Food Shopping- UK Style

On base, we are fortunate enough to have a Commissary where I do most of our food shopping every week. The Commissary is stocked with American brand names and familiar foods. We are grateful to have it; although, it isn't cheap. I know that food prices as a whole have gone up a lot lately, but on average, I spend about twice as much as I used to food shopping back in the US. Also, the Commissary doesn't have any sales... no deals.... sad me! I definitely miss the good bargains I could get in the States, and I miss bulk food shopping at BJs!!.

Anyway, every once in a while I do some food shopping at a British supermarket. We have a few of them in the area to choose from with names like ASDA, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, Tesco, etc. I tend to do my British food shopping at Sainsbury's. It's a good 15-20 minutes away, but I can do my plastic and paper recycling there as well, so to me, it's worth the drive.

Whenever I go to a British supermarket, my shopping list is usually the same:

• fresh salmon (we can only get frozen fish on base, and I need my Omega-3s)
• laundry detergent (I'm not allowed to use American detergent in my British washing machine) AND
• beer (all of the supermarkets have a wide selection of British Ales, and Ethan has a few favorites)

Sainsbury's is a really nice supermarket. It's kind of the equivalent of a Super Walmart, in that it has a grocery store section, but it also has a variety of household goods, toys, clothes, small appliances, etc. When I went the other day, I found toys for a birthday party the kids are going to, uniform pants (on sale for 1 pound 75 pence!) for Tim, and new onesies, socks, and bibs for Collin.

While I was there the other day, I paid attention to all of the other things this store has to offer. First of all, you'd be pleased to know that this Sainsbury's houses its own Starbucks with a lovely sitting area. There is also a Pharmacy and a Travel office, which I had never noticed before. I also found brochures near the checkout for people to get a loan, or purchase home, auto, or pet insurance. The supermarket is also the place you can "Top-Up" your cell phone, for all of us who have "pay-as-you-go" cell phones. So, it's pretty much got everything.

Checking out at the register is just about the same, except that you always bag your own groceries. I actually don't mind that because I like to bring my own bags from home. At the Commissary on base, there are baggers who both bag your groceries and wheel it out to your car for you (for a tip). Again, it really encourages people to reuse bags, which I am a huge fan of!!!!

At Sainsburys, they also have this "Fast Track" system, where you scan your own items as you go along (almost like when you do a registry), and have a really quick checkout at the end. I've never done that, but it looks like fun!

I do have to say, the biggest difference I've found between British and American food shopping is the carts. They call them "trolleys" over here. First of all, there is a wide selection of carts to choose from. There are shallow and deep ones, ones that hold baby seats, ones with built in baby seats or double baby seats, ones with toddler seats, etc. They've thought of just about every cart possibility that exists, which is nice. But what really bugs me about British trolleys is the wheels. These carts are "all-wheel steering," meaning, they don't have the guides along the rear wheels like American carts do. This isn't a problem when you are inside the store. It's actually quite nice being able to slide your cart sideways if it's in the way, etc. The problem occurs when you take it out of the store on an uneven surface... the cart will go in any direction that gravity pulls it. I have found that this gives both your abs and knees an awkward workout! Especially if the cart is full!!So there you have it... a tour of my British supermarket. I'm sorry there aren't more pictures, but I felt a little weird taking out my camera in the store! :)

First Roll

Well, we had our doubts....
but Collin proved us all wrong this morning when he rolled over for the first time!

Previous to today, he really hadn't shown any interest in rolling. When we would give him time on his belly, he would last for a few minutes before he grew frustrated. Truthfully, there is a lot of him to flip over, so we weren't sure when he would be able to roll.

But this morning, I put him down on his belly right away, and FLIP!! Tim and I both watched him do it, and Ethan got to see the second one. I'm glad I thought to get my camera to record his third official roll. Way to go Collin!

A Year Ago Today....

A Year Ago Today....

• I woke up with my family in a hotel room, packed up all of our suitcases, and checked out.
• I was keeping a special secret (and dealing with morning sickness caused by that special secret).
• All of our furniture and belongings were boxed up and waiting to be shipped.
• Our house was empty, and eagerly awaiting someone to rent it (thankfully, we didn't have to wait that long).
• I chatted with my aunt, and ate my last American dinner at her house.
• I was driven to the airport in a mini-van taxi with my two kids on either side.
• I called my mom on my cell-phone one last time before I boarded a plane, crying the whole time.
• We flew "across the pond."
• We started an adventure of a lifetime.
  

Missing all of you..... 2 more years to go!

School Expressions

Maddie is home sick from school today.... a lot of kids have been home sick with a high fever. Hopefully, it won't get too bad, and hopefully, whatever she has won't be passed on to Collin.

Anyway, her being home reminded me that at school, when one of the children isn't feeling well, they will say, "So-and-so is feeling poorly today" (almost pronounced "pauwly"). Then, if it gets worse, they will be "sickly."

The kids have also told me a few words recently that they've learned at school that are different than American expressions. Here are a few:

• a marker is called a "felt-tip"
• the bathroom is the "toilet" or the "loo"
• tape is called "cellatape"
• a sink is a "tap"
• a garbage can is a "rubbish bin"
• when you do math, which they call "maths," and you add two numbers together, you would say, "2 add 7".
  
