Day 238

I woke up early this morning, and got ready for the lady that wants the quilt to be made to come over. Thankfully she chose an easy design, the same as first quilt I had made. Then we discussed colors, and she wants red,orange and yellow, all colors I don't use much, and she wants a white back ground. 

I looked up some fabric and we put in an order... The fabric will be at my parents house when I arrive!

Mr's sleeping place of the day

And I worked on my ancestry, I have over 1500 people in my family tree now, and I know there are more that I don't have, Josh's side is all a bit sketchy. I really don't have many of them at all.

And there were two more born this week that I added to my family tree, two of my cousins had babies...

But I'm really to a point for the most part I need a subscription to ancestry, I think I will ask my mother in law for one for Christmas :)

And I made this leather braclet, thank you Pinterest, now to get the snaps put on and teach my friends how to make one :)

Day 237

I was too excited at how close I was to finishing my quilt, so I did my morning chores really quick, and before I ironed I sewed the front of the binding on, I used the same scallop type pattern I quilted with.

And I tossed it in the wash before I did the ironing, 

I was so excited when it came out.

This is my second quilt finish is year, and it's only July

No sooner had I posted this on Facebook, like I said I was pretty excited, did I get a message someone wanted me to make them a quilt, a king sized quilt! I've never made a quilt and been paid for it before, I'm nervous and excited...

Mr has been finding some interesting places to sleep.

He slept under the guest bathroom sink today...

And I started a new book, I'm already 8 chapters in, it's a much lighter read than my last.

Day 236

Today after getting my chores done, I worked on my quilt, 

I finished quilting, my rainbow quilt and attached the binding on the back.

Day 235

Today was clean up day,

Mr. Spent most of his day outside

He is convinced that he can catch the birds in the bushes, but he won't leave the cement steps, so probably not...

And I squeezed all of our left over limes, about a quart of lime juice!

Limonanda here I come

Day 234

Today is the day of our BBQ

We invited Josh's staff and their families over for a BBQ.

A Traditional Mexican BBQ.

So Josh put in an order with a company for the food we would need. They supply everything from The meat to the limes and tortillas. We had to buy tortilla chips and drinks.

First course, Green onions, they let them grow until there is an onion on the bottom, not just a straight stalk, and then they wrap the onion bulb in tin foil and cook, they eat the white part, not the green part.

and Sausage.

Josh also convinced one of the guys to cook, and he slacked off... Management at its best.

meanwhile the kids played in the pool

second course was stuffed peppers and quesadillas.

and the third course was arrachera steak, it was really good!

We had so much food that we didnt even cook! 7 steaks, 1 package of sausage, tortillas, potatoes, some onions, tons of guacamole left over! we could have had 2 bbqs.

Josh and his staff, there are two that did not come.

Josh enjoyed his time at the BBQ, but for the most part I was ignored except for a couple of the women who were really nice to me. Maybe more time here and they will speak to me, I understand its easier to speak your native language, and some of the wives don't really speak english much at all, so it makes it hard.

Day 233

We got up early to get a few chores done, 

Mr was not thrilled about leaving.

After we bought stuff for our party, I convinced Josh we needed a pan from the fair, and we headed over there, they are not open in the evenings we found out.

Being at the fair was nice, this week is the fair in my home town too, I wish I could go, I miss it. And I miss the chance to see my nieces show their cows in 4-h

This was a neat ride at the fair.

We didn't ride any rides because well fairs in the U.S. Are a little sketchy now imagine the safety standards in Mexico, there probably aren't any. And the other day 11 people were hurt in an accident on one of the rides, apparently 4 are still in the hospital.

They had cows, sheep, donkeys, 

And this ostrich who was catching flies.

And these two giant Bulls

And I bought these two dishes at the fair.

You shouldn't cook or put acidic things into these because the clay they are made with had lead in them, and it will leach out into your food and then you get lead poisoning, but these are the traditional dishes the people here use.

Days 231 and 232

Thursday was less than exciting, with ironing and cleaning, I didn't get much else in. I didn't even really work on my ancestry Thursday.

I did enter that my cousin had a baby though.

