Blogging & missing

So its been a week since we last wrote. Funny, we talk about blogging and funny posts to write, but sitting in front of the computer and writing is ... apparently much harder. Don't know how schubee does it. That's why he gets paid the big bucks.
Things here are good. Two words: hot and slow.

Happy birthday to Elena! We can't wait to see everyone this summer.

Speaking of "can't wait", living away from home has a lot of pluses. But three and half months in, the minuses are starting to appear. Not to be negative, but what follows are random thoughts about differences. We both like lists (me more than Lara - top 5's and top 10's ala High Fidelity) so here goes. Pete first.
I REALLY MISS (family, friends and pets are not included in this list. They are of course the t'ing we miss most) ...

Pizza. Easily my #1. Pizza here is a complete joke. There's a chain called "New York Pizza" or something. Everyone raves. Quality is on par with the cheapest (I'm talking $2) frozen over-sized hockey puck with fake cheese you can find in the Food Lion. And it's like $20. The sad thing ... we eat it. Lara's turn:

Car Radio... and I am talkin just the radio here. I mentioned in an earlier post we have our van (similar to a VW bus), Jerry. To expand on Jerry a brief moment: Jerry is a '96 Suzuki Carry (we don't have them at home). Both of his windows have trouble going up and down and are missing their crank. I could go on and I will later complete with photos, but not now. Getting back to topic, Jerry does not have a radio. He has GREAT speakers, you know, the big ones that blast the base... but nope, no radio. It makes our car trips, especially in the hills (usually 3 - 4 hours) very long. Not because we don't enjoy each other's company, but because the music is so happy and uplifting that you just sing and dance right in your seat. It really is fantastic! Right now we are listening to UB40 (who plays here on the 29th).

#2
Pete - Our couch. I guess its really a package. Couch and TV. We don't have a couch and we don't have a TV. Not having a TV was a decision. We knew it would be great to not be subject to 150 channels of hype, fear and media news-making, and it is. We can read what we want (and we've both read more books in the last 3 months than in the last 5 years - maybe we'll post about that later) so the disconnection factor isn't the point. It's the quality time with the couch. Flipping channels, watching a good show on Discovery, catching the end of the game, Sportscenter! We have to drive to watch TV, minimum 10 minutes, then wait another 15 minutes for them to find the right channel. Then its in Spanish. On a really small crappy TV that's far away. And of course there's no couch. For some reason its just not the same. When we get home, we're going to order pizza and lay on the couch for at least a week.

Lara - Unfortunately, I have to agree with this one. And I really do hate to agree with Pete 'cause I was the one that was so excited about not having the TV. The only thing I can add is, when we get home, we will also be buying a new couch - one that is fluffy and can fit the two of us better than the one we currently own.

#3, 4 ,5
Pete&Lara - Did I say pizza? Oh yeah. Well, we're not going to make it to individual top 5s much less 10 so we'll wrap this up, collectively.

#3: Yard. Ours here is water. Very nice. But walking in the grass is cool, as is the garden.

#4: Privacy. Neither of us has had a roommate for quite some time. Our "landlady" Barbara is not technically our roommate, but she does live upstairs and spends a good bit of time either on the steps that look into our kitchen or actually in the house or on the porch. Don't get us wrong, we do love Barbara, just not first thing in the morning. And she never leaves the house.

#5: Our house. Its a project, but its a project we enjoy and we've dedicated ourselves to. We've made so much progress on in the last few years its tough to be away from it, knowing its not going forward. The window in the sunroom is still leaking ( 2 years ) and it kills us. Our house also has different rooms. The main door to our apartment leads straight into our bedroom and also has the bathroom. The bedroom leads into a small sitting area with a door into the good-sized kitchen. The porch is large, but seating is not great. This layout is tricky when guests visit. The only time we can't hear each other is when one is in the kitchen and the other is in a running shower (of course except when the waves are crashing and then we can't hear each other two feet away).

Love from Barbados,

Pete & Lara

Can someone please send us a pizza?