Weekend Shenanigans/Life Lately/Misc Monday

Happy Monday!! I hope everyone had a good wknd. Mine was pretty good!!

Friday; I spent the last of my (our) money on a 7-11 coffee. Let me tell you, 7-11 PSL's are actually pretty good! And a lot cheaper than Starbucks:) So, I went to work, and had a quiet day, and then ran some errands; I checked on my mags that I couldn't buy (BOO!), and went to our Associate Pastor's wife to talk about the Sunday School Program. I had fun playing with her little boys:) They are so sweet. We ended up getting invited out to dinner with our friends/mentors for a belated bday dinner for Anker. We had a great supper and chat. Went home, and hung out, then our neighbour asked if I wanted to go to W!nners. We had a nice time wandering around. Came home and relaxed and went to bed.

Saturday; Relaxed in the morning, and then met up with my Avon Mentor to chat about how to build my business

She bought me a Timmie's coffee. Isn't that sweet? I then went and met up with my coffee ladies. One of the girls bought me an iced tea. We had a nice chat, and I came home, fully intending to have a nap. Instead, we watched some of Skating on TV, and I did my nails in some Nail Art (Which I already have shown on here)

I still have a few of them on my nails, and it has been over 48 hours, so they aren't that bad, really.

Around 4o'clock, we went to our church's fall fair. I dressed up as a pumpkin. Well, I didn't dress up as a pumpkin as much as I had pumpkin colours on:)

You can't tell from this picture, but my pants are green. I am also wearing my pumpkin socks.

 

Usually each year our church holds some kind of Halloween/Hallejuah party in or around Halloween. The last couple of years, however, they have gone one up, and made it more of a fair, with booths, and popcorn, slushies, etc. I think they had 150 last year, and probably around the same this year. We have 4 churches (including our) that meet in our building (at different times and in different rooms), and last year one other church joined us, and this year, another church (different) church joined in with us. It was a great time. I was almost sad to leave in the middle of it.

 

The fall fair was a blast!

I was put in charge of the Pumpkin Carving Booth

 

 

 

 

Here are some more pics from the fair.

 

                                                             Carnival food at it's best:)

                                      Several different booths were set up in the church foyer.

Planko and Fish Pond.

Putt-Putt Golf (I manned this last year).

 

Around 6:30, I went to my mom's Book Launch. I told them I could come, but only if they bought me a drink:) It was a fun evening (Anker stayed back at the church, as he was in charge of the fireworks).

It was held at Earl's. She had her banner up and everything:)

                                                        Sante Fe Chicken Salad. Yum.

Everyone who was there:)

One of my mom's best friend on her left, and Dad's cousin (and Mom's friend) to her right.

Dad making his speech.

Mum and Me:)

The oh so yummy cheesecake:)

Mom and her book:) And yes, we took this in front of the fire outside the restaurant.

 

This is her book up close.

 

 

The party went until 8:30, then I went back to the church to pick up hubby, and we went home. We just relaxed in the evening.

 

Sunday, I went to church, and came home and made some lunch. I am trying to be creative and semi healthy on what food we have left.

 

I came up with this for Sunday lunch. It was ok; not great.

It was kind of like a Goolash. Yum.

 

We spent the rest of the day watching movies; The Kings Speech (we have it, but we borrowed my parents, as their copy has the extras), The Solist, and Taken. They were all good movies. I also started on Downton Abbey Season 3 last night. I am loving the season so far!

 

Linking up with Blair

 

Linking up with Carissa

 

And don't forget my Fall Followers Giveaway:) I am at 23 followers (Thanks to Cassie @ Take Two for being my most recent follower), and the 25th follower will get an Avon prize from me:)

 

I am really excited to expand my Avon business:) My mentor gave me some great ideas on where I can drop off brochures and Avon Business cards.

 

Today I spent some time driving Mom around town, so she could drop off some posters for her upcoming workshop related to her book.  I have to admit, I was a bit grumpy and frustrated when we started out (not because of that, just because of life in general), but after awhile, I started to get into it. Mom is going to be on TWO local radio shows in the next while talking about her book. Yay! I am so proud of her!! When we were done, Mom treated me to Starbucks, which always makes me happy. In fact, when we got inside, mom said "are you happy?" To which I replied "YES". haha.

  I came home to find hubby had already started supper. It wasn't a healthy (or Meatless Monday) supper, but it was good:)

Hot dogs and Fries.

 

Has anyone tried the GIRAFFE CHALLENGE on FB?

Here it is : 

I've changed my profile pic to a giraffe. I tried to answer a riddle and got it wrong. Try the great giraffe challenge!

