Howdy, everyone! So today is Friday, 9/10/2021 about 12pm. No word about the Visas, which makes it a little over 6 weeks from the second submittal. And of course, another holiday weekend to stretch it out further. Johnny has had a true-crime series on all morning, but don't worry, I made sure to check, and he's not planning on killing me and escaping to Spain, but we still have time so..... According to him, it's because "these women keep crossing men," and as long as I'm not planning on doing that I should be good haha (definitely sarcasm so don't worry). And you all know now so if I disappear mysteriously... It's probably not the most hopeful show to watch while we wait for an entire life to change, but it's not boring?

We have been feeling so many things. Having all this unknown makes what has what such a confident idea, become a time of a lot of doubt. We are going to Spain, and still know it is the best idea, but it almost feels like this was all dream, and it's not going to happen. Logically we know that it will happen eventually, but we are starting to lose our minds. Here is a great plug for a very fun meditation I stumbled upon a few years ago called the F*** That meditation. It seems to be the only thing that works for me and will at least give you a good laugh https://youtu.be/92i5m3tV5XY

A lot has changed since my last post. It turned out that our living arrangement was no longer a place we would be able to stay at, so since Sept 1st, we have been back in hotels... Luckily this knocked some sense into our heads, and we ended up taking Pendelton with us, and he will be coming with us to Spain. Thank you for all the reassurance; and at the time, it seemed like the right idea, but what was I thinking? I would have felt terrible not having him, and he will adapt like he always has.

Fun note! Have I mentioned that Whiskey our giant dog is a shy pottier and will not go to the bathroom if there are any sounds or people? To the point that he will hold it for days. Well while I am writing this from my car, I was just informed that the hubby came back to a poop apocalypse! Literally he had horse-size poops! I literally tried 2 times before to have Whiskey go and he refused! Well as they say I guess shit happens, onward and upward. It's 5'0clock somewhere right? Cause man we need a drink.

Home Sweet Home

The newest hotel was working out pretty well at first. The rooms ended up being bigger than we expected, which is nice when you have 2 dogs and a toddler. Also, there was a Mexican food restaurant next door, with the best margaritas, and you know how I love my margaritas! The perk of being back on our own is we no longer have to feel like we are imposing and can feel free to be ourselves; it's just spending money sucks, but oh well.

We booked it for a week and made friends with the restaurant next door. However, the one problem is that depending on the cook on that day; we either have the best Mexican food ever or stuff that has been clearly reheated. The silver lining is it has made us eat out less, so there's that. Week two, we rebook our room again and are told that we will not be able to schedule for a third week after this week....huh?!

We have been the best tenants. We bought a min vacuum and broom, so we cleaned our own rooms, quiet dogs, etc. I called corporate to see if they were allowed to do this, and apparently, each hotel can make its own policy...So it looks like at this point, we have to pack our stuff up once again and move out on the 15th. I found a hotel that isn't too much more than we are currently spending and has a kitchen, so we will try to conserve our funds and cook back at "home," which we love doing anyway.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

We have created a plan, so here it is...someday, when we get a visa, we will contact the pet people, see how quickly they can get their check-ups, etc., and book our ticket. Hopefully, the airline will be able to add Pendelton to our flight without us having to go through a whole thing again. A few days before our flight, we will sell our cars to Carmax and get a rental car. I was planning on giving a few items to relatives to have, but that's not going to happen, so I will have to toss or give some items that we brought from home to the hotel people.

The pet place is in LA, so they will come to whatever hotel we will be at the time and take the dogs to their appointments and pick up Whiskey to ship via cargo. Leave any items we don't need in the hotel like a broom, book our Air BnB, and hopefully be on our way. Technically we have up to 3 months for our Visa to be given to us, so we wish on every shooting star to hopefully get it sooner than that.

I'm sure a lot of you going through this process understand how strange it is to not have information about one of the biggest decisions of our lives. We actually don't know if the application was approved as we were not told this. All we have is that they told our lawyer 4 weeks ago that it would be processing soon, so I guess that means we are just waiting for the Visa to be completed?

Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Poorly

I heard this quote, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." What that basically means instead of not doing it for fear of failure, it is better to try and do it badly than not try at all. I think that really sums up this process so far. It has not been perfect, and we have definitely made a lot of mistakes, but when t works out, we are going to be so happy we did it! And for those of you on your crazy ride, it will be for you too!

This has been such a crazy journey. We have lost many things while preparing to gain the world—friends, relatives, our home, control, etc. We are looking at this as our clean slate and that we lost nothing but gained a future where we are not being held back by people and things that will not contribute to a life of peace and happiness. I know, so grown-up of us, huh? All I know is when we do get to Spain, they will have the most excited and dedicated Expats they have ever seen!! And you all better be ready because we can't wait to make our forever home, friends, and family, with maybe a dash of margaritas!