Wordless Wednesday: Living Room Coming Together

Getting all set up 

 The couch should be here... sigh

Still figuring out spots for the lose ends but we're getting there

The Apartment Has Perks!

We are so close to moving into our place that I can taste it! I went over to the new building today and randomly decided to video the common area so that you guys could see it. Check it out: 

See that guy at the end? He came back and started questioning me. He wanted to make sure I lived there, which would be hard to believe seeing that I got lost. All was worked out and he found this gringa speaking bumbling Portuguese innocent enough. That reminds me, I really need to start my life of crime... 

Hoarder's Anonymous

We are preparing for our move to the smaller apartment. I'm really excited about living there, just not about getting all our crap out of here.

So now I have a math equation for you:

If a woman has managed to fit 400 square meters of utter crap into a 130 square meter apartment, how does she then manage to pack and contain all that in an 80 square metered apartment?

The Answer:

Throw crap out! We are having a cleaning, hoarder's anonymous, purging of the home all week long. This will be the time where I will open the junk draw and actually be honest with myself. There will never be a moment where I will really wish that I had kept the finger flashlights or those broken crayons. I am not going to miss the wrinkled pizza restaurant slips nor is there an actual emotional attachment to the ticket stubs from some bad random movie.

This stuff is going into... gasp... the recycling bin.

Now don't get too scared for me. I have already sent a Tupperware, large enough to fit Mr. Rant, full of his crap to the in-law's house. As they were the ones to encourage his collecting of CDs and comic books, they can house them.

It's 80 some odd square meters of living space which means there is only about 20 left for actual stuff.

And this isn't the real challenge. The real challenge will be me keeping that little place organized and free of clutter. I'm going to be honest, I am horribly lazy when it comes to organizing crap. I just can't be bothered, and I'm even a Virgo. So stuff that in your face astrologers. I prefer living in organized chaos.

But in the best interest of my children, I am going to reform.

So here goes the first week of the rest of my life cleaning up and organizing my crap. Maybe you should be scared for me...


This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Stripped in Rio de Janeiro

People want to settle in Rio de Janeiro. They come here with a plan to live a good life and work a fun job. That is entirely possible in this city. I actually have friends with a flexible enough work schedule that they get two half days a week and work until 11pm other days when they like to go out at midnight.

What people don't talk about is the living part. It is not easy to make a home here. While us foreigners mock cultures where people live with their parents until they are 30, we have no idea how it is. That truth came to me the very first tiny apartment Mr. Rant and I looked at. We were looking to buy.

The tiny part wasn't shocking. I was prepared for that. I wasn't prepared for a place that was totally stripped. When I stay stripped I mean not even a place to screw in a light bulb.

You see, stuff is expensive here. People take cabinets, light fixtures, and even outlet covers. Don't even hope to find a place with a oven!

Of course things are changing now. Life is getting a bit easier. People actually now rent with some appliances. By the way, some appliances (aka. a Fridge and oven) classify as a furnished apartment to some rental agencies.

So when you come as a foreigner and feel totally ripped off with your place in Ipanema realize that you were only somewhat ripped off. It is not even worth bothering to try to "save" some of that money unless you are here long enough to use that fridge you bought and make some friends who are willing to buy it when you leave.

All that being said, I've been here for over 5 years now and have amassed enough crap to over-fill my place. Rio de Janeiro seems to come down to grit, staying power, and determination. If you have any of those you are golden!

Rio de Janeiro Weather: Burrrrrr

I know Rio de Janeiro doesn't get that cold. I really truly get that. I mean, when I see the children wearing ski-caps, scarves, and hooded jackets in this city I wonder what they would ever do if they were shipped off to Norway.

But it has gotten chilly for a Rio de Janeiro winter and that, in an of itself, has turned my apartment into a refrigerator. I am not lying here people, I live in the crisper.

It's just that apartments here are not made for windy and breezy weather. They don't hold in warmth for a second. Obviously architects had to choose between cool for the summer and warm for the winter. Which is the greater of two evils.

So as I scoot around in my US Christmas jammies and sock slippers, I remind myself that my house is nice and cool come January. Well, as cool as an non air-conditioned place can be.

And I make a little promise to myself to have those damn windows changed to good ones. Ones that are not from the 60s and allow in a draft strong enough to be considered a breeze. Then again, once summer rolls around I love that air still gets in when the windows are closed because of the summer rain.

Oh well.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find myself a blanket to curl up with.

Adapting to Rio de Janeiro: Apartments

I saw something looking at apartments today that made my heart skip a beat. It was a linen closet.

That's the thing that I'm still bitter about living in here in Rio de Janeiro, putting in a linen closet would cost me like 3 pretty pennies.

And it only got worse. I saw all the beautiful newly done "built in" closets in this tiny tiny apartment and I wanted to move in! Hell, they had a corner cabinet in the kitchen. I think I actually came a little when I saw it.

Not shockingly, the place is going for R$670,000 ($425,774) for a 2 bedroom 80 meters sq (262 ft sq) and no parking spot! But you know what, it was 80 meters of cabinetry goodness. New closets as far as the eye could see... or about a yard. You do the math.

So what can a girl do except for dream of the new cabinetry she could have in her place. I was excited and extremely depressed at the same time. To think, my dreams now consist of fake wooden boxes nailed to the wall. Before you judge me, nailing stuff into cement walls is a bitch!

But there was real brilliance there. I need to think outside the weirdly shaped box that is my apartment. I have the hallway and could easily fit in 2 linen closets. Oh how the natives will admire me then. Not to mention what I could do with the built-in closets that came with the place. While I'm at it, I may just put in good window! OMG, I'm on a roll.

Obviously my pipe dreams come with a cost and because of that I may take up carpentry. That or grow a forest for my wood. In some way, I would need to contribute.

Until then, I will just dream of rolling doors and empty shelves to further organize the crap I have that I truly do not need. Call it adapting, call it hoarding, call it what you will but I now have a dream.