From last Monday to this past Friday, all sorts of things happened at the apartment. They probably are not much to you folks, but to us, even seeing the new bedroom door handles is exciting.
Here are a few photos of what is happening. I think I will put the before (April) photo immediately followed by the now (Sept) photo.
Well, those are the highlights of the remodel in week 4. Things could not be progressing any better, we do not think. More photos next week.
THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!! We were called to the apartment today to accept the delivery of the appliances- all 4 of them. Yay!!!
Let me tell you that it took five strong guys to move the refrigerator up the two, very narrow, flights of steps, removing the box, and the front door, in order to get it into the apartment!!! But in it went, without a scratch!! Immediately followed by the dryer, washer and stove.
Thanks to all of the guys that helped. I wish I as smart enough to capture a photo of them, but I was too busy supervising!!!
All of our new beauties are resting in the LR- waiting for the day they get to go to their designated spaces. We cannot wait, and, I am sure, they cannot wait either.
We were told that Luis was bringing the new stove from the apartment over here, to Juan’s house today. We cannot wait to see how it works.
It is here. We love it, but, even more importantly, they love it. Here it is, in all of its glory.
The burners all work, the oven works, the oven light works. Really, you cannot ask for more than that, right?
That is right, I am making the leap to gel nail polish. My nails having been getting longer by the week, with all of the dishes I do, 😉 and I want them to look nice for as long as I can. Therefore, I am treating myself to a monthly, at-home manicure, using gel polish, which is supposed to last 2-4 weeks, without chipping or peeling. (I will be the judge of that.) I forgot to mention that they require an LED light that “cures” them- like the new amalgam that is used in the dentists offices that requires a blue light to set the product. This gel will only “cure” under the UV or LED light, but takes only 2 minutes to dry hard. Yay!!!
When I was working, my nails would grow quickly because I washed them about 200 times every day. I needed to keep them short, however, so they would harbor as little bacteria as possible after all of the scrubbing I did. Now that I am retired, and living the dream, I only have to be a bit more cautious in my daily routines.
This does not mean that I have become a “princess”- far from it. Our lives here are much more difficult than up North. Very little is taken for granted here. For instance, there are no vacuum cleaners, no dishwashers, heck the washing machine has just been taken upstairs, but the dryer is still not hooked up. So, we either hand wash everything, and hang it all to dry, and hope someone gets it in before it rains, or, take it to the nearest laundromat, which is what we do now. We paid $500MN to have the equivalent of 5 loads done- remember, that is wash, dry, and fold. 🙂
We were asking the house keeper to do the washing for awhile, but the clothes kept drying with soap spots on them so we stopped that. They looked worse when they were dry, with spots, than when they were unclean. Anyway, the folks at the laundromat weigh the clothes we take, charge us by the kilo, and have them washed, dried, and folded, placed in neat plastics bags, and are very reasonable.
They also allow us our little “peccadillos”. You all know that I have been making our laundry soap for what, close to 10 years. And, we have only used white vinegar in the rinse, with wool dryer balls for the dryer for the pat 5 or 6 years. (Ivan developed an allergy to most laundry soaps, and most of the softeners). That was the best solution I could come up with- make our own soap, skip the softener, use the vinegar instead, and dryer balls in the dryer. No more itching, no more rashes. And no more softener smell that stays on your clothes for a month!!! The biggest plus, though, is that the vinegar keeps the washing machine clean of soap scum build up.
Did I mention all of the cost savings? It actually costs us about $0.02 per load of laundry at home. And the vinegar, keeping the washer clean, that is just a plus.
Anyway, what these nails will look like, once we start putting things away in the apartment, only the Lord knows. Until then, I am going to have some fun with gel nail colors.
Always a fun thing to do, right, buying new appliances? Not so! One of the problems with that here is, as I have mentioned before, the distance between the stores.
When we first started looking for appliances, we went to the trustworthy, local Sam’s Club, and found a refrigerator we liked. Several days later, we went to Home Depot, and saw another refrigerator we liked. Then, the following week, we went to Costco, and saw both of the same ones as in the previous two stores, but for $1,000 – $3000MN more, each. Same thing went for the washer/dryer, and the stove.