On Friday I dropped Josh off at work and headed home. I showered and headed out to meet up with some friends. After a bit I decided to go home, because I started to not feel well. I have been having a stuffy nose with the in and out of air conditioning here. So whe. I got home I couldn't stop sneezing, my eyes were puffy I couldn't breath, so I laid down and passed out for 3 hours! Then Josh texted me they were having some trouble at the plant and he would let me know when to pick him up... 10pm rolls around and I finally get the text! What a long day at work for him! At least 14 hours.

Since I wasn't feeling well earlier I didn't hit up the grocery store so we had nothing for dinner, so we had to head out. The restaurant was air conditioned of course, I couldn't stop sneezing and I couldn't breath... It was a terrible dinner. As soon as we walked outside I could breath again. How do I fix this??? I felt like crap again by the time we got home so I told josh there was no way I could sleep in an air conditioned room, and it's been 70s at night, so it's not exactly cool in our house...

Ah, tomorrow is another day :)

Day 230

The day had a harrowing start.

I came downstairs into the kitchen to find a cockroach dead near our water cabinet. Josh had found one a couple weeks ago dead behind our closet door. So I grabbed my breakfast and decided to clean up the bug after breakfast, that's when I saw its little antennas moving, NOT DEAD!!!!

So I grabbed the fly swatter and an empty box and planned to sweep him into the box and then dump him in the toilet and flush... Nothing went as planned. He grabbed on for dear life to the fly shatter and it took me a second to see that he wasn't in the box, so I shook him off the fly swatter when he proceeded to try to run under the cupboards and I had to sweep him out and he was skittering towards me!!!! I did a little hoppy dance and swatted him good with the fly swatter, thankfully this stunned him enough to let me sweep him into the box, and flush him down the toilet! YIKES! 

Cockroaches are a normal thing here, this does not mean I live in squalor...and since my doors don't seal I, sure they walk right in, ugh, I hope I don't see another one...

The rest of the day was uneventful as I steam mopped the kitchen and finished Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, finally! It was long and arduous in the middle but I'm glad I finished it.

Josh had dinner out with some supoliers so I stayed home and made pizza.

Day 229

Since we are having that party this weekend, I had to finish up the laundry, then I scrubbed down the stove, and counters, did some dishes, and vacuumed and bleach mopped the kitchen floor. Tomorrow, steam mopping! Yey!

Then I vegged out a bit and watched teen mom oh, which I was pretty excited to find on mtv Latin America! And I got back into sewing.

Only 4 more rows left and I'll be done quilting!!! I'm hoping to finish before my next trip home.

My marking pencils are down below 2 inches! And the blue one keeps breaking its lead, probably because it's been dropped so many times!  These are on my list to buy next time I'm home.

When Josh came home we headed to the gym, it was really good to get back at it.

Then we made dinner. Josh as been hitting up the grocery store on his way home, yesterday I gave him the list for 2 dinners, he forgot the chicken for one, and he forgot kitty litter, so we made the other, then today he goes back to the grocery store, gets the wrong chicken, but chicken none the less, and kitty litter, but forgot kleenexes :( lol.

But we made ranch bacon chicken roll ups,moot as healthy as yesterday's dinner. They were ok

But not super tasty... So to the not that delicious pintrest board they go.

Days 227 & 228

Sunday I convinced Josh to head to a local market because I was hoping to find a big copper bin, I want to use it for a party we are hosting next week. I want to put ice in it and keep things like salsa and guacamole cold in the 90 degree heat. We didn't find one. So this week I have to head downtown at some point to buy one, I know they have them there... I hope they are a decent price.

Then for the rest of the day we just hung out, it's been hot.

On Monday I thought Joshnwas switching to his 11 hour days (which would be the same as normal, but I would get him home for 1/2 a day Friday!) but apparently they don't start until next week... Sigh

But I chugged along on my work at home and then we made the first recipe we've ever made with quinoa. 

It was a casserole, and pretty good... I forgot to tell Josh to pick up frozen corn on the way home, so I happened to have mixed bag of frozen veggies, so I picked out 1/2 a cup of corn out of there :( now I have a bag of just peas and carrots lol...

But the rest of the prep went well.

And we topped it with avocado and tomatoes, it was good, it felt like it was missing a little something, but not bad. I did put it in my not that delicious pintrest board because it was just ok, not amazing.

Day 226

Josh worked in the morning then we did a few chores and hung out by the pool

It's been hot here!over 90 for over a week.

