Wanna see my sore toe?

Opps, it may seem I have abandoned you all, but that is not so, I have just been a bit preoccupied with getting my house ready and also been taking the time to sit down and actually study Spanish. I also have a friend that is helping me a lot. I have had a few adventures as well but of course didn't have my camera with me. I just don't pack it around with me anymore, maybe because I feel so at home here...we don't carry our cameras around at home do we?...well not always. The first time I came to Stone Island was 12 years ago and I took a picture of a little house like this (it wasn't this house) I carried it around in my daytimer (back when I still had a normal people job) and when my life got a little hairy and scary I would flip to this picture and imagine how some day I would leave the rat race and live here. I always joked saying "I just want a hut, a sack of rice, a sack of beans and a donkey to carry me around". When I get back to Canada I will dig that picture out and post it for you all, but it looked something like this; this place is adorable, evenings here would be absolutely enchanting.......way beyond magical must be a place called enchantment and this is it...I think. Can you see yourself here?

Enchantment 

This is my neighbor a few door down, I've walked by it a few times and I have been meaning to get a really artsy shot of his ladder but as of yet (because of a fence) I have just sneaked this one;

At what point do you throw your broken ladder away?.......never is the answer

 I love this house, I have watched it evolve over the last few years, people here build their houses as they have money. At home it takes 20 years to pay for a house, here it can take 20 years to build one, but once it's built here it is paid for, you are not a slave to your home here. Plus, most people here do not build more than they need...like us.

Really, ,who needs a home bigger than this? Isn't it cute, I'll bet next year it will have a fence or a patio. 

With that in mind, here is another peek at my new house, which will also take me a few years to get all cute looking, oh, I have many plans. This is just the beginning.

The front

 This is the back of it, it needs paint on the outside and it just so happens that I hate this kind of painting, so I will only be painting the inside for now, plus I have plans for a back patio, and a rooftop patio (next year) so I think I will wait to paint the outside until all that is built and then paint it all at once. Unless of course family comes to visit, then we'll bring out the paint cans right promptly, I am also guessing I could Tom Sawyer someone into painting it for me as well, I do have a sore toe to show off....isn't that what the first guy offered to Tom in exchange for painting the fence? (pause while I Google this, because I am a geek)
Here you go, right from Mark Twain himself. I love Mark Twain.


Say, Jim, I’ll fetch the water if you’ll whitewash some.”

Jim shook his head and said:

“Can’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis, she tole me I got to go an’ git dis water an’ not stop foolin’ roun’ wid anybody. She say she spec’ Mars Tom gwine to ax me to whitewash, an’ so she tole me go ‘long an’ ‘tend to my own business – she ‘lowed she’d ‘tend to de whitewashin’.”

“Oh, never you mind what she said, Jim. That’s the way she always talks. Gimme the bucket – I won’t be gone only a a minute. She won’t ever know.”

“Oh, I dasn’t, Mars Tom. Ole missis she’d take an’ tar de head off’n me. ‘Deed she would.”

“She! She never licks anybody – whacks ’em over the head with her thimble – and who cares for that, I’d like to know. She talks awful, but talk don’t hurt – anyways it don’t if she don’t cry. Jim, I’ll give you a marvel. I’ll give you a white alley!”

Jim began to waver.

“White alley, Jim! And it’s a bully taw.”

“My! Dat’s a mighty gay marvel, I tell you! But Mars Tom I’s powerful ‘fraid ole missis – ”

“And besides, if you will I’ll show you my sore toe.”

Jim was only human – this attraction was too much for him. He put down his pail, took the white alley, and bent over the toe with absorbing interest while the bandage was being unwound.

So, I have a sore toe if anyone is interested, I went to the mainland a few days ago (to buy paint) and I wore a pair of shoes (you have to wear shoes when you go to the city), these shoes aren't my friends yet and I have one big blister for a toe now, ,yes there is more blister than toe......nothing that a few walks in the salty tide won't fix.

Imagine a fresh coat of paint and a cute patio

Back yard, also has so much potential, Check out my banana trees

Bananas...this excites me, believe me when the day comes that I can step outside and pick a banana and eat it you will all hear about it.....I'm generous that way

There have been a few classic Mexican style remodeling blunders, this little house had a dividing wall right down the middle of it, 2 families lived in here, one a family of 4, I know this family because they had a taco stand, I don't know the people that well but I did have a close relationship with their tacos for a few years, and the other half was occupied by the lady that owns this house, imagine a family of 4 in half of this house. Humbles me a bit to realize how fortunate I am and makes me realize how grateful I ought to be for every thing in my life, I have such abundance of everything. Gratefulness seems to flow so much easier here than at home.
Anyway....Check out the spot where my fridge was to go, the space is short by about 3 inches, space on the left is reserved for my stove (that I will have someday)
But....I have a friend that has a small fridge and she would like a bigger fridge and we have decided (after extensive measuring) that we will swap fridges. I really hope I don't regret this. So "operation fridge move" is being organized as we speak. This will not be easy because she lives on top of a hill and has about 89 corners that  these fridges have to clear....should be exciting. We will of course hire us some fine Mexican muscle....want pictures?

Imagine some nice bright Mexican tile on this back wall and some tile shelves in this counter. You can see my fridge on the left but it is blocking the one shutter on the window from opening...can't have that, I need to spy on the neighbors, and they need to spy on me. 

And somehow, I am not sure how this happened, they ended up with a window in my closet, with the amount of dust that we have here a window in the closet would mean my clothes would forever be dusty, so it was suggested I put an air conditioner in it.....to keep my clothes cool? I opted to have it cemented shut. I really hope I don't regret this. Watch....we'll have a stifling hot winter next year and I'll wish I could cool off my underwear. 

Like i said in my last post I am not going  to buy a lot of furniture this year, check out what I call "Mexican Ikea" If you're Canadian you will get that, if not you can Google it. What you see here is a book shelf unit, a coffee table, a night table and a linen closet......and my shorts drying in the sun.

Mexican Ikea

But....I couldn't help myself, I have ordered a chair like this, it will be delivered on Sunday, right from Concordia where they make these. Seldom have I gone into a Mexican home that doesn't have one of these, usually it;s on the front porch or deck. 1600 peso delivered.....I couldn't afford not to...hahah.

That's all for today, now I must go paint, I am painting the interior of the house this afternoon....whhaaaa! Wanna see my sore toe!?