October 31!!!

BOO!!! Did I scare you?! LOL

Some things that have happened since I last wrote:

….worked our last Farmer’s Market of the year!! (In the sleet, wind, and cold. We actually wore our winter clothes.) We both decided we would not be doing it again next year! Just makes us too busy!

….worked on the ambulance, Sunday. A Father and Son were canoeing and dumped into the river. Not a great day to do that as it was very cold and windy! We picked up the son, who was extremely COLD and raced him to the hospital in Winnipeg. (He made it but the father didn't, so feel sorry for the poor boy!)

….worked Monday. Kelly and Russ went to California, so I went to Meletta’s for the night and Tuesday. Got 2 dresses finished!! Went out for supper with Meletta, Kyla, and Nathan.

….Wednesday, I caught up here at home. Did a pile of laundry, washed some windows, and stuff.

….and today the called and asked if I could PLEASE come to work, so off to work I went.

Well there’s the week! Seems like it has flown by! We’re going to Bredenbury tomorrow to spend the weekend with Josh and Christi and the 2 nephews!! Can’t wait! Antonio is almost 2 and Diego is 1 month. Hope you all had Happy Halloween! We both worked late, so didn't even get to have any Trick or Treater's! 

Home Folks

Friday evening we had company for supper, and I was so excited!! They came all the way from Alabama, well actually I guess it was NYC where they came from. Dalen and Deb Ratzlaff graced us with their presence! It was just awesome to have someone from home come for a visit! Even if it was only a couple hours! Karlin and Shayla were here too. Dalen's had been Karlin's house parents in NYC. Was very relaxing evening with lots of stories and good laughs.

Saturday, we lazed around until around 5, then decided to meet Steve and Gloria and boys in Winnipeg for supper. Came home and worked on the ambulance. Earlier in day, the guys had taken someone in that had been stabbed in the face. He informed them that he was going out to get revenge soon as he got back home, so we were hoping for a 'good' call but guess he must have chickened out or something...

Sunday, we went to Weldon and Wynelle Isaac's for lunch. Karlin & Shayla and Dalen & Steph were there too. Got to know Steph a little better. Shayla is from MO and Steph is from NC so we had the 'southern girl' thing going on! :) Had to practice songs at Karlin's later on so did that and then off to church again.

Now today, I worked and Kelly left for Toronto at 4 AM and was back home at 6 PM so he's already in bed. Guess I should go too, and then get up in good time tomorrow. I'm really wanting to get some Winter sewing done, since it was already flurrying away yesterday. Today was brutally cold... 17* wind chill and it still October!!

.....and there you have it!

GSAR

This weekend Kelly and I took a GSAR (Ground Search and Rescue) course. I was awesome!! Here are some things we learned.

·       Reading maps, like actually reading them using degree’s and such

·       Using a compass, which I found out is an amazing little tool

·       A compass goes according to magnetic north, not true north

·       Using a hand GPS

·       Survival in wind, rain, sun, snow…

·       What all we need to have ready in our packs at all times

·       GSAR is run by the police, not EMS or Fire

·       How to do an actual search

So ya… it was a very informative course. Sunday we spent the day using the skills we had learned to search through the woods around here. Calling in with any clues we found and also learning to work as a team.  Now we need to go shopping to get us 2 full packs ready to go in case we get called out. (It’s definitely not a cheap thing to get a complete pack ready, and we have to do 2!)

Also…. Yesterday was Thanksgiving here. We didn't have any family deals and we never had turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, or sweet potatoes all wkend!! I didn't miss the turkey, but I sure wouldn't have minded some the rest! We actually sat here by ourselves all day, until we finally decided to go fry wings at Nelsons. I made a pumpkin coffee cake for dessert so that what our pumpkin… 

Hello Again

Kelly is back home from his dealer trips!! YAY! The last 2 weeks I've tried to keep myself occupied while Kelly was away.... Worked my usual Mondays and then spent some time in Kenora with Folks the one week and a couple of days in Beausajour with my East Gate host family the next week. I just hate staying home by myself. The days and nights just drag on and it's sooo quiet!  But now he's home and life can return to normal! Well, we have one more Saturday and Farmer's Market and then it can return to normal! 

Tiff, Erica, and myself have decided to try and lose some weight or get fit for Christmas! (We helped Mom decide on this too!! :) We love you Mom!) Sharon feel free to join in as well if you want! So... out with the veggies and fruit and away with the snacks! I'm making some granola right now that's at least half ways healthy! Also I'm doing away with sodium, as my blood pressure seems to like to be high ever since I was sick! So ya! Gotta get my brain in high gear to come up with yummy, healthy meals! Let me know if anyone has any suggestions! 

Greek Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip

Plain or Honey Greek Yogurt

Honey (if using plain yogurt)

Peanut Butter

Cinnamon

Vanilla (if desired)

Mix and Enjoy with your fruit!

5th Anniversary

Amazing, Relaxing, Peaceful…. That is how our little trip to Lutsen was. It had been a long time since it had been just the 2 of us on a little trip.

We left Wednesday around noon and got to our cabin around 9. The drive was beautiful with the leaves changing and the hills and lakes. (Mom, I told Kelly you and him couldn't go on a trip in fall together cause you would both be saying ‘look, look over there at that tree! And that one over there!! Lol)

Thursday we had brunch at the Coho Café. If any of you ever get over in that area, you have to stop here. It is the most amazing café! With the best pizza and breakfast, but I’ll tell you about that later! After eating we headed out to Cascade Falls. Hiked there for about an hour, drove around some more and stopped for a Frap at some little coffee place. Went up Lutsen Mountain and did the Gondola ride and shopped around some. Then we headed back to the main lodge for a supper overlooking the lake; only it was dark so we didn't see much. Was delish! Especially my salad with blueberries, pecans, and feta.

Friday we hiked around the lodge and our cabin and then decided to go out on the kayak tour. It ended up being just us and an older couple who had never kayaked before, so they gave us some good laughs!! We only got to go for about an hour since a storm was coming in and swells were getting bigger all the time. Kelly and I wanted to stay out longer but beaching the kayaks isn't quite as easy to do as it is in the Florida sand beaches, there were lots of rocks and waves wanted to just shoot you in…. Was a lot of fun! Went back to our cabin and warmed up then went up the mountain again for supper. Back at the cabin we decided to go down to the camp fires and see if there was anything interesting going on…. They have fires every evening on the beach and they give you all the fixings to make s’mores! We never did make any though, because we were always to full from supper!

Saturday we woke up to the waves pounding on the beach. Was awesome to watch them come in and hit the rocks. We said goodbye to our cabin and headed to Coho for breakfast! Sharon you would have loved the croissant we shared! Was so warm and flakey and then…. Topped with pecans and caramel sauce!! And we had Pumpkin Spice Coffee to go with it!! It was truly amazing! We had a scrummy breakfast sandwiches with home-made salsa as well. But the croissant topped it all to pieces! We did buy some coffee from them but it was the French Toast coffee that we had had on Thursday, love it!! On to Duluth were we walked around in the mist and cold shopping at little stores and checking out the museum at the port. Was all very interesting. Then headed on to Fargo, ND for night.

Sunday Kelly and Russ flew out on business so Meletta, Kyla, Melissa, and I did some shopping before heading back to MB. You just can’t beat shopping in the states!! We got home around 11 so we got a lot of shopping done!

And that was our little get away trip!! I’m already looking forward to the next one!! J