This morning we had to be up and at it early. We wanted to be at Leroy Merlin when the doors opened, at 9am. We were a little later than that, given that we made an unscheduled stop, as we do.
Diesel fill up was also on the cards, and we stopped at the Station Service at Carrefour in Soyaux, this side of Angouleme, and our preferred shopping district. The new car is a gas miser, which is nice. Waz filled her up after about 500kms, with just a bit more than half a tank of diesel left. We then hopped across to the Carrefour Supermarche to find some plastic bins, if we could. We also needed some large felt tip pens for writing on boxes. These are going to Florida and NZ with us.
Next up, Leroy Merlin. The hardware store has some less expensive cupboards that we identified as being perfect for the interim kitchen needs. We wont be renovating the kitchen in any meaningful way for a while. However, there are few cupboards in the kitchen and we need to add to those. There will be some re-working out of necessity. We need to get the fridge out of the pantry, and created a proper pantry, otherwise we have nowhere to put our dry groceries.
Four flat pack double door wall cabinets and one single flat pack cabinet on the trolley, we packed it into the back of the car and made our way to our local Boulangerie. We were tempted to purchase our lunch time baguette at Carrefour, but needed to support our new local bakery. We found a passable Baguette Cereal there, and of course needed a couple of Gourmandises for dessert. This being Easter, these phallic symbols are everywhere. Some have custard or mousse but we like ours with Chantilly cream, thanks:)
We always love the way they present these and any other sweet treats.
Lots of work done today. First up, the Plumber was at the house when we arrived, just after 11am. He was servicing the Boiler, and the upstairs Loo will need a new pump, he said. We are on a Septic system and this loo has a macerator flush, just like the one on the boat. We really need to put in the Water Softener system, as there is plenty of calcium and magnesium in the water which tends to leave deposits.
He will be back soon to do the loo...in the meantime, we have identified some of the gas Cylinders in the basement! yay! Monsieur le Plummer was very helpful, though he spoke no English.
Waz turned on the boiler and the whole house warmed up with all the heaters on. Yay! Lovely to have really hot water coming out of the tap too....the boiler heats one of the water tanks and this is wonderful for winter. We can change over to the electric tank once the boiler goes off when it gets warm enough to turn all the heaters off.
The Wazster got busy opening two of the flat pack cabinets and the installation took the rest of the day. He spent some time downstairs in the basement looking for screws and the appropriate tools. Even though 'everything' is supposed to be included in the flat packs, there is usually at least ONE thing missing, and there was.
Meanwhile I seemed to do endless cleaning...Every surface needs wiping and de-molding. With the heat on, the ghastly chill disappeared, and I even took my scarf off, around 3pm...yes, it took that long!
I have a new best friend...his name is Henry!
Cute huh?
Henry is actually the wet/dry shop vacuum, and is a bit heavy for my current condition, but I manage. He has great sucking power, which is necessary right now. There is another vacuum down stairs in the basement, but it needs all new filters and some bags, which we were not successful in sourcing this morning. We were told there is a shop dedicated to this, but we were half an hour too early for it to open, and we weren't waiting around. A demain!(tomorrow)
Henry and I did fly duty today. Upstairs was the focus this afternoon, as I didnt want to be vacuuming around Waz when he was busy in the dining/kitchen.
I officially hate drapes!! There are dopey flies and stink bugs clinging inside the folds of all the draperies. YUK! Shaking doesn't get them all out, and just when I thought I had done a nice clean-up job, there were more flies. UGH!
I havent cleaned the bathroom yet...tomorrow maybe.
I did wipe ALL the doors, the bannister on the stairwell (moldy!) and cleaned all the walls and any other surface I could find upstairs. All the floors were cleaned, but a bit disheartening to find the flies everywhere I had been. Oh well!
The microwave is in the other room while Waz makes up the cabinets to go above the pink tiles.
I was in the middle of vacuuming the front bedroom upstairs, when the light flickered. Waz getting my attention. He keeps coming upstairs and saying things like "Guess what I found??" with a look of glee on his face. I cant possibly think of all the goodies he is finding in the basement, so I just wait for the reveal, lol. Always something amazing!
We opened the upstairs door to the deck and went outside. We rather forgot that it was drizzling most of the day.
Every outside surface needs a power wash. Dont know if he has found one of those downstairs, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he does. All the shutters need sand blasting (or at least wire brushing) and repainting, of course. We wanted a project house, and I guess we found one:) Cant say we are unhappy about it.
Looking out the kitchen window is a wall of greenery.
We were pretty exhausted by the time I filled the kettle for a last cup of tea, around 5pm. I also needed to clean the exhaust hood over the cooker. Hmmm...this job hasn't been done for a very long time and will take more than a few wipes of degreaser, I'm afraid. I'll finish it tomorrow!
We needed to find a few grocery items on the way home in Villebois, so we stopped at the SuperU. With just two weeks to go, we are eating out the fridge and freezer, and life will become a bit more urgent now that we are wrapping things up here.
We have an appointment with the Bank to set up our cheques and credit/debit cards, next week, we are also driving south, one day, to visit with old friends from Provence. Cant wait!:)
The final signing of the house agreement...we are told that you usually dress up for this important occasion. Hmm...dont have anything special to wear, unfortunately.
We transferred some dry goods to the house today, and have started putting our own stuff in piles, here at the house-sit. We aren't taking much back to Florida with us, so our bags will be almost empty. We are hoping the weather will be warmer when we return, and we wont need our wet weather clothes! We may need them in NZ, however, because we will be down there in May.
Ok...I can hardly keep my tired eyes open, so it's night, night from me...and him! :)
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