Thursday, August 14, 2008

Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping

This is how shopping is supposed to be! All of it!!! Go to any store you want - at almost any time you want - wearing anything you want. And I am shopping until I am dropping. I came with a list of things that we had to have that we will ship back. The list is not as lengthy as it has been some years, but there are numerous items and it will make my return to the Sandbox just that much more pleasant for me to have these items. Crab meat. I have two cases ready to ship back. A new crock pot. I can't get my cigarettes in Saudi so I ship those back. The Honest Kitchen's dog food for my Kids. Bike shorts. Reese's peanut butter. Stacks of books - some of which if I do not put them in my suitcase and hand-carry them, very likely will not make it through customs, "Confessions of an Innocent Man - Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison," by William Sampson is an example of one of the books I will hand-carry back [provided I am able to make it through Bahrain onto Saudi as there is that little glitch with my passport that says my Visa is no good - minor problem today - major problem when I am ready to return]. I've haunted all of my favorite clothing stores J. Crew, Banana Republic and Gap - the bathing suit stores - and department stores Nordstrom, Dillards... I am not done. There are still several malls that have are begging me to visit. My favorite "toy" stores for my Kids have all been happy to see me - okay, happy to see my credit card. The Kids will be happy to see Mommy when they realize they have a suitcase full of new toys! And, treats, too!

I am enjoying spending time with my Mom - who has her cast off at this point, although her arm is still in pretty bad shape and she is doing physical therapy several times a week to strengthen it and get it back to being usable. I feel terribly guilty about this. My bother and two sisters really are blaming me for the accident... I will never buy my Mom another pair of shoes again in her entire life - I promise, Mom! We are spending time with friends, here. The weather has been - up until yesterday - beyond perfect. Crisp blue sky, dry - no humidity [not at all normal for North Carolina in August!], and warm. Evenings require a sweater - I am acclimated to much, much warmer temperatures. It did rain all day yesterday, but even that - because it so rarely happens in the Sandbox - was a welcome change. My Mom has a family of deer that live behind her and every evening they come for dinner. One of the neighbor's puts out deer corn and I've started putting out cut up carrots and apples. There are five deer - two little babies still with spots. I will try to take pictures. It is peaceful and tranquil watching them from a not too far distance.

There is still quite a bit on my agenda. I will be meeting with a realtor to look at lake-front property and will spend a couple of days traveling around with her to find land. We know that we will return to North Carolina and we would like to think that we could start building - perhaps next year - at least the garage to the home we want so that we can store the boat and have our own place to stay - we will put an apartment over the garage. My grown-up Son is on the other side of the state and I will visit him early next week. A visit would not be complete without me harping on him that it is time to get married to the woman he has lived with for a few years and that it is time to make me a grandmother. I am the only one of my peers who is grandchild-less and I must dish out the guilt in this regard. That is what mother's do.

There is more. It is a very busy time. But for sitting in the evening either on the patio or in the sun-porch sipping Sterling I've had no down time. We will spend time at the beach and that will be down time. In the meantime, I am going to continue at the pace I'm going and make the best of my time in the States and return to the Sandbox with a new attitude and ready to live in a country where I can't do hardly any of what I am doing now...

10 comments:

  1. I just wanted to tell you've I've always enjoyed your blogs from the Sandbox....I don't know how you handle living in that place...

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  2. Sabra, we arranged this wonderful weather just for your visit to
    NC! Has it been fabulous or what?! Welcome home, from a fan in Winston-Salem!

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  3. Glad you are having a great time...........just to let you know www.bookcloseouts.com is having a $1 sale, like you need anymore books...right...LOL

    Gill

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  4. You do what you have to do sometimes, Jzgplj - and that's how I do it. We will return to the States. This, NC, is home!

    Evelyn - Cannot thank you enough - for ordering this weather special just for me! It IS absolutely FABULOUS!!! Three more weeks, please... Evenings have just been so wonderful sitting on the screen porch sipping wine - and the days most sunny and blue. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect!

    Gill - DH isn't going to be happy with me right now for the amount of stuff that we are shipping home. Including my last Book Closeout order! May sneak a quick peek though... Thanks.

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  5. Sabra, yeah why don't they have Reese's peanut butter cups out here?

    Add it to the many why don't they's :)

    Please take pics of the deer if you can.

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  6. Who knows why we can't get those simple pleasures, AIO?!? Will take photos of the deer family - a young buck, a Momma, a young female and two little babies with their spots still. Precious. Just precious!

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  7. you know a quick peek at the book close out site won't hurt, now will it!!! And you know you could also tell dh I forced you to take a quick look!!! Also tell him I ordered $500 worth of books and paid only just over $42 for them........and honestly what's another 50 lbs in weight of books, when push comes to shove...LOL

    Enjoy your vacation

    Gill

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  8. I looked at the Honest Kitchen website and was really intrigued. I can't remember the name of the one I was looking at but it was around $60 for 10lbs, which would be 40-43 dry cups. But when I figured it up my 200 lbs of dogs would eat about 10 dry cups a day so $60 would only last 4 days, yikes. Have you ever used their food before? Am I looking at it right? I have one 100 pounder and two 50's. Just curious what your experience has been feeding it to your big dogs. Thanks and hope you have time to do everything you want to before heading back to the sandbox.

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  9. Wondering Woman - I use the Force and Embark. I feed The Boy [Great Dane] two cups of the food in the morning, which comes out to four cups with the water that is added and five and a half cups with the beef or chicken I add to it. The Baby [Standard Poodle] gets half of what The Boy does. So it is three cups of The Honest Kitchen food in the morning - and then another cup and a half at night. Same routine - The Boy gets the cup - which is two cups with the water - and almost three with the beef or chicken. The Baby gets a half cup - with the water it is a cup and more with the meat. The Baby is not nearly as fond of it as The Boy is. I have "health" issues with The Boy - allergies to EVERYTHING - and tried this to see if it would help. It seems to have helped some - certainly not as much as I had hoped - but his coat is so soft and shinny with the food that I will continue using it even if it doesn't "fix" his allergy problem. The Baby is just as happy with regular dry food so I have not taken that away from her - she doesn't always get THK food - but I am convinced some of the preservatives and chemicals in the Royal Canin that we get has not been good for The Boy. The Boy weighs 120 lbs and The Baby 54 - if that helps you measure the amount. If you are feeding your 200 pounds of "Kids" 10 cups of THK food - that is really 20 cups - and more - because you do add meat - I add cooked burger or cooked chopped chicken - which I make in big 5 kilogram batches and then freeze in individual bags. I think any "good" food is going to be more costly than what is on the grocery store shelf. But then, I've been making most of my Kids food and that is a major, major project - and quite costly. THK is saving me some work, although not $$$. Good luck. Let me know what you decide to do. I'll be curious how your "Kids" like it!

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  10. Hey ... we have reese's peanut butter cup here in Saudi- You will find them at any safeway you go to.. the are imported ofcourse :)

    As for the shops, you can find both GAP and Banana Republic here in Saudi :)

    Lovely blog.. and enjoy shopping somewhere that actually has changerooms :)

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