birthday I was that ill!! However since then I have started horse riding again, which has given, loads of confidence. I said that I would not do ski school this year and would just get out on the slopes. OH did not share my enthusiasm and thought that I would chicken out! I proved him wrong. I was sooo chuffed with myself.

Olivia was absolutely amazing. She makes it look so easy. This was also the holiday that we wanted Amber to start skiing. We put her in ski school last season, which was a complete disaster so this year we decided to pay for some private lessons. It worked a treat. She can now ski. The instructor is an English lady who has the most amazing way about her and gets reluctant skiers skiing without realising it! I am sooo proud of Amber. The trip for Luca was just about having fun in the snow. I really enjoyed just going off with Olivia and skiing together. We also skied with OH a few times and as always he would be showing off and messing around. The last run we did together he fell over showing off. He is still suffering for it and has a nice bruise to remember it!

We stay at the same place every year www.skideep.net . OH has been going with this particular company for about the past 13 years. The only difference with this trip was that we drove instead of flying. We could not face the airport with three children so we went by Eurotunel. What a fantastic experience it was going by train in the car. It is soooo easy. Why people use ferries I will never know. The only pain was the 700 miles each way. Having said that the kids were amazing considering the time they had to spend in the car. We did it in one day, which we were not planning on doing. We had planned to stop off over night in France but we were keen to get to resort on the way and keen to be sleeping in our beds that night on the way back!

What made me laugh when we got back and watched the recordings of us skiing is that we only seem to use the recorder when we go skiing because last seasons was right before this seasons footage!! Another new years resolution, use the recorder more often!!

PS Vasco is not arriving this Saturday but that is another story.......

Belated Greetings

2008-01-15T05:43:00.000-08:00

Mid January 2008 and I am only just posting about Christmas (mental note, must try harder to update blog this year). Anyway we all had a fantastic time and were lucky enough to get some fantastic presents. I did not dislike any of my presents this year, which is a first. I got a great grooming kit for Vasco from OH, he also got me a gorgeous Radley handbag, some Agent Provocateur perfume to name a few. The kids got loads as always. Olivia has finally reached an age where she really appreciates what she gets. As a surprise we got her a pair of skis, which she adores. It took Luca about a week to open all his presents. He would open a few and then get distracted with playing with them.

Christmas lunch nearly turned into a disaster. OH parents were 10 mins late but his sister and brother-in-law was 45 mins late! The annoying thing is that they had also come from OH parents house so no excuse really. OH was livid and told them that he would not be cooking Christmas lunch for them again (his sister and brother-in-law that is).

Will update again soon with the rest of my news………

Azlan

2007-12-15T13:20:00.000-08:00

He has finally arrived. I went on Monday morning to the Isle of Wight to collect him. We arrived in plenty of time to catch the hovercraft but as we were about to board I realised that I had left the breeders details in the car! We decided to board anyway and call somebody the other end to look up the details. It was the first time that I had been on a hovercraft, what a strange sensation. It feels like being in an aeroplane in fairly heavy turbulence.
The breeder lets the cats have the run of most of the house. They were everywhere. It was really lovely to see. OH adores him and had no idea that I was getting him. Azlan is so affectionate. He and Bella are not seeing eye to eye at the mo. Hopefully that will change in time.

Horsing Around…

2007-12-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

I am still in shock with a silly grin on my face! OH is buying me a horse. It all started just over a week ago when my riding instructor called me to say that he had found me a horse that would be suitable for both OH and I. We were not even looking for one. He is from Belgium and had been over there looking for horses for other clients but just happened to find one that he thought that we would like. Vasco is a Belgium Warm Blood and about 16 hands high, I think. Anyway I said that I needed to talk to OH and would let him know. I contacted him on the Sunday with the view to looking at the yard he is going to rent and talk livery charges. I went to the yard on the Monday, which is fab and discussed livery. Vasco would be on a working livery for £300 per month, which inc a lesson a week for me. OH and I were due to ride the following Thursday (Thursday just gone. I am still walking funny lol) so I said that we would let him know then. It was only that morning that OH said that I could have him. I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am. He is due to arrive early next year. As soon as I have a pic of him I will post it on here. I have not even seen him yet!!

Shopping!

