Well, a week has past since our last blog post, including Easter weekend, my birthday, and a few house hunting days with an offer on one. And, I guess I can’t help but think we aren’t supposed to be home yet from warm sunny Mexico, where we could go surfing at any time, or swimming, or just outside for a warm walk. However, some further violence along the border towns since we’ve been home makes me relieved that we are already home, and don’t have to worry about navigating through the country again. And, funny story, we got home to find a Mexican road map in our mail from the car insurance company. How convenient.

 I think we’re both finding it difficult to get back on track, mentally and physically. You know when its cold out and you don’t want to do much but sit inside? Well, here its started to warm up and everyone is outside, but we’re still finding it quite chilly, not to mention windy, and I’m pretty sure we’ve had long hot showers, tea or hot chocolate, or all of the above, on most days since getting back home. And in spin class, I’m wishing I was surfing, go figure. Our tans are fading quickly, and even the dog’s blond sun bleached locks are turning back to golden.

Our house hunt is going okay, but we seem to be coincidently attracted to the bankruptcy sales, not because of that, but because we like the house, the location, or all of the above. However, they are not a straightforward bargaining game, you have to put in a strategic offer, then wait for a set amount of time for the courts to accept or decline your offer, and if someone else puts in another offer, you just better hope your price is higher, but not too much that you’ve overpaid for the property. Not to mention, the people could walk away with appliances, or trash the place on their way out, so you have to factor in that possibility as well. I can say that I wish we could just find a nice place, to give an offer, and know within a few days, but that is not going to happen, not this time anyway.

We took Nixon to the vet today, and unfortunately his ear infection is NOT cleared up. In fact, its in both ears now, and the vet thinks its a yeast infection due to allergies. Great. And, sometime this week he chipped one of his front teeth, either sneezing on the tile floor, or playing with mom’s dog, chasing her around the coffee table. This tooth needs extraction to prevent absess, another expensive trip to the vet. We’ve got a difficult doggy to begin with, and he already hates us messing with his ears, and after putting drops in for 2 weeks in Mexico has made it a real battle. So, now we face twice daily wresting matches for at least another 10 days of Surolan drops to both sides. He’s not happy, and neither are we. Now we can only hope the infection is not from a food allergy, but my inkling is a possible allergy to his Revolution flea and tick medicine which made him very itchy after the 2nd treatment and subsequent doses afterwards, not to mention, the ear issues started shortly after this 2nd dose in February.

In travel news, we’ve bought our guide book for China, (although the tickets haven’t been confirmed yet, but soon) my favorite travel book is Frommer’s because of the layout, the suggested itineraries, the “best of” section, the maps, walking tours, and places to stay. It also tells you which buses and trains to take to get to the sights. The back of the book has some translations for numbers, food, attractions, etc. in english pronunciation as well as the Chinese characters. Its a BIG book, but I have to take it along for the trip, highlighted and sectioned off.  I’m not a fan of internet searching for our trips, I get easily distracted and discouraged, so I’m old fashioned in liking a hardcopy, but the benefit is you CAN tote it along with you (unlike your internet connection), and its completely comprehensive with everything we’ll need along the way.