Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K

Does anyone remember Bill and Ted's Excellent adventure?  I think I'm dating myself...

I haven't written anything in a while, so I thought this morning I would just post some of the funny things Wes & I have seen in the past month while being here.  So, to keep things in perspective here is our new home, complete with fake green grass and a little gravel our neighbor Brian gave us for helping with his TV.  (He has a gravel business, so I fondly refer to him as Gravel Brian.)  Brian comes from Salem Oregon, and traded a home for his Coach (Which has a washer/dryer unit.  Can you say jealous?).

You have to be here to see some of the campers/rigs setup in camp.  We thought we needed to purge and scale down to make sure we had plenty of room.  This gentleman must not have been able to part with his boat.  You have to keep your priorities right!

This gentleman comes into camp with everything that he needs.  Air Conditioner is Monkey Taped in... And by the insulation between the bed and the camper, we are thinking he was here for the winter also.  All I can say is Thank You Mom and Dad for helping with our camper!  I don't think my selvage collection would fit in here.

We took a road trip last weekend to Bismarck, just to see what we could see.  We stopped in a town called Garrison.  Anyone that is from MN knows there is a Garrison is the Walleye Capital of the World right?

We loved Garrison, ND.  Mr. Picky found a lovely little Malt Shop (Ye Olde Malt Shoppe), where he had a great strawberry malt.  We found out how the Garrison Residents get their hot and cold water.

We also found out where Wally the Walleye is at.  It makes you wonder if there are other Garrison's in the US that have Wally also!

And one final note.  If you are in Bismarck at their local campground, and you find you need to throw something away, you might need to grab your folding ladder first.

"BOOM" - "POW" - "KABLAM"

According to Urbanspoon, there are 245 Restaurants in the Fargo area.  We just spent five days in Fargo, ND, where we wondered what we would do at the Lindenwood Campground.  Well, we spent some time eating at a couple different restaurants.  Mr. Picky, however didn't really branch out much, and honestly looking back my obsession to eat Japanese beat me. Out of the 245 Restaurants in the Fargo area, Mr. Picky at at 5 Guys Burgers twice while in town; I however at at the following.  "Drunken Noodle" -- Chicken Yakisoba and California Roll.  "HuHot Mongolian Grill" -- One make your own bowl and egg rolls to go.  "101 Sushi Bar" -- Nothing, I wasn't served after standing in the reception area for over 5 minutes.  However, I have eaten here several times, and I loved it.  "Samurai Asian Fusion Cuisine & Sushi Bar" -- Chicken Yakisoba, California Roll, and a Philly Roll.  What I take from these places.  HuHot was great!  If I was going for the Chicken Yakisoba, I would go back over and over to the Drunken Noodle, but for the Sushi Rolls, I would go to the Samurai.  I wouldn't however order the Yakisoba there, it really was fishy tasting, not sure why you would put fish flavor in Chicken Yakisoba, but it was there.  

Now Smash Burger on the other had been frekin amazing!!!  Mr. Picky woke up this morning wanting a Strawberry Malt.  We drove across town and wanted to eat at the Krolls, which is like the 371 Diner in Brainerd.  But, upon arriving we discovered there would be a 15 minute wait to be seated.  So, we did a search on our IPhone for Malts in Fargo, ND.  Smash Burger was on the list.  I wasn't sure how Mr. Picky would be able to handle the new environment, but the service was amazing!!  After his first bite, he was hooked!!  First came the Haagen-Daz Strawberry Malt.. I thought he would lose it!  The look in his face and the sounds out of his mouth... Well, I have to stop there if I need to keep it "G" rated and then came his BBQ, Bacon Cheese Burger.  He asked for the BBQ Sauce on the Side, it came with Applewood Smoked Bacon, Cheddar Cheese on an Egg Bun.  Mr. Picky wasn't sure about the Haystack Onions that were supposed to be on the burger also, so I had them put it on the side and give him an order of plain fries on the side.  He loved it!!!  We might have to drive to Fargo just to feed Mr. Picky another Smash Burger!!!  Such a wonderful place to eat!

