Happy New Year !!!!!!!!

Hello again! I was in Germany a little sooner then expected. Didn't have time to wish you a wonderful New-years eve and all the best you can think of for 2012 ! Well, hereby I wish you everything you want for everyone you love including yourself !

The reason for our speedy departure was this :

I was looking for a wood stove  for our house in Germany. I've heard the electrical power can be off so every now and then due to storms or something and because we were planning on spending new years eve there I thought well, if the power goes down I can still cook and be warm if I have a wood stove. 

I was looking on the internet and there it was : a 1920s coal/wood oven/stove , Art Deco style, enamel, chrome, perfect condition for a bargain. The seller lives in the southern parts of the Netherlands and we practically passes his village when we go to Germany. We were planning on leaving December the 28th but the seller told us there was a lot of people interested so we decided to go immediately. 

We packed our bags and Pinky and went on our way to see this beauty.

It was beautiful !! And it weighs 160 Kilograms :-( . . . . . cast iron .. . . .

We managed to get the monster into the car and while we were driving to the house we really were worried how to get the thing in the basement.

 We had to go through the garden and that's steep and curvy and slippery :-(

Well, we arrived at the house at 6 in the afternoon and it was already dark so we left it for the next morning.

Thank goodness, our supersweet neighbour heard us the next morning and came to say hello. He was so kind to offer his help and after a frightening hour of dragging and pushing and heavy breathing and some curses the thing was in the basement !!!

Boy, we were soooo glad !! 

We couldn't install it properly because the stove pipe was from a total different kind then usual and I have to search the internet for a fitting pipe but it is standing proud and shiny !!!

Next thing to do was making a dining table, we really wanted to have a fancy dinner on the eve and we didn't had a table yet.

I bought a little desk in Holland for 25 Euro , I didn't need the desk but I needed the legs :-), we don't have enough room in the car to take a table with us so we had to make one in Germany .

I think I have explained our house is actually 2 houses, a good proper house and a attached house that needs a lot of TLC.

We call the TLC house the old-men's house, the last inhabitants were 2 old men.

This old-men's house has 2 basements and it's full of usable stuff like wood, beams, isolation things etc. 

We found some great pieces of timber and tadaaaaa: DINING TABLE !

The tabletop is painted and drying on my sewing machine table and on the floor is the frame with the desk legs.

And this is how it looks finished :-)

I also didn't have nice lamps to hang above the table so I bought 2 white iron rings, wrapped some fake ivy and red berries around it and a string of Christmas lights. 

I cut of the plugs and connected new electrical flexes and plugs and Voila ! 

We were ready for a nice meal with local wine ;-)

See the felted bowl on the table? With the acorns and balls ? Beautiful Christmas present from Kim :-)

Here is a nice pic from our mantle which I decorated with shadow puppets, I love them !

And to complement the hole assemble : 

Pinky !!!!!

We did some work on the little entrance but I still want to paint the floor in a chequered pattern.

Hehehehe the polar bear was a Christmas present to myself. . . . 

Okidoki, tomorrow I will get back to work, there is this donkey calling me and the Sandman is getting a little impatient !

 Helen X