Day 76

The workers came back and Yey! The heaters are finally fixed!

I also popped dinner in the crockpot. Honey garlic chicken.

I had most of the ingredients, and when I showed Josh what was for dinner when he got home he asked me if it was the same ing I made on day 63 (I wish I knew how to add links on my iPad...)

I said, close, it's Asian chicken of some kind over something.

Now, last week with the pork chops I made 4lbs of potatoes, obviously we had some left over because unlike my uncles we can not eat 2lbs of potatoes at each meal...

So we ate our garlic chicken over potatoes, and it was good!

This recipe used garlic cloves, which if you recall I peeled and put in olive oil and put in the freezer yesterday...

Yeah, that sucked... They were encased in what looked like a butter block, I had to soak the jar in hot water until there was enough oil melted to chip out some garlic cloves. I needed 3.

And they were a little squishy... Not like when they are fresh... So this time I put them in the fridge... We shall see how it turns out...

Josh brought this home, it's a mexican cook book in Spanish, one of his co-workers aunt's wrote it and gave Josh a copy... Maybe my spanish will improve enough to cook from it sometime in the next 5 years...

I also made some progress reading, the book is still interesting,  but I'm wondering if it's based on a biography written in the 1870s, because it keeps talking about stuff like it is, it's confusing, but good.

Day 75

Well, the guys came over to cut down a tree, and to fix the mini-splits,

And I found out that a plug was not working.

But I did get in the cleaning of the living room, sewing room, and entryway were dusted, and vaccumed.

Then I cleaned and stored some garlic cloves

I put them in olive oil, and put them in the freezer

Then I worked on some sewing

Finished embroidering the last block, then I took a nap while the Internet was down, then when Josh got home we headed to Spanish.

I wanted to work on my BOM but my internet was down so I could not get the pictures from the Internet!!!!!

Day 74

Monday Monday,

Which brings laundry, a little bit of ironing, a trip to a new pet store,  and dinner with a co-worker, which was great.

But honestly not much to write home about...

Day 73

We were out late, and we are old.

Then we studied some spanish, and cleaned the pool, some serious cleaning, I scrubbed the pool ladder while Josh scrubbed the pool... Until he fell in lol... Thankfully he is ok.

Then we hung out, ran to the gym, and made dinner.

We made a hot Italian sub.

It looked really good.

It was ok. Not that tasty.

My first quinceanera

We were invited to a quinceanera!

It finally came!

The actual party started at 9pm, 9pm!

About 10pm the girl came in with her parents

Then there was a father daughter dance

Followed by a dance of roses, where 12 boys/men danced with her each giving her a rose

Then dinner

They served a full dinner, soup, chicken, noodles, potatoes, bread, oddly no cake...

Followed by a couple more dances, where the girl shortened her dress

They even hired some boys to do some backstreet boys dancing and did two dances with the girl

There was a presentation of presents, only a couple presents because money was requested, they don't do cards, so just envelopes of money with no names on the envelope, just cash inside.

A slide show of the girls life so far,

Then another father-daughter dance where he presents her with a doll, her "last doll" because she's all grown up now.

And finish the evening with dancing...

There were jokers on stilts too...

It was essentially a masquerade themed birthday party that was almost like a wedding... 

Day 72

We decided to head downtown and do a little sight seeing, and test out the drive before Josh's mom gets here so we have some places to take her.

Beautiful carving work

This is the tile the downtown sidewalks are made of

Some beautiful iron work

And parks

Check out that tile work that is classic mexico

A tile floor in an antique shop we went in

And then there is this... Dirt cemented over so it won't erode.

Day 72

What a busy day!

I woke up early to drive Josh to work, he had to be to work before 6am!

Came home and tried to sleep a bit more before I picked up a friend to go to Sam's club with me. Then we dropped our groceries off and went to coffee. But before we went to coffee, I turned on my crockpot! Finally the lime chicken...

I came home and went to the local grocery store to pick up a few things. Then worked on my photobook. I'm done through April of last year I think, I have a couple more things I need to do, like look in my 2014 folder for photos I received, and memrobelia I want to put in, and I don't know if our old computer has pictures on it.

