Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Got a few things done today

The weather is warming up here in Vegas. Actually have the doors open today. That means we'll have to bring the RV over here pretty soon and clean it. Ugh.
So what is going on here? Well we got out of the house this morning for a bit. Had to go to the pharmacy to pick up our prescriptions. In fact we had to go to two different places. One of my prescriptions got switched to another CVS because when we were ready to leave last fall our regular CVS didn't have it in stock so they switched it to another CVS that had it. Well I'd forgotten that so when I went to order it they told me I had to order it at the other pharmacy OR "call my doctor" [big laugh] and get a new prescription. One that cannot be done over the phone of course. So went there and paid the whole $1.56 for it. Got home and discovered it was only for 30 days instead of 90. @#$% We had asked if they could be delivered but because one was a "controlled substance" - sleeping pill - we had to go pick it up. Luckily they had a drive through. So that is done for three months.
Also had to call the place where all our mail goes during the winter and see if they would mail it to us instead of us having to drive 18 miles across town to pick it up. No problem - 30 minutes later I got an email saying it was in the U.S. mail. Got a tracking number. Would have cost more in gas then it did to mail. 
Then we were waiting for our grocery delivery from Smith's market. Had never used their on line shopping or delivery service. So wondered how it would work. Our delivery time was between 1 - 2 in the afternoon. About 10 to 1:00 I got a text that Andrea was gathering up our groceries. Good. Then I got another text that the table paper napkins I'd ordered were not available so they were deducted from the balance. Got about 8 texts that specific items were not available. Then got a text they would be at our house in about 20 minutes. And sure enough they were. The girl that picked them out delivered them. Very nice young lady. She substituted a couple items for like items - vegetable oil for corn oil. Great. Will for sure use that service again. The groceries arrived about 20 after 2:00. I hate to say it but, "What would we do without cell phones and internet." Me who has always hated to order anything on line. Especially these days. 
We got lots of Pasta Roni - which has not been available any place else we've shopped. Also got Haagen Dazs ice cream and it was still frozen. One thing that surprised me we didn't get was the cleaning solution for my Swifter Wet Jet. 
Tomorrow I'm going to check into Walmart's delivery as I want a couple things that are not groceries. But have to c heck early in the morning to get a delivery date. 
Do you find yourself counting the squares of TP now? Sorry...
I am working and I mean working on another puzzle - another Kincaid but 750 pieces and it is only four different colors! Well it seems that way 
 Got the easy done.
So until tomorrow - musings from captives # 234432 and #456654.

Monday, March 30, 2020

Snow on the mountains

We got out and did a short walk today. A view of the mountains in the distance. It snowed there in the last week. Tomorrow it is supposed to reach 80.
 Bill kept walking as I took the picture of the mountain. No one else out and about.
 This is the last of this weeks meals. Spaghetti, chicken and tomatoes with a good herb sauce.
 This is what our looked like. Notice the difference - the kit was supposed to include fresh basil leaves, it didn't. But that is okay I don't like fresh basil anyway. Tasted very good. The first time we've had any leftovers for a quick lunch. Three new meals coming on Thursday.
 OMG - I turned my back on them and look what happened!  Did they have a baby that grew up in a week?
Started a new puzzle this one will take me longer, much bigger. Also a Kincaid with water, clouds and a home.
Tomorrow we get our grocery delivery from Smith's. Wonder what we won't get or what could be a substitute.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Day whatever of staying home

Looked out the window this morning and saw that we had company. First ones I've seen since we've been home. They are so cute, as long as they don't eat our flowers.
We got this t-shirt one of the times we were in La Noria. Today was the first time I've worn  it. It turned into quite a project to get it on. Put my arms in and out through the arm holes and pulled it down. Hum...my head was still inside the shirt. Yanked again - what the heck - I do know how to dress myself - don't I?  Yanked and pulled some more. Have I gotten that old? Felt around with my hands and found neck hole on outside of the shirt. Well I know my head is supposed to go through there. Yank again - ah - making progress. Slowly my head emerged into the light. Thank goodness I can still dress myself. So what was the problem. Well when they made the shirt and heat pressed on the logo - the glue went through the front and glued it to the back. So I could get my head as far as Mi Peublo Querido and no further. Big sigh of relief.
 At 10:00 our time today there was NASCAR racing on our local Fox network. A picture I took from the TV. They were racing at Texas.
Except they really weren't - they were racing from home. Yep IRacing on TV. Better than nothing and it sure looks real. This is Timmy Hill he eventually won the race. The big name NASCAR cut drivers didn't do too well. Need to practice I guess.
Started another puzzle [finished it too] One of eight of the Thomas Kincaid puzzles. The round ones are fun.
 Had another Hello Fresh meal this is their picture of it.
This is what mine looked like. Baked brussels [didn't realize until just now brussels is plural] sprouts , garlic bread and chicken with thyme and balsamic vinegar sauce. Very good.My brussel sprouts got a little brown, well okay, almost burned, but just the outer leaves and the bread didn't get golden but was good none the less. Everything tasted good and we both enjoyed the meal. One more meal left for tomorrow.
We had a cloudy day today and late afternoon it started to rain out over the desert. Looking from our back yard. Tomorrow it is supposed to start warming up to the 80's.
Need to add a few things to my Smith's grocery order, it should be delivered Tuesday afternoon. Wonder how it will go.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Another day in the life of a captive

