Embarking on Life's Adventures

Blog moving to a new place

2010-05-03T21:40:00.005-05:00

http://fulltimervers2.blogspot.com/

I have finally made the decision to move my blog to a new place .. i have been struggling with what to do and finally I feel that since Ms Southwind has been retired in respect and honor of our time together i should retire her blog and move our adventures to a new place. So I like to say this ...

Ms Southwind you will be missed and you were truly loved and adored, the 3 yrs we have had together will never be forgotten and always cherished.

here is the website to my new blog .. please come on over and join me on the adventures of

http://fulltimervers2.blogspot.com/

Padre Island Malaquite Beach Campground

2010-05-02T22:30:00.002-05:00

We finally arrived at Padre Island! You can camp right on the beach here. Of course if your in a big rig like us, i wouldn't recommend it .. you may get stuck. We chose to pay $4 a night with my access pass and park on pavement.

Tent camping is another story, you don't have to worry about the getting stuck and can take advantage of it! This is a breath taking place.

As you can see weekends were taking advantage of the nice weather and enjoying the water. I stuck my feet in the water but that is all i wanted to get wet at this time.

Lexi enjoyed her walks on the beach, although she wouldn’t get her feet wet. When the waves got near her she darted to shore. It was funny to watch.

As you can see we were parked right behind the dunes and had a clear view of the Gulf. It was breath taking and i truly enjoyed it.

This is the view out my front door and this what i got to enjoy as i was eating lunch. This is the life!

We saw this poor jelly fish that was washed up on the shore.

We are really enjoying ourselves and we are having so much fun that we have decided to stay another night. We have done really good dry camping. We ran the generator around 7 pm while i fixed dinner and hubby got to watch a bit of tv.

Hitting the road!

2010-05-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

We got up and got the last minute things done and said our good byes. We finally got on the road around 9.15 am! We stopped about 20 miles after getting on the road at a Love’s truck stop so hubby could check tires and some other things. Since this is only the 2nd time we have pulled the trailer being caution is a good thing.

The wild flowers are still in bloom and so pretty i enjoyed getting to view them from a distance that they didn’t bother my allergies.

Then we finally got into what is known as Texas rolling hills. That was fun.

We finally knew we were getting close to Corpus Christi because we seen lots of oil refinery’s and you could smell the oil in the air.

The we started seeing the signs i was looking for .. yeppie!!

look what the temp was .. oh no and were staying without hookups and no generators after 10 pm ?

Actually once we arrived at the beach the temps dropped from 94 to 82! There was a nice breeze that cooled things off.

We arrived, hubby got us backed into our site in no time and we setup. It’s been a tiring day and now it’s time for relaxation!

tomorrow is moving day!

2010-04-30T21:50:00.002-05:00

We have pretty much everything ready to go .. just a few last minute finishing things. The truck is hooked up, all the hoses are unhooked and put away. All we have to do in the morning is put the slides in, put the front jacks in and unhook the electric .. well of course the TV antenna needs to be put down as well.

It’s been really hot and humid here in Texas today, it barely rain enough to call it rain. I’m praying it will be a bit cooler at the beach esp since we will be spending one night without hookups! Our new home is just not set up for days of boon docking .. yet.

Hope you all have a great weekend and i will post as soon as we get settled into the RV park .. until next time …

laundry and getting ready

2010-04-29T21:56:00.002-05:00

I got up a bit on the late side today. I was tired and still am. I got the laundry started and then i stripped the bed. Picked up the rugs and dog covers. I did 9 loads of laundry! I moved everything from our extra freezer into our refrig freezer and it’s packed. While we are boon docking with no hookups i don’t want to have to worry about the freezer so i was so glad when i was able to fit everything into the freezer inside. It runs on elec/propane.

I also took all my pictures and things down, scrubbed the bathroom and kitchen floor. Vacuuming is going to have to wait until tomorrow i wore out and ran out of time today.

We put some things and straightened and re-arranged some things in the outside compartments. I got lots done today and lots more to do tomorrow.

We went out to Sam’s for dinner and had a great last dinner with our friends until we meet up with them again another time. We got home and i finished up getting the bedroom ready to roll.

Tomorrow i will clean and finish those last minute things that need to be stored away. Also filling up with fuel and picking up a few last minute items.

I talked to our friends we were going to visit in Wy and they are in Co and said that it’s cold and snowing there. So glad we did change our plans. I had all of winter i can stand!! I am getting so excited and so ready to hit the open road and see new territory!

Hope your all having a great week … until next time …

Hitch Itch

2010-04-27T21:50:00.002-05:00

I am really getting the hitch itch! I am ready to hit the road. It’s been great spending the winter in Texas and the wild flowers are blooming and they are beautiful! I finally got some pictures of the red bells .. from what i understand their similar to the blue bells. I didn’t get a picture of them while they were blooming because i was sick. I’ve enjoyed Texas despite the horribly cold winter. Although I have found that i like staying a couple of months and then I'm ready to hit the road. Normally we stay 4 months or so before moving on.

We are planning to spend our first night boon docking on the beach at Padre Island. It’s something i have always wanted to do and then we have reservations for 4 nights at an RV Park. Hubby doesn’t like to go very long without hook ups and since moving into our new home we have never boon docked in it and this is going to be our trial period. Right now we only have one house battery and that is not enough. Hopefully this summer we will get our new home set up for more boon docking. We also do not have our generator set up for our new home yet. Hubby has to do that as well. But first he must get to feeling better.

I don’t really have that much to do to get ready to roll. Our new home is so much larger and not really that much is out. I have to take down my pictures as i do not have them securely hung on the wall yet. I took the dog cages apart today. Finally this past week the dogs have finally adjusted to our new home and no longer want to sleep in them. I cleaned the truck out and got it ready for the dogs. I rearranged the outside storage so that we can fit everything inside the fifth wheel. Used to when we traveled the car was loaded down .. now we can not do that with the truck because the back seat is for the dogs.

I am going to wash bed sheets and all our clothes before we head out and run the sweeper. Of course that will be later in the week. I’m still easily tired so i am doing a bit here and bit there.

Change of plans

2010-04-24T10:08:00.002-05:00

We are still leaving our winter destination a week from today! May 1st is our pull out date. I’m excited, yet a bit sad. It’s been a wonderful making new friends and as always it’s sad to leave them.

We had planned to head to Co, Wy & SD for a short visit before hubby’s dental work begins but because of the weather and friends those plans have been scratched. Instead were going to Padre Island near Corpus Christi where we had hoped to visit earlier in the season.

We have reservations for 4 nights in an RV Park and from there we plan to stop in Louisiana and then on to visit friends in Mississippi.

Ms. Southwind is gone!

2010-04-21T05:50:00.000-05:00

Well we got the news that we were dreading. Yep, Ms. Southwind has been totaled. It’s a sad day in our home, but one we expected. Our years together were great and Ms. Southwind will be missed. I will cherish the memories we’ve shared during our short time together.

I am still re-cooping from being sick. I am feeling better but still no energy. It doesn’t take much to wear me out and get me to coughing my head off. I did laundry today and it was more then i could take. I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping to recover.

The weather has been great here in Texas … the only down side is I'm stuck indoors! I can’t even open my door because what ever is outside bothers me. I have been taking this time to spend hours online searching and looking for places to stay and things to do on our next adventure which is fast approaching.

May 1st we are heading out of Texas toward Colorado and into Wyoming and South Dakota on our way back to the Midwest for the summer.

If you have any suggestions of great places to stay, things to do let me know. Hope your all doing great .. until next time

A Day of Rest

2010-04-19T00:18:00.000-05:00

After my night in the ER, i got up late and went to Wal-mart to get my prescriptions filled. I got home and was exhausted! So today was spent just relaxing and resting. It’s what the doctor has ordered. I am stuck indoors and just opening the door to let the dogs out bothers my breathing and allergies. What ever the rain brought in is still out there.

Hope your all having a great day. I was hoping to get some pictures of the beautiful flowers that are all in bloom here. Their wild flowers, red, blue and yellow. I hope i can get pictures but for now I'm stuck indoors. Regardless of the nice temps outside i have the air on inside. I'm suppose to stay in air conditioning and stay indoors. Anytime i go outside my face is to be protected by a mask and my outdoors is to be limited.

I have a feeling this is going to grow thin very fast as i'm outdoor girl. Hope you all have a great week

Sick

2010-04-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

I went to church today and then out to dinner with friends. After stopping by Wal-mart to get the weekly items we came home. As reported earlier i have been fighting my allergies. I started feeling worse as the day went along and since it cooled off i decided to turn the air off .. big mistake!

Around 6.30 pm i started coughing and coughing and it kept getting worse and then i got to where i couldn’t talk and then finally around 8 pm i couldn’t breathe. Hubby took me to the ER and when i stepped outside it got worse, but better once the air was on in the truck. I arrived at the ER and they got me right in. Chest x-rays and diagnosed with an upper respiratory Infection and Asthma attack. The doctor said this was all brought on by a combination of things, first my allergies I've been fighting, all the smoke inhalation from the fire and this weekend of working in a musty, moldy building for the yard sale and one of the worst years for Texas pollen.

We got home around 11.30 pm and i was feeling much better but exhausted. I used all my energy just trying to breathe. I have been prescribed numerous medications, inhaler and lots of fluids and rest.

Yard Sale

2010-04-17T18:17:00.002-05:00

We volunteers are doing a yard sale to raise money with some of the donations that are made. We have worked all day Thursday, Friday and until noon Saturday. I am exhausted! We did great and made $1500 for the shelter.

The volunteers all went this afternoon to pick strawberries, we opted out. Me and vines don’t do good together i break out and I'm just exhausted from the busy 2 weeks I've had. In fact i spent my afternoon napping! Yes .. i took a nap .. when i do that I'm sick or exhausted and I'm actually both! I have been fighting allergies since arriving in Illinois and still here in Texas. Although they are not near as bad in Texas.

I hope your all having a great weekend …

Happy Birthday Hubby!

2010-04-16T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today is hubby’s birthday. I baked him a double layer chocolate cake with home made cream cheese icing.

Happy Birthday honey, i love you

Arrived back in Texas!

