I’ve been incommunicado while I decide how my entire life will pan out from this moment forward. So sayeth the woman who cannot commit to where she’ll BE in four months.
We had a fantabulous Christmas; Pike, after bemoaning the fact for WEEKS, that we would, against all rules of sanity and nature, celebrate Christmas with a PALM tree (and not a PINE tree) as our ornament of Christmasnes, said it was the Best Christmas Evah. I resisted the urge to choke him. And that was my Christmas gift to him. The Grandparents sent money, and while we’ve been too lazy and the ultimate in lousy parenting to even advise the girls of this fact, and the idea of using the money for equestrian lessons, the boys have known forever and have been salivating over the oodles of pennies they can be spending. Pike got a bike, Jesse a skateboard (which he can ONLY use in the palapa or at a parking lot as we live surrounded by SAND!!!!) and both are contemplating further purchases. When we were in the US I got Jesse a Monopoly set (Deluxe edition) for $5.99 at a thriftstore. We found that the set has never been used when we began a (still unfinished) game Christmas day. What an amazing steal. He is loving it, but figured out the present ahead of time and was crestfallen to realize he would not be getting legos. The boy sometimes makes me go HUH??? Continue reading Spoiled rotten. Like a tomato festering in the sun.
What a wonderful day to celebrate the return of the sun. Filled though it was with Sissy barfing, Jamie falling ill yet again (tummy?), Ellen hanging out with the sickies and with funny tummy herself but the boys and myself quite well.
One of the good things about living in PaaMul is that we can have our house (trailer) with us all the time. We also get to have our house with us, steps from the Caribbean. We further get to pay merely a trifle for this pleasure. BUT, living in a community of Canadians, Americans and merely a handful of Mexicans (our neighbor is Mexican and one of 4 families I can think of living here) means we see none of the Mexican culture. And really, why live here (other than the turquoise seas and flour sand, endless sky and barefoot in December weather) so isolated from the culture. I am beginning to become quite unhappy with the fact that the children are not realizing any cultural exchange and am looking to seek it out. 
It’s a good thing we’re on Mexican time because I don’t think we could go any slower. Yesterday Jamie and I installed a light. We now have luz in the comedor. It is a pretty light; it is one I picked out many months ago as being “perfect” for the comedor but Jamie wasn’t convinced. Fortunately, he was sick recently and I took the opportunity to not only pick up the light I’ve been wanting but a light for the recamera also. The day before yesterday I figured out where I wanted the wiring to go and hung the light. Yesterday we wired her in, tied the wiring on the posts of the palapa and wired in a switch. First we wired it in wrong and fought over who would test. One person had to fight off the snakes to get to the main circuit breaker and the other would pop the switch. I fought the snakes and Jamie donned rubber and hit the switch. Unfortunately, we didn’t consult Ms. Google beforehand and popped the house circuit breaker a couple times before figuring out we’d made a wiring error. I then proposed a change; Jamie made it and then reasoned it out in his head. I know NOTHING about electricity so it was probably a good thing he reasoned it out after I cowboy’d it in. I then fought off snakes again and he bravely manned the switch and it all worked! And now we have light! And it only took an entire day. 
You know that rich, full, heavy, somewhat burnt but really only heavy smoke sensation your tongue takes upon itself after a nice full cup of coffee? I’m sitting with that right now. And it was worth every torturous minute we spent acquiring it. We have both a Cubano roast and an Italiano roast. And they are heavenly. When we spent time in Coatepec and Xico and Xalapa earlier this year, we visited many roastaries but could not find one with a roast we liked. I loved the medium tostado roast I found in San Rafael, with a coffee from Coatepec that was so chock full of caffiene I didn’t know what to do with myself. The roast was very toasty, the beans simply brown but the coffee was anything but acidic. It was intriguing; light roast but still good. I don’t think I’ve had a light roast that wasn’t bitter or simply weak before that one. 