Oh, dear, I do not do well with these resolutions to keep matters up to date, do I?
When last I wrote here, it was a year since we first viewed the property – and made the immediate decision to commit to buying. Today presents another 1 year Anniversary, as it is 12 months since we actually took possession of the keys and moved in. Initially we only rented but we do tend to count the 13th of April as the beginning of our life here.
We have been busy since my last post. I wailed one day recently that we had been here almost a year but have yet to put our own stamp on the place. This initiated a bout of shopping and slowly things are beginning to look and feel a little more like “us”. We are beginning to populate the house with items that we have chosen (even if they are pre-loved) rather than with things that “will do for now”.
Earlier this week we spotted a coffee table on a local Facebook Sales and Wants group and we set forth to buy it, ending up with a lovely ride out to a stunning village – but I failed to take my camera with me. Towards the end of the week we had a more local outing and came home with two second-hand easy chairs. I now look for a three-seater settee, rugs, cushions, lamps and curtains – not to mention art for the walls.
One of the nasty icky pink chairs has migrated to the bedroom, where it doesn’t look too bad, actually. I hope to have it recovered at some point. The two-seater sofa is destined for the back room upstairs, where a new computer will provide us with a screen for film-watching. The second chair can remain in the sitting room for Nell’s use. These arrangements may put the odd feline nose out of joint…
We have been shopping for the kitchen too and I now have a fabulous cooker to replace the pathetic specimen that I had been struggling with. Sous-vide equipment has also been added to the kitchen. Outside, a new strimmer now helps to keep the tangle of weeds down.
Life is not however all work and no play and so I have a new camera and some fibre to spin, and the man of the house has a new keyboard…
I took the camera on a day trip to Oradour-sur-Glane yesterday and came home with many images. I am not yet ready to write about the experience but will add a post about it here sometime soon-ish.
Outside, the weather is not quite so fabulous as when we first came home but overall is not too bad. The wild flowers are coming along well and we now have many species in evidence. Our walks are offering good familiarisation practice with the new camera. Not all of my shots are great but there are some that I will happily share as soon as I get around to it (soon, I promise!)
I am having much fun in my kitchen and not just with the new toys; we are on a low-carb diet and I am having to learn new techniques and develop new recipes and menus. The learning curve is steep but I do enjoy it – especially as the weight is dropping off quite nicely! (weight reports at Woolgathering)
I made some Cloud Bread (under 1g carbs per portion). It is made from…. eggs and cream cheese. No, seriously!
I think that about brings us up to speed with how things are here. I will do a cat update soon.
Future plans for the Crooked House include upgrading the bathroom… with a bath that we can actually soak in. Today we bought two bathrobes for after-bath lounging. Not placing the cart before the horse at all…
The bathrobes came from a quirky place that we shop at locally. A kind of bargain store – Eco Entrepot, also known as “the Shed.” The Shed is great. Of course it sells a lot of tat that you really would not want to share your home with but it does also come up with some startling bargains, and the bathrobes were one such example. We only went out for a tray of out-of-code Coke Light (zero carbs! and €3.99 for 24 cans) but managed to come home with two trays of Coke, two bathrobes, one baking dish, a Pork Tenderloin and… the European Cheese Mountain.
We were at The Shed last week and spotted the bagged-up cheeses, mostly short-coded, at €9.80 (for five different cheeses.) We bought a bag and are making our way through it very nicely (yes, I said diet – this diet encourages cheese, really it does) but had no intention of buying more until we saw that this week’s bags have a different selection – and included Etorki. Sold. My fridge now holds little else other than cheese, and that Pork Fillet.
The Pork Fillet is going in the sous-vide in the morning.
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