Hallelujah

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

They are exactly what I wanted. 

watching paint dry/Venados

Operation refurbish broken table  and chairs is ongoing, it was to be "brother's" job but he suddenly had to have his appendix removed. I am given a list and I head to the mainland. I love Mexico. When I ask the dude at the paint store for paint thinner he asks "how much you want?".  Oh....1/2 a litre I say, he pours 1/2 a litre into an empty coke bottle. I love that you can go to a store and buy 1 pamper, 1 garbage bag, 4 tablets of Imodium, 2 paper clips, 1 needle, 1 egg, 1 cigarette (not that I smoke), as much garden hose as you want (or as little as you want) 1 piece of cake, any length of string/rope that you want, as many or as little staples as you want, 1 envelope.....you get the idea. I think of all the times at home I've bought a box of 100 of something and when time comes to use them (whatever it may be) and it's either expired, gone bad, I can't find it in my shed because I have so much "extra" stuff in there, or now it's one size too small or the wrong color and  I end up going to the store again to buy another box of 100 only to use 2 and store it in my shed again because I will need the other 98 someday. 
This is how we end up owning gi-normous houses with huge garages, huge sheds, and basements and attics full of stuff.....stuff that we have been trained to think we will need some day and we have been lead to believe that ..... get this "it's cheaper". I laugh at myself now, I bought into that too. "It's cheaper"....I laugh. When I get back to Canada I will open up a new store, the opposite of a bulk store....I will call it "Unbulk". I will sell you 4 Imodium tablets (because if you need more than that you have a different problem), I will sell you 2 tooth picks, a cup of paint thinner, 1 sheet of paper, 1 shoelace, 6 red beads, 2 pampers, 1 light bulb,  and 1 white sock...single socks will be a good seller I think. Look out Costco you have been brainwashing people for too long."Unbulk" is where it's at now.

Anyway....that was my little rant there. Back to my table and chairs, turns out watching paint dry is not nearly as fun as watching laundry dry .... I was surprised too. It takes a long time for paint to dry here (the humidity), making this project sloooooow. Then I find out I missed a step, I was supposed to mix the paint thinner with the paint which makes it dry faster. Ops.

Kitchen cupboards have also been painted, ,slooooooowly, and dude was going to come to hang them a week of mananas ago....he'll come, yet. I still owe him some money. ..... I thought that was smart of me to hold back money to insure fast and speedy work, turns out money is not the motivation to work here, yeah....that is a different story, but i have to go and watch the sunrise now. 

watching paint dry, I did not go with doors because I would have wanted glass ones and the running back and forth into the mainland and having the glass guy there work with the carpenter guy here on the Island would have slowed this whole  thing down even more. I can always make cute little curtains if I want too......and who doesn't need another reason to visit the fabric store. Love love love Mexican fabric stores. 

Venados baseball game

The Mazatlan Venados didn't make the playoffs (again) so for the last game of the season they were giving away free bleacher and lateral tickets. The stadium was almost full, they surprised us by winning. It was a fun night. 

Christmas/Birthday party

One of my sisters sons  has a birthday on the 24th, Christmas dinner and birthday dinner is combined, and I am invited to the party on the beach. I ask what time and am told to come whenever I want. I show up at 6, nothing happening, food is still being prepared, hair is being braided, 3 little girls need matching hair bows, big brother is sent to the store to get some, but one is the wrong color, a phone call is made and an auntie shows up with a bow. Tables are swept off and chairs are washed, a stereo arrives on a quad. My Tio is sent to get firewood, Tia arrives with a bag of beef, sister changes her dress twice.....there will be carne asada. Shrimp are being peeled by a pretty girl with the longest prettiest fingernail I ever did saw, how does she do that. I`m sent to the store to get a birthday gift wrapped, you don`t buy wrapping paper, tape and bows here, you go to a papeleria and spend 8-17 pesos to have it wrapped for you. I like this.

Sand is watered down to make a nice dance pad, and to keep the dust down. At 8pm the party officially begins, at 9 the birthday boy shows up. He says he's turning 22, sister says he is 24, grandma says he's 25, a phone calculator says he's 25.  Someone had videotaped Tio`s birthday party (remember the day I arrived) so we gather around a laptop and watch the video, everyone loves seeing themselves on the screen (me not so much). This is technology that has just arrived to the Island and is still very thrilling.

Then Tio and 3 little girls with bows in their hair start the dancing. We all clap and sing along encouraging whoever is on the dance pad as we eat ceviche, shrimp salad, carne asada, rice, beans and snack on pecans, cranberries and dates, I find out that I have never had fresh cranberries, I eat them like a kid that has just discovered candy. One of the little girls sits down to catch her breath and there is an uproar at the tables, she FARTED! ewww! Get away from the table she is told, she protests, but sits in a corner for a bit. (giggling) She returns,  but she still stinks, someone notices her boots, she has stepped in dog poop. All the kids shoes are inspected, her boots are washed and the party goes on again. No Christmas presents were exchanged and I like that.