drEAming…of Italy and a car

You may have noticed that I have been quiet the last few days – no I haven’t come down with anything – thankfully – although we had 3 people go home last Wednesday, I was pleased it was my last day and I could escape the germs.  I have been wiping desks, door handles and key boards each morning with my Dettol wipes just to try to keep them away.  Coughs and sneezes from work colleagues are harder to avoid!

No, the reason for my absence is that I have been a little overwhelmed lately  – well a lot overwhelmed actually.

I have a couple of large projects on the go at the moment and they are taking up all my spare time.  Once the time has been put in to deal with these the end results should be very enjoyable!

The first mammoth project is that I have to change my car before it is no longer useable.  It is sixteen years old and due an MOT by the end of this month and I already know it won’t pass so I decided that enough is enough and I need to buy a new one.  One that will last me another 16 years and hopefully one where the heater works during the journey to work not just as I drive into the car park, and where I can open or lock all the doors at once. 

After slogging around the showrooms, reading reviews and taking a test drive I have settled on one and placed an order – just got to arrange the insurance and then sit back and wait for delivery.  I am so sad though to be saying goodbye to my old faithfull friend – I just get so upset at the final parting.

The other project on the go is what I am referring to as the ‘Italian Job’

We are invited to my niece’s wedding in Italy (she is marrying an Italian) in April.  The ceremony and reception takes place in a small village in Northern Italy near Verona and Vicenza and not far from Venice.  We intend to make a small holiday of it and go for 9 days – three of which will be taken up getting to the wedding, enjoying the wedding day and then saying our goodbyes and moving on.  We will be meeting up with my two daughters for the wedding itself but then each of us are planning to go off in different directions. 

After the wedding OH and I have decided on a few days in Vicenza followed by a few days in Venice before flying home. 

We will need to book a hotel to stay in on landing at Venice Marco Polo then move round to the outskirts of Vicenza to another hotel closer to the wedding venue for 3 days.  Then another short move to an apartment for 3 nights in the centre of Vicenza to experience Italian life and finally moving to Venice for the remaining three days.  Four different hotels / apartments in all.  That’s a lot of packing and unpacking and a lot of booking.

The choosing of all these different places to stay has been a bit of a headache and so time-consuming – scrolling through endless internet pages of hotels in the region – what did we do before the internet?  Places that look OK on Booking.com can look quite different when viewing the travellers own photos on Tripadvisor.  I really hate it when you see a lovely hotel room on a website – stylish and clean and then discover that this is their only room of that decorative standard and on arrival you are shown to something quite different and very shabby in appearance (and I don’t mean in a chic way).

We have booked the flights, the hotel for the wedding and the train connection so far but still many bookings to go yet.  It is not a cheap way to take a holiday either – I can see why people opt for a package deal.

So I may be quiet for a few more days yet…I am still following and reading along though with everyone’s blogs and hopefully all will be back to normal again soon and blogging will resume.  If anyone has any tips for Italian travel they will be very welcome.

Back soon x

Advertisement

My new Focus for this month…

It is so lovely to see little signs of Spring creeping in everywhere, the lighter nights and mornings, sunnier days and the first burst of  colour as the Spring flowers emerge. I feel winter is definitely behind us now and we can give a huge stretch and come out of hibernation.

It is with this in mind that I have decided to dedicate my focus this month to an energetic Spring Clean and I must say I can’t wait to get started.

After the long winter months I can finally blow away the cobwebs, throw the windows open wide and  let some fresh air into the house, put the washing out onto the line to dry and clean, scrub, clean until every nook and cranny in the house sparkles.

If you click on the drop down menu above on the tab Focus 2014 you can see my plan for March.  Each day I will tackle a different task which will lead me to my goal of a clean house.

For those of you who have been following along I will be updating you on my previous projects for January and February – focusing on Finances and Simplifying my Space, the former actually proved to be easier than the latter and I think this is mainly due to the fact that I could do a very small financial related task in the evening, whilst the clearing tended to be left for my days at home.

Did you watch the video about Innermost House on my previous post – I know some of you did and there were mixed comments but I think the general consensus was that there was something quite magical about it even if it is definitely not for you. 

For anyone who missed it here is the link again – Innermost House

…and for those who would like to see more this is another video called ‘On the way home’

I have watched them a few times over now as I see and hear different things at each viewing –  there is something of the spirit of the place that I would like to capture and apply to my own home – for instance I love the fact that she has ‘chosen’ what she wants to live with her in the house.  As the documentary says there is nothing superfluous there and that really appeals to me so whilst I continue to simplify my space I will be putting this into practice and really choosing only the items I want to live with.

