Improvements

The last few days have been spent running around, but we are slowing down a bit. I am noticing a change in myself.  I have had to talk myself through it everyday and I still have a long way to go, but I have noticed that the urgency to get things done has started to lessen.  When I feel myself starting to get anxious throughout the day I just tell myself that if we don't get it done today there is always manana.  One of the anxiety building things about this culture is that most stores close everyday from 12:00p.m. until 3:00p.m.  Since we are late risers in the "summer" we don't usually get out of the house until 11.  That leaves very little time to get things done in the morning and I don't want to be out past 4 or 5 since I can now cook dinner at home.  So, we either have to get up early and get our butts in gear or face the reality that things will not get done as fast as we want them to.

On Tuesday we went to Coral Centro as promised to Finn and he got his Legos.  They had a terrible selection, but he got something that he wanted.  Tali decided to spend her birthday money and got some more Littlest Pet Shop people and animals. 

Yesterday was kind of a lazy day.  We didn't get any goals done, but we did walk around the neighborhood and start to familiarize ourselves with the streets and shops.  We walked to the Milennium Mall, which was a short 10 min. walk around the stadium.  We weren't that impressed.  It is very small, but it does have a movie theatre.  We also pinpointed the SuperMaxi in our neighborhood that we can also walk to.  Then we got Scout and wandered the streets close to our house in the drizzle.  We found a little tienda around the corner that has just about anything you need on short notice...milk, toilet paper, deoderant, eggs, yogurt, etc...   Mark made us stop at an antique shop and I talked him into letting me get a cabinet for the kitchen.  He wanted to have one made, but that would take another 3 weeks and I am really at my wits end in this kitchen.  I have literally 2 square feet to prepare and plate the food.  It gets on my nerves everytime I have to work in there.  So, being able to get something already made sooner rather than later will have a huge impact on my psyche.  He wanted me to think about it, so I told him I would, but...

We headed back to the antique store this morning and bought the cabinet.  :) Then back to Mogab Muebles to order a dining room table that I am still unsure of, but they were closed since we didn't get there until 12:30.  :)  We headed to the appliance store to pay off our bill.  Next week we are going to pick up our t.v.  I want it in time for the Olympics.  Then it was off to Mall de Rio to find a battery for Scout's bark collar, a power strip for my computer and a yoga mat.  No go on the yoga mat, but we got everything else.  The cabinet was delivered at 4:30 and I am SO happy with it.  We placed the microwave, toaster and fruit on it and that gave me all the room in the world to work.  Space!  It does a body good.  And it looks pretty too.  I bought the flowers today for $1.16.  Can't beat that with a stick!

That white, pulpy stuff in the bowl is a new fruit that we tried this week.  Guanabana or Sour Sop.  It is a large fruit and when you cut it open it has all of these milky, white pods with large, black seeds in each pod.  You can cut it like a watermelon and then suck out the juices and spit out the seeds.  We did that last night.  Or, most people juice it since it is quite fibrous.  The only problem is that removing the seeds is really time-consuming.  I worked on it for about 20 min. last night and had only seeded about a quarter of it.  It has a slighty sour, slightly sweet rich flavor.  I really like it, but it is a lot of work. 

Here is a picture of our laundyroom with appliances. Thank you, Tali.  I love having everything all on one floor.  It makes doing laundry so nice.  Oh, and last night Mark set up my "computer station".  I am enjoying working on my desktop again, but sitting on these footlockers hurts my back.  It was freezing last night, so I bundled up while we watched So You Think You Can Dance on the computer.  Loving technology!

 And here is a picture of Finn and Tali eating dinner on one of the footlockers.  Painful. 

 We found out today that Samurai died.  Lee doesn't know why.  They found him in the back pasture.  That news really depressed me.  He was such a pretty boy with such a nice, laid-back personality.  And the other day Raisin's doeling died plus another one of Linda's doelings.  They found out it was due to the fact that the drought and heat has caused some of the plants to release poison into their leaves.  Cyanide and nitrates.  I wonder if that happened to Samurai as well.  So sad to hear of all of these goatie deaths.  I don't like it.