As I've traveled around the US speaking on the subject of my book, Rightsizing Your Life, and talking to audiences about the obstacles standing in the way of a midlife move--any move!--I also have had a chance to do a quick survey of the cities and towns I pass through.

In the process, I have been introduced to scores of wonderful communities designed for the 50-plus crowd that "New Nesters" like my husband and myself might want to live in, once we finally "simplify our surroundings while keeping what matters most."

Given the ongoing mortgage crisis and the difficulty in finding buyers for the family homes many would like to sell in order to start this new chapter in our lives, I hit upon what I think is a great way to "try out" other communities while waiting for this housing disaster to right itself.

So, surely you've heard of Vacation Rental by Owner?

If you have, would you consider listing your own home as a short-term rental on such an Internet service (there are several to choose from), and then search online for the kind of residence you've been considering for the next phase of your life?

Image source: San Francisco Chronicle

My husband of thirty-two years and I live within view of the San Francisco Bay...a wonderful place that visitors from all over the world want to experience. I also love high desert climates--but am unsure if I would really want to make New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada my permanent home, despite many cost savings compared to living in California.

A friend described how she rents out her place in the maritime village of Sausalito when she plans to be away for more than two weeks, so it occurred to me that if my square footage was in "show place" condition (meaning ALL clutter banished), then I could rent it out at the same time that I signed on for two-week to month-long furnished rentals on VRBO in spots like beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico---which has been on our "short list" for years.

Here's one listing I found for a darling "casita" right in the heart of town:

I realize, of course, that Rightsizing one's home to rent to perfect strangers may not be everyone's cup of tea, but what a great opportunity it provides for finding an economical way to experience a new locale without having to make a big decision about moving until you were sure a community felt like the right fit?

Now, another place I've always wanted to live is Venice, Italy....

Hmmmm.....on VRBO you can check it out and have a wonderful time imagining the possibilities!

Aquí sigo con mi cuenta atrás, 1 semana y 1 día para irme de vacaciones. Este fin de semana son las fiestas de Larrabasterra. Me gustan mucho esas fiestas, jejeje, simpre nos quedamos en la txozna de al lado del metro a tomar katxis de kalimotxo y a bailar, no sin antes dar una vueltita por la cantidad de puestecitos que ponen (todos tienen lo mismo pero no importa, los veo todos!!).

Tengo ya ganas de irme de vacaciones, bueno, llevo teniendo ganas desde hace meses, pero ya se nota la falta de ellas. Aun teniendo todavía el sabor de boca del spa las sigo necesitando (mmmmmmmmm).

Van a ser 3 semanas allí, en Cáceres, y luego una semana de recuperación post-vacaciones para que no me entre el síndrome post-vacacional. Pero las 3 semanas van a ser de la casita que hemos cogido a la piscina, de la piscina al chiriguito, del chiriguito a otro chiringuito, jejejeje, y asin sucesivamente!!

En fin, sin quererlo al final me he propuesto mi meta que era escribir algo.

Por cierto hoy cambio de dieta!! A ver si me va ta bien como la anterior!!!

Byes

Anyways, something funny I noticed on Miss U was Jerry Springer and some unknown chick were the hosts! Quite a change from Mario Lopez and Vanessa Minillo, last year's hosts. I think this is a sign of the times.. pageants are (hopefully) going the way of the Jetsons and big hair. People view it as a false presentation of beauty and it gives young girls unrealistic ideas and low self esteem. Thankfully, I think the judging based on appearances is going away and instead, focusing on their interview answers as a judge of character.

I wonder where they find these girls? Are they bred to be models and pageant queens? Wouldn't that be funny to see?

I'm noticing most of them are my age or slightly older, yet most of these girls look about 25!

Did you know the winner of Miss Universe is awarded year long hair service and dermatology appointments along with a SHOE WARDROBE!

Images from the movie Miss Congeniality keep flashing through my head watching this :p Man oh man. Does anyone else think it would be weird to be called by your country instead of your name?

Thursday me and my mom are headed to the airport to fly to Portland for a couple days before meeting up with my dad to begin our cross half-country road trip! We'll be Casitaing (casitatraveltrailers.com) our way through Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah?? and then making our way home through the panhandle of Texas in late July, early August! That means I'll be spending my birthday on the road somewhere in the "wild west"! Maybe I'll see a bear or a wild buffalo or two :P

I'll post more from the road! with pics!

xoxo

Lo cierto es que no se si es cierto, y como no lo se, os lo cuento pero habrá que ponerlo en cuarentena. El caso es que acaba de aparecer en Internet – ya sabéis que mi correo es una mina, llega de todo- un portal muy curioso, muy delator, y muy preocupante. El portal se llama VENDOPORHIPOTECA, y en él  figuran unos 40 inmuebles en el que los propietarios están dispuestos a aceptar como precio el importe de sus respectivas hipotecas, descontando el capital amortizado, con tal de deshacerse de sus deudas y evitar así el embargo de los bancos.

