For my sweetheart Valentine's Day can sometimes get a little mixed up because his birthday is the day before. So each year we have to choose if we're going to celebrate each holiday separately or lump them both together. This year we were able to technically celebrate them separately, and here's a brief summary of how we celebrated both of my sweetheart's days.
For Mark's birthday we took a day to visit a city about an hour away that has some very Western shopping and food. Our first stop at the mall was to check out what movies were playing. While we were discussing whether or not to go to the movie I asked him if we could get a doughnut from Dunkin' Donuts. He said he didn't really want one, but if it would hold me over until the movie was over, we'd get one. When we got to the counter and saw all the different choices they had (not nearly as many as you guys at home have but quite a few for us) Mark ordered two apple filled ones. I figured if Mark was going to order two I'd order two also. Then the guy at the counter told us that if we ordered 4 we get 2 free . . . so we ordered a total of 6, thinking, of course, that we would eat one then and save the rest for later. We sat down at a nearby table, and what do you think happened? Yep, we ate the whole box within about 15 minutes! It's been a year and a half since our last real doughnuts! We decided to pass on the movie, and instead we attempted to walk off all those calories by shopping.
We came across a department store that had some really great sales, and Mark found a pair of Adidas tennis shoes for almost nothing. The only thing is . . . he had to buy a whole size bigger than what he buys at home. Weird, huh?
We did more looking than buying. (And Mark would say that I spent half of our time saying, "I need to go to the restroom.") And after taking one last look at the cute dogs in the pet store, we headed for another shopping center. There we had lunch - I had Burger King, and Mark had KFC - yummy! We found a really great store with lots of baby stuff, so we strolled around there for a bit. Then we headed to a big Wal-mart kind of store so Mark could look for a basket ball. He found one, but he said the price tag for a cheap rubber ball wasn't worth it.
Earlier in the day we decided that for dinner we would get a pizza from Domino's and take it home to reheat in the oven. When we left the shopping center, as Mark was trying to figure out the best way to get to the Domino's place, a Domino's delivery scooter pulled out in front of us at the light. Off we went, following that scooter. We had no idea whether or not he was headed right back to the store or to make another delivery! At one point, he managed to squeeze through the middle of a couple of cars and got a little bit ahead of us. So while Mark was watching the traffic, I was keeping my eye on the scooter guy. He led us down this back road, and I thought for sure he was just making a delivery, but he had actually led us right to the backside of the building where Domino's is located. Mark went in and ordered a large pepperoni pizza, and that night after a nice little nap, we had hot pizza for dinner.
Now for Valentine's Day . . . after doing a little grocery shopping and looking for a new umbrella, we tried out a new restaurant. Mark had steak, and I had some kind of shrimp dish. We went to eat much earlier than anyone else in town, which means we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. They even started playing some love songs (in English) after we ordered our food. Awwwww . . . wasn't that sweet?!
So after all of that, can you believe that we actually did have one regret . . . all day yesterday we kept asking ourselves, "Why didn't we bring home a dozen doughnuts when we had the chance?!"
Hope you and your sweetheart got to do something "sweet" this weekend, too!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Doctor's In
Or what if he isn't???
Well, according to a fellow patient at the hospital this morning . . . if the doctor's running late, you just call him on his cell phone, tell him you've been waiting for an hour, and ask him when he'll be arriving. That's just what she did!
By the time our doctor came walking down the hall to his office, the poor guy looked exhausted. Who knows . . . he could have delivered a baby last night! Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. In this culture where time doesn't really seem to be an issue, we run across situations like this where it's ALL about time. And it always catches me off guard.
Anyway, the doctor did finally arrive, and we were about 3rd in line for our check-up. Everything checked out normal. Good blood pressure, acceptable weight gain, no swelling, baby's in head down position, no strange complaints/ailments, baby's moving around normally, etc. He says we could have a baby anywhere from the end of March to the 10th or so of April - a little earlier than his very first due date. I guess we'll have to wait and see when this little fellow will make his big debut! (I keep telling myself to keep thinking middle of April so if he waits a little longer to come, I won't be quite so disappointed.)
Sorry - no ultrasound pictures. The little fellow wasn't showing his face for us today. However, we did see today that, yes, for sure, it is a little boy - he wasn't shy about revealing that!
Well, according to a fellow patient at the hospital this morning . . . if the doctor's running late, you just call him on his cell phone, tell him you've been waiting for an hour, and ask him when he'll be arriving. That's just what she did!
By the time our doctor came walking down the hall to his office, the poor guy looked exhausted. Who knows . . . he could have delivered a baby last night! Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. In this culture where time doesn't really seem to be an issue, we run across situations like this where it's ALL about time. And it always catches me off guard.
Anyway, the doctor did finally arrive, and we were about 3rd in line for our check-up. Everything checked out normal. Good blood pressure, acceptable weight gain, no swelling, baby's in head down position, no strange complaints/ailments, baby's moving around normally, etc. He says we could have a baby anywhere from the end of March to the 10th or so of April - a little earlier than his very first due date. I guess we'll have to wait and see when this little fellow will make his big debut! (I keep telling myself to keep thinking middle of April so if he waits a little longer to come, I won't be quite so disappointed.)
Sorry - no ultrasound pictures. The little fellow wasn't showing his face for us today. However, we did see today that, yes, for sure, it is a little boy - he wasn't shy about revealing that!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Newest Addition to our Home
No, before any of you freak out . . . I'm not talking about the baby. Not yet! I'm talking about a clothes dryer. We've been without one for going on a year and a half and seemed to have settled into a nice little laundry routine.