2010-04-13T18:12:00.000-05:00

We got up early and called the salvage yard where Ms. Southwind is parked. We stopped by and picked up some medication we had forgotten. Then we headed on our way. Once again hubby started out driving but he is not feeling well so i took over. We drove and drove and finally arrived back at our new home around 5 pm. We are so happy to be home!

We hugged and said hello to the volunteers that are still here. Several had pulled out while we were gone. We carried in what we needed and just collapsed for the night. It’s so good to be home!

Time to head back to our new home

2010-04-13T18:09:00.000-05:00

We got up this morning and finished doing some errands. Hubby decided he thought he could travel and were both ready to head back to our own home. We love seeing family and spending time with them .. but were missing our own place.

We have found it doesn’t matter where home is .. after your away from it awhile you begin to miss it. So we loaded up the truck and everything we are taking back with us. The rest of our stuff is going to be stored in Gabe’s shed until we can return to get it. Around 1 pm we headed toward Missouri. Hubby drove a couple of hours and learned he his not himself yet and so i took over driving.

We arrived back in Bald Knob, AR around 9 pm, we went by McD’s and got us a bite to eat and then headed back to the Budget Inn. We stayed in the same room as we did before and spent the night.

Dentist

2010-04-12T18:02:00.000-05:00

We got up and got things around, then it was time to head to the dentist. Hubby is having some dental work done. Everything went well at the dentist and hubby got the gum treatment done. Now we wait for 4-6 weeks for healing for the next process of dental work.

Hubby wasn’t feeling to well so we headed to Gabe’s house so he could lay down. We have been homeless all week long since the motor home caught fire and we had to leave it in AR. We’ve been staying at our son Gabe’s house (thanks Gabe .. love ya).

Meeting a new sister!

2010-04-11T17:06:00.000-05:00

Today I went to my sister Patty house for a mini gtg with family. I got to meet my new sister i found out i had while i was in Texas!

My new sister Cheryl is pretty awesome and it was a wonderful day and i look forward to getting to know her more.

My big brother Ronnie

My dad and new sister Cheryl

Left to Right … Ronne, Cheryl, me, Patty and my dad

After a great afternoon with sisters and brother. I went to see my grand kids. As you can see they were having a blast riding their new toy.

It was a wonderful day and i enjoyed seeing my family so much.

cleaning storage and laundry

2010-04-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

Friday .. We spent the morning cleaning up the house and doing laundry .. Later in the afternoon we stopped by hubby’s mom and seen her. Then we went to the grand kids .. the grand daughter ended up coming to spend the night with us.

Saturday .. we got up and got ready we went to the oldest son house and picked up Tyson and Tobeman. Then we headed up to the storage unit to do some cleaning. What a job that was! It did get rid of lots of stuff that wasn’t needed but we have more to go through but we were all tired and decided to do it another day.

Hubby and I were exhausted and decided since it was finally just the two us for a change we’d go out to dinner. We chose the local Chinese place and it was pretty good. We got home late and got ready for bed.

We are having a great time but we sure are exhausted! Were not use to this busy schedule we’ve been keeping.

A night out with friends

2010-04-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

We got up early and got moving. Hubby has a dentist appointment. After seeing the dentist and getting the bad news we headed back to our son house. It’s looking like it’s going to be a long drawn out event with hubby’s teeth. 4 months!

Tonight we went out to eat with some old friends and had a great time. We went to Applebee’s. I had the Philly cheese and onion rings it was so good .. hubby had the cowboy cheeseburger and fries.

Happy Birthday Toby!

2010-04-07T10:41:00.005-05:00

Today my grandson turn 2 years old. We are going later to see him and have a birthday party!

Toby had so much fun blowing out his candles that his dad had to keep relighting them so that he could blow them out even more. Then he really enjoyed digging his fingers in the icing and eating .. Although his mom had to refrain him until she got him his own piece. I didn’t get pictures of that part as my camera was full of pictures .. i gotta get another memory card!

He ate his entire piece of cake and boy did he enjoy it. We had his favorite food for dinner .. Spaghetti!

We have been having a great time seeing our family. The past few days i have been visiting with my sisters while hubby is off with the boys. We went out with our son Gabe and his girl friend for dinner last night at the Chinese restaurant. We were a bit disappointed as our favorite restaurant back here is not as good as Beijing in Texas. We still had a good time and got home late.

We are enjoying seeing family and spending time but man O man it’s been exhausting! We are up early and to bed very late with lots of activity going on during the day. Lots to get done and more yet to still do.

The insurance still hasn’t gotten an adjuster out to look at Ms. Southwind, hopefully today. So i still have nothing to report on what will be done.

Hubby has his doctor appointment tomorrow and after we find out what their going to do i will report.

The weather has been wonderful here! In the 80’s, today they are calling for rain after lunch and it does appear to be cloudy at times.

Until next time …

Grandkids!

2010-04-06T11:49:00.000-05:00

Grand kids at the park. Toby’s day at the park the day before his birthday. He loves the park, so does his sister.

A great day of seeing family!

2010-04-05T00:25:00.002-05:00

We slept in this morning after several days of getting up early and going to bed late. We got dressed and had some errands to do. Hubby dropped me off at my sister Patty house while he went to work on the car. My sister Rosie and her hubby stopped by to see me as well. Then we headed to see the grand kids. They were excited to see us as we were them. We had a great afternoon and evening of visiting.

We watched them ride their new gator ..

Papa went to water the dog and little did he know what he started! Hailey put some water in Toby’s dump truck and said watch him .. he played for sometime and then it went from him playing to this

to Toby throwing water on Hailey and Papa …

Then it went to Toby and Papa throwing water on Hailey and Toby and Papa had a blast doing that.

Then it went to Toby getting himself wet and trying to get a drink .. it was so funny

Then it ended with Toby throwing water on Hailey .. it was a beautiful day to have a water fight and then it turned to where the kids decided Grandma needed to get wet so it was time to put up the camera!

Our daughter in law (Heather) bbq out and made us a wonderful dinner .. Thanks Heather it was great and so yummy .. after lots of playing, hugging and kissing. we finally said good bye and headed to Gabe’s around 7 pm. We are exhausted and ready to call it an early night. My back is aching from too much fun with my precious grandkids. We are glad to be here and see them. We have missed them so much! Today has been a great day!

Until next time …

Arrived in Illinois to Tornado Warnings!

2010-04-04T00:20:00.001-05:00

We got up early and went to the salvage yard where Ms. Southwind is parked until the insurance decides what they will do about her. We got everything we could as directed by the insurance company.

Then it was time to hit the road and head to Illinois. The dolly and car are hooked on behind the truck. We arrived at Gabe’s house around 5.30 pm it’s been another long day. We got the car and truck unloaded in his shed for the time being and then we took the car to unload.

We stopped to see the grand kids and then headed back to Gabe’s. We hadn’t been there a half an hour when the tornado warnings went off. We would start to leave the basement and another would go off. This went on for almost 2 hours. We didn’t get to bed until around 1.30 am! 2 long days and nights of traumatic events. Ughhh

We are just glad we are safe and sound and things could have been a lot worse. Hope your Easter weekend was better then ours.

Ms Southwind caught on fire!

2010-04-03T00:14:00.000-05:00

We got up and was on the road around 7.30 am. Our trip was going good and we were making good time. We made it through Texas and most of Arkansas and then our night mare began.

About 20 mins after our last gas fill up hubby radio me that i needed to get pulled over that Ms. Southwind had back fired and died. We were going up a pretty good steep and he was worried he couldn’t make it up it and there was no place to get off the side of the road. God let him make the steep but he couldn’t get off the road and it was a 4 lane highway and cars were going 70 mph and the bad part was until they were right on top of us they didn’t see us and all they could do was honk at us. I got inside and did what ever hubby told me to do to help him find out what the problem was. I also was on the phone to our tow service to get us a tow truck as soon as possible as we were in a very dangerous situation with the traffic and all. Hubby was worried that we were going to cause a wreck by being stranded there. Finally he figured out that if he kept something open he could get it running enough to get it pulled across the road in a empty parking lot. I got in the passenger seat and he got Ms. Southwind going. As we got in the middle of the road Ms. Southwind back fired and gasoline shot in the air and all of sudden flames started shooting. Hubby had to continue to drive and keep his hand in there to get us safely off the road. Once he got safely off the road he jumped up and grabbed the fire estingier and told me to get the dogs and get out. 3 of the dogs came outside with me and i told the tow service to get us a fire truck and threw my phone down. 2 dogs were inside and hubby came out to get air and said it was blazing. I told him Dixie and Lucy were inside. He took off his shirt and went back inside and tried to fight the fire with it. I grabbed Dixie but Lucy wouldn’t come out. So we started getting water from a water hole and throwing it on the fire. Hubby finally got the flames down enough he could get Lucy under the passenger seat and handed her to me and then he finished putting out the fire.

I called the tow company back but they wanted us to call our insurance to see where they wanted Ms. Southwind taken too. I called our insurance and they got the tow truck and took care of everything for us. I can not tell you how thankful i was to Geico for the quality service they gave us in a horrible situation.

We ended up getting a motel room in Bald Knob AR for the night. It felt so good to get a hot shower and get off the smoke filled clothes. I had several phone calls to make and it was a late night. We are thankful no one was hurt and we didn’t cause a major wreck.

Tomorrow we are heading out!

2010-04-02T09:04:00.005-05:00

Today i cleaned the camper up and did all our laundry. This way when we return to get the fifth wheel it will be all cleaned up!

Yesterday i went and bought a GPS .. yes we finally decided to get one esp since we will be traveling in separate vehicles this trip. We purchases the tomtom 330. I will let you know how it works out.

We had one last pot luck together with the volunteers as when we return to get the fifth wheel several will be gone. We had a last supper type meal with communion, then we praised and sang songs. It was an awesome night .. the Lord’s presences was with us all. It’s been a wonderful way to spend good friday before Easter. Please remember what the true meaning of this holiday is and all that our Savior has given to all of us. I will post pictures later.

Now it’s time to pack those last minute things so we can be ready to roll early in the morning.

I am not sure when i will be posting again but we are planning to head out very early in the morning.

Hope you all have a great Easter!

April Fool's Day!

