Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Farewell Blog
We're sitting in the Buenos Aires International Airport, waiting to board our airplane back to the States. It's been a rough week but now we're heading to family for the holidays. That's what makes it so much easier when it's not easy at all.
I don't have much time but I wanted to post one more blog while we were actually still in Argentina. It's been quite an adventure - definitely worthy of the 250 blogs I've created here.
There will be one postscript blog...I'll fill you in on our lives since moving out of the house and reminisce on our year in this beautiful country.
Feliz Navidad!
Love,
Shelley
I don't have much time but I wanted to post one more blog while we were actually still in Argentina. It's been quite an adventure - definitely worthy of the 250 blogs I've created here.
There will be one postscript blog...I'll fill you in on our lives since moving out of the house and reminisce on our year in this beautiful country.
Feliz Navidad!
Love,
Shelley
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Almost Gone
Well the packers have been doing an outstanding job. John has been working himself to the bone, finding things that I'd completely forgot about...for instance, he rescued my Eiffel Tower from being forgotten in the garden!
My work has been done for the majority of the week - I got myself and Jake packed and the kitchen organized so I'm taking this week off...yesterday I got a pedicure and my hair done. Rough work in the midst of an international move, eh? :-)
Our hotel is gorgeous, John and I move into a suite today...it wasn't available until now so we were in a very nice room but with all of our luggage and boxes to be mailed, the quarters were tight.
As our Argentina Experiment winds down, we're forced to reconsider our time here and reflect on all we've done and seen. I think that will be the subject of my final entry...so stay tuned!
My work has been done for the majority of the week - I got myself and Jake packed and the kitchen organized so I'm taking this week off...yesterday I got a pedicure and my hair done. Rough work in the midst of an international move, eh? :-)
Our hotel is gorgeous, John and I move into a suite today...it wasn't available until now so we were in a very nice room but with all of our luggage and boxes to be mailed, the quarters were tight.
As our Argentina Experiment winds down, we're forced to reconsider our time here and reflect on all we've done and seen. I think that will be the subject of my final entry...so stay tuned!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Update - Packers
Great day! They sent four guys, three of which unpacked us almost ten months ago. The kitchen and dining room are completely packed as is the garage and most of the living room.
We've decided to move into the hotel tomorrow night...it gets the kids settled and gives the girls a quiet, tranquil environment to study for their exams. Besides - it's beautiful! John and I zipped over there this afternoon to check it out. If all goes really well, there's a chance we'll splurge for the massages!
I just spent a few hours and a whole lot of dollars buying Christmas gifts over the Internet and arranging for them to be mailed (wrapped!) to John's parents' house. Beats having to find a place for them in our luggage or wrapping and mailing them to ourselves! Now I just have to verify I'm basically done and then I'll be so very happy! I have got some wonderful gifts from here too but the kids want boring stuff like gift cards and Nintendo games.
They said they'd hold off packing up the computer so hopefully I'll be updating daily!
Goodnight!
We've decided to move into the hotel tomorrow night...it gets the kids settled and gives the girls a quiet, tranquil environment to study for their exams. Besides - it's beautiful! John and I zipped over there this afternoon to check it out. If all goes really well, there's a chance we'll splurge for the massages!
I just spent a few hours and a whole lot of dollars buying Christmas gifts over the Internet and arranging for them to be mailed (wrapped!) to John's parents' house. Beats having to find a place for them in our luggage or wrapping and mailing them to ourselves! Now I just have to verify I'm basically done and then I'll be so very happy! I have got some wonderful gifts from here too but the kids want boring stuff like gift cards and Nintendo games.
They said they'd hold off packing up the computer so hopefully I'll be updating daily!
Goodnight!
Packing Masters
We're good. We're very, very good. Comes with experience I suppose. We're so good I'm sitting at the computer a mere 30 minutes before we expect the movers to show up...I'm that secure in how prepared we are. Ha! We'll see about that by tonight.
This weekend was spent on prepping. We also threw in three parties and a babysitting job. Oh, and the girls are getting ready for their finals this week. Stress level should be through the roof but John and I especially put in a lot of hours getting the house ready. So here I sit!
We won't move into the hotel until tomorrow or maybe even Wednesday night. We're keeping the packers limited to the main level and maybe the attic today. The attic scares me as I haven't been up there this weekend - don't know how bad it looks.
