Things I Miss....

Yesterday was quite hectic and it made me think of all the things that I miss in the U.S. and am thankful that I will have again. I thought I would express them.

A dishwasher. I have never really lived without a dishwasher. I realize that many people do not have dishwashers and I have still washed many dishes by hand but I forgot how handy it was to throw that one bowl into the dishwasher after breakfast. Or the two plates used for dinner. Granted, its not too much work to only wash a few dishes at a time if you stay up with it, but I miss a dishwasher.

Free shopping carts. You know when you go to Wal Mart, or Krogers, or any of the other many grocery stores, you just grab a cart and go. Not in Europe. You have to put in a 50cent or 1 euro coin to unlock the cart. The stores keep them all chained together and you only get your money back if you take the cart back and re-lock it up with the rest of them. It's especially annoying when you're American and can't quite figure out HOW to un-lock them as all the other Dutch people are starring at you getting annoyed. Usually a nice lady helps but Kelly and I still try and stick to the FREE baskets that you carry. America better never find out about this little secret. Think of how much money they could save by not having to hire those cart retriever guys and by having to purchase fewer shopping carts because half of them won't be strewn about across the parking lot at any given time.

People who bag your groceries. They also don't give away free shopping bags. You have to buy them or bring your own. I don't mind that part so much, I can be green. It's the part where they scan all of your items, shove them to the end of the register and expect you to bag them the same time you are paying. Now, there are generally two of us when we go shopping and we can't bag our groceries fast enough before the next person's stuff starts flying at us. One time we even ended up home with a random bag of bread. No idea how that happened. But these Europeans are so skilled they can do it all, with one person, before the next person gets up to start scanning their items. Kelly and I need some serious practice (which we are slowly getting).

I do believe those are the biggest things that I miss, and am thankful we have in the U.S. I guess things can always change, but if they do change by the time I get back to the United States, at least I'll have some practice!!!!