Wednesday March 31st 2010

Ross got home around 3 this morning, they played 5 sets…………..they loved them, a wonderful compound of several apartments with a pool, very uptown shit. They say they will have them back next season, we’ll see!!!

Another beautiful day in paradise, I did some housework as Lily still is not communicating with us (I don’t remember if I told you but her dad died last week, it had been a long time coming) and Yvonne is coming tomorrow and want things nice for her. (Well for me too, the dust is thick) I will clean Betsy tomorrow and put clean sheets on her bed, Yvonne doesn’t come in until after 4 so I have most of the day to finish.

Ross told me he would buy me lunch (it ended up being lupper) so we braved going into Centro to have lunch on the beach. We went to Mar y Sol (Sea and Sun) and I had my avocado stuffed shrimp (excellent but expensive) and Ross had the Mahi Mahi excellent. I just tried to upload the pictures onto the blog, and I think it might have worked but I sent them email just in case.

We got home and I printed more of our personal business cards (the ones I printed before couldn’t be found in my computer so I had to start from scratch again) and I got Cami’s birthday card printed and in an envelope to mail for her birthday at the end of April. She turns 6 this year, wow!

Ross just got in after spending at least 2 hours cleaning the outside of Betsy so we can take pictures to sell her, that will be a sad day. We are just relaxing now, watching some stupid show on discovery channel, so I will say goodnite and we will talk to you again soon. Probably not tomorrow as I said we pick up Yvonne from the airport then off to Nelly’s to play.

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

Try clicking on this link (or cut and paste) http://rossandkimspictures.shutterfly.com/
to see some pictures

Monday March 29th 2010

Damien and crew got to our house around 11:30 to drop off the equipment we rented them before they drove to the airport to fly home. We had a bit of a chat then off they went and in we went to finish waking up.

Once awake, showered and stuff we drove to the church to drop off some stuff that we cleaned out of the band room, including the 2 very large jars of peanut butter that Ross had bought that I don’t like, then to the banner place to get a factura (invoice) for the banner they made us for movie night so John and Christie can write it off as a donation to Amigos de Bucerias (we paid for it, but they needed the expense so they gave us the money). Then to our favorite Pharmacia for some pills for Ross and another inhaler for me, then we drove to John’s to drop off the factura, then Christie and their youngest drove to the municipal building (we followed) so we can finally pay our taxes. I paid 499 pesos for each of our properties. We noticed that we had parked behind Mike’s car (there aren’t too many Alberta plates in Bucerias) so Ross called him and we met up with him and another couple of friends on the beach for a cerveza. After a short chat and having an older Mexican guy sing you a Rod Stewart song (go figure) we left to pick up some cheap wine for me then back home for a bit then off to Vallarta to get another drum head to replace the one at Nelly’s that Ross trashed.

The music store had a really cheap one, we have to go back in a couple of weeks for the one that Ross wants, so we got that then drove to Costco for a hot dog, I had a piece of pizza and I stocked up on cerveza’s for Yvonne’s visit. Then back to Nuevo for Ross’s 6pm meeting. I went to the market to get another couple of neoprene can holders (I have no idea where they go), a box of Triscuit’s and a couple of onion soup mixes to make chip dip. I met up with Ross and another guy in the parkade (the other guy is just visiting and we drove him back to his hotel) then drove home.
I am uploading some pictures as I write this so I can use my shutterfly account to post pictures as my blog is not co-operating! I will post the link and imbed it in the blog when I add something. I am uploading some wedding stuff too so it will take me a bit to get it all done,

So we are just lying around now, we have to get up early for work tomorrow so we don’t want to stay up too late.

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

This picture is of the flowers Mary Carmen and Dick gave me for my birthday!

Saturday and Sunday March 27th & 28th 2010

Saturday was a great day. Ross and I drove to Lo de Marcos to meet up with Damien and his band, Olympic Sound Collective (his cd is called Live in Seattle) so Ross can pick up his Tama drums that he had left there as he has a gig in Bucerias on Tuesday on the beach for a birthday party for two 50 year olds. He had left the drums there as the drummer needed to see what part of the bass drum Ross needed and also so Ross could play with them, which he ended up doing at a bar in Guayabitos, on the beach, called Latitude 21. I have some pictures, but I’m having a problem posting pictures on my blog, so I’m not quite sure they will work. It is so cool to be listening to a band that my husband is playing, and having your toes being soaked by the ocean! Gosh we love it here.

We didn’t get home until 2ish so as you can imagine we slept in way too late, as we were planning to clean the band room (which really is the spare bedroom) we weren’t really motivated to get going fast. We putzed and had our showers and when we couldn’t find much else to do we started cleaning. Ross did a fabulous job of the band room/spare room, it looks almost like new! We can actually see the floor; he even went to Mega and picked up some storage boxes for all the cables and stuff. We now have room to put our blow-up bed in. I tidied up my office and changed some things around, still not the way I want it but it is a lot better than it was. We are slowly getting organized, even with the mountain of stuff we left behind; we have way too much shit.

We went to The Twisted Rose for supper; I had the Irish hamburger, it comes with a sunny side up egg on top of the patty. Definitely different, Hugh, one of the owners, said that back in Ireland and around those parts an egg is expected on a burger, similar to lettuce I suppose. The burger also had fried onions, mushrooms, bacon, lettuce, tomato etc. etc. etc. Ross had a regular burger then about 3/4 of mine, it was huge! I had a Dos Equis (XX) Lager (a really good cerveza) and Ross had some superb limonada (lemonade) to drink. Hugh and Simon aren’t normally open on Sundays, which we had forgotten about, so we were really lucky that they were open.
Well that’s it for the weekend, we watched Corrie Street until bed.