2010-04-01T09:02:00.001-05:00

Tuesday .. was spent packing and trying to figure out what i wanted to move back into Ms. Southwind .

Wednesday .. was a very busy day .. got up early and we went to get Ms. Southwind. Then we filled up Ms. Southwind to get her ready for her trip. Hubby left with Ms. Southwind and i headed back to the tire place to get the beast oil changed. Then it was off to radio shack to pick up some things and then to Wal-mart.

I got home around 2 pm and the converter box would not work, so it was back to radio shack! Once i got back home it was almost time for dinner .. after dinner was church services and then home to shower and head to bed. It’s been an exhausting day!

Thursday … April Fool's Day! No jokes being played today, to many things to get done .. I got up and moved some more stuff into Ms. Southwind and then it was time for devotionals. I got home got some lunch together and after lunch i packed the rest of our clothes were taking with us. Then it was back to Wal-mart, i forgot to get a cooler. Grrrr I got home and then we needed to go through hubby’s tools and decide what we needed to take and what we needed to leave.

We loaded the car on Ms. Southwind and as we got it on the dolly, we blew a break line .. grrrr hubby got it to stop leaking and hopefully we still get the car off the dolly and fix the line when we get back. After getting everything done it was dark and we both are exhausted.

Hope your all having a great week .. until next time

It’s Monday!

2010-03-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

I got up early today, Ms. Southwind was scheduled to be in at the tire shop at 8 am! I followed behind in the truck and we dropped off Ms. Southwind and was back home by 9 am!

Then it was time to get started cleaning. It’s amazing how fast things can clutter and get messy. I vacuumed the entire place, scrubbed the bathroom floor, washed the shower, vanity and toilet and did the dirty dishes. I also did 6 loads of laundry! It took me most of the day to get all this done. I have to work awhile, then rest and go back.

Later they called to ask if they could keep Ms. Southwind over night as they have been really busy today and hadn’t even gotten to her yet. I told them it was fine.

After dinner i went over to work on varnishing cabinets. Worked a few hours and then it was getting late and i was tired so headed home. It was another exhausting day but it felt good to be able to do some volunteer work again. I haven’t really done much volunteering since getting my new home. I’ve been busy working on it and it doesn’t take much to wear me out with my disability.

That is what is so good about doing volunteer work, you work at your own pace for example after i varnish a bit, i sit down and rest when my back starts telling me it needs to rest. Also you are not required to do such and such amount of time, you help out when you feel like it. If your having a bad day and don’t feel like doing anything you don’t have too. It’s not like a job where you are expected to be at work regardless weather your sick or not. You are not expected to get such and such done, you just work at what ever pace you are able to and what ever you get done to help is appreciated. If you can only work an hr that day that is fine. Being a volunteer has given me so much back in life. I don’t feel like I'm useless or there is no meaning to my life. It feels great to do something for someone else and especially feels great to know that there is still a life out there for me. It’s amazing how horrible i felt when all i could do was lay in a bed and think about how miserable i was and how much i hated my life. Now i don’t do that. Sure i have my bad days, but i also have my days that have meaning and give me self-esteem that there is still something i can do out there to help. I am thankful to God for blessing me with my good days and i ask his strength to get me through my bad days.

I have this plaque on my wall and it says ….

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference … i read this sometimes several times a day and it always reminds of this verse …

Philippians 4:13 … I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

A Busy Sunday!

2010-03-28T20:29:00.002-05:00

I got up and got dressed for church. After church we went out to eat at CiCi's pizza. They have Sunday special for all you can eat $3.99 per person. It was good and as always i ate too much.

After eating we had to do the normal Sunday Wal-mart visit. Ouch! We spent too much but we needed groceries for this week and i also purchased things to stock Ms. Southwind. Saturday is her journey back to the ranch.

We got home around 4 pm, unloaded groceries and then we started Ms. Southwind and the generator to make sure they would both start. Then we sorted what sewer hoses and water hoses we wanted to leave inside of Ms. Southwind and what we wanted to move to our new home. Ms. Southwind is going to be used a vacation home from now on.

After we got all the things done we needed to do and I have Ms. Southwind ready to roll in the morning as she is getting new front tires and an alignment.

I spent the rest of my evening updating my blog, reading email and then it was off to bed early.

Until next time ....

What job!

2010-03-27T20:28:00.001-05:00

I got up this morning and got things around, then i had to get dressed. We decided since they were calling for nice temp’s to wash the fifth wheel today. They didn’t wash it when we purchased it, and it is dirty on the outside.

What a job washing one of these things is .. we started at 10 am and didn’t get finished until after 3 PM! We did take an half hour lunch break!

Doesn’t it look nice now? I didn’t get all the black streaks off even with the black streak remover so i’m going to have to find something else later.

We also stopped to say good bye to friends of ours who pulled out today. Burl & Karen, and Dale & Mona. Our winter is coming to an end and the volunteer numbers are starting to drop.

Duke , Dolly is hiding under the cover

Lucy

Dixie … The dogs are finally adjusting to their new home, as you can see they are relaxing.

and of course Lexi! After we finally got the fifth wheel washed, it was time to come inside get cleaned up for the pot luck. The volunteers that are left are cooking out. We had a great time and after eating too much we played trash train until 10.30 pm! It was time to come home, shower and get ready for bed.

Cleaning Day

2010-03-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

I got up this morning and it was a bit on the chilly side. I did my morning routine of getting online and reading my mail. Then it was time to get up and get dressed and start cleaning.

I decided to bake a cake. I’ve baked cookies and brownies and now my first cake. My new oven bakes thing nicely. The old oven i had to constantly watch the thermometer because the oven wanted to get extremely hot. The new one so far has stayed right on the temp i set it for.

I fixed lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon keeping busy but i don’t remember what .. LOL

Later that night i made an overnight salad for the cook out tomorrow.

Then it was early to bed .. hope you had a great day …

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-25T19:05:00.002-05:00

I got up and got dressed early today. We ladies went to watch the play that the local high school kids are putting on. They were doing a rehearsal before their competition on Saturday. A couple of the girls are in the play and 2 of the boys are helping do the sound. I was asked a month ago to attend and so i asked the ladies if we could skip devotionals today and go the play and all agreed.

It was great and all the kids did an excellent job. We were all glad that we went and supported the kids. These kids are in a shelter for some reason or another. Some of the children do not have parents and others parents are barely active in their lives.

Tweedledee is Mary from the shelter .. she did a great job!

Ambrosha is played the King and she is also from the shelter. Both girls played an excellent part. Way to go girls!

The volunteers all meet at Ryan’s for lunch today. It was an appreciation lunch for all the volunteers. We had a great time and enjoyed it.

It’s been a cool day here, the temps have been in the low 60’s with wind that makes it very cool!

Finishing moving!

2010-03-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

Monday … I spent the day cleaning my new home, did laundry and cleaned up Ms. Southwind. What an exhausting day.

Tuesday, I spent the day emptying out all the outside compartments in Ms. Southiwnd and moved all of our stuff over to our new home. Another exhausting day!

Wednesday .. I spent my day finishing unpacking the last of the boxes sitting in the living room floor. I can now officially say we are moved out of Ms. Southwind and into our new home. Wednesday afternoon i rode to Wal-mart with Kathleen. Hubby is having problems with his kidney’s again and so i needed to get him some cranberry juice. It works great to help clear up his kidney’s.

We went to church services and watch another portion of the series of Miracles in Israel. Very good and I'd recommend you watch it.

Another cold yucky day!

2010-03-21T21:25:00.002-05:00

We woke up to temps around 33 degrees! I decided to bring my flowers inside last night. Glad i did, we had a dust of snow on our steps!

This flower has been open for over a week, it’s actually pretty. I have no clue what it is. I got it from Florida a couple years ago and just recently it has taken off and grown so much!

We didn’t go to church today, hubby isn’t feeling well and i just didn’t want to get out in this cold. As you all know the cold weather isn’t good on my back. So it was decided to stay inside our warm and comfy home.

I did be a good wife .. i baked brownies and made fried ham, eggs and toast for brunch. Dinner was fried pork chops and mac & cheese.

Later in the evening we had company, Dorothy came to check on us as well as Dale. We had a nice visit.
The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and staying warm.

Hope you all had a great weekend … until next time …

1st Day of Spring??

2010-03-20T17:01:00.004-05:00

Today is suppose to be the 1st day of Spring?? Hmmm ... We woke up to rain and chilly temps outside. My weather bug says 36 right now … brrrr

I plugged in the heater, there was a problem my little heater that used to heat Ms. Southwind isn’t big enough to heat this big new home! I turned on the furnace to get the chill off and finally i couldn’t take it any longer i had hubby go get the other heater out of Ms. Southwind compartment. I have 2 heaters going now and it’s finally nice and comfy in here. Ughhh i have a feeling that in severe cold temps we are gonna miss our small comfy home.

I have spent most of the day just being lazy, yet having fun playing with paint shop pro. I love to play with this stuff and i have been wanting to make some changes to my blog. Does my new look remind you or make you want to see spring? You will have to let me know what you think of the new look.

Instead of southwind adventures meaning traveling and living inside of Ms. Southwind, I’ve decided to change it to meaning where ever the south wind blows us in our travels. What do you all think? I really don’t want to create an entire new blog that would be way too much work. So for now this is what i have come up with?

If anyone has any suggestions for a name for our new home i’d love to hear them. So far we haven’t come up with much.

My weather bug says a low of 32 degrees tonight! I decided i better bring my flowers inside as i don't want to take a chance of them freezing. I'm hoping to get more beautiful flowers again.

Hope your all having a warmer weekend then we seem to be .. until next time ...

Another day of unpacking

2010-03-19T08:19:00.001-05:00

I spent all morning on the phone with doctors and dentist. Hubby is having some problems with his teeth. My afternoon was spent unpacking the rest of the boxes that were sitting in the living room floor. I have 3 boxes left in Ms. Southwind, my sewing machine and all will be done on the inside of packing and unpacking. After i finished clearing out the boxes i decided to vacuum.

