If I wanted to be rich in Australia

Monday Oct. 27th

Good Afternoon!

We had a nice day yesterday....shopping, working on the baby's room and Wes made us Fajitas on the grill!

Shopping, as always, is a delight to me. We found yet another of my favorite kind of shops........ can you say discount!

The owner appeared to be Asian and his prices were good. It was about the size of a Texas bathroom and shop owners use every square inch of those little shops to display their goods. The challenge is making your way down each aisle without knocking something off....especially if you have an armful of goodies. This day's quest was shelves for the baby's room. Of course we found other items of interest along the way. ;-) I love the little spoons here.... small ... not as long or big as ours, but perfect for coffee or tea so if I find them for a good price...I must have one..or two...or.....

Baby Shelves

We found our shelves, and a few other items and a spoon or two for me and headed to the American Store.

The American Store

The biggest event of our day was the much anticipated trip to the American store. A great deal of planning and lists of requests and last minute urgent cell phone calls of yet another thing to add to the list was going on with as much fervor and popularity as the movies show us of a bookie at a horse race. We parked in one of the four allotted parking spaces, an Aussie oversight I will never understand, and took one of the most unusual little wheeled baskets I have ever seen and made our way to this haven of American luxuries. It was about the size of my living room and every aisle was packed with shoppers! The treasures this goldmine yielded came in the way of Lucky Charms, Moon Pies, Captain Crunch, Pop Tarts, Bisquick and the such or the coveted Dr. Pepper & A & W root beer for Wes & Missy. There was a price for these jewels though. A little 2 oz. package of Gold Fish that Wes longed for was $1.60!!

A 12 ounce bag of Chocolate Chips was nearly $20!! A bag of candy corn was nearly $6!! It was nice though to see the beloved familiar items that Americans hold dear and I mentally began making my Christmas list for items to purchase for them when I return to America.

My initial reaction to the price paid for these necessary to the American way of life items was astonishment, followed by outrage and finally my capitalist juices began to mentally calculate the profit. If I wanted to be rich in Australia I would open another American Store! These folks were driving from all over Victoria to come to shop American regardless of the unappealing industrial district, with no parking, in a building smaller than a good Texas garage! Yes, there could definitely be some profit here! Judging by the packed out popularity of Nachos Restaurant, I could throw in a Mexican Restaurant and see Australian dollar signs! With our $20 case of A & W and the small but carefully handled sack of the rest of our booty ( to the tune of $70! ) we headed to the local Safeway.

Safeway is my favorite store. Other than the crazy shopping carts, with wheels that rotate in all directions as you go forward ( an Aussie plot to give more exercise to the individual I am convinced ) I find no fault with this clean and efficient store with nice roomy aisles.

I manhandled my derelict basket as well as any Mum and maneuvered myself inside and Missy and I found the needed items. I gathered up another package of Strong Bitey Cheese which is reminiscent of Vermont White Cheddar and a daily favorite of mine with my pumpkin seed bread. I selected another carton of cream for my coffee, ( our pathetic attempt at cream pales in comparison ) and an hour later we loaded up the Land Rover and headed for Montana Street.

The Land Rover

My stomach may never be the same after being the passenger in any moving vehicle on Aussie streets, much less the McFarland Land Rover. When Missy puts the jeep in gear my stomach does a pretzel knot so tight even a surgeon could not untie it. I have immediate mixed emotions of laughing hysterically at the oncoming light poles and eeking ( instead of screaming with my tonsils hanging out!) as trucks and cars nearly scrape the sides of our vehicle at high speeds which appears to be no big deal to anyone in Australia...including my American daughter! Missy makes repeated calls to Wes for directions .... he is destined for sainthood on this score alone.. ( I suggested a GPS might be beneficial ) and we take alot of accidental streets on the way to wherever we are going. ( just for a little extra sight seeing mind you if one could focus at such a high rate of speed ) I was informed yesterday that Aussies do not take the street lines very seriously. Good gosh a mighty!!!

Missy, chatting about this and that, will turn once in awhile to inquire if I am ok. I hastily tell her she is doing a fabulous job of driving.... and heave a sigh of relief when she faces forward..with a bit of a smile....to the oncoming traffic. As we make our way into the house after a nail biting routine of fitting their Land Rover into the golf cart size driveway sandwiched between the house and fence, I proclaim I feel a bit nauseous

and am going to take something to calm my stomach....like a tranquilizer....and lay down for a bit of a rest. :-)

The Drive Way

My stomach rallied for Wes' amazing fajitas and after dinner we enjoyed the next round of Australian Idol.

May God bless your week!

Elaine

My soul, give thanks to the Lord, all my being, bless His holy name. My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all His blessings. (Psalm 103: 1,2 )

Monday Morning &

off to the office