Did you ever think that a home can interfere with your sex life?  OK, I might be exaggerating a bit but you be the judge.  Miguel and I always figured that showering together would conserve water, therefore lower the water bill.  WRONG! When I am in there I can’t help but think about the water waste. When things get hot and heavy that is a lot of running water.   I had to focus hard on not thinking about it.  How silly!  Note to self: you’re losing your mind.

Miguel still has another week off so he will deal with the home issues while I am away. I know that before the house looks pretty it must go through a period of disarray. Well, my house looks like a shithole right now so it should be beyond pretty in the end.
Floors
Ishmael is going to do our floors. 23 bundles of wood were delivered to the house yesterday. It stinks. So now to add to the smell of dog that is still in the house I can add wood.
The basement has all of the paint and junk that is still not put away.
Walls
Two rooms and the bathrooms still need to be painted. The rooms upstairs and the hallway need touch ups.
Rooms
They all look like a hurricane came through. The furniture is all in the middle of the room, Plastic is everywhere…
There is a lot to do
Pool
I enjoyed the pool daily while it was up and running. Suddenly, Mother Nature decided to that I was having too much fun and changed the weather drastically. Rain and wind for days. I should also mention that the water level started dropping quickly. We have a hole in the pool! The repairman is coming on Friday. There goes that,
Garden
I am happy to report that the entire garden bed (brush) is free of weeds! Miguel finished cleaning it all out on Monday. I just have to get stones/mulch delivered.
Discoveries
While looking at wood samples, I saw a family of deer crossing the street. There were 5 deer walking in line. I was in awe.
We all know that it is colder out in the country than in the city. The only reason that I have not taken out the comforter is because of the mess at home. Our place is freezing! It is colder in our house than outside. I just realized that if the house gets this cold now, it must be ridiculously cold in the winter. I know understand why everyone has been warning me about the electric bill in the winter. A couple of nights ago, I contemplated ironing the bed. This is just as bad as when my mother and I stayed with my grandparents in Peru. We used to put our Pjs on the heater so that we would not have to put the cold fabric on our skin. Lesson: The winter is going to be harsh so get mentally prepared soon!

Also, Migz and I had a major color mishap.   Everything was going well until we started painting the living room.  I wanted to go with a deep orange.  I should have known it was bad when my mom gasped when she saw the color.  I kept painting praying it would get better.  My in-law also had words.  You know I did not want to have an “I told you so moment,” so I just kept painting.  Slowly, I started to realize we made a big color mistake.  Everyone walking into the room kept saying, “Wow, is that how bright you wanted it?”  Then Lillian said it looked like cheddar.  She was right, it did. I kept asking myself how could we have made such a mistake?  I know how.  When Migz and I went to buy the paint the day before, this was the room we were debating.  It was getting later and later and still no color.  We just said lets try this color out and go eat.  That is what we did.  Lesson learned: don’t buy paint when you are hungry!

Everyone was so helpful and dedicated.  Darl and Rich stayed up all night painting!  I have spent the rest of the week doing touch ups and scraping paint off the floor.  I am so sick and tired of painting!  I came into work today to avoid doing house things.

Goal: finish touching up rooms by Tuesday of next week.  We are looking for someone to do our floors.  I don’t think I am into the do it yourself anymore.  I work. I’ll pay someone.

What I love about the country: I can take a dip in the pool when I am hot. Also, grilling outdoors does not stink up the house and my electric bill went down $60. I’m still working on conserving water. It is just difficult when it has been free all my life.

The gardner came yesterday to prune and clean out all the weeds from the front garden bed. I was stunned to see how much was cut off. I thought the man ruined it. Migz came home and raved about the work. I realize that what I did to the tree in the back was not pruning it was trimming. I still feel good about it. Wait till I do some more “pruning.” the entire tree will be cut down !

I met the neighbors!  I was gardening with Miguel and Mrs. Rodriguez came over to introduce herself.  It was great hearing her talk about her experience.  They are from the Bronx and she basically was telling me about everything that I am going through.  Misery does love company, so I was hanging off of her every word.  They are a nice couple with a beautiful family and offered to help answer any questions that we had.

FYI:  When I moved in I had fantasies of being greeted by the neighbors with a pie.  I didn’t meet anyone. I didn’t get pie and that is that.  Well, that has now changed.  I met the Rodriguez’s and later that evening the husband came by with a plate of lasagna!  It tasted great.  That is how our people do.  Forget about the pie. Bring on a good meal.  I am going to continue gardening and maybe more people will come by.

I called Miguel asking what I could do to kill it.  Actually, I first asked if it could wait until he got home.  I knew very well that that was not an option, but I it didn’t hurt to ask.  He said use a shoe – I though no way.  I faced my fears, walked back in and sprayed the hell out of those creatures.   I walked out and added another couple project – empty the garage.

Needing to relax, I decided to revisit the bubbles in the laundry room.  I love the look of it.  It is exactly what I was going for.  Thank you MJ for making the stencils for me.

When Miguel came home he cleaned out the water softener while cleaned out the trashcan.  You would not believe the things growing in there and there were more spider cocoons. I killed them all.  I used to not kill spiders because it is bad luck to do so.  I will just have to take my chances.

Remember when I said that Miguel and I are not a good traffic couple? Well the other downfall about living so far from the city is the drive. You know if you have an argument it is likely to last a full hour. There is no escaping. Also, when you wish the other would just shut up and then you realize that you still have 40 minutes left to go – AHHHHHHH!!! Miguel and I both agreed that the ride is better when one of us is asleep. (Oh the joy of marriage)