We decided to go out to eat for dinner and hubby needed a new pair of boots. His soles have fallen off his old ones. We stopped by the farm supply store and looked at tools boxes for the back of the truck .. Ouch! They are expensive but a must. We did find nice leather belts on sale for $5 each so we got hubby 2 of them! Another good plus was we got hubby’s boots on sale and about 1/2 the price we normally pay for his boots. Hubby is going to keep looking for tool boxes for the time being.

After the farm supply store it was time for dinner, we decided on Beijing again .. i can eat Chinese everyday i love the stuff!

We got home before dark and hubby isn’t feeling well so he put his pj’s on and went to bed. Hubby has been sleeping more and more the past few days and when he does this you know he isn’t feeling well. Yesterday he took 2 naps and was in bed a little after 9 pm and tonight he was in bed a little after 8 pm!

We will be heading back to Illinois around April 3rd. We will be taking Ms. Southwind, Ms. Mercury and the beast. Unless our plans change in between there.

It depends on what the dentist decides what to do if he can extract hubby’s teeth right away we will be staying in Illinois and living inside Ms. Southwind until we can return to Texas to pick up the fifth wheel. If he has too much infection then we will return to Texas and pick up the fifth wheel and return to Illinois. It seems our winter vacation is over and our summer destination is coming sooner then we had planned. We had actually planned to stay in Texas until the end of April. Oh well, hubby’s health is more important.

I hope you all have a great weekend .. were suppose to be getting another cool front moving in .. blahhh i enjoy these high 70’s temps and am not looking forward to high 50’s –low 60’s weather.

I’m praying that an early spring is in the forecast for Illinois.

Volunteers Pot Luck

2010-03-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

What a day it’s been .. yesterday afternoon my blow dryer shot out on me and this morning i go to use my crock pot and it won’t work! Ughhh .. so a trip to Wal-mart was a must so that my sweet potatoes can be finished before the pot luck tonight. So off to Wally World i headed and while i was at it i decided to go ahead and purchase a new toaster because it’s the same age as the crock pot … 27 yrs, they were both wedding gifts. I guess i have no room to complain that they finally retired.

I got home in time to warm up some lunch for hubby and get the crock pot washed and going. I put all the potatoes and what broth it would hold in my little crock pot from our trucking days (to basically get it heated) After lunch i spent the afternoon with my friend Dorothy helping her get her pictures on her computer.

Here is trouble anytime these 2 are together. Hubby and Jeb. Jeb is the Maintenance manager and was gracious enough to join us to let us use the dinning hall. Thanks Jeb!

Kathleen provided us with some wonderful music before meal time as we were all enjoying fellowship .. thanks Kathleen and what a wonderful job you did!

The older gentleman is Kathleen father at the age of 86 is still volunteering! I forget his name and will get it later for you all. Harold is sitting next to him and it makes you wonder what they are up to?

Ron and Mary are from North Dakota and this is this very first volunteer job they are on .. What a blessing they are ..

Joanetta and Mary .. Joanetta and Mary are good friends before they arrived here.

Missing trying to see if the cooks have dropped anything droppings for her yet. She is the boss of this group. Yes she rules the roost!

Harold and Joanetta they are from South Dakota

Here are the cooks .. well time will tell once we have are served our meat

Dale and Mona a wonderful couple from Arizona, yes we wondered why they were here as well but they are from Arizona where it gets cold and snow .. makes since why they came to Texas for the winter

Ron and Dorothy a superb couple from Michigan .. i can not express in words what they mean to us. They have become our adopted parents .. We love you both and thank God for you everyday.

Vic and Nancy .. they are from Kansas .. yes after all all those years they are still in love ..what a inspiration to all of us.

Bill and Lola from Colorado .. they were here before the first of the year and had to return home but they couldn’t take being gone and now have returned for another month of volunteering.

Audrey .. has worked here for over 18 yrs! This is her week off and so she volunteered to supervise us .. Thanks .. we love you!

Don and Kathleen .. they are from Texas and a what a wonderful couple they are.

Al and Pat, they are from Waco Texas! Yes i know what your all thinking but they deny the compound was actually in Waco .. LOL They are so adorable and just celebrated their 30th anniversary and still so in love

After enjoying a wonderful meal and with our belly full it was time to put our minds to work. We all played Apples to Apples and it’s a fabulous game that was fun and of course with all these great minds you can imagine the fun we had.

I caught Rudy being embarrassed .. hmmm or is he thinking?

We had a great time and it’s been a wonderful evening and finally around 9.30 pm we said good night and head back to our home. Yes we are the youngest couple and these old folks sure can out party us still. Thanks to everyone for a fun filled wonderful evening and great fellowships.

Another busy week

2010-03-17T08:50:00.001-05:00

I know I know .. I haven't posted all week long .. Okay so your asking where has she been hiding? As you know I nursed my neck and shoulder last week and this week i have been busy trying to make up for lost time.

Monday .. i spent the entire day cleaning this huge home up! Wow, this is like cleaning a house!! Between doing 7 loads of laundry and cleaning our new home it took me all day long! Of course then there was dinner that still needed to be made and since hubby was craving hamburgers and fries i opted for that since it was easy to prepare .. What an exhausting day it’s been …..

Tuesday .. i helped Elaine with her computer .. Elaine is in the process of trying to get all of Andrew’s school work where it’s done on the computer. Awesome huh? I believe it will make life easier for Elaine and Andrew as they travel around our beautiful country as RV Volunteers. Later in the afternoon i had to go find my friend Pat and her wonderful hands .. she massaged and worked on my aching neck and shoulder. Since Pat has been working on me, it’s doing much better. Of course overdoing it doesn’t help. Dinner consisted of sausage patties and fried potatoes…

Wednesday.. i spent the morning finishing packing up the inside of Ms. Southwind and now all the cabinets have been emptied out and ready to be cleaned. After lunch i worked on Rudy and Elaine’s other computer and we got it going. Dinner was bacon, eggs and toast as time was an issue. Church services start at 6.30 pm. Rudy was our speaker and once again he did a good job speaking on Faith.

A Trip to Tyler

2010-03-13T08:35:00.000-06:00

We got up early this morning and got ready for our trip to Tyler. Friends Rudy, Elaine & Andrew are going with us. Were excited as we have come to cherish the time we get to spend with this wonderful family.

Rudy and Elaine are very special people, they are older in life and have adopted a wonderful little boy that they are shaping to be a very special person. Rudy came from Germany years ago and has great knowledge to share. Were captivated anytime he shares with us.

Our first stop was Hobby Lobby! Yes, i love that store and have been needing to go for sometime. The guys seen a Ace Hardware so they dropped us off at the door, but soon rejoined us .. yes it had went out of business around the first of the year. Our next stop was Applebee’s for a wonderful lunch and excellent conversation and fellowship. I had a Philly Cheese that was excellent, hubby had the cowboy cheese burger he clams was very good. Thanks Rudy and Elaine, they bought lunch. Our next stop was best buy! Yes, one of my favorite places to shop. We spent hours in this store and we left with a new cordless mouse … Yes i finally splurged and got me one for my laptop .. i am tired of fighting this cord! We also purchased a Bible Secrets set of cd (hubby’s purchase and new TV for our bedroom .. the TV was missing in our bedroom and when we are traveling and the slides are in we can not get to the living room TV without putting out the slides so that was a must!

On our way home since it was such a gorgeous day we had to stop and get a Baum’s ice cream cone .. if you have never tried Baum’s you must, they are cheap and very good. I was excited as they still had Pumpkin … it was very yummy.

We finally got Andrew home with enough daylight time for him to play with his friends. it was a wonderful day but i think we older folks are wore out.

what a week!

2010-03-12T07:31:00.000-06:00

As you all know a week ago today we got our new home and no .. still no name .. I have been very busy packing and unpacking all of our stuff (hubby calls it junk). I have also been nursing a aching neck and back. I over did it over the weekend and now my aching body is paying for it big time.

Today i can barely turn my neck, raise my right arm and from the right side of my back from my bra strap up to my neck i have horrible pain. Sleeping is almost none as i can not lay down as it hurts worse, even while resting on a heating pad.

We have almost 3/4 of the stuff from inside of Ms. Southwind packed and put away in our new home. We still have all the outside compartments but the rest will be done a bit here and there due to my back.

Once we get everything moved over and have a chance to rest and enjoy our spacious new home i think we will. Although i have to laugh as the other night hubby was sitting on the steps and looked around and said, you know this is more then we needed. I laughed and told him it was huge!

I do miss Ms. Southwind, everything was in such easy reach, now everything is spaced out. Our new shower is wonderful and it is really good to be able to take a long hot shower in our own shower that we do not share with anyone else. The bed is huge and very comfy. Hubby can actually stretch his legs out to sleep. He doesn’t have to curl them up to keep from blocking the door way. Hubby can actually sit in a recliner or on the couch and stretch out his leg. He is a tall man and in Ms. Southwind he wasn’t able to do this. So there are many things that we can do now that we couldn’t do inside of Ms. Southwind.

Until this past winter we were content inside of Ms. Southwind but both of us being stuck inside due to the cold weather Ms. Southwind got a little close. We had many long discussions about the decision to look for a new home. Ms. Southwind has several things that are going wrong with her and we’d like to travel to the mountains and other places that we would be limited with Ms. Southwind.

We believe that God has lead us to make this decision and he has something wonderful ahead of us in our new journey in life.

Hope you all have a great weekend … until next time

Look at this pet!

2010-03-07T19:26:00.002-06:00

This morning we got up and went to church, then out to eat lunch with the gang, there were 10 of us. We all decided on Beijing and as always it was great and i ate way too much! I’m not losing any weight this winter which isn’t good, hopefully spring is here to stay and once i get settled in I'm planning to get back to watching it and walking.

On our way home today look what went past us. NO your eyes are not seeing things. This truck had this pig riding in the back of it’s truck with just a rope tied like you would a dog. Only in Texas? It was adorable and the pig didn’t seem to mind being there or the rain.

It’s been an exhausting weekend and moving is still being done. How does one acquire so much junk in such a small place?

