Category: Initial post

Woohoo!!! The “house” phone just rang, (the one that anyone uses at the front door, downstairs, inside or outside, to talk with us), and, I answered it. Yes, you read that correctly. I answered it. It was a delivery man from Estafeta, a company, like FedEx, or DHL, but used, quite frequently, for international deliveries.

The gentleman, at the other end, who was outside, said he had a package for us. So I got my keys, and headed for the front door. The main door has a four dead bolt lock, plus a regular, one bolt lock, though both open using the same key, turned multiple times in the lock.

Anyway, I went downstairs, signed for the package, and walked back up stairs, just a bit lighter in my step than yesterday. You see, last night, I decided to start watching my absolute favorite show, (at the moment) “Chicago Fire”, by listening to it in Spanish, with English subtitles. You cannot imagine, in just a few, short hours, how much confidence it has given me. Somewhere, in the back of my all too feeble mind, that little bit of audible Spanish has given me the impetus to continue my self-education of the beautiful Spanish language, though, this time, jumping in with both feet, so to speak.

I was momentarily struck by just how much Spanish I already know, yet, do not give myself any credit. Dumb! So, while I am continuing on my second language journey, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, wash your hands, and stay vigilant. No one can do it for you.

Post script: Happy Fourth of July, though, down here, we have read that most celebrations have been cancelled. That does not make the day any less needing to be celebrated. The independence of the leading nation in the world needs to be remembered, with, or without all of the hoopla! Take the country back from ANTIFA, and all of the looters, and MakeAmericaGreatAgain.

NEVER AGAIN!!!

This evening, I got on the scale, and, am heavier than I have ever been, in my entire life.

I took a picture of the scale, and may, possibly, post it here, just to let you know what six months of incarceration has done to me. Needless to say, I/we have begun doing something about this.

We have not stopped eating, because that is just not right. What we have done, is stop eating so much. By we, I really mean me. I am so bored, the only thing I do is eat, watch stuff on my iPad Pro, drink, and sleep.

We only go outside once a week, to buy perishables, and Tequila. Down here, no alcohol is sold Friday morning through Monday morning. So, one has to plan accordingly, or one has several sleepless nights, waiting for Monday. Sad, but true.

Instead of two over-easy eggs, with four strips of bacon, four ounces of cheese, and salsa on two beautifully charred flour tortillas for breakfast, I now only have one egg, scrambled, with onion and garlic powders, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese, (it has a cheese flavor), one slice of bacon, or whatever meat is available, and one beautifully charred corn tortilla; about half the calories, fats, etc. We will see.

Plus, for lunch, instead of two, or three, quesadillas, with cheese, pulled pork, and salsa, I have a large tossed salad, with about fifty grams of cottage cheese, two cherry tomatoes, one slice of Canadian bacon, (it is what was in the fridge that needed eating), and Ranch dressing, about two tablespoons. For dinner, it is whatever comes to mind, at this point- a quesadilla, a pulled pork taco, or a scrambled egg with toast. Much better, I assure you.

Will it work overnight? Not in my lifetime. But, as I have told many of you ad nauseum, lose the weight before you are in your fifties, much less your sixties. It is so hard for me, at three weeks short of sixty five, to lose weight, or exercise, which is exactly what I told you. Learn from my mistakes.

As I continue on this journey, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, wash your hands, stay vigilant. The virus is not even close to being through with the world. Do not believe you are immune. You are not. No one is.

You may be interested to know that, today, I actually got quite a bit done here.

Started out the very late morning by debunking the refrigerator, washing all of the empty storage containers and some odd dishes. Next came a quick brunch, for me cause YKW went back to bed.

After having a little something to eat, I spent the next hour browning two and a half kilos of pork leg for carnitas. Mmm. Love me some carnitas.

At the same time, I did three loads of laundry, well, washed and dried three loads. They still have to be hung up, or folded and put away. My least favorite part of the job.

Oh, I also vacuumed the condo, and then mopped the floors. I get so much work done when YKW is sleeping, or at least trying to sleep. I had to vacuum quickly.

Anyway, I am finally finishing up season six of Blacklist!! Love it. And, yesterday, or the day before, who can remember details, I finished Elementary, one of my favorite renditions of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. If you have not seen it, watch a few episodes. Now I am back to trying to find another series to watch. Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted. I think I am going to try Chicago Fire. It has twenty three episodes per season, and I have access to five seasons. Should keep me occupied for awhile. Who knows?

You know, that, until I can find another series, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect those you love.

