The old ones are the best!!

I just had this forwarded to me and it made me laugh, so I just wanted to share the joke.....

WHY YOU NEVER QUESTION A DRUNK

I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:
A half-gallon of 2% milk,
A carton of eggs,A quart of orange juice,
A head of romaine lettuce,
A 2 lb. can of coffee,
And 1 lb. package of bacon.

As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of thecashier.

While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated,"You must be single."

I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by thederelict's intuition, since I was indeed single.

I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said: "Well , you know what, you're absolutely right.
But how on earth did you know that?"



The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly."

Does Scrooge live here?

OK, my rant the other day did seem to scare everyone away, but what the hell - I am enjoying the opportunity to just put my thoughts down on paper. Here in Canada after a cold and icy snap, we are back the right side of zero degrees and it is miserable and raining. So I have felt the need to put up my exterior Christmas decorations - I know, but it is now less than a month to Christmas and in my street I am definitely a late starter. Always been a believer that less is more, and the rule in our household is only white lights (despite my kids' pleas for plastic Santas and all that malarkey (not so much these days you understand, they are 26, 24 and 15) but back in the day I had to explain the principle of less is more. Hopwever, I am thinking maybe they could teach me something.

What a Scene!

It's view like this that caused us to fall in love with the part of France where we have decided to buy some property. I had to post this photo, I just love it, it is a view from the B & B where we stayed for a couple of days last week. A great spot, very comfortable, wonderful hospitality, close to our village. One of these days when I have worked out how to include a link, I will. It is tough getting back to reality here in Canada with memories like this. As you can imagine, we are itching to get started on our project, but some bureaucracy to go through first. We want to put some dormers in the roof, so that we can convert the attic of the house and the barn into bedrooms. Apparently, this can take a little while, so we are keen to get that underway as soon as possible. Also all the good artisans are booked up for months, so we need to pin one down now although he probably will not be able to commence work until next summer. Looks like we might be camping for our hols next summer, maybe even the one after!

Mental Olympics

I don't know if its jet lag, age, hormones or what, but I cannot seem to stay asleep for more that 5 - 6 hours these days. When I do surface from sleep, my brain starts what I think of as the mental olympics, I think it is probably the decathlon - you know, a quick sprint over there, the mental hurdles, the long jump (how did I get from there to here?) - it is truly exhausting yet not sleepmaking. I've always had a problem focusing - I don't have a problem relocating my entire family from one continent to another, no problem - however, seeing weightwatchers to a successful finish, utilising a gym membership - those I'm not so good at. So here I am a new real estate agent with my first listing, it is very exciting and daunting. These lovely people have entrusted me with their home to sell, and, bless them, they want to buy a property through me as well- great! Trouble is, as usual, that is not my entire focus, but it should be. No, I have one or two other things to contend with, as my hubby (who I will call the Great Wage Earner - because I know that is how he thinks of himself - and bless him, he has always been great at it, and much appreciated by me) has upsticks off to Europe for work, leaving me here in sole charge of our fifteen year old son, one large stupid dog, the family home, a rental property in a town one and half hours away, the company bookkeeping, the family budget, selling the car (now surplus to requirements) and nurturing my new career. God, I'm surprised I have 5 or 6 hours to sleep! Maybe Superwomen would have been a better blog name, however that might suggest I have a handle on everything, but truthfully I think softinthehead is probably more apt at the moment. I got into the real estate business just this year after years of thinking "I could do that" - "I think I would be good at that", I mean, in our thirty year marriage (which we secretly think works becase the GWE has spent a good deal of it elsewhere!), we have bought and sold 14 houses in places such as the U.K., U.S., Canada and now France - piece of cake. So I took the plunge and signed up for the courses, did fairly respectably - there was a momentary wobble just as I was about to give in my notice at my nice, safe, wage earning job, I mean, from now on it would be totally up to me, I could not blame anyone else, i.e. the boss, colleagues etc. if it did not work out. But GWE said go for it, so I did and almost three months in, I have a listing, very gratifying, of course now I have to sell it - I will keep you posted. I hope this hasn't been as exhausting to read as it has been to write, but I can see this blogging is going to be very cathartic. I can now happily start on my first list of the day, because boy I need lists, post-its, my daytimer (with highlighted entries of lists.....) I hope I haven't scared everyone off.

Bloggeritis

I have been eagerly reading Breezy's and Sally's Chateau blogs for several months now, what I like to think of as the Corrie and To the Manor Born of living in France blog's - meant in the fondest possible way - and I will let you decide which is which! All in my search of vicarious living in France. However, I have now branched out - obviously a little slow on the uptake - but have ventured over to MOB and the mean mom etc. etc. and I 'm hooked - hence the title.

However, as I want to keep everyone on tenterhooks with our renovation project in Limousin I have attached another couple of photos to show what two and a half days with two pairs of shears, a couple of rakes and a saw can achieve - you can almost see what we fell in love with. I know - you're thinking we have very thick rose coloured glasses.

Legally described as "habitable"

Well the deed in done. We are now the proud (crazy, foolish, impetuous!) owners of a little bit of France that they laughingly call habitable. We have bought property consisting on one "habitable" house, a barn and a ruin! on an acre of land just north of Magnac Laval in Limousin. The adventure all began back in January when my husband jokingly sent me a link to a wonderful looking chateau somewhere near Clermont Ferand (?) and before you know it we were off surfing around the property agents websites looking at all sorts.

Having visited the Limousin a few years ago when France experienced an incredibly hot summer, we already knew we loved the area, reminiscent of the England back in the 50's - no traffic, rolling countryside, friendly easy going people and ....peace and quiet - no noise pollution, living here in the suburbs of Toronto that is just unheard of (excuse the pun!). So it was decided, we would go to France for our summer vacation and buy somewhere! And that is what we have done. As this is my first ever blog I am hoping there will be a picture along with this - fingers crossed.