My back has been really bothering me between all the pack, going up and down the stairs … ughhh did we do the right thing in getting a new home and one with all these stairs? I think it will be okay once we get all moved in and on a day to day basis. I have had great help with a couple of friends we’ve made here. I think hubby is right, i should stop trying to pack a few things put them away and then get more. We should just pack up what we have boxes to do and bring it to the new home and set them where i can. Unpack those and then get more. we spent this early evening packing up all we had boxes enough to do and hubby carried it all over here and he is right, much easier and not near the stairs. Now i can just work a bit and if i need something it should be here somewhere … LOL We tried to get everything that we use on a daily basis.

I have to tell you all, hubby and I both are really enjoying the large shower and the 12 gal water heater is wonderful! No more running out of hot water. The huge bed is wonderful as well. There are so many things that are nicer that we hadn’t realized we’d given up living in a smaller RV with no slides. The dogs are enjoying it as well. They have room to move around. They were so excited when we brought them in and right away made themselves at home.

I will tell you more about it later, i gotta run and do a bit more before taking a hot shower on this hurting back and I'm actually going to bed early tonight as I'm exhausted and everything we should need in now inside our new home .. somewhere … night all

We got our new home!

2010-03-05T17:54:00.000-06:00

We got up around 5 am and was on the road around 6 am! We had to drive through Dallas and of course if you’ve ever been to Dallas you know how the traffic is. It started out a cloudy morning and then the sun came out and cleared up.

The bypass structure is really neat. I love how they put the stars in them. You know Texas is know as the Lone star state.

Around 8.15 am were finally seen the sign that said McKinney which is where our exit is. We purchased our new home in Princeton, TX. Our sales gal Terri was wonderful. We first began dealing with Mel when we interested in the Challenger, but because we arrived so late he had to leave and turned us over to Terri. I’d recommend them both to anyone who is interested in a new rig. Wonderful people to work with.

We arrived and Ryan the tech was waiting on us and had our new home opened and ready for our final go over. He was wonderful and had everything we had discussed fixed and then some. Our new home looked great other then the outside is dirty but we will give it a good scrub job soon.

Don’t they look great together? The beast road even better with our new home hooked on. Time will tell when we fill up with diesel if they get better mileage then Ms. Southwind and Ms. Mercury.

It was an exhausting day and we arrived to our destination around 3 pm and got set up. We had lots of help and unfortunately too much and we are just a bit unlevel but we are tired and decided to fix it tomorrow when we have day light. We’d had company all day with everyone wanting to check out new home. Of course we enjoyed visiting so it all worked out.

I just cleaned the bathroom, and made the bed up for tonight. Major job will start tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Day!

2010-03-04T19:00:00.000-06:00

Well … our new home isn’t ready because the outside shower had to be ordered. So tomorrow is the big day when we get to go get it. I’m excited, yet dreading all the work of moving from one to the other.

Hope your all having a great week, it’s been beautiful here in Texas with the temps in the mid 60’s … until next time …

We got the Beast

2010-03-03T09:08:00.000-06:00

Tuesday late afternoon we got the call that the hitch arrived and had been installed and the truck was ready for us to come and get. So we headed out to get it a bit after 4 pm.

We had to stop and fill it up with diesel .. ouch! $66! It was just between 1/2 & 1/4 .. hmmm i sure hope this thing gets better mileage then Ms. Southwind.

Wednesday i needed to run to the post office and put some things in the mail so i decided to take the truck .. wow that sure is a lot of truck. I actually enjoyed the heated seat as my back was aching and it sure felt good to have that heat. It wasn’t that bad to drive, parking is another story! I got it parked at the post office and family dollar both without any bumps, bangs, or scratches .. whewwww

Although while driving this huge thing it reminded me of the old 4 x 4 truck hubby had years ago. The bottom of the door came to around my chest and it was big truck. We always called it the beast. We’ll i’ve decided to at this present time to call this truck the beast because it reminds me so much of the old beast truck that hubby and the boys loved. Of course it’s much easier to get into as it has nice running boards and doesn’t sit near as high as the old beast did. It’s a really nice truck although it’s not new, it’s used but new to us.

I spent the entire day getting Ms. Southwind ready to be moved, plus i washed all my laundry including bedding. I haven’t even began to pack as i have no place to put anything and i plan to just do a bit here and there. Ms. Southwind is going to be parked behind our new home until i get everything moved. Luckily for us she doesn’t have to be moved far with her bad front tires.

I did get the call today that her new tires have arrived and anytime we are ready she can be brought in to get new front tires and an alignment so that she will be road ready again. We took the truck to church last night and it was a nice ride.

We will not be getting the fifth wheel on Thursday as it’s not ready. The outside shower hose was missing and so they had to order a new one and it will not be in until around 3 pm and since it’s a several hours drive we opted to be there early Friday morning to get it. Driving through Dallas is a task it’s self let alone around rush hour.

Hope your all having a great week, temps have been in the 60’s here and by Friday in the 70’s! I’m so excited to finally get some warmth. It’s been one cold winter for the south.

A decision has been made!

2010-03-01T18:08:00.000-06:00

It’s amazing how God leads our lives into a completely different direction. But it’s so exciting when we listen and follow the path he has for us.

After numerous hours of looking, researching and making that final decision it’s been made. We’ve decided and on this F350 diesel Lariat super duty dully truck as our tow vehicle. We should be getting the truck sometime Tuesday if the hitch arrives and get’s installed. Our new home to be is a …… Keystone Everest!

The fifth wheel floor plan is 345s it’s 37’ and has 4 slides! The estimated pickup date is Wed or Thurs depends on when they get a few things fixed that have to be repaired.

Here are some pictures of the inside. All pictures have been downloaded from the internet because we do not have either of these yet.

Once we get moved in and made into our new home i will post new pictures for you all to see. I’m nervous, excited and all kinds of emotions into one. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing our new home to be. We have not decided on any names for either yet. Any suggestions?

Until next time ….

Making a decision!

2010-02-26T11:50:00.001-06:00

After several weeks of searching online when the internet would work, numerous calls and visits to private sellers, and numerous dealers. The search started. As i stated in the previous post, a motor home was the choice we wanted and esp a diesel engine because of the more power and the engine would last longer. We’d like to explore more areas of beautiful areas but Ms. Southwind struggles with hills, we couldn’t imagine taking her up and down the mountains. Also because of the steps was a huge issue for me. Well after looking, emailing and finding out that most newer motor homes have more steps then the older units. Not only that but the diesel coaches have the door in front of the passenger seat and we both found entry was much harder then MS. Southwind. A tow vehicle that gets good gas mileage are going pretty high right now and are very hard to find. It seems Americans are now thinking more about the economy then size, comfort and what looks good. When i did find a diesel motor home that would fit our needs it was either sold or had numerous problems and we’d be back to where we were now with Ms. Southwind.

Hubby decided to just look at used trucks online as he has wanted another truck ever since i traded his truck for a car i could get in and out of. He was shocked the prices he was seeing on diesel trucks. So then he started looking at fifth wheels as they have been his desire and choice from the time we have started this journey. His preference has been the fifth wheel setup. Because of the steps and other circumstances we opted out and went with the motor home setup. At the time it fit our needs the best. The decision was made to take a day and just look at diesel trucks and fifth wheels. We were amazed the options we had available and how easily the steps were for me compared to the motor homes. Not only that but if the need arises hubby can build me a set of sturdy wooden steps that he can put in the back of the truck.

After getting up very early, going several hundreds of miles and spending 3 days of none stop searching for the right home and vehicle for us. We arrived home tonight exhausted and overwhelmed. We decided to pray some more and ask God for his guidance and so as i write this tonight we still have major decisions to make. We have to decide on what we actually want in all the options that are available to us. It's amazing how God has opened up so many options for us. We have prayed, had others pray for us and really tried to listen to what God wants us to do in this decision making. It’s a huge step for us.

Once again you will have to stay tuned and see what is in the future of the Southwind Adventures. Until next time … have a good one

Life's turns in the road

2010-02-25T10:54:00.003-06:00

What a few weeks it has been. Life sure can throw many wrenches into one's path and making hard decisions can be such a challange.

As you all know i have posted about being happy and content inside Ms. Southwind. Not wanting a larger home to live in, not wanting to deal with slide outs, not caring what others think of my home that i love and all that stuff. My hubby on the other hand hasn't felt the same as me for some time. He feels confined at times, would like a bed he could stretch his legs out in, a ceiling that doesn’t feel like is on top of him and esp a home he doesn’t have to duck his head to keep from hitting it. But most importantly a home that meets our daily needs to survive.

I told you back in December about the air conditioner going out, the furnace, There are other major items that need to be repaired. Just last week we had to order 2 new tires and the front end will be aligned as well. We are waiting for the new tires to arrive. So right now Ms. Southwind is not moveable. Living our lifestyle that is not good.

Well little did i know there was new plans in our future. Hubby and I had been discussing the pro’s and con’s of repairing Ms. Southwind to the correct working condition. She is 24 yrs old and more and more things are going to continue to go wrong. Esp moving up and down the road and being used on a daily basis. Hubby has noticed recently several pieces of rust laying underneath and around Ms. Southwind. Rust is becoming much worse underneath and who knows what problems will occur from that. There are other issues that i have not mention as the list goes on and on. It’s been a ruff winter for Ms. Southwind as her age is beginning to catch up with her as she begins to fade down hill fast.

Well after much prayer and consideration of how we want to continue to live our lives. Do we want to move into a stick/brick home and be back to the expenses, putting up with neighbors and being stuck in one place or do we want to continue our journey of exploring and roaming our beautiful country. We weighed the pro’s and con’s. If something happened to one of us what did the other want to do with their life as they moved forward? It was something we both needed to take a good hard look at.

The decision was made .. neither of us wanted to be tied to one place .. neither of us wanted to give up our freedom of moving our home where ever we felt God wanted us to go or even where we ourselves desired to go. Living life on the road of freedom these past 3 yrs have made us realize that we enjoy the freedom. Yes at times there are hardships, esp when something goes wrong. Yes at times you miss your family, with many other things we had to take into consideration happening in our lives in the end, living life on the road where ever home is parked won out.