One very exciting and fun event that we had been waiting for all week was to go to the Rusty Ramirez Permit to Carry class in Fargo.  I have to admit my nerves overcame me when we were standing in line waiting to go down to the class.  We almost walked out. Correct that, we walked out; talked it over; walked back in.  There was an instructor named Dan that took extra time during the breaks and lunch to just go over the hand guns.  After the book smart part was finished, we were able to shoot our guns for the first time!  I was nervous, but after the first round, it was AWESOME!!  I wanted to shoot the whole box up!  I'm proud to say I'm able to carry a hand gun.  But, until I'm comfortable I'll just keep it in the case.

People are Strange!

Yesterday was Laundry Day….  Step one; call to make sure there is internet access!  Step two; get the clothes in the washer.  Step three; don’t talk to the attendant!!  Man, people will tell you anything.   Our attendant does Zumba, and actually I’m not sure what else, I was zoning her out, I apologize to those of you that were interested in what she was saying.  I think Wes might be able to tell you, she was fascinated with talking to him.

Yesterday was also the first day of using the 6 Gal. water heater to take a shower.  OK. First of all a fat girl in a small shower is a sight to be seen… OK. Maybe not, but the point being, here is how the ordeal went down.  Turn the shower on, jump in, get your hair wet, and shut the water off.  Lather up, turn the shower on and rinse… then repeat this step with each part of your body…  Two things I took away from the experience.  The water heater needs to be bigger and I need to be smaller! 

Wes' experience this morning was very comical, or at least I thought it was comical!  First he ran out of water, then out of hot water.  If you have ever had someone flush the toilet when you are taking a warm shower you know the sound that comes out of your mouth.  Listening to him with the high pitched squeal made me laugh.  Is that wrong to laugh and your husband?   Heck no!!  I have to give him credit; I would have been swearing like a sailor in there!  There were no obscenities being shared; only the high pitched squeal!  LOL!

We also moved the camper yesterday from our original spot to a side spot, trying to get a better signal for the TV…  This doesn’t exist even in the new spot.  I’m sure that the people camping in the area around us were laughing, as we were climbing up the ladder, placing the dish on the slide out (not sure if this is really safe in the ND wind), then talking on the walkie-talkies back and forth talking to each other rather or not there was a signal.  Nothing worked.  But, we do have a beautiful view!

I’m currently in LOVE with a program called KCRW Stranger’s.  If you’re not familiar with this program, you so have to listen to it!  I started listening to this with Tune In Radio on my IPhone, when I was traveling from Bemidji to Fargo.  I cried, I laughed, I thought I would pee my pants!  You need to give this a try!  We seem to be ending our nights sitting in our camper with no TV listening to the “Radio” with the stories of KCRW Stranger’s…   Loving it! 

I’m not sure what we have on our agenda for today.  I know I have to go find a post office, and a piece of card stock.  Exciting right!  I’m starting my day out with a new bowl of Steel Oats.  I’m calling the Elvis.

¼ C Steel Oats

2 t Milled Chia

1 T Chocolate PB2

1 pkg Apple Banana GoGo Squeez

1  ½ c Almond milk

1 t Chinese Five Spice

1 t vanilla

2 bananas

Pretty good.  I put some milk and fresh bananas in it this morning.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t put lipstick on a pig with the oatmeal.  Once it has cooked all night, it just doesn’t look appealing.   

BUG OUT!!!

This totally reminds me of  M*A*S*H!  We are bugging out today to head to Fargo.  First stop to Minot!

Everything is getting broken down and placed in their spots to travel.  TV, laptops, water cooler (yes.. .Water Cooler) all go in the white truck.  Heavier items are getting moved to the front of the camper into the bedroom to spread the weight out a little.  Hopefully everything will ride O.K.  We will soon find out!  Dyson's will be tucked away next to the fabric for a softer ride.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped us in the past 60 days!  I couldn't have broken my shop down without the help of Adam!  If you know anyone out there that needs a hard worker with a great sense of humor, please get in touch with Adam!!  I wish I could take him with me, but Wes told me no.

Everyone that helped with the Garage Sales... The Fabric Sales...  Those with the ability to assist me in keeping my wits when getting rid of all the crap.  Thank you Waste Management for not complaining about the garbage on the curb for our last hurrah...  (I really should have taken a photo of it!)  Thank you to the Barnett's for taking the cats in!  They sound like they are settling in wonderfully!  