I'm trying to decide if I should get a copy of my pictures printed... Or if I should just save them all on a flash drive and label them... Media just changes so fast... What do you think?

Then dinner!!!

After 8 hours in the crockpot when I went to stir it together the chicken just shredded... We it them on tortillas and added a bit of cheese, green onions and sour cream. They were easy and ok... We are probably going to eat leftovers today... I had a weird taste of tuna salad yesterday when I ate it... I'm not sure if it was the onion... After leftovers I'll decide yes or no on the making again...

Day 71

So I woke up early again.

And waited, and waited for the guy that was supposed to fix the heaters.

11:30 am, I get a call, they aren't going to make it... And want to reschedule for tomorrow, I said, no, I'm busy!

In the meantime, I prepared the chicken lime burrito stuff...

But then, I forgot to put it in... Oops 

So we decided to go to subway for dinner.

Then our last spanish class of the week, only one day was tough this week, I feel a little more confident, and I was able to apply some of my new knowledge while shopping at the grocery store, so that was good.

Update, 

I forgot to mention it was ancestry Thursday!

I did a lot of research trying to find information on this school my Grandpa had told me he went to in a report imhad written sometime between 4th-5th grade I believe... But I couldn't find anything, so it gave up and called Detroit public schools. They had records back to the 30s so they are going to look for me :) yey! I can't wait to find out information on that!

I also added 18 people to my tree to bring it to 1073 people!

Day 70

The workers came back, and replaced the front light, and switch!

Then we went to Spanish class, and the. The grocery store to pick up a few things to make dinner this week.and I thought I'd share something else that we see at the grocery store everyday...

Raw whole fish...sometimes the smell is so overwhelming I have to cover my nose...

Day 69

Josh turned 32 today, can you believe it... 32!!! I honestly don't know where time has gone, I don't feel like we are this old, and I feel like time is flying!!!

So after Josh went to work, I woke up and was eating my breakfast still in my pajamas when the guard called, I didn't answer, because I wasn't expecting anyone,

Then a  minutes later a josh calls, are you home? Yes, I'm home, oh, the repairs we wanted to get done. The workers are at the house to do them... Great, no warning, I have bed head, pajamas on, the bed isn't made, and the shoes on the front rug are a mess... I'm upset, they are literally at my door...

So I ask for 5 minutes, throw the shoes in the closet, toss on some jeans and a sweatshirt, throw the blankets over the bed, and brush my hair. Ugh...

Then I let them in to fix the 6 things on our list.

1. 2 heaters are not working

3. The shower constantly drips, then when you flush the toilet, the shower runs...

4. One of the switches in the living room stopped working

5. The removal of a dead tree

6. The broken front lamp

So they come in, 

 The guy to fix the heaters will be there in a bit

The plumber looks at the shower turns it on and off, then notices the handle is a little loose, tightens it and calls it a day, says if it happens again they will have to replace the whole thing.., I'm not sure he really fixed anything

The electrician comes in and looks at the switch, takes it apart, he needs parts for that.

Looks at the light outside, he will need to get a new one... He will be back later

Oh the guy for the heaters, now he can't come until 9am tomorrow ...

The tree, they are going to have to see what to do about that and get back to us...

They are all out of the house by 10:30

So I do my chores around the house, wait and wait to take a shower... Finally go to take a shower, get a call at 4:00, oh they won't be coming back until tomorrow... 9am

Meanwhile,don't electrocute yourself

Why, because they didn't turn the power off to the switch and left wires hanging out...

While all of this was going on, 

I made ranch pork chops

Which called for a ranch dressing seasoning packet... But I didn't have one, so I used some ranch salad dressing on suggestion of my mom.

And also I made garlic Parmesan mashed potatoes...

I was supposed to roast the garlic in the oven...

So I did...

They look ok when they are done right?

No they were all black and burnt on the inside... So I was able to get like 1.5 of the 6 cloves I was supposed to have...  The potatoes tasted like regular mashed potatoes because of this... Nothing special...

The pork chops were amazing though, we will be making these again...

