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Thursday 24 April 2014

Finally Two Rooms, Charity & Sunshine

Well life moves on and I finally have a bed to sleep in! I have been sleeping on the sofa for 6 months and it has wrecked my back.
The young Americans wanted me to get in my room before finishing theirs and I wanted the living room sorted, so I had a decent room when people came round, and somewhere for them to relax in after a hard days work. I had decorated the living room before they arrived but needed to get the fire set up, due to chilly evenings and some cold overcast English type days, plus we needed the TV to be installed in there.


We have managed both, with the help of Yovo who after taking me to buy the flue, cut the fire rose for the flue pipe, and Alan who came round with his drill to make a hole in the window surround for the satellite wire to feed through. Result a lovely new living room :-) My friend Gary also came with his drill so I could put up pictures and mirrors.
My bedroom has been painted and now has everything I need for a lovely private space, just for me. It looks like a tarts boudoir but it is so warm and welcoming, I love it.
I need flooring for both rooms and skirting board but that can wait till money allows.  The living room also needs the stone wall for the fire back but that will happen shortly, I have a plan of action.

The weeding has started as the weather has warmed up with lovely sunny days. I can see the strawberries now, lots of them and lots of lovely big flowers fruiting, thanks to the bee's. Can't wait till we can enjoy them in a tart.

So yesterday we were off to the market in the Wartburg again. I needed an electric hammer drill and have been looking at a real cheapo in VT, knowing it will not be much good except for light duties. I decided to have a butchers at what there was on the second hand stalls. As luck would have it I found a (hopefully) good working one, he wanted 35 lev but I managed to barter down to 25 lev. It is four times the machine I could get new so I am a happy bunny, as long as it keeps working!
I also had some paint mixed up for the dining room. It is only a creamy colour but I am not sure what I want so opted for a bright clean shade then I can add the colour in the dressing of the room.

So another room is on it's way to being usable soon, the ceiling has had it's two coats of paint, windows have had theirs, the smelly old lino is up and has been taken by the neighbours along with the plastic corrugated wood effect panelling, which was battened to the wall. The holes have been filled and all is ready for painting tomorrow At least it will be clean, tidy and not make me feel ashamed when people come over.

It is now planting time here and although I don't grow too much from seed I do grow Pumpkin, Melon, beans, herbs and a few other things so the garden is under way.  I usually get my Tomato, Pepper, Aubergine and a few other things from our local market gardener.  I like to put a bit of money into the village, where I can, and it saves me having to worry about the seedlings, as I have no green house or cloche (yet). Hals my back has been planted up with potatoes. I always go by Yovo' dates too LOL. Soon the garden will look great with all the food growing, I get so excited over it still!

The weather has become quite hot now, then a bit of rain and everything grows like mad, especially the weeds, it's like the day of the triffids here BUT we have found a scythe and it is bloody sharp! Kevin watched the cow man cut some stinging nettles with it in the front so is going to try cutting the weeds down with it LOL

Right now my projects are painting and staining some old garden and animal things to use as planters, especially for my herbs, photo's to follow, and plant the seeds while Kevin and Hallie do other stuff.

The brick structure got a good spraying with Raid today to rid it of all the wasp nests that have been built in it, Urgh!!!!!  There were loads of honeycombs  in the holes of the bricks. I had been watching them flying in and out and was concerned that Kevin would be hurt if we didn't check for nests first before starting the demolition.
I will continue to check over the next couple of days, just to make sure!

We have just had Easter here, for once it was the same as in the UK. I and my young Americans went to a charity gig in a hotel that looks like a fortress, in the village of Arbanasi. The views are beautiful there and the village is gorgeous, even if too touristy!

I went to sell some cakes and after they helped me set up I got them to go have a look around the old place. It was a merchant village once so consequently the houses are all huge and magnificent.  There are lots of hotels now made from these amazing houses but some are just renovated back to how they once were. There are also lots of old churches & monasteries to find down the side and back streets.
It was lovely to meet up with lots of friends I haven't seen over the winter and a good day was had, even the weather behaved itself.

My young Americans have been a God send to me and have helped me so very much!

Life feels good again right now, but  freedom does come at a price.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Helpers In The House, New Rooms For Me

Well what a lot has happened since my last post! My life has yet again turned upside down with major revelations, deceptions of the highest order and finding out I do not know my husband at all, but I'm still standing!

Getting the house done is my highest priority, I need to live in a proper home and surround myself in comfort right now, I don't mean all the trappings money buys, as there is no money here, just a comfortable home where I can kick back and laze or entertain friends in comfort.

So I have called in help as I was rather overwhelmed at how much needs doing, even more now the weeds have turned into triffids again.
Workaway came to the rescue. Right now I have a lovely young American couple staying with me. They have been so great and things are starting to come together, at last.

I did finish my living room and have used it a few times to eat in, as the table is still in there, but it is far too cold to relax in due to the weather going on a downward spiral, I needed a fire in there.  The fire was installed yesterday,  I hope to test it out today then get the rest of the furniture in there once the TV has been installed (again). I just have to get the stone and tile to make a fire surround then it will just be the flooring, once I can afford it, maybe next year.

Yesterday was a funny old day, one of those where nothing seems to go right, I felt really disappointed and down at the end of the day. The trip to the market was OK but it rained and was bloody miserable, and the veg was S***,  the flue pipe I bought is too big for the Kamina, though Nigel promises it will be OK, the paint that went up so lovely the day before has a chalky finish, and we ran out of paint in the second bedroom so it is still only half done, blah di blah!
My American couple enjoyed their trip, in an old Wartburge, to the market as they have nothing like it where they are from. So that was actually a positive in the end. I am hoping for a glorious day before they leave me so I can take them again for a better experience of it.
The paint in my bedroom has dried really nice and I am quite pleased with it, so another positive, not quite the disaster I thought, although we still have the second bedroom fiasco to sort once I can get a lift into the city. Oh and I managed to buy a set of alum keys so now I will have a bed to sleep in, in my new bedroom. Tonight is the night I move back into comfort!!!!!