• if the student buys a hot lunch, it is called "dinner" (see previous blog about "tea") AND
  
• a pencil eraser is called a "rubber" (I think I will need to correct that quickly before they go back to school in the States)
  

Suit Torture

Today I took Collin to my friend Christy's house to get his 3 month-old pictures taken (he's actually closer to being 4 months-old now, but with the holidays, etc., we did the best we could). Anyway, he was fairly cooperative, and we got a few good shots. Until...

I brought along a suit that my friend Alyssa sent as a gift. I thought it might be fun to try and get a few pictures with him all dressed-up. Well, as anticipated, he didn't like it at all, and started to scream his head off. Oh well... we tried.

I decided to leave the suit on him for the ride home, and when he woke up from his nap, I thought I would try to take a few pictures of him myself. Here are a few favorite shots.
This shot shows what he really thought of his suit, and the torture of mommy taking his picture.
Oh the thumb! His thumb is like his coping mechanism. When he gets it in his mouth, his eyes roll back in his head in satisfaction. Poor baby!Here are just a few more random shots of Collin from the past week.
In his Bumbo (he hasn't decided if he likes it yet):Here he is in his new walker. We thought that a walker would work in this house because there is no basement (hence, no stairs going down from the main floor). Also, we have a very long kitchen which will be great for him to scoot across.Here's Tim reading to him:
Overall, Collin continues to do well. He seems to be teething a lot, which includes much drool and attempts at shoving as much of his hand in his mouth as possible. I took Collin to be weighed three days ago, and he was 16 lbs., 6oz. Just huge!! He is already wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. What a big boy!

Scraping Diapers for the Lord

As some of you may know, I am passionate about the environment and about "being green". I personally believe that caring for the environment = caring for God's creation, and that being responsible with our natural resources is an act of love for generations to come.

I think my passion began when I was teaching 4th grade in Harford County, MD. I taught a unit each year about recycling, and learned so much along with my students. Since then, I have always been an avid recycler. Here in England, there is curbside pick up for glass and cans, but not for plastic and paper. However, I can bring those items to the supermarket for recycling, which is exactly what I do.

Last fall, I made a commitment to make my life a little greener-- I bought cloth/reusable diapers. Some of you may think I'm crazy for doing this (I know I never would have even considered this when Tim and Maddie were babies). But for Collin, I knew I had enough passion to stick with it, and enough time in my schedule to wash and assemble diapers. So, I invested in (and when I say "invested," I mean I spent a lot of money on) BumGenius diapers for Collin. I chose this particular brand because the reviews for them were terrific-- easy to use, easy to assemble, and through a series of snaps, they "grow" with your child, meaning you only have to buy one set the whole time your child is in diapers.

So far, I have to say, I am pretty impressed. They are very easy to use and assemble, and they do a good job. My main issues are that they are bulkier than disposable diapers, and they do seem to leak a little bit more along the inside leg. And, of course, there's the poop scraping. But to be honest, I am used to that now.

Overall, I'm really glad that we went this route, and I would recommend it. I get a lot of satisfaction buying so few disposable diapers (which I do have on hand for night-time, for when I'm going out, and for when the diapers are in the wash). I suspect that I will make up for what I spent on the BumGenius diapers in a month or so. And of course, I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that for every diaper I wash, that's one less diaper that is going into a landfill somewhere.

Join us for Tea

Last Sunday, we invited a couple from church over for dinner. Ruth was born and raised in England, and her husband Marty is from Australia. While they were here, I drilled Ruth about some British terminology regarding meals.

I needed some clarification because last Spring, Timothy was invited to a friend's house to play. While I was on the phone with this friend's mother about the playdate, she mentioned something to me about tea. From this, I assumed that she was inviting me for a cup of tea while Tim and his buddy were playing. So, I responded apologetically about how I would have Maddie with me, and was that okay. I could tell that something was lost in the translation there, and backed off the subject. I later found out that she was asking if Tim could stay for dinner.

So, I retold this story to my new friend Ruth. She explained to me that a lot of British people call their evening meal "tea." This is because, a few generations ago, the meal in the middle of the day was the people's main meal. The farmers would come in from their fields, and the workers and schoolchildren would come home to have their "dinner", which was a larger, hot meal. Then in the evenings, people would have a lighter meal called a "tea". Now in England, most people do have their larger, hot meal in the evening, but for some reason, they still call it tea. Likewise, some people still call the middle of the day meal dinner, but most call it lunch.

So, the moral of the story is: if a British person invites you for tea, don't assume you'll be drinking any.

Happy 2009!

I made it! I didn't think I would be able to last until midnight last night as I haven't been feeling well, but I did.

Ethan and I had a very quiet New Years. (His parents and brother just left yesterday morning, so we knew we couldn't plan to do much.) Ethan made a delicious crab dip that we enjoyed as we watched the British version of a New Years countdown. It wasn't a "New Years Rockin' Eve" with Dick Clark, but it was still cool to watch.

The countdown was live from the HMS Belfast which is located in the Thames River in London. They interviewed Olympic gold medalists, and had some live music including a performance by Simply Red. Yes, Simply Red... as from the 80s. No offense, but the music was pretty bad, and the singer looked like was in his 80s. Dick Clark certainly gets better music performers.

Things improved at midnight. They showed Big Ben clanging, and then shot fireworks off of the London Eye (the London Eye is a huge ferris wheel just across the river from Big Ben). The fireworks were really impressive.

Ethan commented that 2008 was the shortest year of our life... literally. Since we celebrated last New Years in America and this year's in England, 2008 was exactly 5 hours shorter than any other we've celebrated. All I know is 2008 was one of the most exciting and adventurous years of our lives.