This is most of the stuff we lugged back, but the fridge and freezer stuff was not in this group shot. And neither was all of Noboru's Home Depot guy stuff he lugged back. We brought back 7 suitcases packed to the gills and 1 car seat we use as our traveling car seat, it's been everywhere. : ) Tons of stuff was lugged back this time. It's hard to tell what's what. So, I'll try to break it down better in some posts down below.
Underwear for both the boys. Size 8 for Branden. He got Star Wars, lol! Not sure why but the Star Wars underwear just crack me up! Batman, says the Dark Knight on the booty, lol! And the striped rugby kind for B. Noah is younger so he went for younger themes like his pal Micky and Donald ones. And Cars! He's such a skinny minnie though, he just got 2T/3T. And they're still a bit baggy on the butt, lol!
Wall E shirt for B. Granted he won't go cruising to a fancy shishi poo poo type restaurant in this but he can play in the backyard or cruise with mommy to the grocery store if he wants with this, and it's fine. : )
Noah got a swim towel. Would have gotten Branden one but the measurements were up to 120cm and Branden is way taller then that. So no towel for Branden. : ( Sorry kiddo. : )
We got Noah the one on the left in the picture, the turtle one. That was the cutest one we thought. : )
You know how Martha has her cheaper more affordable line at Kmart and then her higher quality and price line, right? Well, this came from Macy's. I've been wanting one for ages. A pie and cake holder and also carrier. You guys know, I have been without one forever. : ( And typical me....I always talk myself out of one at the last second. Saying I should use the space for something else. yada yada and this time hubby said...let's just get it! And so, I am glad he said that. And I tried to get one from the cheaper Kmart line but they didn't have any. : (
These came from Kmart. I've been in dire need of a baking dish or two, like for my augratin potatoes and such. I realized this at Christmas, when I baked them in an unattractive metal dish and then transferred them. : ( I wrote down in December..."buy baking dish", I was glad I wrote it down or else I might have forgotten. : ) And I also got the cheaper Martha line, gravy boat! But heck, little by little bit by bit it all helps, right?
Body wash, Oatmeal and Shea butter body wash and oh dear god it smells so divine and it will keep my body feeling nice and soft while winter is still lingering on! My skin always gets so dry in winter, this body wash helps and the smell really is fantastic. 1 face wash, one happy peppy red polish for my toes. And some antibacterial hand wash. With 2 boys I always seem to need antibacterial hand soap in the upstairs sink area and the kitchen sink area too.
Toothpaste, toothbrushes for the boys, the Colgate toothpaste smaller one is for B to take to ichinensei. And the Listerine Smart rinse is new, it was on commercials like crazy whole time we were in Guam. My 2nd to last day I went and got some. Oh gosh I am such a sucker for a good commercial. Ha ha ha. : ) And Noah just had his every 6 month dental visit the week before we left to Guam and all looked good. Both kids get every 6 month dental check ups. I got the toohbrushes that light up for a minute to make sure they brush long enough. Just making sure. : )
Dryer sheets and some bleach pens. I already have the Oxy, Color safe bleach and the Tide pens and the Spray and wash stick and spray.
Tampons, okay I think we're all adults around here. : ) And I think we're all women on here too and most of us are mom's (except my dad but he ran to the store and bought me boxes quite a few times as is normal living with your daughter, so he doesn't care, lol). So, no biggie. I use regular tampons on regular days and super ones on, "oh good grief" type days! Ha ha ha. Hey, just being honest. And every 2-3 month's I use a feminine cleanser like the one I picked up. Don't need it every month or even every 2 month's, but I like the clean feeling I get after. Anyway....ummm moving on.
Godfish snack box, and also a sandwich keeper for Noah's obento arsenal. Another bottle of Rolaids (antacids) sunglasses for Noah and I swear I need a flip flop key chain like I need a hole in my head but I got another one. Yeesh.
Popcorn. I like different kinds. Movie theater butter, regular butter, homestyle like the commercials say, the kind grandma used to make. LOL.
Corn Nuts. Oh my gosh we love Corn Nuts.
Cake mix in a box. Yup, I might be a busy mom, but who says I still don't want to enjoy some nice delicious hot fresh cake!!!! :D Those yellow cake mixes are for that pineapple upside down cake I am planning to bake this week. And will be making a German chocolate cake next month maybe. Blueberry muffins and corn bread. And the Heath bits for making those delicious cookies ...recipes on the bag btw.