Then I had to get ready for what I thought was going to be a bachelorette party, turns out it was a bridal shower, which is fine, I had an appropriate gift after I had been warned by some of the other expats what it would be like. It was for a German girl in my expat group who is marrying (but already married to at the same time...) to a Mexican man. They were married in Germany but in September they are having a church wedding here. Anyway, I was the only one that bought a gift, here it's so weird, everyone only brings gift cards, to EVERYTHING, I can't get used to it...

It was also in the evening, 6-10pm! Which is later than out bridal showers, and they served a full dinner. They had a wedding singer...

It was ridiculously loud! For a tiny room, and we played bridal bingo in Spanish, some of the women at my table helped me out since some of the things were being said so fast, but it helped me practice my Spanish so it was fun!

I am very thankful for the one woman that spoke to me, since the rest of the table ignored me. And I was bored out of my mind until she moved from the other side of the table to sit next to me. And we worked on my Spanish and she spoke good English, it was nice.

Day 225

Today I was going to meet up with some friends and I was getting dressed and it's been in the 90s here, so I wanted to wear shorts and a sleeveless top, I couldn't find one I had that I loved to go with my old lady peach shorts and then I pulled this lovely item from the archives.

Please ignore the towel, this stripped Jean sleeveless top I swear was my sisters, she disagrees, either way it's from the 90s, proof was the slits on the side went way above my belly button... This was not going to work, so I quickly ran downstairs, changed out my thread and zigzagged the slit together to have a nice wapearable top 20 years later...

This is why I keep everything that still fits regardless if it's still in fashion or not... And I'm thankful for the most part I can still fit in clothes I had in high school or before :)

We also made cheddar chicken, it was really good, but we forgot to make the sauce that went over it... Oops...

No we didn't eat just chicken.

And Mr. says hi

Days 223 & 224

We had our Spanish test spread over two days, so after finishing up my chores both days I procrastinated on studying and then finally actually studied...

Over all I got an 86% and Josh got an 88% :( I'm sad he did Better then me because I got an 82 on the written portion and he got a 77%! Oh well, we both passed, and we start session 3 on Tuesday next week. And they told us again that our teacher would be leaving in he middle of next month, so we will have to get another teacher... Sigh let's hope it's a smoother transition than this last teacher switch...

Also I had a sad day yesterday, I had an app that I tracked stuff in, and I updated it and it lost all of my data! Sigh, oh well... Time to start over I guess.

Day 222

More laundry and cleaning, today I scrubbed the 1/2 bath down stairs, and did some dishes.

My rubber gloves need to be replaced, I don't know what got on them, but they are melted together...

I also procrastinated on studying my Spanish! Eek, I'm terrible! No motivation. And terrible study habits, I never learned to study because High school was so easy it was not instilled in me...

Josh came home with a terrible headache, so we didn't do much then he headed to bed early, and I watched a terrible movie lol...

Days 220 and 221

Josh went to work for the third weekend on a row... And I hung out at home, when Josh got back we did some yard work, killed some weeds, mowed the grass, cleaned the pool, then hung out by the pool. 

We made burritos for dinner, but I was so unenthused I didn't even take a picture, they weren't that great, and with the lime juice I. Them they tasted weird as leftovers.

On Sunday I slept in way too late,then we studied Spanish... 

We hope we are comfortable with it... I want to pass the test. 

We grilled out for dinner and really spent the whole day at home it was fabulous. Buy HOT, we have had to turn the air conditioning on at night.

Day 219

What a relaxing day!

I got invited to a bachelorette party, what is a Mexican bachelorette party like? I don't know, but we shall soon find out!

I went to coffee, and hung out poolside with Mr meow.

Who has taken to playing with the bugs that land in to pool, we are still waiting for him to fall in... I hope he knows how to swim!

Then I went grocery shopping, and we had a relaxing evening at home. :) it was a beautiful day!

Day 218

Today I was brave enough to drive downtown on my own.

This is brave, because there is traffic, I hate traffic. There are mazes of one way streets and Mexican driving. I get lost easily.

I drove downtown to meet up with a friend for lunch, she has two little kids and doesn't get yo venture out much. It was super nice to see her and to expand my driving area :)

I'm fairly proud of myself.

This is the road sign... Imagine trying to read that from across the intersection :)

No wonder I get lost :)

I didn't actually get lost at all thanks to great directions, and GPS :)

Then in the afternoon, I found this guy

Actually sleeping on Josh's clothes for once!!!

