Grand Opening

 It has been a long time since I last updated, but so much has happened in that time.  We have been working non-stop to finish the house in time for our grand opening.  And what an opening it was!

As with every year, George was once again Babbo Natale for the local children and the scuderia was filled with puzzles for children of all ages to play with.  

This winter was especially cold so there were few booths in the Christmas market in the beer garden.  Perhaps next year there will be more if the weather is better.  

Santa had a variety of elves this year.  His main elf (and temporary translator) got too cold the first day so she handed over her duties to a couple of other great helpers.  

We had guests fly in from all over Europe and even a few from the USA.  The first of our guests arrived on the 9th and everyone was here by the 12th.  In total, we had 22 puzzlers.  Pam arrived first to help set up a few things.  Oskar, José, Steve, Nigel, and Deborah came in late on the 10th.  Robin and Victoria, Kevin also flew in from the USA, Toby, Diogo, Carlos and Martina, Katherine arrived on the 11th.  Louis, Wil and Alessandro and his girlfriend arrived on the 12th and Dario, Giusy, and Pier Luigi came in on the 13th.  

As is usual for my events, there was way too much food!  Thursday I roasted off 5 chickens. Friday night I had food prepared in advance by Gallo nel Pozzo and reheated.  It was a delicious meal as usual.  

Saturday we went to Mosalino in town for a wonderful meal.  

The kids all made an amazing lasagna on Sunday, and on Monday we had a cobbled together cooking lesson.  

For those of you who are interested, I made a chicken noodle and minestrone soup out of the left overs from Thursday's dinner and we also did a tortellini in brodo which is traditional for this time of year.

This along with a variety of cheeses and meats made up the lunches.  There were 2 panettone and 3 pandora eaten this weekend. We went through 45 liters of wine, 12 liters of Coke Zero, only 4 of Pepsi Max, 3 bottles of Coke, 2 gallons of milk, and 8 liters of fruit juices.  I'm only aware of this because of how many leftovers I have in the bar fridge.  Our help loved me this week.  I fed all of them and then some.  I won't even begin to tell you how many bagels, lox, and cream cheese cartons we went through, or how many bags of toasting bread I have now got in my freezer.

Most of you are not here to read about the food, but rather the puzzling.  I wish I could say I did a lot of it, but I didn't.  I chatted a lot, cooked a lot, and just made sure our guests had a good time all around.  

Oskar, Robin, George, and Steve made sure the 3D printers were running non-stop.  Everyone was given a copy of an Oskar puzzle to take home with them.  At one point, a head got clogged and Oskar solved the problem by melting the plastic on my new stove!  

Am I an indulgent wife or what?  George is so lucky he has me.  I did draw the line at using the kitchen sink to clean build plates, but only because the laundry room was right next door, and I was using the sink. 

I caught a bunch of the guys in the secret box room opening puzzles one afternoon.  And I'm pretty sure Kevin was disappointed that we don't have a TIC room, but one has to stop somewhere.  

Wil wandered around the town taking photos everywhere and he marveled in seeing his puzzles on display.  There was a lot of "spot my puzzle" going on all weekend.  

Deborah spent the entire time in the Lego room building.  Now I need to find a place for the larger pieces she assembled.  

Louis tried to open our safe, but was unable to.  He did reassemble a ring for me though so he earned his keep.  When I saw how he did it, I felt a little stupid to be honest.  But hey!  I've got to give him one each time I see him.

Nigel was in heaven when I asked him to unbox a new Berrocal that came in.  Surprisingly though, no one played with one.  

As usual, we drank too much and slept too little.  I think all in all everyone had a good time.  For those of you that missed out, don't worry, there will be more puzzle parties to come.

Another update

As I lay here in my very comfortable bed typing this, I'm thrilled to write that the kitchen is now finished.  I can cook and find everything I need to prepare a meal. This is nothing short of a miracle for me.  It is a time I have long waited for.  

I am cooking in the kitchen.  I won't say I've been making gourmet meals, but the dinners have been much nicer when I have ample space to spread out on.  The problem though is after working in here, I can really see the major, and I mean major errors that company made.  The most important one to me is the 'natural stone' countertops that they didn't seal.  We have oil stains all over them.  Added to that, they are poured stone and so when I drop a knife, or a pan too hard, chips come flying off.  Our solution:  Epoxy!  Screw it.  The countertops I have now will last maybe 5 years at the outside.  With Epoxy we can keep them for perhaps 10.  Live and learn.

The other problem?  The floating cabinet is around 10 cm too low.  Every time I'm bent over and stand up, I bang my head.  It's a real pain.  One year I'll get used to it.  

The good news?  There are plenty of electrical outlets in the kitchen.  Albeit not in the position I want them in but there are plenty.  Sadly, the electrician didn't listen to me when I requested some usb-c outlets so I have to now have him return and install the original order.  Meh.  Living here has been a learning experience.