El dueño, creo es un tal David Cardona, y asegura que las ventajas de este tipo de compra son innumerables.

Habrá que seguir el portal con atención, pero desde luego no es una buena noticia, ya que esto significa que las cosas no van bien. Mal asunto. Esperemos no tener que usar este nuevo sitio de Internet.

Son las diez y diez de la noche. No llueve en Pozuelo y la temperatura exterior es de 15 grados. Espero que Zapatero me pague pronto los 400 euros que me debe, yo también pago hipoteca.

Image source: challed-quiroz

Meet amateur cyclists, Cindy Challed, 55, author of 13 published novels under the name Cynthia Wright, and the man in her life, physical therapist assistant Al Quiroz, 54, empty nesters whose adult children were starting to visit frequently and bring children of their own.

To solve the space issue in their modest 2bd/2ba home, they were preparing to drop $40,000 to build a free-standing guesthouse in their backyard.

Then Al googled the word “Airstream” (as in sleek, silver “trailer” wildly popular in the 1940s and 50s) and up came the solution to several housing issues in one, fell swoop.

Image source: challed-quiroz

For sale in Oregon was this nearly pristine, 18-foot Airstream “Wanderer,” built in 1959 and offered for $12,000 by a man who was only its second owner. Al eventually found a vintage 1970 truck to complete the package and he and Cindy drove north, met the seller half way, and returned home to swiftly “install” their new guest quarters at the rear of their property.

Image source: challed-quiroz

“The original parts inside the Airstream are intact,” enthuses Cindy, “including the little 50’s lights, the appliances, formica countertops, the birch cabinetry and the original spatter paint on the interior walls.”

Image source: challed-quiroz

Since purchasing “Lucy” (as in I Love--- ?) two years ago, the couple has stashed guests there about twice a year, but more often than not, they’ve given the guests their bedroom and prefer to “stay out there ourselves. We love the cozy double bed which fits us because we’re both not very tall!”

Image source: challed-quiroz

Every so often, the couple hitches up their “guesthouse” and hits the road, heading for such favorite spots as Geyserville in the Alexander Valley wine country of northern California. On such outings, Al and Cindy love to ride their tandem bike on a 42-mile ride along woodsy trails.

Image source: challed-quiroz

When Al’s grandson, Connor, comes over to visit after the Airstream has returned to the backyard, "It instantly becomes a playhouse,” says Cindy. "It's perfect for little ones - really magical."

This $12,000 New Nest is definitely multi-purpose and has taken the casita one step further. Even better, it's leading to all sorts of new adventures for Cindy and Al. And it just goes to show, thinking "out of the box" can often solve housing issues in entirely new ways.

To indulge your fantasies even more, check out Shadydell where you can book in for a few nights in Bisbee, Arizona and see if this is the answer to your space issues!

This was often the “guy getaway” replete with ping-pong or pool table and a monster-sized TV for viewing all manner of sporting events—or it was a "craft room" for sewing or place to stash an overflow of company a couple of times a year.

Detached Casita
Image source: mytime

Now the new bonus room has become the “casita.” In Spanish it literally means “little house” and it’s either an individual structure detached from the main house altogether---or it’s a separate space connected to a home by a breezeway or covered porch.

Attached Casita at Trilogy/Encanterra
Image source: mytime

Casitas are taking on all sorts of functions in The New Nest as guest houses, spare rooms, granny units, mother-in-law suites, or caretaker's quarters.

On my recent survey of several Active Adult 55+ communities in northern and southern California and in Arizona---built by Shea Homes in their Trilogy series---I saw them put to a variety of additional uses: artist’s studios…dedicated home offices…workout spaces…media rooms...or even as a personal spa sanctuary, as I observed at another development in Palm Desert, California.

At Home Massage Room
Image Source: mytime.com

The casita has become a kind of a “Lucky Strike Extra” in otherwise scaled-down houses built for empty nesters.

As for me, I’d probably turn it into a “Writer’s House” the way my late father transformed a never-used hen house abandoned in the back yard of our family home years ago.

So let your mind roam free...what use would you have for your very own casita, hmmmmm?

Y era incapaz de no saludarlo. Incapaz de no decirle : gracias por volver, gracias por ese calorcito de mis mañanas a las cinco p.m..

Entonces salí.

Con sorpresa acabé caminando por una calle querida.

Compré fresas. Y ciruelas.

Madrid me quiere aún.

Chocolate y cuesta arriba.

Vuelta a la casita sonriente.

Luego, a otras velocidades, noté algo. Era cómo color cristal. Frío.

Necesito más calor. Ese calor que te da punzaditas y latidos. Ese calor que colorea la sombra si cierras los ojos, y hace lucecitas si los abres de pronto. Azul y tú allí. Y yo. Y el Sol que nos quería.

