Don Quixote has arrived!

Don Quixote has been a fixture on our front porch or foyer for 7 years. He is now in Thailand, home!  The kids think that he needs a friend so either an elephant or Buddha will be joining him at some point. 

"Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body.  That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, in good breeding, and all those qualities may exist in an ugly man." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Our sea shipment arrived last Thursday and with much chaos, 8 movers and 2 maids, we are unpacked. It was very overwhelming but it is done and now this house seems more like a home. We have a few things hung on the walls already. Most of what we brought is a perfect addition but I did get a little carried away in kitchen things. Storage is not in abundance here. All the unpacking does allow you to reflect on how fortunate we are, also the 2 maids chatting away in Thai with a few recognizable English words, "so much", and them throwing their hands up when another cabinet was full with still 10 more kitchen boxes to unpack and only 3 cabinets left. I got the hint. Lol

The kids are happy with their rooms. First time ever Andrew and Jack have their own rooms ( which they were so excited about) and I believe they have only spent a handful of nights sleeping by themselves trading off sleeping in each others room. 

I brought our 15x17 area rug with us. The entire house has marble flooring. Very nice but hard as a rock. We thought the rug would be a good addition to the family room to soften things up a bit and to make it more comfortable when the kids plop on the floor to watch TV. As the movers are unrolling the rug we are overtaken by a very strong odor. The rug had been rolled up and left in storage in a very warm container for 2 months, having had at one time 2 dogs and a cat the rug was in desperate need of a cleaning. If you could have seen the faces of these men unrolling this rug, and let me tell you they didn't smell any better but I guess you can't smell your own stank!  I didn't need to speak Thai to know they were talking about this awful smell.  Khun Pien, my maid, got on her phone and called someone, seriously that is how bad it smelled. 

The next day the owner of the carpet cleaning co. showed up.  Walter, the best barterer I know, agreed to a price and hired him. The man showed up about 45 minutes later with about 6 people and they proceeded to hand scrub my rug with a bucket full of pleasantly smelling water and a scrub brush. They had this bigger machine to suck up the water and lots of rags for blotting. The owner stood over the workers not lifting a finger but blurting out instructions. They scrubbed that rug for 3 hours then rolled it up, carried it out of my house laid it down on the driveway and proceeded to have lunch and a nap, on their own rugs they brought, in my garage/carport with the occasional bathroom trip inside my house. After about 2 more hours, when the rug was dry, they rolled it back up, carried it into my house, laid it out and combed it. Best customer service EVER!  This was all done for 5000 baht or $155. The best entertainment for me too, yes I am easily entertained. I wanted to take a picture of them eating lunch and napping in my garage but Walter held me back. Something about it looking a little weird. Lol

The rug looks brand new. We have the cleanest and best smelling rug ever now. And think we were supposed to have had this done in the states before we left. Thank goodness we didn't. Think of the fun I would have missed out on. ;)

This is the family room with "the rug". The furniture all came with the house including the wall art with the exception of the green barrel chair in the foreground, which is ours. 

We had a nice low key weekend. Trying to get into some sort of routine. 

I am getting use to this driver thing, okay I won't lie, I sent Walter a text Friday night, and I quote "loving this driver thing". It is awesome. After you get use to this person waiting on you hand and foot, dropping you off and picking you up at every entrance, running to carry your bags, loading and unloading your car, never having to worry about drinking and driving also doing your errands, you tend to love it. Friday Walter and I never left the house but Khun Prayoon did. He did all the errands including picking up the kids from school. It was awesome. I went to a ladies night out Friday night and he drove me. 

Kids are doing well and adjusting to life. Erin and Jack seem to be jumping right in. Andrew a little slower. 

Big Papa is working hard, which is a good thing since that is the reason we are here.  Lucky man, he goes to Singapore on Sunday for work. 

Ryan is adjusting to college life. He seems to be loving it. 

Cheers

😘 M

This is a gas station, no those bottles are not filled with alcohol but gas.  You can stop at these stations everywhere and fill your tank. They are usually for motor bikes which are in abundance here. 

This is a gecko, our new pet, okay not really they are everywhere and you find them all over your house. We just kind of ignore them. They are harmless and you just get use to them.