And I’ve already knocked a few things off the list!
installing a vanity*
lots of painting (including a huge design in the unfinished basement) and fence (aka Owen’s paradise)
staining the back deck
tearing down a makeshift fort in the garage**
refinishing the kitchen counter
more paintingresealing the hardwood floors
mowing the lawn***and much, much more!
We decided not to redo the floors or counters, so all I have left from the original list is staining the fence! As for the much, much more, there certainly is!
Next up: Mowing the Lawn…
I’ve got something for your floors that you will Looooooooove! It’s called Holloway House Quick Shine, and here’s a link: http://www.hollowayhouse.net/products/56-hardwood-floor-care-product.aspx
Trust me on this, sweetcakes, I have used it to renew old hardwood floors in probably 10 different historic houses in Knoxville, and it is amazing. In some of them, you would never dream that a few coats of anything could save the floor. You can apply up to 6 coats of Holloway House, and it is magic, the way it brightens and perks up the floor. Once dry, it looks like you’ve screened the floor and applied new polyurethane. It doesn’t yellow, either, and you can also use it on vinyl and some tile, believe it or not.
It’s not the same as Future or Mop & Glo or really any other product. I’ve never found anything that comes close. Your floors will be blindingly beautiful!
Where were you two weeks ago? And why didn’t I think to ask you? Silly Hoo. I will definitely look into this, thanks!
Hi Melanie, I found your blog site while I was Googling for “Tiny ants”. Firstly, I agree with Carole’s advice about Halloway House Product. I am a retired cleaning woman who owned her own business. Back to your blog…I moved to Mismaloya on Feb. 4th 2012 with the intentions of staying for 6 months and come back again the following year and get my FM3. What a difference a month makes in that decision. I truly understand all you have been through while living in Mexico. Plus you have children and a dog. I have become “bug phobic’ since living here. I have not read all of your stories yet (but intend to) so I do not know if you mentioned the head lice epidemic here. Even on the bus, I can see the eggs in people’s hair. I did notice that employees who work for Resorts seem lice free. I was bitten up with noseeunm’s the first month I was here. Gradually, I guess my body got immuned to them. For some strange reason I do not have a problem with ants. Maybe because I am alone and clean up immediately when I have food out. Everything is in zip lock bags, containers or refrigerated. I was Googling ants because they interest me. I had them at the hotel I stayed at in November 2011. No sooner than I had put something down, they came out of no where. I never had that experience before or saw such tiny, teeny ants. I hope to be a fan of yours as you take on your new adventure. I have to go back and see if you ever built the bunk beds. I, too am leaving July 21st to go back home. I am sorry to say I have changed my mind on retiring full time to Mexico. I guess I am too much of a clean freak to live there. Every day I sweep and every day there is dirt so that I have to sweep. I mop every day and will not bring my shoes into the house. I wear slippers that have not come in contact with the outside. Am I being overly phobic? I think not, all I can think about is roundworm, hookworm, etc. I did get the time to write poetry because of all the new sounds, scents, world and people that I discovered. I live in a tiny mountain jungle village about 25 minute bus ride south of Puerto Vallarta. Our village is poor too. I will be leaving a colony of feral cats and kittens behind that have allowed me to feed and pet them. I will miss the beauty of the mountains, the Bay and roosters. Yes….I will miss the noise of Mexico. I do not know if where you lived, you experienced Mexican Noise? It may be a problem for outsiders to get used to, especially if they are light sleepers but it was new and exciting to me. Music day and night, dogs barking, children playing outside until midnight. This was all new and exciting to me. Now when I go back home to Colorado, all will be quiet, like a vacuum. I have started writing Haiku poetry and had 2 of my poems put on a website. All was not lost in my Mexican adventure but time to move on to a new adventure. It’s a new day right? To me that means a new adventure for a 68 year old breast cancer survivor.
Hi Cynthia,
Wow, it sounds like you’ve been through a lot! I enjoyed aspects of my life in Mexico, but I am glad to be back in the US. I certainly was surrounded by the noises of Mexico! ALL the time! I’m much better with bugs now than I used to be, but I still never want to see another cockroach in my life!
Thanks for reading,
Melanie