Hope everyone had a great weekend too!
Ross (feeling better) Kim and Critters in Paradise

Wednesday to Friday March 24th to 26th 2010

Where does the time go? I think I have asked this question before…………..or have I???????

I woke up early Wednesday morning as I needed to drive into Vallarta for my blood tests that needed to be done, cholesterol, thyroid and stuff and I needed to fast, so I brought a Pepsi to drink on the way home, all I’m allowed is water, yuck. I had to go to San Javier Marina Hospital as they do the testing in house where most of the clinics send out the blood for testing and according to Dr. Laura for some tests waiting does not give you accurate results. It, would you guess, is across the street from the marina and there were our usual 3 cruise ships in the harbor, (I was gonna say boats but I know I would be corrected by you know who) it is go good to still see them there as our season is winding down, earlier than usual they say because Easter is early this year. I parked across the street and went up to the second floor where the lab is and was waited on right away (none of this take a number and wait for 3 hours) and was out of there within, maybe, 10 minutes all together. The cost for all of the tests was 1,919 pesos; we really need to go on IMSS, and the doctor was 775 Pesos.

I stopped in at Wal-Mart on the way home to see if I could find some more neoprene can holders I seem to keep losing, couldn’t find any but found a pair of jeans for 200 pesos (the Mexican kind where they are very thin) that actually fit me, a support bandage for my ankle, some potato chips (breakfast) and a couple more things I can’t remember now. As I am reading this over before I post it I remember I also bought two umbrellas that actually clip onto beach chairs, so the big one I have I can keep for when we have lots of people at the beach (it tends to fly away when it gets breezy) I drove home to find Ross still sick, poor guy and for the rest of the day I tidied a little and I don’t think we did much else that day. We probably did (Ross is sleeping right now so I can’t ask him) but I can’t remember, so onto Thursday.

I had an appointment to get my nails done with Gina so while I got those done, I got my toe nails painted too, green, teehee, I have never had green on my toes before! I drove home and we decided to register our cell phones. We, the gringos, have until mid April to make sure our cell phones are registered so Ross and I decided we better get on that as we tend to procrastinate, a lot! Once showered and shaved (Ross, not me, but I supposed I could have, Oh, Oh TMI) and started off to Vallarta only to realize half way there that we forgot our passports and FM3’s, which we need to register our phones, so we did a returno (I love that word) and ended up at Mega to get more water (we had the bottles in the car and we were going to do that after Telcel). As we were getting the car showered (& shaved???) (there have guys in the parking lot that clean your car for you while you are shopping for 40 pesos) we decided to have lunch at the Chinese place in the mall. We stopped by our little Telcel and found out our phones are registered, I kinda sorta thought mine was but I wasn’t sure of Ross’s.

After we got home we putzed a little then off to Nelly’s a bit early as we took Ross’s Tama drums to Damien’s house (I called him David a couple of days ago, oops, my bad) in Lo de Marcos as they want Ross to play with them (they now have two of our drum sets there) so they will have two drummers, and also so the drummer from Seattle can look at the part that is broken on the bass drum to see if he can get one when he gets back home. We think we might go up there tomorrow (Saturday as Damien has to get back on Monday) so Ross can play….yes play, it’s not work!!!. We then drove onto Nelly’s and had a wonderful night, gosh the guys sound really really good. I brought Yoda with me to keep me company, what a mellow cat, Nelly, I think hugged him twice. Her orange cat Little Monkey has found a new love and doesn’t spend nearly as much time with Nelly as she would like. I even had a few patrons hold him as either they missed their cats they had at home or just loved cats. Ross really, really, broke his drum head, it was in tatters after, so off to the music store (again) for another drum head. I think he is just playing too damn much!

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY……..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

We got home at about 2am and needed to wind down a bit and didn’t get to bed until after 3, now, I got up, yes, on my birthday, at 8:30 this morning to help with the new library they are starting, which I find out is really close to my house. I drove baby to Rita and Oliver’s house, and rode with them to the library. I met some great people and the building they have for the library is a lot larger than I thought it would me, about the size of my house, I think. The shelves were up and some books had already been cleaned so we started to categorize the books (the Dewey system) and we started with the encyclopedias, then went to the atlas’s and then to dictionaries. Now all these books were donated (I’m pretty sure) and some are very old, but what history. There was one hard bound book with the year 1888 on it and we think it is a recipe book, what people handled this book and where did it come from, all questions that will never be answered. We dusted them off before placing them on the shelf, wow, I am so glad I was a part of that. The dust was really bad for my asthma so I don’t know whether I can go back next Friday or not to help out again, I’ll see how long it takes me to recuperate from today.

The lady (I’m sorry, I can’t remember her name, I think Dee or Dee Dee???) drove me back to Rita and Oliver’s house to get my scooter and as I was driving home I met up with Gina, I love a small town, you meet people and they stop and say hi.
I got home and got to open my presents. My card was beautiful, the English version of the card is printed on the back, and on the card Ross wrote that I could have 3000 pesos for a blackberry type phone so I don’t have to keep carting around a phone and our calendar, I can have them both together. Now I have to do some research to see which phone will work for us. I also got some presents that were wrapped. I first opened a new scroungey thing (to put soap on for the shower) with part of the scrounge sticking out, then I opened a jar of relish with just the jar wrapped, he ran out of paper (now remember this paper is from our granddaughters birthday and our daughter’s wedding) he put tape on the top. Then I opened up a four pack of small bottles of wine (for when we go out to dinner to restaurants that don’t sell liquor but allow you to bring it in) and 6, count them, 6, caramel microwave popcorns! I am so spoiled. After the excitement of opening presents we decided we needed a nap.

