No Net Yet

So, we're working on getting the internet, but haven't quite done that yet. Because of this, I'm typing up my blogs on the computer, then posting them en masse when I'm connected. Luckily, Blogger will let me change the date that I "post" items, so they'll still be roughly in the order I wrote them in.

Sorry if this confuses anybody!

Californians Don't Bake...

So, to save money, I figured I could do something that I enjoy doing and isn’t very hard (if a bit time consuming): Bake my own bread. So, when we were moving, I packed dried milk (which is used in my recipe), and figured I could buy flour, yeast, etc. when I got here.

Well, I went to the grocery store and into the “baking” section. A sadder sight I may never see. The only flour is in 5 or 10 lb bags, and, at the first couple stores I tried, they didn’t have the higher gluten bread flour. Yeast? Nearly impossible to find a decent size for a decent price. Oh, they had yeast—the little envelopes were 3 for about $3.50, and the little glass jars were nearly eight dollars! Nowhere to be found were the larger yeast bags that I could get back home for less than the glass jars! (Lucky for me, my mom was able to send me some, so saved some $$$ there!) Also befuddling was the lack of baking powder! They have one smaller size of the name brand, and were charging three dollars for it! Lucky for me, I was able to find a generic brand at WalMart for around a dollar (and the name brand there wasn’t much more). Baking soda is also fairly rare. One size, Arm and Hammer brand only. (Maybe they only use it to freshen their fridges?) Another thing I had a hard time finding was dried buttermilk. Okay, so this isn’t as common, but still. I need it for my pancakes!!!!

Probably the oddest thing to have trouble finding was... bouillon. We looked everywhere! We even asked one person at a store and he gave us a blank look. “What?” “Bouillon. It’s like a powdered broth? Sometimes comes in cubes?” He still had no clue what we meant, and suggested the same aisles we’d already checked. When we were about to give up and call home for a “shipment,” I finally had an idea—the Latino aisle at WalMart. We went down there, and, sure enough... Bouillon. Sure, it says “Caldo de pollo,” but it’s the same thing. HOORAY! (We rejoiced greatly.) Then, the next time we were in another store, we checked to see if they had it the same place, but they didn’t. Crazy stuff!

So, I decided from my adventures that Californians must not bake—at least not the way Utahans think of baking!

As a side note, an aisle that made me laugh was one marked “food storage.” Out of curiosity, I peeked down it... and saw Tupperware. I guess that’s food storage... just not what I’m used to!

Small Things

Since moving in, it’s sometimes been the small things that get me excited about our new place!

When we first got here Saturday afternoon, we brought in what we had fit into our little Honda Civic. (Really, it’s amazing how much can fit into a small sedan!) We had many of our clothes and other personal items, but really didn’t have any furniture. Even though Dale’s parents are bringing some pieces to us, there were other things that just wouldn’t fit easily into their minivan, either. So, we have been sleeping on an air mattress, and had no chairs, tables, or anything.

Our first stop for more than basic groceries was Target on Monday, where we got a lot of the things we needed—such as garbage cans. I was SOOOOOOOO tired of having a bag on the kitchen floor with garbage in it, since it didn’t really feel contained—once I got the garbage can (and another for recycling) put in there, it felt much cleaner! We also got things that we didn’t want to bother bringing, like some cleaning tools and supplies. Another thing we got was an inexpensive Sunbeam microwave. We didn’t realize until we got here that we hadn’t thought to bring one, and really it wouldn’t fit anyway! Having had a microwave my entire life, I depend on them for many many things—such as reheating—so I was glad to get one!

Then, Tuesday, we went to Ikea. It was a bit of a drive—about an hour and a half or so—so it’s not something we’ll do often (if ever again!), but we’re glad we went. First we had lunch, then went and did some shopping. They didn’t have the desk we wanted (they were sold out because everybody else wanted it, too), but we got a lot of the things we wanted and needed! We ended up with: a LACK side table in “birch effect,” a LACK coffee table (same color), a VIKA AMMON table top and 4 VIKA CURRY legs (all white), a MALM 6-drawer dresser (birch veneer), and two TERJE folding chairs in Beech. Because Ikea stuff is all packed in pieces in as small of containers as possible, we were able to fit it into our car (with the back seat folded down) fairly easily. I was so excited to have a kitchen table and chairs again! I was really getting tired of having to sit on the floor all the time! Later, we’ll get the desk and have it delivered. We put most of the pieces together yesterday, but left the dresser for this morning because it was the most complex of all our purchases. Now, we have our clothes out of the suitcase—another big step!

We also found a mattress yesterday at “Mattress Discounters.” The salesman who helped us was very nice and honest, and very helpful when we told him we were on a budget. We found one that will work well, as well as being a good price, and it should be delivered sometime Thursday. I’m so excited! It’s really annoying sleeping on an air mattress with a slow leak! You go to sleep on a mattress, and wake up on the floor!

When the mattress gets here tomorrow, and after the in-laws bring our furniture, we’ll be almost done settling in! I’m hoping that they’ll also help us bring up the couch our landlord said we could borrow, so we have yet another place to sit!

Something fun we did yesterday was go to the Farmers’ Market that’s held every Tuesday from three to eight. We got some yummy juicy strawberries, some beautifully ripe peaches, and a head of delicious romaine lettuce. Our mouths were watering the entire time, everything looked and smelled so good! (Luckily there were some samples, which helped to keep us from drooling too much!) There were also some food booths there, which we’ve decided we’re going to have to get something to eat from sometime!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to update my blog more often soon. We still don’t have the Internet yet, but are working on it. That will just be one more thing to get excited over!

Adjustments.

We're now moved to California, and while some things are easy to adjust to (like weather in the 60s), others are much more difficult, or just weird.

One example is "lane sharing." When we entered California for the first time, we hit some slow traffic around Sacramento. To our surprise and alarm, motorcycles started zipping between the lanes of stopped cars! I sent a message to my mom, who told me this is actually LEGAL! I still can't help but think that while it may be legal, it also looks stupid and dangerous!

Another thing to try to get used to is the library's odd hours. Because of major budget cuts (due to the fact that they can't raise property taxes here AT ALL), the hours are irregular and somewhat odd. They're open seven days a week, Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Monday 1 p.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday - Wednesday 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday-Friday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Confused yet?

We were also surprised when we first went to a grocery store for milk and the aisle we happened to walk down was the liquor aisle. In Utah, this would translate to "Beer." In Cali, it translates to "Beer, Wine, Vodka, Whiskey, etc."—things I’m used to only having available through a liquor store! Since I don’t drink, it was a shock to find these things so readily available! It makes me wonder if they have extra security cameras on those aisles to keep theft down, since I know that even theft of extracts (such as Almond or Lemon) at Macey’s in Provo got to be so much of a problem they had to put them behind the customer service counter!

Something I miss about home is my mountains. Sure, I get the ocean instead—which is nice, don’t get me wrong—but I miss the protection and beauty of my mountains!

We’re also having to adjust to the $$$$$. A lot of things cost a LOT more here! We got the grocery ads yesterday, though, and found some things that are “good deals” even to our Utah minds! Hopefully that will continue!