a half-day in my life

I love having these "day in the life"posts to look back on, especially since my life seems to change so much from year to year.  The last time I did one of these, I just had one little boy...

 This time a half-day of documentation was about all I could handle :)

7am:  Lu's up so I'm up.  Do the diaper change/ bottle/ diaper change routine.  Put some water on to boil for baths (we don't have hot water!), and boil this morning's milk (Daniel milks our cow at 6am or so) for Miss M to drink.  Sweep the floor, wash some leftover dishes and bottles, feed the cat.  Daniel heads out.  Make Miss M's bottle.

8am: Miss M slept in today but now she's up. While she drinks her bottle, I take a quick bath.  Get M dressed, then put some more milk on to boil cause today I'm making some yogurt.  Mop the floor (M eats any dead bugs she can find so floors have to be suuuper clean) and do some dishes. Start to sort some beans for dinner, making stewed beans.  Lu falls asleep.

 

9am: Miss M is getting cranky, so take a I break and read her a story.  We go upstairs to sort some laundry, but after 10 minutes M decides she's had it.

turn the water on to do some laundry (I have to fill our machine with a hose, because we don't have enough water pressure for the machine to fill automatically).  Put Miss M in her chair and attempt to console her with food while I continue sorting beans.  Make some foster phone calls, get secretaries and voice mails.

 

10 am:  Mom calls, and we chat while I'm finally getting Miss M to eat.  Lu is awake, and gets a bottle. Culture the yogurt and put it in jars on a heating element to set.  Then I hear the awful sound of water hitting the floor-- I forgot to turn the hose off for the washing machine and it overflowed all over the bathroom floor.  I do this on a semi-regular basis.

 

11am:  Finally finished sorting the beans, and put them on the stove to cook.  Matters are not improving with Miss M (who has a cold, poor thing) so I decide we will have a youtube video dance party.  Lu looks on with glee.  Miss M gets a bottle, and put down for a nap.  I mop the bathroom floor.

12pm: Lu falls asleep.  I eat some lunch.  One hour of quiet, and then we start again....

one day

A lot has changed in my days since the last time I did a day in the life post.   A link-up on Hollywood Housewife  inspired me to carry my camera with me, and document all the ordinary things that I see.  I love reading about other people's routines,  head over to her post of you would like a glimpse of other days-in-the-lives

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1. discarded diaper  2. what the table always looks like now  3. in-house fashion consultant

1. sunny day  2. no paparazzi please  3. laundry lines

6:45-8am

able to sleep in a bit this morning as the baby is playing contently in his crib.  When the bottle banging on the crib rail gets insistent, take the baby down stairs and set him up in the pen with a bottle and some scattered cheerios. It’s sunny outside after 3 days of rain, so I start a wash.

Quickly check email, and hear a curious squelchy sound.   The baby has removed his diaper and tossed it.

1. sleep  2. lists by us, bite by destruct-o-baby  3. beans

8-11 

Put on beans for dinner (eventually will be chili), do dishes, have chocolate-banana shake for breakfast, rinse baby off after he experiments with eating baby powder,  take out trash, hang out laundry, clean up spilt milk, put baby down for nap, finally bathe and get dressed, sweep, pick up house, sit.

1. BEANS!!   2. car distraction  3. chocolate fail

11-12:00 

Baby wakes up.  Feed beans to baby (the only thing he’s guaranteed to eat right now), get things together for road trip, wipe down and dress baby, get out of house! A little nervous about running errands in Spanish Lookout, cause it is farther than I have ever driven by myself with the baby.  Fingers crossed!

12:45-2:30 

Arrive at Spanish Lookout with only about 10 minutes of whining/crying.  Stores are closed for lunchtime, so buy some snacks and have a car picnic.

Realize chocolate bribe-cookies  + warm baby hands was a bad idea.  Rookie mom fail.  Wipe down baby, quickly stop into store and get vanilla flavor. 

1. Lots of big machines around  2.  The main street  3. Feed mill

Spanish Lookout is probably the most developed community in the country.  It is the farming center of Belize, and mostly populated by Mennonites who have immigrated over the last 50 years or so.  It reminds me a lot of rural Pennsylvania, only with palm trees.  You can find most anything here.  Today  I stop at the tin smith, feed mill, agric supply store, and car parts store.  I'm the only woman at the car store, and I get a lot of funny looks.  

1. favorite stretch of highway  2. new grocery store  3. robbery

2:30-3:30

Heading home,  and decide to stop at a new grocery store.  Wipe vanilla cookie crumbs off the baby's hair, eyelashes, and back of neck before going in. This store is pretty clean and well stocked... and I even find some ginger ale, which is hard to come by and a huge treat.  Not a treat: stopping for gas.  $50.00 for 4 gallons of gas, enough to fill 1/4 of my tank.  