I also tried my first baking while I have been here, I made Josh a carrot cake from scratch for his birthday, and I didn't change the recipe to account for high elevation, and it seemed to rise and everything ok.., how it tasted I don't know, Josh hasn't even looked at it...

It was a busy day, he came home from work, then in the 30 minutes I saw him, we ate dinner, he opened his present, and as usual there was no emotion, and he said we could eat cake when we got home then we went to spanish class, on the way there he told me they got him two cakes at work... Then after spanish class we went out with some co-workers that were in town from the U.S. And he got a 1/5 of alcohol and a piece of cake for his birthday at the restraunt. We came home and went to bed... No cake...

Happy 32 Josh, I won't be making you a cake next year.

Day 68

The day started off good, a little sleep in, then I got up and hung out with a friend, we went to coffee, checked out a furniture store and then a cleaning supply store.

When I got home, I worked on laundry, I'm still trying to catch up on laundry from Christmas, the cold water stuff that I lay flat to dry has been having a hard time drying in the cold, and I only have so much space to dry it... I did a bit of ironing, and then I cleaned the office, main room upstairs, the guest room, and the stairs.

Josh's mom is coming to visit in a couple weeks, so I layed put the rugs, remade the bed with the new blanket we bought and the new pillow cases. If you remember they gave us regular sized pillow cases for a king sized bed...

Then I set up the alarm clock...

Have you ever seen a plug with no holes? 

Me either...

Let's talk trash

Yes, garbage, you know refuse, the stuff you don't want.

Now in the US usually it comes once a week. How much garbage do you make in one week?

Well, we started to recycle here, so that cuts back on some of it... 

You can recycle plastic, paper and aluminum here. So we mostly have plastic from our water. Since we drink only bottled water. We have a dispenser in the house, but we sometimes need large bottles or jugs for ease of use when filling the coffee pot and etc.

Usually we struggle to get one bag a week full of garbage... A week, so weekly garbage pick up is great, unless you are doing some big project then you wish they came more often... We have no projects here...since we don't own the home...

The garbage here comes three times a week... It seems excessive, I have only been putting garbage out one day a week... Although with out yard waste from Saturday, my curb is piled full today... 

What do you think of when you think typical garbage man? 

I think middle aged, slightly over weight chubby guy hanging off the back of a garbage truck riding from  house to house (this is what I grew up with)

When we lived in NC they had fancy garbage trucks that a little arm reached out and picked up the can and dumped it in the bin, and they went on. There were two men in the truck in case anyone had something additional to the can.

Here, the typical garbage man I see is young and fit, and not lazy, they run around behind the truck, which doesn't stop moving for the most part, it slides through the neighborhood slowly while the two men on the back run for garbage can to truck, dump it in, run back to replace the garbage can and then on the next garbage can... No wonder they are in shape! 8 hours or more of running a day!

Day 67

Although I have been wanting to try out the international church, I haven't yet...

And this Sunday wasn't the day either, we didn't leave the house all day, Josh said his whole body hurt from too much working out...

So we sat on the couch most of the day, then grilled out... It was a nice relaxing day.

We did watch a movie we had been wanting to see... Called the family... It was horrible...

We own it on blue-ray, anyone want it?

Day 66

We did a lot of work outside today,

We finally built our new fire place

Then I trimmed all of the bushes, and Josh trimmed some trees, we had a total of four bags of yard waste!!!!!

Then it was dinner time!

We made cornflake honey mustard chicken.

This is honey mustard sauce with dill, and other ingredients.

The chicken was coated in the honey mustard sauce, then coated in corn flakes, and baked, then when it comes out put some of the sauce on top...

It was dilly... It was ok... I don't think we will make it gain, it wasn't delicious....

Day 65

We finished our first week of spanish class.

The first day was overwhelming, the second day was better, day 3 was hard... I hope some of it is sinking in!!! I'm not sure yet. I don't feel like I can have a real conversation yet... 

I went out to coffee this week, and am excited that I met two great new ladies, I'm really looking forward to hanging out with them!

Then I did a little grocery shopping on my own (I have to prepare for Josh's birthday!)

