Sept 1. Gray skies, really windy, the kind that howls. The waves are really rough. I was looking out the window at the clouds passing by pretty quickly, everything gray; the sky, the water, and the trees, and I thought wow with the wind whipping thru the palm trees it looks like we're in this tropical place- ha ha ha ha! This IS the tropics. So maybe the rainy season is going to go out with a bang! Tons of rain last couple of nites- yes it still raining almost only at nite, and now add this huge wind. The ocean looks scary. Down here they call it angry, which I think fits. Then my girlfriend, who grew up here called from Petaluma and when I said the sea was angry, she started laughing and said "angry?", that's how the people who live there describe it...so I guess I'm becoming one of them. Hey that's a good thing.

I got to talk to daughter #1 yesterday for a long time. Poor baby hates her job- been there. Wants to find another one- been there. Not that maybe jobs- been there! But she's one smart cookie, ha ha thats what my mom used to say about her. I remember when Drewy used to go visit Grandma when it was raining and she would take her out so she could stomp in the puddles. Drewy loved it. Made me laugh cause I sure don't remember my mom ever telling us we could go out and jump in puddles- but maybe that's Grandma stuff. She's been on my mind so much since we moved here. I know she would be happy for me, proud of me for reaching for this adventure. She was a tough lady. True enough she was cold when we kids were adults, I'm not sure about when we were kids cause mostly I remember good stuff, like camping and reading, but ha ha some bad stuff like making us eat everything on our plates even when it was disgusting! Even camping when we had to eat that f'ing multi bean cassorole ha ha I bet my sisters and brother hated that shit too!

But now I dream of her alot, and lately think of her I'm sure cause the first anniversary of her death is in 10 days. But my dreams are all positive, he happy and happy to be with me, ha ha none of those real life times when she would comment on how fat I looked ha ha. Ok mom sorry- I know you're dead and you're not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but this is my diary, and the truth is the truth. I loved and love you, but always try to NOT be you with my kids, I always want them to know I love them more than life itself, always, no matter what. Maybe you felt that way too- you were just good at keeping it a secret ha ha.

I found out my niece has a blog too; she found out she's allergic to gluten and it's made a big difference in her life. Very cool. But of course my main interest -as a self absorbed woman-is how did she get a photo on her page???? It's only one photo, of her, but I only just figured out how to change to a generically offered background that I'm not sure will show with this post since I don't see it now. So I looked at some other blgs & people add photos! I don;t want to add tons of them, but this place is so beautiful, and so many things are new to me, or so different than what I'm used to that I'd like to post some pics.

I mean I don't even get mail here. It goes to a little post office inside this building in Copala, one counter is for getting your mail and the next counter is for paying your bills. I don't think you mail any payments here. We picked up our telephone bill and then paid it at the next counter. Our neighbor doesn't even pick up her bill; she just calls the telephone co to see how much it is, then pays it. We called to and the amount matched the bill, but I want the paper copy. The cable bill is displayed on the tv, and you pay at the same counter. PG&E (called something else not sure what, maybe CFE) gets delivered to some guy who lives here in Playa Venture and then we walk down and get it from him....and then garbage is free. I keep calling myself Terry from little house on the prairie, but maybe it's mor elike Terry from Mayberry ha ha. When you want to talk to a business, you go there.

Well it's Saturday morning and at first it was raining so Everardo did not go down to work with Gume at 7am like he planned, but now a couple hours later it's still windy but not raining so he walked down there to see what's up. We also need to go to Marquelia today, for the printer ink, maybe drop off the iPhone to get unlocked, and cross our fingers for finding cantaloupe ha ha.

