Monday - Friday 3/7 - 3/11- It’s the weekdays again and we are back to our week-day routine. Get up, drink coffee on the deck together, I work, Ramie goes down to the house to work on that. This week he spent time really trying to get everything ready so we could move in. He worked with (and pushed along) the contractors to get all of the necessary items completed, he cleaned, he organized, he got the washer & dryer hooked up and started doing the laundry with the towels and sheets that we had shipped down, he got the gas lines installed for the stove/oven so that was ready for me to cook on, installed the water line for the fridge (we needed one with an automatic ice maker- it’s crazy how much ice you go through when it’s 80* or higher every day).
We also got a pool company to come out and fix the green swamp that our pool had become over the last few weeks.
A few days, while Ramie was working down at the house, I would take an hour break from working and start packing items from the rental house that we didn’t use particularly often, extra groceries, and various things that we wouldn’t need for the remainder of our time there and got it ready to move to the house. He would come back up to the rental in the early afternoon, pick me and the newly packed bins up, and we would go down to the house to unpack the bins and put things away, then bring the bins back up to the rental and do it all again the next day. Or, if we didn’t go back down to the rental house in the afternoon, he would just bring those bins with him the next day and unpack them. If we did end up needing something that we already moved, it’s not like it was far to go to get it, plus, Ramie was down there every day. We’re getting pretty good at finding reasonable substitutes for many things, too, so chances are there would be something else that we could use to get us through being “without something we needed” for a few days. We’re just flexible like that (you really have to be here!). By the end of the week, the cabinets and drawers were starting to look pretty bare at the rental and we were getting down to the bare basics that we needed to live off of: clothes, toiletries, some food. The cabinets at the new house, on the other hand, were filling up nicely and looking like a home that was ready to live in. Our goal was to sleep our first night in our new house Saturday night.
Saturday 3/12- The weekend was here, Ramie and the contractors worked on the house all week, and our goal was to spend tonight in the new house. We got up and made our coffee for the morning, but I don’t even think we made it through our whole cup before we pulled the suitcases off of the top shelf of the closet and started packing all of our clothes (we hadn’t brought any clothes down to the house yet, just the rest of the house stuff), bathroom/toiletries stuff, the rest of the groceries and things that were in the fridge & freezer, and the rest of everything that we had at the rental. It all fit into one truckload, including Breeze.
We were fully packed, out the door, and unloading the last of our items at the new house before 10am and spent the rest of the day unpacking, organizing, and really figuring out how to set things up in the best way that will work for us. It was exhausting but again, oh so exciting. As I unpacked and put away the last of the groceries I was excited to cook on my new stove with so many of the pots, pans, and gadgets that I had back at our old house in MN. As we made the bed with our new mattress, we were excited to get to sleep in a soft bed with our favorite pillows that we had shipped down in our pallets and hadn’t used yet.
As we worked our butts off working to get things organized, we looked out at the pool and were excited to get to relax and cool off in the water.
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| It's not green any more- and it's looking VERY inviting! |
Well that sounds like a FANTASTIC idea right about now. After a few hours of working so hard we decided we had done enough for the day and went to enjoy that first dip in our new pool. After we had relaxed for a little while, it was time for me to cook dinner in my new kitchen. And not long after we finished dinner, we were absolutely exhausted, so we got to shower in our new bathroom and go to sleep in that new soft bed of ours.
Pura Vida- now in our very own little piece of paradise.
Welcome to Casa Costa Breeze!
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| Breeze (its hard to spot her) is enjoying our super comfy bed before we kicked her out to climb in ourselves |
Sunday 3/13- As many of you have probably experienced at least once in your life, your first night in a new place may not be the best night of sleep. New surroundings, new sounds, the excitement of being somewhere you have been waiting to be… all of those things can lead to a restless night. Neither Ramie nor I slept very well despite being exhausted the night before. The bed was comfortable, though, so at least if we were lying awake tossing and turning, it was in a comfy place!