When we are not staring, blindly, into the computer, I, personally, am watching TV shows on, either, YouTube, Netflix, or Prime Video. What do I watch, you ask? Well, let me ponder this a moment.

House- all seasons, OMG!

The Expanse- all seasons.

The Good Doctor- all seasons.

The Man in the High Castle – all seasons.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars- seasons 1-4, so far.

Game of Thrones- all seasons, multiple times. 🙂

Kitchen Nightmares- every season, every episode, in the US, and the UK.

Once Upon a Time- all seasons.

Do I like to watch anything that has very little to do with reality? You tell me.

Escape. I really do not care where, or how, I escape, I just want to escape. Forever? NO. It is always, and has been, temporary- until the episode/season/series ends.

I almost forgot a very special show called “Hunters” on Prime. Wow. Watch it if you get the opportunity. Fantastic.

What are you doing with this endless summer vacation? Until this “vacation” ends, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, protect your loved ones.

Wow. Another Saturday. Go figure.

I am bored to tears this morning. The most exciting thing that has happened, thus far this morning, was that Jesús, and his nephew Hector, brought a couple of packages to the door. (Jesús is our man Friday. He does cleaning, and maintenance, sometimes security, here in the building. A real Jack of all trades, and priceless).

I ordered a pair of Clogs from Amazon.com.mx a couple of days ago, and they arrived today. I am so fortunate to be able to wear little boy sizes, because it makes quite a big difference in price. Women’s shoes are so much more expensive, it is crazy.

Other than that, not much happening here. I am going to watch something on Prime Video, or Netflix now. Probably should do some laundry, too. Not really sure, though, if I can fit it into this busy day. I will try.

Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Cover your mouth, and wash your hands. Protect yourselves and your loved ones.

We just experienced our first earthquake, this morning.

The electricity went off at about the same time, as we noticed things swaying back and forth.

For me, I was in the kitchen, making breakfast, when all of a sudden the chimes, hanging in the laundry area, just off the kitchen, began swaying, at 180º, chiming as if there was a major storm coming.

I staggered over to the window, expecting a hard breeze, but there was nothing. I staggered back to the stove, but, as I was moving, I felt like I was tipsy, or, a sailor, trying to gain my sea legs. I was so nauseated, I felt like I would vomit. Trying to stand there, at the stove, I got so dizzy as the room was moving, back and forth. It was amazing– scary, but amazing.

About two, maybe three minutes later, while the chimes were just starting to slow down, Ivan came into the kitchen, and told me that that had been an earthquake. Wow. That was enough for me. I am completely satisfied that I have experienced a quake, so we can, now, move on with our lives. Ok, let us move on with our lives. Please.

Actually, we cannot. The garage doors, on the first floor, are electric, so we are here until the electricity comes back on. Besides, Ivan said we may, possibly, have a second shock within the hour. Yippee. Cannot wait for that one.

Until that happens, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

Post script: there was no aftershock, that we were aware of, and we did get power restored after about forty five minutes, or so. No damage was done to the condo, that we know of, and only one person was injured, unbeknownst to us.

Today, I am going to start making my liquid laundry soap, thanks to my amazing sister in law, Mayra.

M sent me all of the ingredients I needed, without the $156 price tag!!! She has not told me, but I am hoping these items did not cost her more then $30 or $40, total.

Ivan and I had been drinking a lot of Kirkland’s 100% Cranberry juice lately, and, as a result, there were several empties on the floor, in the kitchen. When he came in to empty the garbage bags, I asked him about the bottles. “Aren’t you going to make laundry soap soon? Don’t you need those to give your soap away?” Well, duh!!

Of course I did, I do, and I am so glad he remembered that I need them to use for the laundry soap. With the people at work, that I used to make soap for, they would refill a large bottle whenever they needed more soap. That way, I did not have to cover the expense of a container, only the soap products.

The products that I use, then, and now, comes to pennies per load. Actually, for a top loader, I used 1/4 cup of the soap, and for a front loader, 1/8 cup. All of this turned out to be less than $.02 per load. Check out what you are spending per load on your wash day.

Until you check in again, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, protect your family.

I told you that I would list the vegetables we used in our latest veg soup. Well, here they are, and, they were all in our kitchen, or fridge, waiting to be used up, so they did not go bad. (I hate it when we buy vegetables, and they rot in the fridge. Disgusting. Especially in this time of crisis).

Here we go. We used the following vegetables, to fill two eight quart stock pots, for soup.

