Saturday 8/1- In the last blog Ramie helped me cut the fabric and foam for the next round of dog beds that I would be making, so today I decided that since I didn’t have any other plans, I would work on sewing the covers. I have to say, I pretty much have this down to a science now and it only took me a little over an hour to complete all 3 covers. I’m pretty sure the first ones I made took half a day just to do one! Once I had these done, Ramie was in charge of getting the foam stuffed into the covers and posting them out on the local Facebook groups to sell them.
This afternoon Val and Marshall invited us to their house for afternoon drinks and linner. We also got to meet one of their new neighbors, Laura, who was also invited to hang out. For linner Val made chicken tacos, which were delicious as always. After linner we played a few rounds of Left, Right, Center and just chatted the evening away. This was really our first time hanging out with them since our Bocas vacation. Life had just gotten too busy and so many other things got in the way from happening sooner.
Sunday 8/2- We decided that today was a good day to try to get things organized. A few months ago we bought a smaller travel kennel for Skye since the XL one that Breeze came down in would be way to big for her, and this smaller one has been in the living room so Skye could get used to it before she needs to use it. As we’ve mentioned may times before, she is a very nervous dog and doesn’t like new things, so having this thing in the house scared her to start with. She would avoid walking near it, and god forbid go into it. Eventually, by putting her favorite toy increasingly closer to the kennel, and then inside the kennel, we were able to get her more comfortable with it. She would go into the kennel on her own to get her toys, and sometimes she would just walk into it for no particular reason. Now that she was used to it, there was no need to have it taking up space in the living room any more so Ramie took it apart and put it in the dry room for storage until it would be needed.
Before we could put anything new in the dry room though, we had to make space. Since Dusti has sold, we had to get all of her spare parts out of storage to send with the new owner. Our extra long-term, hard to get at storage is above the hall in between our bedroom and bathroom, so Ramie crawled up there and handed down stuff that we needed. Since he was up there now, he might as well send our suit cases down as well. He reorganized what was left up there to make more space, and when he was ready, I passed the kennel and everything else that had to be put in long-term storage up to him.
After we had everything put away, it was time to start packing for Minnesota. Usually our suitcases go to MN pretty empty and then come back here very full. This time would be the opposite because our plan is to bring back the stuff that we don't need here in Costa Rica. Since we will eventually be moving back to the US, now is the time to start bringing things back to make it easier on us in the end when it’s time for the rest to go back. The worst part of this is all of the clothes. I didn't realize just how much clothing I have accumulated by bringing more back every trip prior. Clothes that I thought I would need for work trips, vacations, and just to replace other clothes that wore out have accumulated.
We now have 2 suitcases full of clothes that are going back to Minnesota. Yes, the majority of them are my clothes, but Ramie does have some as well. We are bringing back so many clothes that we were almost able to clear out an entire storage bin, which will come in handy for other things we will eventually have to ship back. This whole process took the majority of the day, but we have a good handle on it now. The rest of the packing will wait until we are closer to heading back up north at the end of the month.
One other thing we decided to try was to put away Skye’s massive wire dog kennel that she sleeps in. This kennel is always set up in our bedroom and it is where she starts off sleeping for the night. She is very good about going into it and waiting for her nightly bedtime treat, and then we usually make her sleep in there for at least half of the night before one of us lets her out and she gets to sleep at the foot of the bed snuggling with us the rest of the night. We’ll see how letting her sleep up on the bed the entire night goes…
Monday 8/3- Ramie spent about half of today cleaning for tomorrow's showing of the house. Some of the biggest things on the list of things to clean are the windows and screens. For him, this is the worst part.
Then we do the regular things like sweeping, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms and dusting. Since I’m working, a lot of this falls on him, but he doesn’t mind.
Tuesday 8/4- Our showing is scheduled for 9:30, but of course we need to leave the house before they arrive. I worked until about 8:30, then did some final cleaning touch-ups and a quick sweep, while Ramie loaded the truck with all of the things that “don't have a home” to hide them; things like the dog beds, dirty clothes hamper, dish rack, etc.. When we had everything loaded up Ramie locked up the truck and we walked next door to hang out at the empty Airbnb while the showing happened.