So this was the start of the blog yesterday before we left...  We bugged out!  Wes went to Fargo, I went to Bemidji.  We talked the night before we left about staying at the Wal-Mart parking lot.  Wes found out Fargo has four Wal-Mart's!  LOL!  He went to two, the second one he set the camper up in the back.

Here was the choice...  KOA $40 a night, Wal-Mart Free...  But, we opted for another option, the Lindenwood Park $27 a night.  This is where my Parents suggested we stay. For four nights, it's the same price as a hotel room!  Wes had the pleasure of discovering there are 19 stop lights and 5 stop signs between Walmart and the Park...  4.3 Miles, which took him an hour.  I think my ears would have been bleeding if I was in the truck with him!

Good Morning To You! Good Morning To You!

Well, Good Morning World or in Binary 01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01001101 01101111 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010111 01101111 01110010 01101100 01100100...

It's been several days since I was on here. Our K-bid auction is over and the items are picked up.  We have everything out of the house; final garage sale was done last weekend.  Thank you, Dawn and Chad for coming over to help.  That was something special!  LOL!  Ok.  People out there, can you tell me why people must give their opinion when no one is asking?  Here is how our final garage sale worked...  Wes was in charge of the 'Make an Offer' tables and I was in charge of the final lot of quilting stuff.  I have to give kudos to Weston!  He has the patience of the world with selling stuff.  Me on the other hand...  I think the F word came out about ten thousand times.  Dawn was saying 'Find your Zen... Find your Zen..'  Someone offered me a quarter for a 15 dollar item.  I said, I would take a dollar, they said you’re asking too much for it.  I said, you can't buy it at the store for a dollar and you can't buy it here for a dollar either.  Let’s just say, I lost the sale.  Wes took $0.50 for it later in the day. LOL!   By the end of the day, Dawn suggested we just set out a free table.  Brilliant!!  We moved all the crap.. .Yes people crap...  to two tables sat on our duffs next to the camper and watched the fun begin!  

My cats have found a new home at Todd and Theresa's last night.  I can't thank them enough for taking them in!  Where we are going, only allows leashed pets.  I'm so sad to see them go!  We picked them up for the local shelter seven years ago; Friday was only a day old.  They are amazing cats!!  Carmella is a talker; chatters about everything to you.  Friday... Well, he has a little attitude problem at times, but once he falls in love with you and you‘ll have a partner for life!  They will love being out in the country getting to catch all kinds of new animals!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  For taking them in and giving them a loving home!

So the 60 days of going through our items and purging our life is over.  We should be hitting the road today to head to Fargo for a week.  Our Gun Safety class is on Saturday.  But, today there is a huge list of things that need to be taken care of.  Water, Electric, Gas, PO Box, Forward mail, Internet, Garbage, Bemidji to drop off Cene's books that were in the basement...  I'm not sure I'm going to get everything done today and actually be able to hit the road.  The other issue is that it snowed last night, and I really don't want to crawl up on a ladder and remove the snow from our slide-outs.  Maybe it will melt before the end of the day.   We really are in no rush to get anywhere.  

With nothing remaining in the house, this is where we are to reflect what we figured out in the past 60 days.  The first thing that comes to my mind is we had way to much stuff!!  We will soon find out if all the things in our home we purchased because we couldn't live without it really is the case!  What do you do with the stuff to get rid of it?  My wedding dress went to http://www.bridesacrossamerica.com/ .  Anderson Cleaners here in town will clean it and send it down to Minneapolis to be distributed!  Great program!!   Basic Clothing... We didn't sell any clothing at all in the garage sale.  We gave to the DAV in their clothing bin's here in town. The extra sheets and blankets went to a local charity called http://dorcas-cary.org/.  The extra food went to several people in town that could use it.  Garbage.. Garbage.. Garbage.  Man!  We produce an extreme about of garbage.  Tomorrow the Garbage man will be saying a few words about The Hughes Family!  But, a positive note for them... It will be the last time they need to pick up from our house.  

Today's blog wasn't very entertaining...  Our adventure is just about to begin!

Fish don't fry in the kitchen; Beans don't burn on the grill. Took a whole lotta tryin', Just to get up that hill... Queue the Jefferson here...

