Green To Not So Green

So "dry" season in Costa Rica supposedly starts in mid-November and continues to mid-May.  This has not really been the case this year.  We had rain going into like mid-late December and then it stopped.  Until this week there it has poured four days.  Not the entire day, but for a couple hours.   Which i guess is weird for dry season.  My plants like it, so I am cool with it!

Speaking of plants, I have started planting some seeds to grow some of our own veggies.  I know NOTHING about this, so we will see how it goes.  I am so far growing garlic, bell peppers, leeks and radishes.  Planted all at different times.  Leeks were just planted today.  The garlic, which was only planted two days ago is already sprouting up!  And the bell peppers and radishes were planted less than a week ago and are already sprouting like crazy plants!  It's insane.  Such fun seeing how fast stuff grows here.  I think it will not be long before Kurt is building me a garden area, as the pots will not work for the bigger stuff I may want to plant if I continue to be interested in gardening.  So far, I love it! 

With the house, Kurt finished my closet in the bedroom, and installed the solar lights around the pool and all the way down the walkway in the yard to the bodega.  Both projects look great.  He is also almost done painting the third bedroom.  Also, the two new AC units we bought are here, and we are waiting for them to be installed.  once they are, we will have units in all bedrooms and the living room area, which is basically the entire house.

Today, we went to a local place to talk to a furniture builder.  We need some stuff done.  In specific, beds for the spare room.  If we like their work, we have other work for them too that needs to be done like cabinets in my bathroom, a door for the laundry room, etc.  I also want two small tables, one for each spare room, which I plan to hang a mirror over.  Don't want clutter in the spare rooms so I am keeping it simple.

Back when we did our border run, we took a trip the next day to San Jose.  Stopped at Stihl to get a part Kurt needed for his weed wacker.  Then went to Pequeno Mundo where we got two pool chairs, Kleenex, and some various food items.  Stopped at Pricesmart next to stock up on bulk stuff we buy (toilet paper, cheese, paper towel, solar lights, peanut butter, vegetable oil).  And stopped at EPA where Kurt bought material to make me a full length mirror for the bedroom as well as hoses for the yard.  Had lunch at Subway. 

Have been cooking a lot of new things, which is fun.  I made chickpea rosemary soup the other night that I loved!  See recipe here: http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/creamy-chickpea-and-rosemary-soup.  Kurt does not like rosemary (we found out) so it was not his favorite, but I ate it for three days and will make again for me for lunches.   Made this Spanish Rice just to mix things up since we usually eat white rice with soy, and loved it as well: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/main-course/mexican/spanish-rice-8.html.  I am always trying new bean burgers.  Kurt said this is his favorite yet, which I made last night.  They are baked instead of grilled: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2008/08/recipe-for-baked-falafel-patties-with.html?m=1.  Oh, and this was awesome! I subbed ahi tuna and mixed up the veggies some, but it was great and lasted for two meals as well: http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/chicken-pineapple-stir-fry.   I have been trying to buy a new veggie every farmers market trip.  This week, I bought what I thought was something new, but it was in fact a variety of the chayote, which I already purchased and made.  A guy on one of my boards told me how to plant the chayote to have my own in the yard, so I am going to use it for that.  Chayote vine, here I come!  :).

We also heard from our lawyers today and they are *thinking* we may have our car back as soon as Friday or early next week.  Crossing my fingers that can happen, but not counting on it.  I hope so! 

Other than that, have just been enjoying life.  Love laying by my pool every day, and going for swims after my nightly runs.  Been going out more and meeting new people.  We met a couple who lives in Hermosa Beach who we had dinner with and gelato.  And, they work out at our gym!  :).  They have similar personalities to us, so I think we will be seeing a lot of them once we have our car back.  We also went on a hike with another couple in Jaco that was amazing.  It overlooked Jaco and had amazing ocean views.  Cant wait to do the hike with them again.  And, he works out at our gym!  How funny.  Super nice couple.  They live here half the year in Jaco.

Anyway, just wanted to update everyone on life in my Paradise.  Pura Vida!