We had high hopes of not only organizing the storage unit (well, *I* did) but maybe even EMPTYING it.  So far I have been very focused on buying out the stock of 2 Thrifttowns and 1/2 of Ebay and 1/2 of Amazon.com.  I’m so sick of buying stuff I have to MAKE myself go online and shop!  Most of the online stuff is books and I think I finished with the last one today.  Some of the “iffy” books I really needed to see in person before I decided to purchase so I couldn’t line them up awaiting our arrival.  I sniped my last auction yesterday and I’m SO GLAD to have it over.  Actually, there is one more, but I think I can get it at Amazon (and honestly, I’m so DONE I don’t really care).

We decided not to go back to Merida to close on the house, but it is looking like we might be able to do it afterall.  We just need to get someone in Mexico to get our van to our mechanic, hope he is able to fix whatever is wrong with it and then drive direct from the airport to Merida (4 hours) so we can close early the next morning after we arrive.  Either that or go home and then get up at dawn to drive to Merida and close.

I was, however, able to get the boys their Christmas laptops and they are loving them.  They are loving them so much that Aunt Chrissy decided to get one for herself.  They have the flexview screens so they are able to tilt the screen in any direction and the display stays perfect.  Unfortunately, this means nothing under the tree for them this year and I’m not sure how that will go over.  If nothing else, Santa will have to leave a pathetic little gift as the girls would DEFINITELY notice the lack of a Santa gift for the boys.  So MORE shopping!  YEAH!

We decided to stay as long as we are (20 days) to enjoy family visits and to allow the boys to visit with their best friend, Andrew.  Unfortunately, Andrew recently decided to start school and the boys have few opportunities to get together.  We’re trying though.

I love the library system here – when the girls were down with sickness I was able to get all kinds of animal DVDs from the library and sate them so that the next day they didn’t even want to hear the word “movie”.  My sister and her family have been so amazing to be with though, that it all evens out.  Well, maybe all except the cold.

So, Cliff Notes version: sick, f’ing COLD, sick, consumerism UGH!, sick, family .

We said our goodbyes today and it was very very sad.

The boys have been wanting to maximize the Andrew contact so we have been figuring out how to make sure they can spend the night here (or there), go to skate parks and the library and bring food food food home.  It has ben hard to deny them Drew-time, so we spent many days driving them to/from hockey games/practices or the skatepark and this left very little time for our list of stuff to do.  Today we drove down to Camping World to try to knock out the last of the items we have to take back and to Thriftown to pick up luggage and we now have 11 pieces of luggage to be checked, the carseat, 4 laptop bags (oh!  we came here with two broken computers and two working ones and are leaving with FOUR WORKING laptops!) and various backpacks.  We are going to hit Thrifttown one more time tomorrow to get something to contain the enormous quantity of books I’ve managed to obtain.  I’ll have to take a picture of the bounty once we get home.  Tonight Jamie is at the storage unit dropping off horses, his bike, many rollerblades and helmets and all kinds of crap the kids had to have but we could not take back.  Tomorrow we hope to finish off the guesthouse and head over to the City where we try to convince the kids that going to bed before midnight is a GOOD thing – especially when you’re supposed to be at the airport at 4am!  EEEEK!!!

If you’ve sent an email and I’ve ignored it, I’m so sorry.  I’ll try very hard to respond once we’re back in our laid-back life.

Pike takes things nice and easy and it took him a good day to warm up to skateboarding, but by the second day he was riding like a champ. I am really so proud of him and it was his moment to shine as his older brother (sunburnt with limelight) was not ready to stand up and board; preferring to “buttboard”. Since the skatepark is only open after school hours are over the boys were killing time one day and skateboarding nearby when Pike had a small accident and injured his arm. At first we thought it was a wrist issue and after consulting Dr. Google decided to wait, ice and elevate. Today the arm was little better but waiting allowed the true location of the injury to be exposed and mother’s intuition (and a lump on his forearm) led me to take him to an urgent care clinic for examination. We waited only 10 minutes or so, saw the doc pretty soon afterward, waited for the Xray guy to come back from a late lunch (in Mexico, he’d be eating on the equipment ) and got the X-rays. The X-ray tech had us wait while he developed the films and then immediately showed them to us (before the doc!) and pointed out the break (it wasn’t hard to miss). Luckily it was a clean break and after we convinced the doc we didn’t need an orthopedic specialist she screwed up her courage and announced that while she’s only done one cast this year, she’d do Pike’s cast herself! It was great; she was very easy to talk to, really seemed to enjoy the visit and made sure we’d call if there were any problems; gave us her work hours and number. Only difference in Mexico would be getting the doc’s home phone. So it was a wonderful experience for us all and only $292 for everything and only took 2 hours. He is not thrilled with the cast, but it is much more comfortable and less painful with the support it provides.

I know I had much much more to spew but I think the traffic gods ate my brain.

Really, I think I’m brain dead; I’ve been composing a post in my head forever (one arm usually trapped under a sick girl at night and unable to type and away from the computer all day in freaking TRAFFIC and unable to post) and I can’t remember a single thing I wanted to share. But isn’t the complaining and bitching so much more fun to read?

What with all the sickness, you’d think that we’d be svelte and trim but the opposite has occured. With the addition of clothing (and MUCH MUCH WARM clothing is absolutely necessary in this frigid north) and the lack of exercise, we’re packing the pounds on. I’m really hoping that when we get back to the warm we’ll exercise again, but who can tell here when you’re wearing 10lb of clothing just to stay warm? Man o man, I can’t WAIT to come back to the US again. We really have no one to blame but ourselves; we left the cold germs for years and then popped back right at cold and flu season; what do we expect? To be not sick, apparently. Sheesh!

It is immeasurably different here and while Jamie is loving the weather, I can’t wait to get back. I’m eagerly researching our winter trip to Guatemala and Honduras (or El Salavador, not sure where or what or why, other than to put the rubber side down) and enjoying the short time we have left here with family. But if nothing else, this trip has taught me that my heart is most definitely on the road somewhere and that the somewhere is most definitely south of the 20th parallel.

I have been nothing but a grump this entire post but I can’t help myself; maybe once the grump is out something better will come out. Sigh.