Enough about me, Let's talk about Me

Shall this post be all about me? My birthday *is* coming up in two days .... Well, alright. I'll make it about all of us. Because, really anything I do spills over on to the other people in my lives. So I couldn't actually talk about me *without* talking about others.

So much for narcissism.

Or. Wait.

Maybe that still was.

Anyway!

The kids and I went to Roseburg for a short trip (two nights in the hotel Paul is staying in) to visit Paul on his work related RV show. He was going to be gone for ten days, so we planned a quick jaunt down to see him right in the middle of the show so the time apart wasn't so long. It only added up to two dinners, a breakfast and a short dip in the hot tub together, but we got to sleep night to each other for two nights (which really helps Paul sleep -- he doesn't sleep on the road much).

Most of the visit was spent with Anna at her house in the country. It was lovely. Her house is so peaceful. Even her chaos and clutter is peaceful. Most of the day was spent like this: Anna telling Aubrey about all the rocks she's collected through the years, Robert playing with the fire in the fireplace, me picking out a scarf out of a selection Anna offered me (a birthday gift), and me playing with the camera. Also, a little bit of game-playing (bannagrams and uno) and reading. All in all a lovely day.

 (The scarf I eventually picked out. It was a super tough choice!)

 (When asked what kind of decor she had in her house, 

Anna once told a friend that she decorated with 

rocks and books.)

 (Aubrey looking at a rock.)

 (See! What did I tell you? Even her clutter is artistic and peaceful.)

 (More rock stories from Anna.)

In Costa Rica news, the wire transfer was finally successful (I had to send it twice because the first time I was instructed to send it via a SWIFT number, and then had to switch it to an ABA routing number.) This means that we have now paid our closing costs on the land and title transfer can begin!!!!

We *STILL* haven't heard back from Gary, the builder, regarding our final plans or a cost estimate. We have no idea if we can afford to build our dream house at this point. Our initial price quote was about $75/square foot. And we were shooting for an 1800 square foot home .... but we don't know if the price quote still stands (that was given last October), and we don't know if the materials we are choosing to build with bump up the price too much. If it does, then we'll have to scale down on quality of materials, or .... go smaller, I guess. We'll be outside a lot anyway. :)