I guess I should stop and explain something about dryers in this part of the world . . . most people don't know that they even exist. The ones that might know they exist, don't understand how they work. And the ones who know all about them often just can't afford them. They're pretty expensive in the local currency.
While we'd gotten into a good routine and learned all the tricks to getting clothes dried in the most timely fashion the old-fashioned way, we recently found out that a couple of appliance stores in our little city had started selling dryers. We checked out a couple of catalogs but couldn't get past the sticker price. Then the craziest thing happened . . . the worldwide economic crisis . . . and the value of the dollar against the local currency here shot up overnight. We still weren't completely sold on buying another appliance, especially one that most of our friends and neighbors don't have or may not even know are available.
After a few more weeks of the dollar staying high and doing some research online to check prices and warranty information, Mark decided to venture into a store downtown to check things out. He found a model like we had seen online and this past weekend he took me to look at it in person, too. We both liked the quality of the machine, the extra 4 year warranty we could purchase, AND the fact that it was on sale! We still didn't want to make a decision on the spot because there was information about features that the man at the store couldn't give us. I wanted to do a little more reading online.
We got home that evening, checked out our questions online, looked at the prices again online, and decided we did want to buy it. The problem was this . . . we could actually get it cheaper if we ordered it online than if we bought it from the store. One or both of us would need to go back and try to bargain the price again and tell them that if we couldn't get it for a certain amount we would not give them our business. Can you guess which of us actually did that? It wasn't me!!! I told Mark that my heart just couldn't do it. I know that's how business is done here all the time, but I couldn't bear the thoughts of having to be the one to have the conversation with the sales guy.
Mark went back today, and what do you know? They came down to the price we asked for!!! And the price for the extra 4 years of warranty was quite a bit cheaper than we originally thought (we had understood wrong the first time he told us). So that was that . . . we became the proud new owners of a shiny new dryer!
It was delivered tonight and I've already dried my first little load . . . socks! "Why just socks?" you might ask. Well, earlier in the afternoon I had done a load of laundry, hung up all the pants and shirts but realized a couple of hours later (after the dryer had been plugged in) that I hadn't hung up the socks. And of all the things I hate hanging up to dry socks are at the top of the list! So I thought to myself, "Just throw those things in the dryer!" And I did. It felt great. Granted, it has taken 40 minutes or so for them to get dry, but . . . . . as they say, "Beggars can't be choosers!"
I think this addition to our home will be rather handy when our other little addition arrives!
I guess I should stop and explain something about dryers in this part of the world . . . most people don't know that they even exist. The ones that might know they exist, don't understand how they work. And the ones who know all about them often just can't afford them. They're pretty expensive in the local currency.
While we'd gotten into a good routine and learned all the tricks to getting clothes dried in the most timely fashion the old-fashioned way, we recently found out that a couple of appliance stores in our little city had started selling dryers. We checked out a couple of catalogs but couldn't get past the sticker price. Then the craziest thing happened . . . the worldwide economic crisis . . . and the value of the dollar against the local currency here shot up overnight. We still weren't completely sold on buying another appliance, especially one that most of our friends and neighbors don't have or may not even know are available.
After a few more weeks of the dollar staying high and doing some research online to check prices and warranty information, Mark decided to venture into a store downtown to check things out. He found a model like we had seen online and this past weekend he took me to look at it in person, too. We both liked the quality of the machine, the extra 4 year warranty we could purchase, AND the fact that it was on sale! We still didn't want to make a decision on the spot because there was information about features that the man at the store couldn't give us. I wanted to do a little more reading online.
We got home that evening, checked out our questions online, looked at the prices again online, and decided we did want to buy it. The problem was this . . . we could actually get it cheaper if we ordered it online than if we bought it from the store. One or both of us would need to go back and try to bargain the price again and tell them that if we couldn't get it for a certain amount we would not give them our business. Can you guess which of us actually did that? It wasn't me!!! I told Mark that my heart just couldn't do it. I know that's how business is done here all the time, but I couldn't bear the thoughts of having to be the one to have the conversation with the sales guy.
Mark went back today, and what do you know? They came down to the price we asked for!!! And the price for the extra 4 years of warranty was quite a bit cheaper than we originally thought (we had understood wrong the first time he told us). So that was that . . . we became the proud new owners of a shiny new dryer!
It was delivered tonight and I've already dried my first little load . . . socks! "Why just socks?" you might ask. Well, earlier in the afternoon I had done a load of laundry, hung up all the pants and shirts but realized a couple of hours later (after the dryer had been plugged in) that I hadn't hung up the socks. And of all the things I hate hanging up to dry socks are at the top of the list! So I thought to myself, "Just throw those things in the dryer!" And I did. It felt great. Granted, it has taken 40 minutes or so for them to get dry, but . . . . . as they say, "Beggars can't be choosers!"
I think this addition to our home will be rather handy when our other little addition arrives!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Snowball
For those of you who know we're dog lovers, we thought you'd like to know we've had a new experience of taking care of a friend's cat recently. (Sorry, Titus! We know you don't approve!!!)
Here's a cute picture of Snowball watching the clothes in the washer go round and round. She even attacked the glass a few times.
Here's a cute picture of Snowball watching the clothes in the washer go round and round. She even attacked the glass a few times.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Cooking Update
For those of you who might be wondering how my dessert for tea last week turned out (after a day of disasters in the kitchen) . . . what I made was a smashing success! I decided to make a pan of apricot bars. It's a sweet but not too sweet fruit bar kind of thing with a crispy crust. If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know!
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