how was Spain?

yeah, welcome back! Hope you had a great trip

Welcome back!

Hi! thanks guys...Spain was good...

considering the circumstances...We are selling DH's house (that he grew up in - that his father left him and his brother)...well, they thought they would be nice (since they live in the US) and let their cousin live in the house. Its a great house...on 1/2 an acre (very rare for Madrid)...she lived there RENT FREE for 9 years...and refused to leave...

it was a mess...she ended up slapping MIL and there was a big fight (thats when DH and I jumped up our trip- otherwise we were waiting for the closing)...

I can go on an on and list what this cousin did...the water pipes broke...she claimed the insurance and never repaired them...she rented the house out to some lunatic who blew up the oven and refrigerater...claimed the insurance and never fixed the oven...she got a new fridge and had the nerve to ask for it when she moved out!!! she never paid the community dues...she took down the for sale signs (so that she wouldn't have to move) as I said I can go on and on...


so since Dh and BIL are the only males in the family (there are 6 sisters...one brother who lives in Mexico though) things were getting a little hairy for my MIL...so we wnet to try to clean things up...


so our trip was really just staying in the house...getting the cousins stuff out...cleaning it up to hand over to the new owners...visiting with DH's grandma and aunts and cousins (one cousin had a baby while we were there) and to relax...


no sightseeing, which was Ok b/c I have been to Madrid before (DH lived there) and we got to spend time in DH's childhood home...before it was gone forever...lots of good food...


I have mostly family pictures...I'm uploading right now...I'll post in a sec

well, at least you guys were both there for the house - it's better to handle sticky situations in person sometimes.

Has his cousin come around yet, or is she still bitter?

this is the front of the house...


this used to be the front door...but they added on a florida room...


here's John with his grandmother and a cousin...they just found him...he was illigitamate...adn his uncle (in mexico) never knew about him - he was a Spanish rock star)


here's John and me...but I look awful...the shower didn't really work (the water pipes broke)...so we washed with a bucket...so I always felt that the conditioner wasn't completely washed off...also this was the morning we left and I had awful jetlag the whole trip and stayed up almost every night...so I look like a zombie


this si me, my MIL, DH's grandma (who loves it when I call her 'abuelita' (Spanish for granma) and John eating tapas!!


the tower by the house (no idea what for) that John used to climb


the back with the pool...and the stairs/well John fell down as a kid and everyone thought he was dead...lol

Welcome Back

its definitely good to be home...

I so missed English...while I understand a lot of Spanish...I cannot speak it...I can't think of the words...if that makes sense...but when I hear the words I can get an idea of the conversation...

well I couldn't take anymore TV in Spanish...although we watched the Spanish Survivor...and a few US movies...dubbed...


needless to say...I read a lot...

DH and I also had lots of alone time and really rekindled our romance...not that anything was bad before...we were just completely together...

Welcome back Erica
Thanks for the pics

Welcome Home!

I cannot believe the cousin but it must have been nice to be alone like that as well as visit with some famliy.

What a pain dealing with that cousin must have been!

On the plus side, your pictures are beautiful!
I love the house... it has so much character!

jenn...I love the house too...we kept saying that if only we could have this house in the US...

but it was pointless to keep it...since we just don't use it enough...plus...we are going to use the money to buy in CA...it just makes more sense...