(This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you should make one, too.)

WHAT I’M DOING NOW

Hey, friend. I’m updating this page on June 25th, 2024 from our apartment in Lisbon, Portugal. It’s the beginning of summer and the weather is sunny, warm, with a slight breeze. Perfect for exploring the city or taking an evening stroll. Bad for productivity.

Buying A Home

We are in the final phase of purchasing our first home in Portugal. It’s exciting and driving my baseline anxiety level up from a 6 to a 8. We are beginning to understand why people say that Portuguese bureaucracy is a BEAR. Don’t worry, I’ll write a post (or two) about our experience finding our home, how we did it without a real estate agent, our journey to securing a mortgage, and the waiting game we’ve had to play.

Renewing Our Residency Permits

Our first residency permits expire at the end of September and the government organization (AIMA) that manages this process is struggling: technical difficulties, staffing issues, and increased demand has put a serious strain on the system. I’ve started collecting information and firsthand accounts of how it’s going and how to renew online. We can’t start the renewal process until we are closer to our expiration date but we need our permits before we go to the US for Christmas, so this is ticking up my anxiety to an 8.75.

Etsy Business

My little shop savorandscribble.etsy.com is doing OK. I’m making more regular sales on my snarky bookish drink ware and tops. I’m focused on Q4 holiday sales. I’ve partnered with one of my favorite authors (Penn Cole) to be a licensed merch provider for her awesome series, Spark Of the Everflame. I’ve also submitted art for review to do the same for Sarah J Maas – fingers crossed that comes through soon so that I can list her products before Q4 holiday shopping kicks off. And, of course, I’m always on the hunt for new snarky quotes and sayings to make people laugh. My best seller is a funny and relatable quote about forgetfulness on a mug or glass can.

Learning Portuguese

Meh. I do OK on daily tasks and interactions but I’m not where I want to be. I think it’s time for a class. Right now I’m using Memrise, YouTube, a few podcasts like Coffee Break Portuguese, to keep concepts top of mind but I need to drill this shit to make it stick. AND not be so afraid of looking like an idiot every time I open my mouth.

Physical Fitness

It’s been better and worse. Thankfully my back is feeling great after receiving life changing ozone injections here (post to follow), but now I’m struggling with lots of little injuries – shin splints, pulled hamstrings, etc. Today I saw a physical therapist who is going to help me strength my lower body and improve my mobility. I’m really excited for this because I was just starting to enjoy running.

Ferias!

This is the last week of school for my tiny humans. Summer vacation starts Monday and I just got my shit together and enrolled the elder tiny human in two weeks of camps (taekwondo and parkor). The newest tiny human will continue his current situation of daycare – yes! But, Mr. Scribbles has two weeks off work in August and we have NOTHING planned. So I need to put on my travel agent hat and get to planning – fuuuuuuuck.