States we've Traveled

States we've Traveled

Tribute to Ms Southwind

Tribute to Ms Southwind

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Shopping with a sting!

I woke up Saturday to a beautiful morning. I took the dogs for a walk. Yes i walked 5 dogs yesterday. Lexi was the first one as she is very hyper and pulls so she has to be walked by herself. Then i walked Dolly, Duke and Lucy at the same time. Dixie isn’t able to go on walks yet again. She can walk enough to get to the door and once you carry her outside she can walk to go potty and back to the door. Then i went to Ms. Brenda’s and walked her dog Peppy and feed and watered the bird.

By the time i got my mile walk in i was hot and sweating! I showered and got dressed for my lunch date. It was a great meal and after lunch it was time to do the dreaded weekend deeds. Yes, grocery shopping. Dollar Tree and Save – A- Lot on on the way home so those 2 places were visited first. Ughhh here is what i got for my dollars ……

3 - Bath tissue … 3.00

2 - spot shot carpet cleaner … 2.00

Pine Sol … 1.00

Potpourri carpet spray … 1.00

air freshener … 1.00

the works – toilet cleaner … 1.00

draino … 1.00

2 - flower seeds … 2.00

b’day card for my dad … 1.00

oven/grill cleaner … 1.00

fabric softener … 1.00

A total with taxes ……..$15.52

Save – A- lot took even more of my money! Dang it’s amazing how just a few things can up add so quickly. Although last week i spent $50 bucks at Save – A- Lot alone so i guess i should be happy this week bill was a bit cheaper.

Here is what i got for my dollars ..

Bananas … 53

2 – Beets … 1.18

frozen veggie mix … 1.19

chicken broth …. 49

Bugles … 99 Celery … 1.39

Chili Beans … 59

2-chicken & rice … 1.38

6-jell-o … 1.98

chicken bouillon … 1.19

4-cream of mushroom soup … 1.96

corn chips … 1.19 croutons … 99

frosty flakes cereal … 1.99

imitation bacon bits …. 1.29

Ranch dressing … 1.18

Lemon Lime soda … 69

mushrooms … 99

frozen peas … 99

raison bran cereal … 1.79

rocky road ice cream … 2.29

2-graham cracker crust … 1.98

2-whip topping … 1.98

A Total with tax …… $36.26

After coming back to Ms. Southwind and putting those few items away in no time it was then time to load up my laundry and get it done for the week. I spent $5.00 on 2 loads of laundry.

After resting a bit … i finally decided to finish my day by going to Wal-mart and getting that dreaded deed done. Wal-mart here is always packed unless you go extremely late when I'm normally sleeping.

Here is what I got for my dollars at Wal-mart …..

Dog food …. 10.00

2 – D Batteries … 1.88

Bottle caps candy … 1.00

Dog Leash … 12.24

marsh mellow treats … 1.62

Nestea Tea … 2.53

Raspberry Drink Mix …. 1.76

Apple Tea Mix … 1.76

Memory foam Mattress … 92.88

Brita Filter … 16.96

3 – Camper Bulbs … 8.01

A total of …….. $161.19

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A grand Total of $212.97 Ouch!!!!

I decided my back and butt couldn’t take it any longer sitting at the dinette set & couch. Being Ms. Southwind is only a young 22 yrs old the cushions are pretty much wore out! So i bit the bullet and finally gave in and purchased a memory foam mattress, cut it to fit and man the difference it makes. Eventually i want to get material and redo them. For now i have sheet & Towel over them to hide the new addition. I’m hoping this summer to take down my pleated shades and replace them, plus I'd like to redo the valances & curtains through out Ms. Southwind.

By the time i got all the dreaded deeds done, the temps were starting to change big time. The wind had been blowing somewhat through the day, but nothing strong. Wow the temps had dropped fast and it was a bit on the chilly side. I had wished I'd of brought me a jacket. It’s definitely not T-shirt weather now. Finally it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Night all

Friday, February 27, 2009

Meeting Bernie & Mar!

The day weather has been great with temps in the high 60’s – low 70’s.  The evening it’s gets a bit cool and the shorts and t-shirts have to be changed for pants and a jacket.  I have been taking lots of walks.  Today i walked a total of 3 miles!  Of course that was a little here and a little there.  The dogs are enjoying these beautiful days as much as i am.  Although i do need to start working on a tan.

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Tonight i got to meet the team of La Casita Bella ! (click this link to visit their blog)

I have followed Bernie & Mar’s blog since their journey began.  They are in the area and  I had emailed Mar to tell her I'd love to meet them when they got to Biloxi.  I received an e-mail from Mar telling me they were at the Ocean in front of a Casino.  I had a feeling i knew right where they were.  I tried calling but no answer so i decided i would go look for them.  Bernie called me a bit later and I told her i was Hard Rock, turns out they were on their way to a store that was not even a mile from where Ms. Southwind is parked.  So we headed to the shopping mall they were going to and ended up being right behind them.

