We are getting there

John is over in France for a couple of months and I am here in Australia. In France/UK its the coldest weather for years with huge snowfalls. In Australia its unseasonably hot - up to 39 some days and its not even Summer. What are we doing for Christmas? I am heading for the beach. John is with family in the UK. But in January 2010 I too go to Europe, and then I will get the chance to test out the insulation in the little house because John says the house- with the new wood heater - is toasty warm!! What a relief. Now we have a little car too so we can zip around easily. The kitchen will be finished, the wardrobes in and windows double glazed and then repointing the outside stonework, a small wall built.... and thats it.

It has taken us a couple of years and we have had our ups and downs.....but we are getting there. Not bad I say

Here is a before and after shot

Did I say that!!!!!!!

That I would finish my project management exam by July. Here I am still struggling on but I am still enthusiastic. We have been over to the UK twice since the last post. One of those times was to see our second newly minted grandson.

It was time to try and finish off the renovations.

However this time I poked myself in the eye with a tree branch and that held me up.

Regardless, John started to finish off the kitchen, and we got our wood heater in and had a couple of parties, started the vegie patch .



John will now go over for a couple of winter months and see how it feels to live there in the cold and I mean COLD.

Mr Moore snoozing in front of the fire. Surprise

When we were over in summer it was beautifully hot. Not the harsh sun of Australia but the softer sun of the Northern Hemisphere.

I found trying to communicate in my poor french rather trying and exhausting. Having the eye patch and having to get up every few hours in the night to put antibiotics in my eye also didn't help with the relaxation. It was good though not to hear dreadful news every day and not watch a thousand murders per night on some American TV show.

Its been a year

I can hardly believe it is almost a year since the last posting. A lot has happened during that time, some of it personal and some work related.

After some time of pretty unprofessional comments being made by the self styled now ex "pm", he finally got the legal flick. Good bye

However as usual there is always a silver lining amongst the clouds. It was thanks to his bizarre behaviour that I decided to do a professional, properly accredited project managers course, complete with international accreditation. Its called PMP and you can look it up on the website. It is based in the USA, but has an internationally recognised reach. I will be taking my final exam before July this year.

It is my aim to properly project manage small houses in France with a good experience for the client, and the staff.So we all have a win win situation.

As we are doing this from Australia, there is also the tyranny of long distance, but now we have some fabulous people working with us and for us. You can contact me for their details if you want.We have a plasterer/general builder, an electrician a plumber and a roofer.

John and I were over in December to try and start and finish the painting, but because of personal circumstances were not able to do that AND it was very very cold.

However he is going back in April to fit a kitchen.

Some of his kids and their partners are going over to help with the painting. I must admit, the plastering is so fine, I just drool over the smooth surface and wonder if we should paint. I think this must be a function of getting older. Firstly it was boys, then food and now plaster work. Sad.

Anyway here is a before and after to keep you going