I'm Still Here

I've been busy lately.  My subsistence here at this point is based upon the rentals of rooms and bodegas on Pablo's and my property outside of town(14), the rooms I've rented at my house(3), and our animal and house sitting jobs.  When it rains it pours.

Recently we had to re-rent several rooms outside of town, and that takes time, energy and an ad in a newspaper.  I wanted to apply for an opening at the American Consulate and had to take a fluency test, complete a 12 page application, update my resume, and put together a beautiful federal package in a short period of time.  (I heard about the job announcement three days before closing deadline.)

We had a cat sitting job requiring us to sleep away from home for three weeks.  It was a very detailed job, caring for an art gallery, and six cats with complicated medical issues and intricate feeding details. With six cats at home, and swimming scheduled at 8am, that made for busy mornings. 

And then, when finances are always the worst, the last week of the month, we received a request for a room to accommodate five guys.  We have worked with this group, a cable company subcontracted by Cablemas to outfit outlying areas with cable, for several months.  They usually send two or three guys from Aguascalientes, who leave for work early and quit early....they are working in the extreme Yucatecan sun and heat. This time, they asked if we could accommodate five guys for one month, then back to three guys after that.  It was the end of the month, finances were looking grim, so we went for it.  Remember, when the going gets weird, the weird get going. 

Whew! See, it was a busy schedule!  We are back at home now, and I am playing housemother.  By accepting the five guys into the house we literally doubled the population, and I admit that this time perhaps I went too far.  Keeping up with ice cubes, and the dishes left behind (they are pretty good about cleaning up), emptying trash, keeping three bathrooms stocked with towels and toilet paper, and shuffling seven sets of sheets around each week is a challenge.  Luckily I have Graciela the housekeeper, who is scheduled twice a week in August so that we can clean everyone's rooms thoroughly. 

With a house full of young, single guys it is impossible to NOT have a bit of chaos.  This is what we used to call on disaster duty organized chaos, but it is chaotic nonetheless and THIS time I feel sort of locked in my room after 4pm, and restricted to pool usage before 4pm.  I have to rearrange my personal schedule because I'm used to writing at the computer in the mornings, doing my chores, and then fixing food and spending time in the pool later.  There are many people who really are "closed in", and this is self-imposed, so I am dealing with it and not asking for any sympathy.  I have rearranged the house so that I have access to any creativity sparking items right here in my own room.   I hesitate to spread out a project like beading, or painting, however, since I don't want to live in clutter if I am confined to one room.  Writing has been tricky.  My mind seems to be spinning and multi-tasking a lot, so if I write half a blog draft, I'm lucky.  Today my goal is to post a few blogs that I have working in my spinning head.  They are nothing earth-shattering.  There isn't time for much more excitement around here.

There's light at the end of the tunnel.  Only three of these guys will stay for September.  And the Spaniard who's been living in the front room since November is returning to Spain. Nacho has been a great tenant but he has a girlfriend who needs to be bitch slapped. The house will feel beautifully empty and spacious in September, and I have to concentrate on that to make it through August. 

Since I turned my house into a ship, here is the bunk space I created for the fifth guy.  The fourth guy would sleep in the hammock in the room pictured instead of on the floor in the green room, but these are mountain people, not hammock dwellers. 

The temporary extra bunk