Way back in 2007, when we bought all of our appliances, we spent weeks researching, on line, multiple different brands, styles, and features, of refrigerators, washers and dryers, and stoves. After several weeks, we chose the ones we wanted, ordered them, (online, of course), and they were all delivered to the house; easy peasy. We clapped our hands, job well done! Not so now, however. Actually seeing them, hands on, in the stores, is almost too overwhelming for me. What if I say I want this one, but when we get it home, it is nothing like what I thought it was going to be? (Commonly referred to as Buyers Remorse). And ordering them from the US is, well, you guessed it, cost prohibitive.
Refrigerators- french doors, freezer on the bottom? Single door, freezer on the top? Black, white, or SS? LG, Samsung, Daewoo, Mabe? Yikes!
Stove- the stove that is in the apartment (a Mabe, 6 burner) is coming over here because their oven has not worked in ages, and ours does not have a broiler. Must have a broiler!!! We will, more than likely, end up with a countertop broiler of some sort. It is hard to find ovens with broilers here.
Washer and dryer- stacked, or side by side? Black, white, or SS? Simple dials, or computerized? Same brands for makers.
So, on it goes. I am fairly sure we are buying something soon, however- probably the stove first, then the fridge, then the washer and dryer. Probably a similar 6 burner gas stove by Mabe, then a SS LG French door, freezer on the bottom, (‘cuz we cannot find a single door with f-o-t-b), then, the washer and dryer, probably white, and Maytag, or Whirlpool. They will have dials, and they will be top loading because here, if the computer portion of your appliance goes caput, it is very hard to find someone to work on it. We are definitely not getting front loading!! It used to take about 45 minutes to one hour to wash our clothes, and another 2-3 hours to dry the darn things. No more. Now we want badda bing, badda boom. We will probably buy everything at Home Depot because of their fast delivery, guarantees, and it consolidates everything in one place.
Lastly, the running total looks to be about$61,000MN, or $3000, for 4 brand new appliances. Not bad, huh?!? **Update- we bought all four appliances for $50,250MN!! Most of them went on sale this week, starting yesterday, when we bought them. Arriving at the apartment tomorrow sometime. Now they just need to be lugged up two flights of steps.
There are so many things we are anxious to get started doing, now that fall is upon us, we are unsure where to start. The leaves are falling, the weather is cooling down nicely, and it is becoming more overcast during the day, again, lowering the temperature slightly.
Obviously, we are waiting “as patiently as can be expected” to move into the apartment, and to furnish it accordingly. But we cannot wait to start walking around the park, especially now that they have trimmed everything back!!
We are also anxious to, not only walk around the park, but walk to the grocery store when we need something. Will we walk every day, every time we need something? You already know that will not happen. But, to walk, when the weather is nice, and the leaves are falling, what more can you ask for?
There is a small mall about three blocks from the apartment that will, I am told, be the source of most of our purchases that are not from the main grocery stores. I am told there is a tortillería, where they make fresh corn, and flour tortillas; our bank; several barbershops and hair salons; the dry cleaners; many stores of which I am not even sure, since we have not walked through it yet. All within a very short distance, which will help us make more trips, more often. The main grocery store, in our neighborhood, is about 1 1/4 miles each direction. Not bad if you only have a couple items in a few bags, but anything more than that will require a small pull-behind cart, I think. I will let you know.
The mall is about 2 1/2 blocks from our home, which will probably be either a daily walk for fresh food, or every other day. The supermarket is another 7 blocks to the South. As it is close to a kilometer in each direction, those trips will need to be less frequent- possibly by car. What we will need to buy at the Superama will be bigger items that are not easily carried that distance. We are getting older, so cut us some slack. And, remember, Juan is 91 years old. (Though he walks, right now, more than anyone I know.)
Only a few photos to show you, but of those few that I do have, I think they are pretty dramatic. See for yourselves. Let me know.
So, how was that for dramatic? We are bringing the stove over here, because the oven does not work over here, and they would like to be able to bake things. We are probably going to buy aa countertop broiler. It is hard to find a stove/oven with a broiler here. Ivan thinks we might be able to take a small grill over to the park and grill out there. We will see. Countertop broiler for the foreseeable future.
So, everything you see, and do not see, will, soon, be replaced with oak cabinets, from the “floating” bases, to the granite countertops, and from the normal upper cabinet to the ceiling.
The lower cabinets will make an “L” right where the blue bucket is, going towards what is currently the microwave stand, (which has been removed from photo #1, and is wrapped for resale).
