Crossing over

In November I will be going to the States 4 different times - ridiculous. We have a 90th birthday to go to for one of Paul's family members, then a trip to Texas (flights in and out of Seattle), Black Friday Shopping with some lovely ladies and a trip with a girlfriend for the day to prep for a baby shower. Because of this ridiculous amount of USA trips I thought it would be a good plan to spend a couple months before that using up our food stock that we already have - making sure we're actually eating everything we have on hand. So we went one final time in August and then entered operation "eat through the freezer and pantry." It's been going well. This doesn't change my grocery budget, we're eating through the stockpile of non-perishables but I still need to purchase the produce and such. We are doing well at going through the meats and canned goods - but we keep running out of milk and eggs and cheese, sadly. 

As September marched on I was thankful that Paul's mom was around and taking a day trip to Bellingham, so she was able to get us stocked back up again for milk and eggs and cheese. Then we ended up in Point Roberts for gas and milk and eggs last week - another helpful time. And yesterday I got a text from Paul's sister asking to pop over to get something she needed - well that worked perfectly as we were super low on cheese again, and our canned corn and diced tomatoes - those are all non-negotiables. Also our current housemates go through TONS of milk and eggs, so those were getting low already. With two more weeks until trip number 1, this was a helpful little trip!

Paul was heading off for hunting yesterday and was leaving from Surrey with his Dad, so he left our car at a skytrain station for me to pick up (he couldn't skytrain out himself with hunting equipment since weapons are involved). Thankfully Katie had texted me around noon to ask about a trip to the states and Paul was at home when I called getting ready to head out, so he grabbed my passport and hid it in the car for me. That meant I could leave work at the end of the day, head to my doctors apt (heard the heartbeat, woot woot!) and then head straight out to surrey, rather than needing to stop at home via bus to get the passport, which would have been a pain. So Katie met me on the B Line to the Skytrain, then we transitted out together and hopped in the car to battle the Surrey after work traffic. We got to the truck crossing border and only had to wait about 8 minutes to get through, which is always a nice treat. A 20 minute drive to Bellingham and we were sitting down for a Mexican Dinner by 7pm. Pretty decent for leaving my doctors near downtown Vancouver at 5pm, dealing with an hour's worth of transit, a 30 minute drive to the border, and a 20 minute drive past the border! 

Then it was off to Costco, Walgreens & WinCo. I had to restrain myself and only get the things I really needed. This wasn't a bulk shopping day - this is replacing only what I would have to buy in Canada for more. So milk, cheese, eggs and breads came into the cart, but no chicken or turkey - so hard! I did stock up on Rotel, canned Corn and diced tomatoes - we eat through those like crazy - in all types of meals! And of course while we were at WinCo I splurged on Coffee Creamers (which we were out of and are way cheaper and better in the states) and Dill Rye bread (for the house, to increase my popularity). 

All in all we were gassing up and leaving Bellingham by 9am (2 hours for dinner & three stores!). When we hit the Peace Arch crossing we didn't even have to wait for one car. There were four lanes open, three lanes had 2-3 cars in them but one lane was totally empty. We popped in there, declared our goods and were on our way immediately. I dropped Katie off, dropped food off at Jenna's and made it home by 10pm. 

On top of a productive night, it was a fun night! I so thoroughly enjoyed my time with Katie - I'm so thankful to have a Sister-in-law who was my friend before I started dating Paul. We can have fun and silly conversations, as well as deeper conversations. What a great time it was to talk and connect and enjoy an adventure together. Katie never complains and is a rad sidekick, as well as helper. I'm so glad we got to spend the evening together!!

And now for the "roommate shout out" portion of this blog. 
1. A shout out to Sam. I put this meal in the crockpot but still needed someone to cook rice & mix and serve. Sam did all of that happily. It is such a relief to have someone at home who will happily pull together the crockpot dinners I start! This meant I didn't have to come home in between!
2. A shout out to Mattias & Duncan. I got home at 10pm, and I asked for their help to load all the groceries in. They immediately jumped to help without grumbling one bit! I was so thankful. They are rockstars. My sore back thanked them. 
3. A shout out to Duncan. When I got home Duncan was just finishing putting away the leftovers into lunches, meaning I didn't have to make lunches!!!! D-Dawg, you are the bomb. Such good news to receive when so tired. 

And now back to life - it's my Friday (three day work week, what up!) and tonight I FINALLY get to see my sweet nephews whom I miss so much. And my sister, but thankfully I've seen her more recently than I've seen them. Tomorrow I get to visit a lovely friend, Emily, and her sweet baby and have two nights of fun friend time lined up. Great weekend indeed! Lets see if I even have time to miss Paul!!