September 10th to 17th Friday to Friday Day 50 Count Down 6

 Okay, while this is a quick way to get caught up, I will also add that blog posting things are starting to sound the same. The countdown gets smaller and the days in the camper get higher. We are feeling the cabin fever and so are the pets. I will not deny this was probably the toughest week (8 days) for all of us in this journey.

Spats, bickering and extreme eggshell moments. It is not easy. So I have decided that it is best to highlight a few good moments and include some pictures and put these days behind us as fast as I can. 

Tom went hiking with Highway to The Bluff a trail outside of Sussex. He took some great photos, I will share below. They both had a good time. I had more creative time.

Alot of the time to break up the long days we shop in Sussex, partly because we don't have room in the fridge and we worry about spoilage. Salads freeze so easily in our little fridge.

The farmers market has been fun to visit every Friday. We buy bread, fruit, corn, and recently a rhubarb pie and some maple fudge. We buy from the same lady each week. (you know what I am like) Everything is delicious, but I am sure my pies are better, it has just been along time since I made pie. I had eaten one piece of the delicious fudge and the next morning found the rest of it unwrapped and crushed into unrecognizable bits, yeah I know which cat is responsible, I am just glad "she" didn't eat the fudge. Even though it was in bits I was able to gather it all up and I know it was for the most part all there.

A few thrift shop finds including some fake pears and cute cards with envelopes.

We went back to Saint John and traced our steps and found the camper keys at the Thai restaurant, Yay!

More salmon and Sushi for great suppers in camp. Can't see us getting tired of this anytime soon.

We took a morning tour of St. Andrews and St Stephen and ended up in St George for a fish and chip lunch. Bought 2 washboards at an Antique store in St Andrews, Only open til mid October but will for sure visit again in the spring if not sooner.

Since it was Friday again we went to the Farmers market to pick up bread and an apple pie. But our "little princess" seems to love food things wrapped in plastic. She either walked, rolled, or sat on the pie. It was still edible, the bag wasn't broken or clawed in anyway, just crushed and blended. See photo. Note to us: All food in bags must go in the cupboard or fridge.

We drove to the marsh trails beside the house, I took a few pictures while Tom walked the dogs. I can't wait until fall. I really do want to walk on the trails with Tom and the dogs but I don't have any footwear suitable for the terrain until we get the container. Not exactly good for barefoot with sandals. 

We are glad to put this week behind us. my next posts will be hopefully a little more interesting.

here are a few pics and notes.

Squashed Apple Pie

Fake pears and note cards with envelopes, thrift shop finds

 

 

 

 

St Andrews Antique finds

Belleisle Creek Marsh trails

Art Tag creations

September 8th and 9th Wednesday and Thursday Day 41 & 42 Count Down 14 & 13

Yes, another double day. Really trying to get caught up.

Wednesday I was all day on the internet blogging and Tom went to Sussex for a few things.

leftover chicken for supper (totally done with KFC)

Camp fire again tonight, and dog walking with Tom late at night ( not enough exercise for me today.) 

Thursday: less than 2 weeks to go!

I want to thank everyone for reading the blog. We love all the comments and support. You will never know just how much this has meant to us both. 

We went back to Saint John this morning to go to Costco to renew our membership. Tom bought a garden hose (on sale) for the new house (wow now that's exciting isn't it LOL) We looked at appliances at Costco and went to Home Depot the $store and stopped for Thai food for lunch. We could smell it from the parking lot and nothing else was going to beat that. Way too much food, so we will have leftovers tonight.

When we got back to camp, Tom realized that he had lost the camper keys somewhere in the day but where? We searched all over camp including where we took the garbage in the morning but no keys. Luckily we had a spare set in my purse.

While I have written about this next part in the past on FB I have new methods to share for my pounded pork cutlets. 

Pounded pork cutlets are made by slicing pork loin very thin and pounding it with the meat tenderizer until it is 2 or 3 times the size as the original piece. Then breaded and cooked in gravy. But what do you do if you don't have a meat tenderizer in the camper?

My camper method:

Slice into thin pieces, then aggressively pierce all over on both sides using 2 forks in hand. Be sure to have a small soup can on hand and wash the top of the can (ridge side) very clean and dry. Use can to again aggressively pound the pork on both sides. It works amazing and saves having to buy another tool for the camper. 

