quiet now...
It's quiet now. The girls and Keith are at the beach. I'm home making dinner. Cicadas are buzzing, the ceiling fans are whirring, and the lot next door is hammering and sawing away at something. But it's quiet. Doors and windows are open due to no a.c....a limitation that many here live with 24-7. We should be getting a.c. soon now, as soon as the landlord can get to it. Most days we just let the sweat pour down our faces 'til we can't take it any longer, then we hop in the pool. I know, poor us, right? I grew up without a.c., but of course that was in western PA, not the Caribbean.
There have been lots of adjustments in moving here. Nothing earth-shattering yet. Most things we had anticipated pretty realistically, like the high prices of milk($6.99 a gallon), cleaning products, and snack-y items. One box of granola bars will run you about $7 here. Toilet paper is unbelievably expensive. I buy the cheapest kind they sell and it's still about $6 for an 8 pack of flimsy stuff. Paper towels run about $2 a roll, and that's NOT for Bounty quality...just the cheap kind.
On the up side things like meat/chicken are comparable to the US prices as well as other common grocery items. Ramen noodles run about 3 for $1...which is high compared to the 10 for $1 you can often find back in PA, but still cheap. Now, I don't recommend ramen for health purposes, but once in a while it's ok for a quick lunch...and very cheap. I even found about 2 lbs. of ground turkey for under $4. So we'll be adopting that over ground beef most of the time. Bread is expensive, especially the whole grain kind. So we may need to do some weekly baking. I did bring my breadmaker! But here in the tropical climate, I think bread dough will rise consistently pretty quickly so I may bake it in the good old fashioned way. Gas is running about $5.40 a gallon, which isn't as bad as two years ago when we visited.
We have always been frugal (or just downright cheap) according to US standards, only buying big label products if they're on sale cheaper than the store brands. And what cracks me up is that the "store brand" here in Nassau is, are you ready? Shur-Fine!! Ha!! Bet you'd never have guessed that one! As I sit here typing, Shur-Fine canned tomatoes are cooking in my dinner recipe. I think that is a little kindness of God. I'm already "sure" the quality is "fine" (Did you catch the pun?) because I've lived in Lancaster Co., PA.
Well, I need to finish up dinner. And boy am I hot!
There have been lots of adjustments in moving here. Nothing earth-shattering yet. Most things we had anticipated pretty realistically, like the high prices of milk($6.99 a gallon), cleaning products, and snack-y items. One box of granola bars will run you about $7 here. Toilet paper is unbelievably expensive. I buy the cheapest kind they sell and it's still about $6 for an 8 pack of flimsy stuff. Paper towels run about $2 a roll, and that's NOT for Bounty quality...just the cheap kind.
On the up side things like meat/chicken are comparable to the US prices as well as other common grocery items. Ramen noodles run about 3 for $1...which is high compared to the 10 for $1 you can often find back in PA, but still cheap. Now, I don't recommend ramen for health purposes, but once in a while it's ok for a quick lunch...and very cheap. I even found about 2 lbs. of ground turkey for under $4. So we'll be adopting that over ground beef most of the time. Bread is expensive, especially the whole grain kind. So we may need to do some weekly baking. I did bring my breadmaker! But here in the tropical climate, I think bread dough will rise consistently pretty quickly so I may bake it in the good old fashioned way. Gas is running about $5.40 a gallon, which isn't as bad as two years ago when we visited.
We have always been frugal (or just downright cheap) according to US standards, only buying big label products if they're on sale cheaper than the store brands. And what cracks me up is that the "store brand" here in Nassau is, are you ready? Shur-Fine!! Ha!! Bet you'd never have guessed that one! As I sit here typing, Shur-Fine canned tomatoes are cooking in my dinner recipe. I think that is a little kindness of God. I'm already "sure" the quality is "fine" (Did you catch the pun?) because I've lived in Lancaster Co., PA.
Well, I need to finish up dinner. And boy am I hot!
can you show pictures of your puppy soon?
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