We are going out this evening to a restaurant we have never been before called El Ficus Café; they are having a “Moon Night” Dinner. Flor and Stephane are serving a special dinner to celebrate the coming of the full moon (and to take advantage of the bright sky on their outdoor dining patio.) The 3-course dinner starts out with cream of shrimp soup, followed by rib eye steak & shrimp and concluding with a dessert crepe of your choice. The price for this dinner is 235 pesos. I got the last blurb from an e-mail. We are meeting up with Sue, Harold, Mary Carmen and Dick, and who knows maybe some more people we know at 7:30 for this marvelous dinner.
Ross just woke up from his nap so I’m gonna say bye for now, I have nothing to add anyway, and will let you know how the dinner went tomorrow…………….maybe…………..or the next day!!!

Still sicky Ross (but I think getting better), birthday Kim and Critters in Paradise!

ps.....I have tried several times to upload some pictures but alas it is not working, I think because I have a big download going on right now for Ross's IPOD so I will try again later!

Monday & Tuesday March 22nd & 23rd 2010

Monday started out quiet, Ross still not feeling well and me not very motivated to doing much, it has started to get hotter and more humid out (I think summer is here early). David came (the guy from Australia we met in Los de Marcos on Saturday) by to pick up some gear he is renting from us while he is here. Really nice guy, he is actually getting a friend of his to pick up a part Ross needs for his bass drum, the guy will be flying in from Seattle today I think.

Ross left around 6 to play at the private going away party in Guayabitos for 100 or so of a couples closest friends, I stayed home as someone has to be in the office for Elements at 9am Tuesday morning and with getting home at 3am, I stayed home and had an early night. Not much happened Monday night, I just watched some tv then went to bed around 11.

Tuesday morning I fired up Baby and was down at the office shortly before 9. John and Christie were already there as we were having a short meeting at 9 with everyone. After our meeting I went across the street to order a Panini for lunch and a guy came by that is looking for a 3 bedroom home close to the ocean. I told him I would have Ross e-mail him anything we have.

I phoned Ross to wake him up to get down to the office by 11 so I could take off for my doctors appt at that time, there was no way Ross was going anywhere, he is still sick, so I asked Cheryl and Paul to sit in for me. I closed up at 11 (hoping they would get there soon) drove home and got into the car and booted for PV. By the time I had gotten home it was 11:20 and my appt was for 12 noon at a place way into the PV romantic zone where I had never been before. Breaking all speed limits I got there at 12:05 (it should have taken at least an hour to drive there). Oops
Dr. Laura is very nice and has all high tech equipment at her disposal. I have to go back into Vallarta for some blood work tomorrow, I have to fast before I do it so I couldn’t have done it today. On a side note there are 2 cruise ships in the dock today, hurray!

Well that is about it today, Ross was sleeping when I got home and still is so I’m going to read the new English paper I got today then I don’t know what. It is getting windy and cloudy; we might get some rain later.

Sickky Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Sunday March 21st 2010 (Continued)

Dick and Mary Carmen picked us up at 6 and asked if it was ok t o go to Puente de Mita for supper as it was their 10th wedding anniversary. What a treat, we haven’t been for a while and it is always such a nice drive. You drive north on the 200 then turn at the La Cruz turnoff then keep driving past La Cruz another 10 to 15 minutes to the little town of Puente de Mita. We went to Hotel des Artistes where Chef Thierry Blouet has his second restaurant (the other on is in Vallarta) and had a fabulous meal. Ross had a great piece of New York steak and I had the salmon, it was so good, Mary Carmen and I had Sangria and we all had water, which they topped up when needed. Now the restaurant is very classy and they prices are, well, quite pricy but they charged 50 pesos for our water……………each! We couldn’t get over it. Oh well, they did give Mary Carmen and Dick a plate of a few desserts with Happy Anniversary written on the plate with chocolate.

We got home around 9 and we got our jammies on because tomorrow is a busy day and we need to get some sleep. We are going to pay our taxes (yes I know, it’s about time) pick up the banner for movie night and Ross needs to drive to Guayabitos for the private party they are playing at. We also need to bathe Gracie as she has been getting into things she shouldn’t be and she’s really dirty!

So again good night, sweet dreams

Ross Kim (tummy’s are very full) and Critters

Hurray..........I'm not late this time.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday March 19th, 20th & 21st 2010

Friday…………..what did we do Friday??? That is the problem with not doing my posts right away, we (I) tend to forget what we did!!! Our days are also kinda getting routine now, I’m afraid this blog is gonna get kinda boring!

I went to Wal-Mart to get the proper phone for the computer, I found one that matches the one I bought, fancy that! After I plugged it in, I called it from our other VoIP phone and it was really echoeee, Ross used it to call his Mum and it was a spotty conversation (dropping in and out), we might just have to bite the bullet and use a corded phone with it. I will try it again to see how it goes.
Ross played at Ana Banana’s in La Cruz Friday night, it was an early gig so he wasn’t up too late, and I went to bed early with a nasty headache.

Saturday we went back to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things, apples, bananas, butter and CARMEL MICROWAVE POPCORN!!! I was told about this stuff last Saturday from Kenzie when we did the animal adoption for PEACE, it is act 11 microwave popcorn but with caramel you put on top of the popcorn, then put it back in the microwave to melt the caramel…………..well wooser! It is sooooooo good! I found it when I went to Wal-Mart on Friday and had it, well ya know, I had to get more. I picked up 6 more and had another one yesterday, I have to be careful not to have too much, I’ll end up looking like two ton Tessie.