The people looking at our house only spent about 15 minutes walking through it. Ramie and I talked about how quickly people look at houses here, and we don't remember ever looking at one that quickly when we were looking for our house in MN! I’m pretty sure that we always spent time looking at every room and getting a feel for the house. Well, we shall wait and see what the realtor has to say about these people when he gets the feedback.
At 2pm we also had a meeting with our insurance agent regarding our health insurance. We had submitted quite a few receipts for some recent issues, and it didn't seem like they were covering any of it so we wanted things explained to us. We switched insurance companies a few months ago and the way this one operates compared to our prior one is completely different, so we need to get a better understanding of things.
Around 9pm Ramie had to get dressed and head to the beach for a turtle walk, which ended up just being another walk on the beach. He was home around 11pm, quickly showered and tried to get to sleep since he had to get up early tomorrow.
Wednesday 8/5- Fortunately, Ramie said he got a decent sleep! He was up a little before 5am, got dressed, grabbed a change of clothes and some snacks and coffee, and headed out the door by 5:20am to meet Randall at the warehouse. Randall and Ramie had to drive to Atenas, which is up by San Jose, to unload a truck full of stuff at a client's house, and had to be there by 9am. The drive was going quickly and they were hungry so they stopped for breakfast about an hour and a half away from their destination.
With their bellies full, they hit the road and arrived at the clients house right around 9:00. The truck driver and another helper were already in the process of unloading all of the belongings. Randall and Ramie’s job was to move everything from where they unloaded it from the truck into the house to the rooms that the clients wanted it. They were older people and this would have been way too much work for them to do on their own!
Bin by bin they moved everything to the designated areas where it belonged. Eventually, they got to the furniture and had to move those bigger items into the appropriate rooms as well. Once everything was placed, Ramie & Randall also had to assemble the bed and help put together a few other pieces.
The client had 2 Australian Shepard's (not included in the shipment, hahaha) and if you know Ramie well, you know that he is a dog person! He had a great time playing and giving scratches to the dogs in between moving things. Once everything was completed and the client was happy with the placement of everything, the guys loaded up all of the moving blankets, tarps, tools, carts, etc. and hit the road back to Uvita. All went well and Ramie got home around 3pm which was a pretty decent day. I made him a quick dinner while he showered and it was an early to bed night for him.
Thursday 8/4- Finally! We finally got the last piece of the puzzle for the Dusti situation. Randall had to go to San Isidro this morning and he stopped to pick up the new license plates to close this whole paperwork fiasco that we've been talking about in the last few blog posts. Now we just wait for the final payment from Graham to clear, and Dusti can go to her new home.
Saturday 8/8-
Today the payment cleared for Dusti, but she won't be going to her new home until later this week because Graham is out of the country at the moment.
So, what did I do for my birthday? If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you’ll know that neither Ramie nor I do much of anything for our birthdays, and for me, my usual request is a massage and not having to cook dinner. The massage was scheduled for later this morning, so until that time, I decided try to relax in the sun for a little while. Of course, as soon as I got out there the clouds rolled in. I was in relax mode and laid out there anyway while the sun would come and go . It was still nice!
At 11:30 Yendry arrived at the house. Since Ramie learned that he liked massages so much last year for my birthday, we would both be getting one today, but I got to go first. While we only scheduled 1 hour massages for each of us, Yendry went a little long on mine and I got a wonderful nearly 90 minute massage. When mine was finished, it was Ramie’s turn. Skye is always so funny during the massages. She is so curious about what is going on, but she is very well behaved. She will come check things out and bump into your hands when they are hanging down from the table.
When Yendry was finished we helped her pack up and had the rest of the afternoon with no plans until dinner.
