Wordless Wednesday: True Blood

Now that school's out for the summer I have time to catch up on True Blood episodes; that is of course when I'm not out shopping.  

An excuse to go shopping

How could I ever move abroad and survive without certain items? Now I'm used to living without while in South America, I mean, isn't that kind of the point of going abroad? If everything were the same "there" as it is "here",  then why even leave? I've loved being overseas ever since I first step foot onto the Bolivia ground years ago. I like what's different, what's foreign....so why the "need" to shop for what I'll miss from the United States? There is no need, but it is nice to have certain things with me.


I know I'll miss American television and movies, so we're taking our DVDs with us, which means that we need to take our DVD player that will read said American DVDs. We'll also be taking our electronics and some appliances with us due to the cost and quality of them in Brazil. Scarcity of food and personal items makes one want to take peanut butter, BBQ sauce, tampons, English language books, and teacher resources.


And then there are the "fun" purchases like the TrueBlood Season 3 DVD set! And of course, I wouldn't have bought a Kindle if I were not leaving the country. And the new fluffy towels we got last night, the suitcases, and visits to the mall. I guess moving abroad just gives you an excuse to go shopping. Obviously you'd buy the suitcases if you needed them (like we did last year when we went on a cruise), but it's fun to go shopping regularly in preparation for the big move. We'll just have to pretend that it's not as expensive as it is. But in our defense, we hadn't shopped seriously for months knowing we'd be doing this right before we left.


I guess, then, with all of the shopping and preparations in moving that we will only need to buy what is necessary to settle us down and make us comfortable once we arrive in Brasilia. After that we'll be golden....that is, until our first trip back to the U.S., right? So although I don't need to watch TrueBlood, it's a show that I love and am glad to have an excuse to buy (I already own seasons 1 and 2). Plus, what girl doesn't want an excuse to go shopping?


Plus, I found out today that I don't need any dental work done before we move; I can wait until we get to Brazil to have my (partially) broken crown replaced. Now I just need to call TAM and do more laundry, pack, throw out boxes and maybe make another trip to GoodWill. Oh yeah, and stop by Walmart to get the MagicJack we need so we can make cheap calls to the U.S. Among other errands that need to be run...


But of course I have to wait for E to get home because we only have one car and one cell phone between the two of us. And of course I think that Lafayette is one of the best characters I've ever seen on a TV show so he'll keep me company until E returns; I can't get enough of Lafayette, his cousin, and these vampires and werewolves. And God knows I can't watch any more of these shows on the Internet - I got two viruses and had to restart my computer twice as a result.


So off I go....hookahs... 

Have a good day,

So what am I watching on TV?

I just wrote a post about cancelling my cable TV in preparation for our move to Brazil and it reminds me that I'll miss not only English language TV, but I'll also miss the regular TV programs that I habitually watch. (I feel like I should add that I've only been watching more TV recently for some reason; I wasn't always this into television. I do love to read. Remember?)

The question then is, what am I watching on TV?

Meet the Browns

Sex and the City reruns

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations <3

with Steve Harvey



These are my guilty pleasures....

No more cable or Internet

"How am I going to live without cable?", I ask myself. Well, that should be an easy answer seeing as I've done it previously and it wasn't that long ago. We actually lived in this apartment for 6 weeks without cable or Internet (when we first moved in) and no one died. We should be fine this time around.


Having TV and Internet is not so much about the entertainment aspect, but the convenience and informative part. I mean, need directions? Want to know what time the restaurant closes? Need to know the temperature outside tomorrow afternoon? What time does your friend's flight arrive? Do you need to confirm your flight to South America? All of the answers to these questions can be found on-line; therefore, having the Internet at home is imperative these days. 


But we'll make do without our own connection to the outside world. We'll still have a phone and can always "borrow" our neighbor's wireless or use our laptops while lounging by the pool at our complex, and watch TV at a friend's house as if we even were to have the time. We decided to cancel only 4 days before we move so we should be fine. We'll be busy with last minute packing, making sure the cat is situated, and of course, saying goodbye.


It's not just the cable TV and/or Internet that you have to be responsible for cancelling (and don't forget to return the equipment that you'l be responsible for if you don't). I have already spoken with our cell phone provider because our 2-year contract is supposed to end next week and if we don't cancel it then they won't say anything and we'll keep paying. So, in order to not have to deal with paying for bills after we leave (for this I'm grateful that cable TV/Internet services are prepaid) we'll cancel our cell phones, downgrade to just one phone, and prepay our service for a month. This way our utilities and responsibilities are easier to handle.


We were told that our final water bill will be taken out of our deposit; this just leaves us with our electric bill which can be paid on-line. Yeah! Rent is of course paid the first of the month. So does this mean that I have everything taken care of? At least the utilities? It looks like it. And anything else we'll have to handle from abroad or with the help of my mom (who graciously offered to help, even though I don't want to burden her with anything).


We've also been selling our belongings like hotcakes (crosses fingers) for a couple of months now and that always makes me happy. Having an empty home makes me realize what we'll be taking with us. We have not started packing suitcases yet because we still have more than a month left here, but we need to have a good idea about what we'll be taking with us. I know that we don't want to be doing anything stressful during our last couple of weeks here. I'm still amaze at how much we have that we can sell and make money off of. Do we need three cameras? No, so let's sell one. Crock pot or pressure pot anyone?


E mentioned today how he wanted to know how I planned on taking all of my books; I told him that it wouldn't be too hard. I already have about 53 lbs of books packed into 2 boxes that I will then put into a larger box and then fill it up until it reaches 70 lbs. We're each allowed two 70 lb bags and then the school will pay for more than 3 additional bags. If E and I, between the two of us, take seven 70 lb bags then we're talking almost 500 lbs. That's a lot! (Plus the cat) I don't think that we'll need anymore than seven bags. And God knows I don't want to push and carry and lug around all of that weight.


Sounds like we have our work cut out for us. 


Wish me good luck.