5 small zucchini (here, they are no more than 4” long)

1/2 onion, sliced

5 carrots, 1/2” sliced

10 small celery stalks, 1/2” sliced

1 chayote, peeled, seed removed, and 1/2” sliced

1/2 each, small head, green, and purple, sliced thin, or shedded

3 cups nopales, cactus paddles, cleaned, cut into 1/4” strips and cooked

1 head cauliflower, florets cut small

1 purple eggplant, peeled, and cut into bite sized pieces

1 chile poblano, burned, skinned, deseeded, cut into 1” pieces

1 small package cremini mushrooms, cleaned, cut into quarters

4 Roma tomatoes, cut into 1/2 x 1/2” pieces.

1 container fresh spinach, stems removed.

12 cups water

4 Tbs. Knorr chicken bouillon

1 – 2 tsp. Turmeric, to taste

1 – 2 tsp. Tarragon, to taste

1 Tbs. tomato paste, to taste.

This does not take all that long to cook, so, taste frequently, and adjust seasonings to your taste. Serve with your side of choice- tortilla chips, slice of bread, rice.

Let me know if you try this, but until then, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, protect those you love.

I have come to realize that I have not spoken much about the wonderful neighbors we had, while living in Iowa. Let me rectify that right now.

Duke, Alissa, Cady, Jack, and Lacey- the absolute best neighbors anyone, in their right minds, could have ever asked for. We have never, before, or since, had such wonderful people that we could rely on, like this family. They are the family we chose.

In the summer, the kids would mow our yard, front and back, for only about a half million dollars each week. JK.

That we grew vegetables, by the truck load, many of you will remember. The kids would come over, and help us harvest, and eat them, so very little went to waste. Jack, and Lacey, especially, would come over, and eat the grape tomatoes right off the vines, not getting very many home, when all was said, and, done.

I had the chance, once, to stop Lacey, for a moment, and, try to pass along some of my “garden knowledge” to her, so, hopefullly, she would relay it to her family, if the time ever came. Evan Jack gave me some time, to do the same with him. I told them both to make sure to plant basil in between each tomato plant, to keep the bugs off the tomatoes. Another thing, to put a small cup of beer, semi submerged in the garden soil, if they noticed slugs on the veg. I explained that this would lure the slugs to the beer, and drown them, all without chemicals.

I must say, I never used chemicals in my gardens, never. I always looked to get rid of garden “pests” organically. I gave most of my produce away, because I could never put a price tag on what I was doing. I used all of our “waste” as compost, and fed the gardens from that. I am very proud of the vegetables I was able to produce, and miss doing that to this day.

Did I talk too much to the kids? Do they remember anything I tried to teach them? I have no idea. I can only hope they did. Gardening is such an underrated hobby that it hurts me to think that, someday, it may be obsolete. Remember this, it is the only way to know what is actually in your food.

Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, protect your loved ones.

Have I mentioned the eucalyptus trees that we have down here? They are in such an abundance that you would not believe it unless you saw them with your own eyes.

We just walked over to Enrique’s condo, to take him some soup, and salsa that we made. On the way home, the wind was picking up, (tut, tut, it looks like rain *see note), and we could smell the eucalyptus all around us, so fragrant.

Since I am so darned overweight at the moment, and my back is straining to hold up my pendulous belly, (even with my new wrap), I asked YKW to slow down a bit, to take some of the pressure off my back. Of course, he did, so we got to enjoy the smells a little bit longer. 😉

I do apologize for not posting something everyday, but I cannot, in good conscience, post blah, blah, blah. I will not do it. Those times, when I feel I need to keep you in our loop, you will find that info here. I do not want you to turn away because it is blah, blah, blah.

I have been keeping up with some of the things going on with my family, as well as my former coconspiritors, coworkers, and, amigas. Some of you people are certifiable, some of you, well, most of you are not.

Me, I am beyond redemption. But, as I am not longer accountable to any of you, only YKW, well, he loves me even as a gordona. (That is an orca to you. Normally, I consider myself a gordita, but I am waaayyy past gordita). 😉

Tomorrow, we are going to start eating our multi-vegetable soup, in hopes of dropping some weight over the next few weeks. I will, of course, let you know how that is going, rest assured. I will even post all of the vegetables we used in the soup, just in case any of you want to clean out your fridge, and are blessed with two eight quart stock pots worth of veg from your fridge.

As always, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect those you love.

* Note: Winnie the Pooh!! Also, YKW, is you know who. Come on people!!!