Overwhelmed!

Today I had a mini-meltdown. With a book deadline, son getting married, and freelancing I'm exhausted.

In my "spare" time I research articles on Mark's visit to Cuenca. Since I'm writing a series of articles on living overseas, I added "retirement in Cuenca" to my list.


I cannot believe the wealth of information hidden in various blogs, so for the sake of my sanity and availability to access them when I need a stroke of genius, I will post them on the sidebar so you won't be as overwhelmed as I have been lately. It's almost like the time I wrote a chapter in my book, Moms of Sons, and couldn't find it when I sent it to the publisher! That's because it was still in my head and not on paper. I've got a system now, which will help. But if this is anything like Sicily, the paperwork trail will be different for everyone (us included) because everything and I do mean everything is subject to who you know and when!


We have a saying in Italian, "Ci penso io." I'll take care of it. Well, be sure you know who takes care of it or you will be in for a big surprise.


Compared to most couples retiring in Ecuador, we don't have a huge amount of money, so we'll be lucky if we meet the requirements for property ownership (which I hear is $30,000 for application for residency visas). Oh well, we'll live in a box with 30 square feet! Not bad for a starter home.


My theory: You can only live in one room at a time. And we did all the entertaining in Sicily that we ever want to do. People would come and stay months at a time and then complain that there was no variety in the food. Did I mention they never offered to pay! We lived in a villa on the Mediterranean, so I doubt anything will ever compare to that (not in this lifetime anyway!). It was pure heaven!


So my mantra is don't be overwhelmed..."adagio, adagio!" I don't won't to forget my Italian, so before I totally immerse myself in Spanish, I'm going to enjoy Italian as much as I can!


Chao for Now,