Taking a break

I may as well admit that I am just not on the computer as much lately. Well, I'm on the computer as much, but at work we are locked down and I can't get to blogs, including this one to post updates. I am getting loose ends tied up in other areas. If feels like a time to gather energy to get ready to move on. I hope so, anyway.

One of my issues is that I don't really post much about work, and I don't want to post a lot about the area where I live. This is a small country, and it wouldn't be difficult for someone to figure out who I am in real life. Is that a problem? I don't know. So, I keep very quiet about a lot of the details of life down here. Maybe once I leave I'll post some of the pictures.

Also, it is just not safe to wander around down here with a camera out. The vast majority of the time it would be fine. I don't want that one time someone would decide they needed my camera/cell phone/money and id's to make me feel even more afraid. This isn't a vacation, I'm living here and out and about every day. This fear of getting out and doing things is one reason I'm so bored now. It is good in that it is making me do the necessary things to move on.

If I don't post much, and if I am even more boring than usual when I do, that's why.

Good Intentions

I now have lots of ideas on things to post, along with pictures. However, the execution is lacking, and so I haven't been posting at all. I guess I'll just ramble for awhile until I get the pictures taken and a proper post crafted.

I have new neighbors in one of the upstairs apartments. A family, with 2 kids. Until now, this place was kid-free, and I'm not so much a kid friendly person. I do ok in small doses when I can hand the kids back. The energy level around here has stepped up, as has the foot traffic in and out to the street. These are not good things for me. I am looking to move, after I give them a few more days to settle in. I may have already lost the neighbor upstairs who was a single man who speaks English. I haven't seen him since the family moved in. That makes 2 steps backwards as far as I'm concerned.

One reason that posts have dropped off from me is that blogs are now blocked at work. I used to be able to take a few minutes and blather away here when things were slow. I may try posting via email again to see how it works.

Is it Friday yet?

No? sigh. Yes, I had yesterday off work. I hope everyone had a good Independence Day. I stayed home and got a lot more caught up. I am to the point now that I'm starting to see blank spaces occasionally. I know that a 2 bedroom apartment full of stuff is more than I like to keep up with. Slowly more things are heading to the 'donate' pile.

Nothing special going on to write about. I'm working late shift today to cover a co-worker's vacation day. Paying bills - I get paid once a month on the 1st, or the 2nd this month - and budgeting so that I make it the rest of the way to the end of the pay period. It really is a lot easier to do that now that the vast majority of the debt is going away. I do need to contact the Realtor to see if the eviction letter went out to my tenant. I'll be glad when that house and it's debt are gone. I am blessed, though, I know, to be able to carry the low payment while this is all going down. A lot of folks ended up in much worse places financially than I with houses that wouldn't sell.

Think I'll spend the evening part of my shift looking for more places to send my resume. I'm out of touch with what is going on in the States as far as the job situation. Others say it is difficult to get a job even in Military contracting right now in the States. May need to widen my search. I want some place that I have more options in things to do, or at least a lot more money so I can save to not need a job. :)

Time for a new post

I am in a baby-step mode still. Today I did make measurable progress on catching up with daily/weekly stuff. I'm headed to Tegus tomorrow just for a change. Work is slow, not much going on. From what I'm reading in blogs and message boards, I'm having nicer weather here in Honduras than most of the US is having. Not near as hot. I'll take it.

Still sending out resumes. No bites so far. This is how it works. When it happens I will have just a few weeks to get everything set up to move from here to there. Wherever 'there' turns out to be.

Goodby to a fellow blogger

Ben, of the blog An Older Texan Remembers, passed away last night of heart failure. I started reading his blog and commenting because of his comments on the Field Lab blog. He came over and read mine, and commented. I ended up feeling like a part of a group of mostly male Texan bloggers as we read and commented on each others observations on life. It has helped a lot as I felt more like I had someone to go see if/when I get back to the States. One of the things that happens when I hang out in a group of us who are not 20 any more. Some of us start passing over to the other side. I send Ben's family my best wishes, and as others said in comments, I hope his 2 cats find a loving home to continue the rest of their lives.

Hot

The heat index today at work was the highest they post, 5. I am surviving. I'm getting used to sweating. Funny what can become normal when it is, well, normal. I am drinking a glass of wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. The cheapest in the PX at $4.99/bottle. The one I know I like was $6.99/bottle, and I got a bottle of it, also. Both from Chile, so I had hopes. The cheaper one is a bit dry for me. It is definitely drinkable, though. I'd take it to a party, although not here as there is so little choice at the PX everyone would know I brought the cheapest bottle there. If I went to any parties here that is. My own choice. I hear the drama and drinking and I figure I am good with just dealing with my own issues and not everyone elses' as well.

No bites from any of the jobs I've applied for. So, I have avoided needing to make a decision. It's all good. I'm doing little baby steps, hanging on for the weekend. I'm reading MrMoneyMustache.com, started at the first blog post and reading all the comments as well. I'm not caught up to the present yet. It is keeping me from splurging. Well, other than for the wine. I haven't been knitting as the sweater is large enough now that it is hot to work on. Who'd a thunk, a 100% wool sweater, summer in Honduras, and hot. sigh. May start a pair of socks in the meantime.