Did you notice that when asked if she was a Luddite she didn’t rush off to Google – instead she took a beautiful leather bound book off the shelf and looked the word up.  We often have to resort to this method when we are at our cottage as we have no computer up there, or internet connection or phone line even and funnily enough I never miss it.  If we need to know the answer to something we go into town and generally ask Billy in the Hire Shop he is our Google  – a font of all knowledge or (and Dar will love this) we visit our local library – but you have to leave plenty of time because you will be drawn into a lovely long chat with the librarians.

Most people commented on hearing the sounds in the documentary – the sounds of nature that are often go unheard these days with all the background noise pollution we suffer from having electricity and engines surrounding us.  I must say that I might find the lack of listening to music a problem as I expect having no electricity would mean no means of playing CD’s etc.  Maybe they have musical instruments and I definitely would have to have room for my piano.

And just what is in her cupboards?  I am curious to know what she is keeping in there – what chosen articles are allowed to be part of her life.  I have so many unanswered questions and each time I watch it I want to know more – I expect you can tell that it has had a profound affect on me!!

After discovering her website I will be definitely settling down tonight for a good read. www.innermosthouse.com

My meal plan for the week, grocery spending and what I have bought last month will all be on my re-routed blog click here.

Focusing on Simplifying my space update # 2…

Simplifying my space has been a harder project than I first thought and of course I am nowhere near finishing but the areas I have completed are working so well it is motivating me to press on.  As you will have noticed I have produced very few posts about this project as time has not been on my side during February but I will keep you updated as I complete a task.  I am concentrating my time in our home office at the moment which is probably a months work in itself.  Hopefully this weekend I will get to photograph the fruits of my labours!

Whilst I have been doing all these tasks I have been thinking a lot about how I can make my space both simple and uncluttered and keep it that way.  In fact I did wonder if I am simplifying at all or just reducing.

Even though simplifying and reducing are closely related terms I think there is a big difference between the two, for instance I could simplify my meals without reducing the amount I cook or I could reduce the amount I cook but still keep my meals quite complex.

The dictionary says to simplify is to make easier – so how would I make my space easier once I have reduced the contents?

This is what I came up with –

• I can rearrange the items to make a more workable space – both the furniture and the decorative objects.

• I can make the cleaning easier – washable surfaces, revamp existing items, maintain existing items, clean simple lines and shapes.

• I can simplify how the space is used so it is single rather than multiple use eg the kitchen for cooking, the bedroom for sleeping and dressing.

• I can simplify the decor making it more restful.

• I can introduce better storage.

• With my finances I can simplify the way I am dealing with them and tracking them as well as reducing the amount I am spending.

So as I am reducing I will also simplify by keeping in mind the above check list.

Whilst on the subject I thought I would share this short video I came across recently on You Tube and although this is a life taking simplicity to extremes it does have a certain appeal to me. 

They have named their tiny home Innermost House – such a beautiful name and I especially like the fact that even the few books that they have with them are ‘chosen’ to live there.  If you have a few moments take a look and tell me what you feel after watching it.  Would this life appeal to you or fill you with horror?

Thoreauvian simple living: unelectrified, timeless tiny home

Tomorrow I will reveal my new Focus for March and do a catch up on my weeks spending and the menu plan.

Sweet Summer…

Oh sweet summer stay and sleep
A liquid sun beaming today and forever
Lingering dreams and afternoons of heat
The boats adrift in the harbour.

by Wayne Jarus

This weekend I wanted to capture a little of my summer garden to bring into the house – so with scissors in hand I went outside and collected a few of my favourite flowers and herbs to make a tiny posy.   I love the soft purple and pinks against the bright green of the Lemon Balm and the deep purple of the Black Knight Buddleia.  Sadly, the summer feels as if it quickly slipping by now and I have hardly spent any time in the garden at all this year.

The project to improve the area where we store our two wheelie bins is still waiting for us to have a free Saturday but we do have a new fence now which our neighbour has replaced.

This is the ‘eyesore’ corner but we are in a dilemma because this is not the fencing we had in mind to enclose our bins.  We had thought we would buy some of the larger square heavy-duty trellis panels to match the fencing on the other side of our garden which has weathered down to a nice grey colour.  The panels that our neighbour has used is not as high and quite lightweight and also a bit ‘yellowy’ in tone at the moment but they might look better when weathered.

So do we continue with the same fencing as this which we are not as keen on or put up what we had originally thought???  I think for the whole area to look neater and not stand out too much we are going to have to buy the same fencing as this. Whatever we use we will be growing climbers up it so I don’t suppose it will matter too much.  So watch this space…I hope we can find time to get it done this year.

Related Article

 

 

 

Its bin a wheelie trying day