Day 12

Today was my last full day here in Red Deer. And that makes me sad :(

But, today was a good day :) I got up early (translation: alarm went off at 8, I dragged my butt outta bed at 8:30), had a shower, and we went to the farmers' market. It was really cool! :) I got a big bag of garden peas for $2, some cinnamon buns for breakfast tomorrow, a strawberry Nutella crepe (was soooo good!), a jar of honey liqueured blueberries, and a bag of caramel popcorn, which was suuuuuuper tasty! It was a nice soft melt-in-your-mouth caramel, and there were nuts mixed in too, very yummy! I'm gonna have to make a batch at home! :)

Then we went back to the house for a bit before heading out again to Chapters. Before heading in to chapter, Deanna, Ayren, and I went geocaching, cuz there were two just across the street. The first one we couldn't find, but the second one we got :)

I got a couple books at Chapters: The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, and The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book. Pretty pumped for them both! :)

Man, I bought a lot of books out here! :)

Anyways, after Chapters we stopped at the grocery store for a few things, then came back to the house. I baked a couple pumpkin pies (by request), but they were made with canned pumpkin, and it wasn't MY recipe from home, so they weren't the greatest. They were alright, but not the greatest lol. And Deanna made her jalapeno cheese bread, yuuuuuum!!!!! :D

I stitched some more, actually getting quite a bit done out here :)

For supper we had grilled cheese sammiches (made with the cheese bread) and bacon-wrapped cream-cheese-stuffed jalapeno peppers. They were super good! :D And of course, pie and ice cream for dessert. I put some of the blueberries I got today on my ice cream, it was deeeeeeelish! :)

After dinner, the Scotts played the Big Bang Theory version of Clue, and I stitched away... Then we went downstairs and watched Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different. Classic! :)

A couple episodes of Big Bang Theory later, I headed to my room to start packing. Soooo glad I bought another suitcase LOL! I'm pretty much done, just need my PJs, my charging cords, and my morning bathroom stuff.

I'm really sad that I'm leaving... :( The Scotts are so amazing, and I'm going to miss them so much! I already miss them so much!!! :'(

But I am thankful that I've been able to spend these few days with them, with new memories to bring back home. And TWO loaves of jalapeno cheese bread!!!!! :D

I almost hate to admit it too, but I'm actually pretty excited to go back to work. I miss it, I miss the adrenaline during the pushes, and most of all I miss my friends there. It'll be good to be back :)

Tomorrow is Sunday, and so we're off to church. After church I think we're going for lunch at East Side Mario's - they have one here in Red Deer, but not in Winnipeg... WAT.

Then Ian and Deanna offered to drive me down to Calgary airport - how sweet is that!!! :) I did have a Greyhound ticket booked and paid for, but it was only $20, and it'd cost me another $20 just to be able to exchange my ticket for a later date, but that'd be a waste. So I get to spend more time with them, yay!!! :D

So I'm off to bed. My alarm is going off at 9am (8.5 hours), and I should tryyyyy to get some sleep, since I don't seem to be able to sleep the night before I travel... Off to bed! :)

Day 11

It was a bit of a lazy day today, though I did get out and do stuff :)

I slept in til about 10, but I didn't get out of bed until just after 12. Headed upstairs, had a banana for breakfast, then pulled out my stitching.

Deanna got home from work not long afterwards, and Ian made soup and leftover burger patties for lunch. After lunch, Ian, Deanna, and I headed out to the Christian bookstore here. I got two new books! :)

Then we stopped at Costco for a few things, then headed back to the house.

It was quite the rainy day today, so we didn't get out to do any geocaching. :(

I stitched a bit more, then supper was ready (wraps and caesar salad, with ice cream for dessert). After supper we played a game of Phase 10, it was fun :)

Then we went downstairs to watch Dr. No (the first 007 movie, with Sean Connery as Bond), and an episode of The Vicar of Dibley. Oh British comedy, it's great :)

And now it's just after midnight, so I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow we're planning on going to the farmer's market, so wake-up time is 8. Better get some sleep! :)

Day 10

Today was a looooong day, but sooooo great!!! :D

I ended up sleeping in this morning; I woke up 8 minutes before I had to be at the bus stop to catch a bus into Edmonton to catch the Greyhound to Red Deer. I made it though! I got to the bus stop just as the bus was turning the corner, hooray! :D

So, made it to downtown Edmonton, made it onto the Greyhound bus, made it to Red Deer! And here I am! :D

Oh my gosh, it was soooo great to see the Scotts again! :D Ian and Ayren picked me up at the bus depot – after a bit of a mix-up of timing LOL! But all was well :) And Ayren had some leftover chocolate chip pancakes for me to chow down on, yay! :D

So, they picked me up, we stopped by the office where Deanna was working so we could say hi.

For those of you who don’t know Deanna, she gives the most amazing hugs I’ve ever experienced. Seriously. The way she just wraps you up in her arms and holds you tight… There is so much love radiating from her, what a God-gift she is! :)

She had to get back to work, so the three of us headed to the house. Duncan came up to say hi, I found Joshua downstairs and said hi lol then I settled into a chair upstairs to start reading “The Fault In Our Stars” by John Green.

That book needs its own blog post. And it has it.

