Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow...

Winter sent a warning shot across our bow last night and into today: snow. Just had to assert itself and remind us who was in charge from here on in. It's almost like it was saying, "Remember, I could do this at any time, so you'd best be grateful when I give you a reprieve." It makes our weekend on the coast all the more memorable, I suppose. Beautiful, sunny weather; highs comfortably in the 20-degree range. And now snow. It even stuck to the ground, if only for half the day. Don't believe me? Okay, you asked for it (apologies for the photo quality--I was too busy freezing my tail off)...

So yes, we are back. Safe and sound. Had a cracking good time, we did, even if it was the busiest five days we've had in years, I think. It was really weird going on vacation back to your own house that you own, and then returning to your regular life in the house that you're renting. A strange role reversal occurred, and tricks were played on my mind. However, all is in order now.

In a way, it's good to be "home", even though home is only temporary. Even with the snow, I'm glad we're back. Leaving everyone behind again was tough, but getting here and knowing that there's a purpose to our being here is a good thing. I instantly missed the humidity the second I stepped off the plane. Sigh, back to moisturizing every hour, I suppose.

Picked up a new high-tech device for the house this evening--an answering machine (Mel, this one's for you). Now, in order to make it worth our while, you all have to call and leave messages. PG please. Don't know our phone number? Email me and I'll tell you.

When we got back on Monday, we realized that we had timed things up grocery-wise a little too perfectly before we went--the cupboards were completely bare when we returned. This, of course, necessitated a trip into a city of some description to shop at a large grocery store where we could buy enough food to last us through the harsh winter. Seriously, the amount of canned food we bought probably made it look like we were stockpiling just in case Three Hills is on North Korea's nuclear hit list (or, as W likes to say, their "nucular" hit list). So off we went to Red Deer.

Now, Red Deer may be a small-ish city (population in the low- to mid-80000's) but it's got plenty of big-city things, including not one, but two Wal-Marts. Of course, this meant that we just had to experience the one we hadn't yet gone to. There's a general ground rule in the Carroll household, and perhaps it's the same with you--you can't go to Wal-Mart and spend less than $100. It's just not possible. No matter how well-intentioned you are, there is no avoiding that $100 level. We've sometimes skirted the $80 range, but we're always up there. Even if we just go in to buy cat food, we end up coming out with so much more. Initially, I thought that a good way to nip this problem in the bud would be to only get a hand basket upon entry. Then, when Steph wanted to get more things, I'd just say, "Sorry honey, no more room; I only have a hand basket, after all." Alas, this plan, although brilliant, backfired on me pretty much instantly, and I would end up carrying a full basket, plus balancing other things in various other nooks and crannies (under the arms, etc), and looking plain old ridiculous in the process. I'm sure that people walked by and thought to themselves, "Hey, why doesn't that chump just get a cart."

Fine. Now whenever I go to Wal-Mart, I go to the cart section and just get one. There's less of a stigma attached to pushing a less-than-full cart than there is attached to carrying an over-laden hand basket.

After the Wal-Mart trip, we needed to eat, and I'm sad to say that we fell victim to clever marketing and ate at the McDonald's within Wal-Mart. That's great--two things that are bad for you in one place: shopping and greasy food. Sweet. We did, however, redeem our McDonald's experience with the obligatory Starbucks visit. Good times. They're clearing out a bunch of their fall stuff--you can get some pretty good coffee for really cheap. All I'm saying is that Christmas is coming, and, well, I like coffee.

Then onto the groceries. Yuck. If Wal-Mart is an automatic $100, hitting Superstore is an automatic $300. Today's bill was higher, simply because we were stocking up on expensive baby needs (diapers, formula, etc), all of which cost exorbitant amounts of money. Baby stuff alone was almost half our total bill. Oy. Who needs diapers, anyway? Nudism is really making a comeback (especially in Three Hills in the winter. Hmm, I may need to re-think that).

As the famous sidekick would say, "Holy abrupt endings, Batman!" Time to go. Theo's just started to throw the biggest fit of his life. Did I mention he's teething? Gross. I'll tell you more about it on his blog, and probably in here, but that's for later (read: no new posting on Theo's blog tonight). See you all then.