We left at 5:30 our time to drove to Lo de Marcos to play at the plaza, again, they sure love these guys. The Amigos de Lo de Marcos pays for Juan-Ted to play for the town, cool heh! We also had 3 Mexican guys come up to play then another man and lady came up, he on guitar and she on flute, they played all original songs and sounded pretty good. There was also a sax player (I love the sax) all the way from Australia that is down here for a while (he has a house in Lo de Marcos not far from the square) and he played with Ross and the guys, boy is he good. He asked Ross to come down to play with them and they are also going to rent some of our equipment for the time they are down here, ka ching, ka ching, ka ching (money coming into our pocket). Ross is meeting with them tomorrow around 3 at Oxxo by the De Cameron gate, (no one can find out house) to bring them up here.

Well it is Sunday, 2:15pm and I’m still in my jammies, Ross is laying on the couch and we are not very motivated. I still have a bit of laundry to do and maybe if we get up enough energy we will tackle cleaning Betsy. Yvonne is coming on April 1st to stay for a couple of weeks so we need to get it looking “wonderful” and also we are going to take pictures so we have some recent ones once we get going on selling her (that will be a sad day, but the weather here is just ruining her and the money we will get from her will buy a truck which we desperately need, the roads are killing the car) and pay a few bills.

We are going out to dinner tonight with Dick and Mary Carman to a little Mexican restaurant not far from here, the food is so good and really super cheap. So I think I’ll say bye for now, and we hope everyone has a great weekend.
Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

(ps: go to http://www.banderasnews.com/ , http://www.bestofbucerias.com/, or/and http://www.amigosdebucerias.org/downloads/amigosyvecinos/archive/2010/march/AyV_March_2010.pdf to see what is going on in our little piece of the planet

Ooops I forgot to post this.............more coming soon!

Thursday March 18th, 2010

Not only did I wake up in paradise, I woke up in paradise close to noon!!!!!!
Didn’t do much today, went to Wal-Mart to get a few things, ended up with two great tops (no sleeves) I think I might buy a couple more, a hurricane candle (with fans on all the time my candles go out) a fold up chair (now I have one that is not broken) mouse for my second computer and a couple of indoor plants. I also bought a phone to use with our magic jack but silly me I just got an extension phone, oops need to get one with a base! I called Pam on the corded phone we have and the sound is crystal clear. Need to get a phone hooked up!

Earlier this afternoon Terry came by to pick up the Star choice receiver we had for sale and we found out that they have bought a house from John and Christie and will be moving in, in a week. We are hoping to share our satellite cost with them, they use our account and we split the cost, a couple of people we know are doing this and it is great! We are excited about seeing more Canadians down here, they are from Calgary and have been living on their boat for a couple of years before buying.
Ross made arrachera tonight for supper and I whipped up a box of scalloped potatoes (excellent I might add) and some sweet potatoes (canned, good once I added a bit of brown sugar, butter, salt and pepper) and now Ross is having some yogurt for his sore throat, he will be taking something similar to neo-citron in a couple of minutes.

We are watching NCIS and will go to bed at midnight. Hope everyone had a great Thursday!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Saturday to Wednesday March 13th - 17th, 2010

We had 4 puppies to adopt out for our once a month adoption at Mega on Saturday. Kenzie Forget rescued momma and 6 puppies from certain death, well almost 6 puppies, the owner drowned one because it barked too much before Kenzie got there. Kenzie asked the owners of the Momma to take her babies so she could take care of them as they were so hungry (skin and bones) and the women said “these are mine if I give them to you I don’t have anything, well, being Mexico and all that, Kenzie said if I give you a chicken for each dog will that be ok? Of course it would be, so she talked to a friend and ended up with the babies (she got Momma and Daddy fixed) took them to the vet and “fed them”. After 3 weeks of food, vet attention and getting fixed they were ready for adoption. We ended up adopting out 2, 2 had to go back with John and Christie to see if they can get them adopted, but at least we got 2 out of their house.

Saturday we went to the boat show in La Cruz, definitely not as big as Edmonton’s but it was outside rather than inside and we saw a lot of boats on and off the water! They opened up the marina so we could see some of the boats that people actually own!!! We saw a couple of Azimut (go onto the internet to see these boats, they are very sexy!!!) We went with Ralph, his brother Jimmy, Jimmy’s son and us. We drove to Philo’s for supper, and then came home with Ralph so he could clean Betsy’s carpets.

Sunday we dropped off my scooter (baby) at Riveria, (Jen needed to have a vehicle to babysit our children while we were gone to Tepic) and then met Sue and Harold over at Susan’s condo at Acqua (a beach condo in Nuevo Vallarta) and ended up sitting at the infinity pool (one of two) and swam a bit then sat in lounge chairs and snacked on munchies. After we were done, we all went to San Jose go to California pizza, where we think you can get the best Fettuccini Alfredo we have ever had!!!
Monday we drove to Tepic with Sue and Harold to go to the state fair. It is a fairly large city about 3 hours north of us. Once we got there we drove straight to the motel to check in, it is very nice and clean and looks well maintained. Sue and Ross went in to register; Harold and I drove to the parking lot to wait for them. We had a great lupper (lunch/supper) at a steak house just down the block. We sat outside and watched the traffic race on by and looked at the huge park that was across the street, it even had a little train going around the outside called the Expresso Polar.

We decided to have a nap before going to the fair so we went to our rooms and met up again at 5pm (Jalisco time). We grabbed a cab to get to the fair, apparently it is a lot cheaper than driving and paying for parking and anyway we get dropped off at the door. There was no admission, actually the only thing that cost money was the food vendors and if you wanted to buy anything, oh yeah, and if you needed to go to the baños, which cost 3 pesos and for that you got a handful of toilet paper but the toilet had a seat on it which is a bonus!

