A Week Until Santa Comes!!!

Can you believe, this time next month we'll be 16 days into next year?

I've been watching lots of Hallmark Christmas movies, free on Ytube, when I have internet, so am almost Xmas'ed out!

Xmas being set up in my village ...all made by locals from  hay bales and a few scraps....

It seems once I get a Hallmark movie going, the internet stays on mostly, but if I move off the movie and try and watch my fave POTUS draining the swamp vids, it goes off!

The most beautiful rose ever. Really is the last rose of summer!

Fbk is virtually impossible to load most days, Twitter is hopeless, emails load 50% of the time, when internet is supposedly on, and so, that is how it goes. Was without anything for 4 days a few weeks back, but now I'm getting a bit fed up and have hopefully finally decided enough is more than enough.

I say that every time it plays up...but now with the great hibernation upon us for the next 3 months, I'm sorting this out on Wednesday...finally! (hoping).

I wish my family was here to push me to help me do it.

I get all happy again when it comes on, as it really is my only lifeline to the outside English speaking world!

Then I forget how inconvenient it is with no service and then the cycle of internet-horriblus starts all over again...2-6 times a day.

I'm in an off service period now, writing this off line, on the computer, as of near the end of November 2017...

I think my patience and forgiveness has run right out for that internet services company.

It was a wet, foggy last week, mostly, which had its good points at times, but today the sun shone brightly all day. Even though there was a chilling breeze blowing, the sun was so beautiful to see and feel again.

Everything dried out fast and even the insides of the Cottage Imre was working in, dried out too.

Can't believe how much work the guys have done in the past few weeks. 

Look at that. Temp roof on, walls all cleaned up and slurry applied...ready for the reed bed and wire application.

Imre got in there today and leveled off the “authentic shapes” of all the original walls.

Another 11 plus, barrow loads of mud brick, plaster, layers of whitewash wall scrapings have just been added to the bottom paddock...dohhh, it never ends!

But, wow...it sure looks great in the cottage now.

Some nice sunrises and sunsets at this time of year...

My 2 American girls left for Morocco 2nd week of November...miss them a lot.

On Saturday when he comes back again, he'll begin the goop and mesh trick of his and make his magic “baby bottom” walls over there and make it really beautiful and peaceful looking, not harsh, straight, dead looking and without character as the modern internal cement rendered brick walls look.

I'm pleased I kept about 70% of the old original walls, as they certainly do feel a lot nicer than the new bricks we had to put in on a bit of the front and an entire side wall. You really can feel and somehow see the difference...I know it may sound crazy to some people, but it seems that way to me.

Dirk is coming one day through the week to sand back 6 of the old windows I bought for the cottage, in readiness for Imre to put them in as soon as he's done the insides. Imre also sold me a couple of big windows for the bathroom and side wall, so Dirk will sand them back too, plus 3 doors I also bought from someone else...No go, Imre put them in before Dirk got here! oops...

I have a person semi interested in the caretaker job here as my ideas are now back to where I started years ago, when I first thought about moving here. 

If they want it, it looks like I won't have to go to the added expense, just now, of getting the upstairs all sorted out, with stairs, hand rails, mez floor and all, so that will work out well.

In March, we'll just put up the roof, with beams, foil, battens and roof tiles and save the pink bats(insulation) and final ceiling covering, mez floor boards, handrails, stairs, extra furniture etc, for later on in the year.

I'd really like a timber, tongue and grove, V jointed ceiling for over there and by doing it in 4 stages now, it will work out perfectly.

Stage 1...Temp. roof is now on...get inside walls all done, power, windows, water etc...

Stage 2...Real roof on with beams, battens, tiles and waterproofing foil only, deck out insides with shower, loo, basin, kitchen, bed and other furniture...ready to live in.1 or 2 people.

Stage 3...Add pink bats/insulation and full timber ceilings internally...

Stage 4… Add mez flooring boards to the support beams already in position, add safety rails and stairs then deck it out upstairs with the big bed and dressers etc! Can now take up to 4 people

Cooked a nice roast turkey leg and veg in my oven. Am a happy chappy indeed.

