House Update

>> Thursday, July 19, 2007


  • Washer and dryer are here and installed. Laundry to be done tomorrow and this weekend.
  • Internet up and running.
  • New stove to be delivered and installed tomorrow. (Been living without a stove. Tough.)
To do List:
  • Figure out how to hang 2 sets of curtains on an 11-foot-wide window (sliding doors). C. has a very cool plan.
  • Paint the rest of the kitchen stools.
  • Hang the plasma on the wall.
  • Buy a dining room table.
  • Build the window seat.
There's more...but that's the jist.

More pics to come!

Note: I can safely say I LOVE it here. LOVE it. Love it. Love it. This house is fun. Very Cabo and just what we needed. Filled with the character we were looking for. Love it.

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Me & Craig Vs. Them

Cockroaches are native to Los Cabos. (Ok, and probably anywhere.)
They live here and attempt to get into the homes for a respite from the heat.
They breed in water drains. (I know. Puke.)
There are two kinds: the dirty people kind, and the non-dirty people kind.
Anyway - we moved into our home last week and for the four days following our move, we saw at least one cockroach INSIDE a day. 3 out of the 4 were dead. These were of the non-dirty-people variety.

Ok. Not cool.

I am/was paranoid. I turn on lights and wait before I walk anywhere at night. I was, and still am, on ultra-high-alert. I mean, I am ON. EDGE.

Then, for the past 2 days, we haven't seen any. Nice. I started to relax. The knot in my shoulder protruding forth a 'la the Elephant Man anymore...

However, let me tell you about last night.
We go to bed and I notice two patches of ants (about 1.5 inches in diameter) on our ceiling. (That's like a gajillion ants.)

We kill them. All of them around midnight. Eh, it's ants. No biggie.

I wake up around 1 a.m. Something is crawling on me. Something else is crawling on me. Oh wait, something else is crawling on me. ANTS.

Lights go on, ants are in our bed. On our pillows. Crawling up the walls. On the ceiling. On us. I'm <-----------> that close from losing it. I mean, screaming, whaling losing it.

We move the bed, my prince of a husband proceeds to lysol (yet another good reason why lysol kicks BUTT) the h-e-l-l out of the ants. He gets rid of them all.

I attempt to go back to sleep. (Have you tried to fall back asleep after having had bugs crawl all over you? Not easy.)

--

So, today, we had the house fumigated. C. came home and found 3 cockroaches in our shower, 2 cockroaches in the guest shower and about 10 cockroaches in the laundry room and just 1 in the living room. All dead. On their little backs. And, there are about 10,000 dead ants in our room.

So, all is well in our home. I'm hoping to actually sleep tonight.

P.S. Cockroaches are revolting and I hate them.
P.S. C. patched the big HOLE in our wall around the air conditioner mini split where he thinks they got in.

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As it turns out

We have internet at home! It happened last night.
Both C. and I are thrilled. Ok, maybe I'm a bit more thrilled than him...
It was a painless process (nothing like the last no-internet spell that lasted for over a month.)
A BIG thank you to M. who works in my office. She knows someone at Telmex so we got out internet in less than a week. It usually takes at least 2. SO great.

And, our modem is a cute apple-looking white model. Love it.

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It happened.

Lola. Her back end prior to last Friday.

I had my first real "accident" while driving in Mexico last week.

I was at a 4-way "stop" (and I use the word "stop" loosely. Very loosely. So loosely that no one ever stops here. Most don't even do a "rolling stop" instead they just drive past the sign as if it wasn't BIG, RED and clearly stating "ALTO" (stop) in Spanish.)

Anywho, I was STOPPED at a 4-way stop because I had seen a VERY large (think dump truck) coming from the right-hand side ready to turn left RIGHT in front of my Lola.

Well, I was plenty away from the stop sign in preparation for this guy's turn... (Think six feet or so. I didn't want him to swipe the front of my car.)

Well, as it turns out he approached the stop sign, didn't stop and was turning, turning, turning in front of me, oh wait, no, about to turn directly into my car.

I had no choice but to throw Lola (see above) in reverse and "bump" the PT Cruiser behind me. The way I saw it, it was either me losing my entire front end or the PT Cruiser behind me getting a little tap. The 20-ish-female driver honked. I ignored her and reversed. Then, there it was. That horrible car-on-car sound. (Ew.)

So, after having a very quick heart attack from nearly being driven over by a huge dump truck, the girl comes to my car and was like, "Ummm????" and I responded with, "I am SO sorry. It was either I reverse or lose my WHOLE front end." She said, IN ENGLISH (YESSSSS!!!! I hit someone who speaks English! What are the odds! YES!), "I know. I saw it. Are you ok?" I was fine.

She was a friendly person. Lovely.

We looked at our cars. A scratch on my bumper (no biggie) and a golf-ball sized bump on her bumper. I gave her my card with my phone number on it, told her I'd pay for it to get fixed, and off we went.

That was last Friday. Still no phone call. Ah well. Such is driving in Mexico.

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Things I've learned since starting this blog:

>> Wednesday, July 18, 2007


  1. Flexibility. Mexico is not like the U.S. There is a time schedule, but it is not my own.
  2. Hurricane Preparedness. Hurricanes are boring, bring a lot of rain and really just throw a wrench into everyday life.
  3. Heat. It's hot here. Hotter than Ohio will ever be. SPF is required.
  4. Fish Tacos. They are necessary to Mexican life.
  5. Verizon. The wireless company has saved my a-double-s many-a-time. Thank you God for that amazing cell plan.
  6. Family. Living in a new country with my siblings and niece and nephews has been a gift. Truly, a gift.
  7. Friends and co-workers. They've accepted me and made me feel like family. They're great. There is something to be said for individuals who let an outsider in.
  8. Limes. Limes are good on everything. Lemons are unnecessary.
  9. The water. There is nothing like seeing the ocean everyday and setting foot in it at least once a week.
  10. Driving. It is scary to drive here.
  11. English as a second language. I have never respected bi-lingual individuals so much as I do now.
  12. Slower pace. Here you have no choice but to move at the speed of...Mexico. It's frustrating at times, but exhilarating most of the time. Relax. Enjoy. No worries.
  13. The necessity of him Living for nearly 6 months without my best friend was hard. And I'd never do it again. But, I did re-discover how much I needed him.

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1 year and 398 posts later...

Happy Birthday to Dos Pretzels.

See my first post here.

I can't believe it's been ONE WHOLE YEAR since we started this whole...transition.
(Can I still call it a transition?)

I'm just shaking my head... Where does the time go?

This has been one of the best decisions I've/we've ever made.

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They arrived! They arrived!

>> Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The washer and dryer showed up today!
YAY! YAY! YAY!

Who's going to have clean clothes tonight?
We are!!!

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Let me share with you some photos of Los Cabos

Today as I was driving home, I came across this and it cracked me up.
The belt around the port-a-potty was SO tight, the actual plastic "structure" was breaking.
It indeed was very secure. As you can tell from my vantage point, I chose to not drive directly behind it.

It cracked me up that the driver of this Grand prix actually parked SO close to the red tracker that he could BARELY fit through the opening.
I wish you could have seen him open his car door.
I mean, really...is it that important to get that close to the front door?
Note: There was an empty spot to the right of the white Jetta that he could have parked in.

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All moved in!

Will write more as soon as our internet is up and running.
Perhaps it will be ready today...

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