We ended up walking the midway 4 times; we got our exercise today all right. I bought a harness for Yoda, Ross bought a couple of key chains for friends (including a risqué one for a mutual friend of Ross and Harold’s that is just too disgusting to write about (I wasn’t even going to say anything but Ross made me), Harold bought a lamp shade with a gecko on it and I don’t think Sue bought anything. We chatted with a lot of friends of Sue and Harold’s, had some very good cappuccino coffee and did lots of looking around. The fair is kinda sorta like we have in Edmonton, food vendors and games but this was like it must have been in the 40’s, rather that throw balls at beer bottles to win a prize they have rocks! We stayed around 5 ½ hours (5:30 – 11) and we are pretty tired. We are meeting at 10 am for a continental breakfast.

Each room gets one continental breakfast!!! We got to the restaurant and gave the waiter our chits for the continental breakfast included coffee, orange juice and 3 slices of toast. Ross and I also ordered mushroom omelets and Sue had a Mexican breakfast and Harold had pancakes. After breakfast we packed up the car and drove around for a bit. We went to Café Luna which is a small version of Starbucks where Sue and Harold know the owners, and then we drove to a bakery and got some goodies, then we drove to the Bombero (fireman) house and Harold chatted with the guys for a bit. They were looking for, I think the chief, which they also looked for at the fair, but we had missed him, he wasn’t there either. We drove around Tepic for a bit not only sightseeing, we were trying to find a store that has a driver that Ross needs for one of his speakers. This town also has 2 sugarcane plants, one in the centre of the city and a new one on the outskirts. Next time we go there we hope to have a tour!

Once we did Centro and looked at some of the parliament buildings and the mayors house we drove home. We stopped at a little café in (I think Las Vargas???) it is just north of Guayabitos. We stopped in Guayabitos to get some Nayarit coffee (we had some this morning it is great and cheaper than Costco or Wal-Mart) and then came home. We drove directly to the restaurant to pick up Baby from Jen, Ross dropped me off and I drove home.

This morning I woke up really late, I had had a nasty headache all night (I have no idea why) and didn’t get much sleep. We had some Nayarit coffee and it is great. I stayed home and cleaned while Ross went to PV to find some St. Patrick ’s Day hats for their gig tonight. He has gone now and I am staying home for some peace and quiet.

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday March 10th, 11th and 12th, 2010

I have a very serious question that needs to be answered………………………… where the hell does the time go? I open up my journal to write in today’s fun, and it had two sentences written for Wednesday!!!

1) Another perfect day in paradise! I woke up around 10 and had a beautiful morning; I had my coffee while I was checking emails and stuff. 2) We were waiting for a call from Helen (the lady from Colorado that has my margarita blender jar so we can meet them in PV.

When 1 pm came around and still no phone call, I emailed her with my cell phone number and we left, we needed to do a Costco run and get a few things from Mega. I kept my phone in my hand so I wouldn’t miss her call and alas, no phone call! (I found out later she tried to call from a land line and you can’t just call a cell phone from a land line especially from Jalisco to Nayarit without having to use about another million digits before the phone number). We got our shopping done (there were 3 cruise ships in the harbor, a nice site to see) and drove home.
Since it’s now Friday, I can’t remember what else we did!

Thursday we tried to sleep in as much as possible as we always have a late night going to Nelly’s, Actually I was going to stay home but Mike came with us and I decided to go to keep him company. Another great night! Nelly must have been pleased (I hope she made lotsa money) there were dancers everywhere, no enough room on the dance floor.

But in the afternoon, before we went out to Nelly’s, I was getting really concerned with our Acanac modem, now that I have the internet fixed (keep your fingers crossed) the modem is still kicking out. We had bought a device called Magic Jack (that we have heard from almost everyone is the cats ass for internet calling) back in the states when we were moving down. (We had actually bought 2 but we gave one away) It cost us around $40 dollars but we got 1 year of calling Canada or the US for free, every year after costs 29.95. I got it set up and guess what…….it works! I have taken the battery out of my other laptop (so it the computer being on all the time will not pooch the computer) stuck the device in a USB port added another phone (we bought a corded phone when we got down here so if the power goes out we still have access to a phone) and viola we have another internet phone. This phone number is 780.800.2009 (we got to pick part of the number so we picked 2009 because that is the year we moved down here), so if the other VoIP phone doesn’t work we always have a spare.

Today, Friday we waited until 11 am when Helen was to call us and we were going to arrange a meeting place to swap the blender part. At exactly 11 am she called and gave us directions to her condo in PV and we decided 2pm would work for both of us.
Just as a side note we were doing our thing and the dogs kept barking…..I went to see what they were barking at and to tell them to be quiet….I went outside and gave them heck, I said “it’s only a horse”………………..just a minute “only a horse”????? You know you live in Mexico when you can say that with a straight face and it doesn’t sound funny!!!

Off to PV we go and got to her condo at 1:57, pretty good timing heh! She invited us in and gave me the opened box where my blender part was, she said she had opened it just to make sure it was legit, which is exactly what I would have done (you don’t need to go to jail in Mexico for dealing drugs!!!) They have a very nice 2 bedroom condo (they paid around $300,000.00n for it, Ross asked) marble countertops and a view to die for. They are really on a hill, (the front entrance and their unit is on the main floor of the building but there are 4 floors underneath them and 3 on top) they can see almost the entire bay! The thunderstorm watching must be incredible!!!
We stayed for about ½ hour, then left to go to the mall at Soriana to see if we could pick up the part Ross needs for his speakers (they didn’t have any) but a shop in PTL (it’s really a word but I can’t remember how to spell it) has it, so we will have to have a tour of that little town from someone who knows where things are because we went there once and got lost, (we were looking for Wal-Mart). I stopped at a store and picked out a pair of “Mexican” jeans and Capri’s. I have jeans and Capri’s from Canada but they are way too thick!!!