Once I stop writing this I need to look at our August expenditures and try to make a budget. I tried to write everything down all month, seems the most was spent on gas- of course- even tho it doesn't seems like we went out alot, but Ometepec is an hour away and I think we went 3 times, maybe 2. And we still have these one off expenses. We paid half for the window fixing that should start Monday or Tuesday for the upstairs big windows, and our drivers licenses....but I know how to make a little budget with fixed expenses, other expenses, etc. I have a feeling I know about what we need, but we are also thinking of things we want to do down the line, and we'll need to save towards that. I definitely want to push out half the length of one bedroom wall about 4 feet; cause the portion of the room where our bed is, well the bed just fits with about 3 inches on each side so you ave to crawl down the bed to get out- and I always have to pee during the nite- and so it sucks! There's really no other way to put the room,it's too bad the builders didn't see it???!!! But anyway we can probly do it very cheaply, especially since Poppi can do most of the work, or at least be the helper...there's enough room on that side to move out the wall, and I just want enough room for us each to be able to get out of bed on the side. Ha ha getting in is easy cause we can just jump...but during the nite waking up to pee I am not so frisky ha ha. And maybe too a tiny table for a lamp, clock, water, book- wow that sounds like alot ha ha.

Well Poppi is back and no work today for him- yippee cause I've missed him. When the weather is nice I can occupy myself with exploring the beach, walking Sam, wandering about, but when it's crappy out and the ocean is too dangerous to play in, well I can read for only so many hours in a day, cruise the web some, but then what do I do?  So we're off to Marquelia, but probly also Ometepec cause the big bags of dog food are cheaper there, and also I'm pretty sure they have peanut butter there at Super Che...It's a very pretty drive to get there, even in gray skies. Not sure how it will look after the rainy season, all the green will most likely disappear until this time next year, but it will be interesting to see how it changes over the year.

So I guess the budget will wait until this afternoon...it's ok I have all the info written down, trying to remember,especially in pesos is not practical ha ha- I'm catching my mom's disease, CRS (can't remember shit) ha ha.

It's Thursday nite and the internet is out. A storm just hit, even though an hour ago we were walking down the road to Casa de Peidras and it was really hot, but clouds were coming in, dark ones so I guess the storm is no surprise. The lightening started and we ran out and closed the truck's windows and the thunder was far off. We let Sam in tho' since it was raining, and I'm glad cause then we saw lightening and the thunder was one second off and really loud and cracking. The kind both Sam and I don't like too much.

I was online, on facebook, trying to put a photo of my new Mexican driver's license on my page. It finally worked but then I got knocked off. I was also chatting with 2 friends and on the online AA chat room. Wow sounds busy but really wasn't. Anyway the license, ha ha there's no test. I gave them a copy of my green card, and paid 250 pesos. And we left and Everardo got a haircut. When we returned I had a new license. My green card is a resident card good for only a year, then when I go back I'll start the process for citizenship, even though it requires 2 years here- but you can also get it with 2 years married to a Mexican so we'll use that one. When we got here and realized I had entered illegally ha ha, we just went for the easiest thing,since applying for citizenship needed a lawyer and a notary to notarize our notarized document (apostille) that said our marriage certificate was real- which is also notarized...see the confusion so we just took the year residency card...anyway the license is also for a year, then next year it will become 5 years. No test! Well I guess if you are brave enough to drive in the traffic here you deserve a license! I drive here in Playa Ventura and I've driven to Copala, but not Marquelia yet....maybe tomorrow when we go back to get the printer ink which somebody ordered for us, and and and, maybe to get my iPhone unlocked. We've been trying to do that almost since we got here, I'm kinda over it, but the little Telcel booth in Marquelia said he can do it tomorrow,, but ha ha I heard that before. Anyway if we can do it, good, cause I use the hone for photos, the time, and an alarm clock. I know I could start wearing a watch again, but once the rainy season is over I will hopefully go back to jumping in the ocean or the pool at a moment's notice...