We decided to grab some pre-dinner drinks and maybe an app at Aracari, which is a restaurant with an amazing view of the ocean, but honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed any of the food at this place, and frankly, the drinks are stupid expensive; we really only come here for the view and atmosphere. When we first arrived we were the only ones there, but as it got closer to the sun setting, more and more people arrived. This was our queue to leave and head to the restaurant where we planned to have dinner.
 |
| Ramie has great selfie skills! lol |
We went to another restaurant that also has a beautiful ocean view, a place we’ve been to plenty of times before but had recently been taken over by new owners and completely remodeled. We drove the short distance there, but when we pulled into the parking lot it was absolutely packed! Well, I guess stopping for pre-dinner drinks was a bad idea, since I’m sure earlier this place was empty just like Aracari was when we got there. We should have just come here first. Our plan had been to come here to finish watching the sunset and give the new restaurant a try. Instead of trying to fit the truck into a tiny parking spot and deal with a restaurant full of people we decided to forgo the sunset and head to our trusty “backup” in Ojochal. We can never go wrong with Los Gatos Locos! We arrived there and chatted with the owners, Steve and Kerry, before heading upstairs for dinner. I had my favorite dish, the nachos, which are the best I’ve ever had in Costa Rica. Ramie had a Taco/Burrito platter that tends to be one of his go-to meals as well. There was also some music going on tonight, but one thing we appreciated about it was that it wasn’t so loud you couldn't talk to each other. Steve got the volume right on this, more restaurants with live music should take note here!!
We were eventually ready to head home, but not before chatting with Steve and Kerry again on the way out. When we got home we had a little bit of time to watch some TV and give Skye some puppy time before going to bed. It was a nice chill birthday, just like I like.
Sunday 8/9- Today was another relaxing Sunday around our house. Nothing exciting at all to write about, just the typical blog work, pool time, starting on a new fake Lego mini-brick build, some video games, and we did some grilling. A perfect extension to the birthday weekend!
Monday 8/10- Ramie spent some time cutting the grass and making the yard look so nice while I was back at my desk! He also had to repot some flowers that were root bound and took care of many other little odds and ends around the yard.
Tuesday 8/11- Today it was time to say good bye to Dusti.
Graham came to pick her up around 2pm. Ramie talked to him about some of the important things to know about her like what type of gas to use, air pressure in the tires, how to adjust the shocks, etc. Eventually once they had gone through all of that, Graham pulled out of our driveway and that was the end of our chapter with her. It’s sad, but not nearly as sad as when we sold Grimace. For those of you who haven’t heard that name before, Grimace was our classic car that we restored together and sold before moving to Costa Rica.
Wednesday 8/12- This has been a very slow start to turtle season, much slower than last year, but this morning Ramie and his team found a turtle nest on the beach. It was time for a little bit of turtle excitement! In the afternoon he had a dentist appointment to have some new retainers made. His current ones are 5-6 years old and he actually broke the one of them a couple days ago. Thankfully he had a spare, but it made us decide that it would be a good idea to have another set of backups made now, especially since they are significantly cheaper here than having them made in the US.
His appointment was at 3:30 so I went with him, because afterwards we were going to Wine Wednesday with Val and Marshall at Mosaic. It’s been a while since they have been there, and even longer since we have been. It was a nice evening of dinner and chatting, and of course we were home with enough time to watch some Netflix. I will say, I do like when “going out” doesn’t mean staying out late. I like being back home for my relax time and early bed time! 😉
Thursday 8/13- Today Ramie’s agenda was working with a contractor to install some gate keypads at the Airbnb next door. After all of these years of having to be home (or plan well ahead if we wouldn’t be home) to have the gate and house open for incoming guests next door, it is now being set up so that guests can open/close the gate at check-in without anyone else being here. This will allow a lot more accessibility for everyone, including Frank and Rose when they come visit. Ramie was in charge of coordinating the gate codes, figuring out the phone app, and setting up access. The phone app is one of the best features, because guests can be pre-scheduled for their stay and use a link in the app to open/close the gate instead of having a clicker. This is perfect for an airbnb, because after the guest checks out, the user-specific link is de-activated and they no longer have access to the house. This is better than just giving out a code to everyone and will save from having to change the keypad code every so often. There’s definitely something to be said about making the Airbnb experience more convenient for everyone involved!
Pura Vida!
Comments
Post a Comment