Grocery Shopping in Deutschland

It was 3:00 and Jon was home.

I was so bummed because I hadn't run to the grocery store yet and I didn't want to miss out on time with Jon.  Luckily he joined me and it was so wonderful, so normal, I loved it.

(Just a little side note I LOVE grocery shopping - Jon doesn't love it as much.
He is definitely a hunter - go out, find it, kill it, bring it home.
I'm a gatherer - I go out, I see what is in season then slowly search for the best before picking it and bringing it home.)

Let me tell you about this little outing we went on.

We didn't...

hop in our car and drive for five minutes to the BIG grocery store in our town.

oh no no

grab a grocery cart and make sure to sanitize the handle before we started shopping.

nope

walk through a giant, brightly lit, warehouse wading through aisle after aisle of endless choices.

absolutely not

stand and flip through the latest gossip magazine while the checker pulls the groceries out of our cart and the bagger puts them into bags and then in a new cart.

you guessed it, no way Jose!

What we did was pack the kiddo in her awesome German Kinderwagen (stroller) grab Jon's backpacking backpack (when it's just me I use a big bright yellow school backpack) and walked about five blocks to our local grocery store.

  

Normally I just use the stroller as my grocery cart but since Jon was with me we paid the 1 euro deposit for the cart.

  

We walked  through the 4 small aisles seeing what they have this week.

every week, or rather day, it's different

From what I have noticed German's care WAY more about price than on brand.  

For example, I will try and fall in love with a spaghetti sauce and then 3 days later when I go back to restock our five shelves they won't have that sauce anymore and so I'll have to try a different kind.  

Let me get back on track.  

So we walk up and down the aisle and pick out the few things that we need/can carry, then go to check out.

There are two check out lanes and there are two people who work at the store.  

So when they need to restock, or clean up on aisle 9 (or rather the aisle with the eggs and milk - that aren't refrigerated) there is only one lane to check out.  

We wait in line unload our groceries from the cart and/or Kinderwagen onto the conveyor belt, check out and then as quickly as they can scan the items put it back in the cart so we don't back up the line.

Pay - only cash or debit card.
  

Then we take our cart over to the bagging area and bag up our groceries in the bag we brought with us.

Return the cart, get our euro back.

Then walk , a little more slowly than when we came, back home.

I loved it.

It was awesome.

Although life here in Germany is still unfamiliar it felt so normal, like grocery shopping always did when we were at home in the states.  I chatted away while Jon drove the cart.  We figured out what we wanted to eat for the next few days and restocked the necessities.  It was grocery shopping, the process and place were just very different.    

Charmian

Sunday Night - Movie Night

Can you get any more comfortable than a Daddy Lazy Boy - I think not!

After One Month

Every once in a while I need to recap the things that I've done, otherwise the following happens...

1. I seem to forget everything I did

2. I soon loose sight of where I am at

Hence, I shall now partake in a recapitulation of the things that have been absorbing my time over the last month. (A small side note, I have been reading a lot of FREE classic novels on the Kindle, so please pardon my loquacious use of the English language.)

At the airport:

I am the guy who travels a lot. Therefore, I am generally the jerk who complains when the mother with 2 kids (mit kinderwagen) is in line to go through security in front of me.

My turn. It only took 1 hour to check in at the airport. Not bad considering the passenger manifest included the following...

- Jon

- Charmy

- Oma

- Alessandra

- Dot

- Ripley

and..........

- 9 checked pieces of luggage! (By the way, only an additional $600 for the two dogs and extra baggage...not too bad in my opinion.)

Lesson learned. Don't complain about the poor mom, by herself, with two kids and two strollers.

Frankfurt:

We all made it safely...almost. Only one casualty, of which I don't have a photo. But needless to say, the stroller arrived in two pieces, neither of which could not be reconnected to the other. Thank you Lufthansa for the new stroller to replace the....oh yeah, new stroller!

Made it into the van (more like a bus) and 6 hours later arrived in Leipzig. All the bags found their way upstairs, and after another two hours of driving around...rental bus returned!!

Leipzig:

I was gone the first week teaching English in Jena. I have no idea what transpired except for a trip to Ikea.

We did make it to the Nikolaikirche for a concert, which I hope Oma enjoyed. The organ in the church is pretty magnificent.

Nikolaikirche

The next thing I remember is a concert at the Thomaskirche. It was pretty great too!

Thomaskirche - Leipzig

That is about all in Leipzig.

Berlin:

What can I say other than it was a very unique trip. This was Oma's last weekend in town so we decided to head to Berlin so she could see somewhere other than Leipzig, and also because she was flying out of the airport there.

We had a really great time. There was the opportunity to go see a couple of nice historical things, such as Schloss Charlottenburg, The Brandenburg Tor and the Berliner Dom, which we all enjoyed.

