Friday, December 23, 2011

Stop turning the damn world ...

Gosh the last two days (including today) have been busy as I had this mad dash of inspiration and wanted to wrap up all the *you didn't finish them up in time so you can leave them till the new year* projects or at least get them off to a good start. But it was worth it :) The only thing I missed/forgot is to trim the tree LOL

But - all the walls in my sewing room are now white washed, the beams are a glistening dark brown and the dark awful looking doors to the built-in closet are now white and show off the wallpaper I put on two of the three doors to perfection. I was not too sure if my colour palette of grey, white and dusty pink would work, but it does. It looks fabulous and I'm so keen on putting up the rest of the shelves as well as the frames and my old Baroque mirror (which still needs fixing).

The whole house has been cleaned, dusted and cared for from top to bottom, even though I still need to wash the upstairs windows and I think I'm seeing the proverbial light at the end of a very deep, dark, and self-confessed tunnel. YAY!

Yesterday His Hubbiness ™ got a pre-birthday present (how very Sheldonesque) in form of a fleece sweater, then today, he got some camera gadgets and a board game. He also got a pre-Christmassy pressie today LOLbut I needed to move some stuff out of the way and instead of wrapping up some I gave it to him instead which he is now wearing with pride so everyone is happy. Just don't tell the Christkind or Santa LOL

I wish you all a Merry Christmas - eat, drink and be happy :)


4/5 of our idiot children :D

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Advent ... the time for breathing

Even though I try to move slowly and somewhat gracefully (HA!) through this hectic part of the year, it is a good thing that our afternoons and evenings are returning to cozy nights at home instead of either entertaining or being entertained by new-found friends. While I love that we have now started to weave all the intricate knots of friendship, at this time of the year it is essential to stay home and just breathe. And pause ... and wonder ... and soaking up all the holiday goodness.

All the moments that make me happy
- hunting for little holiday gifts on Christmas Markets.
- it's Christmas time!!!!!
- walks in the woods with the dogs.
- did I mention it's Christmas Time?????!!!!!!! :D

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Sunsets and other stuff

Our internet connection is working so I need to use this to the fullest LOL

November has been an amazing month, lots of sun shine, lots of mellow golden days and cold clear star-lit nights. And the sunsets ... and sunrises ... gosh it was all so amazing. I just love November, heck I just love autumn and winter. While most folks get winter depression I seem to get winter passion :) I love to sit and relax in the garden surrounded by my dogs and watch the passing of light, the one hour between day and night when everything turns blue and then the sky is ablaze (well, on a clear day). And this particularly soothing golden light through the autumn foliage .. I love it!!!

While I write this the Eastern horizon is very gently turning from black to these amazing touches of magenta and I hope I can catch another wonderful sunrise on camera later on.

Anyway, life has been fabulous, even though it is strenuous and busy and most of the time I only remember which day it is when the garbage folks come (we have three days a week where all sorts of garbage is picked up ... Wednesdays is for bio/green garbage; Thursdays for either plastic/metal or paper and Fridays is for all the rest that doesn't fit the first two and you know what? Our trash can is tiny ... yes, TINY! It is bucket sized, well a big bucket, but still .. bucket sized. It is really amazing how much plastic and metal, but especially plastic stuff we are buying with our food. Plastic packages for sausages, meats, even vegetables and fruits. What happened to the good old newspaper or brown paper wraps?
As we are changing our way of living and especially eating, I have started to take empty tupperware with me when I go grocery shopping. First the supermarkets were a bit put off but as we are buying less and less there (during summer we got all of our fruits and vegetables from the garden and we've never eaten so healthily nor so fresh in all our lives) and go to the extra length to buy ecologically sustainable and free range dairy products and meats now. Yes, it is costlier, but then again we do not eat so much meat anymore anyway, so it doesn't affect our purses too much.
Luckily we have a couple of bio/eco farms around here so I can phone them up, ask what they have some particular offers that week and then I go there with my tupperware. And the butcher can portion all off already so you just need to label your boxes and chuck them into the freezer for further use. It's wonderful.
A couple of women here are already thinking of buying a pig or two next year and feed it for a year before having them slaughtered.I guess we have all seen the River Cottage DVDs one too many times LOL But the RC team would be proud of us. I have already asked the farmer down the road and he would offer us stabling free of charge for half a pig (no matter how many pigs we will eventually get). Another woman has re-activated her goat herd with a male goat and we have been experimenting with making goat's cheese already. Could be that we will have a couple of mini-goat's in the new year as well ... we will see.

Our dogs are striving and are still as cheeky as ever. Our two foster dogs are slowly but gradually, especially Sammy, learning to enjoy their new lives and I'm particularly proud of Lir who gave the impression to never learn how to walk on a leash, as he was so afraid of the harness and the leash itself. But he has now mastered like he had never done anything else in his life. We even can now walk through the village without me having to drag a 30 kg dog along. He even walks without a leash now when we are on the fields and the woods.

It is still very painful and frustrating to watch any progress with Sammy. At least she now walks within two feet of us and doesn't take flight immediately. Still ... she doesn't like to be touched, doesn't like any kind of harness or collar but there is progress. She now knows she is called Sammy or Sam Sam by us. If I call her she slowly approaches and waits what I have in store for her. We feed her by hand and she slowly, very slowly allows us to treat her like one of our dogs. But I don't see her moving into her forever family just yet. She will need at least another year if progress continues to be as it is up till now.

And the rest of the pack are all happy and healthy and fully demand our attention :)

Chandini looking like a miniature bobtail :)


Friday, December 2, 2011

An update ... sort of :)

... sort off ... somehow ...

Life has been hectic and stressful around here ... we have been busy harvesting and making ready for winter. Living in a little village seems to be the epitome of peace and quiet while in reality it is far from it. There are private parties, community parties, community bazaars, more parties and bake offs and what not. I haven't been so busy in all my life LOL
Autumn has been wonderful, lots of blue skies, sunny days and November even holds the record of first November in 100 years with less than a cup of rain falling. A tea cup mind you.
Anyway, while we had some splendid weather, we had also a lot of festivals and fetes and merriment was all around. And now we have December already and the first advent has passed and gone and the second Advent Sunday is just around the corner and I still have just one wreaths and one garland of Christmas decorations out. I need more time ... like 48 hours in just one day lol. I hope to get the rest of the Christmas decorations done by tomorrow and then I can start appreciating and enjoying this time of year IF ... yeah if our internet connection gets its act together and WORK for a change.

So to the birthday kids and all the others I have missed ... Happy belated birthday and Happy belated Turkey Day :) I hope life will get back to normal after the holidays :)