Quickie Post

For The First Time Since Arriving:

-I am actually sitting in a chair at a "desk" in our apartment.

-Pretty nice not to have to do this on my lap or holding the computer with one hand while one finger typing (guess which finger).

Current Events:

-The apartment is painted and looks really nice.

-The balcony, laundry room (on roof), maids room/storage room (roof again) also painted.

-Floors refinished. Not actually refinished...long story. But, they look 1000 times better. Some rooms still need another coat of finish.....but they are real clean and shiny. Shiny is good.

-Washer and dryer to be delivered Monday.

-I don't get it. How can Brenne be excited about getting a washer and dryer when the option is to send it out to be done?

-We spent a couple nights at a really cheap hostel while the floor stuff was being put down. I would recommend the hostel except for the.......never mind. Suffice to say that I won't be recommending it.

-Finally got a desk (actually a table we are using as a desk). We couldn't find one we liked, so we got a bid to have a couple made.....$450 each (holy mother of god!) and would take three weeks. Went to the local 'craft market' and got one for both of us to share....sitting across from each other ....$20.

- Got some other fine furniture there too. Went nuts and spent $47 for the desk (table) and two other tables....pics tomorrow.

-Now that the place is painted and we have some fine furniture, Brennie has been 'nesting'. For the next month, I will have to ask where things are.

-Actually feels like 'home' for the first time.

-Still need a couch...need one really bad.

Pulled a Muscle in My Back The Other Day:

-Maybe a tendon or something. I really don't know.

-Hurt like a mutha until last night.

-Slipped and fell down a flight of stairs last night.

-The term 'hurt like a mutha' is no linger adequate.

-And no......Brennie did not push me down the stairs this time.

-Thank god the cigars I was carrying weren't damaged.

LIFE IS GOOD.

GEE, I WONDER IF IT IS HOT AND HUMID BACK IN KANSAS.....IN JULY.

PAINTING AND SETTLING IN (kind of)

WELL LET'S SEE NOW......

FURNITURE OPTIONS:

Option #1.....bring a container. Pack up all our stuff from the previous life and stick it in a container. Have the container shipped to Cuenca. Complicated expensive process. You hear a lot (I mean "A LOT") of absolute nightmare horror stories about this. Cost (after port fees and etc)....about $10,000 dollars. For what? To bring in a small amount of our stuff that we actually treasured and wanted? Frankly, I was thrilled to get rid of most of that cr*p. This seemed to be a pretty horrible option.

Option #2....sell it all in Kansas. Make the trip with suitcases only. Buy new in Cuenca. Sounds simple. Right? I said...."Sounds simple. Right?" Well, it is and it isn't. Thia getting all new stuff is tough. I mean really, really tough. I am sure that it is Brennie's fault that is is so tough. When I figure out how to blame it on her, I will let her and the rest of mankind know how and why it is her fault. At this time, this option #2 also seems to be a pretty horrible option.

THE WHOLE REMODELING / PAINTING DILEMMA

BACKSTORY: We opted to buy an apartment that is about 40 years old and is situated in old town. If you are wondering if it needs work...take a look at the "before pics". You will note that there are no before pics of the bathrooms.....good taste forbids it. (Like I wold actually know good taste if it bit me on the *ss.)

Remodel/paint option #1......Bite the bullet. Have it all done. New kitchen and baths. Tear out walls, etc., etc. Yikes! We started to go down that road and it was horrifying! Just the two meetings with the architect were a nightmare of decisions that we were just not ready to make. It was so stressful that I threw up......twice.......in our old stinky toilet.

Remodel/paint option #2......Don't bite the bullet. Just kinda lick it. Have the place painted. God knows when it was last painted. Have it painted top to bottom....even the parts that will eventually get remodeled. (I accidentally typed in "remolded"....different concept and I hope no kind of evil omen.) Remodel later. Do it piece by piece...LATER. Get settled in. Enjoy life. Relax. So that is what we are doing.

Caitie asked for pics. So here you go:

These guys came to install our internet.

Nice guys, but no skills.

I actually had to put the RJ45 connections on the Cat 5e cables for them and they had to call in someone else to configure the connection on their equipment.

They did successfully drill 5 holes in the walls.

Test patterns for some accent walls.

Brennie sitting at her new desk in our lovely completed study.

A dream come true.

Gotta love the balcony.

What an inspiring view.

Wanted to enjoy a cigar, but was afraid to light a match.

This is Patricio...... painting maestro.

He really is quite good.

We are very glad that he is doing the painting.

His ideas are usually better than ours,

so we have learned to take his advice.....kind of.

However, he kept on saying "dos semanas".

