From my Swiss window

Painting

Pumpkin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:42:59 +0000

We painted all day yesterday. The kids’ rooms are all done. Now, we are starting with our room. Vilay is putting down the protection for the floor after he took off all the floor boards. Then, we will clean the walls and ceiling with a special product. Tomorrow, we will finish our room and put it all back together.

I didn’t think it would be such a big difference from before. I had gotten used to looking at the walls already. However, it is so much brighter and cleaner in the kids’ rooms. I am so happy that we are able to do this.

I will take a pic of our bedroom now and all the steps afterwards.

I love painting because it isn’t really hard work (just time consuming) and the end result is always worth it (even if the walls stay white).

After we had gotten done painting the girls’ room but with all the painting materials still in place.

My son got his room back this morning and he loves it!

Creux du Van walking trail near Ferme Robert

Pumpkin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:51:26 +0000

We took off one day to Creux du Van located in the Jura mountains (Canton of Neuchâtel in the Val-de-Travers). We left the car in the parking lot at the Ferme Robert and started walking on a trail that went up on a slight incline. It was slight but after about ten minutes the kids started whining. We continued perhaps another twenty minutes before deciding to head back down to the farm. It was a good move because it started raining about twenty minutes after we arrived at Ferme Robert. Just enough time to drink a coffee and the kids to play.

Ferme Robert.

The trail.

Apparently, it is possible to have a campfire and picnic.

A bear was killed on this spot in 1757.

Up and up, we go.

Butterflies were everywhere.

A black feather with a bright blue edge.

The trails in Creux du Van are well-marked.

The Creux du Van was formed by glaciers and has an amphitheatre shape.

I have more photos to share with you from our visit to this beautiful place. Tomorrow, we are going to start painting our daughters’ bedroom.

Each day will be a new bedroom until we get to the living room which will take some time to finish. Afterwards, we will tackle the kitchen. I will be sure to take pictures of our progress to share with you all here. The painter will arrive tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to get us started. He will show us how we need to protect the floor and exactly how to paint the walls like a pro.

Our apartment will have all clean and white walls afterwards. It will be beautiful!

I am so tired every single day. This summer is flying by and I can’t seem to keep up with it no matter how hard I try. Only about three more weeks and school starts. All my kids in school. Weird.

Beauty in my life

Pumpkin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:46:48 +0000

I have been busy cleaning and rearranging our apartment. When I am not doing that I am off with my husband and children to explore some part of Switzerland we couldn’t before.

We have been so busy. I am so tired. Tired in a good way. Not like before our move.

I am so very happy here and I see my life from new eyes.

It is amazing how much our move just a few blocks from our old apartment has changed our lives for the better.
But, it has.

We are living normally again.
And, it feels so good!

Our lives are filled with beauty.

We just have to look.

Here are some beautiful things I saw yesterday.

More to come tomorrow!

I hope you are all having an awesome summer.

The rest of my Sion photos

Pumpkin — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:44:41 +0000

Château de Valère (Valère castle), also known as Notre-Dame-de-Valère, is a fortified church in Sion that offers fabulous views of the city and Château de Tourbillon (Tourbillon castle). It, also, holds the oldest working organ in the world dating back to the 14th century.

Château de Tourbillon (Tourbillon castle) sitting on the hill in the back of the photo.

The walk up to Notre-Dame-de-Valère was hard due to the heat. It was very humid and hot sucking all our strength from us. Yet, my two youngest children managed to run up the stairs while the rest of us (including my seven year old daughter) panted and whined about how hot it was. :)

The old wooden door of the castle walls impressed my seven year old daughter deeply. She stopped and touched the doors asking all kinds of questions about how the castle was fortified.

The doorway. I know the photos aren’t that great but our Nikon wasn’t charged so we only had the point and shoot.

The view we had while we ate ice cream to cool off after almost over-heating from the walk up to the castle. The restaurant in the castle is very reasonably priced and the staff is super friendly. We really enjoyed it. I was surprised that it wasn’t more expensive.

My favorite photo from that day. I am going to try and print it out in a small size and hang it in my apartment.

My youngest daughter running from a covered doorway that we were using as shelter from the pouring rain. She wanted to go to the doorway my husband and her older sister were under but she had to come back since there was no room for her. She got soaked pretty good during this short run.

I felt relaxed the whole time I was in Sion. The people are very friendly and happy. Even if we got soaked in the rain, we didn’t mind. We loved the city that much.

Sion, Switzerland in photos

Pumpkin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:40:15 +0000

We took a day trip to Sion. Even if we ended up getting soaked in the rain, it was so worth it.

Beautiful city with very friendly people.

**********

I have more photos of the city than I can’t fit into one post. So, I hope to get the rest up tomorrow.

Today is my laundry day. Laundry days here are for an entire day and the dryer actually drys clothes. If you remember the old apartment’s dryer took over three hours to dry towels! We were paying out our noses to wash and dry our clothes there. In this building, we only pay for the electricity that the machines use. It is simple and fair. Oh, and the laundry room is clean here!!!

