I'm not old!

Over the past year or so my wrinkles have made, at least to me, a more noticeable presence. I always said I wouldn't care...but I do! Someone sent me this picture today and I'm going to be vain...it makes me feel pretty.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll

I completely forgot that it was Thanksgiving today, until I saw this post on another blog I follow. I've never thought about the fact that what he had to say is so true, that Thanksgiving is about being grateful and not a commercial holiday like so many others.

• First and foremost, I'm thankful for my husband
• I'm thankful it will have only been 2 years since I've been home by the time I visit. I hear way too many stories of people who've been here for 5 or more years and haven't been able to make it home for various reasons
• I'm thankful that I get to go out to Norwood today to meet up with Tamara for lunch and make a trip to Chili Mojo (and hopefully pick up some frozen Mexican food to bring home)
• I'm thankful for the invite to a Thanksgiving dinner at a fellow expat's house
• I'm thankful to all of the people who've made Expats in Adelaide a success, mostly because it's been so fantastic to meet them all and feel a part of something here, as well as feel like I've done something constructive that's added to my personal happiness
• I'm thankful that I'm an expat, and that that has changed my life so much, in so many positive ways, allowing me to be the person I've always wanted to be

Six White Boomers and other Aussie Xmas Oddities

Well worth checking out is the most popular Australian Christmas song. Put my Christmas tree up last week in 70F, blindingly sunny weather....very odd.

What My Husband Did Today

...and the view from our backyard. I did a 2 hour hike that nearly killed me, but I forgot to take the camera:/

Central Market

I decided to do my fruit & veg shopping at Central Market today since I was down to visit Ayers House and have lunch at Malacca Corner with a friend. When I was beginning my shop, I decided to see if I could buy everything on my list off the bargain tables. (Jen at Opinioneater got me thinking with this post about ugly fruit.) Quite often, each stall has a section with bags or items for $1-2. I ended up spending about $7 and the only items on the below list I didn't get off the bargain table were the bananas and broccoli, the latter of which I couldn't pass up as it was $1.99/kg and was $4.99/kg last week at our fruit & veg shop near home (and $6.99/kg the week before that!)

1 bag of 5 apples
1 bag of 3 lemons + 2 apples
1 bag of dates
(All 3 bags above for $2)
1 bag of 4 gigantic pears, a type of which I don't know the name but look like an apple but taste like a pear ($1)
1 bag of 3 small sweet potatoes ($1)
1 head of broccoli (70 cents)
3 bananas ($2.20)

Grand total: $6.90

My usual veg shop for the week costs $10-13!! I typically buy more veg than fruit but these items were a steal and we still have some corn, potatoes and green beans from last week's shop.

Kayaking

This picture is just worth a post. Steve and his dad went kayaking this past weekend (was a father's day gift as they haven't had much time together over the past few years what with Steve being overseas).

Another Golden Nugget & Gratitude

I spoke about golden nuggets a while back. I'll share one I saw yesterday. I was waiting for the bus to go into the city and when it came, the driver got out of his seat, went and picked up a pram/stroller from the luggage rack, got off the bus with it, and set it up for a mom who was getting off the bus with her toddler. (That would not happen in Chicago.)

Occasionally, I remember to have a look at a blog called This Marriage Thing and just spotted something called The Gratitude Project. I'm doing #3 & #4 in this post. I don't know if I'll have a chance to say thank you three times a day for 10 days to my hubs, but I can try. I do always try to thank him for what he does do, because I sure nag him enough on the things he doesn't;) I'm contemplating doing the grocery shop alone today, even though I don't feel like I should have to. It's something we always do together and I did it myself last time. I have had time off work; hubs told me today I should do it myself because 1) I'm the housewife right now and 2) he has things to do. Now, the things he has to do are pick up an engine for his car and play with his toys (he's building up a car). Marriage is tricky. Do you let it go, and not think about the right and wrong all the time, in order to stick to fighting the fights that matter, or do you refuse to have food in the house because you think hubs should go with? I guess there's no right answer. While I think the old man should take an hour out to assist, I don't feel like nagging all day, so I think I will go it alone. Perhaps I'll get some gratitude in return.

Modified to add: My husband, who didn't even know about The Gratitude Project (until I told him afterwards) thanked me 3 times Saturday for 3 different things, and told me what a good wife I was. (Perhaps doing things like taking over grocery shopping responsibilities once in a while is a good thing!)

Expats for Obama

I hope Obama remembers us. He did mention, in his acceptance speech, people overseas, although I think he was referring to other cultures, not expats. Over the past few days, I have spoken to and read blogs by other expats who express the same sentiments. We're proud, we're more patriotic than we ever were as residents of the US, and we can finally hold our heads up high again. We no longer feel (even if we were patriotic before) that we have to defend our country against negative comments that may have some basis in truth...we can refer to America as a great and wonderful country again...because things are changing for the better.

Linus in the Pumpkin Patch

I love holiday cartoons. I have all of the Peanuts specials and as many Christmas cartoons and movies as you can think of. 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' is one of my favourites; I watched it when I was carving the Halloween pumpkin, and played it for the kids when we had our Halloween party last weekend. I love Linus' tenacity and belief in the Great Pumpkin, although I can understand how cheated Sally feels at the end when she realises she has missed out on trick-or-treats and parties while sitting waiting for something that didn't even happen. I felt like Sally in the pumpkin patch while I was watching the rally in Grant Park last night. Here I am in little old Adelaide, not loving it as much at the moment, most likely because I'm not working and am not sure where my career will take me next, not having had much luck with temp work over the past few weeks, and there is the next President of the US, Barack Obama, in my hometown...and if I wasn't sitting here doing nothing, I'd be in that crowd. I do like Adelaide but so far, I haven't found it to have the spirit or vibrancy of where I am from, or anywhere else I have lived in the past few years. I'd rather have my husband than a vibrant place to live and an empty house to come home to, but there are some times, more than others, when the sacrifice hits me hard.