Now my handy dandy pocket translator tells me

that means "two weeks".

Must be time to upgrade my translator.

NOTE TO CLARKE:

LEARN SPANISH.....

......and get the haircut and beard trim you actually want.

I wonder why the barber thought that I wanted to be clean-shaven when I came in with a beard?

I don't think I have been clean-shaven since I was thin and my hair was red.

Good thing the prior owners took the bathroom mirrors with them.

TRADE-OFFS....and...DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS

TRADE-OFFS:

Got the Internet in our apartment today.

Lost my cell phone while walking the dogs.

(I think we got a net gain going there.

That is the way I am choosing to look at it anyway.)

DECISIONS DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Look around you. Seriously. Look around. Check out the room you are in. Now go to the kitchen and other rooms. Check it out. Whadya see? Lotsa stuff, right. Admittedly, a certain amount is cr*p that you wish someone would steal. But, also you have all those little things that you need in order to carry on everyday business and take care of your comfort.

Now the beautiful thing about moving here with 3 suitcases each, is that all our cr*p now belongs to other people........and they paid us for the privilege of hauling it off. But the necessities? Gone too. Therefore...."decisions, decisions, decisions"

Most likely all the stuff you saw when you looked around your home, were purchased over a long span of time. Purchased and upgraded as need and finances allowed. One step at a time, right?

Now, imagine that all those necessities had to be bought at once, in a foreign country, in a foreign language, where some things are negotiable and others not. It is an overwhelming amount of decisions, decisions, decisions. How overwhelming, you ask? Well, even Brennie is sick of shopping. No, that is not a typo...."Brennie is sick of shopping!"

A couple decisions that we have been able to put off.....small tables. Seems like the microwave box, stereo box, etc. serve admirably....and oh so classy. So when shopping for small appliances, be sure that they come in a pretty box.

More decisions on the next post....painting, etc. Yikes!

FIRST POST FROM CUENCA

BEFOR ANYTHING ELSE....I am at an internet cafe using a spanish language keyboard...similar but different than I am used to...and a real pain.

THE TRIP AND ARRIVAL:
It went as well as you can possibly hope for with excess baggage, bike, 2 dogs, 3 different airports...plus we don´t speak Spanish. (THIS KEYBOARD IS A NIGHTMARE!)

(AAAAAARRRRRGGGH!!! This keyboard is horrible. ....I just lost most of the blog post! Time to recreate..)

Good Things About the Trip.....Example numero uno......
Our ground transpportaiton in Guayaquil....we had arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport, take us to where we were going to spend the night in Guayaquil and then drive us over the mountains to Cuenca the next day. The van people cancelled on us the day before we left because the place we had reservations was so horrible. Apparently, when you post pictures and descriptions of your hotel on the internet...it doesn´t actually have to be pictures or descriptions of your actual hotel. The van service refused to go there.

So the plan was....get off the plane, go through customs, and then figure something out at 1:00 AM in the most dangerous city in Ecuador with LOTS of luggage, a bike, 2 dogs and ´victim´written on our foreheads. I HATE THIS KEYBOARD!!! Unexpectedly, there was a van waiting on us (the ones that cancelled) and basically said...yeah, we are going over the mountains tonight. Rain and mudslides....no problemo

Example numeron dos..... At every juncture where we could and should have met some kind of difficulty or been charged extra....... everything went right...I mean EVERYTHING!! Is that even possible? Yeah there are some really interesting details that were on here before I lost most of the blog content.....tough. The keyboard is real sticky too. I am going to boil my hands when I get back to the apartment.

Example numero tres....Arrived in Cuencaabout 5:00 AM. Raining. (Remember extra bags, bike and dogs?) Dark. Locked out of our place because our tenant had upgraded the locks and we did not have the keys. FYI....nothing in old town was open...nothing. A couple hours later all was good.

No sleep for more than 24 hours!

Example numero quatro...friends had a surprise ´welcome back´ dinner for us. (More lost details.) It was fabulous! What a great welcome.

Random fun fact.
Brennie has learned 2 new words and has used them to rename the dogs. The dogs are now Bugger and Wanker. Look it up if you don´t know.

THAT´S IT! I AM DONE WITH THIS F....ING KEYBOARD! What an absolute nightmare this has been! Spell check is flagging evry word (not spelled right in spaninsh). Tough. Sometimes I wish I drank.

FINAL BLOG ENTRY FROM KANSAS

TOO EXHAUSTED TO THINK OF ANYTHING WITTY HERE.

We are exhausted. This whole simplifying your life thing can get really complicated ....... and need I say exhausting.

I did have the energy to change the "countdown" on the right.