This recipe and method is the best tension relief and therapy for those testy days and the end results in a fabulous dinner. With enough leftovers for 2 days.

Here are some pics of the view from the Costco on a hill in Saint John. Its like a free ride just going up the hill. Even this view is beautiful. Pictures don't do justice. 

Then a few pics of my new pork tenderizing methods LOL it was the highlight of my day!

September 6th & 7th Monday Tuesday Day 39 & 40 Countdown 16 and 15

 Ok even I am getting a little bored and so these 2 days are combined.

Monday Laundry day in Sussex and rain rain rain.

I posted on the blog when I was able to get a connection but it was off and on all day long. Camp was quieter than usual, many had gone home for the week. Supper was leftovers. Tom ate 2 cookies. he never eats cookies unless they are made by my friend Heidi. 

That was Monday in recap.

Tuesday was a fun day! First Tom went for a haircut in Sussex, he was starting to look like a hippy LOL kidding.

Then we decided to go to Saint John. Tom hadn't been to the Refit store so I took him in to look at wooden chairs. Not to buy anything just look. We are excited to know that there are lots of options for great stuff to repurpose for our home, its exactly what we like to do.

Even though we weren't buying, I found a wooden hutch. vintage 1970's not antique. Top part has small shelves on each side with a beveled diamond glass window door in the middle and the bottom part has 2 drawers and 2 doors. OMGosh, I have to have this. If I don't buy it now it will be gone by the next day or sooner. We talked to the staff about buying and storing but they don't have room to hold it for 3 weeks. I was sick to my stomach as we left the store. We went on to a few other places and then Value Village. (after all, it was Tuesday) I found another Sari and a silk scarf and even a cool velvet picture for Tom's Cabin. But I was still haunted by that shelf.

I got back in the truck after VV and Tom just said we can pick it up and bring to camp and cover with a tarp til we get in the house. 

Can you say with me "Tom the Tarp Rope Man to the Rescue!!!!!"

Tom brought me and the dogs back to camp and then went back to pick up the shelf. I am so excited to have that for my studio. It will get painted white wash and distressed. I'm picturing jars of buttons and dodads on display. 

Though we do try, it wasn't until the shelf was wrapped and roped that we remembered to take pictures, sorry all you are getting is the wrapped up pictures. It will be more fun to unveil as a future post anyway....

It was a beautiful cool sunny day, and while Tom was gone picking up the shelf, I sat outside, mostly to keep Highway from separation barking but it gave me undivided attention to take the Sari apart seam by seam. I didn't waste any of the fabric, many times the bead work is inside the seams and can be useful bits for my journals and bead making.

We had KFC for supper (we never learn) and a campfire at night until almost 11pm.

took a few pics of our drive to Saint John

September 5th Sunday Day 38 Countdown 17

 Went to Sussex this morning to the Dollar Store to pick up a few little things we needed.

Came back to camp and had a lazy day again watching a couple movies and I worked on some art tags.

I have given myself a new mini challenge. I bought this TO DO lined paper notepad with 100 pages and my plan is to use the entire notepad for making tags. The tags start with the lined paper as the back of the tag and then I build upon that to create my designs. I'm not planning to finish all 100 while in camp but I do plan to continue until it is finished and what a great collection of tags I will have for upcoming journals. 

While some of you will look at these tags and not understand or care, LOL I do have some arty friends that will drool and may consider the same challenge for themselves. My pictures below will show both front and back of the tags I made so you get a general idea. While these tags look finished, they will still be subject to some machine stitching and adding some embellishments when I can get settled in the house and use my real supplies. It is a labour of love and makes me happy!

Supper tonight was fish and chips from the camp restaurant. We ordered 1 order and 1 piece extra of fish. More than enough and leftovers too!

Watched an old movie Double Jeopardy.  We've seen it a couple times but I like it so convinced Tom to watch it again. It's a girl power thing right? 

Some pics of my 2 tags 98 more to make!

September 4th Saturday Day 37 Countdown 18

 We went looking for a few garage sales in Sussex today and the only thing we bought was a plastic tub for new larger littler box for the cats. We have no shortage of poopers, sorry if this is too crude.