2007-11-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, have we shopped today. OH needed to replace his skis and ski boots, so we decided to go to a fantastic shop Snow and Rock. Thankfully MIL called at 8am to see if we wanted to leave the kids with her. Good job we did, we ended up being at the shop for THREE HOURS!!!!! As well as choosing the boots and skis he wanted, they had to be set up/fitted correctly. Anyway I cannot complain because I have got my very first pair of skis!! OH also treated me to a new jacket, which is gorgeous. Check out the fluffy pair of pink slippers!! Skiing is OH sport and horse riding is mine. As OH has taken up horse riding, I feel obliged that I should make more of an effort with “his” sport. We also brought Olivia her first pair of skis for Christmas; she is going to be so chuffed.

Vroom! Vroom!

2007-11-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday OH had his works do at Palmer Sport and I was invited along (wooooo, hooooo!). Palmer Sport has four road car circuits and one off-road circuit. I had the most fantastic time.

Our team drew the short straw because we had the FPA cars first thing. The track was wet in places. I did not enjoy that very much. We then drove the Land Rovers on the off road circuit. That was great fun. What a fantastic car. The Jaguar JP1 was next. 370 bhp!! That was very scary and I suffered a little from motion sickness so came in a few laps early! We then had lunch but unfortunately my stomach could only take vegetables, so I missed out on the lovely pud. We then could drive the Caterham 7 Superlight but I sat that one out because I wanted to save myself for the Porsche and Clio Cup. We then moved onto the Porsche and Clio. I went out in the Clio first. It took me a couple of laps to warm up and get the hang of it all. What a fantastic little car. I just wish I had longer in it. The Porsche was next. I want one. It has paddle shift to go up and down the gearbox. So when you are accelerating you do not have to lift your foot off the accelerator, just pull the paddle to go up a gear or two! I was really buzzing after driving those two cars. Lastly we had the Jaguar XKR, which OH fell in love with. Motion sickness caught up with me again and I had to end my stint a little early. All in all a really fantastic day to remember. Everybody had a great time and wants to go back. Some of the other teams had been 12-18 times before!!!!

My results are as follows (75 people in total)-
Porsche 911 JP3 40th Which I was very pleased with. OH came 34th.
Palmer Jaguar JP1 45th Not to bad considering I nearly wet my knickers!
Renault Clio Cup 54th I am sure I could have improved with a couple more laps.
Jaguar XKR 67th Must try harder next time! OH came 14th!
Caterham 7 Sat that one out. Will have a go next time.
Land Rover 42nd I was pleased with that.
Karts 70th I hang my head in shame. I was not giving it my all.

Overall I came 70th, which at least is not last I suppose. However OH came 8th, what a boy!

Remembrance Day

2007-11-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

A day to remember those who lost their lives in war. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns of Europe fell silent. After four years of the most bitter and devastating fighting, The Great War was finally over. The Armistice was signed at 5am in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, France on November 11, 1918. Six hours later, at 11am, the war ended. That is why on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month we observe a 2-minute silence.

Olivia takes part in a Remembrance Day march every year with the Badgers and Cadets from St John Ambulance. I stayed and watched this year. We arrived at 10 am along with hundreds of other cadets from various organizations, British Legion etc. It was lovely turnout. The march was scheduled to leave at 10.30. At 10.30 the heavens opened, sods law! Thankfully it only lasted about half an hour but it was long enough for some of the children to be soaked through. We then had a service at the war memorial where Olivia and another Badger laid the St John poppy wreath, which was a very touching moment.

So Proud

2007-11-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

Both of my girls have made me feel sooooo proud today. Youngest daughter was celebrated at school today for “being such a kind, helpful and friendly member of the class”. You get a certificate in assembly and have to stand up in front of the whole school to collect it. It brought a tear to my eye when I read the certificate in the school playground.

Eldest daughter is having a poem she wrote published in a book. I entered her poem in the Young Writers competition ages ago and completely forgot about it until I got a letter in the post this morning. Of course I will be buying a few copies of the book. The poem is as follows-

Dolphin Dolphin

Dolphin dolphin swim in the sea
Dolphin dolphin sing with me
Dolphin dolphin wiggle your tail
Dolphin dolphin swim like a whale

Chi Sono?

2007-11-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

Sono musicista. Sono Americano. Il mio marito e Inglese. Ho una figlia e due figli. Sono molto bella. Io abito in centro di Londra ho tanti casi in tutto il mondo. Sono la ragazza di materiale! Chi sono?

