Things that draw me to Isla...

Okay, so when I was planning my Christmas trip to Mexico, I didn't initially think I would go to Isla. Then, when I was finalizing my plans, I did a quick check on Isla hotels and found a great bargain for four out of the ten days I'll be down there. What can I say? I'm an Islaholic. I hear they have a 12-step program for that. But I figure there are worse things I could be addicted to.

So why do I like Isla so much?

Meeting up with old friends...

Haha! I love these guys. In fact, last time I was there, I couldn't say 'no' and bought one of them to take home. I have him sitting on the bookshelf above my computer. My oldest son spent the night at my apartment recently and he had to leave early in the morning before I got up. He used my computer to check his e-mail and saw "Juan" (that's what I call him) on the bookshelf. He left me a note under Juan that said, "Mom, this is creepy and I'm really worried about you." Haha! I think I'll bring home about a dozen of them on my next trip and scatter them around my apartment...then invite Jeffrey over. (But then I might be writing my next blog post from the local psychiatric ward after Jeffrey has me committed.)

So, on to why I like Isla. The shopping...

What you run into off the beaten path...

The eclectic...

The color...

An occasional shot of tequila...

The loncherias...

With their wonderful breakfasts. And after trying my hand at making Huevos Motulenos, I will heavily tip the wonderful ladies who make this dish because it is NOT a quick fix.

The shushing angels in the cemetery...

The friendly natives...

Sidebar: When these kids saw I was taking their picture, the older one ran up to the younger one and put his arms around him. My three boys would definitely NOT have looked as loving for picture-takers at that age. In fact, I would have probably had to drag them from the street and given them all a time-out. Thank God they have gotten past that stage and actually DO hug each other when they get together now.

And the smiles...

The hard workers on the island for such little pay...

And the ability to just sit back and watch the world go by...

Not to mention the beautiful flowers...

And a little bit of humor...

And things that I remember that are no longer there...

The sunsets...

As well as the various views of the beautiful surrounding sea...

And just the every day feel of the island...

Who knows...maybe on my next trip, I'll find something comparable to Isla and will have another home away from home. There's a whole big world out there ready to be explored. But Isla will always be special.

Guess what I got today!!

I went by my bank today to put in an order for some pesos before my trip in a few weeks...which I had thought would take a couple weeks to get. When I asked how long it would be, she said, "Oh, we have them here now." Yay! I only got $100 worth...which came out to $1,180 in pesos...and no fees. Last time I left for Mexico, I didn't have any pesos and I didn't like having to search around for an ATM machine when I got there to get some. Now I'll have incidental money for whatever comes along when I get there...which I fold up in my colorful little Mexican coin purses. Then, when I'm settled, I'll make the dash to the ATM machine.

The trip is all arranged and paid for. First stop...Playa del Carmen which I will use as a home base for traveling to Chichen Itza and Tulum. But I am mostly looking forward to Valladolid. (Not my picture.) I think I will really love the charm of a colonial city.

Then a few days on Isla...

Only 20 more days and counting...

Thanksgiving...and Black Friday...and some other things...

I was lying in bed Thanksgiving morning thinking about all the things I had to do that day. The thought came to me that I should make deviled eggs as an appetizer. Fifteen minutes later, I got a text message from my oldest son... "You should make deviled eggs." Hmmm...weird. But I had to go with the strange connection, so here they are (or were)...

I didn't get many shots of the group that day. Here are Jeffrey and Jonathan...the oldest and the youngest...duking it out on Jeffrey's X-Box or Playstation or whatever it is. They couldn't look more thrilled, right?

Here's Jared with Nutter....

And Jeffrey with his girlfriend, Erica. Notice how they're dressed. Jeffrey looks like he's headed for the beach and Erica looks like she's headed for a ski lodge. Erica has lived her whole life in Texas, so anything under 70 degrees is like freezing. Jeffrey has lived in Wisconsin and South Dakota, so it has to get DAMN cold before he feels like he needs to put on a long-sleeved shirt.

I made the Thanksgiving meal and while Jeffrey was carving the turkey, Erica said, "You didn't get a picture of the turkey when it was done!" Damn it. She was right. So here it is...carved.

I really wish I HAD gotten a picture of it before we carved it because this is the absolutely BEST turkey I have ever had in my entire life. And I'm not saying that to brag...it's just the truth. I normally make turkey the same way every year, but I was watching an episode on Food Network with Tyler Florence which offered a different recipe. Combine two sticks of softened butter with salt and 1/4 cup of fresh sage and stuff it under the skin. Oh, my God...it was absolutely wonderful. I have never had such moist, juicy and tender turkey...EVER! Even the kids said they couldn't believe how moist it was...especially the white meat which can tend to be kind of dry.

That was a winner, but Tyler's version of cranberries and orange sauce was a definite...

I'm not a cranberry fan, but I thought the recipe sounded kind of interesting...with orange juice and cinnamon. NOT! It was bitter and I ended up throwing the whole thing down the drain. (I probably need to learn a thing or two about cooking with cranberries.)

So, it was Black Friday yesterday. Jeffrey and his girlfriend are going to Colorado in January, so I told Jeffrey I'd buy him a coat since he doesn't have one. We decided to meet at Cabela's to see what they had. We got there at 10:00 a.m. and saw they were giving out free samples.

MMmmmmmm...nothing better than pork rinds in the morning. Okay, on second thought, I can think of about a million things that would be better than pork rinds in the morning. To each his own.

So Jeffrey and I are looking around at coats and I take this picture...

Is Mr. Moose looking at me and asking, "Are you people for real??" Personally, I think I prefer the company of Mr. Moose than some of the people I saw at Cabela's yesterday.

