Just a little wrapping up summer . . .

I know it's been a little while since I've posted.  Not sure why that is, just getting a little lazy I guess.  It's actually been a little quiet around here.  Aside from house hunting, we've had a pretty normal but extremely wet end of the summer.

Once we got back from the states in June I started the hunt for a new place.  My heart wasn't really into this hunt since it was not our choice to move in the first place.  Our landlord has decided he wants to get married, move back into his house and have a family.  The sad part of it all is that he has not accomplished any of those things to date.  We eventually figured out that he thinks he can get much more rent money from someone else.  

I looked at over 15 homes in the same area we are living.  Nothing compared to what we were living in and it was starting to get me down.  When I did actually find something we could work with we began negotiating with the owner.  After three weeks of talking and thinking we had found our next house, the landlord backed out and we were back where we started.   Many of the homes we looked at were very dirty, musty, moldy and just plain disgusting.  I was beginning to think we would have to go back into the city of Chengdu to look at apartments.

I finally found a place that we could live with.  It needed some work but the furniture was nice and it actually looked a lot cleaner than others we had been shown.  Another plus was that it was the same floor plan as our current home and we were quite happy with it.  We were able to work things out with the landlord and we moved on August 27.  We're just about settled and beginning to feel comfortable in our new place.  It has a meandering koi pond in the back yard and I am constantly having to remember to go out there and feed the fish.

One drawback to the new place is we're finding bugs around the place and I can't stand it.  Last Tuesday, I was getting ready to go into the city and found a VERY large spider on the wall.  With the legs spread this spider was about 3-4 inches in diameter.  I was terrified.  I called Joe at work to get someone out there to get the thing and then sat on the stairs and waited for someone to come.  I was afraid to let it out of my sight because I didn't want it to get somewhere in the house and me not know where it went.  It took about 20 minutes for someone to come.  They actually caught the spider and took it outside and released it. Many of my friends had talked about seeing these spiders around (it's been raining a lot and I guess the rain has driven them out).  This was my first and I hope last experience with one of these things.  However, that same night Joe and I found another one dead in the kitchen.    I'm told they like to eat mosquitoes and don't bother with people but I still don't want to share my home with them.

The end of summer also brought my friends back from visiting their home countries.  It's very quiet around here in the summer when everyone goes back to visit with family.  By mid to late August most everyone is back and things get back to normal here in Chengdu.  Our weekly massage/lunch dates resume as well as our Friday Mahjongg and dinners our with friends.  We will start our next bible study on Daniel next week and I'm looking forward to getting back into that.    A Times Outlet Mall has opened here in Chengdu and Joe and I checked it out one Sunday.  Designer and name brand stores we're familiar with back in the states but still very expensive.  There was even a Wrangler store, but no boot cut Wranglers.  

We even attended a Country Western night at the Shangri La Hotel one Friday night.  Quite an experience:  New Zealand Band (dressed a little like the Village People), playing US C&W music (with a little Canadian Shania Twain thrown in for good measure), Chinese dancing cowgirls, in an Irish Pub in a  Hong Kong-based hotel in Chengdu, China.  What an experience!  It was so funny to see the wait staff dressed up for the evening.  Most of them were dressed as Indians (the native American kind)!

Another highlight of the summer was the opening here in Chengdu of Tony Romas.  It actually tastes like a little bit of home.  It's hard to remember you are actually in China when you step into the restaurant and have those wonderful BBQ ribs and chicken. 

We have a great bunch of friends in our neighborhood and are enjoying getting together with them on the weekends.  A few have pool tables in their homes and we get together for dinner, wine, beer, pool and great company.  Last weekend we got together for pizza and then the guys played pool while the girls watched Salt in our friend's home theatre.  Can't get more like home than that.

This year has flown by.  It's hard to believe that it's almost time to start booking our flights home for the holidays.  It's hard to believe that Joe and I have been here for a little over two years now.   It's hard to believe that our time here in China has gone by so fast and we can hopefully start talking about when we will be back home with our family and friends.

What I CAN believe is that in 10 days we will be back in Texas!  It will be so nice to see family and friends again.  I'm looking forward to seeing old friends at our 35th high school reunion (they're expecting close to 100 people). I can't wait to see our new lake house.  The last time I saw it,  it was still a dream not a reality.  I can't believe that Talon will turn 5 years old while we are home.  

I'm looking forward to our next R&R.  Joe and I will meet Pete and Sandy in Munich at the end of this month for the 200th celebration of Oktoberfest.  From there we will drive to Venice and Rome and spend some time exploring Italy.  Joe and I will even have about a day and a half in London before heading back to Chengdu.  Pete and Sandy will celebrate their 25th anniversary on the 14th and Joe and I will celebrate our 31st on the 15th.  I know we'll have a fun trip.  Can't wait to share pictures with you all.

Until then . . . love to all!

CLOSING NOTE:  What I read this summer:  Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Ford),  The Happiness Project (Rubin), A Vintage Affair (Wolff), Elizabeth Street (Fabiano), The Ginseng Hunter (Talarigo), The Abstinense Teacher (Perrotta),  Little Bee (Cleave), Sizzling Sixteen (Evanovich), The Hot Flash Club Series  by Thayer (for you girls over 50, this is a hilarious must read!), Digging to America (Tyler), Savor the Moment (Roberts), Promises Kept (Bradford), Hannah's List (Macomber), Susan Wiggs' Lakeshore Chronicles Series (still working on this one).  Gearing up for book clubs and some holiday reading.  Looking forward to Cindy Bradford's 3rd in the series coming out.  Can you tell I LOVE to read!?   I LOVE my Kindle!