Friday, September 3, 2010

Cold Weather Woes

I packed wrong. IF I ever come back to this country in August, I will be sure to pack several pairs of long pants, long sleeved shirts, warm shoes, a jacket, hat and gloves. That is what all the locals are wearing. They are dressing Aaron in a long sleeve flannel shirt, a heavy sweater and wool pants. Definitely a bit of overkill but at least he is warmer than me! When we left in July the temperatures here were averaging close to 100 degrees each day. In the last 2 weeks the temperatures have vacillated between the 90’s and the 60’s. In the last week - mainly the 60’s. I packed wrong. I brought shorts, t-shirts, sandals and nothing warm except for very thin jackets for me. We each have one pair of long pants. How many days in a row can one wear that one long pair of pants without starting to smell?

We do not like to spend money, especially on clothes. I live for yard sales. It is my favorite weekly pastime. We rarely buy clothes new. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so on Tuesday, we went to the open air market to find warm clothes. We spent an hour walking the rows. We came back to the apartment empty handed. We spent money only on warm clothes for Aaron for when we bust him out of the institute. We just didn’t want to spend the money for clothes for ourselves. But Wednesday found both of us shivering and miserable in the cold damp air so this morning (Friday) I left for the market to try again to find us some warm clothes.

My Mom would have been proud. I found the ‘thrift shop’. Off in the corner of the market was an out of the way stand with tables piled high with clothes. As soon as I saw the set-up I knew I had scored big. The one used clothes stand in the entire market. For 12 dollars I bought Rob a very nice jacket and some warm clothes for me. We felt like we had won the lottery! Of course this afternoon the temperature went back up and we didn’t need any of the clothes we bought. I’m not complaining.  We saw the forecast.



We are so missing our dear boys tonight. Friday night is movie night at our house. We always make popcorn and enjoy watching a movie together as a family. Precious moments. The 10 minutes on the phone each day are just not enough. They are struggling with our being gone this long.  This process is hard.  We long for the day when we are united together as a family of five.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Julia and Rob,

    I love garage sales too, and we don't buy new either :) Garage sales are fun.

    Oh, I found a thrift shop (outdoor, tarp kind of thing) while we were there too, it was great!

    Thinking of you guys, thanks again for the Brady updates :)

    Soon this will all be a distant memory and you will be having Friday movie night with ALL your boys!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so sorry I know exactly how you feel, I felt it all myself. But believe me when you step off that plane with Aaron and your boys are waiting for you, your heart will want to explode! I constantly think of you and Aaron and praying things will go well on your court date.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The "thrift store" section of the Artemovsk market was huge, so I bought a bunch of Isabel's clothes used. I loved roaming through there almost every day, treasure hunting. (much to my husband's dismay!)

    Keep the faith and stay warm! (By the way, I'm pretty sure someone there could answer your question at the end of paragraph one!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I bet you never forget the first Friday night with ALL your sons. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Loving words from kind people make our hearts glad!