As the cottage is only the size of a double garage, it is quite small really, so a lovely wooden ceiling will look awesome I think.

Was going to have exposed beams, but am not sure now.

If I do, it will require the ceiling to go on top of the beams, not hide them...so a lot of thinking is going on.

Exposed beams will look super cool, but may provide too cluttered a feeling for such a smallish space I think, so will probably stick with the plain, sleeker, full timber ceiling.

.....

 

The USA girls left this time last week and dear Bear went the week before.

It is so strange without him. I keep saving the scraps for his soup/stews of rice, vegies and chicken carcasses…

But it is so nice to sit outside, on the swing seat and have a meal without a soppy eyed dog looking longingly at every mouthful I eat...and getting half of it too, I might add!

He loved apples, strawbs, cherries, raisins, dates, pineapple, pickled gherkins...anything at all, that you put in your mouth! If he saw you eating it and you bit or cut off a piece and gave it to him...he'd eat it.

I had to try and get him used to eating dog food, by feeding him the horrible dry dog food. He just would not eat it. If you sat there and fed him one pellet at a time, he'd eat a cup full, but otherwise, it would lay around for weeks.

However, he is gone now and recovering from his de-sexing operation and first round of needles.

When he has his 2^nd round, he gets his medical clearance and is issued with his passport and is off to Germany to a family of 3 kids, just in time for Xmas!

The blessed dog has more requirements than all those disease ridden so called refugees, invading Europe over the past few years.

Germany is now revolting after being asleep for years as people are waking up to what the invasion is all about...their hospitals are bursting with TB sufferers and so many other diseases caused by those 3^rd world invaders.

Look it up yourself and watch videos of hospitals in Germany.

Anyways, it all will come to an end soon as the war between good and evil is waged on earth and in the heavenlies. So pray hard and long for Truth to be revealed, crimes to be brought out into the light and for justice to be served swift and sure.

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

OK...it is 3-4 weeks since I began this blog, so a lot has actually changed.

Yes, I did sort out internet, asked them to disconnect it and take away their modem 3 Fridays ago.

They said they'd be here Monday, but have not turned up yet. 

 

BUT, strangely, the internet has been the best it has ever been. 

What thu???

Have organised a month test with the only company here who allows it, due to the thickness of the 2 foot thick mud brick walls and other challenges out in these tiny rural villages.

Have also arranged for a Vodafone dongle if that fails. 

It is the same as I had when first over here and it seemed ok at the time...$15 for 3GB data, which at the time with all the moving in blogs I did etc, was sufficient only for a few days, so lots of refills then.

Vodafone says their coverage here now is as good as ADSL, so a friend has a Voda wifi set up, it virtually is like a big dongle...like a small sized half soccer ball, sort of... and she's going to lend it to me on a rainy day to see how it goes. So the internet saga continue...

But...

I did get the new SIM card for my years old phone. 

Had to go to Debrecen and apply for a resident address card, but they don't give out the required card to aliens, not from EU, so it was a waste of time and money. It turned out I already had the card that legally is the so called address card, but it was not the colour they needed, so! Then I had to have a friend buy the SIM for me...like going guarantor actually.

I received 2 calls today and it took forever to find out how to answer them. Missed one, so called them back, so we are making headways into the 20th century at least!

Well, here we are again now, all ready for Xmas to happen.

Lights are going up all over the place and the shops are full of chocolates and a few extra toys.

Xmas here is not the BIG commercial event like in OZ, but they are more about decorating everything. It is really lovely as you can feel the difference, it is more respectful to the Reason for this Season.

Putting up the Xmas decs.

News…

All is going well with winter work here, even on the dark, rainy or/and grey days. Imre has cleaned up the internal walls, leveled them out, filled up all the potholes (bends and curves) in the walls and tossed the usual slurry of mortar onto all the walls inside the cottage

.

This lovely gown or nightie, was in a pile of plain white tablecloths someone gave me a few weeks ago. It is in perfect condition. Will hand wash it, iron it? - put it on and take a picture in it. Then, my quest will be complete, I'm sure. To live in a bye gone era...and wear this piece of genuine clothing from that era...is surreal to say the least.