The decision to start looking at newer rigs was made. We started looking on line and doing some calling around. We first only started looking at gas motor homes. After talking to numerous other motor home owners and our own experience with Ms. Southwind the decision was made to look at diesel RV’s. We found several we liked and it was amazing how close in price they were to the gas RV’s. Every time we found a rig we thought we'd like it would either be already sold or major problems. We also knew that Mrs. Mercury is going to have to be replaced very soon. She is experiencing many things that are in need of repair. Mrs. Mercury has rolled over to 160,000 miles! Her air conditioner doesn’t work and the heater can not be turned off unless you unhook hoses and re connect other hoses. She has a little man inside the dash that never shuts up! He talks from the time she is started to the time you turn her off. We have grown use to the little man but at times he is very annoying! The window is getting worse from our Florida trip .. remember that huge bridge and the horrible wind?

So it’s been decided to look for a new home and tow vehicle because of too many costly repairs. You will have to stay tuned and see what is next in the future of southwind adventures.

where are you?

2010-02-24T09:47:00.001-06:00

Okay i haven’t posted in a few weeks due to being down in the back with the cold weather and snow. Then last week i was busy all week long and internet, cell phone and TV reception has been horrible here the past week. I’m surprised to even get this posted.

I did have a some what stressful, exhausting, exciting and in the end thankful week last week. There were so many emotions packed into one week.

Your going to have to wait a bit longer as I am not going to share the news with you all just yet. You will have to wait another week or so to find out .. hmm exciting huh?

I hope your all having a great day

Another snow storm!

2010-02-23T09:26:00.000-06:00

Wow, it’s been awhile since i posted but it’s been cold here and i’ve been under the weather and anther snow storm!!

We ended up with around 4-6”. I am not exactly sure, it only lasted a day and then it warmed up and was a muddy mess.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T17:59:00.002-06:00

Hope you all had a great day .. i spent mine mostly laying in bed and doing some bible study. Since I've been down in my back i can say one good thing is i have been able to get some bible study in. I found several places online that i love going to .. all you need is your computer. If you’d like to check them out here they are .. http://www.biblegateway.com/ … http://www.biblestudytools.com/

Here is my gift to you all for V-day. Yep .. heart balloons .. Hope your day was a great one and until next time …

Look it Got to 50!

2010-02-13T17:12:00.002-06:00

I have spent most of day taking it easy, my back is still giving me trouble. Although i am happy to say the temp did reach 50 degrees today! I prefer the 60's but i'm not going to complain it's much better then 35 yesterday!

Hopefully it will start warming up and my back will let me get out and enjoy life. I"m sick of being stuck inside and eating everything in site ... until next time ....

Look what Texas Got?

2010-02-12T12:37:00.003-06:00

Look what we woke up to this morning!! Hmmm snow in Texas?

Yes I’m still down in the back big time. Yesterday i went to devotions with the ladies but barely made it through and once i got home it was back to bed on the heating pad! Ughh this back!! I spent my entire afternoon and evening in bed and most of this morning. In fact i am posting from bed right now.

This is pretty and they have showed on TV that there are some pretty happy kids .. but my back isn’t liking it and I'm so ready for sunshine!!

A Day of fun

2010-02-10T10:54:00.000-06:00

I felt better today so I got up early and got dressed and got my laundry done. They are predicting rain and cold for the rest of the week and i was concerned how the back would hold out since it’s been giving me fits. Of course doing my laundry wasn’t fun but a job that had to be done.

After lunch the fun started. The sun was out and it was a bit on the windy side but tolerable. I was sick of being stuck inside and needed to get out. Hubby and i went to see the piggy’s and they were all basking in the sun.

Of course once mama started yelling they were up and in a mad dash to get to her first.

It was so cute to watch them scramble and trying to get through the fence to reach mama. It brought back such wonderful memories of our farm days when we used to raise piggy’s.

Later it was back to Ms. Southwind as my back was starting to ache and sting again. Ooops it wasn’t ready for a laundry & an afternoon of fun. I decided today to open the dash curtains and check out my flowers and i just had to take some more flower pictures … LOOK!!

This White flower is some type of annual that i planted in Florida and then took it with me when i left. It’s planted in with my rose bush. I was shocked today when i seen it had a bloom.

I knew my geranium had several buds but look how beautiful it is … i am so enjoying these flowers this winter. From now on all my flowers will stay indoors for the winter months. Look what I've missed out on by leaving them outside to fend for themselves.

Still down in the back!

2010-02-09T21:21:00.002-06:00

Ughhh i guess i over did it this weekend because i woke up in the middle of the night to go potty and wow, my back is spasm and hurting big time.

I spent the entire day Monday in bed or on the couch on a heating pad. Although i couldn’t of done much of anything else because around lunch time the rain started and it poured buckets. In no time Ms. Southwind was surrounded by water and the poor dogs even had to jump out of Ms. Southwind into about an inch of water. My rug was floating.

Today i have felt better and picked up a bit but i am still taking it easy. My back is very tender and still stinging and burning so until it lets up i will be spending all my time resting inside Ms. Southwind

Hope your all having a good week and until next time …

My weekend

2010-02-07T21:17:00.000-06:00

Saturday i had to do laundry. So I spent my morning getting it washed and folded. Later in the afternoon a trip to town to get weekly groceries was in order as well. That night was spent resting as my back is still giving me trouble.

Sunday i got up and went to church after church i went out for lunch at Ryan’s. I don’t believe I've eaten at Ryan’s. It was good but bit on the pricey side in my opinion. Although conversation and fellowship was great. Ron, Dorothy and a new couple Dale & Mona.

My evening was spent doing absolutely nothing and no i did not watch the super bowl as it wasn’t on any of the local channels that i get on the tube.

I am very excited for the Saints and glad that they won. Sorry Colts fans.

Hope you all had a great evening and until next time …

Look at my Flowers!

2010-02-05T22:56:00.002-06:00

I haven’t felt good this week, the weather is a bit on the cool side for me and my back has me basically stuck in bed. Ughh I did take a few pictures of my flowers. Look how much this one has grown since the last picture i posted (1-22-10). The best part is look at all the buds on it and I'm so excited and can’t wait til see the blooms. I’ve had this plant since Florida and it was given to me by a friend who said you can’t kill this one. Well he was right so far. My rose bush has a few buds on it as well.

The red blooms have been beautiful on this flower and now the pink ones are blooming ..

Look at the difference a few days can make .. Look at this exact flower now ….

The pink blooms have exploded and it’s absolutely beautiful .. and there are more buds that will be blooming soon. The Texas sun has been good for my flowers. I’m keeping them inside until the chance of freezing temps are gone. It’s made all the difference in my plants.

Today was a beautiful day with the sun shining and temps warm enough to open the door. Although they are predicting a bit on the cooler side again soon. I’m ready for winter to be over and for the sun to come out and dry up all of this rain.

At least i am feeling better and hopefully tomorrow i can get my laundry done and Ms. Southwind cleaned up. Hope your having a great one and staying warm … until next time ….

Still Down in the Back!

2010-02-04T22:35:00.002-06:00

I have been down in my back all week long. I have spent the entire week so far in bed and doing absolutely nothing! The weather Mon & Tues was a bit on the cool side .. high 40’s to low 50’s and last night the rain started and today it has rained most of the day and there is a water all around Ms. Southwind and a pond in front.
Until this back let’s up i am stuck in bed. Unfortunately this ole back has to remind me it’s in control and still there.

Hope your week is going better then mine and until next time…..

Down in the back!

2010-01-31T21:38:00.003-06:00

Ugh I'm not sure if it’s the rain, the cold or over doing it lately. I’m down in my back big time. I have spent my entire weekend in bed. To top it off it only got in the low 30’s for the high today and then it got colder then they forecasted for last night and no heat due to no electric. No, hubby still doesn’t have our furnace fixed … grrrrr

After putting in a miserable night of my back hurting and not being able to get out of bed because of the cold. Around 4.30 am, i bit the bullet and lit the oven to get some heat. Hubby doesn’t like for me to use the oven for heat but i cracked the bedroom vent so fresh air could come inside. Finally around 5 am hubby woke up and since he heard some one else had their generator running he decided to go ahead and start ours. Normally we try not to run our generator after 10.30 pm or before 8 am when others are parked near us unless we have to.

Hubby said we’d run the generator so i could use my heating pads we also took advantage of the electricity hooked up the electric heater, hubby got his coffee pot going and plugged in the electric water heater for baths later . The heat felt good on my back and within no time i was finally asleep. Hubby got online and read the news, he also watched some early morning TV. I got up around 8.30 am. My friend Dorothy called to see if i was going to church today and i told her no i wasn’t feeling well. I was back to bed by 9 am. Once it warmed up enough and i was back to sleep hubby shut down the generator.

It did warm up to the 40’s today. Around noon I got up and we headed to Wal-mart to get some supplies for the week. We were out of tp and that isn’t a good thing. Just going inside of Wal-mart wore me out and got the spasms started again so it was back to bed for me. I slept most of the afternoon sleeping with help of my pain med’s. I got up around 7 pm and am laying in bed posting these post to you. Although i’m going to take a hot shower and head back to bed.

Hope you had a better weekend then i did .. until next time ….

Happy Birthday Hailey!

2010-01-30T21:06:00.003-06:00

My grand daughter turned 6 yrs old today! Wow, it’s hard to believe she is growing up so fast. 6 yrs ago we held her in our arms and were very proud first time grandparents.

Grandma and Papa are not there princess but we are thinking of you and miss you bunches .. love you Hailey Grace

I got these pictures last week in my email and thought today would be a great day share them. Doesn’t Grandma’s Tob Man look so adorable in the sweeter?

Daddy and Toby enjoying father and son time .. isn’t this adorable. Grandma loves these little precious jewels.

The rain has moved in

2010-01-29T20:59:00.001-06:00

I spent Wednesday afternoon helping the volunteers finish up the inventory in the pantry. Yes, it’s done .. finally!

Thursday morning we ladies got together and met at Dorothy’s. Each week we take turns on getting together at each other’s place. Of course i will not be holding a gtg until the weather is predictable enough i can have mine outside. Although several ladies have graciously offered to let me use their homes for my day. Thursday night the rain moved in and it poured. We even had thunder and lightening.

