Happy Fourth of July! We missed the Flagstaff parade this year, but we figure that is one of those annual rituals that we can do when we come back in the summer. We also have lots of work to do in the house and quite a few farewell meetings scheduled. In other news, we have been ruled as acceptable risks by the Chinese consulate; our passports arrived this week with beautiful Chinese visas tucked right in. (Thanks Maureen and her unnamed colleague at TDS!) I put a picture of my visa on Facebook and my sister Jill started posting about how much she hates it. I told her to work on her attitude.
In preparation news, I finished two beaded necklaces, one with an Arizona theme and the other in black and silver for concerts. I have packed up the rest of my beads to stay in storage here. I'll take my tools to China, because I've found at least two bead shop addresses in Shanghai. We visited with our insurance agent this week, which was very productive, and the fellow who set up our Roth IRA, which was more of a "nice to see you." On his suggestion, I did some reading from IRS Publication 54, a fascinating look at tax rules for those living and earning income abroad. I think I'd rather just call our tax genius friend; call me lazy. We finalized the deal on Joe's car today and are hoping to turn it over to its new owner either next weekend or the following (when we will also leave Jack with his Aunt Rhonda for his new life of grooming fun, but that's another story; see the dog grooming section of PetNation.com).
The "Facebook in China" controversy continues after our friend Merle successfully posted during his recent trip to China. He had a secret weapon that I'm probably not allowed to discuss, but he did give me an idea to try when I get there, so keep those fingers crossed. While I was doing some Amazon work, I found both a China page (in Chinese, so it didn't help much) and Amazon's assurance that they ship all over the world. Now that would be a big help, so I emailed my questions about getting things through customs and will await a response.
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