In other news, the pantry is now 90% finished.  I just have to frame out the refrigerator freezer and have Antonio install some floor level electrical outlets to run the floor cleaners and dehumidifier.  One more set of cabinets on top of the fridge, and I am completely finished.  

I wrote that 2 months ago and hadn't had time to finish.  So much has happened since then.  We have had guests come and go.  We have been to puzzle parties, we have hosted puzzle parties.  The world keeps moving and I don't have time to stop and enjoy it right now.

We attended IPP in Tokyo at the end of September.  DCD was the first Sunday in November.  AGPI was held in our home in October.  My months are as mixed up as my days.  

Once again I failed the Italian speaking test.  So I plug on at the University for 2 more months.  Today we are in Baden-Baden on our way home.  The drive from DCD to Panicale is 16 hours and I'm just not interested in taking it all in one day.

Sadly a friend who was visiting with us passed away. Thankfully the comune came to help and the process was much easier than I expected it would be. 

IPPXLIII planning is coming along smoothly and all invitations should be going out within the next week or so.  This too has taken up a great deal of my time these past few months. 

This morning I got terrible news. Our big beautiful home in Boca was destroyed this morning.  I'm not sure what will happen in that space now. Probably a large eyesore will go up but it's not my problem.  I don't live there.  It just makes me very sad to think that such a beautiful well built home has been destroyed.  I wish the new building nothing but happiness.  

As for that kitchen....I've contacted a new contractor to come fix the major problems.  Hopefully they will be able to have it done in the new year.  

Everyone cross their fingers for me.  I take the next speaking test on the 17th.  Third time's a charm?  Until then, send up a good word that I have time to blog a bit more frequently.

Moving along

This has been a very busy couple of weeks.  We returned from our short holiday On Saturday and spent the next two days cleaning and shifting boxes.

And now we have done it!  We are sleeping in our own bed for the first time in over 3 years!  It's amazing how wonderful a mattress can feel.  And to be honest, there is nothing like good sheets.  At the end of the day, it is a pleasure to sink into bed.  It really is the little things that matter the most. I wake up in the morning with no back pain and even my hips are not hurting as much.  And the room is just nice.  It's open and bright.  I loved our room in the castle.  Especially the view of the old church through the window, but this is ours.  We made it together.  George has installed a projector so we can watch our nightly movie in greater comfort.  I think he's in heaven now.

Yes, those are bananas hanging from the bedside. There is also a small refrigerator filled with my iced coffee and his orange juice.  The kitchen is 2 floors down and he's gotten used to breakfast in bed.  This makes it easier for me.  

Sadly, our Turkish sauna isn't finished yet because the man doing the pavers decided they didn't need to be sloped or installed properly so the floor cut our feet, and the water didn't drain.  We are now getting it redone using the same marble we have on the seat in there.  Sadly though, we have used all the existing Carrara marble in the local area and are waiting for a new batch to be brought in.  Until then, we shower in the room next door.  

Speaking of marble, we are doing a little upgrade to all of the windows.  Each of the sills here in the Palace are made of a local red stone that can never come clean and flakes if you put anything on it.  We have decided to cover them with the same marble used in the sauna.  A beautiful continuity throughout our home.  So far we have finished the kitchen and our bedroom suite.  I can't wait to get the other 30 (!wow! I just counted) windows done.  It will look beautiful. And yes, that is a monkey you see resting there.

The designer of the three rooms (I've mentioned how much I don't like his work in the past) has yet to send us the design for the steps to the bathroom so I've cancelled the order that was placed at least 6 months ago and am taking matters into my own hands.  We shall see how well my idea works.  Stay tuned.

The kitchen is finally unboxed.  Mostly.  I'm sure another box or two will show up as I can see I'm missing a few pans and quite a lot of cast iron.  For now, I can cook and am very happy.  At some point I will have to have a carpenter come in and do something with the heavy sliding doors that were installed.  If I can't move them at 50-something, how will I be able to move them at 80?  

Daniel did an amazing job on the pantry and I have almost finished moving everything over.  In another day or two I should be finished. Everything is labeled and I can see what we have.  No more wasting food because I had it in a cupboard down low that needed to have everything pulled out to see.

On Monday I got an itch and George and I installed "the flower" in the second floor entrance. It looks as though it were made purposefully for this spot.   Again we are very pleased.  The view at night is amazing.

The Puzzle Palace mosaic was installed by the masons who did the work in the kitchen.  Tell me why I don't like it....

And Tuesday morning I finally used the gym for the first time since we bought the castle in 2021.  I have great legs from walking all of the stairs, but not so much on the arms.  

Each day we do a little bit more.  The green room is almost finished.  The scaffolding has arrived and the Great Wall of China will soon be erected.  The billiards room is set up waiting for a table.  The breakfast bar is in place as is the wine and beer bar.  The rods have been purchased to install the Lovers in their new home. We've had a wonderful lunch in the biergarten

and have played a game or two of Eurorails on our game tables.  Our plan is to be done by October.  It looks like we just might be.