I took the dogs for a walk this afternoon, and noticed a horse in our next door neighbors yard (a lady from Calgary we are told owns the house) and a guy was walking toward the front door (Mexican with a green garbage bag full of stuff) and he asked me if I knew who owns the horse (it was tied up to a tree stump in the front yard), I said no but sometimes it is tied up across the street from us. I asked him if he is moving in and he said he is looking after it for a lady that lives in the US. I walked the dogs and when I got back he was sitting outside and I introduced myself to him. He told me he taking care of the house for the lady who owns it and she is coming in 3 months. Now this house has glass on the windows but only a gate as a front door, I think maybe he may be a squatter, but he seems quite nice and he speaks English very well. I guess we will see what happens. (Do we have a Paton Place here??? Really, I never saw that show but it sounds like what I think it is).

Ross is now at his meeting, he had to pick up a friend that needed a lift and a couple of tourists, so he left a bit earlier tonight than he normally does. I am doing laundry and of course dubbing our VHS tapes (I only have 3 left. Hurray!) and I am watching HGTV. So I’ll say bye for now, hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Tuesday March 9th, 2010

Poor Ross, he is still sick. He took some cough medicine last night and was really fuzzy this morning so I let him sleep, now, Ed came to get the car cause the car was still running really noisy, (sounds like a Mexican car) and our horn quit working, but we needed to get to the office……………….ta da ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I got baby out of mothballs and drove her to the office. Now, I have not had her out of our colonia since we moved here and have not scooted on anything but dirt and sand, so I was kinda scared to take her to the office. I got to the lateral and was scared to go any further, but I had to get across the 200 and down to Cárdenas and then to the office. And I made it, without falling, once!

There wasn’t many people walking today, but I did get a couple of ladies and a gentleman come by and one of the ladies wants to retire in Bucerias, I got her name and email address, Ross sent her an email this afternoon. Another lady came looking for John and Christie, she had driven from Tepic (via California) today to close on her house. Another couple came asking about another condo, but they never came back for a showing. Ya win some and ya lose some!!!

Oh I forgot to tell you, I went to the new bakery that opened up across the street from the office to get a latte as I couldn’t take any coffee with me to the office, it was 30 pesos which is quite steep but the take out coffee cup was very large and the coffee was great. At lunch we ordered a Panini (chicken, spinach, red onion and cheese) and it was also great, also a bit on the high side but damn it was good!!! I also got a nail fixed (I was silly and used my nail when I shouldn’t have) Gina is such a sweetie; she didn’t charge me a thing to fix my nail. I am going to give her the movie screen that Harold and Sue found for us for movie night (but its way too small) for presentations she provides for a nonprofit society she belongs to.

I drove to Mega to go to Telcel to get more money on my phone (I found out that if you don’t add more money on your phone every 2 months (sorry about the delay I added “add $ to cell onto my calendar so I don’t forget) they only allow you to receive calls, it is a safety measure if your phone gets stolen) (it only costs you money to make calls). I added another 500 pesos and I now have over 1000 pesos on my phone, I’m gonna add 100 pesos every 2 months until I finally run out of money, I don’t make many calls! Did I mention I drove to Mega (now it is down the 200, traffic goes about a million kms an hour) on baby, wow; you don’t realize how vulnerable you are until you do that. I got there and back ok, I won’t do it again though, I’m gonna stick to Bucerias!!!

When I got back home Ross was napping, so I have been doing little things since I got home. I have an appt with a lady GYN for a physical in Vallarta on March 23rd (I have to change a nail appt) and I got that handled, she is a very well known doctor that speaks English and I’m really looking forward to seeing her. I try to get my checkup in my birth month so I don’t forget when I need the next one.
We watched the Oprah after Oscar party and watched Corrie Street (all recorded), and we are now watching NCIS, it’s almost time for bed, so I’m gonna say bye for now…..

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Sunday & Monday March 7th & 8th, 2010

I was right, we stayed at home and vegged all day it was wonderful!!! We got up a bit early this morning as Lily was coming at 11 and since I didn’t shower yesterday I thought I’d better do that today. Lily got here at 11, we sure missed her, we haven’t had her in our house for about 2 months, we tried Shelly, Nick’s wife, but we could never get a hold of them, Nick never answers his phone. We hugged and chatted for a bit before she started cleaning, she even cleaned the screen on our back door, yucky, she said, very dirty!!! Now I have a very clean house and a wonderfully clean back door screen.

The weather is much better today than yesterday; I think it got up to 31, today its only 26. Because of El Nino, we won’t experience dry season until next year, the humidity yesterday was 70%!!!

I did a boo boo….I had decided to make popcorn balls (cause I had a craving) but we didn’t have enough butter in the house. Ross needed the car, I thought at 5:30, so when I couldn’t find any at Oxxo I drove to Mega. Poor Ross, he had to pick up a friend 5 minutes away, if the traffic is good, and I only gave him 3 minutes, I hope he will forgive me.

I made the popcorn balls, I had to change the small pot I used for the candy to a larger pot so it wouldn’t boil over (It did a little anyway) and I poured it over the popcorn, I guess candy recipes need to be adjusted for sea level (I went on the internet and need to do some more research cause I couldn’t find anything that popped out at me) cause they really didn’t go into balls easily and the candy went a little sugary. It never does that in Edmonton!!! I put the stuff that wouldn’t even try to go into balls into a container and I have been nibbling!

Ross just got back from his meeting with a good friend Mike and it took him 4 minutes to drive to his house to pick him up and they got to the meeting 10 minutes before it started so I‘m off the hook, yeah! I offered some popcorn candy, Ross agreed with me that it just wasn’t the same. Damn.