Hopefully this computer won't disappear into a box today and I'll update this evening!
Besitos!!
This weekend was spent on prepping. We also threw in three parties and a babysitting job. Oh, and the girls are getting ready for their finals this week. Stress level should be through the roof but John and I especially put in a lot of hours getting the house ready. So here I sit!
We won't move into the hotel until tomorrow or maybe even Wednesday night. We're keeping the packers limited to the main level and maybe the attic today. The attic scares me as I haven't been up there this weekend - don't know how bad it looks.
Hopefully this computer won't disappear into a box today and I'll update this evening!
Besitos!!
Friday, December 7, 2007
One Down
Our Express Shipment was picked up today. This is the shipment that will be sent air freight, hence arriving at our next home much faster (one month) than our regular household goods shipment. We're limited to 1,000 pounds - and we used up every ounce.
The movers showed up at 8:30 this morning but I was at the Elementary School to watch Jake's performance. He woke up with a fever and he looked like he needed a hug...but was horrified when I told him to go on back to bed. He insisted on going to school for the concert because..."I have a solo!" Great - another performer in the family! So I drove him to school and brought him home after the concert. He did great in his solo and the Tylenol this morning seemed to last all day.
This afternoon I went and did some shopping at an open house at a friend's. The idea was to pick up Christmas gifts but I think I bought more for myself. Oops!
Tonight Lisette had another performance at school, kind of a Talent Show/Showcase thing. Now she's got friends over and Nicole has her "friend" (yup, it better just be friendship!) Matt over. They're all preparing to head out to a party - the girls will only be able to be there for an hour and a half, the party starts at 11:30 and their curfew is 1 AM...I'm tired just thinking about it!
My favourite thing about having kids, well one of them, is listening to their conversations from another room. Lisette's friends are cracking me up! At the moment they're playing with Buddy and smelling him (he got bathed today!)
Goodnight! Hope John'll play taxi tonight!
The movers showed up at 8:30 this morning but I was at the Elementary School to watch Jake's performance. He woke up with a fever and he looked like he needed a hug...but was horrified when I told him to go on back to bed. He insisted on going to school for the concert because..."I have a solo!" Great - another performer in the family! So I drove him to school and brought him home after the concert. He did great in his solo and the Tylenol this morning seemed to last all day.
This afternoon I went and did some shopping at an open house at a friend's. The idea was to pick up Christmas gifts but I think I bought more for myself. Oops!
Tonight Lisette had another performance at school, kind of a Talent Show/Showcase thing. Now she's got friends over and Nicole has her "friend" (yup, it better just be friendship!) Matt over. They're all preparing to head out to a party - the girls will only be able to be there for an hour and a half, the party starts at 11:30 and their curfew is 1 AM...I'm tired just thinking about it!
My favourite thing about having kids, well one of them, is listening to their conversations from another room. Lisette's friends are cracking me up! At the moment they're playing with Buddy and smelling him (he got bathed today!)
Goodnight! Hope John'll play taxi tonight!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Truckin' Along
As the move gets closer and closer, John's drinking more wine! Ha! He can see me tensing up so he's retreating to booze. Naw. It certainly hasn't got that bad. He did have a glass of wine with dinner, we decided to go on a date tonight. Our waiter asked us where we've been, why we haven't been by in a while. I should have given him this blog address!
I went to a coffee this morning but just stayed an hour. Organization was calling me home. Jake went to school feeling great...and we got a call at 9:45 to come and get him, he had a fever and a nosebleed! What awful parents we are!! He spent the day on the couch with a fever, just a low-grade but it's sticking. Pain in the rear (the fever, not him!) and he's only got a few weeks of school left. Tomorrow I'm taking him to school if he's feeling okay but bringing him home with me after his chorus concert in the morning. That way, maybe we can get some homework for him.
Well, I'm yawning. Time for me to hit the old pillow. John spent most of his time at the Embassy today and when he was home, he was playing Nintendo DS with Jake. Now he's starting to get his things organized. Good thing he's a night owl!
