Tag Archives: mexican adventure

UpDate of the Tortas

14 Jul

As we prepared this week for the FINAL garage sale, it was helpful to be inspired by a TED talk “Get Rid of Your Crap” by Adam Baker. It provided the perfect attitude adjustment that kept me in a mood feliz while watching a steady stream of shoppers haul off our crap for a pittance of what we paid for it.

At noon, we loaded the remaining crap into the back of our truck and headed off to our favorite AIDS services thrift store Top Drawer. On the way we stopped at Texas Truck and Trailer to order the camper shell and tow package for our south of the border adventure. This was a huge CHECK off our to-do list. Next stop Half Price Books, where we waited almost an hour to sell three boxes of books and CDs to net us $12. Woohoo! Lisa spent $3 on a Twilight vampire book, and it was the first time we ever got out of there with $$ in our pocket.

After unloading at Top Drawer we scurried home to meet a potential Craig’s List buyer for my beloved scooter. The man was a federal judge who’s eyes lit up when they saw her. After a spin around the block, we sealed the deal. I’m so happy she’s gone to a good home and I will miss her. Now for the house to sell as easily. Our income for the day covered almost to the penny the cost of the camper shell and tow package. The credit card remains at zero balance. That’s really good.

I was reminded this week by my friend Terry that perhaps the house will not sell when WE want it to, but when we NEED it too. Wise man.

Last Garage Sale

Last Garage Sale

Digging Through Crap

Digging Through Crap

Off to the Thrift Store

Off to the Thrift Store

Gonna Miss Her

Gonna Miss Her

So What Exactly Are We Talking About Here?

31 Mar

What is an adventure? When I think about having an adventure, I think of an experience outside of my day-to-day vida loca that is foreign or sometimes a bit scary. The numero uno question that we get when we tell people we’re moving to Mexico is, “Is it safe?” While I admit that everything in life is a risk (when I’m feeling snarky, I’m tempted to say that if I wanted to be safe, I’d stay in bed) some things are riskier than others. When people talk about Mexico and safety in the same sentence, I find that they:

1) don’t really know much about Mexico except what they read in the news.
2) don’t know us very well and don’t consider that we know much about Mexico and have done our homework; and
3) don’t really put risk into perspective.

In 2012 34,767 people died in automobile accidents in the US, almost exactly the number killed in the four year period prior to 2010 in the Mexican drug war. While it’s not a perfect comparison, it’s a bit of perspective. The country of Mexico is big, three times bigger than Texas and the drug war is not targeted at US expats.

In spite of the risk, we still ride in cars everyday and we’re still moving to Mexico.

Dictionary.com states:
ad·ven·ture [ad-ven-cher]
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
4. a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture.
Obsolete .
a. peril; danger; risk.
b. chance; fortune; luck.

Garage Sale #3

17 Mar

Lisa joked yesterday that our house is getting larger! LOL As we clean out closets, empty shelves and sell furniture, there is more space and open-ness to our home. We have filled the storage trailer with our garage sale items and when they’re gone, it will hold our “goes to Mexico” possessions. Eventually the house will be empty and then we put the FOR SALE sign out, hopefully the process will be fairly painless. We’ll see.

Telling people at our sale that we’re moving to Mexico brought different reactions. Everyone seemed to wish us well, but a few seemed somewhere between envy and “I’m going to do something like that, I’m just not ready yet.” As usual I handed out the link to this blog.

We made $200 which is peanuts compared to what the books, yarn, clothes, tools, furniture, dishes, CDs, cost us. It only adds to my resolve to not continue to acquire so many possessions I don’t really need. We are building a small house to support that commitment. I guess a home without so much stuff doesn’t have to be very big after all.

Garage Sale #3

Austin, TX

Emilie Vardaman

travel and random thoughts

A Dead Kennedy

: A journal of a very slooow marathon swimmer

The Soulful Word

Intuitive copywriter + creative director: word whispering magic for personal brands

View From Casita Colibrí

gringa musings from a rooftop terrace in Oaxaca

Your Hand in Mind

Musings of a human factors engineer after her brain was released...

Surviving Yucatan

Smoothing out Mexico's rough spots.

Surviving Mexico

Adventures and Disasters

Perking the Pansies

Jack Scott's random ramblings

WordPress.com News

The latest news on WordPress.com and the WordPress community.