Even though we were in a new home with new surroundings, some things just didn't change- like that morning routine that we have of drinking our coffee outside- we were still going to do that. I am awake and out of bed before Ramie 99% of the time, so I’m in charge of starting the coffee and am usually at least 1/2 done with my first cup before he gets out of bed. Last night before bed I made sure I knew where all of the coffee supplies were, so this morning I was able to get up, get the coffee going, and sit out on the patio to enjoy my first early morning here. Now, this is bliss! It wasn’t long before Ramie joined me and we discussed our plans for today.
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| This coffee cup (and the matching one) may not be pretty any more, but they have came with me everywhere I've called home for more than 20 years. A gift from my godmother years and years ago. |
Even though we still had a fair amount of unpacking and organizing to do, we were going to spend this morning back up at the rental house cleaning and using the internet for a little while. We didn’t waste much time, we finished our coffee and headed back up the mountain to the little rental house that we had lived in for the last 9 1/2 months. This was going to be just the opposite of what Ramie has done for the last few weeks. We deep cleaned everything, scrubbed the floors and appliances, washed out all of the cabinets, dusted everything, and made it look just like it did on June 2 when Loren brought us up there for the first time. Before we left, we pulled the patio furniture into the house, covered the bed and couch with a sheet to keep the bug and gecko poop from getting all over it (it’s easier to wash sheets than mattresses and cushions), closed most of the windows, turned the fans down to to low to just keep the air circulating, and turned off the majority of the electrical breakers. This was it, other than to use the internet a few more times before they shut it off at the end of the month and to come back for all of the plants we had gathered in our little garden area that we would bring down to the house in a few weeks, this was it.
As we walked out the door for what would be more or less one of the last times, we looked back into our little rental house. We were so excited to be moving into our new home, but just a little bit sad to be leaving this cozy house in a very private and quiet neighborhood with great people that we now call friends. We will love our new house, that I have no doubt, but knew it wouldn’t be as peaceful as it was here. I guess it’s a trade off, and like I said, I know that we will absolutely love living in our new home!
Monday 3/14- Similar to our coffee every morning out on the patio, some routines can stay very similar or the same even if the place that you are doing them changes. It’s Monday, so it’s back to work for me. We don’t have internet yet, and we just recently received a message from our US phone carrier saying that since we were spending so much time out of the US, they would be turning off our international data, so we worked with Geiner to get me a Tico sim card for my phone and continue to have data and use my phone as a hotspot so I could work from home. Loren has stressed many times how I am more than welcome to come use the internet at the mini-golf when I need it, as well, but the convenience of working at home, working early in the morning or while multi-tasking and taking breaks to cook or do other chores is just too important. (I guess I got spoiled starting at the beginning of COVID when, overnight, I was transitioned to work full time from home. For over a year I had truly only been to the office on average about once or twice per month). So, here I was working from my new “office”. My desk wasn’t finished yet, so I got to work out on the patio on the picnic/dining table overlooking the pool and our new backyard. Just like up at the rental house, only different scenery. This is not bad at all!
Once Ramie got up, he joined me on the patio for his coffee, and after a little while he got to work with the still unfinished unpacking and organizing. While we had the majority of everything put away, we still had all of those odds and ends sitting around- things that you just don’t know where you are going to put them. Some of them found homes, some of them got packed into bins, and those bins finally got stacked out of the way in the corner of the unfinished closet or laundry room. We had to have our house fully livable and comfortable by the end of today!
“Why?” you ask, “you’ve only been in the house for a couple of days, give yourself some time!”
Well, the answer is quite simple. Tomorrow we welcome our very first guests to Casa Costa Breeze, and don’t want their first impression to be that they are coming into a mess. We want it to be welcoming and look like the perfect place for them to relax on their vacation! Pura Vida, welcome to Casa Costa Breeze!
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| Even Breeze knows this is home- she used to sleep on these same rugs in front of the stove & sink back in MN too. 💜Happy Puppy!🐶 |
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