The above is my Italian homework for this week. I feel so pleased with myself. However I cheated a little and got OH to help me when I got stuck. I will have to read it out in class tonight and see if they can guess whom the famous person is. It will be sods law that OH gets held up at work and I miss my lesson.

New Kit On The Block

2007-11-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

OH is very disappointed that Bella our cat is not a lap cat and wants to spend most of her time with Olivia our eldest. So as a surprise I am buying him a Main Coon kitten for Christmas and birthday present. He is a little boy at the mo but the breeder thinks that he will grow to be a big boy. Look at the size of his feet!! How cute is he? He is 7 weeks old in the pic. I am sooo excited. I am going over to the Isle of Wight on December 10th by hovercraft to collect him. I am hopeless at keeping secrets and am fit to burst. I do hope that OH has no idea to what is going on. The breeder is Kassoro www.kassaro.demon.co.uk We got Bella from the same breeder, who is lovely and very helpful.

Viva Italia Show

2007-10-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

The Viva Italia Show is currently on at Olympia in London. OH managed to get the day off, so we spent the morning there. Mother in law had Luca while the girls are at school. We have never been to this show before so was not sure what to expect. It was much smaller then La Dolce Vita show that is earlier in the year. However it was fantastic. The new Fiat 500 was there, which OH quite fancies. He has said that he only wants to buy one that is left hand drive and the correct plates i.e. Italian! I forgot to take my camera, which was a pain. The food was gorgeous and the people welcoming and friendly. We found a stall selling Italian vegetable seeds and bulbs, so we treated ourselves to some. Sounds sad but I cannot wait to try our own produce. I have never grown my own food before. I know the kids will enjoy the whole process. At least it gives us a bit of practice before the move, as we hope to grow plenty out in Italy. I also discovered a fantastic company called Piral that sell the most gorgeous cooking dishes. I managed to come away with one! Oh and the cheese, don’t get me started on the lovely cheese! We went by bike and the panniers were straining under the weight of all our shopping!

Shattered Dreams……..

2007-09-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

Our house is not selling (sniff). Since we put it on back at the beginning of August we have had three viewings. I am not impressed. The market is not good at the mo. We have even dropped the price by 10k and still that has not generated any interest. So we have decided to take it off the market and put it back on in the spring next year. By doing this it will give us a chance to decorate a bit and hopefully the market will pick up. However it also means that we will not be moving in the summer of next year. I do believe that things happen for a reason (so I keep telling myself!). So we plan to move into our new completed house (yet to be found!) the beginning of summer 2009. It sounds such a long time away. Doing it this way also means that we can sort out middle daughters health before the move and also it might mean that OH can sell the business before the move so that we can all relocate together. So I am trying to put a positive spin on it but it is hard when you have set your heart on being in Italy next summer. Life is never easy…….

First Day

2007-09-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Amber started big school today. My little girl is growing up. Poor thing was ok for the first few minutes but then started to cry, which then started me welling up, followed by OH. He said that it was the worst thing he has ever had to do. He took it worse then she did. I collected Amber three and half hours later, hop, skip and jumping her way out of school. She said that she had a lovely day (phew!). Lets hope tomorrow goes well =-)

Messing Around On The River…..

2007-08-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

We had no plans to go away this summer but OH felt he needed a break. So I booked four nights on a narrow boat (OH was not impressed about this bit, as he wanted a cruiser! Hee, hee!) on the Thames. Weather was a bit iffy but other then that we all had a lovely time (apart from poor OH not getting any sleep due to the size of our bed!). We went from Reading to Maidenhead and stopped overnight in Henley-On-Thames. It is another world on the Thames. The properties on the riverbank are amazing. I could have brought every one of them. Thankfully Mille the dog was the only one to fall in. We will defiantly be going back =-)

Just Like Mumma....

2007-08-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Stuffing your face and on the phone!!!!! This is not what I do all day, honest.

Before And After.....

2007-08-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is prob having my poor Dad turning in his grave. I was not allowed to cut my hair for ages and certainly not as short as Olivia has just had it! My view is that it will grow back and besides it is sooooo much easier to keep the head lice under control when it is short. Note typical English village high street in the background inc pub!!

Hair Raising!!