Well the internet is back but the tv is gone. Ha ha I wonder about the phone, but I can see my daughter online so if no phone, no biggie. Cell phones don't work out here, but maybe once the road is paved, it will be more like a real town and a cell tower will get built??? who knows, just me talkin;

When we got home today there were huge cows coming up the side of our property from the beach the way the horses ad burros do. Seemed funny to me, cows on the beach? I didn't see anybody with them, they were just roaming. Then when we went for that after dinner walk we caught up with a herd of cows going home for dinner- but Sam made them nervous so we stopped by a bridge where Sam could go down in the water and the cows went on their way. Also saw cutest piggies today, not piglets- babies, but still young and smaller than the huge ones I see people trying to take for a walk ha ha. It was a livestock kind of a day ha ha.

Our friend's oldest son, 18yrs, Romario left this morning for Cabo San Lucas to work in a resturant of some cousins I think. We got up early and went over about 7:30 am to say goodbye. It's a huge deal for an 18 yr old to pack up, take the autobus to Mexico City and catch a fight to Cabo to start his life. I took some photos but haven't been able to post them yet. He's really a sweet kid. He's excited, I'm sure a little bit scared, but so happy. His mother, Rosa was sad and I think Gencho (dad) was sad, too. It's hard when your kids leave the nest. I remember when Drewy moved to Reno, we were happy for her but I was so so so sad. I think she stayed a year, then came back to our area. It might have been less time but felt like forever to me. I guess they must miss me now, but it's different with your own child, the bond is stronger than with your parent I think, although I wouldn't move to Mexico until after my Mom passed. Her one year anniversary is coming up in Sept. 9/10/11 was the date. I miss you Mommy.

Oh uh, it seems there is water in the house where there was no leak before. Gotta go while the electricity is still on to see.

Ok so weird. The telephone line coming into this part of the house comes from upstairs but outside. The rain was coming alone the line thru the hole in the wall. We need more silicone! The floor & our shoes were all wet. Now the tv is back on but no phone. The internet says it's on so I will try to post this. I wish these huge storms didn't unerve me so much. One month or less, maybe just a couple of weeks and the rainy season should be done, Thank god. I'm still glad I did the hard stuff first, ha ha then Ill love the nice stuff so much more. Hmmm guess we'll see what I'm saying this time next year. Man it just rains and rains and rains so hard.

Ok around 9am the electricity went off and cam back sometime in the afternoon, maybe 1:30 or 2pm. I had called Chela to find out if theirs was out too, and she said the whole town...But I exercised since my elliptical runs on batteries and read for a while.

The construction workers were SO loud outside our house today! They dumped truckloads of rocks and gravel on our side of the road and down the side. The road is up a little from our house so you can walk along the fence to the neighbors, and we have some skimpy trees that are basically there to block the view into our yard, but as I said, they're pretty skimpy...So it's like what they did further down the road where the arroyo is; they added dirts & gravel to make the road wider, but down there they didn't extend the pipe underneath where the water was going thru to the ocean side and the earth  started to break away. They re-did it, but I don't know if they put the pipe in this time- hope so. So I'm not sure if they are putting a rock wall, a sidewalk, or both. So they graded the rocks and dirt over and over, then the steam roller came thru and went back and forth, course I don't think there was steam, so is it just a roller? I'm not sure that the trees will survive this, but as Everardo says, we can grow ivy in the fence, and replant depending on how it looks when they're done. Our fence is bricks at the bottom and then cyclone fencing like at a school on top, that's why ivy would work.

I'm so glad I asked for very small windows on that side of the house when they built this room. Otherwise it would be just looking in from the street. So big windows on the other side facing the ocean, and a big window on the side so we can get a breeze going. But ha ha right now the only cooling breeze is the fan! The small windows are at the top of the wall so we only see treetops (tress in our yard), but from the street they are about eye level, so it just works.So this paving project may get done after all, at least past us and Rosa & Gencho (they live on the other side of the lighthouse).

Once it gets done we are gonna fix the flats on both bicycles and ride them, that will be nice. Especially since the cooler weather is coming. I can't believe Sept is this Saturday.  But it was really hot today. Everardo worked with Gum all day, and just walked in a minute ago and it's 7:15. But he said they took a long break this afternoon cause it was so hot. Looks like I need to go coop the shrimp since we didn't eat when we were going to on Monday- but it's still good cause it was fresh caught when we got it. I'm gonna make it in a pasta ha ha my specialty.

