BFF Y'all!

Hey y'all!
That's right...been hanging out with Americans again. Did you know that y'all is a singular usage and all y'all is the plural. I'm not sure about the grammatical ramifications here, but that's the way it is!
We are in Edmonton in a postage stamp sized lot in an RV park here. It is INSANELY small. I actually cried when I looked at it. Thank God for great neighbours who stepped up to the plate and backed the camper in for us. We were supposed to have a pull through spot but I was informed when we got here that they do not give pull through's to rigs as small as ours. That's right...32 feet is considered small here. OK. There were a host of other problems as well. I am pretty proud of myself for not actually going over the counter. It was close.
We are hanging out at Dover Court Baptist Church this week doing a VBS. Michael is in the Kindergarten class, and I am in crafts. We are so blessed to be able to work in the areas that we like the best and we did not even plan it that way...we just filled in where there was a need. I'm sure that God just knew where we needed to be and kept those classes short handed so we could help there. It is going really well.
There are actually four other couples that we have been able to visit with that we went to Seminary with: Tina and Guido; Ralph and Donna; Nathan and DinDin, and James and Betty. We have not actually seen Betty yet, but we are hoping to on Sunday. They own an African kiosk in WEM now! It is great to reconnect with some old friends and look forward to seeing others. We know for sure that we will be seeing Bob and Ali next week and my heart is leaping for joy over that. I have really missed Ali. She is one of those people that really "get" me....sad but true and I have woken up with tears on my face after dreaming of her and missing her several times over the last few years. We are also hoping to hook up with Jason and Leigh and Kelly and Jodi.
Speaking of people who "get" me... can't wait for this weekend when we get to be with Ruth and Kevin. Ruth is one of my BFF from high school and beyond! We can fight and make up faster than any other relationship I have I think and I love her love her love her! We have some special shopping to do, too!
All of this friend talk really reminds me of how much I love all of my girls! There are so many different friendships and different times in a girls life and I think that each one plays such a significant part. All the BFF's....sister, mom, high school, PA early years, PA later years, seminary, Slave Lake, hairstylist, church, and others, too! I can't wait till heaven when all of the BFF's in my life can get together and hang out for a millennium or two! We can do hair, laugh, drink coffee, laugh, cry, laugh.....I really love you and miss you all! I raise my mug to all my BFF's out there! You know who you are!

Lycra: Modern Day Miracle or Medieval Torture Device

I just blogged about 30 minutes ago, but I got dressed and now I need to add to it. I am utterly physically exhausted! Reason: SPANX. What are Spanx you ask? Well, since you must have been buried under a roc for the last two years or so, I will explain. Spanx = modern day girdle. They are a wonderful slimming invention that smash the muffin tops into submission and are pretty much guaranteed to take off a full size. However…it is a full workout to get into them.

I bought the Spanx yesterday for the wedding. I figured I should break them in today at the rehearsal. I was totally excited and woke up several times in the night thinking about how nice my new brown dress was going to look with my fancy new undergarment. They had a bucketful of “try on Spanx” in the store yesterday and it was love at first squeeze. The saleslady raved about how trim and smooth I looked. I asked her if there were any special laundering instructions and she said to hand wash but not to worry because there would be a booklet of instructions including the proper way to put them on in my package. For $45 I should hope so. However…when I got them out of the package, there was no handy booklet. Whatever…”how hard could it be” flitted through my mind. I thought back to the helpful sales lady….just roll them on, ease them up, and tuck it under your bra strap all around. That last part actually made a lot of sense to me. As a veteran control top hose wearer, I am all to familiar with the feeling akin to a roll top blind taking off uncontrollably down my belly and the blubber spillage that accompanies it, so you don’t have to tell me twice to tuck it into my bra…hats off to the woman that thought of that!

One of the defining features of the Spanx is that it gets rid of VPL (visible panty line) so I have already figured out that you don’t wear underwear with it. Fortunately, they build in a trapdoor so that when nature calls without all of the rigmarole associated with putting the crazy things on. I do feel slightly breezy and a bit like my sister at the moment though. I just know that I will end up peeing on them, too!

Back to the getting dressed. I started with my left leg as per normal. Then I started looking for the right leg. It was pressed up tight against the right. I managed to pry it away and get my leg up high enough to get it in the hole only to realize that the handy trapdoor is a tricky beast and can look amazingly like a leg hole. When I did manage to get my legs heading through the right holes I then had to manage to get the Spanx up my torso. I quickly deduced that the ones in the store had obviously been tried on by numerous other women before me. They were relatively easy to get on. These however were not. They got stuck. Really stuck. In trying to get my fingers under the un-band I think that I poked right through my tender belly skin. Eventually, I did get them up partway, but the crotch was still down around my knees and the un-band barely reached my navel. So I started inching them up. I managed to get them all the way up but they were all twisted and that was really awkward. Picture me, in my 11 inch walkway beside the bed in the camper jumping and twisting and trying to get these Chinese belly puzzles turned around…or maybe don’t. It wasn’t pretty.

Anyway, by the time I got them tucked into my bra band I could barely breathe and was so sweaty I should have headed back to the shower. Not gonna happen. Now that I am in this modern day lycra miracle I’m not sure I’m ever coming out. Cause lemme tell ya…totally smooth, at least one size smaller, no VPL and worth every grunt and dime!

