stuff

I think it is safe to say that as a family, we are not among the world's more materialistic people. Still, we are American and we are Americans who have made/ are sort of still making aliya and this almost inevitably involves the transport of a staggering amount of Stuff. When we moved here almost two years ago, we came with 19 pieces of checked luggage, 6 carryons, 4 carseats, 2 strollers, and a partridge in a pear tree that unfortunately did not survive its trip in the cargo hold. Since then, we shipped 6 more boxes and have of course bought things locally and I have hauled another 500 lb of stuff across the Atlantic and other people have brought us stuff and now we have an apartment full of stuff AND that 20' container of which you have recently heard tell on its way. How this is all going to fit into a smallish house without closets I'm not really sure. (Well, I'm going to buy closets. That will be part of the solution. But there are currently no closets and only a very very small machsan.)

I spent an awful lot of time last week acquiring even more stuff. Jasmin asked me what I bought and my one-word answer was "Target." I didn't buy the whole store but it sure felt like it: three trips, six shopping carts full. The space goes quickly when you are buying cases of pull-ups. Some of the stuff I bought because I have a preference for American this or that; most of it I bought because it was so much cheaper in the US and I had the space to ship it. Anyway, to satisfy Jasmin's curiosity more fully, here, as far as I can remember, is what I bought last week:

Ikea stuff: Expedit bookshelves and the desk that attaches, a toy kitchen for Marika and a set of toy pots, a toy tea set, and soft toy fruit and vegetables. Six sets of duvet covers and sheets.

Everything else: pillows, a duvet, shampoo, conditioner (the kind I like), baby shampoo, Aquaphor, cereal, brownie mixes, tons of clothes from Lands' End, a swingset, a baby swing, OT stuff for Iyyar, board games, a baby toy for Mordechai, copy paper, Corelle dishes (12 place settings each of meat and dairy), vacuum cleaner bags, Pull-ups and diapers, more dishes, a 220-v blender, a step-up transformer for my small US appliances, a new set of dairy flatware, a printer/fax/copier, a new high chair, water bottles, Play-Doh, undershirts for the boys, socks, maple syrup, scissors, Sharpies, 2 bikes, a tricycle, a kid-sized table and two chairs to fit it, Wedgits (which were so cool I brought them back in my luggage), a bouncy seat/rocker, and I'm sure there are other things but that's all I can remember at the moment.