Just Humans Being...

We spent a perfect weekend in Brittany last week, the north coast continues to fascinate us - so much so that we will be returning again soon. Somehow our work has just become crazy, even though we only look after one holiday let these days... A few of our regular local customers have also had relatives staying & so our job has become one big clean up. Along with 2 second homes needing to be blitzed, ready for their owners' arrival... It all just seems never ending, especially when in the mix - Bebe is agitated about this, that & the other. So just over a week ago, we both felt like we needed to escape... Bebe going into respite just wasn't enough, staying at home is nice - but we know that we will carry on doing stuff, things that need doing & which don't get done because we are either working or caring for Bebe. We were both exhausted & needed to be completely away from home, so for us - the perfect pick me up is to get our French fix! Neither

We are having a chaotic time, but Sime is convinced everything will be ok & amazingly, we do seem to be ticking things off our list. Our extra work seems to be going smoothly, but Bebe is going through a sleepless phase, which I'm finding tough, as I always wake when she's phaffing about - Sime just sleeps through it all! During the winter months it was very windy here, so we got into the habit of leaving Bebe's radio on overnight, as she would get quite anxious when the wind was noisy. In a bid to try & get her to sleep, we have now removed the radio & the lamp that we would leave on through the night & have replaced it with 2 nightlights. We've also replaced the low energy bulb in her bedside lamp with a  LED 6W cold-to-the-touch bulb, as she tends to put tissues in the lampshade, which of course is troubling with a warm or hot bulb. Bebe also has had a habit of opening & closing her drawers throughout the night, which has started to really

We are off on a European road trip soon & are feeling quite excited! When we first organised the trip - we visualised a gentle run up, a slowing down of work & an immaculate house... Instead it has become chaotic & the complete opposite!  We have taken on extra work & can't believe just how crazy life has become (of course those of you who have read our blog for a few years will know this is pretty normal for us), but we had hoped this time would be different... Not only is there work, but there's Bebe in the mix... Little does she know that we will have to take her with us to do a couple of jobs at the weekend, yes we are going to be working every day until we go away with little time to organise Bebe's clothes (which need labelling, as previously - lots of her clothes have gone astray), then there's all her medication to be ordered... Our sleeping bag needs washing, stuff getting together, food for our journey (not so easy when you live &

What a crazy day today has been... We started out incredibly organised & Bebe was in a fairly ok mood. To top it all - the weather has been wonderful... We got the washing on the line early this morning & enjoyed the warm sun on our backs, the birds were singing & bees humming - a lovely start to our day! Work was straight forward, until guests turned up early, which caused a bit of chaos... Our friends, Lou & Vanessa  are a fantastic help & we couldn't do it without them, especially today, so we are very grateful & feel very lucky to have such lovely friends! :-) We've been looking after another holiday let today too, which some other friends own.  Unfortunately there was a power failure after some work had been carried out on electric cables in the area... So we ended up spending a couple of extra hours trying to get it sorted out. Poor Bebe had to come with us, but although it was a warm evening - she refused to get out of the car &

We are preparing a house in Portmellon for the owners, who will be arriving next week & we never tire of the views, so we enjoyed our rewilding break just soaking up the scenery...   The property has been closed up for a few months & amongst the usual dead flies was this small tortoiseshell butterfly, also dead... Today's activity is to research ecovillages because they can be a much more sustainable way to live...  We were interested for many years in joining an intentional community & have visited a few too.  One of the major downsides for us is that we very much like our own space & we're not always very sociable - we like hibernating & doing our own thing. Even the thought of getting together with  the same folks every week is just too much on a regular basis & would be worse if there are communal chores to be done! We work hard, but only because we have rent & bills to pay, otherwise we'd rather be lazy...  Mo