Day 217

I had planned to read 20 books this year, I've been reading the same book since Easter! I'm not sure I'll get all 20 books in! 

But I read a few pages today :) after chatting with my parents and ironing and doing a few other things around the house. Maybe next week I'll finish! Less than 100 pages to go!

Day 216

After finishing up my chores, I got to sewing, I've been looking forward to getting back at this all week!

I pulled out my quilt and drew on some scallops and got to work.

I sewed 9 more rows and am almost 1/2 way done! Another good 2 weeks and I'll be done quilting! This is taking a lot longer than any other quilt I've quilted, but I'm happy with the way it's turning out!

By the time I got to the 4th or 5th row of the day things were smoothing out and I had a ton less jumps and less waves as well :)

Day 215

Cleaning up after the weekend and of course laundry filled my day :) 

Day 214

After sleeping at the ranch we woke up to the birds loudly and slightly annoyingly singing in the trees, we slept in our tent, since the ranch house was full, but it was a really good sleep!

We had a delicious breakfast of waffles, bacon, and fruit!

Then we headed out for another ride...

Zebras

Mountain Goats

cows

And beautiful views were all things we took in on our ride

Until next time ranch... until next time.

Day 213

Happy 4th of July!

That means nothing here in Mexico.

But we have some U.S. Friends , so we planned to get together with them.

Josh went to work in the morning, and I baked cookies for the weekend.

Then we headed out to our friends Ranch, they have zebras! They were circus zebras, so we were hoping to pet them,  it they had a bad ranch hand that had been abusing them, so sadly no luck! But we did get some pictures.

We grilled out and had a camp fire, it was a good time.

Days 211 & 212

I was feeling exceptionally unmotivated, and kind of crappy so I didn't do much.

But we finally have a permanent Spanish teacher, we had her as a sub before, and she it kind of hard to understand,but I think we can make it work, we shall see.

Day 210

So I headed downtown with a new lady that came a couple of weeks ago.

We shopped around and I finally found a spoon!

I am so happy, I have been looking for one since I moved here! I was beginning to wonder if I would find one. While on vacation the National Park no longer carries them, so I had to switch, I chose pins if they don't have spoons, but I have literally been collecting these since I was born of every place I go!!! So I was sad they don't carry them any more.

And the lady I was with had to use the restroom whole we were at the market.

After she went in I realized that you are supposed to pay 3 pesos to use the bathroom and get your toilet paper. She thankfully carries some in her purse, always a good idea! I always try to avoid going to the bathroom in unknown places :) so I was all set too :)

Days 208 & 209

Back at the laundry, and I cleaned my sewing room, so I could get back at sewing!

I had been thinking hard about how to quilt my rainbow swap quilt, and for some reason I chose arches, because I'm keeping this quilt it doesn't have to be perfect, and I wanted to try to expand and do something other than straight lines, and I'm not quite ready to do free motion quilting, I want to try that first on a smaller project.

So I laid out my quilt and traced half of my embroidery hoop in a couple rows across my quilt and got to work.

I got stabbed a few times by pins, and made it through 4 rows of arches before Josh came home and we had to head to Spanish class

Some of them have a few flat spots or jumps, but I'm improving, and happy to try something new.

We still don't have a new Spanish teacher yet. So we had another fill in that we again felt like we learned nothing,so frustrating!

Day 207

Today we stayed close to home and did some chores around the house,

Josh mowed the lawn, and we cleaned the pool

and Mr. Meow caught a grasshopper

and right after he caught it he took it in the house to play with it... Thanks Mr.

He was pretty proud of himself!

Days 205 & 206

Thursday was spent catching up and doing stuff around the house and making our first appearance back at Spanish class. They for some reason they thought we weren't coming and didn't have a teacher so the director's assistant taught us, and we felt like we learned nothing, it sucked.

Friday I hung out with some friends, went grocery shopping and picked up some Ball supplies and I am so happy!  A lot of the spices here come in bags, so the fact that they had little spice jars was amazing!

and these great infuser things that we can make cucumber water, which Josh is now in love with.

and I made another version of the mexican pizza, I did not like this recipe as well as the last one we made.

and I have a hard time finishing mild salsa here, everything is medium or hot! which medium here is super HOT!