A good day!

I've been somewhat stressed lately. Part of why we decided to move to Belize was to, finally, relax and enjoy being retired. It's not very original, but all I've have felt is "tired". I do love the physical work and am so happy with what we're creating here, but stress still finds it's way into our lives.

Our lovely, new Sundanzer freezer died a painful death and to order the parts in Belize was absolutely ASTRONOMICAL. I contacted Sundanzer in the US and, bless them, after I gave them a report on how it acted and what happened, they agreed to send a new compressor and all the extra parts as a warrantee replacement. They shipped at an absolutely astronomical expense to them. Wonderful, but then, in jumps Belize customs. Even tho' we'd paid duty on the initial shipment and have since been accepted under the QRP (don't ask) they wanted duty on the part and the shipping costs and then they charge GST (sales tax) on the duty. SCREAM! Isn't that a tax on a tax? These things find you no matter what country you live in. Anyway, after days of wrangling, we hired a customs broker and he arranged to pay the duty and bro't the package to San Ignacio. Voile! His fee was about what the gas to make the trip would have cost and it saved my sanity. Next step will be to get Mr. Padilla up here to install the parts. Then we can retrieve our food from our friends freezer and HAVE ICE CUBES! That's what a freezer is all about down here.

Today we put the final boards on our wall. This should have been fairly easy, but after all, this is Belize where nothing turns out to be easy. The wall isn't perfect, but it's up. Tomorrow I'll put a coat of verithane on it and move on!


Also, yesterday we put up our first upper cabinet in our "kitchen". What a coup for us. I'll take a photo when we get the next cabinet finished.

The best part of the day tho' was a phone call from my brother and sister-in-law. My brother had surgery yesterday and is home today and doing great. I only tell this part because it's the most difficult part of living so far away. Even the small things grow to gigantic proportions when you're far from those you love. Thank goodness for cell phones and internet.

This old girl is tired so I'll close for now, but I'm heading to bed with a smile as it's been a good day!