The most pitiful picture you've ever seen

Poor Bailey. She had surgery on her ear on Friday, January 5th to remove a bulbous cyst. Now she has to wear this goofy looking bandage for 24 to 48 hours or until she rips it off, whatever comes first. She doesn't seem to mind the bandage so far, so ripping it off seems unlikely.

We don't know what caused the cyst and it's being sent out to a lab so we can rule out tumors or anything bad. A few weeks ago, we gave her a bath and within a few hours after the bath, we noticed a bump on the outside of her ear the size of a large grape. The vet told us to watch it and it might go away on its own, but it didn't and it even grew some more, so poor Bailey had to have it removed. Good news is we also had her teeth cleaned while she was under anesthesia so now she has fresh breath and pearly white teeth. (My sister Ann used to say Bailey had "butt breath", so I wish she was here now and then Bailey could redeem herself and once again prove she really is the world's most perfect dog.)

Other noteworthy happenings
Bailey's surgery is the most noteworthy event in our lives to mention this week. Mark is finally recovered from his prolonged flu/cold and is ready to start his new job on MONDAY! I also found out one of my oldest friends (old in terms of knowing him for a long time, he's actually only a few months older than me), Gabe Aul and his wife Liz had their 1st baby this week, a little girl named Olivia. Congratulations Gabe and Liz! I wish I could be there to see her because I really can't believe Gabe has a baby.

To hire a maid or not?
Once Mark starts work, we'll have to figure out whether we want to hire a dog walker or a maid to help us out with Bailey since we'll both have late nights at work. In Hong Kong, and actually all over Asia, it is very common for households to have maids. It's not restricted to expats, even most local Asian families have some sort of household help. You can choose to have a live-in maid (most popular) or a live-out full time maid. A few people have housekeepers that stop by a few times a week, but that's not as common. (A full time maid costs about $4,000-$5,000 US dollars A YEAR! Not that much to live on in Hong Kong, but people seem to do okay.)

Mark and I have never had any household help, so the thought of even hiring someone to stop by once a day to walk the dog seems extravagant. However, the thought of coming home to a clean house and a hot dinner and a dog who's already been walked is very tempting. No matter what, we won't get a live-in maid. Our apartment barely has enough room for 2 people to live and find a small amount of privacy without adding a stranger to the mix. In the next few weeks, we'll have to get serious about finding someone who loves dogs (especially spoiled dogs prone to barking and eating garbage while out on walks). I'll keep you posted.