Homemaking

by

Mexican Food, Canadian Style

While I did make a quick pasta the other night that could be considered my first meal in my new home, tonight’s dinner was a rather more messy and delicious true baptism of my kitchen, involving several pans, a ton of utensils, as many bowls as I could find, and both familiar and new ingredients (and utensils!). On the menu, stir fried veggies (chayote, carrot, potato, garlic) with bean burritos.

Yum, just yum. The meal came together perfectly. The chayote didn’t really remind me all that much of zucchini as it held its texture. It was just very crisp and light. I am going to be eating a lot of it because it is filling, cheap, nutritious, and low calorie!

One very important thing I learned today: when trying to light a burner, make sure that the burner you’re trying to light is the one for which you’re turning the knob. It took me about 15 matches and lighting my right thumbnail on fire to finally clue in. I will spare you photos of my thumbnail, but assure you that it doesn’t hurt in the least. Nail polish is flammable, folks, and Mexican matches ARE dangerous! 🙂

The potato, garlic, and chayote I bought from the veggie man were absolutely lovely, same aesthetic quality as you would find in a Canadian or US supermarket.

The carrot, much less so. But I grew up eating from our garden and have been given worse looking, yet perfectly good and delicious, produce by C&C. So I know that supermarket produce is an illusion and I wasn’t worried about the sad looking carrot because it was still firm. I shopped off the bad bits, peeled it, and sampled it raw. YUM.

I actually had dessert, too! It was some of my carefully rationed strawberry yoghurt. I’m still avoiding sugar outside of fruit, but wanted a treat the other day and yoghurt seemed the least evil option. I’m only allowed four tablespoons at a time. It is Lala brand, a little runny, and very tasty with big pieces of strawberry. More yum! 🙂

by

More Packing and Cleaning

I’ve somehow managed to fill two of the three days the postal delay forced on me. A good chunk of the time has been spent organizing and cleaning Miranda. A super deep clean didn’t make sense to me last week, not when it would have to be done again in the spring. But now that I had three days to kill, why not?

The back bed is loaded with more bags that need to go out of the truck and my laundry basket, sitting on the desk, is coming, too. IMG_0216 I have a similar staging area in the living room for kitchen things.

It looks like quite a lot, especially with what’s already in the truck, but I shouldn’t have any trouble fitting it all in. It’s rather like packing for an evacuation. What can I absolutely live without? I don’t need everything I’m bringing, obviously, and not everything I’m leaving behind can be replaced. This picture shows three things that I would miss and which are irreplaceable; my framed Egyptian papyrus, my soapstone mule, and my aquarium glass paperweight. But do they need to come to Mexico with me? Absolutely not.

I’ve made my peace with leaving for what will now be closer to seven rather than eight months, but still the better part of a year. What I come back to is what I come back to. It is just stuff even though this RV is the only real home I’ve ever had and I would be devastated if I came back to find it inhabitable. I always knew that this day would come. While I’m still reeling from the shock of it happening at 35 rather than 40, the day is here (or almost) and I am marching forward!

I am so excited about what lies ahead. The US portion of the trip down will be considerably shorter now and I have made the decision to tighten up the budget considerably in case next month’s cheque is late, too. But Zion National Park beacons and that is more than enough for right now. I should be there in ten days or so, maybe a little more if I get the work I want for this coming week. It will be a wonderful place to stretch my legs for a bit.

And then, Mexico… I am so mentally prepared to go that I’m not even nervous about the border crossing hoops anymore! I have my paperwork and the necessary funds and plenty of tips for the Nogales crossing. Come what may! I can already see myself at the restaurant in San Carlos Croft told me to visit on my first night, sipping a cold beer and eating fresh seafood, with a freshly stamped 180-day tourist visa and a shiny holographic sticker on my truck windshield proving its legal temporary import status. This is how real my adventure has become in my mind. I’ve been talking about it for many months, but it’s only in the last ten days or so that I’ve gone from disbelief that I am really doing this to this being an absolute inevitability.

I do wish I was in Billings or points south right now, especially since we’ve had a few warm nights that would have been perfect for sleeping in the truck. But it’s also nice to have had these last few quiet days at home to make sure it’s shut down properly and to enjoy the peaceful evenings listening to the mad band of coyotes out there in them hills. I know that this delay happened for a reason, whatever that reason is, but enough! I’m ready to roll out of here by noon Tuesday at the absolute latest!