So, started reading, got about a quarter of the way through by the time Deanna got home. Then Ian, Deanna, Duncan, Ayren, and I headed out to do some geocaching at Bower Pond! Yet another family I’ve introduced to this! :D

We found a few there, then headed back to the house for dinner: burgers, yum! :D

After dinner, I read a bit more (hnnng!), then Deanna, Ayren, and I headed out to do some more geocaching around the neighbourhood. We ended up finding three caches, all part of a Skylanders series that The Hay Team has set up. Really cool actually! :)

Then back to the house for ice cream, yay! :D We also played a game of Apples to Apples – love that game! And what a game it was! So fun! :D Ian was the winner, Ayren came in second. I ended up the cards Insane, Awkward, and something else that I can’t remember. Much fun was had! :)

Then Ayren headed to bed, the rest of the Scotts headed downstairs to finish watching The Hobbit (they started it last night), and I stayed upstairs and finished my book.

Finished it at about 1am. Totally wrecked. What an amazingly beautiful book.

So now I’m downstairs in my (Duncan’s) room – thanks Duncan! :) Just writing this blog, then gonna attempt to sleep. Still trying to sort out my brain though lol so we’ll see how that goes…. ;)

Tomorrow I am planning to sleep in (yay!), Deanna is only working a half day, and the rest of the crew is home all day. I don’t think there’s much planned for the afternoon – though I am hoping to find some more caches – but I do know that somewhere in there tomorrow we’re gonna go to Kerry Wood Nature Centre. And the girls seem to be pretty hooked on geocaching, so they’ve already asked about finding any there lol I’m excited! :)

Goodnight!

"The Fault In Our Stars" John Green

I read a book today.

I don’t want to tell you what this book is about.

But I want to tell you what this book will do to you.

At least what it did to me.

This book took me on an emotional journey.

I’d be reading one page and laughing about how the characters interact with each other.

Then I’d be three pages later, and have tears running down my cheeks.

And that’s jarring.

Really jarring.

I almost couldn’t handle it. I had to put the book down for a bit every so often just to let my mind catch up to where my emotions were.

And yet I could. Not. Stop. Reading.

Tears streaming down my face, I’d start laughing.

Then I’d flip the page, and more tears would fall.

I don’t even…

I just…

Can’t.

Could.

Not.

Stop.

This is a really easy book to get hooked on.

And trust me, when I say hooked, I mean it.

That hook will pull you this way, and that way…

And there’s nothing you can do about it.

Except to keep reading.

Day 9

Big day today! I was up and out the door by 7:45 and caught the bus to the Greyhound station to pick up my ticket for tomorrow. Then it was a half hour wait until my bus came to go to West Edmonton Mall, so I found a couple geocaches! :)

Made my way to the mall just as it was opening, so I stopped at A&W for some breakfast. Stopped at Bentley's for a carry-on size luggage case, then got to shopping! I bought a few things today - some books, some CDs, a dragon sweater, a few gifts.

It took me four hours just to do the first floor.

Four hours!

FOUR!!!

Sigh...

I did enjoy a good chunk of time in Chapters. I saw the "Humans of New York" book there, I kind of flipped through it a bit. A picture that really stuck out for me is this one:

The caption beside it said this:

'Make sure you can see the bag.'
'Oh, I didn't realize you were advertising something.'
'Isn't everything beautiful advertising something?'

Snap.

After the mall, I headed down to Beth's work, she gave me a tour before we headed out for dinner. It looks really good in there! Beth told me that she did a lot of the painting in there herself - all the non-institution-white colour, that is lol! And it looks really good! This was my favourite wall:

It says this:

Our HEARTS are made for WORSHIP

Hear and understand me.
Even though you disagree, please don't make me wrong.
Acknowledge the greatness within me.
Remember to look for my loving intentions.
Tell me the truth with compassion.

Our HANDS are made for SERVICE

Hear the Word of God in your life.
Always recognize Jesus in others.
Now is the time to be present to God.
Do you reflect God's love to those around you?

But my absolute favourite wall item I saw was a picture in Beth's office. It actually hit me really hard, I almost started crying right there...

The text beside it said this:

Forgiven
This picture reveals the heart of God toward you. As you look at the painting, you see not only Jesus wrapping his arms around a fallen man. You see Him wrapping his arms of mercy around you. Your eyes say "Jesus is holding a broken sinner." Your heart says "Jesus is holding me." When you look at the cross you will never need to question if He loves you. He came for you; He died for you; He lives for you. What a tremendous price has been paid. More than all the riches in the entire world. This price was paid so that you could know the joy of being forgiven.

Oof.

For dinner we went to Swiss Chalet, and spent some time just catching up. It was so great! :) Then we went geocaching, and we found one right at the corner by the restaurant! :)

We also went down by the river to find some more, but we couldn't find any. I had gone down into the bushes to hunt for it, couldn't find it, then couldn't find my way back up again! Made my way back to the car, where Beth had gone to wait for me, and there was a fruit truck there so I bought us some nectarines. Soooo tasty! :D

Then she gave me a ride back to the house, and here I am!

Tomorrow's probably going to be a long day too. I head out at 7am to catch my bus down to Red Deer. Soooo excited to see the Scotts!!!!! :D So I'm gonna jump in the shower then head to bed. Goodnight!