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Alive & Kicking…

November 13th, 2006

…and stressed beyond belief! While I am not buried in the backyard (though I am sure hubby has been tempted a few times and vice versa) I AM trying to hold it together. I cannot believe we are really doing it – moving out of the country in 19 days! We are both on overload – still working on the house to get it ready to sell, dealing with shutting the remainder of my old business and working on my new one and slowly but surely getting things crossed off The List! Instead of focusing on what is not done yet, which literally wakes me up at night, it will do me good to focus on what we have done…

A huge thing is I found a place for us to stay temporarily on our arrival while we look for something more permanent. It is in La Garita, the dogs are welcome and they have high speed internet, which were both “gotta haves”. I found it on craigslist Costa Rica – don’t forget to look there if you are planning a move for all kinds of things! I finally got us officially signed up with ARCR – I had actually submitted our application online in September, but Banco Nacional neglected to mention it to them – welcome to Costa Rica : ) Ana straightened it all out for us in record time though and we are now officially members. We have our plane tickets and we have a friend who is going to sell our vehicle for us after we leave. My mom is a real estate agent, so she is going to sell the house for us after we are gone (the thought of trying to show it while we are still here was overwhelming – we have all manner of things going on – from half painted rooms to boxes and suitcases everywhere, it was just too much too think about).

The dogs are set, with fancy new wheeled crates they are getting used to and seem to enjoy and this is an interesting note, as long as they have the USDA Small Animal Health Forms completed by their vet and certified by the State vet within the 10 day window, we do NOT need to have the paperwork certified by a CR embassy. At least that is what the Houston CR consulate told me – they gave me this link –

http://www.costarica-embassy.org/consular/travel/pets.htm

one less thing we have to juggle logistically! We have stocked up on the medicines we might need – I am into homeopathic remedies, and while I know they are available there, I guess it is just a comfort thing for me to have a supply. Silly, isn’t it? We did get all of our doctor visits, etc…out of the way, so we should actually be quite healthy. I am VERY allergic to mosquito bites and they just love me, I am hoping I will eventually build up a resistance. However, just in case, I purchased an entire “Buzz Off” wardrobe on ebay – typically paid less the $20.00 per piece for new – rather than paying retail from Orvis or Eddie Bauer. Another cool ebay find were Pelican boxes– the waterproof, practically indestructible cases, which we got in a couple of different sizes to use as our luggage. Also LowePro waterproof backpacks for the camera equipment, SpaceBags, even silica gel – all at well below retail.

We got a Post Office box locally for the time being and are filling out change of address forms daily. We rented a safe deposit box and took a load of items to my sister-in-law’s – she and her husband are kind enough to store the things we just can’t bear to part with.

So we HAVE done a lot – throw in that since my last blog post I had to have an unexpected root canal, was volunteering as the media coordinator for a local political race, saying good bye to friends (there is a reason they have those warnings not to drink in a hot tub, but that is a whole different post) and the fact that hubby has been dealing with some family health issues that have been very stressful, and I guess we are both holding up ok. It is nice to be missed though : ) and I promise to try and do better in the next few weeks!