Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

I’m giving it another go.

Probably not the last go, but another go.

I bought bunches of each of these herbs, again, from Soriana, and am trying, again, to get the little buggers to grow. This time, it seems to be working. I’m not sure if you can see the roots beginning to form, but they’re there.

The above lavender, that I reallocated from the park, is actually growing. All of the tiny leaves are soft, and wonderful smelling. It has been in the pot for about 3 weeks now. When I stop trying to drown them, they grow quite nicely. I really need to stop drowning the plants, poor things.

I also bought a couple packages of rosemary, and have stripped several of the stems, to the soft tops, and have put them into the same small glass yogurt glasses as in the first photo. I am hoping they, too, will take root. I have seen, on the internet, that all 4 of those herbs can, and do, grow well in water. Yay! I can’t drown them.

We shall see.

For now, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

When you have a moment, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and remember how proud you were reciting it when you were young. Tomorrow, celebrate the day of our independence from England, becoming proud once again.

We went to Costco yesterday. This is what we needed to bring up the groceries from the sidewalk.

This is one of the large totes; on the wheelie thing that we use to move heavy stuff. Of course it has a name, I just can’t remember what it is, at the moment.

Ivan just told me it is called a dolly. Well, of course it is. It has to pull this duty only once a month now. Lucky sod.

Sorry.

I have gotten my second, third, or, maybe fourth wind, so to speak, but this is some of what happened, after we got back from shopping.

I have torn the kitchen, and pantry apart, and they have been transformed. And I do mean transformed. The dried chiles, herbs, and some of the cook ware, are now in the kitchen, (where they need to be); the appliances, for the most part, are in the pantry, (again, where they should be), and all of flours that have not been used in months, have been relegated to a very high shelf, in the kitchen; not in my user zone. Take a look.

DAMN.

They are ever changing, ever evolving spaces; never to be left “as is” for very long. When, or if, I ever feel the rightness of the space, it will be that way until

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

I have not slept yet; not since, at least, yesterday.

I don’t think.

I really can’t remember. I nap, because, as mom used to say, “just rest your eyes. You don’t have to sleep, just close your eyes, and rest.”

I have tried to close my eyes, and rest; to no avail.

Today, however, we went to Costco, and bought out their meat department. Good thing for you, you didn’t follow us. You would have been very sad to see nothing left in their refrigerated meat area.

We bought another sirloin primal, to be cut up, and dealt with tomorrow. (All I really wanted was the sirloin cap, or the picaña.) It is an amazing part of the sirloin; probably the most succulent piece of meat on the entire cow. Really. It is praised here, and in many Latin countries around the world, as the “queen of meat”. If you ever try the cap, you will understand why, exactly, it is so revered.

I am going to cut up the primal piece tomorrow; cut up, and sous vide the picaña. I can’t wait. We have gotten a fresh batch of handmade, completely from scratch, corn tortillas, from Alicia, (Liz’ mom), and I am ready to make some incredible salsas so we can devour this picaña.

I will try to remember to photo everything so you can enjoy the picaña with us.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

Who’d a thought it?

Not only do I wear bamboo tops, but now, we sleep on the most amazing bamboo sheets.

They are so soft, and cool. The don’t hold their shape well however. As our mattress is 12” deep, with a 3” memory foam topper, it is hard to find fitted sheets that fit.

All of the fitted sheets we brought with us are for a 12” deep mattress; what we had prior to this mattress. Consequently, none of them stay fitted to the mattress. One, sometimes 2 corners of the sheet come off of the bed, making it all wrinkled, making it difficult for me to sleep. (Remember the Princess and the Pea? I’m that Princess.)

That said, if you have an opportunity to purchase new sheets, I highly recommend trying the bamboo sheets. Bamboo is highly sustainable, hypoallergenic, and all kinds of other wonderful adjectives. Try it. You just might like it.

Oh, they also have the elastic straps across the corners to help keep the damn thing in place.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

Sure wish I could.

Sleep, that is.

As we are no longer anesthetizing ourselves with Brandy, I am no longer able to sleep; not until about 4:30am. And that is getting really old.

I have tried Benadryl, in varying amounts, but to no avail. I guess I’ll sleep when I can’t stay awake any longer.

My brain just won’t be still. I think of the groceries that need buying, in order to make all of the lovely dishes I have seen being prepared by others in YT videos. Then, there’s the bills that need to be paid; have I checked them for the 59th time yet? Oh, how about the ideas that I want to post?

I have made an unexceptional batch of Kombucha recently. I believe I waited too long, and now it is a bit sour. I hate when I do that. But, oh well.

Going to go to the grocery store later today. Did I put _____ on the list? Should I get up and put it on the list now? Probably not. I should be sleeping.

But I’m not.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

I’m going to have a cup of coffee.

What can I say really?

That %^#$ is expensive.

You folks are paying, on average, $4.85/gallon. Here, we just had a price increase for premium, (92 octane) to $24 pesos/liter. As there are approximately 4.25L/gal, that roughly comes out to be $5.03/gallon.

Here’s a thought for you; our BMW has an 85L capacity, if not full full. You know what I mean; don’t stop filling the tank until you can’t put anything else inside. Right? Then, it’s closer to 87L.

Those 85L, or 19 gallons, cost $24 pesos/liter, or $2040 for a full tank. That equates to about $101 dollars per tank. That said, we fill up after using 1/4 tank, roughly $500 pesos, or $25. Much easier to come up with than $2050 pesos, or $110. Yikes. We have bills to pay, groceries to buy. You know the drill.

