“…2022 is going to be a series of planned and unplanned adventures” – Me, about one post ago.
We try make the most of every weekend, with various degrees of success. This weekend was no exception. Connor took off early on Friday and we chose to complete our errands across two days in the cities. Our strategy was to complete non-perishable shopping on the first night and grab our perishables on the way back home the next day. This was our first attempt at such an endeavor and boy was it a learning experience.
As we prepared to leave, it occurred to us that Winnie the Golden Aussiepoo required supervision due to the extreme temperatures and the fact she is a spoiled house dog. We decided to drop her off as the first stop at a friends home. Next stop was an estate sale full of crafting paraphernalia. I had no idea what I was getting into, but my dream to spin wool goes back to my pre-teen days.
We arrived at the estate and reached out to the lady managing the sale. Her mother’s home was a picturesque cabin style home that felt very rustic. The house itself had been moved from Wisconsin and was relatively new in its Minnesota location. The walls screamed with character. Much to my delight, the owner was a knitter, spinner, and basket hoarder. We ended up leaving with a spinning wheel, large boxes of fiber, yarn, knitting needles, books, baskets, and so much more. I am still ecstatic over the deal I got, I haven’t gotten to go through all the boxes but can’t wait to see what they all hold.
With two successful stops complete, we headed to provide computer support to my grandparents. On the way, a friend connected me with a woman in our old town who had a tragic house fire. The woman had two female Great Pyrenees (GP) puppies which needed an immediate home. My response to her was a quick no. We could’t have a puppy right now, not in the middle of winter and definitely not two of them. Our car was already 40% full of crafting supplies and we still needed to go grocery shopping. We had talked about getting one GP puppy later in the fall, but hadn’t had a full well rounded conversation or done the required research into the breed.
When I mentioned the puppies to Connor, I fully expected him to agree with my initial thoughts. Shockingly, he was excited about the prospect of getting a great deal on a couple puppies and helping a family that was going through a hard time. This car was starting to get packed like a metaphor of my life.
We showed up to my grandparents with Papa Murphys and a car full of kiddos. They were delighted to have us, and I was delighted to have more hands to help with our brood while I texted with the puppy breeder. Praise the Lord for Papa Murphey’s; it is the only store bought meal that doesn’t make Hayden sick. We ate, Connor fixed the computers, and then we were on our way to our next stop, the hotel.
Now, when I was a kid, Eden Prairie was a nice and safe place to be. That is not how we felt this weekend when we checked got to our hotel. I went to check in and was greeted by a person in questionable dress; I wondered if we had stumbled into a “pay by the hour” hotel if you catch my drift. I’ve worked at hotels and never have I seen an employee dress code that allowed this presentation. The woman checked us in, gave me a property map, and I headed back out. I handed the map to Connor who took it, tossed it on the dash, and promptly left the parking lot. Apparently, while I was inside he saw enough sketchy activity to be uncomfortable with us staying, especially with a car filled with new crafting gear. Stop four was a bust.
We pulled into the mall parking lot to make a game plan. Option one: go home and come back tomorrow, a full 9 hours just of driving and a major delay in running our errands. Option two: try to find another hotel room at 9pm on a Friday night and hope it was better than the last. Option three: drop in unexpectedly on my sister one hour in the wrong direction and hope she had room for us all. We went with option two. I booked us at a hotel across the street from Costco, and we cautiously got unpacked.
Fortunately, this hotel was much better experience. The front desk staff were helpful and professional. They even handed out baggies of warm cookies which got the kids’ interest. We got to the room, settled the children, and I started researching the heck out of GP puppies. I mostly found positives. The only real negative was “littermate syndrome”. Not a huge deal in my opinion. From all the research I’ve done previously and the people I’ve talked to, its a training and temperament problem rather than an unchangeable genetic relation. We decided to swing by and visit the puppies after our grocery shopping the next morning. Stop 5 put us back on track.
The next day, we completed our errands promptly (another stop bites the dust) and we headed to the puppies. Every mile, I could feel the anticipation welling up inside. When we finally arrived at the home, the puppies’ mother greeted us. She was huge! As we made our way to the puppies inside the barn, we walked passed chickens, ducks, donkeys, and even a cow. This family definitely out ranked us in the “start a hobby farm” race but it was clear they loved their life and critters. It didn’t take long for us to test and claim the puppies. With two puppies and hardly any room to spare in our Ford Transit XLT, we started our journey home.
Winnie usually gets the double bench seat between Annabelle and Hayden’s carseats. With our car more full than it ever had been there was no room. She had to perch on top of the dog food and softener salt bags. She tried a couple times to climb into her spot whined since there was no room, pawed at Annabelle, and discontentedly went back to balancing atop the 40lb bags. She was not pleased. She was even less pleased to discover she was no longer our one and only fluff-ball.
2022 is definitely going to be exciting. Hopefully, we don’t later look back on this weekend with regret but rather amazement at the deals we found and amount of errands we accomplished. Check back for future posts to see how our spinning adventures and cute puppies are fitting into our homestead. The puppies names are Cotton and Fleece.
