Wordless Wednesday

 

A successful shop

This will be a re-cap of the shopping trip to Bismarck. Am I the only one who finds the return trip longer than the trip there? We were on the bus by 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Regina about 5 p.m. on Sunday. When I arrived at the house, I visited with my son and his friends for a bit, grabbed some leftover pizza and headed downstairs for an early bedtime. 

Let's go back to Thursday - I called the cab company for a pick-up about 20 minutes later. He didn't show for nearly 15 minutes more than expected and then drove like an idiot to the drop off. He said he had winter tires on the vehicle, but skidded around a few corners. I was not impressed. However, we arrived just as the bus arrived in the parking lot so I gave him a small tip.

The ride down was smooth and easy; there was less snow and the sun shone for most of the trip. We stopped twice, once in Estevan for lunch, and then at the truck stop in Minot (the only place open on Thanksgiving) for dinner. We left Regina at 10 a.m. and were at our hotel about 7:30 p.m. The bus had started in Saskatoon with a pick-up there, then Moose Jaw, Regina and Weyburn. With the driver and our hostess, there were 49 of us on the bus, including one husband who was the subject of some good natured ribbing. Which he handled kindly. We never did ask him to carry our packages. :)

Early the next morning, about 5:30 a.m. I looked out the window to see a vehicle leaving the hotel. It was a mother/daughter pair hopping in an Uber to head for Kohls. Most of the rest of us left the hotel about 7:45 a.m. - a much more civilized hour for Hobby Lobby and Joann. After a couple of hours (no I didn't shop that long) we headed to a mall for four hours, and finished the afternoon off at Menards. Back at the hotel, we off loaded our purchases and were on our own for dinner. I'd bought a microwaveable meal so ate in and watched television.

We had a later start on Saturday, just around 10 a.m. and had a short drive to a shopping area with several stand alone shops. We were given three hours for this area - far too much time in my estimation, so when I finished my shopping there, I dropped my parcels on my seat and walked the block or two to Walmart. It was another two or three block walk back to the hotel. I was finished my shopping by noon, so I grabbed a sub at Wally World and took my bags back to the hotel. The afternoon was spent relaxing in my room, packing, crocheting, reading, and watching a bit of television. The bus arrived back at the hotel at 5:00 p.m. I picked up the last of my items, and packed the remainder of my purchases before heading out to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Several of the other shoppers had eaten there the previous night and said it was great. It was not, but was adequate and I washed down my dinner with a Blue Moon beer. 

The good: it is so wonderful to not have to drive. At one point on the road home, the driver avoided an accident as several vehicles had stopped on the highway. She was able to maneuver that big bus to the shoulder and stayed on the road. 

I picked up the remainder of my Christmas gifts and got some great prices on various items. The best buy was a pair of winter boots, regularly priced at $80 for $19.99. There were also some needed items purchased for the house I share with my daughter. A hall rug for the living room front door area, baking sheets, food containers, a cutting board, and just for fun, a couple of Christmas tea towels. The latter were a mere 96 cents apiece.

Because I was travelling alone, I had the two seats in the row to myself. Not only was it a space to put my shopping bags, but I was able to take a short nap on Sunday morning.

The okay: The food at the truck stop and at the restaurant in Bismarck were just meh. The former is the only choice, but should I decide to go next year, I'd definitely try one of the other restaurants near by. That's assuming, of course, that they return to Bismarck.

The mall was huge, anchored by J.C. Penney and Target. But, there was no food court, just a few small restaurants scattered throughout. With the bazillion people shopping, everything was crowded. I did find a two top at Shiels and had a taco in a bag salad. 

The bad: Between the taxi at the beginning of the trip and one at the end, I'll probably call an Uber next time. I'd called for the taxi just as we were pulling into the city. I told the dispatcher, I would be on a large white bus. Although he was told this the driver waited at the Walmart doors, and when I didn't answer my phone (it was in my pocket and I didn't hear it), he left without me. I called again, and he did return but I was annoyed as it was a bitterly cold walk across the parking lot. His excuse - he didn't see the big white bus!

