Comforts of Home

Moving over here I foolishly thought that there wouldn't be much in terms of food or other similar objects that I would miss. I knew I would miss Target but since I shopped there constantly before we left I thought I would be good. Oh...and of course I knew I would miss and do miss really good Mexican food, margaritas, guacamole and fish tacos. 


Well, funny thing happens when you can't have something...you start to crave things you didn't want or need before.


For example...


I never ate Reese's Pieces before. I had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (RPBC) but only seldom. Well, now I crave them constantly! I only find the large RPBC which is just not the same as the individual sized and I also crave the pieces. I found one bag several weeks ago and savored every bite and then my mom sent me some Halloween individual cups and I am savoring/treasuring/rationing those.

Other things that I never realized I would miss is MUSIC! We have no music in stores, only one radio station with awful 1990's music and I just miss hearing music while you are shopping. The only "music" I hear is the call to prayer. I call it music because when trying to explain it to Peyton when we first got here we called it "their song".

I miss USDA beef. The beef here (we buy Brazilian, Australian or New Zealand) just doesn't taste the same and I hate to pay $4o plus for a pound of good beef.

I miss magazines! I did buy some while we were in Qatar and paid $20 USD for 2 magazines...US Weekly and People. Kind of silly but it was so worth it....then I let Graham play with them one morning and he had a blast ripping pages and hearing the sounds. Probably one of the most expensive 20 minutes of free time I have had.

Another thing that is surprising is commercials! Being in advertising I never hated commercials but thought I could do without it. Well, the other night I was watching Private Practice on Hulu.com and saw some commercials and I was mesmerized and in no way annoyed. I feel like I am so out of the loop of marketing/what is in/ what is going on. In some ways that could be good but it was nice to see real advertising!

And I was having TV withdrawals...we have a pretty good satellite provider and get a lot of movies, cartoons and comedy shows, E! and other stuff and I record lots of random stuff to watch. But I feel like it is easy to pick up a comedy show like Modern Family whenever you see an episode come up on the schedule but for my dramas and favorite shows...I needed more!

And especially with all the shows starting up for the season I was having withdrawals not seeing them. They do eventually get broadcasted here but about a month behind and to combat that I was paying iTunes for each episode every week. Which was expensive and annoying having to wait for it to download all the time.

Well we have a solution now...VPN! Which allows me to watch them on Hulu.com or Abc.com since I have a VPN that says I am in the States. Before it would recognize that I was overseas and not let me watch. This is also going to be a big help with downloading books for my Nook. Before my mom would just do it for me which wasn't a big deal but I hated having to burden her and as silly as it sounds, one extra email to her of which ones I wanted seemed like too much work and never got done! Over the weekend I was able to catch up on Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy and I also decided I am going to start watching Pan Am and Revenge. I am excited and it makes me feel like I am not in the middle of nowhere!

Overall I guess it isn't too much that I am missing....oh and add...HEB Texas Coffee Blend, real Starbucks with variety and real baristas who don't mess up your order, Chick Fil A....and I am for sure looking forward to sampling everything when I am back. Maybe I should start a list of things to do like Peyton has?