Only 9 weeks till I go home for vacation. Not that I'm counting...

Getting through

Some times you just gotta go through rather than around or over. Nothing is wrong on a practical level. I'm taking small steps working towards improvement in my attitude. I have my airplane tickets to go home the first of September for 2 weeks. I also bought a new microwave, $90 since I went with the nicer one. The smaller one for half that price was knobs instead of electronic controls, and is the cheaper house brand of the PX. Not all bad, and would have done well enough if it was all they had. I just decided that I could sell the nicer one, or even take it back with me when I leave and feel better about it. At any rate, I can now 'cook' again.

I did go to the link on the induction cooktops. I even called to order the buy one, get one for S&H, with a cooking kit thrown in for S&H. So, it came out this way, $100 for one induction cooktop, with $29.xx S&H, for $130. Add in the free one for another $30 S&H (may have been a couple of dollars cheaper, like maybe $26), so we are up to around $160. The nice cook kit of 2 skillets and a pot with steamer, etc. was included with only S&H, but that was $70 or maybe $59, and I've rounded up twice. At any rate, we are up over $200 now, and that is only 1 cook kit, which they imply you can get two kits and you can for an extra S&H. So, at almost $300 for what I originally thought would be less than $150 (way less!), I decided not to bite. One of the benefits of a propane stove is that I can cook when the electricity is off, which happens often here. No, I haven't ordered that, either.

I'm working on eating right and keeping my money expenditures down and just putting one foot in front of the other. Time is going by way fast so it will be September soon. I also sent out 5 resumes for jobs in the US today. Murphy being what he is I may end up with a return ticket I don't use. But, Murphy being what he is, it wouldn't work out even that well.

DD, I'm glad your wife enjoyed the links I posted, and I'm touched she reads my blog. Gypsy, I don't know if going home will make being back here worse. I just know I need a break.

Doldrums

I went through a phase for over a week that had me wanting to leave here and go back to the States NOW! Things that are just annoying usually were really annoying. I have mostly gotten over that. I'll start looking at airfares and the calendar to get the tickets for my trip home, probably in September. Not sure if I'll go for one week or two. If I go for one week I could go back again before the end of the year. When I make up my mind I'll buy the ticket. For around $600 I can go home for a few days. I'm thinking the longer I'm here the more important that is getting.

I got my bamboo knitting needles from http://www.eknittingneedles.com/ just as they said I would. I haven't knit with them as I'm still working on the sweater, but I really like them. I also got the yarn to finish the sweater that I ordered from http://www.knitting-warehouse.com/index.html and it was just as advertised as well. Both places shipped to my APO box, which some places on-line won't. That is especially appreciated. So, I can endorse both places. No affiliate links or anything, just a satisfied customer. :)

I think my microwave died finally this weekend. My $15 Goodwill microwave that I've had for at least 3 years. Wish there was a Goodwill down here to get another used one, but I'll spend at least $80 at the PX tomorrow. At the moment it is the only way to 'cook'. I now need to actually order a propane 2 burner car-camping stove to use as my stove top. I keep putting it off for some reason. However, I've been relegated to peanut butter sandwiches all weekend as my only real food with no way to warm things up.

Other than commenting on my (lack of) housework lately, that is all that is going on. I'll just say that with the windows open because of no air conditioning the floors get really dirty. I have white tile on all the floors, and I have to sweep/mop every week, and I get up so much dirt when I sweep. Heck, I never did vacuum my carpets this much before! Then again, this is a really dusty country.

Opportunities

I applied for a job in the US today. I know someone who knows someone. Tossing it out there, I'll see what happens. I am more and more ready to get moving on to the next chapter. However, it's not that it's really that bad here. And, if I go back now it puts off the date to be debt free. I could get out and hike and bike ride and kayak and stuff if I was back in the States. I'll let the Universe decide.

Still around

I'm just quiet. Lots of stuff is caught up. Now I'm catching my breath. I'm reading blogs and commenting. I'm cleaning and thinking and planning. The end of being here is so close I can almost taste it. But, it's still 10 months away, and I don't want to get too immersed in it yet. I'm more planning a route and setting my sights. Then I'll get back to cleaning up the details around here. My heart isn't in it here anymore, though.

First large payment on the last credit card. I want to count the days till it's paid off, but I stop. Too much can go too wrong, it has before. Among those things is the house. The new realtor has gotten some rental money out of the tenants, not enough for them to be current. They are working to get financing to buy the place. Once that is determined, either the current tenants buy it (WOO HOO) or they are evicted. We pick up the pieces from that and sell that sucker. This realtor makes things happen. I'm optimistic on the eventual outcome. However, I may need to put a lot of money that direction to make it happen. That probably won't affect my leave date, but may affect the date that everything is paid off and how soon I need to find a new job once I'm back in the States.

All other plans from that point on are castles in the air. I'm working, as Henry David Thoreau said, to put foundations under them.