While I was there i documented some of the unique things I saw

All kinds of flowers, Daisys, dandelions, and some I don't know

Giant cactus leaves

And Palm leaves

Then we went out to dinner with one of Josh's fraternity brothers that is here for two years, I hadn't met him before, because he started college two years after we graduated, but it was really nice to have dinner with him.

Day 63 &64

Wednesday is reading day, so after I finished my chores again, it's time to read!

I started this book.

It's about polygamy in the 1800s and now, and it's fiction, but it's written like its a biography. So it is a little confusing... But so far it's pretty good.

Also I tried out a new Pinterest recipe, 

Honey sesame chicken

Josh cleaned the chicken the night before, then I popped it in the crockpot in the morning with a sauce I made. Cook for 3-4 hours,

Then I had to take the chicken out and shred it.

A and add cornstarch and water to the sauce to thicken it up, but after the 10 minutes in the crock pot to thicken, it didn't.

So I called my mom and asked what to do, and she came through, like she always does, and I had to put it in a pot on the stove, and bring to a boil, add a little more corn starch and it thickened right up.

Served over rice with green onions and sesame seeds on top, it was delicious. This for sure made it on the make again list!

Thursday is ancestry day,

I worked on my ancestry.com tree, I added about 100 people, which is great, I'm fleshing out some of the people, so it's been fun, there are over 1000 people in my family tree now. :)

Day 62

I deemed Tuesday's sewing days, so after I finish my chores of dishes and some left over laundry, and anything else I need to do I take up my time with sewing,

I was able to finish this block.

Day 61

A busy day of laundry and freezing my butt off!!!

I finished this block too :)

Day 60

Two months!

Although spread out, this is really feeling like home.

I still wish I had a car at my disposal, but most days I wouldn't use it anyway.

Josh and I spent most of the day shopping for a few items, one of them, being a tea kettle,they were a lot harder to find a than I thought, finally I settled on a kitchen aid one.

We also looked for some art for the walls, but didn't find anything that wasn't outrageously priced, since we aren't sure if we will be able to take it back to the U.S. Or not.

Also, I can now text two of my nieces, wow they are growing up so fast!

Day 59

Although it is Saturday, Josh had to work all day as a make up for the extra time off at New Years he had to work, sad but true, so I spent another freezing day at home :) I didn't do any house work per say, but I did do some sewing,

I finished this gem, of a square

Day 58

On Friday I went to breakfast with a group of women at a beautiful hotel in downtown.

Then I got my embroidery on, and finished this first block.

Day 57

After ironing all of the clothes I had to for the day, I ironed a few patterns for a baby quilt to be embroidered.

Then I tried the jamberrys I had, I thought they looked like plastic stickers and they had weird creases, I have more to try, hopefully I can improve my skills... I'm not sure I will buy them again.

And I had empendadas for dinner... They were ok...

Days 53- 56

We started a new series called Nashville, so far it's pretty good.

Then two days of laundry, and ironing 

We got invited to our first quinceanera!

Days 49 - 52

Josh had some time off...

So we continued our coach potatoe state, and watched a couple movies, and finished Prison break. It was a good series, season 4 was ok, but I really liked the last two episodes the best.

And Josh showed me how to vaccum the pool, josh figured the pump out better so it actually filters, and then Josh mowed the lawn... Yes. In January :)

we did get out and go shopping, and finally bought some decorations for our house.

I cut the flowers to be the right height... And I'll make a table runner from the fabric I brought down.

What do you think?

Days 47 &48

We found these chairs at SAMs club, and they were just what we were looking for! Now to get a table for them.

Other than that, we voted on the couch and watched Prison Break, the first two seasons were pretty good, the third, was down hill.

And I'm a little sad Wentworth Miller is gay, but that's how it goes right? I'll pretend I don't know :)

Day 45 & 46

Day 45 started out not good, thankfully, I have an amazing husband and he bought me some Gatorade, and mexican saltines.

They are ok...but not as good as US saltines

Then I was feeling better on New Year's Eve! Day 46!

So we tried this drink stuff... We had to add a lot of sugar, and we boiled it in tap water... Yes we drank tap water...

it was a little sugary for us, I think the next time we will add less sugar, but it was good... And we didn't die from the boiled tap water...