Just Slogging Along and Downsizing

The more stuff I take to the various charity shops, the more stuff I seem to find in the house. All our Christmas items are on Craigs List and I've had a few calls but no buyers. It's a real deal: $100 will get you a 6 foot tree with stand and carrying bag, tree and outdoor LED lights, ornaments for the tree that are really nice, a bag of wrapping paper and gift bags, and assorted decorations for table tops. One of my favorites is a fabric white swan with a wreath around his neck.

Genny the cat has been spending inordinate amounts of time at her vet. Routine blood tests before her dental cleaning showed a UT infection and blood in her urine. Antibiotics have cleared up the infection but the blood remains. This coming Friday she is booked for ultrasound and x-rays on bladder and kidneys to find out what might be going on. Could be a stone and that can be removed, but kidney problems are more difficult to treat. She is ten years old now and hardly sick a day in her life.

I spend a lot of time reading Costa Rican blogs and have started reading A.M. Costa Rica, an English language on-line newspaper. Their rainy season this year has been so bad. It should be ending soon, everyone hopes.

We were confused ....

... but now I think we are not, maybe, I hope. Regarding our pensionado documentation, I originally thought we would have all our paperwork done by the Costa Rican Consulate in North Vancouver. But, part of that paperwork required that we have a lawyer in Costa Rica to advise us. So we now have our CR lawyer and he has looked over all our documents and pronounced them to be okay and advises us that all we have to do now is have them certified by the Consulate in N. Vcr. and then send the certified documents to him and he will deal with Immigration in CR. When we arrive there sometime in May, our lawyer will take us around and about to be fingerprinted, get driver's licenses, etc.

As marido pointed out twice today, WE ONLY HAVE SIX MONTHS!!!!!!  Yes, that is so.  Well, this last week I've found a lovely woman to take all my orchids - I cannot bring them with us because of agricultural restrictions - so that is a step forward. Next step: putting our furniture on CraigsList.

Labor Day Weekend

What to do on this long weekend? Labor! I have my old, wood drafting table on Craigs List and a couple of people have expressed interest. So I spent what seemed like too much time dismantling it, carrying it down from my studio on the second floor, then putting it together again and storing in the garage. I can paint anywhere so can get along without a table for the next few months.

We now have a lawyer in San Jose to deal with Immigration for us, give us advice, and move our paperwork along. He was recommended to us by an American couple who moved to Costa Rica a couple of years ago.