Monday

Busy working day apart however find a baguette machine on our drive which was pretty exciting and yay, the new lino for the Pink SdB arrived!

[23 January 2023]

Tuesday

Flower deliveries from China.

A trip to Spain to buy some wine and appreciate the frozen waterfalls by the side of the road. I’ve also managed to arrange the purchase of a new bookshelf from marketplace for Matt’s office which is a result.

Oh tonight offers a lot of excitement – it’s tax season and we need to do our personal tax returns. Yay, nothing we hate more than doing taxes!

[24 January 2023]

Wednesday

Not up too early since the garage changed the time of our CT. I had a interview however for some new work for a construction company that needs some additonal resource. One of the girls was ex-Laing (where I used to work and who provided the introduction) and the other was their head of proposals. All went well and they’re sending through onboarding docs later today before I meet their healthcare team later this week.

Time to head down to Luchon to get the CT done. Due to the challenges of being able to hear in the car yesterday it seems we’re an hour early, but Matt has a conference call so we just sat in the car in their carpark. There were a few clouds of smoke but somehow she managed to get through – yay for the beautiful beast!

Off quickly to Lidl but I didn’t get much further than sharing plant pics with Rane for Misha’s wedding before I was dragged off to the photographer’s. I’ll have to come back for the little ones.

I had hoped that the photographer spoke some English but there was no sign of it while we were there. Sadly he doesn’t have a current website but showed us his portfolio. We were happy with it so just need to reflect on what we want and go back to him to confirm. It may also need buy-in from Jonny however to act as his translation side kick during the photo part of the wedding.

We had to dash off though for more meetings. Matt dropped me back at Lidl, where we’d left the beast so I did a bit more shopping, but was restricted by a €50 budget as I didn’t actually have a card on me, just on my phone. Not sure if that was intentional or not. I did pick up a nice dressing gown though which I can use when I get ready on the wedding day! 🙂

Back at home and I’ve done my onboarding for the new job and now for dinner. The next job was to test out the spacing required between tables/chairs before we order the marquee. Balls, it seems that their estimations are somewhat off from what we can work out. It looks as though yet another great plan may come to nothing. But just as I was going to bed I remembered Uncle Cookie, he should know the reality of it all, I’ll ask him tomorrow!

Time to update the blog, check in with Lee and Vicky, and get to bed, once I can get Meow off me that is….

[25 January 2023]

Thursday

Busy start to the day with Matt and I having lots of meetings. Unfortunately we also heard back from the caterer that the mayor recommended but it seems that they are already fully booked for the 29th. Back to the drawing board again. I’ve pulled together a list of the closest ones and will reach out to them to see who is available and then see if we can get what we want. It’s been a real blow to lose a caterer that we were happy with and definitely not what we were hoping for, catering is so important in making it all work.

Lots of work and then finally remembered to message Andre about coming over. I think he’s bored though what with Verionique being away as he was very quick to accept and I can’t think that we are the most exciting offer for a Friday night. I guess we’re therefore going to have to do quite a bit of tidying up. At least with the first floor basically clear since the builders left that’s one less thing to do.

Before we can do anything though we’re off to the dentist to go for my check-up. Half an hour wait but that wasn’t so bad, it was warmer than the house. It was a bit odd going into the dentist alone. Most of the time we’re here it’s for Matt so I just sit around and translate, I kind of felt like I should have someone translating for me; but then I understood what she was saying. Also it seems that everything is good, I just need to get a teeny tiny toothbrush to get between my teeth and I’m not due back for another 9-12 months, so I’ve booked in for 12 months time.

A quick stop at Carrefour as Matt wants to pick up some supplies ahead of Andre’s visit and then back to the house. With Matt making some sort of mini pies I was off starting to tidy up. All the ski stuff was spread around the salle a manger and needed to be put away, I also decided that rather than having insulation in the way that it made more sense to stack it against the outside wall – I’m not just pretty!

Salon isn’t too bad but needs a bit more doing to it, then back in to start helping tidy the kitchen. Matt’s put the pasta in but apparently he didn’t drain it after he turned it off. A small thing I wasn’t aware of when I added the sauce…! Well that was a waste, time to drain off the tomato water and make my own sauce from a passata. It was good though and we were both full by the end of it with some extra left over for lunch.

Matt wants a haircut so he’s off to start it while I get the kitchen floors cleaned. Having done the front, top and sides I’m beckoned in to do the back – he’s got quite the mullet going on. I think I did a good job though and definitely getting easier and quicker at it. I always think it’s a bit too short when first cut, but that was the same when he got it cut in London. I should however probably start to time how long from cut to perfect length so we know when he should have the wedding cut.

While Matt is having a shower to wash off all the loose hair I’m bringing up a load of wood to fill up the stack in the kitchen so that it dries out enough to use – we really must get better at ordering it in the summer or you get the new wood which isn’t really ready to be burnt. It’s all full now though and so hopefully will start to dry out. We also need to bring more in from the shed to re-stack in the basement. Fingers crossed this approach works, we don’t have many other options.

