On dry skin, cheese and navigating Target

The past weeks have been a blur. Four weeks ago today we got on a plane and flew across country to the capital city where we saw such amazing things as malls, car dealerships, highway overpasses and Starbucks. :)

Fast forward 4 days and 24 hours on an airplane and we were back on US soil for the first time in 3 years. Walmart. Grocery stores the size of a small village. Freeways where people drive on the WRONG side of the road... at 80 miles an hour.

 My mother-in-law took my to Target 3 days after we landed in country and I spent two hours wandering around, filled my cart with who-knows-what and then I put everything back on the shelves and walked out with nothing.

Totally overwhelming.

So what I've learned 3 weeks into our great American adventure...

It is cold here. And dry. My skin has totally shriveled. I have gone through almost an entire bottle of Aveeno in a month. The boys’ skin has totally peeled due to the dryness and they carry their Chapstick with them everywhere.

The cereal aisle at the grocery store scares me.

Walmart scares me. Way too many choices and things to look at.

I count out coins in my hand like a first grader and I’m sure the checker thinks I’m crazy. All the bills are the same color. I’ve decided I like colored bills. Way faster to pick out what you need.

Groceries are way cheaper here. So are toys. So are clothes. Definite advantages to living in a place where they actually manufacture goods. :) It’s been really hard not to buy everything I see simply because of the price. The first time I went to Trader Joe’s I saw a block of cheese, that I thought was priced at $70.... which for where we live is a steep, but not unimaginable. When I realized the cheese was 7/10 of a pound and only priced at $3 I almost bought the entire shelf of cheese. :)

Speaking of cheese, it’s amazing.

I think I have gained ten pounds already... cheese, ice cream, red meat, french fries.... yeah, America has been tasty.

But... I miss eating veggies and chicken at every meal more than I thought I would. I kinda feel sick from eating so much heavy food and I think the only veggies I have eaten in a month are baby carrots. 

Sleeping better than I have in 3 years! It’s amazing what glass windows and insulation do for drowning out noise... which, with the lack of drunks, tropical thunderstorms and rats running in the rafters, is pretty non-existent to begin with. Has been so nice. I think sleeping on spring mattresses also helps. :)

SO good to see family and friends. Hard to see changes... who is sick; who has died; who has gone through some really hard times while we’ve been gone. But wonderful to visit and catch up and laugh and see how little has changed in 3 years.

Will post some pictures soon. It’s been ten minutes since I’ve lathered on some lotion and I need to reapply.