I don't know why, but I woke up this morning singing the Jefferson's Theme song... 

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin',
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Yesterday was just a great day all around!  We secured a place to call home at the Roughrider Campground in Minot.  YEAH!!!  


I discovered you can purchase just six eggs at the grocery store... 

I also discovered when I sold my cookbooks; my recipe for Sloppy Joe's Mr. Picky loved went also.  I don't know if I should share this or not, but I went to the cookbook section at Wal-mart and took a photo of the base I had started with.  (Should I be embarrassed at my behavior?)

Well, what was a girl supposed to do?  LOL!  Thank you Jean and Tammy for a great start.  I got close with my little of this and a little of that cooking last night, but missed the main ingredient...  Chipotle Peppers....  Mr. Picky still liked them and agreed it was a good start.  We now have a couple of bags for our freezer for the future.   


Our friends Dawn and Chad came by to bring me some yummy chicken noodle soup (I traded her some Sloppy Joe's.  Hopefully she liked them.) and to hang out for a bit!  


I was able to visit some very lovely ladies at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Hilman, MN.  We sat around and talked about what you could do with your selvages from the beautiful fabric they have in their stash.  They even fed me lunch!  How lucky was I?  

So you ask ‘What can you do with selvages of your fabric?’  I of course am obsessed with selvages... So much so I have a 64 Gallon Rubbermaid next to my chair in the camper.  When I was in my quilt room, I actually had them color coded... Reds and Pinks, Blues, Greens...  Wes would say my OCD is showing.

About three years or so ago, I found a book called 'Quilts From the Selvages Edge', by Karen Griska.  This book inspired me to make quilts out of them, along with some beautiful little bowls.  

So yesterday we discussed the process of creating a quilt out of their selvages.  You start out with a piece of muslin or a base fabric you will sew the selvages pieces to (old sheets would work), cut into squares; sewing the finished selvages edge as you continue to layer the selvages to cover your square. Here is some that I put together the night before for examples.

We also discussed how to make cloth bowls with these gorgeous little pieces of fabric we would typically throw away.

They are now looking at selvages in a whole new way!  They suggested I take my act on the road and visit other quilt groups to discuss the different methods I use when creating my quilts.  I think that would just be a hoot!!  You never know, you might just see me pop up in your area soon.  Here are a couple of quilts that I've created as another example.

This is one that I placed on the back of a quilt.

The moral of my story today... Don't throw your selvages away!  Cherish your friends!  Keep your recipes close at hand!  Only purchase the amount of eggs that will fit in your fridge!  And keep singing!!  Life is too short!

Too much to do... Sooo little time!

Today is the viewing day of our stuff on K-Bid. I need to get up and get moving.  I need to clean the oven, dishwasher, and fridge....  Clean up downstairs around the washer and dryer.  Clean the bottled water container out.  We have purchased a 'Zero Water' water treatment to take on the road.  (Then we will always have clean drinking water.)  Today is garbage day, so that will need to be addressed (I'm thinking we will need to take a garbage can with us on the trip.) ....  I have also committed to go to a quilt guild tomorrow to show how I make my selvage quilts.  That however will be my play time!  More on that tomorrow.

I made some carrot cake oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  Yummo!  That I found out my picky eater will eat  oatmeal. Yes, to everyone that knows my husband, he will eat oatmeal.  Here is what I did

• 1/2 C Steel Oats
• 1 T  Brown Sugar
• 1 can Coconut milk
• 1 T Chinese 5 Spice
• 1 t Vanilla Extract
• 1 t Almond Extract
• 2 Carrots finally shredded
• 2 T milled Chia seeds
• 1/4 C Walnuts
• 2 Pkgs GoGo Squeez Apple Cinnamon applesauce

Spray Crock Pot generously with cooking spray!  I put a crockpot liner in mine and spray that also. Everything goes into a 2 Qt Crock Pot and cook overnight.  Wes said it spelled like I was making cookies this morning.  I don't think the photo will do it justice.  I did need to add a little more sweetener to it.  I didn't like the Walnuts, but I only add them due to the picky eater.  

Nope... Photo doesn't look really appetizing...  I'll have to try sprucing it up a little next time before taking the photo.  You can freeze this, or eat it the rest of the week out of the fridge.  I have limited freezer and fridge space, so this should be pretty interesting.

