Anger Management

This post has been deleted because while it wasn't intended to make anyone feel like I was attacking them, it did. I sincerely apologize for that.

Laundry and Other Housewifey Things.

So today I am doing laundry and I thought I would enlighten those of you in America, and Oz about the differences between our 2 wonderful countries. The major difference is that here in Oz, barely anyone has a dryer. All clothes are hung out on the line to dry and if they are wrinkly, well you have to break out the iron. I could never figure out why my dear husband told me his mum did so much ironing. It is STILL something I won't do if I can get out of it. There are spiders on the clothes line, but they are small and easily dealt with.  I am also still dealing with the fact that you have to get it done before it gets dark, or it won't dry properly. So there's the negative of the whole thing. You would think there'd be more, but really there isn't. The laundry smells so fresh and wonderful when you dry it outside, and it's actually kind of like a meditation for me when I hang it out. Plus I play this game where I try and see how fast and efficiently I can hang each item. Yeah life is great when you can be a nut! Another positive is that you don't waste energy or have to pay a bill for your laundry to get dry. I think if we have a dryer in our future flat, i will avoid using it unless it's raining or dark out.

Another part of housewifery is cleaning. Now some of the differences I experience here are just differences between me and his mum. One difference that is something cultural I've heard is they do not rinse the soap off of their dishes when washing. The kitchen only has one basin in its sink, and when it is full of soapy water, there is no place to rinse. Luckily I have come over here in a time where Mum has a soap filled sponge so rinsing is possible. I think that would be very hard on my tummy, had I have come when that business was going on!

Now comes the part about cooking. This was the thing I avoided the longest when I first got here, as my dear mother in law and I are both pretty picky about what we eat. I love pasta and anything with cheese in it, and I am really picky about the meat I eat because I do not like fat. She HATES pasta and cooks meat until it is dead twice over. I have figured out a few things I can make that we all like, so that is going okay. Cooking is done more often over here than in America because they don't really have anything like Applebee's, or TGI Fridays, or Chilli's to eat at. You can get takeout at about 3 places every block, and that's reasonable, but if you are going to go eat at a restaurant, you better be willing to fork out some cash, and it better be a special occasion.

My Aussies here love their meat pies and chips. They also love Chinese food, which is different from our American Chinese food. They call eggrolls spring rolls here. "fried rice" is just boiled rice with some veggies in it and maybe some shrimp ("prawns") or chicken. I am assuming we are closer to China here than in America, but I find myself wondering which place is more authentic? I guess we will have to go to China and see.

Being closer to Mexico, America has better Mexican food. I gotta tell you, I miss my cheese, but I am hoping without it, I can lose some weight. The Mexican places here say "QuesadiLLa with an L sound instead of a Y type sound the way we are taught in America. When I say it, I get corrected here!

Anyway, I have to get going as Mum is in a mood for a pizza and I have to take advantage of that!
See ya later!

No More Novelty

So when we came to visit last year, I only had a slight taste of what this side of the world was like. I saw only the fun, vacation side of how everything works. There was no laundry because my mother in law and sister in law did it. It wasn't our house, so we didn't have to cook dinner or buy toilet paper.

This time around, we have to worry about how our son is going to deal with being constantly given everything he wants and how to tell nanny that as much as we love her and understand she wants to spoil her first grandchild, it just doesn't work when we are together 24/7. We know she means well, and deserves to have the time with him, but he's always been such a polite boy, and we know what we are doing as parentsm the proof is in his personality.

I knew this would be tough on me. Afterall, I have left everything I know and everyone whom I have relied on my entire life to start this new life here. What I did NOT know or expect, was how hard it would be for Stan to fit back into a family that has functioned in its way without him now for 6 years. They knew him as a single guy who didn't have much to worry about. He had to go to work, but other than that, had very few worries. I have likened it to when I went to college, and came back more independent and grown up. My parents and I butted heads then. Now my poor hubby is not only butting heads himself, but also has to stand by me and my decisions, which people here are not used to.

There are so many beautiful things about this country, and I know I will be so thankful for this adventure, but for now, we are still in the transition period until we can get our own place!