Hello! At last, it feels like we have finally found the right balance of work, Bebe, home & play... It's been a tiring few months of trying to do far too much, while coping with Bebe, who after the initial honeymoon period - has struggled to settle. We realise that she will never truly feel at home & instead, she talks of going home on a daily basis.  We have thought on many occasions since Bebe moved in with us that we have perhaps made a mistake bringing her here & that she would in fact be happier in a care home with people her own age. When she's with us, she often tells us that we are boring & that she is bored... She doesn't want to get involved in anything & her ability to concentrate is very poor. There are fleeting moments when she snaps out of her misery & 9 times out of 10 - it's because we put her music on.  We decided that for Bebe's wellbeing & our sanity, she needed to increase her days at daycare. First she did 3

Hello everyone & sorry for our absence... We've had lots of guests in over the last 2 weeks & done 14 house cleans in 8 days... Just crazy! Then there's been meetings, home education group, college open evening, as well as squeezing in a nice night out...  It's all been very exhausting, so we're treating ourselves to an overnight staycation tomorrow - leaving Hugo to man the fort.  Lots of our guests keep telling us to try out  Airbnb  for ourselves & that's what we're doing. At some point soon, we'll hopefully find time to book our winter holiday with the kidlets - our sealed pot is filling up & mainly from generous guests & customers.  See  Saving For Travel's blog  for more info. We've had mixed weather this week, quite stormy & cold at the beginning, but on Wednesday night the sky cleared & the sun came out again... Amazingly, it's been out ever since! Better late than never... Linking up wi

We've had the most busiest 2 days of the year so far... We have hemp protein in our porridge every day, which really helps to keep us going! Yesterday, we had a crazy day, the house we cleaned was it's usual hovel & took a lot longer than we'd thought... Second home owners with more money than sense & children who have absolutely everything, but don't look after any of it!  Completely different world to ours... Thank goodness! Today's been equally difficult, as some owners contacted us at the last minute to say their son & friends would be coming down today (just as guests were leaving)...  We already had a full clean to do, so said we could get there after 3pm, which we did & amazingly, everything ran smoothly. We managed to clean the 3 storey house in 5 hours between us, came home & prepared our guest room for folks arriving tomorrow. Any minute now we'll be eating our very late dinner & then it's all systems go

We've had lovely warm sunshine today. It's been an absolute pleasure spending the day in such beautiful surroundings & we never take any of it for granted...  We may work incredibly hard, but it beats being employed in social care. It's days like today, that make us realise how lucky we are to be here, to have taken the opportunities that came our way & not only feel satisfied that we did make the right decisions, but are continuing to do so. We are filled with excitement about the changes we are making business wise & feel it's going to be a great year! Linking in with Jane's  View From My Window Here's  Our Thursday view   & our usual double act! Bye for now, Kay & Sime xx

We're having another incredibly busy week...  But are hoping that things will calm down for us soon. A bit late for this really, but better late than never. We're linking up with  Jane's  View From My Window... On Thursday, we were out working all day.  One of the jobs was our final clean at a house we have decided to quit taking care of. The last time we'll see this view... It's been a bumpy old road with this one & we're happy to be saying goodbye. We also have one other that we will be finishing in a few weeks time - a job that takes up a lot of our time & energy, when all we really want to do is get our second B&B room up & running, so we feel the moment is right for moving on... The view from our window. The lilies are going to be chopped back this weekend & we'll see if they will pick up again. We desperately need to get some weeding & tidying done. Blue skies! It's been lots

I've made a discovery... My thyroid condition is back & I'm really pissed off about it! All this time, I thought I'd lost weight because of my healthy food choices, but it looks like my immune system just doesn't like hard work & has started attacking itself again.  I eat far better than ever, so it has to be from just doing too much...  This weekend will be the last of the full on changeovers, which is great for me - but for Sime, it's the season of worry... Will we make it through to next spring on the money we have made this summer? So I'll get better over the winter, while Sime will probably slip into the worry zone. Money has never bothered me, I know we can budget & do without. I'd rather do that than work as much as we do, besides we have more money than last winter, so things aren't so bad!  Sime likes to be busy, he loves work coming in & is happy to juggle things to shoehorn every last job into our workin