Dec 13, 2007 | Cost of Living, Crime, Culture Shock, Death & Taxes, Economy, Expat, Living-In, Taxes
Jacqueline’s pistol-whipping break-in, along with everything else I wrote about yesterday, is upsetting our apple cart. Not to mention today’s A.M. Costa Rica article about how the I.R.S. is "helping" Costa Rica redefine it’s income tax...
Dec 11, 2007 | Adoption, Bureaucracy, Expat, Legal Arrangements, Living-In, MORGAN, Residency & Visas, Serendipity
In the adoption world, Gotcha Day is the day we gotcha, the day we brought our new baby home. I get all teary remembering our two Gotcha Days. Yesterday, December 10th was Mo’s 16th Gotcha Day. To celebrate, Jen made cookies and brought them over. Hey, Jen, we...
Dec 9, 2007 | Expat, Festivals & Holidays, Living-In, MORGAN, Teenagers
We have just had the loveliest day and I wanted to write about it before I fall into bed after being up all night. Mo had a birthday party/sleepover last night to celebrate his 16th birthday. There were seven teens here: Mo and Ryan, four girls and another boy. At...
Nov 19, 2007 | Culture Shock, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Expat, Hal, Health & Wellness, Hope, Key West, Living-In, Money, Spiritual Stuff
This morning, I had to admit to Hal that my homesickness has ratcheted up a notch lately. A big notch. So much so that, in my mind, I unconsciously find myself adding "when we go back" to the end of my thoughts. Unconsciously, until this morning when I heard...
Nov 1, 2007 | Clubs, Expat, Living-In, Moving-To, Spiritual Stuff
I just need more to do, idle hands and all that. Maybe if I were busier, I wouldn’t have time to sit around examining my navel. I wouldn’t hear the what because maybe there is no what. Maybe I’m just making it all up for Something Important to do....
Oct 9, 2007 | Expat, Health & Wellness, Living-In, Medical Care
As we lounge around on our respective sick beds, we cling to the hope there is truth to this statement. Our angel Leah and all the experienced expats say we have new allergies from all the new bugs in this tropical clime. In Key West, new residents get what appears to...
Sep 20, 2007 | Books, Clubs, Expat
In my ongoing quest to meet girlfriends, I joined two Escazú book clubs. Somehow, when I turned 50, girlfriends took on new meaning. As in: life would have no meaning without good girlfriends. I never felt that way before, but it’s taken me by storm. I had great...
Sep 17, 2007 | Cost of Living, Culture Shock, Expat, Living-In, Recovering REALTOR®
My friend (we did actually meet once) CR Jones wrote a comment on Foolish: "Be careful, as it’s my understanding that you can get slammed for hiring an undocumented worker, and especially not filing the correct papers or paying the employment tax. The...
