Friday

Working. We did receive delivery of our bathroom sink and tap though so that gives us another job to do.

[10 February 2023]

Saturday

Wow what an amazing surprise this morning, a bouquet of beautiful flowers. It seems that they are from Aunty Carol, one of my mum’s close friends that we have known since we were little, they were for my 40th birthday [French post eh!]

Job 1 today, now that the ensuite in Room 2 is working we can finally start to take things out down on the ground floor. First out is the old pipework from the sink unit which is going to be moved to the opposite side of the room and now redundant. Not much I can do here so I’m getting some of the new bulbs planted up ready for spring, and mulched as it’s still cold.

We’re then off to Room 2 to do some plastering – frankly I didn’t write this bit at the time so guesses on the back of a postcard of what was going on..

Yummy, fish tacos for dinner though!

[11 February 2023]

Sunday

Matt is busy plumbing the new sink in Room 2. I am off to work in Room 4 and start to remove the wallpaper. It’s a big job but hopefully it will come off nice and easily, which is mostly did as the top layer had an almost vinyl finish to it. That did however mean that I had to go over it a second time to remove the backing paper, this stuff comes of pretty easily though as it is just paper which starts to disintegrate when when heated with steam.

Matt has made dinner for me while I’ve been so busy, fish, chips and peas. Lovely jubbly.

[12 February 2023]

Monday

Working.

[13 February 2023]

Tuesday

I have another project due today and not much time to do it and Matt is up working with a new starter onboarding today so he’s also busy. By the afternoon however I had done most of what was needed from me and I was waiting on others so I drew a lovely card for Matt for valentines. After a silly chat with Cress I also remembered that I probably had some glitter somewhere. Turns out it doesn’t always make cards better, or kitchens, but it was fun and now everything in the kitchen sparkles; sadly sparkles don’t show too well in pictures but anyone whose had kids will know what I’m talking about.

It was generally a busy day but we wrapped it up with a bottle of cremant while I finished work followed by some Gyoza and a chocolate fondant for dinner.

Meow wanted in on the valentines gifts, however it was quite clear that all she wanted was an extra pouch. She didn’t get it but she did get some extra biscuits. Happy Valentines all!

[14 February 2023]

Wednesday

The second of my projects is in already this morning and after a couple more hours work I have realised that spring will have sprung before I know it. I therefore really need to get cracking on the games lawn if we are going to have any chance of having something presentable before the wedding. Iv decided to take a more measured approach and to mark off 3m/4m x 4m sections and concentrate on one area at a time. It’s a hugely long process and very hard work with lots of bending and lifting.

Round 1 do a first skim of the surface to remove old grasses et to see what you’re doing

Round 2 go over the ground by hand and pull all the big rocks before raking the top and taking out even more

Round 3 take the rotorvator over it to cut a few inches below the surface and identify any other big rocks sitting underneath

Round 4 go along each row to take out the big stones and filter the debris through the sieve.

UGH! I did most of this on my own with Matt helping out with some of the rotovating as the sun went down but there’s a huge amount left to do and I think we’ve one done maybe 1/6 so far…! This is not a quick or easy job and my sore elbow is really hurting.

Matt had managed to find some time meanwhile to come out and start to trim down the bay tree and it’s looking much better. I’m not sure that I expected it to be cut quite so high but it works as he can now drive the mower round too.

With everything put away Matt has disappeared, I imagine to check emails etc but he’s going to want some dinner soon and I’ve already suggested pasta bake so guess I’d better crack on with it. Of course I made much more than needed. I also however ate 3 bowls, possibly a personal record. I think that this outside work has given me a huge appetite. My elbow however is killing me and it’s time for rest. It seems that there is also some sort of weird meat loto coming up, it reminds me of the weird meat raffle thing in NZ.

[15 February 2023]

Thursday

Working

[16 February 2023]

Friday

Another busy day working. We also went to do some more work up in the pink salle de bain to straighten out the somewhat wonky boards before I can paint them. I’m not sure how much good we did really and whether anyone will ever notice but we can only keep on striving.

Anyway it’s been a long week with deadlines and meetings so we’re taking it easy. We decided to go and try the pizza truck outside the pharmacy. We didn’t realise when making this decision that it was going to be the best part of an hour before we actually got the pizza but we’d made the decision and it was too late to do anything else. We really enjoyed it, maybe after the rest of Cierp Gaud and Marignac had theirs, while it was really good and I’d happily have it again I definitely wouldn’t wait till I was hungry to order it.

[17 February 2023]

Saturday

Started like almost every other Saturday since moving to France, a trip to the Brico to pick up supplies. A mix of plasterboard sheets, wood, trim, plaster, everything you could need for an exciting weekend..

It’s meant to be an incredible weekend hitting about 19-20 deg, in February, so Rick and Rane have offered to host the first BBQ of the season. We’d already pulled a few things from the freezer for the BBQ this afternoon but figured that since we were passing we’d also pick up some chicken on our way home. Quick shower and get ready and we were on our way. What a lovely start to the … season.. not sure which one though?!

We had a wonderful time in great company. Was good to see Mark and Justine over to visit too. Time to stumble home with full bellies and warm hearts.

[18 February 2023]

Sunday

Yet more time painting white white, ugh I am so over doing this! Matt meanwhile is making the last finishes to the plasterboard in Room 2. I’d also been looking at the windows above the door from the Pink SdB (bathroom) and wondering if we might remove some of the paint to open it up.

Next up Matt is making me take wallpaper off in the hallway. It’s so sad, I feel like we are taking the heart out of the house and one of the things I fell in love with the moment we walked in. To be fair it really was hardly attached to the wall and came off far too easily, it didn’t make it any less heart breaking though so as much as Matt encouraged me to take off more I had enough. One day we will need to make a decision and I know that it’s far from perfect but it definitely gets a stay of execution.

Time to have a conciliatory drink, dinner and relax for the night.

[19 February 2023]