In the lower cabinets, again in the corner, (blue bucket), Luis has already purchased, and will install when appropriate, a lazy Susan for us, (see photo above) so we will have easier access to whatever gets put in there. The lower cupboards will also all be pull out shelves, (see photo below) because yours truly is so very tired of getting on her knees to find, and rescue, the odd pan necessary to prepare the odd dish. So much so that she leapt when her husband suggested it. (Yay, Ivan.) Martín will be building the cabinets himself, which will “float” on the concrete supports underneath.
As you can see in the photos, they are painting the door jams a color similar to the oak of the doors. The open third of the closet in the photo above, will also have an oak door and shelves on the lower right. As a bonus, they are removing the popcorn ceilings from the entire apartment before construction begins. Yay!!
I think you get the idea. Things are going very smoothly, and in a good time frame. Under budget thus far as well. More later.
I just had to show you the photo first. We bought these Mixed Veggie Chips at the local Sam’s Club; they are made by Tropical Fields. They are light, and airy, and really crunchy with only about 4 net. Carbs. per 30 gm serving. (This is fairly close to a 30 gm. portion). I have no recollection what they cost, but they are worth every peso.
They are lightly salted, and practically melt in your mouth. I did not think I would care for the broccoli, but it is actually quite good. They all taste like what I imagine the air-fried versions of the original vegetable would taste like- only with a bit of salt. I highly recommend these folks. If you can find them, try them, and let me know what you think, will you?
We did it! We made it, hopefully for the last time, to the Immigration office here in CDMX, at 8:05am this morning, where I had a 50 minute interview, mostly in Spanish, regarding my residency status. Now, all we have to do is wait 20 days, more or less, to learn if they think it is ok for me to remain here, or if I need to go back to the US.
I must say that this has been quite the process. I retired on March 12th. of this year, 2019, and we have been on the go ever since. We had to sell one of our vehicles, our 2005 Toyota 4 Runner, travel 6 times to, and from, and, around, Chicago to have our household goods verified, our marriage license apostillated, etc., (check that out on Google). Plus, we had to buy another vehicle, our 2011 BMW, in Downers Grove, IL., because both of our Toyotas were assembled in Japan, and the second one was a 2012. (Immigration law states that any vehicle being brought into México has to be assembled in the US, and must be of the year 2011, or older). We spent 5 or 6 weeks packing all of our belongings, having given away more than half of our things to family and friends. We closed the sale of the house the first week of June, then moved into a long-term stay hotel in Davenport, IA, for 3 weeks. The beginning of July found us driving a 20ft. UHaul truck, (which we had to drive to Galesburg, IL., to get). Then we drove to Comanche, IA., to pick up our car transport, driving on to Laredo, TX., some 1800+ miles, taking us 3 days, and 2 nights, to, once again, stay in a hotel for another 1 1/2 weeks. We moved here the 15th of July, have spent tons of money, just to get this far; not only on the process, but finding places to live during the process.
Now that we are here, we have been downtown to the Immigration office countless times. On the fourth, or maybe the fifth, trip, however, we ran into one of Ivan’s cousin, Viridiana, there, at the Office of Immigration. And let me just tell you how auspicious that was. Without her help we would still be arguing with someone-someone who is unsure of what, exactly, this government wants with regards to its forms, its documents, and its regulations.
Now that we are reaching what we are, fairly, sure is the end of this chapter, we want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. You all know who you are, and so do we. We cannot thank any of you enough, but know that we will always be grateful to you.
The different species of plants here is nothing short of amazing. I know, I use that word often, so, you should be getting used to it by now. But, I am telling you, the flora, and fauna, here is completely different than up North.
For example, we, [Ivan, Enrique, Marco, (brother to cousin Juan), and I], took the Metro, again, this morning, going downtown to the government building where I need to register to change my residency status. Right now I have temporary residency status until December. By then, though, I have to have made arrangements to either return to the United States, or show good reason why I should be allowed to stay, and live here. Having chosen the latter option, we have made two copies of every document we can find that they might possibly need, along with, now, having paid a total of $7540 MN, ($377). We have another appointment in the morning, at 9:00am., so we (see the list above) will, once again, go downtown, but, this time, at 6:30am., and by taxi!!!
Now, to show you some incredible vegetation, here are some photos of the different plants in the park by the apartment, and a couple of photos of the different plants used in hedges here. Let me know if you know the names of the plants.
Those are some of the photos I have at the moment. I had a photo of holly being used as a hedge but it has disappeared. I will retake it when I see it again. It, too, is fairly prevalent as hedge material.
I hope you enjoyed a quick view of some of the different vegetation that is here. Amazing.