Friday i had to get my laundry done. Although i have to confess i felt so yucky from the rain and cool weather that i wore my flannel jammies to do laundry. Yes, i did .. in fact i didn’t get dressed until late afternoon. I took a shower and got dressed for dinner. We went out to eat at Sam’s truck stop with some friends. The food was okay, but not worth the price. We both had the buffet and it was $33! Wow that price would of feed us all week long. At least the fellowship was good. I can say we won’t be going there again.

Lady the Stray Dog

2010-01-26T20:44:00.000-06:00

I worked this morning at the pantry but since the sun was out and i didn’t get to enjoy it yesterday i decided to take the afternoon off.

Pat one of the other volunteers has kind of adopted a stray dog that has wondered in. We call her Lady. We all have been feeding her. Although my dogs chase her off every time they are outside. Pat decided Lady needed a bath and hooked up her outside shower. Andrew one of the other volunteers son held the leash and i took pictures. It was a great day for a bath, warm and sunny, although Lady did not like her bath at all!

After the bath we gave Lady some treats and she laid in the sun and dried while Pat and I sat in our lawn chairs and just relaxed and soaked up the sun.

Visiting Animals

2010-01-25T20:35:00.005-06:00

I got up and got things picked up here, took the dogs for a small walk and then i headed over to work in the pantry. We are doing inventory this week. After we finished working Nancy invited those of who wanted to go see the new baby pigs! Of course i jumped at the invitation as you all know I'm a big animal lover! I rode with Nancy and the other ladies rode with Anita in her car.

These little darlings are so adorable and of course mom had to have her picture taken as well. It’s been so long since I've seen baby pigs. Brings back some wonderful memories and some not so wonderful memories. LOL

Yes we had to drive through the horse lot to get to the piggy’s! We had one horse who followed us and wanted attention as well. Here is Nancy giving the horse a loving touch.

After seeing the animals we headed back and i went back to Ms. Southwind to get a hot shower and relax .. I'm exhausted .. night all …

3rd Year as a Full-timer!

2010-01-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

Today is our 3rd year as full time RVer's! Wow it's amazing how time has gone by. Happy Anniversary Mrs. Southwind .. I love just as much as i did the day we moved inside of you.

I got up this morning after a ruff night of sleeping. Got dressed and went to church. It was an awesome sermon on surrendering your all. One of the teen girls did a audio illustration and it was absolutely wonderful! The pastor said he had a complete different sermon picked out for today but the Holly spirit had been talking to him and after the illustration he knew he had to go with the Holly spirit. I was thrilled he did as this sermon touched me big time. i believe i may have been the reason why.

I have been struggling with some issues that i will not go into but after leaving services today i truly am at peace and believe that circumstances have occurred lately to help me to surrender all to God.

After church it was back to Beijing China Buffet for lunch and once again it was fantastic! Then a trip to Wal-mart to pick up supplies needed for the week ahead. I got home and didn’t have much time for a walk before it was time to go to church services for the kids.

Wow what a wonderful service it was. It brought back wonderful memories of when hubby and I worked with the youth in our church. I truly enjoyed interacting with the kids and the worship service was worth attending.

After services I spoke to a couple of the ladies whom i do volunteer services with and we planned to meet tomorrow at 10 am to work some more on the pantry and start the inventory. It needs to be done by the end of the week and then we will work on putting up the new donations that were received this week.

i spent the rest of the evening watching the football game … I’m a Farve fan so i want the Vikings to win .. sorry Saints.

It's been a wonderful day to celebrate 3 yrs.

Hope you all had a great weekend .. i did … until next time …

Flea Market

2010-01-23T20:51:00.002-06:00

I got up this morning and made some phone calls then i got dressed and went to a local flea market! I love flea markets. My friend Pat and her husband Ale invited me along with them. There wasn’t too much there that i couldn’t live without. It’s amazing how you can go a few miles and the difference in the weather. When i left the sun was shining and it was warm by the time we arrived at the flea market the weather had turned. It was a bit on the chilly side and dreary with drizzles of rain off and on. I didn’t bring my umbrella or a jacket. But i lucked out and found a cute blue jean jacket that was like new for $3! I put it on and it was perfect fit and kept me dry and warm. (sorry forgot my camera again)

By the time we finished going through the market it was lunch time so we stopped and at a Texas Burger. I had never eaten at one and so that is where lunch was. After lunch we headed back and Pat needed to stop by the grocery store. So we did, she didn’t find what she wanted but we did find chips on sale, buy one get one free! Soda was on sale as well so i purchased both.

On the way back the Ale decided he needed to stop at Lowe’s so he dropped us off at Wal-mart. Then it was time to head back, they dropped me off and i was exhausted. It was a nice day and i enjoyed it but i’m wore out. Esp since i didn’t get any sleep last night. It was one of those nights that my mind just wouldn’t shut down and so sleep was unsuccessful. I went to bed around 1 am and was back awake by 4 am, around 6 am i finally got back to sleep to be awake again around 7.30 am .. ughhh

I’m taking a sleeping pill tonight and getting some sleep. Hope your all having a great one … until next time.

Beautiful Texas Weather!

2010-01-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

It’s been a beautiful week here in Texas. Temps have been in the 70’s with sunshine. I have been enjoying sitting outside all week long. I’ve had the windows and door open and fresh air filling Ms. Southwind. I got my lawn chair out and have just been relaxing. The dogs have been loving it as well. Although next week temps are suppose to drop to the 60’s.

One of my flowers is blooming again, this time it has beautiful red flowers. It has more red buds that will be blooming soon as well as pink ones. Even living life on the road i take my flowers with me.

I don’t know why kind of plant this is, i got it given to me in Florida but I'm thinking it may going to have blooms as well. Something is going on as i have never seen these on it before .. anyone out there know?

I hope your all staying warm .. i know i am sure enjoying this nice warm weather!

Haiti relief help

2010-01-18T19:35:00.002-06:00

I got up early and went to do my laundry. While my laundry was going i decidded to go through some of my clothes for anything i didn’t need. Then around 10 am i headed over to help go through the food pantry to look for expired date foods to send to Haiti. The locals business are all joining together to help send food.

I normally don’t go until after lunch to help in the pantry and only work a few hours but today i worked more. Took an hour lunch break and worked until 3.30 pm. I was exhausted! Once i got back to Ms. Southwind i still had to put away my freshly clean laundry.

We’ve been having beautiful weather today it got in the low 70’s, it was great to open the windows and door and let the fresh in. After dinner i still kept my door open but shut the windows. It’s 7.30 pm and it’s still 65 degrees!

I’m exhausted and very wore out, heading to the shower and to bed .. It’s been a long day and weekend and i need to get some rest.

Night all …..

Dogs Day outing

2010-01-17T21:08:00.002-06:00

I got up this morning and got ready for church, after church i went out to eat and then the weekly trip to Wal-mart was needed to pick up things needed for the week ahead.

I got home and changed clothes, put things away and then i took Lexi for a long walk. When we got back because it’s such a beautiful day and nice and warm i loaded up the other dogs and we all went for a ride. We found a place that i could let them out and just run and play.

It was so much fun watching them run freely with no leash, no restraints. I brought Lexi’s ball along, i would throw the ball, she would chase it and bring it back and i’d throw it. Dolly had so much fun just running, i wish i would of thought to have grabbed my camera. I had so many missed Kodak moments.

It was a beautiful afternoon and we didn’t get home until almost dark. We spent several hours just letting the dogs be free.

Once i got home i showered and it an early to bed as the nice fresh out wore out this ole lady as much as it did the dogs.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I did .. it was a full one but a wonderful one … until next time …

Come to Me – Women’s Conference

2010-01-16T21:00:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a big day for me. It was another chilly & rainy day but to i am attending a Women’s Conference. It was titled “Come to me” and it was awesome! It lasted the entire day, it started at 9 am but because of the turn out it didn’t actually start until a half an hour late. Then one of the speakers was so into the message she was being led to give that we some how got over an hour late. They had cookies, tea and coffee for break and then they fed us lunch choice of chili or taco soup. I had the taco soup and it was excellent! After lunch we were to have 2 more speakers but because lunch was only getting over when it was suppose to be closing time. So only one lady finished and it ended up lasting until 4 pm but it was wonderful and well worth the suffering. I took my pain pills every 3 hrs so that i could literally make it through it. I also rode with another lady and hubby said he would come get me if he needed to. But I'm happy to say i made it through, of course i had to get up and down lots but i made it.

The subjects that were taught were: Journey to knowing God, Come unto me and bring your Marriage, Let him do what he came to do, The Reality of Redemption and Come to Me an Invitation from the King.

I got home around 4.30 pm took a long hot shower and was in bed very early as i was in severe pain.

Where have you been hiding?

2010-01-15T20:40:00.001-06:00

I spent Wednesday trying to recoup from my long shopping day! I sure had fun but it’s not fun the next day. Anytime i do something like that it exhaust me and I’m in pain. It’s my body way of telling me I'm paying for overdoing the day before.

I forgot to tell you all yesterday that my dad came through surgery very well and is home resting. We will not know if he will need any further treatment until the results come back. My sister says dad is doing well. Please continue to pray for him and thanks for the prayers already.

Thursday ended up being another long day. I woke up to rain hitting the roof of Ms. Southwind. It started sometime during the night. It wasn’t hard rain, just steady off and on. Then I went to my friend Pat’s for morning prayer at 9 am. We prayed for Haiti and the devastation they are going through, we prayed for other things as well. After our prayer meeting we had a gtg type thing for the women volunteers and we each spoke and told a little bit about our selves and how we came to know God. We broke for lunch and after lunch we returned for the head volunteer leader to go over some new things for us. We broke around 3.30 pm. It was a long day but a good day and i learned even more about the women i have been working with.

Friday i didn’t really do much, I basically spent most of my day resting and recouping once again. It’s been raining most of the day but i did manage to take a small walk in between rain showers.

A day of shopping

2010-01-12T20:30:00.002-06:00

I can’t believe how long i slept! I went to bed a bit after 7 pm and didn’t wake up until 7.30 am! I knew i was exhausted but not that much. It sure felt good to get rested up. Once i got moving i got dressed and Anita came by to pick me up, i went out on a shopping day with the gals. It was great. I enjoyed the fellowship and just being out with the women.

