Catching Up

Hello! It’s been a while but boy have we been busy settling into our new home and adapting to life with Baby Piglet. I’ve barely had a chance to get behind a PC and my online time has been limited to Twitter and Facebook on my crackberry whilst I’ve been nursing.

Everything’s going hunky dory and Baby Piglet is proving to be an absolute delight except for when she has a growth spurt and then she turns into a milk monster. I’ve struggled to keep up with her but things are getting better as I get better (yes, I’m still not quite recovered).

Here’s a wee pic of Baby Piglet yesterday in her summer dress that her Gramps bought her:

Baby Piglet at 7 Weeks

Hasn’t she changed? I get quite nostalgic already when I look back at the photos and see how much she has changed and she’s only 7 weeks old!

The house is great. We felt at home immediately and whilst country life is taking some getting used to (more of that soon), we are so pleased to be here despite everything we had to go through to get here.

It took a while to get rid of the old owners and this Wednesday we were finally able to celebrate them vacating the workshop and leaving the property forever. We cracked open a bottle of bubbly after Baby Piglet had gone to bed and I was drunk within a few sips.

Its been great to get lots of help and sit back and watch as friends and family unpack our stuff and help us settle as I look after Baby Piglet and rest. The only downside is that Mr Piglet has discovered the full extent of my hoarding. The garage is full of boxes and the bedroom wardrobes are full and yet there’s still boxes everywhere and they’re all full of my stuff!

I’d managed to hide my hoarding during the packing as my Mum packed most of my clothes (including all the ones that had never been worn and still had tags on) but she’s not arriving until Tuesday and my French family already unpacked them!

I’ve been well and truly caught out and have promised to sell lots of stuff at a car boot or online as soon as possible. I actually felt embarrassed as they unpacked a box of clothes I wore 13 years ago (all in excellent condition though). Now that I’m a Mum I don’t want to hang on to this stuff and am finally ready to leave it behind me. Mr Piglet will be delighted I’m sure!

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What a weekend! New baby, llama’s and lots of lorries.

I have loved this November so far and have had lots of positive energy, something I have been somewhat lacking previously. What I like even more, is the two bank holidays we enjoy here in France, one for the day of the dead (All Saints) and one for Armistice. I especially liked Armistice Day this year as it was on a Thursday which meant I got to have a long weekend as I closed down on the Friday too!

On Thursday, after over 12 hours of labour, my sister in law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Alyssa. We went to visit them at the maternity ward in Beaune (such a beautiful town in the Burgundy area) and I was astounded by how something so big could possibly have been in my SiL’s tummy just twelve hours earlier! I left the hospital feeling slightly nervous about things to come for me, slightly older now that I’m an Aunt but overjoyed for my SiL and her boyf.

Bienvenue Alyssa! Born 14.11.10 at 0130, weighing 3.4 kilos

On Friday, we took advantage of the long weekend and visited a property in a town called Groslee. If you don’t get the pronunciation of the town 100% spot on then you end up saying (or hearing) Gros which means fat and Laid which means ugly. So imagine me with my lovely English accent telling someone where I live? Fat Ugly!!! Not good!

I should have known from the start that a property in such a badly named town would not be appropriate; it had to have something wrong with it and the name should have been a warning sign. Needless to say the property was no good and I could have strangled the agent as we had once again wasted our time despite best efforts to eliminate inappropriate properties before visiting.

We had asked our list of questions before arranging the visit, one of the questions being: is the property on a busy road?

We were informed “que non” it was on a quiet village road with little passage. LIAR! The agent is a big fat liar! In the 10 minutes that it took to tour the outside of the property, no less than 5 lorries went hurtling by. I was fuming! It turns out that the road was the main road to a nearby town and it was the only road the lorries could take once they left the motorway. So, a wasted trip!

A shame really as the property corresponded perfectly in terms of size and style – built from stone, lots of outbuildings, spacious inside and beautiful white shutters.

Beautiful house in Fat Ugly

Whilst looking for properties we have also come across some really strange adverts. I think the strangest so far as been for a private sale where the owner is selling their llama with the property.

Yes, you read correctly. The property is being sold with a llama. The llama comes part and parcel with the property! In the property details you get a full description of the property, the land and the llama as well as a couple of photos! I can just imagine the owners considering their llama as being a major selling point and surely there must be something wrong with Mr Piglet and me for not having this as part of our criteria?

Is a llama really a selling point?

Have you ever seen anything really strange whilst hunting for property?

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