I went to a coffee this morning but just stayed an hour. Organization was calling me home. Jake went to school feeling great...and we got a call at 9:45 to come and get him, he had a fever and a nosebleed! What awful parents we are!! He spent the day on the couch with a fever, just a low-grade but it's sticking. Pain in the rear (the fever, not him!) and he's only got a few weeks of school left. Tomorrow I'm taking him to school if he's feeling okay but bringing him home with me after his chorus concert in the morning. That way, maybe we can get some homework for him.
Well, I'm yawning. Time for me to hit the old pillow. John spent most of his time at the Embassy today and when he was home, he was playing Nintendo DS with Jake. Now he's starting to get his things organized. Good thing he's a night owl!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Building Pressure
Moving is tough. The silver lining is that you tend to toss out a lot of things and then when you get to your destination and unpack - it feels kind of like Christmas. In the meantime, I'm starting to stress. So much to do, so much to remember, so much I could screw up. My desk looks like a hurricane hit it but the kitchen is already pretty much separated.
Tomorrow is when the kids have to separate their clothes and belongings - the very idea makes me hyperventilate a little. I've got to do the same thing which means dragging more of my winter clothes out of the attic and making an absolute mess of my bedroom. Not something to look forward to!
Then there's Christmas shopping for the kids. We're (yes, John helped!) basically done for extended family but we've got lots to do for the kids. I have an idea that will simplify things with the girls but Jake is a whole different story. The Internet is great but I'll be losing my computer much sooner than later...AHHH!
Okay, maybe it's time for some wine. Or maybe I should make another list... :-)
Tomorrow is when the kids have to separate their clothes and belongings - the very idea makes me hyperventilate a little. I've got to do the same thing which means dragging more of my winter clothes out of the attic and making an absolute mess of my bedroom. Not something to look forward to!
Then there's Christmas shopping for the kids. We're (yes, John helped!) basically done for extended family but we've got lots to do for the kids. I have an idea that will simplify things with the girls but Jake is a whole different story. The Internet is great but I'll be losing my computer much sooner than later...AHHH!
Okay, maybe it's time for some wine. Or maybe I should make another list... :-)
Addresses
Jake's been home from school for the better part of the week now. Very early this morning he came into our room crying and burning up with a fever. He had Tylenol just before bed last night but obviously it didn't last him the night.
I haven't mentioned what happened on Saturday night when we returned from the final performance...only because I didn't take the time. As I backed the car into the garage, both John and I realized the house alarm was sounding. He ran into the house and found we had a flood. Seems the gardener didn't turn off the water pump, just switched the other handle for water to go divert from the pool to the house. If the water pump isn't turned off, the water is sent up into our water tank that provides water to the second story of the house. Unfortunately, there is no safety valve in this tank so once it's full it simply starts overflowing. So for probably close to two hours, there was water spilling into the service area, down through the space between the upstairs floor and the kitchen. The water came up over my feet when I entered the kitchen. Luckily, there's a decent lip of tile between the kitchen and the wood floors of the dining room and study. John and I spent the better part of the next three hours squeegying/toweling/drying it up as best we could.
The reason I now bring up the flood, we're concerned that the humidity in Jake's room may be lending itself to his illness. There have been all sorts of colds running around the school so I'm not entirely convinced he's sick because of mold but we can't disregard it either. Just one more thing to worry about as we start going crazy with a move but then again, we're moving out of here too! Mostly sad, kind of glad.
And along with a move comes...change of address. We've had fourteen addresses in the nineteen years we've been married. I starting keeping a list with a few years ago and only have a couple incomplete addresses in it - mostly house numbers I haven't remembered or found. Now I'm making labels for Christmas cards and find that with all of our moving around, we've made friends with others who also move around too much! Thankfully their emails usually stay the same so I've got half a dozen emails out to request confirmation of addresses. It's nuts! A few people, I don't even know what state they're in anymore!
Don't lose me! :-)
I haven't mentioned what happened on Saturday night when we returned from the final performance...only because I didn't take the time. As I backed the car into the garage, both John and I realized the house alarm was sounding. He ran into the house and found we had a flood. Seems the gardener didn't turn off the water pump, just switched the other handle for water to go divert from the pool to the house. If the water pump isn't turned off, the water is sent up into our water tank that provides water to the second story of the house. Unfortunately, there is no safety valve in this tank so once it's full it simply starts overflowing. So for probably close to two hours, there was water spilling into the service area, down through the space between the upstairs floor and the kitchen. The water came up over my feet when I entered the kitchen. Luckily, there's a decent lip of tile between the kitchen and the wood floors of the dining room and study. John and I spent the better part of the next three hours squeegying/toweling/drying it up as best we could.
