catching up again

Sorry about the whole mess of posts last week. I guess it’ll be the same this week.
Friday Bob did have off work. I made a WIC appointment for the 4 youngest children and me for 9:15, so that was the start of the day. We each had to be weighed and measured, had to fill out paperwork for each, and got the talk of how to use the coupons and so on. Ella weighs just 20.5lbs. William, at 3 months, is 14.5lbs. I think Ella was 14 when she turned one. I like the program here better than in Texas. For one thing, I can get organic milk. Woohoo! For another, I can get the Tropicana Premium orange juice that I’ll actually drink, not just the cheap frozen stuff. I don’t have to get everything on the list if I don’t need it. I can choose to get a package with more milk, or one with more cheese. I can choose each month to take dry beans, canned beans, or peanut butter. And the checkout is just as quick as regular stuff. At the Dyess commissary, every item was run as a separate transaction, totaled, and the WIC coupon run through a printer. And at that, every transaction had to have to start and end date on the coupon, plus a dozen other things, entered in the computer. Here they just ring it up. We used two of this month’s 12 coupons and saved over $50.

That lasted to 10:30. Then we went to Mildenhall for lunch and shopping at their BX. Got curtains and poles, trash can (as ours didn’t make it to the new house), floor mats, and Taryn’s birthday presents. Then we went to the play center and let the children climb and slide while we got online. Then back to Lakenheath to their BX to get underwear for Azariah (as we lost his) and Taryn (as she has grown). Then to the commissary. Wow. We were there about 2 hours and filled two carts plus the WIC stuff. Part of the time Bob sat with the children in the café area while I shopped. I ended up with $300 worth of stuff, including over $20 in coupons. Finally we limped home.

Oh yeah, going home. Hehe.
I was driving the van; Bob was driving his car. I did my best to follow him, but when we got onto the ‘A’ road (a dual carriageway, no less) we got separated. I’ve been down the road a few times, but there are at least 3 ways to get to the house and I’m not sure of any of them. I was trying not to swear, trying to drive properly (I’m a nervous driver in the best conditions, and a left-hand drive car in England, on an unknown road, at night… Not the best of conditions), and wondering which exit to take. I saw a car up ahead that MIGHT have been Bob, so I told myself if it took the Red Lodge exit, I would too. It didn’t, so I went on toward the Moulton exit. It’s easy to miss, and farther than I wanted it to be, but I found it. Waiting at the end of the off ramp was Bob. Phew.