Gracias por volver

l

Aquí tienes tu casita de campaña, tu cueva, tu burbujita, tu sábana, tu pozo de sonrisas. Elle de mi corazón, se vale esconderse.

Camina sin temor, no permitiré que te me caigas.

Jean

Las abuelas, los colores, las cuevas, la locura…

Frente a frente, puedo nombrarte

La hora cero

Voluntad y temple ante las cuevas oscuras

Así nos dibuja Margarita Riviére este tema de Serrat en su extenso libro "Joan Manuel Serrat".

Y sigue...

"Franco se moría, pasó semanas agonizando y teniendo a los españoles pendiente del parte firmado por el equipo médico habitual, pero los obreros iban a la obra y los burgueses perdían calzoncillos en la Casita Blanca".

Luis García Gil en "Serrat, canción a canción" es un poco más preciso en cuanto a su ubicación:

"Este lugar se encuentra en la parte superior de la plaza de Lesseps del lado que da a la Avenida del hospital Militar. Toda esta geografía de sentimientos huidizos es transmitida en una canción de extraordinaria hondura que discurre con lentitud, sin prisa, como si tratase de un adagio, donde cada palabra halla su sentido lírico."

perro1970, la, casita, blanca, barcelona, joan, manuel, serrat, cantautores, historia, meuble
perro1970, la, casita, blanca, barcelona, joan, manuel, serrat, cantautores, historia, meuble

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I. Hay veces que una llamada de teléfono te alegra lo que queda del día. Y lo difícil que se nos hace hacer una llamada. Cuando solo es descolgar y marcar. (a veces ni eso por que ya está el numero en la memoria) 

II. Por que la gente se acuerda de uno cuando se acercan las navidades cuando me paso el año entero haciendo lo mismo?. Es realmente estresante. Mas que nada por que querría agradar a todos. Y a todos no llego. Me es imposible. 

III. Con la de dinero que van a conseguir, el racanear menos de doscientos euros, que podían haber metido en la suma total hacen que me sea mas rabioso el tema. Y eso que el tener casa propia es ilusionante.

Cuarenta minutos después, salgo para la PUJ, donde mis estudiantes aprenderán un poco sobre capacidad calorífica. X. oye, pero no escucha, Y. pregunta ¿está esto bien así? Z. trajo la excusa, estaba enferma. Son juiciosos, mis estudiantes, tal vez un poco despistados, a veces.

Una buseta me devuelve a casa en 25 minutos, me deja a media cuadra. J. me saluda y abre la puerta. Subo al apartamento, cocino algo para mi solito: mi tesoro está juiciosa enfrente del Jorge Eliecer. Luego de almorzar reviso el correo, en nuestro escritorio nuevo

Esta tarde trabajaré en mi proyecto de doctorado. Por la noche cenaremos juntos, nos contaremos nuestros días. Y a la camita a recargar baterías para comenzar de nuevo mañana.

PD. Facebook? Que nos han convencido en meternos y revisar periodicamente. Todavía no se vé el valor agregado.

Fritada de legumes com queijo canastra e um ovo arriba

Pegue todos os legumes que estiverem na geladeira. Eu fiz com batata, cenoura, vagem e tomate. Eu sei que tem gente que lê esse blog e não sabe a diferença de uma vagem para um pepino, então eu vou explicar: vagem é um legume fininho e verde, você pega um punhado na mão de uma vez só e para saber se ele está fresco e só quebrar a pontinha, se quebrar rápido e fizer barulho é porque serve.
Pique tudo em quadradinhos, você escolhe o tamanho, eu gosto um pouco maior. Coloque a batata, a cenoura e a vagem para cozinhar numa panela à parte, com bastante água. Pique o tomate, alho (muito!!) e cebola. Frite o alho e a cebola no azeite e depois coloque o tomate. Tempere: pimenta do reino, sal, manjericão seco, orégano, tempero pronto e o que mais você quiser. Antes que essa mistura vire um molho de tomate (essa informação é muito importante) jogue o restante dos legumes que já devem estar cozidos. Refogue e deixe dar aquela fritadinha. Quando começar agarrar no fundo da panela, jogue pedaços de queijo canastra no meio e misture mais um pouco. O queijo vai começar a derreter, nessa hora você vai pensar: “estou indo no caminho certo”. Abaixe o fogo e quebre um ovo em cima de tudo. A partir daí é proibido misturar, o ovo vai cozinhar inteiro em cima dos legumes...eu gosto da gema molinha.Desligue a panela e deixe esfriar um pouco, porque batata quente é um perigo para gente apressada como eu.
Observação crucial: coloque um ovo por pessoa, eu já vi muita gente brigando por causa da gema do ovo...
BON PROVECHO!