 

by

A Painted Door

Today, I finished off my workload in anticipation of taking the week off to go to Montreal. I was done around 2:00 and then it was time to wrap up a few exterior Haven projects, mainly get two coats of paint on the door Charles built.

Before:

After:

IMGP8367

I gave the interior of the shed another spray with bleach, then rounded up all the bits and pieces that I borrowed from Caroline and Charles, the pressure washer, sprayer, water hose, extension cord, and steps and brought it all back. I ended up helping them sweep out their shop and bring in quite a few sheets of subfloor and some drywall. I’m always glad to help my neighbours!

I came home with some heavy duty mouse poison because I’ve caught two mice in Miranda this week. As in caught with my gloved hands. My Tabitha would have been proud of her mom! 🙂 I miss my mousers…

Now, I have to tidy up the kitchen (and make what will likely be a shrimp dinner!) and then it will be time to pack for my trip! I’ve decided to head to Regina earlyish tomorrow, a day early, so I can run a few errands. I found a nice B&B near the airport that is much cheaper than a fleabag motel. If I time things right, I might even have time to stop in Moose Jaw for a sushi lunch! 🙂

Finally, nothing says ‘home’ to me more than this sight:

IMGP8368

Miranda + Haven = home. There, I’ve said it. I love this place. It is mine. Except for Miranda’s piddly remaining mortgage, I own my spread free and clear, something I never expected to be able to say. The security it brings me is immeasurable. It makes me feel like I can do anything.

by

So Much To Do!

The last couple of months have gone galloping by. I can’t believe September is just about at the halfway mark and that I’m still crazy enough to think that I’ll be en route to Mexico on or about October 1st!

One of the problems I’m having is that the weather has tanked and I still have some exterior Haven projects to wrap up. I need to paint the new shed door and finish cleaning the shed so that it will be usable in the spring. I also have cleaning and sorting to do in the cabin.

My truck also needs organizing and sorting since I plan to sleep in it quite a bit (weather permitting) for the trip down to Mexico. I love driving my truck and look forward to doing some exploring in a vehicle that isn’t a bear to stop and park! I’m hoping to hit a few tourist spots along the way, but I think we’re going into an early winter, so I may have to drive hard to get through the mountains. My truck just doesn’t do well in snow, unfortunately. I can always hit those attractions in the spring since I plan to come north fairly late in the season (Mayish).

Because I’ll need time to acclimatize in Mexico and get settled in, I don’t want to take a lot of time off on the way there. So I plan to drive and sleep in my truck (again, weather permitting) a couple of days and then stop at a hotel to work for three or four days. The income I’m getting now is such that I can afford a decent hotel with a proper desk and still actually make a profit at the end of the day. I’ll therefore be able to work nearly full-time in a compressed period of time and keep my clients happy. I plan to take about a full month to get to Mexico!

As for Mexico, most would say that I haven’t done any work at all to prepare, but there’s been a lot of thinking. My friend Croft has helped me figure out things like vehicle insurance and what sort of paperwork I’ll need at the border.

That said, I still don’t have the housing situation sorted because I keep waffling between getting a tiny inexpensive place and a larger more expensive one. I can afford the latter now and want to be comfortable (remember how claustrophobic I felt living in one BIG room in Lethbridge…), but I also want to put money away this winter. With finances not being super tight, I’m tempted to just show up and stay in a hotel for a bit while I sort out housing. But I might take advantage of super fast internet at my mother’s to make a few Skype calls.

My mother’s? Oh, you don’t know that I’m flying to Quebec on the 17th for a week? I try to visit every two years, so it was time to go back east for a bit. My eldest nephew just had his 10th birthday, so the timing is good. I’ll be home late on the 23rd and then I play to be in focused departure mode.

Leaving Miranda behind for eightish months is absolutely terrifying. I have no idea what I’ll be coming back to… Caroline and Charles, beloved friends and neighbours that they are, have promised to pop in every once in a while to make sure everything is okay. My roof is still leaking, so I plan to tarp the whole thing. I’ve also been having mouse issues now that I’m catless, so Charles will be providing me with plenty of mouse poison. I will be getting rid of all food and doing a thorough cleaning. Hopefully, I’ll come home to a dusty, but habitable, rig.

From a technical point of view, I have to remember things like disconnecting the batteries. They will be moved (with a dolly because they are super heavy!) to Charles’ workshop for the winter as will other things, like paint, that I don’t want to freeze. I also have to winterize the water system.