Gypsies LOVE Free Internet at Campsites

What a treat! Our Saskatoon campsite has FREE WI-FI!! (What does the FI mean anyways? Mike McDonald...I know you have the answer for me!) Unfortunately, this means that Michael is totally involved with his mistress, Ms. Web again, but all in all I am happy. It is great to be able to connect again.
Speaking of our new campsite, we have learned a valuable lesson. Campsites built on major highways should be avoided! Yikes! They might as well just put them in between the lanes for all the quiet and solitude they offer. Those big trucks sound like they are going right through our living room. Trust me when I say there is not room for them to do that!
We have spent alot of time with Laura and Paul Bunyan since we got here. It has been really nice. It was good to get out of Tisdale. There is a reason that God has not sent us there to live. I am pretty sure that we would not be married anymore if we had to live that close to the in-laws. It is a real strain on a marriage...that much family togetherness! I had thought about taking the kids to the Forestry Centre today to see the Bengal Tiger, but time is getting away on us and I still need to do some more practicing. Practicing...that's a whole other ball of wax too! On Wednesday morning, my sister called me and said that the only time she could get together with the piano player for Cassie and Jerrod's wedding to practice the two songs that she is singing was at the rehearsal on Friday and she works! Then she says, "I plan to tell her that Gypsies don't work and that you can sing instead." So, long story short, the Gypsy has graduated from funeral singer to wedding singer. One song I have no problem with: Inside Your Heaven by Carrie Underwood, but the other one is "Lost In The Moment" by Big and Rich. I had never even heard the song before, but am well acquainted now! I hope that it goes OK. After the rehearsal this afternoon there is a family vs family ball game. Should be interesting. I'm not yet sure if Gypsies play ball or cheer from the sidelines. One thing I AM sure of though is that Gypsies need to avoid injury! Laura bought us a tambourine to take on The Amazing Adventure with us. Now all I need is a long flowy skirt and the hoop earrings. I guess some bells for my ankles wouldn't hurt either.
Michael thinks the fuel injectors on the truck are acting up again, so it looks like we need to go and spend some time at SMP. This is very very frustrating. It is not easy for me to hold my temper in check at moments like those. I do not enjoy being Lost In The Moment with mechanics that have already had 18 tries at fixing our truck!
So...I guess it's time to get to work. I should probably go and wash the stink off me too. The showers in this place look really nice. Especially compared to some that we have seen so far...but that is a whole other blog! Leave me a message! Gypsies miss their friends!

Tina's Private Internet Cafe

How does one injure both the front and back of their heads at the same time?

I am so glad you asked. I, of course, have an answer. While I was lying in bed this morning, listening to the rain and contemplating life, Michael made some type of smart alecky comment. Normally, being that I am so even tempered and calm, I would just let it slide, but this morning I felt particularly feisty, and I sprang into action. I should preface this by saying that about two and a half feet above our bed, there is an overhanging storage compartment, and you will begin to see why “springing” is a poor choice. Anyways, I sprang, Michael tickled me, I sat up really quickly and cracked the backside of my noggin on the overhang and then the force drove me back down to smash my forehead into one of the corners on his thick German skull. I don’t remember putting stars on the ceiling of the camper, but I sure saw them a few minutes ago. The moral of this story is that people should not pick on me before I am out of bed and have some coffee into me. I bet you thought it was something about controlling my temper and not reacting violently. You thought wrong.

Michael preached at my parents’ church yesterday. It was good. He gets better every time. He is off to speak at the Day Camp again today. The kids are going with him. He had planned to rake his mother’s yard today, but the rain is putting a bit of a damper on that. Get it….damper!

We have one week left in Tisdale. I was telling a group of people yesterday about my experience with the internet café. I did not realize that it is the place for rendezvousing after committing crime in Tisdale! Apparently, after the smarty robbed the bank a couple of years ago, that is where he met up with the getaway car. Had I known that, I would have taken a photo. If ever Tisdale comes up with a town tour, I would suggest that it be put on the list; maybe right after the giant honeybee and billboard of Brent Butt’s face. This bank robber was not actually one of the sharpest cookies in the jar. He waited till he was right in front of the security cameras in the bank and then he put on his mask. So much for anonymity.

I think that I am going to create my own internet café now. With careful deduction we have cracked the wireless internet password for a place that is close to our campground. I think that if I go to 7-11, I might be close enough to it to log on. (it won’t work from the camper.) Follow my thought process now… sev sells coffee and has a “dining in” section... I may be able to establish a network there… we are super sleuths and have cracked the elusive five character password… INTERNET CAFÉ a la Tina!

Well…that didn’t work, but I am now parked on the side of a street with a takeout coffee and a bagle… so what… my internet café is in my truck!

The internet cafe.....?

Here I sit in the internet café in Tisdale. I did not capitalize that because I use the term very loosely. I came in and asked for a hook-up and a cuppa and he pointed me to a desk facing a wall and said he had no coffee. Strangely, he did not offer to make any either. I guess by bottomless cup for $1 is topless as well.

We are nicely settled in the campground now. We did our first septic dump yesterday and there were no “RV” moments, so WHEW! We did switch campsites though. We kept blowing the breaker because we did not have an rv extension cord and the run of the mill cord does not carry enough juice to power our rig. Nice use of the camping terminology, eh!

Laura and Paul Bunyan were up here for a couple of days. He is very huggy. Grrr. And to add insult to injury, my loving sister mentioned how much I LOVE to be touched. Now I seem to have him draped on me fairly often. Oh well…I still like him.

We had some drama on our first day here. There were some people with their truck in our spot. The campground lady asked them to move and they went all early teen on her, the air was blue with cursing and they ended up leaving. They peeled out of the campsite with rocks flying and in a cloud of dust. They were also “waving” vigorously. It was nice. I felt all warm and cosy inside.

Well…as much as the wonderful coffee is tempting me to stay, I think that it is time for myself and the tisdale internet café to part ways. Keep in touch!