They have set up the new old screen and will try it out with a movie. I’m watching HGTV and finishing my blog. I am almost done dubbing all our VHS tapes to DVD so I’m switching those also as I write. Well I think I’m gonna say bye for now and will talk to you again tomorrow.

Ross Kim Mike and Critters in Paradise!

Some pictures of the wedding

Saturday March 6th, 2010

We had to get up early this morning for our monthly breakfast meeting at Ixta for the Amigos de Bucerias, another great breakfast and another great meeting. There is a petition going around to stop the building of condos and buildings over 3 stories high on the west side of the highway and to keep our pueblo looking like a pueblo. We think this is very important as this is why we choose to live her to begin with.
We had brought Jan to have breakfast with us and then he left to walk around the area when we were having our meeting. After we were done we met up with him at the car then off to home to get ready for the beach. We love living here, we can have breakfast and in another 45 minutes we are on the beach with our beach chairs, umbrella and a book (well I had my book, the guys took the boogie boards out to play in the waves). The guys played in the surf and I finished my book and started on another I had just downloaded off the internet last night (a new book that just came out) what a life we live! There was a guy on the beach with a box, and in this box was a mama Chihuahua, a daddy Chihuahua and 2 babies. Along with the dogs he had a pet baby duck. Yes, you read right, it was a 5” fuzzy duck that sat on his tummy and followed him around, it was so cool to watch.

We left the beach at 3 to drive home to get ready to take Jan to the airport. We left a little early as the president of the country, Felipe De Jesus Calderon, is in town for the regatta and that normally means lots of guys with guns checking everyone out and backing up traffic. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare as the traffic was just fine, it was sure nice to get home, as much as I love company it is very nice to be quiet too, with just the two of us.

We went out to dinner at Ernesto’s in Jarretaderas (between PV and Nuevo) with Sue and Harold, we took our car, they wanted to go fast………Ross, I think, gave them what they wanted. We had a great supper, Ross had pork chops, I had a BLT, Sue had nachos and Harold of course had tortilla soup. We dropped them off at their house, picked up our free movie screen and got home around 10.

We are going to bed now, we are going to try to stay low all day tomorrow so if you don’t hear from us, that means we aren’t doing much.

Ross Kim and Critter in Paradise and Jan in Edmonton (it’s 0 there right now)!

Friday March 5th, 2010

If I had my way I would say WOW every time I start my blog!
Ross and Jan had a late night last night at Crazy Nelly’s, I stayed at home and had some great “me” time. I finished my blog and watched a bit of tv and had a glass of wine…..decadent!

We got up late this morning, had coffee, chatted and Jan had a bit of breakfast while I was cutting Ross’s hair. We didn’t leave the house until 2; we were planning on having lunch at Pepe’s tacos then driving to Mismaloya to tour Mama’s Lucia’s tequila factory (I love that place!!! Great orange tequila). We got to Pepe’s and had some great tacos (pineapple with beef) with cerveza, Jan had Corona and I had Pacifico, (Ross didn’t even have water)!!!. We thought we were going to Mismaloya but Ross turned into the market area and was looking around for a parking spot. We couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he told us he needed to buy a new ring because he lost his in Los Caletas and he hoped that the vendor who sold him his ring would remember him and give him a better deal for the second one. He had forgotten that he promised the next vendor over when he bought the first one that if he was going to buy anything more he would buy from him, so that is what he did!
We finally got onto the 200 going south and had a fabulous drive…….we stopped at Los Arcos (the arches) for picture taking then off to Mismaloya. Once we toured Mama Lucia (Jan bought some tequila and I finally bought a bottle and 6 tequila glasses I have been looking at for 2 years. We went up the cobblestone road to see some stupendous houses overlooking the cliffs then when we got down to the highway again a Mexican asked us for a ride so of course Ross stopped and he hopped in beside Jan. We ended up dropping him off at the corona store not far from the airport. He was joking that Ross drove so fast that he might catch his girlfriend with another man as it normally takes 2 hours to get home from work.

We got home just in time for Ross to go to his meeting in Nuevo! Good timing or what??? Jan and I are sitting outside, Jan on his computer and me doing my blog. Jan and Ross are off to Philo’s to jam and then to Bucerias Gardens to listen to an awesome drummer! Me I’m gonna stay at home and veg some more, we have our amigos meeting tomorrow am!

Ross Jan and Kim with of course the critters in Bucerias Mexico aka Paradise!

Wednesday and Thursday March 3rd & 4th, 2010

Wow! We got up at 6:30am this morning to get onto the boat in Nuevo for our Vallarta Adventure Los Caletas boat trip. I was so pumped. We left the house at 7:30 in order to get there for 8 so we could have our continental breakfast included in the purchase price. There was toast, fruit and baked goods all really good. We got onto the boat at 8:30 and went to the Vallarta pier to pick up more people; the Carnival Splendor was in dock, wow those boats are big, we waved to some of the people that stayed on board. Then off to Los Caletas, the waves were quite high, a little girl was actually sea sick when we got there. I was disappointed that we didn’t cruise a little closer to the shore so we could see Los Arcos a little better, but we did get a great view on the way home.

Once on the beach we grabbed 3 chairs and got settled in. I took off my shorts and top (I was wearing my suit) got a margarita and people watched. I got my book out for a bit but watching the ocean and people was much more exciting! Jan and Ross went snorkeling and I went out on a blowup ring but didn’t last very long, the waves were so big that they kept carrying me out to sea; Ross had to rescue me once! Normally the sea is so calm there that it is like a bathtub, El Nino strikes again!!! Just before lunch Ross got a little too close to the rocks and cut his hand, by the time she was done with Ross it looked like he was in WW2.
We had a delicious lunch then putzed until it was time to go home. The boat ride was a lot better because he went close to the shore so we could see a little more than we did going out. We stopped in again in the Vallarta dock and had to change boats this time… that was a first. We left Vallarta bay on a much smaller boat and got to Nuevo in about 10 minutes.

