Since my last post was all about our one weekend in Dubrovnik. I decided I should also write about all the other daily goings on in our lives. Spring break was where I left off, which now is about two months ago.
We finished up spring break with some rock painting, sunny days and eating by the beach. Paul and Donnie and I also took some walks together as a family and enjoyed the empty beaches. We also finished Paul’s room in the house. It’s a haven for him and he loves going and hanging out in his own space. I’m happy that he’s happy. 🙂
We also have been making progress on our house slowly but surely. We picked a paint color for the walls that’s a really light blue, almost white. This meant we had to get our room cleared out to be painted and to be prepped for the custom furniture we had ordered during the week. We originally had only chosen it for our bedroom, but decided to do the whole house when we saw it. The house was a mess for most of the month of April, just from all the paint splatter, dust and relocated furniture. It wasn’t so relaxing to visit, but exciting to see progress.
The rest of April was pretty uneventful except for two things. One was that Donnie bought a convertible to use in the summer months and stay at the house in MNE, and we had a secret visitor to come scope out a place to buy next door to our house. This happened in the same weekend, and it was quite a roller coaster. The house is in pretty good shape and our friend was ready to buy, but it was already under contract. But it turns out that deal fell through later in the week and we’re going to have some very special new neighbors this summer. It makes my heart soar to think about.
Unlike other years, May has gone by quite quickly this year. I think it helped to have that trip to Croatia and the distraction of getting work done on our house in MNE to be ready for the summer. We also had the unhappy task of moving from our place in Prishtina to a new house because the house we were in sold. But more on that later.
The big steps forward that were made this May were getting vaccinated! Donnie got his first dose in early May and he’s slated to get his second this weekend, and I got mine about a week ago. It is a significant relief to be able to have this opportunity. We ended up getting vaxxed in MNE because Kosovo hasn’t started vaccinating anyone outside of the health profession or older than 60. It has been a weight lifted, and I’m so grateful, even if it did hurt a lot for a week afterwards.
Another big deal was that Paul and Donnie participated in his Cub Scout’s Pine Wood Derby. It was a little iffy because we didn’t end up getting supplies until the day before and not build it until the morning of the race. However, with Donnie’s engineering and Paul’s design, his Sabul pokemon racer won FIRST PLACE! He actually won first place for appearance too, but they didn’t want to give him both trophies. LOL. I’m super proud of him (and Donnie), and happy that he participated again this year.
Other than that my days have been filled with work, running (most of the time reluctantly), and planning projects for the new house. We had a few teasing days of warm weather in the last few weeks, so we also had some pool days! One of the projects was putting in a new pool heater, which makes the pool so much more inviting. I have serious summerache.
About two weeks ago, we hired painters to finally paint the outside of our house. I think I’m most excited about this because our house is so dingy looking from the outside. It also has some weird decorations on the outside wall and a puky green color around the windows. We picked out a Santorini inspired white and blue scheme and although I haven’t seen it yet in person, I can see it will still stand out in our neighborhood. 🙂 You can see before and after pics below.
May ended with a move to a smaller, but more fitting home in our neighborhood here in Prishtina. We found out we were going to have to move out earlier than expected a few weeks before we did end up moving. Procrastinators as we are, we didn’t start the moving process until a few days before we had to vacate. It ended up being a stressful push to get into our new, unfurnished place. We have spent the last week organizing, shopping, and building furniture to get our new home livable. We are almost there. I’m not moving again until we leave Kosovo, and fingers crossed it’s like 3 more years. Hahah. Donnie did a great job as usual getting this home from empty shell to a livable and comfortable place. Like I said, it’s much smaller, but we’ll save some on rent and heating, so it’s worth it. Still room for visitors whenever anybody wants to come! 🙂 I’m only posting pics of the downstairs because that’s all that’s done. hehe.
Now I sit here on June 1 with a sweater and warm slippers on because the weather has taken a turn for the cold and all I can dream about is summer. It’s going to be an epic summer, filled with faces I love, house projects, pool days and beach days, visiting new places and so many hugs. Just 18 school days left and a great big push to make it to the end of this crazy school year. I am finally seeing the light at the end of this very long tunnel.
Much love to all,
J
lifewithjpd 