Chamy ended up having to leave early to head home so she could unlock the door for our dog sitter. Apparently it all worked out, she is still here and the dogs are sleeping in the chair behind me.

I was able to catch a couple of photos while we were there, though I am sure that Oma, Charmy and A would have preferred not sitting around for so long while they waited on me.

Berliner Dom by Night

OC&A in front of the Berliner Dom

Schloss Charlottenburg Gates

JC&A in front of the Berliner Dom

Schloss Charlottenburg - From the royal gardens

Low and behold, we were able to get Charmy back to Leipzig to let the dogs in, Oma to the airport so she could head home and still have enough time in between to enjoy a drink or two while wandering around Hackescher Markt enjoying the Berlin skyline during the blue hour.

I think that brings me to today, or perhaps the rest has already been purged from my short term files (not really, but the rest has simply been school related, and Charmy has been doing a delightful job keeping everyone up-to-date).

Hence, have an enjoyable weekend, and until next time...... Tschüss!

Just a Hodge Podge

So Alessandra has decided that the view from lying down
or even reclining is not going to cut it.  

Here are a few pictures of her trying to sit up today.

She's so funny!

And definitely liking that thumb!

Soup...

It's what's for dinner!

Since coming to Leipzig I am definitely having to adjust how I cook.  

You see they have very few convenience meals and my kitchen is seriously lacking in equipment.  

So the result is more home-cooked meals from scratch and all by hand.  

But I have to say that I made one heck of a cream of broccoli soup.  

The ingredients

The hardest step was sweating the veggies, so I took a few photos of that.

Toss veggies in melted butter

Press parchment paper around veggies

Cover and simmer on low

Stir every now and then until tender

Things got crazy for a bit so I didn't get picture of the next few steps but it was easy.

Although it would have been much easier if I had some kitchen gadgets.

Add broth to the pot until veggies are soft.

Blend in blender until smooth, return to pot and add milk/cream.  

I don't have a blender so I had to take the veggies out of the broth and mince them all by hand.

Then I added the milk and viola - cream of broccoli soup. 

I'm pretty awesome - just sayin'!

It was delicious and vegetarian!

So if any of you veggies want the recipe just send me a note and I'll get it to you.

Good Night All!!

Charmian

Ripley's sick

So what did we do today?

We spent the morning at the vet with one sick puppy.  :o(

On Wednesday afternoon we went for a walk, and as the girls played in the new fallen snow at the city park I noticed that Ripley kept stopping to pee.  I thought it was pretty strange but didn't think anything of it until we were getting ready to leave.  She peed  in the snow near me and that 's when I saw that she was peeing blood.  My heart sank, I rushed home and tried to get in touch with Jon.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to until after 5:00 so everything was closed and my poor little girl would have to wait until this morning to go see the Doctor.

The doctor was pretty concerned.  Ripley received a shot of antibiotics and a pain killer.  We were given a pee cup to collect a sample of her urine and told to keep an eye on her.  If she isn't significantly better by Saturday morning we have to bring her back in for x-rays and possibly surgery.

So keep her in your thoughts and prayers tonight and I'll keep you updated on how she's doing.

Thank you,

Charmian   

Thumb Sucker?

Well I'm afraid my little Sweet Pea is turning into a thumb sucker.  

While she still takes her paci she is becoming more and more intrigued with her thumbs.

Now don't get me wrong I think it is the cutest thing when you see little ones with there big sleepy eyes fingers gently lying over their nose and thumb securely in their mouth.  

It's not until the little ones turn into big ones that I begin to worry.

So moms...

Did you have a thumb sucker?

Was it hard to break your kiddo of their thumb habit? 

How can I encourage her to take her paci over her thumb?

Let me know!

Charmian 

P.S. These other pictures of  "nap time" were just too cute not to put up.

My Beloved - My Friend

Eight years ago today we exchanged vows.

This is a shortlist of the things we've done since.

We've had some adventures.

Dancing to "It had to be you"

Climbing - Texas

Ziplining - Hawaii

Snorkling - Hawaii

Hiking - Utah

We've done our best to raise two good dogs 

and while they know a lot of tricks they still bark at strangers.

Dot - Texas

Ripley - Leipzig

We've traveled.

Although we both agree there is a lot more of this world we want to see.

Rome

Prague

Vienna

Paris

Toledo

Wurzburg

We've bought a couple of homes that we still own and don't live in.

Colorado

We've had two beautiful babies; a little boy and a little girl.

Pearce - Texas

Alessandra - Colorado

We have lived.

Colorado

We have loved.

Hawaii

We have laughed.

Munich

And if I had the chance to do it all over again.

I would.

I love you Jon!

Charmian