We are getting two meals a day now. Bill cooked breakfast and I cooked dinner. So much for getting rid of the 10 pounds I gained over the winter.  
I wish I could sleep later in the morning. Wake up around 5:30 but try and snooze until at least 6:30. Even going to bed at midnight doesn't help. It just makes the days so long...
Yesterday I drug out the vacuum cleaner and vacd the whole house. Also dusted all the knickknack shelves. Amazing what you'll do when you are bored. I haven't opened up my sewing machine yet but thinking about how to make my curtains with the materiel I bought in Mexico, for that room. 
Also worked on ordering refills of prescriptions. Some need to be ordered so can't get them until next week. 
Our Dish remote developed a mind of its own - had to call them. Felt kind of silly as it was my fault it wasn't working right. I had accidentally pushed the wrong button. Felt really stupid. But if it ever happens again I know how to fix it. 
Going to the bank the other day we passed one of the many closed casinos. 


the missing words are open - back and soon. 
We got our Hello Fresh delivery. Two chicken dishes and one pork. The pictures of how they should look when finished. 
The back of the card has the directions. Including what you need that isn't included  pots, pans, salt, pepper and oil. Step by step. 
Been working on this puzzle for a few days. Finally finished it this morning. I get real serious when working on one. Didn't even realize Bill took this picture. I'm actually happier then I look here. 
So cooked the pork dish last night. the instructions and the ingredients. 
Here is how it should look.   Took about 25 minutes from getting out of refrigerator to sitting down and eating. 
This is how it looked. Turned out very tasty. No left overs but both of us were full. 
This morning it was bright and clear out over the desert. Supposed to maybe rain this evening. Still pretty cool - for Vegas - out. In the 60's.


Still no baby chickens. 
Of the five new houses and one older home that were for sale all of them now have owners.  People are just moving into the one on the right today. 
Well now we are going to try grocery delivery from Smith's. Put in the order today, cannot get it delivered until afternoon on Tuesday the 31st. And they charge 9:95 for delivery and add a 3 dollar tip to bill. Be interesting to see how it works. Supposedly they have a few things that Walmart doesn't.
Another day has almost passed. I'm watching DVD episodes of The Closure. Forgot how funny it was. 

Friday, March 27, 2020

Winter in Mexico

This past winter in Mexico was one of the best winters we have had there. And to think that when we left last year we said,"Never going to Mexico again!" But then we decided we didn't want last years dust, dirt, noise, and surgery to be our memories of Mexico. So we went back. No one got sick, not even a cold. Except for a few hammer bangs no construction noise or dirt. The weather was mostly perfect - cool nights and days around high 70 low 80's. Except for the one rain storm where I thought we'd float away. 

The water is risin' Mama and it got deeper then this!
Alien being turning off electricity.
And that's when we discovered one of our leak proof windows let in more water than the shower put out. That got fixed and no longer leaks.
We had both the RV and Jeep repainted. So they are really spiffy looking now. A matched pair. 

Both with their bankies covering the hood murals. So handsome now. 
Also some much needed repair work on the Jeep. We now have AC and no more clunks when driving. 
Pablo mechanic and his helper working on AC.
We had great friends to spend time with. Great places to visit and found several new restaurants and an amazing bakery. 
The reason I gained 10 pounds over the winter.