2 bags of rigatoni and 3 cans of spaghetti sauce. I usually use Prego in the plastic jars from Costco or Flying Pig. Have never had sauce from a can. However, I need something for quick meal days. The days I need to feed the family yet am a bit pinched for time. And I really don't let them eat fast food for dinner normally, unless on vacation, I usually prefer cook it at home, even if it's a short cut gratin box or a short cut premade spaghetti sauce. Just something simple and easy peasy as usual.
Chili beans, these are for fast meals like nachos or for chili cheese hot dogs. Just quick fast American type meals. Ravioli and cream of chicken soup for making casserole. All the cans are the Western family brand. Yup, I buy the generic store brand when I can. If it saves me 20 cents a can, I'm all for it.
Thank you Sara at Sakura Flavored, you rock! Those cookies you mentioned were everywhere, yet if you didn't mention them I would have never noticed so thank you. I never noticed the mint ones before but you were right they are delicious! Info share, so helpful, thanks again! Some puddings and some Hot tamales. And the Andes choco mints. Dvd rental night around our house is going to be mighty fun!!!! Ha ha ha! : )
Snack sized peanut butter great for dipping in apples or celery. A-1 steak sauce and maraschino cherries for that pineapple upside down cake I am planning to make this week. geeze, will I hurry it up with that cake or what? Ha ha ha. :D And Miracle Whip.
Mangos for the boy's and cookies for omiyage for all the sensei's (ichinensei, yochien and swimming, and Kumon, geeze that's a lot of teachers and one left over for the boy next door's family)
Fritos for nachos or taco boats. Because Fritos don't get soggy as fast as regular tortilla chips, lol. : )
I have been wanting a cloth table cloth. Being cheap/frugal, I tried Kmart first. They had lot's but I have a weird table since it's oval? I didn't know my table is odd shaped until I went looking for a table cloth. : ( Whoops. What a shocker! I tried Macy's and they had a very small selection, I flipped through them all and nothing finally the last 5, one of those was a white one and it was oval. I have yet to open it, but I hope it fits. And it was originally $40.00 US and then it said 50% off, but I checked the price on that electronic checker thing and it rang up US$ 11.99. When I went to check out it rang up $11.99 and she tried to charge us 20 bucks for it anyway. Noboru jumped in and said no way it rang up $11.99 and that's what they should honor and the lady behind her agreed and so I got it for $11.99.
Granola bars and baked Goldfish. Snacks we coulda got at Costco but they were cheaper here and we were there already so, it was fine. : )
Frozen waffles for fast morning breakfasts during the week.
Bean and cheese burritos! Just for fast snacks during a study break for B or during an afternoon of play for the boys. Or the hubby or me even. : )
2 family size of lasagnas, have them in the freezer right now. Will go great with a nice salad and a loaf of garlic bread. : )
The frozen stuff and the refrigerated stuff I could never bring back from the mainland with me because the flights are just too long and the stuff would have surely gone bad by then. But with a short 3 hour flight, the frozen lasagna was still froze, sure we wrapped it well in towels and stuff, but they travel well from Guam. What do we have here? Honey sliced ham for lunch and obento stuff. Swiss and provolone cheese. Pepperoni for pizza making. And all beef Oscar Meyer hot dogs.
Cinnamon rolls will probably bake these over the weekend on a nice relaxing morning for the kids.Biscuits and crescent rolls. Velveeta cheese for grill cheese sandwiches also keeping the ol' obento fixings in mind. And with the crescent rolls am thinking...Pig in a blanket for Noah's obento as well.
Of course can't forget my little boys and my hubby for Valentine's day. And these will make it even easier. Heck, anything that makes my life easier....I am all for it! Cut corners anyway I can!
