working out what's what..

So obviously it's all been a bit quiet here... I think we can be pretty clear I am a haphazard blogger!

I am still having to manage my impatience as, despite lots of viewings, we've had no offers, yet.

However, things have also become a little more complicated. A couple of weeks ago we went back to the lovely Monmouthshire and looked at some more properties. Well only one in the end due to snow, and the car claustrophobia of our littlest. But, this one property is lovely... on 2 lovely flat acres, in a little hamlet, is a good size house, that has a great barn attached to it that we could one day extend into. I really liked it. My lovely husband also liked it, but not as much as the first contender... the mountain home.

You see the mountain home has much more land (another 6 acres) and is very romantic and wild, it has great potential for a glampsite and thus income. However, the mountain home is quite isolated and (unsurprisingly being on a mountain) is up a very steep road with a lovely hairpin bend!

As you can imagine, there have been very many long and lengthy discussions about these two houses and which is the best option. For me, though I love the mountain house, and I do, the thought of being up there, alone with two small children, for large portions of the day, and inevitably some nights when himself has to work away, scares me. Partly because I am prone to imagining worse case scenarios, and because I grew up a city girl. But also because my bigger girl can get some pretty nasty croup attacks and I like to feel that in an emergency i could yell to a neighbour for help.

Now I know there are neighbours up there, and my little ones won't be so little forever, but its a very important concern for me. The other house, barn house, doesn't have those worries... but it is a whole chunk more expensive and doesn't at the moment have the obvious, immediate income potential of the mountain house.

So the lists, comparisons, dreaming and discussions continue, there is no decision, and we'll be heading back for more house hunting shortly... just in case there is a third contender!

Because, you see, none of it really matters at the moment, all discussions are academic, until we have a buyer for our house we can't do anything anyway...

And here we are full circle, back at my impatience! It will happen, we will get there, someone will love our house, we'll work out whats most important for our move, things will progress.... won't they?

Impatience...

I am not a patient person. I do not like waiting for things.

We have found a very fabulous place we want to move to. Its great; it has land, a lovely house, business potential, near a town, beautiful views, and it may even be affordable! But of course we have to sell our house, and this is where I need to learn patience, we've only had it on the market 3 weeks, and we've had 5 viewings, but I want it to sell, NOW!!!

In defense of my impatience I could claim that the stress of keeping a clean, tidy and sale-able house with 2 small children is why I'm so desperate to sell. This is not the case (though believe me it isn't fun) I can just see us there, in our mountain house, and I want to be there now!

Fortunately my other half is better at waiting than me and is holding my impatience back, but every time the phone rings I hope it might be an offer. Just imagine how much worse I could be if we do get an offer and we get in a big chain!

I'm trying to remind myself to enjoy what we have now; living near great cafes, restaurants, great friends, museums, art galleries, public transport... and it is good, very good. So today I'm trying to balance in the blessings of today and the plans for tomorrow.. I'll let you know how I do.

A muslin full of cherries

Babin and I were having a leisurely wander through our local park yesterday, marvelling at the ducklings and goslings, the sticks on the ground and the park in general, when we noticed a man picking things from a tree. Upon enquiry he told us he was picking 'bird cherries' and handed us some tiny, dark cherries - and ate some himself. They were juicy bursts of tart sweetness and Babin and I both got covered in the purple juice.

Not one to miss out on free food I suggested to Babin that we could pick some, and she began reaching for the tree to do just that.

We didn't have a bag, so I bunched up a muslin, and slung her on my hip (in my very lovely NM Girasol Ringsling) and we merrily picked cherries for half an hour or so in the beautiful sunshine.

At home Babin carefully washed the all cherries, and I washed our pink-stained hands. They were a feast fit for queens as we sat in the paddling pool and ate cherries and spat the stones into the garden to see if we can grow our own tree in 10 years or so!

Take one box...

How much fun is a cardboard box?!!
We've made it into a supermarket checkout, a cave for Babin's bear, a boat, a place to hide, a table for a tea party, and who knows whats in store for it for the rest of today! Her imagination is limitless and its a pleasure to watch and an honour be taken along for the adventure.

ear defenders

So somehow, we ended up in Romania, with himself playing a music festival and me and babin rocking some of it... until a very nasty temperature for little one arrived, and then we had a some very long and anxious times in a hotel room and eventually a trip to a Romanian a&e... all very scary.

There was also me wet nursing for a fellow band member's baby as his wife had a nasty case of mastitis and a visit from Romanian paramedics who prescribed medication which they we convinced could not be taken while breastfeeding.

But in between all this 'excitement' we did have a short time on stage with the ting tings... I wonder which experiences will feature most when we tell of our Romanian adventures!