We chatted and it was great to meet them.  I’m sure they think I'm such a ding bat and of course i am … hehe

Unfortunately they had to go inside the store and we didn’t have more time.  Hopefully we can meet again another day.

Meeting them just made my day and it was such a pleasure so if you ever get a chance to meet them, make sure you do, they are both great!

Hope your all having a great evening and until next time ……

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Fat Tuesday

Happy Fat Tuesday or is that Happy Mardi Gras? 

Today has been just beautiful.  The 001temps are perfect!  There is a nice breeze blowing fresh air inside of Ms. Southwind.  We love having the doors and windows open while fresh airs blows through.003

 

 

 

 

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I took the dogs on a walk earlier and they loved it.   It was a great afternoon for a walk. 

 

I had never celebrated Fat 006Tuesday before.  Since I'm in the south and it’s a big deal around here.  I went to a evening parade.  Today is the last day of Mardi gras.  I have really enjoyed the parades.  I’ve been to 3 of them now and all three were great! 

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This float here was my favorite!  It’s a old motor home turned into a float.  Pretty neat huh?

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 021I had noticed that all the parades i had been to some of them had commodes/out houses on them.  So curious mind that i have and my no fear of strangers i asked a gentle men and he laughed and said they were on the floats for exactly what they were.  To use the restroom for those on the floats.  Hmmm it was interesting and it cured the 022wondering mind.  In all the years of seeing parades, i had never ever seen this before.

 

 

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This truck was pulling the big bee, I'm not sure what the bee represented but it was a cut bee and the looked to be an old army truck?024

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I was so surprised how much trash was left over from the parade.  It seems no matter what state you go to people just don’t care about the beauty of our country.

 029It seems liter is where ever you go.  Looks like the city workers will have tons of work in cleaning us this mess.  The workers were already working to take down the fence.  It was a nice parade and the perfect touch to a wonderful evening.  

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After the parade i went back to Ms. Southwind and did some relaxing and was in bed before 9 pm.  Yes, i know i have been going to bed extremely early for me. 

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Maybe it’s the beautiful weather and spending lots of time outside enjoying it?

Hope you all had a wonderful day and until next time!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

It’s been chilly here

Thursday started out to be a chilly morning and by afternoon the sun was shining and it was very nice.  A afternoon walk was taken. 

Friday was a chilly lazy day all day long.  I just couldn’t get motivated and spent my entire day inside of Ms. Southwind. I spent the day and evening curled up reading a good romance book.  I finished the book around 11.30 pm shut off my light and it was lights out.  Yes, i read an entire romance book in one day … hey i don’t want to hear it … I'm living a life of vagabond and freedom to do what i want when i want … yes i know all you working people are so jealous … hehe

Saturday ended up being a busy day,  it’s been a bit nippy here and very windy.  Several errands were ran and in doing so i noticed lots of people out and police cars and police men on the streets with fences.  I had thought the parade was at 7 pm, but i had the wrong day!  It was in fact at 2 pm!  Lucky for me i had errands in this neck of the woods and so i found a parking spot and got me a spot to watch the parade.  It ended up being lots of fun and joining in the fight for the beads with the locals was so much fun.  At one time i thought i was going to have to whip a guy because he kept jumping for the beds and bumping me.  I finally told him, hey you knock me down and I'm going to kick your butt … of course he laughed and replied … I’m sure you could.  Another lady and his wife were trying to see who could get the most beads and the other lady told the other one, well your husband is helping you, I'm getting mine on my own and i told the gal maybe we should put our big butts to work and knock her husband out .. we laughed and used our big rumps to push him back … everyone got a laugh out of it.  Actually the man was quite polite and offered to share his catch with me.  I declined as i was getting my own and offering them to the children behind me who were not getting any.  The kids loved having me bring them beads.  I did manage to get me another cup that i kept.  I also kept a couple of the larger pretty beads.  It ended up being a great afternoon and I'm still not sure if i had the most fun watching the adults or the children … they were both tons of fun.

Sorry no pictures of this parade as my camera was left inside of Ms. Southwind.  After the parade was over i headed over to Save a-lot to get my weekly grocery’s.  Then it was time to head home as it’s been a long and exhausting day.

I spent the evening curled up on the couch watching the tube and doing some reading.  Yes, I've started another book …

Sunday i got up and got the laundry sorted, it’s laundry day … ughhhhh  The laundry mat was packed and waiting for washer/dryers was a pain!  Finally the laundry was done and now put away for another week!  The sun is out but it’s still chilly, later this afternoon it warmed up to 58 and a walk was taken.  Lexi was begging to be walked, she’s been locked up way too long!  After my walked i fixed chicken tenders in mushroom soup gravy with mashed taters.  It was good.  Later a run to Wal-mart was in order.  Of course they didn’t have the bulbs i needed.  Apparently now Wal-mart is not carrying camper replacement bulbs in their RV section and you have to get them in the auto section and they are always out!  Very frustrating.  After my frustrating trip to Wal-mart it was back home and the rest of the afternoon/ evening has been spent catching up on blogs i follow and now watching the race!   Go Kurt Go!  Yes, I'm a #18 fan, he won both races yesterday!