Volcanos, customs, airlines, the gods, whimsical mishap and dogs permitting, we will be in Guayaquil in 24 hours and Cuenca mid afternoon Tuesday.

But you know what they say.....whenever god needs a good laugh, he looks at human's plans. I hope he has had enough laughs and won't need us to amuse him for a couple days.

Enough. Like I said. Exhausted. Really, really exhausted.

But still....even exhausted, Brennie is still cute.

Camelot, Here We Come!

*Words adapted from the musical 'Camelot' purely for my own merriment.

It's true! It's true! King Clarke has made it clear. Conditions must be perfect all year!

A law was made a distant moon ago there:

The temperature cannot be too hot.

And there's a law forbidding aging

In Camelot.

Big Pharma is forbidden in our valley.

Time clocks and deadlines don't exist.

By order, health insurance is not needed

In Camelot!

Camelot! Camelot!

That's how conditions are.

We sleep until we feel like getting up.

Mosquitos, ticks, and bosses disappear.

In short, there's simply not

A more congenial lot

For happily-ever-aftering than here

In Camelot.

Camelot! Camelot!

I know it gives a person pause,

But in Camelot, Camelot

There are no rules and regulations.

We can read for pleasure during daytime hours.

In August our first retirement check appears.

In short, there's simply not

A more congenial spot

For happily-ever-aftering than here in

Camelot.

ESTOY RETIRADO!!

Brennie thinks it is really funny to get that 2nd word just a little wrong.

I guess that I could say ...'Estoy jubilado'. But why ruin her fun?

Are we crazy or what?

Bringing the dogs to Ecuador is proving to be a challenging endeavor. I'm sure you've all heard about the process. You have a 10-day window of time to race around like a maniac chasing forms, vets, and government bureacrats while the clock is ticking in the background. And that's been the easy part.

Here's what I'm worried about. We are taking two pampered Pekingese who bark at their own shadows through three flight changes and international customs while lugging six suitcases, one bicycle box, two carry-ons and two dog carriers? Right. No stress there. Then there's that death-defying trip over the Andes. However, I'm sure it will be worth it all once our little darlings are happily sunning themselves on the veranda, alive preferably.

I think Clarke has the right idea. WE take the doggie valiums and let the dogs fend for themselves.

Brennie

A "SIGN OF THE TIMES"?

This sign is on the access road into the high school where I teach.

At first I thought....
- Possibly 5 minutes between classes isn't quite enough time for the students?

Now I have heard that the old speed 'bump' signs are being replaced throughout the county with the new and improved 'humping' signs.

So now I am thinking.....
- Time to 'get out of Dodge'?
- Go where the pace of life is, well....different?
- Or maybe just looking for an excuse to put that pic on the blog.

OK...another (stupid) thought. You've heard of speed dating. You know, when people are given like 5 minutes or whatever to talk to a prospective date and then the bell rings and they move on to the next person. Is the speed hump like when the speed date is really successful?

But still.....you just gotta love that sign!

And now for the rest of the story...

Do those stores in Cuenca also sell cigars, computers, music CDs, technology gadgets, tools, or bicycles?

A gracious thank you to the considerate people who took my crazy husband seriously and emailed with supportive words. Are there divorce attorneys in Cuenca?? :-)

See you all soon~

Brennie

PLEASE...SOMEBODY TELL BRENNIE.........

....THAT THERE ARE STORES IN CUENCA.

I am about to call the 'shopping sickness treatment center' or look for a 12 step program.

OK NOW, WE GOT THESE NEW MacBook Pros........

....I heard that Mac's are supposed

to help you be creative.

I don't know about that.

Maybe it's just easier to be.....whatever.

More "creative" stuff here.

Sage advice for the blatantly naive (or stupid)

Do not...and I repeat, DO NOT watch old videos of your children two weeks before moving to a different continent - no matter how long you have been nagging your partner to convert those old VHS videos. Just trust me on this one.

After a two-day crying jag Clarke finally asked "are we dying or just moving?" Always the wise-ass...

Brennie

Packing woes

OK, it's whining time. How many of you who have sojourned before us brought way too much stuff? Yeah, I'm talking to most of you gals out there. It's instinctual, right? After all, we are the 'gatherers'. I have packed (and repacked), unpacked, whittled down, whined, cried, and repacked... and Clarke still has only filled two suitcases to my four. We haven't even gotten to the electronics yet!

I'm REALLY, REALLY not liking this part very much. I'm the mom who always had tissues, super-glue, cookies and Shout packets in her purse. I was keeper of the bandaids, Queen of the boo-boo medicine...Mistress of All Things Needed!!! I can't possibly do this. And then I remember...

It's just stuff.

Brennie