#6 Use Cloth Bags
I love the idea of doing my part to make the world a better and healthier place. I have always cut the plastic rings that come off of canned drinks (even though Blake says that the dolphins are safe from that kind of stuff now), have never purposefully littered, and I recycle the things that I know can be recycled. When I lived in Houston, I even bought a dozen reusable bags from HEB totally expecting to use them every trip that I took to the grocery store.
I think I might have used them once.
I forgot them in the back of the Jeep every trip.
I forgot them in the back of the Jeep every trip.
Since we've moved here, we feel like amateurs without our cloth bags.
That first day at the QVM (Queen Victoria Market) surrounded by people with their cloth bags or the sign the says "Do you really need plastic bags?" hanging over the bags when you checkout...
It is social shaming, I tell you!
Aside from being environmentally savvy and "like the cool kids", it makes sense for us to use cloth bags since they have to hold up through the distance that we have to travel to get back home with our goods.
#7 Make Smoothies
I'm not a crazy smoothie-making person.
I only like the sweet, fruity smoothies at Smoothie King, and I can never seem to clean out my blender without cutting my finger.
But... I was getting desperate trying to find ways for Samantha and Easton to get some veggies into their systems.
They refuse to eat a lot of the food that is common here.
Every night at dinner there is a constant battle to get them to eat.
Endless compromising is the only way to get them to eat those two tiny bites of broccoli.
"Do you want dessert? Well? Do you?!"
After buying a blender with the Australian plug, I've started making smoothies for them with the fresh fruits and veggies that we pick up at the market each week. (And carry home in our cloth bags...) I don't think I've ever bought so much spinach and kale.
Who am I kidding? I never bought kale.
... Didn't even know what it was until I googled it.
I'm so sneaky, but, hey, they are getting some vegetables now without promises of ice cream or Tims Tams.
Success!
It's cheaper, it's fresher, and it's local to the community.
Enough said.
Plus, where else can you find the best doughnuts, wine, kangaroo ribs, tacky souvenirs, and watermelon all at the same time?
See the kale?!
Third time in my entire life to ever purchase, recorded here!
When Blake and I signed our lease for our apartment, we had to agree to open the windows and/or doors for at least ten minutes every day to help prevent the growth of mold.
Crazy, right?
When I asked why, the realtor looked at me as though I was the crazy one.
Trying to be the good tenants that we are, I started making a honest attempt at opening the balcony doors, and soon I discovered that - the fresh air, the street sounds, the smells of the local restaurants wafting into the apartment - it was really kinda nice.
When I was a kid in Tennessee and even in Oklahoma, we used to open the windows around the house all the time. I guess that moving to Houston, we stopped opening the windows.
The mosquitoes are scary aggressive.
I'm not kidding.
(This is not our apartment, just an adorable bookstore with their windows open. - How cute is this place, though!?)
Everyone here has their windows and doors open; they seem to enjoy that fresh air too.
And there are no mosquitoes!
Again, I'm not kidding.
#10 Think about Christmas and Birthdays Non-Stop
Okay, so I have always tried to get an early start on Christmas shopping (say in like September/October) and I like to always stay ahead of the birthday gift-thing, but since moving here... I'm at a whole other level of gift-shopping than "over-achiever".
I'm actually at the level of "crazy, OCD over-achiever".
It is the end of March, and I'm already rocking the Christmas list and birthday gifts.
Being over here, I feel a certain amount of pressure (that I have put on myself) to come up with outstanding gifts for my family and friends.
Ordering something off of Amazon.com?
No way! I'm in flippin' Australia.
My people are wanting kangaroos and didgeridoos!
I totally understand that no one may care about this more than I do, but I miss my nephews. I miss my family and my friends. I miss Texas and Oklahoma.
Thinking about Christmas and birthdays, picking out gifts and storing them away reminds me that I'll see everyone soon, and I had better be packing some awesome goodies to take back with me.
(From the front of a little gift I bought for the littlest member of the family...)
So... I've listed my ten things. I probably could have thought of a few more to add, but these seem like things that I would be able to do and should do once we aren't here.
Unlike "Say 'G-day, mate!' at least twelve times a day"...
That one probably wouldn't work back home.
Maybe this list will help me remember when I get home...
G'day mate!
(Whew! There's twelve for today!)
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