The Mercedes Benz, has a 70L tank, 15 gallons, or $1680 for a minimal tank fill, or $85 for a real fill.

We use only the Benz in town. The BMW only leaves the garage for distance driving; when we can get the most mileage out of the vehicle.

Nevertheless, we aren’t going to go to Costco very often; it’s a 22 km. drive, round trip. Really, though, we only go monthly, now that we are only supporting ourselves, and Los Garcias. We spend approximately $250 – $300 monthly, depending on if we need paper products, meds, that expensive stuff.

That said, everything is becoming expensive, but paper products such as diapers, wipes, paper towels, toilet paper, dinner napkins, all of these just about cause me to fill out an application to work at Costco; just to get some sort of discount.

Not really. If I ever have to work again, it will be too soon. In my dreams I have become an imbecile; as if I have never worked a day in my life as a nurse. (Actually, most of them need my prior expertise to get whatever the horrid job is, done. Yay me. Not very restful, however.)

As far as gas prices go, write to your Congress person, and have them tell the President to stop blaming Russia for the horrible inflation you are experiencing. Tell that individual, or individuals, that he can change all of that by working with Congress to increase oil, and gas production in the US. They’re all there; he just has to sanction the retrieval of both. Job done.

Until you find the courage to do this, and I know you can, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

I went into the bathroom across the hall this morning, to make sure everything was clean, sink, toilet, shower, garbage emptied; you know the shpiel.

Much to my surprise, then dismay, I saw this.

No one has “insurance” on their apartments; who could afford it? We know a guy, who knows a guy, that does plaster work, and will get an estimate for his services. We will “share” this information with our “neighbor”, and ask that they pay a part of the expense. Hopefully, it does not require removing, and replacing the tiles on the wall. That may get expensive. Whatever the cost, they just had their bathroom renovated, so the burden is on them. (Thank you Jesus.)

Needless to say, our neighbor, shut off the water to the toilet in their bathroom, the one above ours, and the trickle stopped. Now, the negotiations begin.

How will it end? Tune in, and see for yourselves.

Until then, may the Force be with you. And yours, of course.

You know what to do to keep yourselves happy, healthy, and safe.

Do it.

All of it.

Plus, whatever you feel is necessary.

It’s time for a Brandon update, so, get ready.

He’s a real treat.

He is developing the beginnings of a real personality. See if you don’t agree.

He knows our voices, both Ivan’s, and mine. He even smiles, usually, when he hears us speaking to him. I try to speak to him in English, so he can become comfortable with it, and know it’s me. He reaches up his hand, for whatever reason, who knows? More importantly, who cares? We bend down the inch, or two required, and kiss it until he moves it away again.

He is growing so quickly, right in front of our eyes. We are so privileged to be witness to it, it almost brings tears to our eyes.

It has been many years since we were around a baby, so it is like a semi-new experience. (I hope that makes sense). Anyway, here are some photos of him, just this evening, watching soccer, (football), on the TV with his daddy.

Going to go back to Los Altos sometime in the next few weeks, hopefully. I will have some things to tell you then. As for now, boredom is a terrible thing.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.

Even Dr Fauci has symptomatic CoVid after his initial injection, and the 3 boosters. What does this tell you people? It is/was NOT a vaccine. Vaccines are supposed to last almost a whole lifetime. Research.

Woohoo.

It has been hailing for the past 5 minutes. No kidding. Here; let me show you.

We haven’t had hail for almost 6 months. It dropped the temperature by about 6º – 8º in about 5 minutes. Lovely.

It is now 66ºF, down from 74ºF. Yeah!!! It won’t last long; it can’t. I want it cool, and to stay cool for the next 6-8 months. It won’t. It can’t. It is summer here; up North too. Yuck.

Not my favorite months; not without a swimming pool. We used to have a good sized pool, above ground. It was 4 1/2 deep x 15ft wide; it had a saltwater filter, plastic cover, and a bubble cover solar heater. It was amazing. It was great. It was such fun when the heat was unbearable. We, or I, swam,and relaxed in the pool almost every evening during the summer for as many years that we had it. I miss it immensely.

The only other thing I have really wanted was to wake up to see mountains on the horizon. If, and when we ever move to Shanghai La, there will be mountains on the horizon; just for me.

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

He insisted.

So, we did it.

It wasn’t my fault.

We made Italian beef sandwiches for the first time, and they were amazing. However, with a sandwich, one needs to eat bread of some sort in order to call it a sandwich.

So, we did.

Jesús bought bolillos, a dozen of them, and we ate heartily. They are so soft in the middle, the bolillos, with just a hint of crunch on the crust. They are addictive. No. I only ate 1 1/2 total bolillos, at 3 different times. And, yes, I included it in the fictional accounting of the foods I ate for those 2 days. (No, I didn’t really keep track those 2 days, knowing I was going overboard. So, sue me.)

We had purchased a “sirloin” primal at Costco, and had already used up what I would call acceptable steaks. The rest was definitely stringy, and loaded with sinew. Yesterday, he suggested that I cook the rest of the chunk like I did for the Italian beef sandwiches.

So, I did.

We had purchased a large jar of roasted red peppers at Costco, as well. I opened them, and put a large pepper on top of the hunk of meat, wrapped it in cling film, and put it in the fridge overnight. Later today, hopefully, we will use the meat slicer to slice the meat thinly, and put on a roll, (also purchased you know where).

The au jus one makes with this recipe is killer. No, not literally. It is absolutely delicious. If I remember, I will take photos of the above, and share it with you. If not, find a YT video, and enjoy.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect yourselves.