The interesting: Diane, our hostess handed around a form with our names and asked for our personal contact information as well as emergency contact. One of the women across the aisle from me saw her maiden name on the form and asked "who is X? It was me, and we quickly determined that we are distant cousins as I recognized names of her father and grandfather. I wasn't able to open Ancestry until I returned to the city, but have since learned that her great grandfather and my great-great grandfather were brothers. 

Will I go on next year's trip? Probably not unless our Canadian dollar improves against the U.S. dollar. While I got some good deals, I did have to watch the pricing. I stopped at Walmart for some boxed foods and Oreo cookies. These were brands or flavours we don't have here in Canada. I was shocked at the price of Oreo cookies, over $5, so only purchased one package of the toffee crunch flavour that my daughter asked for.  In fact, I found the pricing was often higher on some foods than we see here, however, the boxed items (cake mixes and Hamburger Helper) were considerably lower. 

In any event, it was a good get-away. I'm happy to be at my son's and will drive back to my daughter's tomorrow. Oh, and one last thing, I parked the SUV while I was away and was able to back it out in one try. Can't say I wasn't a bit nervous about my first time! Hooray for back-up cameras. 

There will be a post on Saturday with some other news and the rest of the week! Hope everyone is having a good week!

Friday Funny

 

Wordy Wednesday

In lieu of a Saturday post, I'll do a short post today. Tomorrow I'm off on my trip to Bismarck - this time for real!

The snow we were promised came and came and came some more. It snowed for close to 24 hours, and in that time the weather channel suggested we had nearly 30 cms. (12 inches) of snow.  I would say we were closer to 20cm/8 in. We should have gone out and cleared snow Saturday evening, but instead waited until mid-morning on Sunday. It took nearly 2 hours for my daughter and I to clear the sidewalks: back, side and front (including city sidewalk), as well as the area behind the back fence and the garage. There had been a couple of vehicles; trucks, I assume, that had been down the alley. But my vehicle was covered, and the snow around it and behind it was deep.

It continued to snow until mid-afternoon, when I realized there was a bright orb in the sky to the southwest. What could that be? It's been a few days since we've seen the sun. Once we were sure it was sticking around, D and I went out again and cleared the snow that had fallen in the meantime.

The town plows were out sometime overnight to start the street clearing (I heard nothing). It expect it will take a day or two to get to the alleys. Sadly, at least a couple of our neighbours are idiots. One attempted to blow the snow across the alley to the vacant property but, of course, much of the snow ended up in the alley. In the other direction, another neighbour made a mess weaving his way through the snow and apparently spinning his tires. 

I drove Eli to school on Monday morning, as D's car would not have had the height to make it through. We chose to go towards the snow blower mess and I bottomed out in the SUV. That spot is flattened now. We decided to try the other direction on the way back from the school, and it was even a bigger mess. 

Tuesday morning, the alley had yet to be cleared, so I again drove Eli to school, and then D to the bank before heading to the city. The highways were clear, but it was very foggy for about half of the trip. I saw a couple vehicles in the ditch and one fender bender in the city. The city street were definitely not as clear, however sanding trucks had been out so the intersections weren't bad. I think having a heavier vehicle is a benefit too.

I ran a few errands, stopped at the doctor's office to drop off and pick up some paperwork for D, the bank to pick up cash for my trip, and at the mall for a haircut. I use cash because it is the easiest way to stay within my spending budget. The haircut was desperately needed as I hadn't had a cut since September. While there are a couple of salons in our small town, getting an appointment is quite difficult and often requires a wait of several weeks. No thanks!

Back at the house, I discovered C had only got half of the driveway cleared after this latest snowfall. After a bite of lunch, I went out and did the rest. A downfall of the neighbour having install the fence, the snow now blows across the area behind the house and up against the fence. This blocks access to the garage. Not good when the temperatures are forecast to be in the range of -25C to -30C (-13F to -22F) later this week. Thankfully there is no snow in the forecast, so we'll both be parking in the garage. 

Today, I've got some housework to do. No, the vacuum has not moved since I left over a month ago. I'm running a load of laundry, and will pop out to pick up a few groceries. Since I'm in the city, I'll make a run to Value Village as well. In particular, I'm looking for a small ottoman or a stool to put by the door into our porch at D's. We both would like something to sit on as we put on our winter boots. An ottoman would be best, as we'd have storage for the mitts, toques (beanies) and scarves we use most often.