So here's the rules. Answer the riddle. You get it right nothing changes. Get it wrong and you change your profile pic to a giraffe for three (3) days.
MESSAGE ME YOUR ANSWERS ONLY! PLEASE DONT RUIN THE FUN BY TELLING OTHERS THE ANSWER!!

Here is the riddle!
3:00AM the doorbell rings and you wake up. Unexpected visitors, its your parents and they are there for breakfast. You have strawberry jam, honey, wine, bread and cheese. What is the first thing you open?

Message me your answers and see if you get to keep your profile pic on FB?

 

There also is a donkey challenge going on as well:)

(FYI: this is why I don't often feel like blogging, as this took me over an hour to do).

 

Happy Monday!

 

As usual, I this is too long with too many pics...am sorry:(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Lately, Weekend Shenanigans, and Misc Monday Link Ups

Linking up with Blair.

Happy Monday!! I hope you had a good wknd. Mine was pretty sweet:)
I am linking up my "regulars" this wk for my weekly link ups:)

I am having a bit of a rough Monday, actually. I am mainly frustrated with life, my job search, my lack of healthy life (eating, exercise, etc) skills, our finances, and yes, even some people. There seems to be always too much to do; this Saturday will mark the third Saturday IN A ROW that we will be busy, nearly all day, and some of the evening, and I got myself double booked on that day as well. I know, I know, so many people want a piece of me:)

I just need to trust God in EVERY area of our lives. It is HARD!!!! I trust, and give it to Him, then I take it back. Nice, April, right? At least He takes it whenever I ask, right?

I am also going to try to eat healthier. I HAVE to. I don't have a choice, really. I started off the day with two pieces of white toast (we had to get rid of it) and two eggs. Yum!!!

I also got Sugar Reduced Creamer (French Vanilla) and some healthy(ier) stuff last night. Hubby has been drying prunes and raisins:) Yummy! Not sure what we are going to have for supper.

Linking up with Carissa

So...MM....hmm...well, I already told you about my (sort of) frustrating morning. I also owe $20 to the library. Oops! Because they don't have debit (and I had no time to get out cash), I couldn't pay my bill. I also called the KBIA for Anker this morning, and since his worker wasn't there, they couldn't help me! I don't think I got the job I interviewed for, and when I tried to call them, she wasn't available. Also, last night (well, this morning (3:30 am) our lovely neighbour who leaves for work likes to rev his truck A LOT before leaving. Nice. He has been complained about a few times, and we are all up to HERE (picture my head..haha) with it. GAA! I tried to talk to the guy who manages our complex, and of course, his wife just had a baby, so he isn't there. Nice. The lady that is taking over for him isn't there (of course), so the poor Admin Assistant got an ear full from me! And I can't even get a coffee (SBX or anywhere)! There are some other things too that are frustrating me, that I won't post on here...not yet, anyway.

Two good things happened today; when I went to put in my quarter for the parking meter, there was already time in it...yay! And I also got a People Mag and US Weekly Mag from the library; ones that I hadn't bought....and I got (FINALLY) the third season of DA! I am so stoked!!! I was very nearly finished with Hot in Cleveland Season three, but I HAD to take it back today, with only a few eps left..boo! I am also thinking of getting into Duck Dynasty. Is it worth it? Since finding out they are Christian, I have wanted to try them out (actually, I had thought of trying to watch it even before I found out). I have reserved a couple of seasons at the library. Also, has anyone watched THE CITY?? I may get into it as well....hmm.....

I am going to re-start job searching again...this is soo frustrating!!! I hope something comes up SOON!

I have been spending more time in Pinterest again...you would think that with over 10K pins that I would have a lovely decorated house (living off the grid, of course!!) make lovely gourmet food, have the perfect marriage (and other relationships), and be perfect. Yah, no:)

Linking up with Sami 

Ok, let's get to the fun part of the blog, shall we?

Friday: I don't know what I did in the morning; I think I ran some errands, I honestly have no clue, that is just how eventful my Friday was:) I worked in the afternoon, and then went to meet up with a friend to drop off her Avon stuff that she ordered. I had a free drink coupon from SBX that I decided to use, so I had a drink, journalled and read my mags. I went to the store next door to grab bread for sandwiches for the next day (more on that in a minute), and I decided to spend time looking through the new magazines; including the holiday cooking ones! I LOVE doing that!! I went to BB&B (did I tell you we have one here? I don't normally go, but they have been having some good sales lately, so I have gone a couple of times in the last while, oh and I got our friends' wedding gifts from there), to return a pillow I got for hubby (exchange). I went home and relaxed for the evening. I boiled eggs for the sandwiches the next day, and relaxed and went to bed. It was quiet in our complex, which was nice.

