Barrio Costa Azul Sur

Spring cannot come soon enough! And I think it must be pretty close because the allergies have kicked into high gear, with the sneezing frequent and, at times, violent. We noticed the ground cover ivy has a lot of new leaves, too. Sort of odd to see their bright shiny, brilliant color in contrast to the duller green of the older leaves. Our place is cold all the time, due in large part to the block construction and the fact that this is a walk-out basement apartment. I find myself looking forward to doing dishes because of the HOT water. Which I heat on the little two-burner camp stove while wondering if I can get marshmallows here ‘cause it sure would be nice to toast a few and make some s’mores while I’m at it. Not sure if it’s the camp stove, the tight quarters, or what, but I feel a bit like we’re camping.

Especially when I take a shower in that VERY COLD bathroom. Tiled almost to the ceiling, those ceramic tiles do an amazing job of retaining the cold. And sharing it. This is how I remember showers at Winter Family Camp.

I’m thinking the cold bath will feel quite refreshing come summer.

I should remember that it takes a lot to keep my hubby down. He ventured forth yesterday, hunted down and bagged a wireless router, bringing it back to our “cave” so that we could have FREE WIFI IN OUR VERY OWN APARTMENT. [With the living room ceiling just 5” taller than the hubby, we affectionately call our place the “cave”.]

You know how excited I became when we learned free WiFi was just a block and a half away, so you can imagine how I squealed upon learning we had it right at home :-) And with the wireless connection we can also use our Vonage phone. Which provides an excellent connection, by the way. Thanks, son, for providing this for us!!! We used it to call hubby's mom and dad today to wish them a Happy Anniversary -- their 66th!

Yesterday the hubby learned that because he still has his ID papers from way back when (we won’t say how long ago that was) he may be able to get permanent residency status right away. Before going to Cordoba, though, we had to go to the police station here for a “certificate of domicile” that proves we live in Carlos Paz now. That was accomplished this morning with the help of our co-workers. [Again, what would we do without them?!]

While we were at the police station a friend of our co-workers came in. She is a real estate agent so they talked to her about being on the lookout for a place for us. And we also picked up the weekly paper that came out today, and the hubby is busy searching through the classifieds even as I type.

I may have mentioned how costs have risen quite a bit in the past year and a half. It just hurts to think of spending so much on rent, so we’re looking into the possibility of buying a fixer-upper that’s in good enough shape for us to move in while we work on it. With hubby’s construction and remodeling skills (to say nothing of the fact that we’re having all his tools shipped in the container), we could so totally handle a fixer-upper!

But things will have to fall into place...finding the right house in the right area at the right time, to say nothing of the financing. So will you pray with us that God will make it clear if we are to pursue this idea? Or if we should just bite the bullet and pay the rent. IF we can find a place to rent. The realtor didn’t know of anything available right now but she’s going to look for us. Both for fixer-upper possibilities and for rentals. We hope to look at some places tomorrow.

Today is sunny and warm, so we walked about our “barrio” and found some great little stores within easy walking distance. I picked up a broom! And came home to chase all the dust bunnies around. The flannel sheets we’re using shed little blue fur balls in great quantities. I’ve never seen anything like it. They’re from Land’s End; anyone else have this experience before?

And that’s all the news from barrio Costa Azul Sur. What’s happening in your barrio this weekend?