Week 45

Crazy doesn't even begin to describe this past month. Once we knew we could go to the U.S. for our daughter's wedding -- and that we'd be leaving in November -- things really kicked into high gear. We had to button up all the projects we'd started in Sta. Rosa and get it ready for the folks who'll be using it the next few months (summer break is coming up -- vacation time!) as well as wrap up things here at home. Which means I've been on a cleaning/organizing frenzy -- here and there.

On top of everything else, we've been trying to finalize the purchase of the lot. You remember the lot with the tiny casita? We found it the end of June and I mentioned it for the first time on this blog in early July. The lot we've been trying to buy FOR OVER FOUR MONTHS?

The first six weeks was spent thoroughly checking into the matter, because the lot owner is not the deed holder and there are also a lot of taxes due... and ever since we've been trying to get the money here. Some day I'll write a longer post about the whole Ordeal (yes, I meant to capitalize Ordeal) but suffice it to say, our hair is significantly grayer than when we started this process.

Anyway... it looks like it might actually happen! Not holding our breath, because we've been told multiples times that there was "just one more thing" we needed to do... but as of late Friday afternoon, according to the guy at the bank headquarters in Buenos Aires, Ivan just has to fill out some final papers Monday morning and they'll let us keep the money here that we had wire transferred last week.

This literally consumed our week. I hate to even think about all the man hours Ivan has put into this over the past four months -- if we had a nickel for every hour, we'd probably be able to go ahead and build that house right away :)

All this to say, I haven't done the best job at taking a-photo-a-day. Yet I still have eight photos to share this week, because I feel compelled to show you several pictures of my yard. IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY. I do adore spring!

But first up is a shot of our guest room because I realized I had never shared how well the little blue nightstand goes in there.

This room is so small there was no way I could get a full shot of the room. We can literally fit nothing else in here besides the bed and nightstand and no matter where I stood in the room, I couldn't get more than this (I even tried standing on a chair in the doorway).

We spent a few days in Sta. Rosa this week on last minute projects. Which had to get sandwiched between all the phone calls to the bank and time spent running into town to a cafe with wifi so we could send e-mails to the bank. *sigh* But I had to snap a photo of the grape arbor; we're going to come back to a TON of grapes! I wish I could get my hands on some canning jars so I could make jelly!

We did manage one quick walk down to the river, where we saw this huge tree trunk washed up on the side of the vado:

Ivan wanted to install a new ceiling fan/light fixture in the dining room because the old one had broken. The light worked but the fan didn't any more. The job was a head scratcher as he could not figure out how they'd done the wiring (which was concealed in a beam in the ceiling) so he ended up working around it and making a trip (or three) to his favorite ferreteria (hardware store).

I think he feels about this place like I do a fabric store :)

As we were leaving Sta. Rosa on Wednesday, we got a call that the bank required yet another document. It was one we needed to get from the U.S. so we stopped at our favorite tea shop on the way; normally it has wifi but the system was down that afternoon. We stayed long enough to get a little something to drink. Ivan quite enjoyed his fresh manzana menta smoothie (mint apple).

It was pretty hot that day and he found it quite refreshing. I loved the color.

Ivan planted squash in the front yard, under the azalea bush. It is going CRAZY! I think it might overtake the geranium plant in size soon. Look at how huge it is!

And it's loaded with blossoms so we should come home to a nice crop of squash.

Here's one of the honeysuckle climbers. It's right by our front door and the smell is wonderful. We have another climber on the fence.

Next week I'll be posting from the U.S.! And I'm sure I'll be late because next Sunday some dear friends are hosting a bridal shower for Tina and a time of blessing for Kyle. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

The airline we're flying domestically here in Argentina had a pilots strike on Thursday. Hopefully they won't decide to have another on Tuesday! Also, for the whole month of November they've closed the airport in Buenos Aires that we'd normally fly into from Cordoba... but it actually works better for us because now we'll fly into the airport we also fly out of to the U.S.! WOOT! No need to haul our luggage across town from one airport to the other. 

I haven't had much time on the computer lately, and that's about to become even less as we'll want to spend every moment we can with friends and family. What do you want to bet that the next six weeks are going to FLY by?!