- The local supermarket has started carrying two brands of paper towels. This means that hopefully there will always be stock available.
- That same supermarket now sells glass jars with plastic screw-top lids. The last jar I bought for making pickles I had bought from a city that is a 2-hour flight away!
- A new Walmart has opened up in a neighboring town. Though it may not necessarily be faster to get to this Walmart, it is technically closer than the other ones (which are about 45 min away).
- A new Carrefour has opened in the main city! In other big cities, Carrefour typically has a better selection of goods, and I'm hoping it'll be better than Walmart!
And now that the weather is freezing cold, I've found even more things to be thankful for. Here are my top 10 for today:
- Electricity
- Heaters and the finances to be able to run the heaters as much as I want. Richard talked with one of his friends last night who doesn't have heat (but he couldn't come over to our house since buses weren't running).
- The means to keep my family warm without burning coal, especially near my baby.
- Water
- A dryer. Even though it now takes about 2 hours for our laundry to dry, I can't imagine what it would be like trying to hang-dry my clothes.
- I called the water company first thing this morning, and they were able to deliver 10 gallons of drinking water. I feel much better now.
- When Richard went out this morning to try and buy vegetables outside our apartment complex, he managed to come back with a frozen cabbage. May not seem like much, but it's better than nothing!
- I have a freezer stocked with food.
- My biggest worry right now is that the airport might be grounding flights on Thursday (as many flights yesterday were delayed), the day we're supposed to leave for our vacation. I really, REALLY hope that won't happen, but really, I have it so good if that's my biggest worry.
- A healthy, happy baby who is giggling away...and totally oblivious to the fact that it's freezing outside.
Here are a few pictures of my new strategy. I've given up trying to heat our living room, so we're holed up in our bedroom, which feels much warmer...even though it's still in the low 60s, and I'm still wearing 5 layers. But we're happy and healthy, so we're good! =)