Yes, that is a hard drive in my freezer! And Yes, that is a box of beer taking up the majority of the space in the bottom of my fridge!  I haven't quite moved into my fridge yet.  But, today is the day.

OK... Enough of this for today, I need to get to work.  I hope everyone has a great day!  And if you're bored, you can always drop my place to help clean up!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

So what do you do if you find that you have just lost your job, can't afford to live in the house you purchased, and all seems to be turned upside down?  With today's economy, our family is not the only ones experiencing this issue.  I have been asked by several people to write a blog regarding our up and coming adventure.  So, here it is...

First I'll give a little background into our life as it was 60 days ago.  My husband and I met at a software company in Minneapolis 14 years ago, and now have been married as of May 8th, 8 years.  Wes started a Computer IT business out of our home at the same time 7 years ago.  With over 700+ customers this was a very successful business.  We added a electronics recycling shop 3 years ago here in Brainerd after watching a 60 minutes episode about recycling.  This too was successful.

60 Days ago we were given notice that the people we were sharing the building with were expanding their business and wanted us out.  This is where life started to become interesting.  We had over 5000 square feet of recycling space to clear out and 700+ customers to shuffle to another contact.  We were able to sell the recycling portion of the business and 5 semi-trucks later the shop was empty.  Wes was able to hook up with another individual here in town he had been working with for over 10 years to shuffle the IT work to.

We had scheduled a visit with a customer in North Dakota a week before we were given notice, to look at what they were going to be doing with the Wind Farms in the same area as the Bakken Oil Fields in ND.  Angry, depressed, uncertain of what we were going to do with our future, we hopped in the truck and drove to Kenmare, ND.  We spent two days in that area, talking about all the possibilities we might have.  Excited we ended up getting up at 5 in the morning and started our 9 hour drive to Baxter.  Neither of us wanting to tell the other our plans on selling everything we own to move;  an hour into the drive, each of us sang like a canary to the other about what they wanted to do... ending up being the same idea.  Move to ND and start over!

On a whim, we stopped by an RV dealer and looked at campers (there is no housing at this time in ND).  We found a 31' Aspen Trail we now needed to figure out how to buy.

We started the process...  60 days, 31' camper, unknown destination....

I challenge you to go through your home and sell, trade, or give away everything you own.  This has been a long and difficult process for us.  I'm a quilter and had a hoard that would make you blush!  We are almost there.  The shop closed about two weeks ago, two quilting yard sales later we are almost ready to hit the road.  Next weekend will be our final taadaa to get rid of stuff (anyone who knows me is looking for another word there, but I'm trying to be good at least for my first post.)  The K-Bid auction ends on Friday so Saturday we will be having a final fire sale and hit the road.

What have we done to reduce our stuff?  We needed a different truck to pull the camper, so we sold our 1990 Jaguar and purchased a 1997 One Ton Dodge Truck.  My quilt room has a month of sorting and reducing.  With the help of my friend I was finally able to do this and should take photos of the space inside the camper where everything is.  Kitchen items...  I love to cook, so the choice was Kitchen Aid Mixer or Cuisinart Food Processor... The food processor won.  Kitchen Aid was sold within a week.  We placed an ad on Craig's List for the living room set and the dining room set.  A very nice gentleman from Walker purchased it all.  The oak entertainment center, 45" Samsung TV, leather couch and chair, dining room set and the little bench to hold our shoes.  I have to say I cried at this point.  There was no going back!  We had officially removed all the flat surfaces from our house in one swoop.  

We were able to purchase the camper and started filling it with the stuff that would work.  I was surprised at how nothing really fit in the cabinets.  One weekend I spent between three different stores trying to purchase organizing items for the camper and had to actually return all but two things.  Very aggravating..  But, it does make you look at items in a whole new way.  I think 3M hooks are my new best friends!  

We traded our DVD's for two hand guns at the local pawn shop. Yes, hand guns and will be taking a safety and carry class in Fargo two weeks from Sunday.  Should be interesting! 

Ok... I've got work to do to prepare for our departure this week... I'll keep posting...

We are going to be Living Like Gypsies at 40!!