Hope your all having a great weekend and until next time ….

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Testing out this new program

Hello everyone, i have just downloaded a program called writer from Microsoft. I read about this program on another blog that i follow http://geeksontour.blogspot.com/

In a month or so i will be moving to a new location and internet will be here and there and so i was looking for a way to continue to write my blog and post it at a later date and ran across this. I decided to test it out and see how it works.

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Wow, this new writer is pretty neat, i can even put in my photo’s and save as a draft and then all i have to do is just click on the title and post it when i’m connected. Wow, i think this new tool will come in handy. This photo i posted is of my precious grand children. I got this when i went back home for my visit. I just love how it’s been done.

Today has been a warm & very breezy day, the wind is blowing and every now and then MS. Southwind gets a gently rock. The weather man is saying we could have high winds, rain and chance of hail. I’m praying that they are wrong.

Hope your all having a great day … until later

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Cloudy Day

Sunday was a day spent doing the grocery shopping and laundry. 2 chores i don't like to do. Bacon was purchased during the shopping so bacon sandwiches & pea salad were made for lunch. Later on that evening i stewed pork chops with mac & cheese. Although I also baked a choc cake. I hadn't baked one in a while. I spent the rest of the afternoon lazying around and reading.

Monday morning was spent sleeping in ... ughhh i slept until 8.45 am, yes i know ... hey that is one benefit i get for being disabled. Although my body was just trying to catch up on the lack of sleep i got friday night from the rain. I did finally get myself motivated and ran the vacum cleaner and straightened up the camper. Since the sun finally came out and it turned out to be a wonderful afternoon, i took Lexi for a walk. Later on Gizzards were the choice of meat for dinner with left overs of mac & cheese, pea salad and green beans. The evening was spent lazying on the couch watching tv. I'm a House fan.

Tuesday .. ummm i slept in again this morning. I got up around 8.30 am! Am i getting lazy? No, i actually woke up several times during the night with my back and then around 4.30 am with a achy back I couldn't get comfortable enough to go to sleep so i got up and laid on the couch and watched some tube. Finally around 6 am i was getting sleepy so i headed back to bed.

The only thing i have done this entire is day is wash my dishes from dinner last night. It's cloudy and looks like it could rain anytime. My back is still aching and so this will be a lazy day spent inside of Ms. Southwind. The choice for dinner tonight is gonna be chili. I have some hamburger that i cooked up and stored in the freezer for another time and today will be that other time.

Hope your all having a great day and until next time......

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mardi Gra Parade

The rain finally stopped and it cleared off to be a nice day Valentine Day. I went out to lunch and then this evening drove about an 1 to go see my very first Mardi gra parade. I was surprised how easily it was to find parking. Parked across the street at the local Burger King. Got the lawn chair out and crossed the busy highway.



There were several venders pushing their carts full of Mardi gra merchandise. As you can see in the photos.




The parade started off with a police on motorcycles coming down the street with lights and sirins blaring. It's weird to see police officers on motorcycles as back in Illinois where i come from we don't have police officers riding these. In fact the parade is lead off by local fire trucks.








They did have a fire truck in the parade, it was an old time one that was pretty cool looking.












They also had the parade King and Queen.




There was severa floats, although the floats here are nothing like what i'm used to, although i thought they were all pretty neat and almost all of them had generators running. Music was blaring and all those on the floats seemed to be having a great time. Of course it helped that most of them were already celebrating Mardi gra. Alcohol seems to be the going thing in the south. I'm amazed how you can walk down the street with a open bottle/can of beer and speak to a police officer and it seems to be a normal thing.










These ladies were all decked out and i thought they looked adorable. I was amazed how crazy these kids and adults go so crazy over beads! I asked one man next to us what they would do with all these beads and he replied the kids will enjoy them for a month or so and then they will probaly be thrown away. Hmmmm

This kid was really into getting the beads and i asked him what he would do with them and he replied hang them in my car.










There were several trucks in the parade pulling floats, but i just loved this semi. What a way to decorate your big rig

Some people were even wearing mask, although i honestlly thought more people would be wearing them. I thought Mardi gra was about the mask, but i think it's actually more about the partying?

The rebel flag is really big in the south. In fact it's Mississippi state flag.










There were even some old war equipment in the parade, this guy was happy for me to take a up close photo of him. Pretty neat ride.

Police officers even ride horses and ATV's here. This is so amazing. Of course the horses are always my favorite part of the parade.

It was a pretty neat parade and i enjoyed it and it was a end to a great Valentine Day!