It sounds like a lot of work, but I know that once I get going, it will come together quickly. I’m still working on my packing list. I’ve grown so used to having everything I own with me at one time that it’s kind of fun to play the ‘house is on fire, you have time to grab what’s important’ game. Really, all I need are my electronics, the 2014 financial stuff folder, some other paperwork for the border crossings, and a bit of clothes. I’ll probably bring a bit of kitchen equipment and bedding as well. I want to take off and travel the world for a while in a backpack, so downsizing from an RV to a truck is a step in that direction!

My biggest concern about Mexico at this point will seem silly to many, but it’s crucial for me: internet bandwidth. My new contract has me downloading large video files and so I need a lot of bandwidth in a month, more than I can/should get from public wifi, and I’m supposed to avoid public wifi if I can for security purposes. But otherwise, there is no issue with my working from Mexico this winter and my clients are excited for me!

So that’s what’s going on in my little corner of Canada these days. I am eager to go, but not sick of being here, and hopeful that Mexico will have good weather to make up for the lack of a proper summer!

 

by

Strapping the Shed and a New Power Pole

I can’t believe how fast this summer is winding down! I am so behind on my Haven projects, which are primarily to get the shed weather tight and to put new roofing on both buildings. I ordered the metal roofing the week before last and it came in this past Thursday. It comes in 3′-wide sheets and you order however many of them you need in whatever length. Charles and Caroline helped me do the math on all of that. You also need ridge cap pieces, which comes in 10′ sections, and ‘closures’, which we forgot and I will run into town for first thing in the morning. They fill in the gaps between the ridge cap and the sheeting as well as between the sheeting and the sub-roof.

Charles and I went to town on Saturday with his truck and flatbed trailer to pick everything up, metal sheeting for the two buildings, enough chip board to clad the shed (the rougher of the two buildings), and ‘strapping’ for both buildings, which are 1x4s that are screwed to the roof and then the metal is screwed to them. I helped him unload rocks before we went to town and I treated him to lunch!

This morning, he showed up bright and early as promised so we could get started on removing the old roofing from the shed (chip board over cedar shingles). My new neighbour, K, also came to help. K bought C&C’s last vacant lot and she is using it as an RV pad! She lives here three days and is in the city for four days.

Many hands make light work, so even with two coffee breaks in the morning, we had one side of the shed roof cleared and strapped by lunch. Caroline always feeds her crews well, so I made sure to have coffee and granola bars for the morning, which we enjoyed on our first break, then Caroline came by with more coffee and homemade muffins for our second break!

For lunch, we had a bell pepper and black bean salad, tomatoes, cucumbers, ham, cheese, cream cheese tortilla pinwheels, and more tortillas in case anyone didn’t like bean salad (I knew Charles would, but I didn’t know who else might show up to help). There was lots left over for lunch tomorrow, but no one went hungry. I also made sure to have a cooler full of cold water, ginger ale, and non-alcoholic beer.

We got the other side cleared and strapped by about 3:30. Another neighbour, T, who is our hermit and rarely seen, actually came and lent a hand and promised to return tomorrow and help lift the heavy sheets of metal up onto the roof! Wow! We all had a beverage of choice after all that work. K wasn’t shy and handed out granola bars.

While all this was going on, SaskPower showed up to replace my charred power pole! Talk about bad timing! Thankfully, by the time they arrived, we knew most of the dimensions we needed for the strapping, so I cut all the lumber before the power went out (using Charles’ chop/miter saw).

Charles and K screwed in all the strapping today. I did a lot of running around fetching things, preparing food, cutting lumber, and removing the old roofing.

The shed roof will be done tomorrow. C&C are heading out of town, so Charles said we’ll do the other roof when he gets back. He’s going to try to find time to at least cut the siding for me this week and tack it into place so that I can finish screwing it in on my own and paint it while they are gone. I’m in a hurry to get that done since I had to take my clothesline apart to make room to work today and I want it back up asap!

I was hoping to spend no more than $1,500 on this first phase of the exterior work on the graineries. I still have the closures and paint to buy and am at about $1,250, so I should come in right on budget! For the curious, the roofing is $0.98/square foot for coloured, so about $630 (including tax) for both buildings, plus $110 (including tax) for the ridge caps. I didn’t factor food for the crew into that part of the budget, but I’m at about $150 for that; much cheaper than a roofing crew! 🙂

I can’t wait to get the first roof on tomorrow. It is going to be so beautiful!