It is such a strange thing, to actually need to turn on the hot water heater if you want hot water. Prince actually complained that the bathwater was too cold some time in the last week. We haven't heard that in ever so very long. It gives you an idea how much rain we've had in the last two weeks. And to think, the hot water heater will be turned on all the time when we get back to my parents' house! What a strange world.
We got our AC units all working finally. That means I have actually been cold in the morning. It's shocking, pulling out a real blanket again. Joy is still using the lightest sheet in the house and never feels cool, but I'm there.
I made Joy some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Mother's Day - her favorite - using the last of the pumpkin I brought here in October and the chocolate chips the Austins left us. As we enjoyed them, I had a little H-milk. H-milk has been nuked into submission so you can keep it in a box on the shelf for 6 months without it going bad. I have finally, finally gotten to the point that it tastes normal going down and only has the smallest strange aftertaste. Just in time to taste real, fresh milk again and get unaccustomed to it. "It's going to taste so good!" exclaims Joy. "I bet fat free would taste good by now!"
In fact, among our major preparations and plannings for our return to the States has been scheduling Princess' weaning. The last thing we want is for her to get accustomed to real, fresh whole milk only to come back here and be unwilling to drink any milk at all. So we found a powdered milk here we can order online there. We'll wean her on to that so when we come back she can have the same milk.
One of Joy's friends, Net, is returning to Thailand for permanent and has graciously unloaded some treasures on us. One example: yummy tasting margarine in one pound packets. Joy has strong preferences when it comes to butter and spreads, so when she actually thought it tasted good on bread, it was a major coup. One packet went into the cookies (triple batch).
She gave us ... Pop Tarts ... and defatted soy flour Bacon Bits! Those weren't on any of our "must have while we're in the States" lists, but oh how comforting and friendly they are to have. She gave us a mixer too, and new bowls, and a glass cover for our saucepan so I can actually tell when my basted eggs are just done cooking.
I look forward to figuring out what else is normal by what strikes me as strange in 10 days. We can't wait to be back. "I can't wait to have bananas that you can count on." That is so normal to go without saying. We even have a video for that one. The one thing I know for sure is that the US is going to take a LOT of self-control.
We got our AC units all working finally. That means I have actually been cold in the morning. It's shocking, pulling out a real blanket again. Joy is still using the lightest sheet in the house and never feels cool, but I'm there.
I made Joy some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Mother's Day - her favorite - using the last of the pumpkin I brought here in October and the chocolate chips the Austins left us. As we enjoyed them, I had a little H-milk. H-milk has been nuked into submission so you can keep it in a box on the shelf for 6 months without it going bad. I have finally, finally gotten to the point that it tastes normal going down and only has the smallest strange aftertaste. Just in time to taste real, fresh milk again and get unaccustomed to it. "It's going to taste so good!" exclaims Joy. "I bet fat free would taste good by now!"
In fact, among our major preparations and plannings for our return to the States has been scheduling Princess' weaning. The last thing we want is for her to get accustomed to real, fresh whole milk only to come back here and be unwilling to drink any milk at all. So we found a powdered milk here we can order online there. We'll wean her on to that so when we come back she can have the same milk.
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| Normal for Church: Joy speaking at our podium, Princess helping. |
She gave us ... Pop Tarts ... and defatted soy flour Bacon Bits! Those weren't on any of our "must have while we're in the States" lists, but oh how comforting and friendly they are to have. She gave us a mixer too, and new bowls, and a glass cover for our saucepan so I can actually tell when my basted eggs are just done cooking.
I look forward to figuring out what else is normal by what strikes me as strange in 10 days. We can't wait to be back. "I can't wait to have bananas that you can count on." That is so normal to go without saying. We even have a video for that one. The one thing I know for sure is that the US is going to take a LOT of self-control.
"...The US is going to take a LOT of self-control" -- That totally made me laugh out loud! It's funny to me, though, because I know how true that statement is!
ReplyDeleteWe also look forward to counting on GOOD bananas one day when we return. We can only buy acceptable or gross.
I know there's a place in Logan that sells shelf-stable milk. I don't know if it tastes as bad as what we buy here and what you buy there, but I thought I'd just mention it.
So, I'm actually working on a post right now about hot water. Hopefully, I'll get it published today or tomorrow. I have a question for you, though, if you live without using a hot water heater most of the time, do you get ANY cold water from the tap, or is it all warm?
Most of the time, no. Prince puts the faucet all the way to coldest and it sometimes gets quite warm even to me. Even now we don't have anything you would consider cold - it's just a lukewarm that feels so shockingly cold compared to anything that isn't refrigerated. It actually feels like a luxury to wait 2 minutes before turning on the shower after turning on the heater for the water to warm up!
ReplyDelete