To my readers from the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving! To everyone else, have a great weekend.

Winter has arrived!

For those who did not see my edited post - my Black Friday shopping trip is happening this upcoming week, not last. I'm not sure why I had the dates mixed up, but thankfully reader Cheryl let me know in the comments. So I wasn't a week early waiting for the bus in the Walmart parking lot. :) 

The wordless Wednesday photo was taken on Sunday evening after the first snowfall. The sky was much brighter than my phone camera captured. Winter storm warnings were issued as well, and we were expecting up to 15-20 cms (6-8 in) of snow overnight Monday into Tuesday. I'm not sure if it was the winds, but we were fortunate and the storm skirted us. While we got a bit of freezing rain, by morning the temperatures were at or slightly above freezing. As a result, the streets were wet not icy. In the meantime, my son got a pile of snow in the city.

We walked, again, this week at the community center. On Monday, the hockey team were exercising, and the cardiac center was also open. As a result the track was busier than we've seen thus far. After walking, we went to the local Canadian Tire to pick up another shovel - we only have one. With the expected snow, a second one would come in handy.

Wednesday was cold, about -8C (18F) with the windchill sitting around -20C (-4F). Though we'd had some snow overnight, most of the accumulation was the result of the wind blowing from the west. D shovelled out the walkways before we hopped in the SUV for the short drive to the school. Good thing, as the drifts at the end of the alley were quite deep and her little car would have had a time getting through the drifts. By late afternoon, the city had plows out cleared most of the streets and at the alley entrances. Of course, then it started to snow again.

I spent much of the morning working on the gingerbread ornaments, crocheting the edging and adding a small amount of stuffing. There was curling to watch so I was definitely in my happy place. Meanwhile, D was working on her Cricuit creating cards for the Elf on the Shelf. I am so grateful this fad didn't exist when my kids were young. So far, the Elf has been found in various places, hanging from a lamp, a garland strant, in the bathroom, and more recently, in a jar. One cannot touch the elf; the jar meant he could go to the dentist's appointment Eli had on Thursday.

That appointment was to remove the spacer that was put in to keep his teeth from shifting when he lost a tooth before the next one was ready. Did I ever tell you how his first appliance went missing? A child, that would be Eli, removed it and flushed it down the toilet. As can be imagined his mom freaked out because it cost $300 to replace. He sent me a message asking if I'd pay for it. :) Of course, I told him I would. His tooth finally erupted but the trip was for naught, as it had not erupted enough for the dentist to remove the spacer. 

While they were away, I ran out to the grocery stores. More items than I had intended made their way into the cart. In my defence, when grocery items are sale here, it's best to buy. Again, I found some items at prices that were more reminiscent of pre-Covid pricing. Others, not so much but necessary purchases. After putting things away, I went out the cleared the sidewalks out to the front of the house. Our next door neighbour was kind enough to use their snowblower to clear the front side walk last night.

D and I spent Friday morning winterizing a few of the windows and starting our Christmas baking. The bathroom window, as well as the small window at the top of the stairs are definitely leaking cold air. We used a kit we bought at the dollar store and it seems to help. D made a shortbread base for her homemade Twix bars (I call this a caramel toffee bar), and I made a batch of shortbread after lunch. My taste test of my cookies told me I haven't forgotten how to make them. :)

While the cookies baked, I watched curling and worked on finishing off the gingerbread men. When both cookies and the ornaments were finished I pulled out the pattern for Christmas gnomes. The first one is on the hook. These will be for my nephew and niece, though if I like them well enough, I may make two more for my brother and SIL. The nice thing about these is, I can customize them for each person.

Today, D and I will do a little more decorating, more baking, and I'll watch curling and crochet when I can. The snow is supposed to start this evening, and get heavier overnight. Perhaps as much as 12-20cm (4.75 - 7.75 inches) my mid-day on Sunday. I've got my fingers crossed it will be the lesser amount. It is also going to colder. That's winter in Saskatchewan for you.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Friday funny

 

Wordless Wednesday