Now he's in the midst of applying the straw reeds they use to cover the slurried bricks to even everything up, hold the final mortar coats and insulate it all...and guess what?

We ran out of the 8 inch nails and thin wire they use to hold it onto the mud bricks, so my shopping list this week includes 8inch nails and a roll of wire, along with all the Xmas shopping! 

 

This week, as long as it does not hit zero temp, when all the water in the cement slurry freezes, he just has to apply the final coat of slurry/mortar/cement and put on his magic finish coat and all inside walls will be ready to paint in March/April.

Then they chomp furrows in all the new works to put in the power cables!

Apparently, this is safer, as they can locate the cables easier etc and it only takes them an hour or so to chop-chop out the furrows, lay the cables and patch it all up again, so it is not a problem really.

He also put in 3 windows last week, in the bathroom, temporary downstairs bed area and in the dining area and will put in the 4 little authentic kitchen windows when we finish sanding and painting them this week.

Then I'll have only 2 of those original 18 Hungarian farmhouse windows remaining, that I was given last year, so am using the final 2 to make a fake window to match the kitchen one. Imre will fix it to the right side of the cottage to even up the look. He will also make flower boxes for both windows and it will look pretty cute and awesome. 

 

Then, as the ground defrosts from the winter freeze, they'll dig in and connect the power cables and water pipes. When March comes, the outside will be rendered, everything painted in and out finally and the cement paths laid all around it.

In Jan and Feb he'll continue to work, outside when it's sunny and inside either the cottage or this house when inclement weather comes.

Inside here needs the wooden floors to go down after Xmas, and then only a few more power points in certain areas and 2 outside power points, but a host of new lights, dimmers and 2-way switches all over the place inside here.

There were 3 lights in the house and 1 power point when I came, so I won't know the place when it is all hooked up and glowing in the dark like a Xmas tree!

Imre'll put lights and power points down stairs in the cellar, lights and switches in the cellar area room up here, the attic stairs and a couple up in the attic, the new entry foyer we made, another light in the front room, one in the cupboard area under the attic stairs, one in the kitchen and one over the cooking areas and a few solar lights outside.

 

That will take him a few days fossiking around in the attic, digging furrows in so many walls, applying the switches, dimmers, 2-way switches, power points, light fittings and then patching and repainting it all. 

Imre also put up a bunch of curtain rods on the 6 inner small windows in the front room and on the inner entry door today. Now I have to go find lace and try and get it to look like it belongs there!

Bought a wood fired stove with an oven for the price of a taxi ride here a few weeks ago...amazing. It is my dream shaped stove, with a massive cooking top on it.  Am having so much fun cooking on it and baking in the oven! 

My snowy jogging track a few weeks ago...

Had to capture some of my pics from the past few weeks from my posts, as they are not on this computer yet. Sunrise I think...

Setting into place, my little treasure, with an oven and all!

So, that is the catch up for the past month now!

Wow, time flies.

Just made a “something” in my new wood fired stove oven. A cross between a slice, cake and biscuit, but just spread it out in the pyrex dish and cooked it.

I found some oat flour...never knew it existed, so made a ? with chia seeds, redcurrants, pumpkin seeds, desiccated coconut, olive oil, oat flour, yoghurt, a bit of milk, vanilla and crushed walnuts, so I'll go make a cuppa as the kettle is whistling away on the stove and go enjoy eating this surprise thing!

Amazing!!! Cuppa water on tap all day and when the urge to cook something, or the nibblies get at me...I quickly whip up a bunch of nuts, seeds, dates or whatever, with some rice flour, or now my new love, oat flour, and some milk and/or olive oil and 15 mins later, I have some goodies to munch on. Loving the wood stove.

Wow, it is the most delicious thing I think I've made in a long time that suits my non sugar taste. It tastes a bit like the Aussie Anzac biscuit, but obviously without the golden syrup taste. The texture is wonderful...light, crunchy, but not hard crunchy. Amazing. Love this oat flour so far!

Well, that's it until next week.

Have a great Xmas and New Year everyone. 

Love and Cheers,

Mary

xxxx