No kids showed up today at 1:30 for class. That was supposed to be the new kids. Then 2:30 for the original bunch, None of them showed either, except for Lupita who doesn;t come often, but she's older, 9 I think, and she is motivated. When I work with just her we do more stuff, I tried sentences using the 5 W's (Where is Monsie, Who is Monsie, etc), then we tried "I like....." and walked around identifying things. So that was good. For the others, I think maybe school just starting is fun and exciting and my class maybe os not so exciting...at this moment, I don't care. If they don't want to come, I'm good. Except for Lupita, I think they all come cause their parents make them ha ha. Monsie came over later to borrow scissors and I asked her why she didn't come- she said oh I forgot. I asked her is school was very busy and she said yes, so I asked her if she still wanted to come to English class and not sure about her face, but it seemed like she doesn't want to come. Like I said, ahh that's ok. And no I don't think it's cause I yelled at them on Monday, that was just a couple of kids who I saw yesterday and were all smiles. I think its just a gae to them

English class sucked yesterday. I sent home all the kids except two new girls, both very young, maybe 6, and neither can read. But they were excited to be there. The two new boys, older than the girls, only wanted to fool around and play with the other kids who I had asked to take a recess...I lost my cool & sent them home. I asked if they wanted to learn English (in Spanish of course) and said it didn't matter to me if they didn't so go home (VETE!) If they want to learn come back Wed.

So I made 2 groups, from 1:30-2:30 is the new kids, and from 2:30-3:30 is the kids who have been coming all along. There's 2 who have been coming, but they don't practie at home, and fool around during class, so tomorrow I guess I'll "assess" them and decide which group they should be in. ooooh I sound like a teacher...ok kinda...I guess teacher don't get pissed and tell the kids to go home. But I bet sometimes they wish they could!! ha ha again- good thing I do this free.

But on the positive side, I read in the hammock and took a nap. Walked down to see when Poppi would be done working- he's still helping Gume building a rock wall- and then Sam and I went to the beach. Eriika came to clean the house and brought me tacos Chela made and hey were yummy.

Today we drove up to Cruz Grande, Chela came with us and we went to the bank to get my debit card....finally!! Ha ha it was still an exercise in comedy. We had to sit with a guy who called a number,to get someone in English to set my pin. This took a few minutes, then a guy came on the phone, asked me a bunch of questions, then got permission to stay on the line while I followed the automated prompts, which of course were in Spanish. They wouldn't let Everardo do it, so I said ok. So he told when to put in the 16 #'s expiration date, then he told me choose my pin. So it didn't work, he said wait, and we did it all again after about a 5 minute hold. Failed a second time, put me on hold again. Then a new person came on and said my name is...how may I help you?- in Spanish. So I explain in Spanish and he says ok let me get someone who speaks English. Hold for another 10 minutes. By now the guy at the desk is giving the phone number to Everardo so we can do this from home, but I tell him I'm not really on hold, they just put the phone down and I can here them...

So he listens for a few minutes, then gives it back to me- here he is...so I go thru it all again, and this time he adds putting in the 3 digits on the back of the card...OH that's what was missing...success!!
After doing Chela's shopping we stopped at this little roadside stand she knew and had grilled chicken; it was fabulous. Interesting bathroom where I had to go out and scoop a bucket of water in this big round cement tank, for throwing in the bowl (paper into the basket).

After we got back, we went to Marquelia and I got my hair all cut off, pixie cut. What a huge relief! And for 30 pesos, plus 10 as a tip, about $3. While I was doing that, Everardo got the front brakes done- and materials & labor- 585 pesos...about $45! What a deal eh?
But that was a relief also cause we started getting worried about the brakes the other day.