A bit more tidying and then finally time to relax, but we only have half an hour before bedtime, or Matt’s anyway, I have more wedding planning and blogs to write.

[26 January 2023]

Friday

Working in the morning but Rane was coming over in the afternoon to help me sort through some of the boxes in the basement to see what wedding stuff we might have. We have many boxes of fake leaves and things which might be good to decorate the hanger up at the Boucherie – it’s a big space so possible to use that as a background filler and then use some of the fresh stuff to finish it and make it beautiful.

We also found some lights but not the curtain lights that I was looking for. All the ones I found were multi-coloured and I’m looking for more of a warm white. We only got through about 6 or 7 boxes though so hopefully Matt can find some of the other LED boxes. Either way it looks as though we are still going to need to buy a lot more lights.

Matt’s been busy getting some hot gin going and warming up his little pies ready for André to come over. It’s nice having the Mayor over to visit but does mean we have to ensure that the place is ‘proper guest’ ready – JC and R&R don’t count any longer.

It was a good visit, he seemed to be impressed by all the progress since he was last here and all the work we’d done. He’s suggested that we put in a DP de travaux for the change of the velux but he doesn’t seem to think it will be a problem and he’ll rubber stamp it. He was very confused however why Matt had put on snacks, I’m not entirely clear why but heyho. I also asked again about his son potentially providing the music for the wedding and it sounds as though he’s due to visit in Feb/Mar so might be a good opportunity to meet him then. We also explained the issue about the caterer for the wedding so he’s going to have a chat with someone over in Spain that might be able to do it. He only stuck around for an hour so it was pretty painless. Of course as soon as he left we remembered a number of things we wanted to ask him but it was a social visit so good not to overload him with work questions.

He answered a call while he was here and Matt’s phone had been left on translate, the only thing it picked up was ‘I’m here at the BBC’ – so apparently that’s what we’re called. It could be much worse and certainly made me chuckle. While Matt gets into his jammies I’ve moved the insulation into the salon – not much point keeping it in a room that we’re not using or heating when it can help keep the room warm that we have heated and are spending the evening in. [I know, I’m a genius.]

It’s been snowing lightly most of the day but it’s finally cold enough that it’s settling. It’s so pretty! I also made a snow angel and then made it into a face, ’cause you know I’m really grown up.

Since the salon is warm we’ve decided to settle down here for the evening for a change.

[27 January 2023]

Saturday

10am – First job of the day is to go to the dentist. Matt had the screw put in at the specialist implant place but now needs to have a review with our dentist who will be doing the crown. She also noted that he’d had some damage to the front of his teeth from braces when he was young which needs to be addressed. We’ve therefore set a date for early June so hopefully she can do both at the same time and make them perfect in advance of the wedding.

The boiler has been going a bit crazy as the thermostat is in the hallway, which is completely stupid as it’s one of the coldest parts of the house, and obviously we don’t spend our time sitting there. It would make much more sense to have it in the kitchen where we actually spend most of our time in the winter. So Matt is moving it. We’re putting it at the far end so that it’s not right on top of the fire or heater but should give a much more reasonable and sensible reading of when we need it to come on and when we don’t.

There’s not much I can do to help so I’m going to have a little rest. It seems however that I’ve missed a call from Tonia and Matt has come up with a message, apparently I need to call Rhys to ask him to give the invites to Lucy to give to Tonia and Joelle. This all sounds rather convoluted and not sure why it has to go through so many people. Either way it gave me a good excuse to have a little chat with Lucy who’s apparently going to the theatre tonight as I wasn’t able to go. That will be nice for them.

Time to crack on. Chatting with Lucy did make me think about pizza ovens so I gave Cress a quick call to get a recommendation. Of course being the high quality chick that she is even the ‘low cost’ version was pretty spenny. I found one in the sale for half price but it’s still €1k so will need to have a bit of a think on this. I’ve also messaged the nice French Lucie from FB about the shelves we’re meant to be collecting to arrange a time. Since she didn’t get straight back to me I was off to see what I could do upstairs and made a start on the taping and joining in Room 2 while Matt worked on sanding down the pink bathroom.

With the first of the screws covered and the first tape on I got a message that she was ready for us to pick up the shelves. There was some confusion over exactly where we had to pick them up but we eventually found her. She was very lovely and helped us to take them apart and get them in the car. Maybe all Lucys/Lucies are lovely?!

A quick stop in at Lidl and we ended up with two pairs of new snow boots, some new ski socks, etc. We don’t have enough time to go to the Brico though and we’ve got enough stuff to work on this weekend. I took the first part of the shelves off the top of the car while Matt nipped into the house and then we were off to Aspet to go and pick up a desk that I’d also found on FB Marketplace. We were running late, as usual but we got there and they had the most beautiful dog, yellow lab. He was gorgeous. I fell in love immediately. I wanted to take him home. I talked about him all the way home.