On another personal note, I think "Black Friday" is the biggest materialistic farce this country has come up with. The thought of people going shopping in the middle of the night and standing in line for hours just boggles my mind. My friend, Paul, from Rapid City, South Dakota, said he was going to check out the 4:30 deal at Best Buy for a computer. I expressed my doubts about his plan. This was his outcome...in his words:

"....There is always a first for everything---and in most cases we never really forget the 'first' of most anything. Today was my first attempt at the Black Friday shopping frenzy. I got to Best Buy at 4:15...the parking lot was full and about 2500 people waited in line. There were cops and coffee vendors. What I wanted was a computer that had been marked down in a huge way. Regardless, the paper said there would be 18 of them. They weren't 'doorbusters' so it was first come = first served. This is a desk top so my pea brain figured the 2500 people in front of me would be fighting over TV's and laptops. Regardless, when I got in they were all gone. The geek in the blue shirt said they passed out numbers in the line before the doors ever opened. I'm pissed.I've never seen such a frenzy....crazy people, who had already been at some of the midnight and three a.m. openings. I felt like a puppet. Thousands of people with money clenched in their fists ready to do battle for a GPS. The women were crazier than the men. Lemming, or Buffalo being driven over the cliff, came to mind. I didn't fall for the bait and switch and step up another couple of C-notes for a similar computer.The guy in front of me wanted to score a Blue Ray something or another that was normally priced at $30 and now only fifty will be available at $10 each. This dude had been in line longer than I was to save twenty bucks. Unbelievable. At least I was trying to score a $700 savings from the original price.In short: Never again. I shouldn't have fallen for this crap this time. Black Friday has been experienced, and has left the building, forever."

On that note, I had no desire to be a part of Black Friday. I think Christmas in the U.S. is totally too commercialized and has gone completely away from what it should be all about...especially when they start playing Christmas music in the stores at Halloween to get you in the mood to buy Christmas presents. My dos centavos.

A few random thoughts...

Nutter's phobia of the carpet seems to be waning. I guess it was an adolescent phase she was going through.

This is a flower that is blooming on my balcony...thought it deserved a photo.

Here's the Sopa de Lima I made out of leftover turkey yesterday. Muy bueno.

And one more totally off-the-wall thing. This is something you can entertain your family and friends with over the holidays. A couple of years ago, Jared and I were at an IHOP in New Braunfels and our waiter showed us this trick. I had totally forgotten about it, but Jared reminded me of it yesterday. You stick the tines of two forks together and put one toothpick in the middle of the tines and another one in a salt shaker. Then balance the end of the toothpick in the forks on the end of the toothpick in the salt shaker. Sometimes it takes awhile to get it balanced and, depending on the forks, sometimes it doesn't work. But it really impresses people because it doesn't look like it should work. Must be a "law of physics" thing.

Now I have this mental image of everyone running to their kitchens to get out the forks and toothpicks. Hahaha! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm so confused!!!

So I've been in my apartment for almost four months now. I have a six month lease which expires the end of January. I know I don't want to stay here. It's a nice place, but the rent is pretty high and it doesn't include anything like cable, internet, water, etc., like a lot of other apartments do in the area. But when I sold my house last July, I had to find something fast and didn't have the opportunity to shop around. Besides that, I don't like the fact that no one so much as says "boo" to you when you walk around...very unsociable place.

So I was looking in the newspaper on Friday and saw an ad for a condo apartment. Out of curiosity, I went to take a look at it to see what else is out there. It was owned by an elderly woman and was in an older community of mostly professional people as opposed to students. It was $800 a month for two bedrooms/two baths, tiled living/dining room and kitchen, carpeted bedrooms, large patio, fireplace and wetbar in the living room. The rent includes cable and water. It was cute and had more character than the place I have now. But since my lease isn't up until the end of January, I'd have to pay rents at both places, which would just be throwing money away.

I took Jared by it yesterday and he thought it was cute, too, but it's still just an apartment. So after talking about it over breakfast, we went by the new subdivision that I did a post on last month. After viewing all the models, we agreed that this one would best suit our needs. It's called a "courtyard" home in which the grounds and exterior are maintained by an HOA for about $75 a month.

Although I'm not crazy about split levels, it has two totally separate living areas which would be great for both of us. Even though days can go by where we don't see one another in the apartment because of work and school schedules, when we ARE there together we kind of feel on top of one other.

I would have the upstairs area...

...with an extra room for an office...

And Jared would have the downstairs with a separate kitchen area...

Living area with a separate entrance to an outdoor patio area...

And bedroom...

We talked to the sales guy for about two hours on how much it would cost and the extras you can get. I can't get the $8,000 tax break because I've owned a home too recently, but the guy said that if Jared went in on the mortgage, HE could qualify for it...especially since he has excellent credit with a car loan and an American Express card. So, bottom line, with the considerable down payment I would put down, the monthly payment would be around $800 which includes the HOA fee and upgrades like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances (which I would want to do for resale purposes).

Sounds like a great deal, but I hesitate because I've heard lots of people say that the economy is going to get worse and I'm almost afraid to buy anything for fear of what's going to happen in the future. And I really question the resale value of these places. I had thought that I it would be an investment because I could always rent it out, but the HOA will only allow 20% of the homes to be rented out.

Then last night, Jill met a retired guy in Merida who's into real estate and she sent me his link:
http://mexintl.com/index.html So I could get this cute little place in Merida Centro for $59,900...

Look at these floors!

Or this little fixer-upper (also in Merida Centro) for $39,000...

Yeah, it needs a little work, but I could do wonders!

This is a yard I could handle...

Now I'm more confused than ever.