1. racing the rain  2. chasing the baby  3. Daniel is home

3:30-5
Rain is coming, race to get laundry in when I get home.  Put away groceries, and sit for a few minutes to drink my ginger ale.  Then start dinner while chasing a hysterically laughing baby in circles around the table.  Daniel comes home!

1. off to do chores  2. sunset  3.  sign for more food!

5-7
Daniel takes the baby in his carrier while he feeds the goats.  This is the highlight of the baby's day!  Then dinner.  We've taught the baby some sign language, and the most-used is "more." Still working on "please."  The baby gets a bath and a bottle, then off to bed a little early cause he is a bit cranky.  I put away leftovers, and wash the dishes.  

7-10
Sit down to edit pictures and check my email and google reader.  Maybe l will read a book later, although I don't have anything interesting lined up.  Then off to bed...

And to end, my favorite picture from the day, taken at sunset.

what it's like living without electricity

So we are on week 3 of no electricity.  We were told  we should be able to get electricity within 4 weeks of getting an estimate… unfortunately, it has now been 2 weeks since they promised our estimate would be ready.  Since I’m at work most of the day, I’m not having that much difficulty living without electricity.  I charge my cell phone and computer each day at work;  that way, if we want to watch a movie in the evening or I want to work on editing pictures, I have a few hours of battery life.    Eating has become a bit repetitive-- mostly bean based, but we still eat well.  The pot of beans gets boiled morning and night, and any time it is opened during the day.  So far, keeping beans like this has worked for 4-5 day stretches at a time before they start to taste slightly off.  We have quesadillas, beans and toasted cheese, burritos, eggs and beans….  As for meat, a few times we have been able to buy small portions of beef and cook that (mostly meat comes in packs that bring way too much for one meal).  Any leftovers are kept in a covered pan, and boiled before eating again (and eaten as soon as possible).  We are buying small amounts of groceries more frequently to keep things from spoiling.  The biggest expense so far is laundry--  we’re paying $20 Bze a week to get our laundry done, but it’s a necessity because I don’t have time to wash everything by hand.  And Daniel’s farm clothes get really dirty and yucky.  Another annoyance is no iron.  When I was a teacher here I somehow never needed to iron clothes (or maybe my clothes were wrinkled, but we didn’t have a mirror so I couldn’t tell).  Anyways, now I’m limited to a few wrinkle-resistant outfits I have been wearing over and over for work.  In the evenings we have light till about 7, and after that we use candles and a kerosene lantern.  The lantern actually gives enough light to read by, although it does get kind of smoky.  I'm paranoid to leave it without someone in the room though because I’m afraid of the cat knocking it over, although so far she hasn’t gone near it.  This results in me carrying a lantern around from room to room, which makes me feel very 18th- century.  We also are getting a lot more sleep- we go to bed around 9pm and get up at 6am or earlier (um, we got some guinea hens, and they like to make a lot of noise around 5am. But their feathers are so pretty!)  We boil water in a kettle on the stove when we want hot water.   I do miss listening to music or downloaded podcasts on my computer while I’m cleaning or cooking, but it tends to run the computer battery down fast.  We have a solar-powered radio, but the only radio channels are a Christian Spanish channel and Love FM (which is wonderful during a hurricane, but leaves much to be desired the rest of the time).   

Honestly, I expected to become cranky and fed up with this situation really quickly (I only lasted 1 week when we didn't have running water before throwing a major fit.  We had running water the next day.)  But... it really isn't that big of a deal.  Shocking, coming from someone who hates camping.  I sort of feel like Laura Ingalls :)

My parents are coming to visit next week, but they will stay in a cabin with electricity :)  We’ll send our fans over for them to use, and probably borrow the fridge for a little.  Cold drinks!!

still no electricity

It has now been one week without power (although we spent the weekend visiting friends in Corazol, is that cheating?) The other day I went and got my glue gun to fix something, only to realize after I plugged it in, this isn't going to work.  Then I figured all the gun does is melt the glue, so I got a glue stick, held it over a candle, and used a toothpick to apply the glue.  Worked perfectly-- actually it was even more accurate and way less messy then the glue gun.  I felt quite smug with myself.  Then I went upstairs and freaked out because there was a HUGE spider in my dresser draw.  Only, when I got a flashlight I discovered it was just a (highly lethal) hair clip.

29 on the 29th

Last week was my birthday, and since I was 29 on the 29th, which seems kinda special, I decided to document the day with photos.  Here are a few.


good morning flower bouquet from Daniel



birthday outfit bought at the market** fresh goat's milk with milo (a powdered chocolate drink) for breakfast** goats in the driveway** driving to work- the river is dirty from all the rain

lunch with Padre Mark**Dona Betty made beef burritos with fresh tortillas, so good** they just put in a new patio behind the rectory, and it is a lovely spot

Daniel made my birthday cake, and I decorated it :)

our nephews (yes, the one with pig tails is a boy- his parents are having anxiety issues about cutting his long curly hair), helping finish off the cake

It was a really nice day.  And the best part (my present) is still to come...!