With little success in the garage sales we decided to go to St Martins. Our starting point was from Rothesay outside of Saint John. There are 2 main roads into St Martins, so choosing the further one meant that we could drive out the other way and end up back near Sussex again. What we didn't realize is that once we are in our home we can do the same thing and it is almost a perfect loop back to the house. This will be an awesome drive for anyone that comes to visit us. But bring some Gravol if you get a little queasy, the roads are crazy fun (LOL I say "Baaaa" (like a sheep) a lot when it gets a little crazy) and the scenery is magnificent!

It truly was magnificent! The drive, the ocean views, and of course, stopping for lunch. Today was the first time trying mussels. We both had a small bowl of seafood chowder and shared a big basket of mussels. Ohhhh I will have many cravings for these in the future.

I should mention that on our way to Rothesay, we stopped in a little town called Bloomfield because we saw a sign for a garage sale. We didn't find the sale but took pictures of the covered bridge (under construction) and the single lane bridge that we crossed over. Covered bridges are everywhere in this province, so beautiful and nice to see that they are up-kept.

Back at camp was leftover chicken, noodles and 0 salad. The salad froze in the fridge. I think we had too much stuff in there.

Another party in camp tonight, we didn't stay very late, we were exhausted from a busy day. Thank-you Fabian and Susan for your hospitality. (holey toledo!!! I used the washroom in their camper and it is almost as big as our entire camper LOL)

Here are a few pics from Bloomfield bridges and yummy lunch.

September 3rd Friday Day 36 Count Down 19

 Are you bored yet? LOL This is a bit boring as I share our daily life and bits with all of you. What we ate where we went, things we bought. But it is my daily recap and I am sharing with the world.

Today we went to the farmers market in town and bought a loaf of bread and some apples and pears. The bread smelt so good we had to keep watching because our dog Jack kept trying to get into the bag. The apples and pears are amazing, such a difference to buy fresh ready to eat vs store buying.

 The rain has stopped  but it is crazy windy today. We are meeting Stephanie to drop off our deposit on the house and sign the documents. It is official on paper, just the lawyer stuff to do. I find it strange that we the buyers put in an offer but don't give a deposit until after the offer has been accepted. But that is how it is done in NB.

We had time after leaving the market so stopped for a quick lunch and then went to an antique shop on #10 called Come By Chance. We met the owner Louise, a lovely lady. I chatted with her about the antique business and what sells here vs Manitoba. Bought a couple of ledgers and some postcards (another one of my weaknesses) to use for my journals. I plan to spend a whole day here by myself and go through the entire shop. Her prices are very good and she gave me a bundling price for my purchases. It was very nice to meet you Louise!

We had supper from super store, roasted chicken, potatoes and a salad. It was all good! Lots leftover for sandwiches or something tomorrow.

Another party in camp tonight at John and Lisa's, lots of fun and laughs.

September 2nd Thursday Day 35 Count Down 20

 Rain Rain Rain all from Hurricane Ida. The winds will pickup tonight. 

Tom secured everything with ropes and tarps. I call him Rope Man now. He has a collection of ropes all in a variety of bright colours and different thicknesses for different jobs. But we are waiting to see how we make out in this storm. We haven't been paying much attention to the news lately and only took note after receiving several msgs from friends and family about Ida. But we are ready! 

Tom watched 2 movies (scarey weird stuff that I dont like) while I played with paper and collage.

I made 4 lovely bird tags and worked on a few journal pages. I am limited to how much I can create with the materials I have on hand. These tags will go into a stock pile for future journals.

It was damp in the camper , everything was damp even my paper was a little limp to work with.

Supper was indoors, teriyaki chicken (Box of Lou's) with potatoes. The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful as we ride out the storm.

 Pictures of my bird tags. We have a tarp strung like an umbrella over the picnic table to keep some of the stuff outdoors dry. It is also a great place to photo items out of the rain or direct sunlight. The colours are very vibrant on these tags. 

September 1st Wednesday Day 34 Count Down 21

 September 1st? Wow, that sure seems like a long time ago since July 30 when we hit the road.

Today feeling a little cabin fever, we took to the open road and went to Alma. Our plan was to visit the shops and have a nice lunch there. Well, that didn't happen.....When we got to Alma they were having a power outage for already over an hour and no sign of power for at least a couple more hours. 

We ended up back at Sussex and went to a restaurant there called Knocks Restaurant. Omgosh the food was amazing! Large portions and very good food. Tom had a pita and I had a Greek panini. Only drawback was that we got there at 2:30 and they close at 3:00 so felt a little bit rushed. They were accommodating and waited for us, but anyone in retail knows that when the time is up and we have done our days work, we all want to get out of there and go home right? We will definitely go back but at an earlier time. Thank-you to the lovely staff for your service and for your patience! 