Saturday: I woke up, went to the store to grab a coffee and some margarine (we were out, and I knew it was going to be a coffee-from-a-store-kind-of-day). I may or may not have gone in my PJ's:) Made the egg salad and assembled the sammies, got ready to go to the funeral, and then worked for a couple of hours. I came home, got hubby, and went to the funeral. The funeral was of our lovely and dear friend and Pastor to Seniors Babs, who died from Cancer last month. It was so sad. It was a lovely (and short!) service, which was nice. Enjoyed (way too many) treats and too may glasses of iced tea, found my forgotten sandwiches, brought them out (and they were eaten, btw), and came home and relaxed all evening. I got caught up on my movies and shows that I had got from the library. It was another quiet evening in the complex, for which we are very thankful for.

Sunday: I went to church alone; hubby was too tired, and since I was helping with Sunday School, I didn't push it (to be fair, he HAD been in church the day before). I left pretty much (um, ok before) church ended, as I was meeting up with my friend who was going to her parents to pick up her dog. The kids were out of Sunday School (and church was not yet out), and most of them had gone back in to their parents (we will often do that, just let them go back in for the last few mins of the service), so I left. My friend had I had a lovely afternoon. We got Timmies Smoothies (yummy) and some donuts, and off we went. I got to meet her parents (I had met them before, but only for a few minutes a few years back), and we had a fun afternoon! The drive there and back was so beautiful! I wish I had brought my camera. They have a beautiful house (I wish I had brought my camera to take pics of their house alone), lovely bathrooms, kitchen, and living room, were gorgeous! And her parents was so sweet!!! We left around 3:30 and came home via a back road that I hadn't been on in a long time. SO beautiful:) We came back into town, both hungry, and so we went for supper. SO good! We had supper at Senor Froggy. It is a Mexican (semi) Fast Food joint. I was kind of healthy and I had taco salad. Yummy!!! She was getting late for an apt, so she dropped me off at Walmart, and she went on her way. I wandered around, and got a few things we needed, and met up with hubby who picked me up. I came home and parked myself on the bed all evening. I am SLOWLY catching up on my PVR`d shows. I watched two wks worth of Battle of the Blades, Friday`s Y&R, a few Judge Judy`s, and an episode of I`m Having their Baby. I ended the night by watching The Amazing Race. #keeponracing my butt:)

I think that pretty much covers my wknd!

Weekend Shenanigans/Life Lately/Misc Monday/Tell Us Tuesday/Wild Card Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Yes, I am going to do all 5 link ups today! Is that greedy? Maybe. I like to think of it as getting it all done in one post:)

So, our weekend was nutz!! But it was good, too. I took 251 pics on my camera, and I have about 150 left to prove it.

Saturday; We went to a wedding! It was of a good friend of ours and her American Love!!!! Yes, we had a fun time ribbing our new American friend! We don't know him that well, but we have heard so much about him, and we know from what others say that he is a good guy. He is a youth pastor at a church that meets in our building.

Got up around 9:30 or so and hung out and relaxed. I had a shower, folded some laundry, ate breakfast, did some dishes, and got dressed (not necessarily in that order). We made it to the wedding with only minutes to spare. The wedding was so fun! I don't know the last time I have ben so excited for a bride! I believe she is around the same age as I was when I got married, so I can identify with her a bit. Here are some pictures that I captured of the fun day.

The Groom, and his Groomsmen.

 

The Bridesmaids. And yes, two of them were pregnant, and one had just had a baby a few months ago.

 

Saying their vows.

                                                                      The Bridal party.

Their first kiss (ever!!)

We had coffee with friends btwn the wedding and reception.

 

Got back around 4:30, and the reception started at 5 or so.

Our church`s gym was transformed into a wedding fairy land!!!

Their colours were Tiffany Blue and white, and their theme was rustic/country but elegant.

                                                    They had a sweet/candy table! Yum!

I loved their candles!

 

I took these next couple of pics for my American readers!

They had Canadian Iced Tea and on the right was the Texas Sweet Tea. They ran out of the TST VERY quickly! I did manage to get a sip of it, however, and it wasn't bad!! But I still love our Canadian Iced Tea better!

Apparently, there is a difference btwn American Oreos and Canadian Oreos. Who knew? (PS, the CND ones tasted better!!)

These, my American Friends are Naniamo bars! THE BEST dessert EVER!!! Just sayin'!

They gave away coffee as their party favours! I heard it was from Starbucks. We may or may not have come away with more than two allotted bags! They also encouraged us to colour the table!

And yes, we heard a few "ya'lls" that evening! There were about 200 people (including kids and babies!) that night; and probably half were from the US. Such fun! I am telling you; I don't think I have seen that many babies and small children at one event in some while, if ever. I had a few baby pangs, that's for sure!!

 The wedding itself was short, which was nice. There were only a few short speeches, and the cutting of the cake, and a funny song, and that was about it. The dinner was very good!