After a snooze we opened a couple of cans of soup and crackers for supper then watched Independence Day (the movie on blue ray, what a good movie!). By the time we were done we were very tired so we went to bed.

Thursday morning we got to sleep in ………hurray! We did our own things …Jan had his espresso coffee, Ross got his emails and facebook done and I started on my blog (and I’m still working it, it’s 5:30pm). Jan and Ross took off on the bikes to go to the beach for a massage (I stayed home to wait for the UPS guy for Ross’s watch) which was ok because I didn’t want to go anywhere anyway. Ross and Jan went to the beach for their massage then drove the bikes up the river and then took the highway into the mountains. Jan had a bit of a spill but other than that everything went well.
Jan and Ross of off to Nelly’s tonight, I’m going to stay home to watch Bones and go to bed early! Well I guess that’s it for today. We are off to Mismaloya tomorrow to show Jan that part of Mexico and to go to the Tequila factory.

Ross, Jan Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Tuesday March 2nd, 2010

What a sweetie I am married to, we had to get up early for work today and he let me sleep in. I woke up around 9:30 and got out of bed around 10. I had an 11:30 nail appt today so I needed to get a hold of Ross to come and pick me up. His phone was going to voice mail, he didn’t answer my instant messaging or my 3 e-mails. I thought I would get on baby to come over but I couldn’t get her to start and I couldn’t find the battery charger anywhere! Ugggg Ross called to see how I was and knew I had a nail appt to get to so he closed up shop for a bit to come pick me up.

Gina did my nails today, they were so long, I was having a hard time typing. They look beautiful now; we left the office at 2 and went to the new egg place (a new restaurant where Korsario’s used to be) but it’s not open until tomorrow. So we went home and did “stuff”, I got the printer working (it was off line for some reason) put the printer software in my new computer, and I am dubbing more VHS tapes since I have gotten more DVD’s.

I talked to Pamela on the phone today and she told me all about her honeymoon, the weather was about the same as we had in Tulum, but they had a great time anyway. We drove to PV after the phone call; we picked up Jan from The Rosita Hotel then drove to Sirloin Stockade to meet with Larry and Sue and Harold for Ross and Harold to have a contest on how many plates they can eat. I think Ross won tonight’s!
Once home I took the dogs for a walk, now we are watching Idol. We watched this one show for a bit about this little girl, she is 2 years old and weighs a little more than 7 lbs., she has a special kind of dwarfism. I t was so sad!

We are off to bed (its 10:25pm) because we have to get up at 6:30 to catch the boat to LOS CALETAS!!!! Hurray! I love that place! Ross and Jan are going to either scuba or snorkel and I am bringing my floaty and I’m gonna float in the blue green water.

Ross Kim Jan and Critters in Bucerias

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Sunday and Monday February 28th and March 1st , 2010

Wow what a couple of days. We woke up late on Sunday with Mike and Mandy at our door to pick up the PA system we are taking to Nelly’s for the yearly chowder cook-off that Juan-Ted was playing. Ralph has to play with his other band Rock of Ages at Ana Banana’s so Mike played instead and with Jan on the keyboards!

We watched the hockey game before driving up to Guayabitos (we all know that we were tied at that time), we got to Nelly’s, dropped off the PA (saw that we won, yeah!) then showed Jan the town. We walked up the beach then drove to the most famous restaurant that is on the hill that shows the entire bay. Poor Nelly, the bar wasn’t at all busy while the guys were playing, which they played fabulously I might add, I did get a t-shirt though, the first bar t-shirt I have bought here.
Didn’t do much once we got home, went to bed mostly.

We woke up Monday to an e-mail from Jan letting us know that he woke up at 9am and walked to Bucerias and will be back sometime in the afternoon. We putzed most of the day, I got some laundry done and got some vacuuming done and washed floors. The girl that I have tried as a housekeeper, I can’t seem to contact easily so I think I’m gonna go back to Lily. Jan got home around 4 and had a snooze until 6 (we watched the rest of our Corrie street recordings) then we were going to go to the Sirloin Stockade for supper. We had decided to go to Office Depot first to get some card stock and some felt pens and when I got back to the car the guys had decided that we were going to the Malecon, eat supper then Jan was going to get a hotel room to stay the night so he gets the full Vallarta experience, live bands, people all the Mexico sights and sounds!

We had supper at Bubba Gump’s (great meal, expensive but worth every penny) Jan and I each had a margarita and we paid so much for it we got a glass each! Well not really, but we did get funky margarita glasses, I got Jan’s. There was a clown making balloon hats for all the patrons, I had a blue one with a red heart that said “Queen of Everything” Ross’s looked like Tigger with big blue ears and said sexy boy and Jan’s was a poodle that said 99.99% sexy!
After supper we walked Jan to Hotel Rosita to make sure they had a bed for him, (wow, he has a view of the Malecon and the ocean!) and then we walked back the Malecon until we got to where the car was and said adios! We had met Ross’s buddy Miles at a tattoo parlor when we walked from parking the car and met him again when we walked back to the car to leave, Ross gave him his balloon hat, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

We stopped in at Costco to get some more DVD’s so I can finish dubbing all our VHS tapes! We are now at home watching House; we are going to go to bed soon cause we need to go to the office tomorrow morning! I also get to get my nails shortened, I had them done before the wedding way too long, Gina said it would look nice, which it does but boy it is soooooooo hard to type with long nails!!!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise in Bucerias and Jan in Paradise in Vallarta