2007-08-15T08:57:00.000-07:00

We have a plastic slide in the garden that generates a lot of static, as you can see!!

Lego Land

2007-08-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

The weather was great and we all had a fantastic time. Poor OH wallet took a real beating!!

Long Time No See.....

2007-08-15T04:34:00.001-07:00

I have done something that I sooooo did not want to do, which is leave it so long between posts. Having the children off from school has meant that I have not been able to get on the computer as much as I would have liked and of course my new found knitting hobby is taking up most of my free time!!

Olivia had a lovely time at camp and came back as brown as a berry. Unfortunately she was so busy having fun that she forgot to take very many photos. Oh well.

OH and I have been think lots about the house in Italy and have decided that it does not have enough immediate outside space, so have decided not to buy it once we have sold ours. One of the main reasons of moving was so that we would have lots of outside space so the kids have plenty of room to run and play and I want to be able to keep horses and a few chickens =-) If only we could move that house to another location.

The viewings on our house are slowly picking up now. It’s a difficult time of year as a lot of people are away on holiday. We had a viewing on Monday, which went well but she thought that the house could do with another room downstairs. You cannot please everybody! Anyway I was telling OH about it when he got home and found our eldest looking very sad on the backdoor step. She is a real thinker and can be sensitive. I knew before she said what was on her mind. She does not want to move. So OH and I decided that we had to tell her the truth as to why we are moving. She was over the moon. It was told in top secret and little sister especially is not to know. Just spoken to MIL and she has already told her!!!!

We had no plans this year to go away but OH suggested that a couple of nights away over here would be lovely. So to cut a long story short, we are off next week to spend four nights on a canal boat on the river Thames!!! I am sooooooo excited. I promise to take and post lots of pics. We are even taking the dog!

TTFN

Growing up......

2007-07-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have been away from the computer a while with the last Harry Potter book and I have also taken up knitting!!! My poor family is going to have to suffer my knitting creations. The summer holidays are well under way, not that you could tell by the weather we have been having. I took my eldest down to The New Forest (a gorgeous part of the world) for her Badgers camping trip. Ooooooo my baby is growing up. She is away for a week, which is the longest she has ever been away from home without us. She has been really looking forward to it. A week away from the parents! Thankfully the weather is dry at the mo. My youngest Luca was calling her to come with us as we were leaving, which nearly reduced me to tears. He still sometimes calls for her, poor thing does not understand. Anyway we are off to Legoland tomorrow, fingers crossed for good weather.

A Touch Of Sadness

2007-07-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

I had the estate agents round today to take pics of my house. It dawned on me while I was running round like a mad woman cleaning the place ready for the pics that I was going to be leaving the house that I love for a new life in Italy. As they say, the penny dropped. I know the next house will be as lovely, if not lovelier then this house but I did feel a little sad. I am sure that it will dawn on me again once the house is on the market and I am showing people round. It prob sounds silly as I have been planning this for months and have been to Italy to look at homes. It goes on the market on the 10th September, arghhhhhhhhh! The day the children go back to school. I thought that it would be bad enough have people traipsing round our home without screaming children as well.

The grand prix was a disaster but I will leave that story for another day. Makes mental note to try and update blog more often…

Back to the drawing board….

2007-07-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

Our offer was rejected, ho hum. I am trying to be philosophical about it, if it is to be our house, it will be. We have done everything we can *sigh*. We are now just keeping everything crossed.

On a good note, Amber is over her chicken pops and should be ok to go to her last day at kindergarten on Friday.

I do not think that I have mentioned that OH sister brought us tickets for the British F1 GP on Sunday. I am soooo excited. I have never been to one before and I am sure it is going to be a good one. I will be cheering on Lewis Hamilton and OH will be cheering on Massa =-)

Slug Hopscotch

2007-06-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-28T03:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

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…..

2007-06-20T03:28:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

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...

My first and certainly not my last…..

2007-05-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

Finally I have got round to doing my own blog. Have admired others for some time but thought that I might not have enough to say. Will have to wait and see on that one! I am a complete computer numpty, so I have a lot to learn.

My story so far is that I live in semi rural Hampshire with my gorgeous family (husband, two daughters, one son, one smelly dog, one mad Main Coon cat, two goldfish and four very well loved pekin bantam chickens) and we are seeking a new life in Tuscany Italy.