Interesting Finds: Groceries

Well, I've ventured out to three different grocery stores just to see what they are like and found some interesting finds.

• The Go Green initiative is huge here, and it is something I wish the US had more of. Two of the three grocery stores make you pay (not much) for each bag if you don't bring your own!
• A regular bag of Kraft (2 0r 3 cups) shredded cheddar cheese is a whopping $7.50 to 8.00 per BAG!?! Do you know how much cheese we go through? Even mozzarella string cheese is $5 on sale for a regular bag.
• Muenster cheese, what we usually use on sandwiches, is nowhere to be found. Unless you want those flimsy type of individually packaged cheese slices, you cannot find any other kind of sliced cheese at most grocery stores. Walmart did have a little bit more to offer. Havarti cheese is evidently big here.
• I was able to find my favorite Dove moisturizer that I haven't been able to find ANYWHERE in the US for the past year!
• Not many lite or low calorie salad dressings.
• Most labels are in English and French.

In other news, we got the huge snow storm that much of the US has gotten. However, Scott went to work in the foot/foot and a half of snow because just in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), there are 600 plows and 200 salt trucks! Crazy, eh? They actually haven't gotten this much snow at one time in 3 years. That's nice to know!

I feel like a stupid American sometimes. I went to the deli to get lunch meat and right before I asked for a pound of meat, I realized they wouldn't know what I'm talking about! I heard one of the girls ask for 50 grams of turkey, but I didn't know how much that would be either. So, I just asked for 20 slices instead. And I still got a puzzled look:) Ugh, these conversions are killing me!! :)

The first time I took Addison out, she happened to see lots of people from other cultures (with different type of clothing) and started laughing. Like 3 feet away from them. I was completely embarrassed! I quickly explained why they were dressed differently, and when I turned around the ladies were super sweet and said it was fine. And they told me she was adorable. Whew! I still can't quite figure out why she was laughing, but I think she thought they were in a costume!

I hope you all are staying warm! Sorry for the random thoughts. I'm in a hotel with the kids and dog all day...and I need to share my thoughts! :)

Christmas

I don't have all of the pics yet, but this is as close as I'll probably get to a Christmas post:) We had a great time between the two families despite managing to spread germs among both families. It snowed here the day after Christmas, so Addison had a lot of fun playing in the snow. We've enjoyed our six weeks with our families and are ready to leave early Saturday for Canada. We'll keep you posted!

Each year my mom makes a special craft with the grandchildren. This year we got a plate of Addison and Emma's hands in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Trying to get 5 kids to smile:)

Visiting great grandmother. The funniest part of our visits to grandmother was that she kept calling Emma a boy. She said she really thought a more appropriate name should be Robbie. :)

This kiddo got to eat a ton of sweets that she doesn't normally get to eat:) Lucky girl!

Poor Tara got really sick right after Christmas. Then Nana. Then Poppa. We still managed to squeeze in a little fun!

Trip to Dad's

I haven't uploaded all of my Christmas pics yet, so I don't know when I'll get around to that post! But, here's what happened this week:

My brother, sister-in-law and I drove down to Amelia Island, Florida to visit my dad and his wife, Deborah, this week. They are the owners and innkeepers of The Williams House Bed and Breakfast. We had a great time riding bikes along the beach, sleeping in, eating the most amazing breakfasts, taking a carriage ride, and just hanging out. It was 65 to 70 degrees each day, which is the perfect January temperature for me! I know, I belong in the south!

The Williams House (Main House):
http://www.williamshouse.com/

My room this time. Chocolate chip cookies waiting for me. A king size bed to myself. A cozy fire while I watched TV before bed each night. This is why I love Bed and Breakfasts so much!

Tim and Kasey's bathroom...um, pretty awesome! Unfortunately, I have always come without Scott!

Before the carriage ride around historic downtown:
All 5 of us

At the airport before leavingOh, I checked... it was around 20 degrees in Toronto when I was in Florida. Feel free to go right ahead and say a little prayer for me:)

House Hunting

We're still in Toronto watching the snow fall outside our window, so I thought I'd update you about our trip! We found a place and will sign the final papers tomorrow morning before we leave. It's been a good trip, though we didn't have as much free time to explore Toronto as we'd hoped! We went into a few scary houses at first (and then I got in the car and not so nicely asked Scott where in the world he was moving us-ha!), but ended up in a town an hour south of Toronto called Milton. It's an area that has younger families moving there with many new big master planned type neighborhoods with parks for the kids and shops on the corner. A 40 minute drive to work without much traffic, but for this area, that is not an unusual commute. A few interesting things about most homes around here:

• Most have unfinished basements and cold cellars for wine/canned goods
• Most don't have a kitchen pantry
• No one has a garbage disposal; you are given a compost container that goes out with the trash and recycle bins each week
• Limit of 3 trash bags per week
• It's not uncommon to find houses that have attached garages but no door from the garage to the house!

We are lucky to have found this cutie and feel completely blessed to be able to live in a house like it up here. I'll have pictures once we move there in a few weeks!

Impressive

We had a 17 hour drive (pre-kids) from Tulsa to Asheboro, NC ahead of us. After talking to many moms who have done a long trip with kiddos in the car, we decided we HAD to either leave at night or early in the morning. Well, we left at 4:30am (that includes making sure the house was PERFECT for a showing later that day!) and got to our halfway/stopping point in Nashville around 2:30pm. Hmmm. There was NO way we were stopping yet! We had a few other options, so we kept driving. Then at 7:30pm we realized we were only ~5 hours from my mom's and the kids were going to be going to bed soon, so we kept going. AND... yep, we made a 17 hour drive WITH kids and a dog in a Camry in 20 hours with very little whining and crying and we still really like each other! Crazy! Impressive! That includes only one pit stop peeing in the bushes at a closed gas station in rural NC. Total cost = $125. Of course, as soon as we got here the kiddos were up and full of energy and we didn't get to bed until 2 am:) I hope the 13 hour drive to Toronto goes just as well. Wishful thinking, I know!

Enjoying a Good Book

I realized Addison had been in the bathroom for awhile today and wondered what she was up to:)

Dressing for the Cold

I finally did it.


I bought skinny jeans.


And boots.

Moving to Canada makes you do crazy/wonderful things to be warm:)


I mean, I finally bought flats last year for the first time. I'm not kidding. It takes me awhile. It also took Scott quite a while to warm up to them. Quite a while. But he did smile at my boots and skinny jeans. I think he secretly likes them, though he put his foot down and said no to the skinny jeans and flats together. I know, "we" are a little behind in the fashion world. Women, you feel my pain out there, don't you? :)


Of course Addison had to have a pink pair. I'm still looking for Emma:)