Spoiled rotten. Like a tomato festering in the sun.

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???

Pike, not to be outdone, also realized that HE wasn’t getting legos either (why do they suddenly decide that Legos are essential for life when they haven’t played with them for eons?) and moped moped moped moped moped. I left him to stew, took Jesse to the evil empire and got the boy his Santa present. Jesse then knew Pike had Legos coming and life was simply unbearable. I decided to let him mope but kept suicide watch, as he’d already told me that Christmas had pretty much been ruined by knowing his presents already. We also fixed two laptops in the US and had given them to the boys as Christmas presents. Ungrateful? Not quite, but I could somewhat empathize.

I then, managed to ruin Christmas for Jamie by figuring out what he was giving me (which is a huge departure in tradition as we NEVER get each other anything) and telling him I really didn’t want it or the expense. Sigh. Next year I think I’ll hire myself out as a Grinch. I did send him out for “groceries” and while Jesse tried to get him on the phone to order a Santa Lego set, he never managed to do so (as I’d already warned Jamie not to answer and then erased the text message). So, on the eve of the WORST Christmas known to humankind, we watched Norad Santa, the boys moped and the girls were giddy with excitement. By Santa present wrapping time (we wrap the Santa gift in different paper and after the Santa believers have gone to sleep) Jesse had come around and so excited was he, that after going to bed at 02:00 he managed to drag his excited self out of bed at 06:30 and try to wake the rest of us.

The boys were excited beyond belief, as were the girls. Legos, bicycle, skatebaard, horses, fairies, unicorns, dragons, knives; it was The Best Christmas Evah. So, we thank Papa and Tata, Grandma Elinor, the kids got each other lovely, thoughtfu, gifts and for us, Jesse and Pike gave COUPONS! As I type, my slave boy Pike is complying with one coupon and cleaning the entire trailer. After feasting on a mixture of Mexican and American favorites, we headed down to the beach to complete the day with Mexican families, playing in the waves, sitting in the sand, staring at the horizon and watching the sky turn from deep blue to golden.

What all the above has to do with the first paragraph? Absolutely nothing. But this is how my mind works, I begin and then the tangents arrive and I have no choice but to follow them and see where they lead. Soooooooo… I’ve been thinking and thinking and considering and pondering and have come to many conclusions. I’ve been researching RN work. CNRA work. DEM/CPM work. Job prospects. Salary considerations. Job security. Ability to travel in said career. And this morning I thought I knew what it would be and then I walked out of the trailer, got the laundry to hang and realized that the rat race is what we ESCAPED from and I really really really like hanging out in Mexico and the slow pace of life and spending time with family and the luxury of living on the Caribbean. And I am LOATHE to give that up to high stress, back breaking labor, uncertainty of where and when the money will come, and not seeing the family for a good solid couple of years. So, I’m still wondering. I do believe a spreadsheet is in order.