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As I type this, my dogs are sleeping at my feet and Buster's doing a little Grrr, Yip!, Grrrrrowl in his sleep and his little paws are running but going nowhere. Oh, the immeasurable joys of mutts.

Yesterday I had a pinched nerve removed from my foot so I have to elevate it and rest a lot the first 48 hours and try to avoid chores, lifting and walking. I will wear a big velcro shoe for two weeks, maybe less. Crutches aren't needed but I need to keep weight and pressure off of the part that's healing. I am so impatient with sitting still, and I wish House of Cards' final season had started by now!

Probably this is a harder adjustment because I've had months of maxed-out weekends. Since January, I was working every weekend on painting, cleaning and preparing Waterbell for its open house in April, and got it all done a little early. I was very, very proud of the real estate listing (Jose took the photographs) and the way we staged it for showing April 28. We had at least a dozen interested visitors without much advertising, and had two incredible offers the evening of the second open house. I feel very blessed about all of this. The couple buying from us are young, caring and have a little pug named Kevin. We think they're the perfect fit for this charming condo that our hearts and memories are so attached to.

Jose and I took the week of open houses to rent an AirBnB in Malden, a nearby affordable town we'd never spent time in, and really enjoyed it. The Chinese take out options are incredible and the nearby town Melrose has some great Venezuelan restaurants. Malden has a very different commute to Cambridge on the orange line via Oak Grove station and a cheerful walk along the stone wall perimeter of an old cemetery, and we would change trains in the center of Boston at Downtown Crossing for the red line to Harvard and MIT. Downtown Crossing is the one station in Boston that reminds me of the London tube, it's got badly lit long corridors, peeling-glue posters, graffiti and gritty subway smells.

Is a New Orleanian Victorian with New England colors,
a cozy porch and a patio too much to ask?

Since our purchase and sale was finished around mothers' day, we have been actively pursuing open houses now ourselves as buyers, and let me tell you, here in Boston you have to be Johnny on the spot. Houses are sold in hours instead of days, if they don't have a lot of improvement or inspection issues. Last week, one gorgeous property was listed with a five hour warning of its open house at 5 p.m. that evening and even though it was a hard address to find, and a long scramble to get there in rush hour, there were 24 different buyers who showed up and it was sold by midnight. You can not dilly dally.

We're really hoping to come across a single family with two bathrooms and two bedrooms under $500,000 but know we may have to compromise and get a town home or a home that's more expensive or a house with one bathroom with the potential to add a second. Wish us luck! The yard is also very important to Lucy and Buster (can we do a test run?) If we don't find a home by June 15th, we'll likely rent through the Fall which is so expensive in this area (plus moving to a storage locker) but the bright side from that, is we would have two or three more months to see homes and during a less competitive season.