5 Weeks Later........ Chloe, Snow, Friends, Poorliness, Dogs & Mini Kitchen Renovation Oh & Life Back To Normal

Wow it's been over 5 weeks since I wrote my last blogg! can't believe where the time has gone but thinking about it we have done loads & seen loads & been living loads Hurrrrrrahhhhh!!!!!!
Now don't get me wrong I don't need a man to validate my existence but I love my husband & it has been a hard path to tread! Also I have found out not only was I missing him & obviously lonely but I was also quite poorly which obviously didn't help the situation! Well I am not happy that I'm poorly but I am happy that I wasn't a complete weak willed lump of mush hahaha, here is a round up of the last 5 weeks.......

Nigel made it over in 3 days of sensible driving & sleeping! I don't understand the stupidity of people who drive straight through. It's ok if they want to take themselves out but invariably they take out families too! So he slept in the car upright but at least he slept. The Kia & trailer was so packed solid it was quite a sight to see & took two days to unpack!
It's lovely having him home & also having help disciplining the dogs who are a lot better behaved & love all the attention :D

I have also become a Nanna for the third time! Here is the beautiful Chloe, isn't she gorgeous!!!! Born on the 13th Nov, a lovely unexpected little girl, she was predicted to be a boy!!!! NEVER believe the hospitals!Well she has been a real joy & Daniel & Katie are over the moon! This is when I miss being in UK, it's a hard price to pay sometimes!

It's been a lovely time as we have some new friends, I have finally found some ex pats on our wavelength! We have had lots of fun & it's been great seeing Nigels little boy part of his personality resurface, he is having fun being silly & his funny voices have come back. The ones that no matter what accent he is trying to mimic sounds like his native Bummie or a Pakistani, he just can't put on accents but to his ears he sounds welsh hahahaa which does make it quite funny!!!! So its been Nigel & Jo & Net & Neil out & about trying different chicken kebabs in different towns :D we have been to monasteries, towns, markets & shopping lunch trips & had a great time!! Net & Neil make me laugh & Net has been invaluable to me in helping me feel better as even though Nigel was home safe & sound it didn't make the depression go away! First Net cut my hair which helped me feel better in my appearance then as she has trained as a nurse she made me go to the doctors.  It turns out I have high blood pressure & was retaining water, the doctor put me on water tablets & almost immediately the pain I was feeling all over my body went away!!!!!  This was amazing, I was in so much pain even I was concerned not all was well! So now I am being monitored, BP is back to normal, pain still subsided & I am just waiting for an influx of energy please!!!!! Talking of super energy that describes Net she has so much energy it puts me to shame & I think how unfair she has too much & I don't have enough :-(
We have also been visiting a friend who comes over every month for a long weekend (even in the winter) & Nige is helping her re wire her house at the moment & while he is working we are chatting & visiting :D So we have met new people who have moved into her village since Nigel went to UK. Its been great. I love meeting new people & making friends. I have always been a people person & until I moved here have never had trouble filling my life with lots of people, but here it is different. I think maybe its that in the UK we have a choice & make friends naturally but here it can be very unatural. UK culture is very diverse, I am from South London (& proud!!!!!) but have moved & lived many years in Kent, the South Coast & Midlands all these places have a different culture to my upbringing & I have had to adapt & make friends, but it has seemed harder here. Just because we all have the love of adventure & Bulgaria in common does not mean we will automatically get on! Anyway I digress. The last couple of months for me have seen a new mix of people who I hope will all be good friends & we all want the Bulgarian way of living with friends in both cultures mixing with both as there is nothing like sitting & chatting rubbish when you have spent the week struggling & trying to remember words to communicate. Oh don't get me wrong I enjoy it, it's great fun & makes for lots of laugh's but easy chatting is needed to. Also knowing there is someone who understands the word emergency without having to say it 100 times is a great thing to have in my life :D Friends from all countries, sounds good to me!

Nigel is busy renovating the kitchen area for me :-) He came home with a small kitchen & Belfast sink so we can at least have a workable kitchen for the next couple of years while he turns a cow shed into my super duper kitchen & the cellar room into our dining room! It's a work in progress but time & money dictate all. So he has been re wiring, plumbing, ripping out, smashing down, plastering & that’s just the prep work bless him! He is making me shelves as we have loads of wood & its really lovely to have shelving that’s been part of the property for donkeys (& cows & chickens & pigs & goats & sheep & people hahaha) it keeps the history & its better than burning it all :-)

Nigel is altering the few units he has bought over (purchased on ebay for 42 uk pounds) & then its just a matter of painting the walls & sealing & painting the ceilings.

The sink is going to be the worst as it was built in with the house & he has to re plumb everything to the new septic tank, we will see, I am hoping it will be finished for Christmas, if not painted, as I really want to get the dec's up :D

Oh & the snow has arrived, so our winter starts, but for those of you in Europe, well you have had it worse than us so far! We have a inch maybe but temps falling to -13 feel last night! Our temps are worse but the snow will eventually be up to Nigel’s thigh & we will have to dig our way into our house soon enough LOL we have outside stairs so in the winter we have to clear the steps & dig the path to get in downstairs :D

This photo is from Feb on a mild snow day :D It gets a lot worse!!!!


Well that’s long winded enough I will continue this in another blog but for now enjoy your snow!!!!!!!