I will bake them these cookies and probably some cupcakes as well. Maybe even buy them a chocolate or two, that's it. Will make them something good for our meal that day at home. But mostly keep things low key as usual. : ) We don't do fancy shmancy much around here. So, just goodies for us from home, is about all we'll be doing for the big V day coming up! : )
I had been wanting some sneakers. I was going to get 2 pair. One trainer type for jogging/walking. And these but I held off on the other ones. I had 2 pair of these low tops in high school, a red pair and a black pair. hadn't worn them in years and years and years. When I was at the mall, I peeked through the window at Lady Foot Locker. Almost pressed my nose against the window type looking. LOL. Wow, they had so so many new kinds. Dark gray ones with silver sparkles, plaid ones, pink ones with pink sparkles. Gee they have been updated a lot. As I sat there just boggled by so many choices and options. Hubby said to me....."just get the basic ones, trust me you'll never go wrong", at first I gave him the stink eye type of look. But then a second later, I thought and thought and yes he's right. And so, with all the new and nice posh low top converse that just came out, I left with a new pair of basic plain black ones. I can wear them with my jean capris with the big cuffs, or my little faded and worn jean shirt and black cardigan when Spring hits. yeah, I think I chose the right pair for me. And ohhhh gosh I agonized about the trainers. Hubby said I could have them. But then the cheapskate part of me, said no, I couldn't. But they were yellow and orange and cool and so me. Yet I didn't get them. Now......if they should still be there in 6 month's. Crosses fingers I will get them for sure. Ahhh well, happy with what I got. : )
I looked for the book Rosa mentioned, I even printed and brought the print out for the book to them and nope. Man, this always happens to me. The lady working there said she would order the book for me and in 10 to 12 days it would arrive. With me not living in Guam and going back in a few days that was not going to work. Ah well. I'll get that book sooner or later, I will save my print out. I always try to get the boy's at least 1 book every trip. Hopefully more but at least 1. This time I picked them up the hard cover copy of, the Wizard of Oz. We read this Branden and I together and Noah listens and flips the pages (Branden reads a page and I read a page) we read this as our bedtime story this week and on Friday evening the boys and I will pull out the DVD of it and pop some popcorn and enjoy the Wizard of Oz together as a family. The boy's love the book, they notice the differences between the book and the movie. In the book the shoes were silver but in the movie they were ruby slippers. In the book the munchkin males wore all blue and the females all wore white again much different from the movie. But they love the book and it gives us a fun way to wind down the night together before they go to sleep. Picked up a great Martha Stewart magazine and some tabloids. Typical me, loving to read that stuff. I feel bad the feud between Jennifer Anniston and Angelina has gotten worse. Oh man and yikes that's all I'll say about their fight.
The Travolta tragedy was so well written and they loved their little boy very very very much! Daughter too. I'm glad I read that.
And flowers from my husband! We got back so late last Wednesday night. We got to the house around 9pm. Fast showers and straight to bed. However I did put the perishable stuff away first. The alarm waking me up at 5:30 am the next day, was like the worst sound to hear as I was snug in my bed totally sound to sleep. The boy's had to be in school first thing Thursday morning. There I was making breakfast and packing up Noah's lunch. Wow, the day before I was relaxing on my patio at the hotel, watching the ocean, now today reality check and it's fast fast hurry hurry. I managed to get both kids off to school without a hitch. I also unpacked completely. But honestly I was spent. I was tired. Also the weather was completely opposite. I had gotten used to hot and tropical and I came back to freezing and raining like crazy! I decided to just take it easy. I think being away from the computer for vacation for me is easy and even when I get home, I find out of habit I won't use it much either. Does anyone else get unbloggy after a vacation, or is it just me? : ) I found it really hard to get back to being online. Thursday around 11am the doorbell rings. Hmm, I thought. Wasn't expecting anything. It was this huge rectangular box. This has to be some sort of mistake I thought. Turns out. Flowers for me from my husband.
They really brightened my day.
The card just said, "you do a lot for us and I want to let you know I appreciate it, Love, Noboru." Simple and to the point. I called him right away and thanked him meanwhile he asked how my morning was going and if I managed to get the boys sent off to school and I said yes. He told me, "well done" and that he loves me and would see me when he gets home. He's a wonderful man, and a great husband and a super father. For that, I feel I am blessed. Okay please don't think I am a dork for saying that. : ) (he ordered them before we even went on the trip, I didn't know, now that's thinking ahead: )Now here's my question for you: What do you bring back to Japan from your "home" country. What are your staples and must bring back items? Or if you live in the US that's fine but...imagine then what would your staple items be if you did live overseas? : ) Ohhh fun question to ask! : )
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