Alberta Trip - Part 4

Ok, just to warn you, I looked through my pics again and there might be more than 1 or 2 more posts. I just can't leave any out, but I'll try to post them all soon. :)

I have to dedicate this post to my Mom. She is so cute. She had no idea that I took these pictures, but she'll soon find out. Hi Mom! :) My Mom should never, I repeat, NEVER, have chapped lips. She must have stock in chapstick that I don't know about. It's everywhere in her house. Shall we take a tour?

Top left: beside the computer

Top right: on the kitchen table (there's 2, maybe 3 in there)

Bottom left: in the cutlery drawer

Bottom right: on the kitchen counter (2 there)

Top left: in the junk drawer by the phone (notice she put this one - all white - in with the glue sticks - this could prove disastrous)

Top right: bathroom sink (2 again)

Bottom left: bedroom dresser

Bottom right: en suite bathroom

Top left: bathroom medicine cabinet (because the 2 on the ledge in the above picture weren't enough)

Top right: en suite bathroom drawer (2 again)

Bottom left: bedside table

Bottom right: living room side table

That concludes our tour ... of the FIRST FLOOR!!! I didn't even start taking pictures of the basement or the garage or the car. Don't get me wrong, I'm just teasing her. She's so funny. Each grandkid got their own chapstick when they came because coming from Malaysia where it's incredibly humid, their whole bodies were dry all the time. Leave it to Grandma to have an extra (or 2 or 3 hundred) chapsticks laying around. haha

My Mom is also very good at recycling. Dare I say she's the QUEEN of recycling. No, not just pop cans and newspapers. EVERYTHING! If you bought deli meat at the grocery store, well, the little bag the meat came in can be washed and reused after the meat's all gone. She's got little bags hanging everywhere in her kitchen drying. Also, if you use a napkin at lunch but don't REALLY use it, you'll find this ...

Your name on it so that you can use it again next time.

Along with being the Queen of Recycling means that you must buy recycled clothes as well. Well, my Mom's got that one down pat as well. Don't get me wrong. She dresses very well and 9 out of 10 times you'd NEVER know it was from a Thrift Store. I think every clerk at every Thrift Store must know my Mom's name. She took my sister and I there and my sister found some GREAT clothes for my nieces and nephew. But just to be silly, we asked them to try these outfits on as well.

Needless to say, we had a good laugh. Side story: at the Thrift Store we found the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer and a few episodes of the first season of Bewitched. My nieces and I watched these downstairs and when I crawled onto the pull out bed between them, Sydney said to me, "You're more like a big sister than an Aunt," to which Ashtyn added, "Yeah, but a much, MUCH bigger sister." Aaaaah, kids. :)

Anyways, I would like to conclude this post with something that's not teasing my Mom (although all the stuff above is in good fun and it's what makes my Mom, my Mom, so I love all those things about her). While I was at my parents place, my Mom made some of my sister's and my favourite meals.

A good Mennonite favourite is Borscht. Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm. (side note: I purposely put that piece of bread IN the soup for my friends who can't stand soggy bread ... haha) Although Borscht is great, my favourite meal is ...

ROAST BEEF AND POTATOES (oh yeah, and some vegetables, too, if you want)!!! My Mom's roast beef is so tender that it almost melts in your mouth. Mmmmmm, I can almost smell it now. I jokingly said to her, "Is this buffalo meat?" and she said, "Actually, some of it IS buffalo, but most of it's beef." But you know what? I didn't care. It all tasted the same to me and I LOVED it all. (side note: my friends Lori and Rachel T. have made roast beef for me because they know it's my favourite meal and I love them for it. They are wonderful friends and they come in at a CLOSE second to my Mom's.)

One of my sister's favourite desserts is the chocolate pudding my Mom makes. My favourite dessert (other than Paska) is cheesecake and my Mom made it for me one night, but I was so happy that I gobbled it up and forgot to take a picture.

Thanks Mom for being so cute and taking my teasing with a grain of salt. Love you!