The bakery where the rolls are made in Centro
Met some new wonderful people. And spent time with several of our Mazatlan friends. 
Friend Roberto and his family checking out the Jeep as he had just bought on himself. 
For the most part our Dish Anywhere TV system worked. Got our Internet set up the first week we were there and it worked great until the last day we were there when it started acting up. Good timing.
As always there were amazing sunrises 
and sunsets. 
We were in Huatabampito when the Virus was taking hold and people north of the border were going crazy. So we bought paper goods and sanitizer there. Good thing, haven't found any yet in  the US.
The roads down and back for the most part were good. Just a couple of places still need work. The two new bypasses are great. And even spent less on tolls due to booths not collecting money. 
Got our deposit on the Jeep back within four days after leaving Mexico. 
We were gone 139 days door to door. Put 2522 miles on the RV and another 2300 on the Jeep. Yep, we do a lot of running around.  Our biggest expense - not counting work on vehicles, was eating out. 
Fat Fish Ribs the first night in Mazatlan 
Delicious Puntas de Res
We love to eat out. Groceries next biggest. I take that back campgrounds were the biggest expense. Las Jaibas was about USD 15 a day. And we were there 105 days. Bill went to the dentist there and got some teeth fixed for the price of just a visit to a dentist here in the US. 
Fuel for both vehicles totaled USD 1776. All in all with everything except work on vehicles included we averaged $78 a day.
We were out and about almost every day. Love the Carnaval Puppets this year - found all but one of them. 

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Doesn't take much to make me happy

Found a whole new can of Lysol Spray under the kitchen sink and our Hello Fresh meals will come today. - woowoo!  
Have refrig full of groceries. 
Working on a jigsaw puzzle that is going to take a while to do. The problem is it is a 500 piece puzzle and 400 of the pieces are the same color and seem to be interchangeable with the shapes. 
Someday it will look like this. 
Weather here is very cool - snowing in the mountains. High of maybe 60 today. But a week from now it is supposed to be 80 or above. Bills kind of weather. 
I am really missing NASCAR - now I have to figure out something else to do on Saturdays and Sundays. My growing collection of M & M stuff. The #18 car is sponsored by M&M's - until I was looking at the picture I didn't realize my Furby was sitting up there. 
Aren't they cute.
Also have a full season of the TV show "The Cowboy Way" on the DVR. 
This morning about 11:00 we made a trip to our bank, had lots of pesos to convert into dollars. Could not go in the bank so knew we'd have to go to the drive up window. I figured the line of cars would be around the block. Was surprised to find only four cars in front of us. And two employees who were going to each car to ask what we needed then took our paper work to the window. In about five minutes we had our receipt and were on our way home. Interaction with only one employee who kept his distance and wore gloves. Sanitized our hands before getting back on road. So one more thing off our list. 
Our Hello Fresh meals came - so for the next three nights we will eat good. 
The wind is supposed to quit blowing sometime tonight so tomorrow maybe we'll be able to take a walk with out rocks in our pockets to hold us down. 
Sure if different staying home because you want to and staying home because you have to. Makes the days seem A W F U L long.
And I've been walking up before dawn - so I think it is 4:00 in the afternoon and it isn't even noon yet!

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Changes, changes, changes

Spent half of the morning on the phone changing doctor's appointments. No way we want to sit in a waiting room with a bunch of sick people. They had already as much as cancelled them any way. So now go end of July. Maybe. So got that done. 
Called the bank to see if we could exchange our Pesos for dollars. No problem but has to be done through the drive up window. I am guessing there will be a long line for that. 
Also will hopefully be picking up our groceries at Walmart this afternoon between 4 and 5 o'clock. Wonder if we'll get everything we ordered and if there will be weird substitutions. 
Also finally got a hold of someone in the office of the community we live in to see if we had any problems with the last inspection. Yep we do. Need to replace a trim board and paint the skirting under it, and have to replace a vent cover - see picture below! Replace it? Just bend it up and glue it - replace it for one little slat...
The skirting is about 4 inches wide. Needs to be fixed and painted. 
The manager said not to worry about it they have suspended inspection repairs until later in the year. 
About our Walmart grocery pick up. Our pick up hours were between 4 -5. At about 15 to 4 I got an email telling me my order was ready. So we jumped in the car and headed over. On the way there I was downloading their app to the phone so I could tell them we were on our way. Followed the orange signs to the big orange covered parking area. In less than 5 minutes the groceries were being loaded in the trunk. Got here a little after 4 - like 4:05
 Trunk up waiting. 
 Another persons order heading towards their car. 
 Parking area.
By 4:12 we were pulling out of parking lot. Home by 4:25. I ordered 25 items. 3 items were out of stock and no substitutions - nothing important. 4 items I got substitutes - I could accept them or refuse. Three were just about the same, different brand. One was an upgrade for same price. Accepted all four. 
Produce was in good shape. Frozen food all still frozen. All in all a great experience. Will do it again next week. Now that I've figured out what to do and what to expect. 
I remembered I had bought two multi packs of jigsaw puzzles before we left for Mexico - so I am set for a while 
 Should keep me busy. 
In the near future [when I have nothing else to write about] I am going to write a probably two piece blog on Tico the potter from La Noria. Got lots of pictures and a couple of videos.