Back at camp for a quiet evening.

"Auntie Angela" brought the cats a treat bag from where she works. Freeze dried beef hearts cat treats....ummmm yum?

2 cats were "NAY" and 2 cats were "YAY" but they all waited on the bed for the bag to open.  Our dogs Jack and Highway also got some tasters and they say bring it on Auntie Ange!

August 31st Tuesday Day 33 - Count Down 22

 If you look at the title of this post, not only am I adding up the days in the camper (currently 33) I am also including a countdown until we can get into the house.  Yes, 22 more days in the tin can. I can't imagine what it will be like to walk in a straight line instead of constantly shuffling sideways through the camper.

While we will be out of camp, we will sure miss our new friends from camp. And we will still be sleeping in the camper for a few days until we get our container of stuff and can unpack the beds.

Today I went to Saint John by myself. I had an excuse with a hidden agenda LOL. I really want to get used to traveling the highway myself and learning where things are. As for the hidden agenda...It is 30% off at Value Village for seniors Day Whooooo hoooo! While I am not a senior I do qualify based on their age calculations and certainly take advantage of it any time I can.

I had seen a couple of things when we were there on Sunday and decided to wait til today and get the 30% off. SCORE!!!

I picked up 2 globes and a lovely Sari that I will take apart for a journal or 2. 

The globes will also be taken off the stands and I plan to hang many of them in a staggered collection from the ceiling in our living room/dining area. I may even turn a couple of them into hanging lamp shades. (look on Pinterest for globe lamp shades). Still undecided about the shades, but with the ones I already have and these 2 that I have added to my collection I am off to a good start! As for the stands the globes come on, they wont go to waste. I have an idea for that too. Stay tuned!

Then I stopped at the Refit store. OMGosh, so different from the one in Winnipeg. They have households and tons of furniture. Tom will build me a distressed wood dining room table as soon as he can and my plan is to buy10-12 (all different) wooden chairs and paint them the same colour to match the table. Then it will be to figure out chair cushions, but that is still down the road. They have loads of chairs and prices are amazing! I didn't buy any, LOL have to wait. But I did find several jewelry pieces to take apart for arting, and a set of note cards with envelopes theme Pride and Prejudice. I will use some in my journals someday.

And to those who know me, I am missing my dear friend Joe Labelle. Today is his birthday August 31st. I sent him a text message and as usual, Joe is a man of few words. He replied with a thumbs up and a smiley face. That made me smile too. If any of my gal pals and friends see him, please give him a big hug for me. I sure miss his daily visits at the shop.

Supper was fast and easy today, hotdogs and lattice chips. I thought by now I would be done for the year with hotdogs, but honestly I would do that supper again even soon.

We watched a movie on netflix to end our day. Title: Woman in the Window I would give 4 stars for this one. 

Pics below are of the lovely teal and gold threads Sari I picked up. It wasn't easy taking the photo, very windy. The globes are already stuffed in the car. I can't seem to stop picking up stuff and I can always find a place to squeeze it in. When I unpack, there will be many pictures of items that I haven't shown you only because it got packed before I thought of taking pictures.

August 30th Monday Day 32

 We went to the house today to meet with the home inspector to review his report. He also took care of the water test for us.

The house is only 8 years old and all is in good shape. There are a few little things to fix but most will be for our personal preferences. Like painting and building a wall for my studio in the basement. Then there will be the big job of hiring a contractor to build us a deck, (Boy do we ever miss Jake now! ) and some electrical changes.

We do need a fridge and stove, they have left us theirs in our offer conditions but the stove (a glass top) has seen better days and the appliances are black. After having a black stove for 25 years I prefer to have white, it made me crazy with finger prints and dust every time the sun would shine on it. Not fond of stainless steel either for the same reasons. Just plain old white. I am even getting a stove with elements. Call me old fashion but that is what I like and want. The old fridge will go downstairs as an extra fridge and we will sell the stove. 