They even had biscuits (that were a bit sweet..yummy) with gravy!

 

Here is one final pic of the night, of hubby and I.

 

 

Anker and I cleaned for about 3 hours after (that is with help!), and came home around 11. After a few minutes of downtime, we went to bed.

 

Sunday;

We slept in; we were SO tired!! I got up and packed, and did some more cleaning (or something), and packed up. Packing for the two of us is pretty simple and quick.

In Canada, Thanksgiving is in October, and to get anywhere, we have to travel by dogsled. Ok, I am kidding about the last part, but TG IS in October:)

 

Because they (my parents included) were looking for a man from our little community, we had no idea on when and if we were going to have a turkey dinner. The discussions/plans went a bit like this: Turkey Dinner, TV dinners, Turkey Dinner, eat at 2, eat 6, Turkey Dinner at 5, TV Dinners whenever people come in. Yup, it was crazy! I nearly had a flip out. Just a little bit. Ok, I may have. A tiny bit. In the end, however, it went well. We got to the ranch around 2 on Sunday (no church; bad, I know), after a very lovely drive.

 

  First however, as I was running and getting frozen dinners (remember, at this time, I thought we were doing frozen turkey dinners..you know, to keep it simple), and gassed up, I HAD to grab a coffee of each of us, and bran muffins, because, you know, we hadn't eaten yet.

Lovely site, no?

 

I love the drive up to our place! 2 hours of pure bliss (unless traffic is being silly)!

There was a fire here 10 years ago; it is sad and exciting at the same time. Looking forward to seeing new growth, but sad at the devastation that it caused.

 

Got to the farm, and played with puppies (of course!), and picked apples and plums! Oh my..I can't remember the last time I had fresh picked apples. Maybe not even last year?

Facing our driveway.

 Anker picking apples! I had two in a row! They have already had a couple of frosts, which make the apples sweeter..yummy!

No pesticides and GMOs on these babies!

My parents an apple and a plum tree in their yard.

Fresh fruit in fall:) Is there anything sweeter?

The plums we picked.

Me holding one of the puppies.

2 of the 5 puppies that are left.

 

Hung out and relaxed in the evening. I drove my brother to and from his friends, and we had popcorn and Anker watched an X-Men movie on TV. Had a short visit with mom and dad when they got back, and went to bed. I actually did some of m FB group stuff, since I had been neglecting it for awhile.

 

Woke up around 7:30 yesterday, and had breakfast and just did whatever until I felt let starting dinner. By this time, we had decided to skip the frozen dinner, and eat a turkey dinner, since there was one that was thawed in the fridge. I know. Don't get me started:)  In the midst of all this, mum wanted me to make cookies for the searchers (well, mom was asked by my aunt if I could make them). Thankfully, it was as simple boiled raisin cookie recipe that didn't take long at all. First, though, I had to start gathering stuff up for the stuffing. I then took a trip to our small store, then drove to the next town to grab some things that the store didn't have, only to find out that the larger store was closed. Came back to the smaller store to grab a few more things. I settled on Cherry tarts with frozen tart shells. I don't do pastry.

 

Came home, started the stuffing. I didn't really do a recipe, I just added stuff:)

Doesn't it look DELISH!??  Apples, cranberries, raisins, onions, shallots (or whatever that thing was sitting on mom's counter!!!), garlic, bacon, onion sausage, and celery (which was what I went to the store for!)

The Turkey!!! Yummy!!! We added Sage/Poultry SSNG, and melted butter.

It may or may not have been slightly overcooked due to my forgetfulness to take it out..OOPS!

 

The cranberry sauce:) My lil brother did an awesome job!

 

We also had potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and gravy. It went well, and tasted delish!

 

I did find some pumpkin pie filling in the cupboard, and I ended up making tarts. They turned out well. I also had lots of filling left over, so I made my own version of Frozen Pumpkin Squares. Basically, it was the filling, some ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice,  about 2 T of custard powder, and some condensed milk,  and for the crust, I used graham crumbs. I have no idea on how they tasted, because we forgot last night to bring them out, and when we brought them out this morning to try them, they were frozen solid. I told mom to save us a couple of pieces.

Tarts in front of the fire:) Bliss!

....made even better with tea.

Frozen Pumpkin Squares.

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   I had fun organizing and pretty much single- hand idly making my first Thanksgiving Dinner alone! Even before they started searching, Mom had asked me to be in charge of it. I had fun raiding mom's fridge and pantry!!

 

This morning.

 

A couple of extra puppy cuteness pics!

 

Isn't he adorable??

 

Linking up with Wild and Precious

Linking up with Carissa

 

It is hubby's bday today, not sure what we will do, as everyone we have asked is busy. We may just do it another night this week.

 

Happy Tuesday!