Lost in Portuguese Translation

Oct 26: Zeus got his first hair trim and was told he has allergies, cataracts and will need monthly injections for his arthritis.

Oct 27: Rogers cut off my dad's cable at his nursing home with no advance notice. The Nursing home emailed me to say that their bulk contract has been cancelled and that each individual resident needs to arrange for their own cable package. Being that my dad's account is in my name to make changes and pay the bill; I had to call my son through FB Messenger where he placed me on speaker phone while his girlfriend dialed Rogers on her cell phone that was also on speaker. Thanks to the kids help and over an hour and a half on the line, my dad was able to get a new account started even though he had to wait till the next day for the cable guy to arrive. (Side Note: the new cable plan which includes the few channels that my dad enjoys for hockey and wrestling cost an extra $36/month).

Oct 28: We went to our third property to remove the overgrown tree that is threatening the electrical and cable wires (photo below).

Oct 30: Last day of the promotion online for the pre-fab houses that we wanted to purchase for our second property. In order to hold on to the quote at the promised price I had to rush to the bank and send the 20% deposit even though we had not heard back from the engineer on approval to build.

Nov 1: All Saints Day aka Portugal's Halloween - I did not get to see the few children that came to the house but I saw a few out in the downtown area. It was nice; kids of all ages, lining the street, calling out 'Bread for God' (their version of trick or treat).

Nov 5: We went to the third property to clean up outside and start a fire with the tree limbs and other dried wood hanging around.

Nov 6: I had a complete freak out about running out of money so I hit the net for ANY and ALL remote job postings. I sent out 15 applications in a 3 day span and heard back from NO ONE.

Nov 8: We met with an architect on the advice of the engineer so they could get a proper drawing made up of the property showing the placement of the pre-fab homes. Bad news was shared that day; the model we choose was too small for their legal definition of a one bedroom home. We had to go back to the website and finally found a studio model with seperate bathroom within the size limitation and emailed it to the architect.

Nov 12: We went to our third property and started taking down the bedroom wall and clearing out the kitchen cabinets, preparing for renovations (picture below).

Nov 14: The architect says the size of the bathroom in the studio model is too small and we need an additional wall. I ask the architect to please alter the drawing based on his recommendation so it can get sent to the pre-fab team.

Nov 16: I finally get my eyebrows, upper lip and chin waxed AND I get a pedicure for the first time since August. The wax was great - effective and efficient but the pedicure was just okay. I'm a snob and I'm used to the massage chair and foot scrub. This location just had the at-home plug-in foot bath and regular solan chair.

Nov 17: The architect's drawing is approved but the changes are going to cost 20% more per house to build.

Nov 18: We try to finish the concrete block wall on our first property, I helped as much as possible in the rain, shoveling went cement into buckets while wearing socks and sandals. I may have ruined my Birkenstocks but they were pretty worn out to begin with. I plan to find me some work boots soon so I can convince my Tio Tony to hire me as a construction worker.

Nov 19: We went to our third property to clear out the debris from the cement walls coming down. The space is wide open now.

Today: Sent an email to find out if we can mirror the homes (we want the front doors of both houses to face inward to the second property). Also asked if we could get the final design layout of the 'modified' version so we can submit it the engineer. I am doing my best to be patient and understanding but it is very difficult. I wish that the professionals (pre-fab company rep, architect, engineer etc.) would share 100% of the information upfront. My greatest annoyance is chasing down answers. Our order is still in limbo, our approval is in waiting and we are keeping up with all other preparations as best as possible. I feel bad for Kevin, he is literally working 7 days a week, zero breaks. I, on the other hand, have mastered a few more household chores and we started putting some christmas decorations up this past weekend.