All About Dirt

Posted on February 21, 2010 - Filed Under Guatemala, construction | 6 Comments

When our house was built, we knew the ground at the back of the property where we were building was not at the right level for drainage to the street. So the house was built considerably above ground level, with the plan to fill everything in later.
Fast forward five years and we’ve been using [...]

Why Construction Zones Rock

Posted on November 17, 2009 - Filed Under Kids, construction | Leave a Comment

My kids have pretty much lived in a construction zone since they were born. Sure, once in a while we would stop building and just live in a room and a half or cook outside for a few months until we got enough cash saved up to continue, but basically, until recently, they didn’t have [...]

I Almost Forgot . . .

Posted on October 9, 2009 - Filed Under Guatemala, Simple Life, construction | 4 Comments

Check out what we got last week!

That, my dear readers, is a water tank, sitting on top of the bathroom, which automatically kicks in when the town water goes out. Since that has been happening on a daily basis for about a month thanks to all the roadwork being done in town (they smash pipes [...]

We’re Right Uptown Now

Posted on August 21, 2009 - Filed Under Guatemala, Personal, Simple Life, construction | 4 Comments

We’ve had our bathroom for a grand total of 3.5 months now and up until last week, the windows were merely large holes in the wall (not an issue because the bathroom is very high, unless the neighbors climb their jocote tree) and the door was covered with a Bob the Builder blanket. Very posh. [...]

Heaping More On an Already Full Plate

Posted on May 4, 2009 - Filed Under Mom Stuff, Personal, Simple Life, construction | 4 Comments

Remember how I said I was going to work less so I could build more? How many of you thought I`d actually do that? Yeah, I figured you know me better than that by now.
This past week, I signed a one year contract with a PR company to do, well, PR work. [...]

All That`s Missing is Hot Water

Posted on April 27, 2009 - Filed Under 13 Things, Guatemala, construction | 2 Comments

The tub is draining. And we did ourselves!
The whole thing is a little complicated to explain in just words and it`s too dark to take pics, but let me just say it involved some random brain farts, a nail, a piece of rebar, too much Draino that didn`t work (except maybe the fumes [...]

Chica Turns Abañil

Posted on April 26, 2009 - Filed Under Simple Life, construction | 8 Comments

After some complications, it has been decided that the remaining work to be done around here will be done by . . . uh, the lady of the house. Yes, I said I was moving. As it turned out, if I moved, I`d be doing it alone, so we needed another solution.
I`m so over builders [...]