But a wonderful as Mexico is, you have to be careful, sometimes when you think you're getting a pretty good deal, it may not be true- you have to remember where you are, so if something is cheaper here than in the US, it still might actually be even cheaper. If it's a big purchase, check around to see what those things go for in Mexico, cause maybe it's a good deal & maybe it's not...Sometimes people you think are helping you, well they are helping themselves, too. Sometimes they make a buck or two off you, that's not too bad, but with a huge purchase, they may make a lot of bucks off you, smiling the whole time cause you are smiling thinking it's all good. So that's my word of caution. Trust your friends, but check things out for yourself.

Last nite there was an awesome electrical storm. The lightening was like I've never seen before- it lasted for several seconds, then came again and again and again. It was not nearby; the thunder didn't follow immediately, it was more like if you had a bad connection on a lamp in your house and it would flicker on and off. Of course the electricity in the house did start going on and off ha ha.

But we sat outside and watched for awhile. Sam was a little spooked and so of course sat right in between our chairs and appreciated a hand on his head. It finally started to get closer, and then the rain came, but lightly, not enough to move out of it. After about an half hour we went in, luckily I had already lit a candle so we could find our way to bed. We opened the window next to the bed and it was actually a little cooler....ahhh that was nice. It started to rain really hard so of course that's when we remembered the truck windows were down so Poppi rushed out. But it was nice to lay in the cool nite air and let the sound of the rain lull us off to sleep.

We were talking about getting an AC, but after we lived thru all the seasons and felt acclimated, to see if we really need one. Of course having one would be great, but do we really need more than the fans? Well I told Everardo that I missed him- that I was used to falling asleep on his chest, right under his shoulder, that nice soft spot, and later in my sleep I would always turn over and so would he, ha ha both to our own sides. But I really have a hard time sleeping here. My best sleep is from about 4am to 7 or 8am. That must be when it's the coolest. I used to have a hard time falling asleep in Calif, too, but curling up on Poppi's shoulder always helped me slow down my mind and fall asleep. Now I toss and turn feels like forever. So- he says- hey maybe cold is our way back to each other! ha ha were both busted u laughing, but maybe it's true. So next month we're gonna check out AC's and at the very least have one in the bedroom. Of course I don;t like to slepp in AC either ha ha, unless it's very low, but we'll find a way to make it work. Yeah I don't like the fan blowing in my face when I sleep either, so we aim it at him and I kinda move in and out of it thru the nite.

Before the storm yesterday Everardo was out on the big rocks fishing with just a line. Sam, ever faithful sat at the bottom waiting. I had been napping in the hammock (yes I know big surprise), and got up just when he went up there. He had been fishing down by Chela's. So I grabbed the camera and got some pretty good shots. I gotta look into this blog website and see if I can post photos. I looked at some people's blogs last nite before the electricity went out and some had pictures. Anyway as it got dark the sky was this amazing array of pink and gray swirly clouds, and I got a couple of good pics of that. But remember the saying from when you're a kid: Pink sky at nite, sailor's delight, pink sky in the morning, sailor's take warning. I think it meant that pink sky at nite meant it wouldn't rain the next day, so I guess it means nothing about that nite, cause it poured last nite. But- it's not raining now, the sky is brilliant blue...

Went to Marquelia yesterday, still no cantaloupes, but got some shrimp that I get to make with pasta tonite- damn I totally forgot, and I have to scrub laundry on a rock today too! ha ha ok I don't scrub it on a rock, but it is soaking in a plastic tub outside and there's an outside sink with a raised section that has these ridges, crap I think that is what it's for, and I do srcub it there. The nice thing is Everardo likes to do his white tshirts himself, and sometimes his levi shorts. I asked him why he wears white shirts in a place where they ALWAYS get dirty, but he says cause they are cooler than any other shirt. And he won't wear tank tops or v necks- which I find curious cause he has the nicest muscles, really nice defined arms and chest....but he wears tshirts all the time. Except when swimming in the ocean of course, which is pretty often. Of ocurse the guys with the blankets were not there, but tomorrow we're going up to Cruz Grande to get my bank card and they have a huge market place, so we're gonna check it out.

Well the laundry calls...