Taking it easy

Pumpkin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:59:56 +0000

We have been busy with summer, cleaning and moving in our new apartment, taking daytrips and LIVING like we never lived before in Switzerland.

Did I tell you how much we love our balcony? It is seriously the most used spot in our apartment.

I am so very happy to be free of the apartment from hell. This morning was the first time since moving here that I woke up knowing I was home without having to open my eyes.

I am happy.
So very happy.

I love my life.

Our beautiful Swiss apartment

Pumpkin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:08:55 +0000

I am still recovering from the move.
It was very hard and tiring.
My feet still hurt.

However, in spite of how hard the move was it was so worth it.

In every way.

Our apartment is beautiful.

Have a look for yourself. Just ignore the remaining boxes and the morning dishes.

*I started this post this morning and am only now posting it at almost 10 p.m. My day has been a little busy but in a good way.

I love my kitchen cabinets.

Boxes that need putting away are tucked in a corner. The kitchen window looks out over the play area for the children which is very nice.

The living room is humongous and full of light.

I have to keep the furniture covered because of the kids. They are a messy lot.

In the photo, you can see where our cat likes to dig in the large flower pot. I still need to sweep all the dirt up. It is kinda pointless because she’ll just do it all over again. She is like having another kid.

The view from the other side of the balcony.

We bought a new desk for the computer and for the girls to do their homework on.

I love the tiles on the bathroom walls and how the toilet is connected to the wall and not the floor.

The windows in our bedroom are awesome. I decided to put our bed right under them. Come winter, I may change my mind about that.

Emmie Cat loves the balcony and our bedroom window. She is easily found in either one of those two places.

My children’s rooms are exactly the same size (pretty big). My girls share a room. My son has a large room for just his bed, toys and Chester drawer or more correctly chest of drawers.

The hall from the bedrooms to the front door is wide enough for us to put a large armoire there if we ever wanted to.

The entrance has a closet for the sweeper, broom, mop and other cleaning supplies. There is, also, space for shoes and coats.

Next to the entrance is a bath and a half. I can’t tell you how much we have profited from this second toilet in the apartment this past week! My kids love being able to go to the restroom at the same time and can’t stop talking about it.

We bought our cat a new covered litter box. She was afraid of the door at first but now is OK with it. It really does cut down on the amount of litter she kicks out. We got it for 16 chf at Landi which is more than half the price at Coop.

There is a toilet brush in each bathroom on the wall. How nice is that?

We bought a new shower curtain for the bathroom. I love how it looks with the light coming in from the window.

I can’t wait to slowly decorate our new apartment. We are still unpacking and arranging everything. I think in another week we should be all done.

We desperately need two more armoires or chest of drawers and another desk for Vilay. In three months, I think we will be able to buy those items and finally be able to get all our belongings organized without being crammed in any space I can find.

OK. Now, I am off to bed. Goodnight everyone!

Change

Pumpkin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:25:09 +0000

So much construction in our village. The dirt road above has been replaced with a concrete road leading to future companies or factories.

Tonight is our last night sleeping in our apartment.

It is a mess right now with bags and boxes scattered about.

I was exhausted yesterday.

Today, (thankfully) I feel like I have regained some energy.

After all…It is still Monday laundry day!

I lucked out and got the majority of it done yesterday when the sun was so strong most of the clothes on the line dryed in about half an hour.

The hardest and most time consuming cleaning tasks have been completed.

It is all about the boxes now.

Oh, and the stove door. I have to take it apart to clean in between the glass.

I have never done this and am a little nervous about it. In the States, we don’t do this or at least didn’t when I lived there. As I recall, the glass stove doors have no openings so nothing can get in between the glass. Not sure why the Swiss stove doors do?

I hope that I can keep all the moving boxes and bags all together with at least some organization.

It is kinda nice to find important things like your toothbrush once a move is over. :D

We should have internet connection right away.

However, I have learned in life it is better to never assume and just go with the flow.

I hope to make a post in a few days with pictures of our new home full of the boxes that are quickly taking over our current one.

On top of the world

Pumpkin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:12:10 +0000

We are busy, tired, happy, a little stressed and feeling a whole lotta excited.

It is like we are on top of the world.

It is almost 9:30 at night and I can hear my girls giggling over each others silly comments.

This is after a long day full of sunshine.

Only now is it beginning to get dusky outside.

It is finally starting to feel like summer.

I still can’t believe I will sleep in this apartment only four more nights before the move.

I am already beat after working non-stop today. The whole weekend will be like that.

At least, I will get a good night’s sleep every single night until we get moved!

From exhaustion.

Goodnight everyone.

zzz.

Mm-Mm Good

Pumpkin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:37:23 +0000

Today is the Fête du Jura. Most everyone working and all that go to school in the Jura have the day off.

I am busy beyond busy. Yet, we still took a long walk today. It helped with the stress.

We met this guy on the way back to our village. When I took the photo I didn’t see that he had put his tongue in his nose.

He is a sneaky one.

From my Swiss window

Painting

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