The reason I now bring up the flood, we're concerned that the humidity in Jake's room may be lending itself to his illness. There have been all sorts of colds running around the school so I'm not entirely convinced he's sick because of mold but we can't disregard it either. Just one more thing to worry about as we start going crazy with a move but then again, we're moving out of here too! Mostly sad, kind of glad.
And along with a move comes...change of address. We've had fourteen addresses in the nineteen years we've been married. I starting keeping a list with a few years ago and only have a couple incomplete addresses in it - mostly house numbers I haven't remembered or found. Now I'm making labels for Christmas cards and find that with all of our moving around, we've made friends with others who also move around too much! Thankfully their emails usually stay the same so I've got half a dozen emails out to request confirmation of addresses. It's nuts! A few people, I don't even know what state they're in anymore!
Don't lose me! :-)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Party was On!
We had a great party yesterday here at the house. It was the final farewell party for John and his classmates. There were about 50 people/children here - the pool was put to good use but there were two highlights...one when the Venezuelans took over the kitchen and the other when the Mariachi Band showed up! It was awesome! The party lasted from 1-11 PM so both John and I totally dropped last night. We crashed onto the couch and had to put our feet up for 30 minutes before we could even think about heading upstairs to bed. Exhausted but happy.
This morning, Jake woke with a fever so he spent the day with me...just working around the house. Lilian worked here all weekend so she had the day off. I pretty much have everything cleaned up from the party, sent a bunch of dirty towels/clothes to the laundry and filled a basket for John to return forgotten items to his classmates. Our moving company came to do our shipment inspection. The days are counting down. :-(
Tonight we all went out for dinner...laughed and teased our way through a good meal.
This morning, Jake woke with a fever so he spent the day with me...just working around the house. Lilian worked here all weekend so she had the day off. I pretty much have everything cleaned up from the party, sent a bunch of dirty towels/clothes to the laundry and filled a basket for John to return forgotten items to his classmates. Our moving company came to do our shipment inspection. The days are counting down. :-(
Tonight we all went out for dinner...laughed and teased our way through a good meal.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Grande Finale!
This evening was the finale of Aida. The kids did a great, great job once again! I must say, my girls were the most beautiful people on the stage...and I don't even think I'm biased! :-)
99% of my pictures were fuzzy, hard to get a good shot with an automatic camera without a flash! They were taping tonight again so we weren't allowed to use the flash.
Lisette - center stage, Nicole - far right, Mommy, Daddy and brother Jake - proud!
Take Two
The second performance of Aida was last night. All the kids stepped it up a notch so I'm not sure why Lisette reported that the kids thought Thursday night was better. I'm a brutal critic, I tend to notice any or at least most mistakes and I really thought that overall, last night was even better than the previous.
Lon took an amazing picture of Lisette Thursday night but we were unable to download off of his camera chip so he's promised to email it to me. I'll post it when I get it! Lon and Runez departed Buenos Aires last night - we had such an amazing time with them! Runez told me Lon's nickname was the "Energizer Bunny" at the school she works at. I certainly can attest to the energy level of this guy! He really kept us hopping! Pun intended! :-)
The girls went out to dinner last night and got back home just after midnight. So we all slept in this morning until it was time to take the girls to soccer. Yes, soccer. Still! This was their fourth "final" soccer practice/asado (BBQ)...extended farewell or what?? LOL
Lon took an amazing picture of Lisette Thursday night but we were unable to download off of his camera chip so he's promised to email it to me. I'll post it when I get it! Lon and Runez departed Buenos Aires last night - we had such an amazing time with them! Runez told me Lon's nickname was the "Energizer Bunny" at the school she works at. I certainly can attest to the energy level of this guy! He really kept us hopping! Pun intended! :-)
The girls went out to dinner last night and got back home just after midnight. So we all slept in this morning until it was time to take the girls to soccer. Yes, soccer. Still! This was their fourth "final" soccer practice/asado (BBQ)...extended farewell or what?? LOL
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