Looking Back....

I was going through all my old blog posts yesterday while I was sitting outside and Aubrey was splashing away in her kiddie pool. I was going through and labelling them all (pain in the butt and I don't know why I felt compelled to do so) and I happened upon these pictures of our apartment in Grenada! It's crazy to think that we lived that differently less than 4 years ago!

Because we weren't there permanently, we rented a place that was furnished and let's just say, it was NOT my taste. But it did the trick. The kitchen had no hot water and for the first few months I would boil water every time I wanted to do the dishes! That got old really fast and I said to heck with it. I bought dish soap that was antibacterial (that cost an arm and a leg) and called it good. I'm sure the amount it cost to boil the water on the propane stove, not to mention trying to cool down the house after using said stove, worked out cheaper to just buy the spendy soap. That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Hahaha! The couch was the most hideous fabric/color I have ever seen, so we covered it with a quilt we brought along (naively thinking we'd need it to sleep there. ummm not quite!).

This area was also our guest room :) This apartment was small, but didn't feel super small because of the high ceilings. But when we had guests?! It was jam packed! We'd put a good ol' air mattress out here and call it a guest room. Best part was when Astrid(my sister) and her husband Jo came to visit with their son Jacob, we all squished into our bedroom! Willy Wonka style. Well, not quite, they slept on the bed and Zach and I took the air mattress on the floor. Ah, the joys of having the only AC unit in the house be in the bedroom.

I thought this was funny, it's what I wrote in the original post.....

"The bedroom, the only room with A/C. Needless to say, we are in here most of the time. Zach has his desk in here, so this is where he spends his endless hours studying(while I spend endless hours sleeping!). Yes, that is Zach having one of his infamous power-naps:)"

and the bathroom, oh the bathroom! I was classy to say the least....but it was a bathroom and a toilet IN the house, which is more than a lot of people had in Grenada.

And last but not least......

The classy shower head.... Bare exposed wires! IN a shower. I don't know how we didn't die?!?

I didn't think that I could love the house we are in more than I already do, but after seeing these?!? I LOVE MY NEW HOUSE!!!

There was one perk to our place in Grenada....we had a cleaning lady! It was built into the cost of rent and it was fabulous! At times I wished we could have just saved the money and I could have cleaned, but it was nice to help a local lady who really did need the money more than we did. But I always had this feeling she was looking at me thinking I was lazy for not cleaning my own place! I would try and not be home when she was there, I just felt too guilty! I always felt like I had to explain myself to her, "No! I would clean my house, but it's built in the rent! Don't hate me please!!". Ahh good old Menno guilt ;)