Monthaversary Four: Its getting cold!

This last month has really showed us the cold, rainy weather that Cape Town has in Winter. It is early in the Winter, so I really hope that it doesn’t get much worse than this. The majority of the days are dreary, especially in the in the mornings. Sometimes the sun comes out in the early afternoon, then we are covered by clouds again. I have come to realize that our house is not insulated very well and is colder than other people’s homes. Le Sigh. Right now I’m sitting under a blanket wearing jeans, an undershirt, and long-sleeved shirt, a fleece vest and a fleece coat. Our heaters do not heat the room (see my post about electricity here) and we cannot afford to buy a small space heater. 

Etta hates taking pictures, Reese loves the attention.

Etta says "what mom!? I'm sleeping".

 

 This month has also been about figuring out how we can afford to live here without me working. It really is not going to work out very well for us without a second paycheck. We are basically living paycheck to paycheck, and that does not even include a car payment! We spend almost nothing- and have decided not to eat out at all (unless it is a social gathering- because we need friends!). We are applying for our permanent residency visas, because then I can work legally, however that could take more than half a year to be processed. If I cannot work legally and my husband can’t get a raise or a small part-time job on the side (which would suck for him), we are going to have to make some tough decisions.  Le Sigh.

She is such a ham! Here is Reeses sticking out her tongue again!

In the mean time, we still have to find other housing by August, so I have been searching on Gumtree (SA’s version of craigslist) for housing at least twice a day. I went to a viewing of a flat by myself two weeks ago, but it was pretty dirty and more expensive than we pay now (and unfurnished, no alliances and it was an apartment). Luckily yesterday we found an ad entitled “Dog Heaven” for a cottage (a guest house). I e-mailed the owner and we were able to see it the same day! We drove in the Pinelands neighborhood and fell in love with it! It has big yards, old homes, birds chirping, and streets with huge trees in the median. The cottage is tiny! The kitchen is the smallest kitchen I have EVER seen (If we get it I will have to show you how small it is). It has an upstairs loft and a thatched roof (you can smell and touch the thatching!), is furnished, has appliances, the yard is big (mostly ours) and it has a small pool! I hate getting my hopes up too much, but besides it being small and not as close to the University as we’d like, it is perfect for us and our dogs. Let’s cross our fingers!

She is so cute!

This is why we call her out "litttle bitty girl."

How was your month?  

Song of the day: Hope by Jack Johnson.