As much as I want to show you pictures, I can't until we get possession. This is for privacy of the current owners and because I am writing all of this on a very public blog. I would need written permission to use the pictures from the realtor that took them. I just as soon wait until I have my own pictures to show you. There is a public video, but I imagine that will come down soon so not linking that either because of respect and the fact that I would have to come back and edit this post for revised links. If you really want to see the inside of the house, just send me a private message through fb and I will be happy to send you the link to the video. When we are in possession, I will do a full video and photo shoot for all to see publicly. We will be making lots of changes as far as colours and decorating and I will share all of that with you as we go along.

We then met with insurance to get that in motion, sheesh things are different here (more to come) but all is good and prices are about 20% less than Manitoba. While we don't have to do our auto insurance right away, that will be yet another feat to accomplish.

After all of that we were back in camp early so Tom went foraging. 

In his hikes with the dogs he found sort of a campers' supplies graveyard LOL. It's a huge pile of stuff that ppl just have piled up in one area of the "back 40" made up of leftover bits and pieces. There are some sheds, piles of half done projects, piles of pallets (yep Tom is happy!) He found this very large pallet and came back to get the truck to haul it out of there. While we have no intentions of taking it with us, it is the perfect size for a deck for the camper. 

You have to know that we have to "keep up with the Jones" right? 

Almost all of the campers here have huge decks with railings and roofs. So based on the size of our tiny camper, this pallet will do the job. Tom spent some of the afternoon leveling the paller deck and the camper. So much easier to get in and out of the camper now and keeps some of the dirt from getting in the camper. I'm thinking we are the envy of the neighborhood now, ;p ! UPDATE: Turns out the pallet belongs to John and Lisa LOL but they are okay with us using it. Thanks John and Lisa!

We may have shown you pictures of the deck already but today was the day it actually happened. Sometimes I get ahead of my postings a little bit.

August 29th Sunday Day 31

 Today is a resting day. After a week of crazy emotions and anxiety, it was nice to just relax and think about what is to come. 24 more days til we can be in our house.

The weather is cooler today, many of the campers have gone home for the week and it is quiet.

We did go to Saint John for a drive and to buy a few groceries. It was fun to check out the area for future shopping.

Sussex vs. Saint John

For starters, size. Saint John is a city and of course no shortage of concrete and hustle and bustle of people. It is a very pretty city with lots of interesting houses, and building some most likely dating back to the beginning of the town. Many grand houses that have been restored, 3 story homes, the tales and history must be fascinating. Definitely need more time to explore as a tourist. Maybe next spring when friends and family start coming to visit. 

There is an area that is right along the ocean that is probably another tourist trap. We couldn't get close, there was a lot of construction on the streets and we didn't want to park too far away because of the dogs. Another time.

The shopping on Rothesay Street is pretty much the same as any large city. All of the big box stores and super centres. One stop shopping in probably a 4-6 block radius. I'm not sure as of yet whether this is the hub of shopping or if there is a similar grouping in another part of the city. We have yet to explore the city to the fullest yet. 

But they have a Value Village, a Michael's and an amazing Refit store. Can you see me smiling? Saint John is approx 40 minutes from where we will live. (Back home, that is closer than Steinbach)

Sussex on the other hand also has pretty much everything we need. Walmart isn't a super centre but I really love the Atlantic Superstores. Prices are better than Manitoba and service is amazing. Yes, can you imagine a Super store employee that bags your groceries and wishes you a good day? Well it is so in the Maritimes, (time to up your game Manitoba Superstores) 

Walking down Main Street of Sussex gives you the feeling of home. The shop owners make you feel like you have know them forever. I know I will have many lasting friendships with people I have met. Lots of antiques and a couple of good thrift shops. yeah I am smiling again! Still lots to explore off of the Main strip. I will share as I go along. Sussex will only be approx 20 minutes from our new home. I will most likely spend the most time in this town.

Something else I have noticed in New Brunswick, you don't have to pay for shopping carts. Yes of course you get it back, but it is so nice to not have to dig for a loonie every time you want to shop.

Supper tonight was fresh Atlantic Salmon on the BBQ, ohhh my gosh it was like butter....

After supper we had a very nice fire and sat outside til late in the evening, it was a very calming end to the day. In fact we made a 30 second video and we will put on a loop so that we can watch the fire just like the yule log. I will post when I make the video. For now you just get a couple of pictures.

Today I am grateful for Tom and I having met Stephanie Wilkins, she has certainly restored our faith in realtors. And grateful to fisherman that fish for Salmon, ohhh it is sooo good! Can't wait for more!