Back at home it was obvious that Matt wanted me to get on with dinner. Roast chicken, yummy! With everything in and almost done I left it to Matt to do the final checks while I went back to Room 2 to go and finish the middle section of the wall. Time will tell once it’s dried but I think I’m a natural.

Time for dinner and then a bit of relaxation before updating the blog before bed.

[28 January 2023]

Sunday

I woke up early and wondered where Matt was, but I soon remembered that he had to be up for work. Sometimes the technical team needs to take down operational infrastructure and he needs to ensure it all goes ok and works again and you can’t do that during working hours. So I went back to sleep for a bit.

I got up and into my work clothes but wasn’t much I could do without him to help. I’ve done the first 1/3 of Room 2 but need to move the mirror and it is far to big for me to move alone. As a UK builder in learning I realised that the best thing was to get everything ready and then get a cup of tea while I waited and had a chat with Joelle.

Matt was ready so time to slowly push the mirror out of the way, my job was just to make sure that it didn’t fall over. Eventually it was out of the way but only just. Matt managed to squeeze the ladder in so I then cracked on. It was too tight for me to get the ladder back out though so I had to get Matt to move it again. Job done though and looks pretty good to me.

Quick pop over to JC’s to see how they are doing and have a quick catch up before coming home for left over roast chicken, yay two dinners for the effort of one!

[29 January 2023]

Monday

It’s a working day but my big task of the day is to try to work out how many beds we have and how many we need for the wedding. We’re not a million miles off but we always said that we’d get a bunkbed for Room 4. I’ve done lots of research and worked out all the best options and prices so now to get Matt’s thoughts on the final options. They’re not too cheap though, especially for the wooden ones which we can then stain as we like, and which I think are much nicer than the metal ones which just look cheap.

The plan had been to have a double on the bottom and single on the top but I’ve gone up and measured it out in the room and have decided that actually it would make much more sense to have two single bunks and a separate double, that way if the room isn’t being used by a family you don’t have something above your head which is probably better. It also fits almost perfectly this way.

Decision made I found a good deal on a brand new in the box bunk with two new mattresses and covers. It’s about 45 minutes drive to pick it up but since everything is still in its packaging we should be able to squeeze it into the Tesla. We were hoping to go skiing on Thursday anyway so it’s only half an hour from Peyragudes – which is better than having to drive up to Toulouse!

[30 January 2023]

Tuesday

Been busy working most of the day but got a couple of jobs done; cleared and cleaned in the office, made some notes of the wines we’d been testing for the wedding and did the recycling, and Matt made dinner.

Wednesday

Lots of work calls today but managed to find an hour in between to sand down the rest of the walls in Room 2. It doesn’t look like much but at least we’re now ready to do the second layer, I’ve not been shown how to do that yet so it’s going to have to wait for Matt. Unfortunately he’s busy all day and I have more calls to get back to.

After work it was time to head down to pick up some dinner, clean the kitchen and then relax for the evening. We’re hopefully going skiing tomorrow so early night for both of us.

[1 February 2023]

Thursday

Best day ever, well at least since the last best day ever!

Sacked off work to go skiing. But it was even better than that, Matt had a few things to do first thing so I got to have a bit of a lie in till 10 before we went, winning!!

It was also a good opportunity to go and pick up the new bunk beds that we need for Room 4 which happened to be the other side of the mountain. We did get some beautiful views though and even captured a couple for you.

Bed on board and we’re off home. It was a hard long day, as far as having fun is hard. I’m on dinner so I’d already planned Tartiflette, meanwhile Matt is making up for ditching work this afternoon.

I went to go and test the new shower after dinner however there was a bit of an issue, it seems that somehow there is a small crack in the base and it’s leaked – this looks like it could be a nightmare so I called for Matt and it’s definitely a problem but one for another day.

Time to relax and then head to bed after catching you all up of course, while watching Doctors.

[2 February 2023]

Friday – Happy Birthday Jim!

After sacking off work yesterday Matt and I are now paying the price. I’ve got more work come in and lots of meetings and I’ve hardly seen Matt. He dropped down at lunchtime for a quick pastabox and to remind me of all the leftovers in the fridge, so I had a mini chicken and chips for lunch. I did put my ‘work’ clothes on [the ones I wear to work on the house obviously, the others are generally PJs, nobody cares anymore and I’m hardly finding occasion now to wear my formal work PJs], but Matt never came to collect me to show me how to do the next layer of plastering. I did find him upstairs doing a bit of sanding in the Pink bathroom but he was basically done by the time I got my phone. He was super dusty though.

Since Matt is doing dinner I am concentrating on buying things, it seems however that a couple of places have stopped their sales early on the key big purchases we were planning… FFS! Having spent many hours searching for the best deals and going through hundreds and thousands of items I wasn’t overly impressed.

The debate about the shower continues. We’re hoping that we will be able to do a patch job. If not it’s going to be a huge job as to get the tray out we’ll need to remove at least one layer of tiles above it, breaking them all no doubt, and the tiles around the edge, and then get a new one, more replacement tiles and refit it all. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

[3 February 2023]