(Post 169 of 263)

The worst of the painting is done (just have touch-ups and cleanup to do)! All that’s left are the bathroom floor, vanity, and medicine cabinet installation, then punch list items like repairing exterior walls and some warranty work on the downstairs bathroom. I think they could get it all done if they put in a full day, but who knows how the floor is going to go. I really am looking forward to having a sink upstairs again. You’d think I wouldn’t miss it that much, but Bonita has caught me every morning cleaning my face and teeth downstairs before greeting her and I always feel bad!

I’m hoping to have a bathroom reveal tomorrow, but the bedroom is going to need some time to clean and put together as I still have a few bits missing. But it’s amazing to me that I’m already starting to think about final touches when it feels like the work only just started!

I feel that I’ve had essentially three junk rooms downstairs for five years so it’s fantastic to finally have two of the rooms clean and maintainable. Even if I don’t have any use of my own for the room and it basically just sits in wait of guests, I need to have its hallway door open for the natural light, so it’ll be a treat to have a view in that direction instead of eyeballing a mess!

I’ve been asked if I plan to Airbnb the room since travel is opening up. Yes and no. No to officially listing it, at least at this time, because I don’t intend to make an actual business that would make it worth having to register a business, pay the high hospitality taxes, etc. I’d like to have it to offer through word of mouth more for in exchange for house and dog sitting or just to help someone out who’d be willing to cover one of my monthly bills. So I will probably put it up on a house minding site. I had thought I wasn’t going to want to go away overnight again because of Bonita, but she’s come out of her shell so much that I suspect she could tolerate a short absence.

(Post 168 of 263)

I finally reached the moment in my chase of the police reports for the insurance matter that I was given a phone number to call so I don’t have to keep going to the precinct for nothing. I do not mind using the phone in Spanish now, at least no more than I do in French or English (meaning augh, but if I must), except that you never know if you’re going to get a good connection. It’s like when I’m in an open area with a lot of background noise, I suddenly don’t understand anything. So it’s definitely an issue more with my hearing (which I’m actually not concerned about) than my language skills.

Still, I was a bit surprised when I picked up the phone yesterday afternoon without spending all day talking myself into it. I got transferred a few times but everyone seemed to understand what I needed (and understand me, period), just not who I needed to speak with. The line was crystal clear, so that helped a ton. I finally landed on a wonderful gentleman who was appalled about how I’ve been led on a wild goose chase all this time — he actually said that, calling the process a “búsqueda inútil.” He ultimately could not help me about my documents, but gave me another number to try instead and told me exactly what to say when the person picked up to cut down on a few transfers.

I decided to try again this morning. I still got a few transfers, but it was way more efficient, and I finally got someone who asked for my case number. He was then able to pull up my file and confirm, that, nope, the docs aren’t ready yet. It’s a long weekend, so try again Tuesday. Try again, not they’ll be ready on Tuesday. 🙁

Having a phone number now is going to make the process so much less stressful and frustrating, no more two-hour trips to the precinct for nothing. At least, I hope!

Also, today is my anniversary of becoming a permanent resident! I am now technically able to start my citizenship application! I was told by my lawyers to wait because the process is more stringent for a youngster like me (ha!), plus citizenship applications are backed up anyway. So I should spend time studying for the citizenship test and continuing to strengthen my Spanish skills. So, really, this whole burglary exercise has just been linguistic preparation for that!