We had lunch at china buffet and it was excellent as i had been craving one of my favorite foods. I ate too much but i enjoyed it and will have to cut down tomorrow to make up for it.

We got home a bit before 5 pm and i was tired but it was a great day. It was great to be out and have the sun shining! The temps have been wonderful the past few days.

Taking down Christmas Decorations

2010-01-11T19:47:00.000-06:00

I spent the morning cleaning up Ms. Southwind, made some Jell-o and then i took a walk. I’m trying to get back into a exercise routine. Of course I'm limited with my disability so walking is basically all that i can do. i am limited so i have to walk and then rest and then walk some more.

After lunch i went over to the home to help some of the volunteers work on removing the Christmas decorations. I helped take the bulbs and lights off the tree which was a real chore with the lights as who ever put them on had them over each other and what a job. Once the lights were removed it was time for the tree to come down and what a mess that was. I think fake trees lose more needles then real trees. Once that mess was all cleaned up i was exhausted and left.

I went home and laid down to rest. I’ve been having problems with exhaustion lately. It doesn’t take much of anything to just completely wear me out. I really wanted to just enjoy the sun shine as it is very nice outside!

After dinner i thought i would lay down a bit as i couldn’t sleep earlier and i fell asleep a little after 7 pm!

Cold go away!

2010-01-10T15:41:00.000-06:00

I really haven’t done anything worth posting about. I’ve been stuck indoors as it’s just been too cold to do anything.Texas has been having an unusually cold spell. The news has reported that many are without water due to frozen and broken water lines that Texans don’t normally have to worry about.

Luckily for us we filled our fresh water tank before the freeze hit and i filled all our water containers. We’ve had plenty of water. It’s been a challenge at the home as can imagine because with no water that means no showers or water to do the dishes after serving the meal. Everyone is really being good about it and making the best they can out of a bad situation. Today things are suppose to warm up to the high 40’s and hopefully the water problems can be solved soon.

Went to church today and afterwards was invited out to eat at Applebee’s. I have never eaten in an Applebee’s before. It was okay but little food for the price in my opinion. There was 8 of us and we had a good time. Afterwards i stopped by Wal-mart to pick up some groceries. When i got home i realized i bought 2 bags of grapefruit! Ughh i meant to get a bag of grapefruit and a bag of oranges. Although i have to admit Texas grapefruit are not bad.

I was exhausted by the time i got home and i spent my evening just relaxing. Hope you all had a great weekend and until next time …

Windy Cold Day

2010-01-07T20:01:00.002-06:00

I have spent the entire day inside of Ms. Southwind. The dogs haven’t even wanted outside. I open the door they run and do their thing and right back inside. The wind is blowing and it’s cold. This morning was very cold and after the lunch the sun finally came out and warmed up to a high 33 degrees! Tonight they are predicting the temp to dip to 19 and tomorrow a high of 28 with lows of 15! I thought i was escaping the fridge temps of the north by coming south. Although i talked to my sister today and she said that they had 4” of snow and were barely in the double digits so I'm not complaining.

I also got some not so good news today. My sister took my dad to the doctor and he has bladder cancer and is having surgery Jan 12th. So please remember my dad in your prayers.

The past few days i have been kind of in a daily routine. I get up and get things picked up and dishes done. Then I've been doing my morning bible study and quiet time. After lunch i go and volunteer at the home. I have been going in the afternoons and working a few hrs going through food donations they have received. I basically sit or stand and read expiration dates and then put the food items on a cart and stock them in their pantry. It’s not much but what little i do get done is a great help. With the economy and all we all need to help in what ever way we can. I have to admit I'm exhausted when i get home. Then it’s dinner time and after dinner i spend my time just relaxing and playing on the computer. One of my favorite past times.

I hope your all staying warm and until next time ….

Cotton Patch

2010-01-03T21:11:00.003-06:00

I got up and got ready for church. I’ve been invited to attend Glad Tidings with my friend Burl. His wife Karen is home sick with a sinus flu. It was a nice church but i have to admit i liked West Side better last Sunday. After church Burl invited me to lunch at the Cotton Patch. I had never heard of it. Our friends Ron & Dorothy met us there. We had to wait 25 minutes to be seated at our table!

I had the Patty Melt it was a burger with grilled onions and Swiss cheese on white bread I opted a bowl of broc & cheese soup instead of the fries and baked squash. The meal was very good and worth the wait.

After lunch Burl needed to stop Wal-mart for his wife and so i picked up celery that i had forgotten yesterday. We got back home around 3 pm.

I came home and changed out of my church clothes and then i spent a little bit of the early evening visiting with Dorothy, we went for a small walk. After that my evening has been spent relaxing and doing what i do best .. Yep watching football

Night everyone and until next time …

Grocery Day!

2010-01-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

I got up late this morning. I still needed rest from New Years Eve. After spending my quite time it was time to get dressed and head to town to get some groceries.

First it was off to Wal-mart. Wow, it seems either prices have gown up since the last time i went shopping or things are higher in Texas! I stopped by the local grocery store and found a few things on sale. Then i stopped by family dollar and it sure isn’t the dollar tree that like so much.

After getting everything put away and resting i decided to give the dogs a bath. Of course they were not too happy about that but it’s a task they know they must endure to be inside. My evening was spent playing games on the computer and just relaxing.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T20:36:00.000-06:00

I got up this morning and it’s hard to believe that we are now in the year of 2010! I have spent my morning thinking about the years past. I thought about the earlier years of my life and i honestly couldn’t remember how i spent my new year day as a child. I don’t have to many good members of life as a child due to environment in which i was brought up. In fact I've spent a lot of time trying to erase some of the memories i do have. Then i thought about the early years when my children were small. New Years was usually spent with a pizza junk food party with family and friends. Eating and playing games and enjoying the fellowship. New Years Day was spent relaxing, eating of course watching the rose bowl and then football. Then came one of the worst things that has happened to me in my life. My back injury. I spent years disabled and confined to bed. But this year It’s the beginning of a new year and I've decided instead of feeling sorry for poor me and thinking about the past of what life used to be like it’s time to start being thankful for what i have right now.

My new resolution is to prosper. To be thankful and praise God for what i have today. Not have a pity party of what life used to be like. Yes life was easier before injury and illness. Today i am thankful to see the new year. Yes i still struggle with my disability and illness but the minister really hit home last Sunday when he talked of prosperous.

I have thought this week about that sermon and how right he was. Prosperous doesn’t just mean how much money one can make, how much material things you own, it can mean many different things.

So I’ve decided for the year of 2010 I am going to try to prosper in my health, my relationship with God and what i can do for others. To prosper i don’t have to have money, i can prosper by giving what i have to give, such as witnessing to others, praying and doing what God has kept me on this earth to do. I can try to eat healthier, i can take better care of myself, i can make myself walk everyday even if it’s only a few feet or a mile. What ever my body can physically give. I am going to try to be more faithful in reading my bible and my relationship with God.

Instead of wishing for what others may have I'm going to be thankful for what today brings and what i do have. If I'm having a bad day, I'm going to try to remember to be thankful to God that i am still here for another day. It may not be the best of days, but oh well.

I’m sure this will be a struggle to do and I'm going to give it my best. Will this happen everyday, i doubt it, after all i am human and far from perfect.

I spent the rest of my afternoon doing laundry and cleaning up Ms. Southwind as i hadn’t really done to much cleaning lately with all my visiting and running around.

I would like to wish you all a prosperous New Year .. I look forward to sharing my journey through the year of 2010 with all of you … Until next time … God Bless us all

New Years Eve

2009-12-31T19:47:00.000-06:00

Dorothy invited me to ride to Tyler. We went to the mall to see if she could find her a new dress at JC Penney. We didn’t have any luck so we were off to Kohl’s to see what they had .. no luck so then we decided to head over to the salvation army (my place to shop). On our way home Dorothy asked if i had ever eaten at Braum's. I had never heard of the place and we stopped and had double scoop waffle cones for $1.59 ! Wow i was shocked at the price and it was excellent. I had Cherries, pecan vanilla and pumpkin spice. It was very yummy! If you’ve never been to a Braum’s you need to go at least one time. Their a pretty neat store. On one side they are a fast food hamburger and the other side is a ice cream shop. I never tried their burgers but they have delicious ice cream.

We left around 10.30 am and didn’t get home until around 7.30 pm and was i ever exhausted! Tyler is a pretty good size city. It was a great day but i was ready to go home and get my comfy pj’s on and it was an early to bed for me. I didn’t stay up to see the new year come in. In fact i never even made it up to watch the 10 o’clock news .. lol

Where did the week go?

2009-12-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

I don’t know exactly where the week went to but it went somewhere … LOL

Monday i got up and got things done and then i went to my new friend Sandy’s home for tea and brunch. I visited with several of the ladies and then in the afternoon i spent the afternoon having tea with Dorothy.

Tuesday - i had brunch at my new friend Dixie home. Once again the day went by with afternoon tea and visiting at Dorothy’s home.

Wednesday - my new friends Sandy and Dixie pulled out to explore new territory. It was wonderful the time we had together getting know each other. I will miss them. Since i hadn’t really done too much work i decided i better get some work done at my own home.

The temps have been a bit on the cool side in the mid 50’s. I’m not complaining but i have to admit i do like it a bit warmer then what it has been.

A Day of Fellowship

2009-12-27T11:27:00.000-06:00

Today was a great day compared to 13 yrs ago today when my tragic accident occurred that changed the rest of my life. Today i can think about that day along time ago without feeling anger, sadness, frustration that i couldn’t several years back. Thank you God for finally giving me peace with dealing with my injury/illness.

I got up and got ready for church. I attended West Side Church this morning. It was a very nice country church. The message was excellent and i look forward to attending again. After services since i rode to church with my friends Ron & Dorothy they were going out for lunch and they chose a Mexican. The food was very good. I’m not sure what i had but it was good. My combo meal had a taco that was okay but the dish with the chili, cheese and red sauce on it was very good, esp when i mixed it with the beans and rice. They even had ice cream cones for dessert …. mmmmmm

After lunch we were invited to Martha Dean and Dale’s for afternoon tea. I met Martha Dean and Dale with all the others on Christmas Day at the shelter. We all volunteered together and had a great time. Several brought their musical instruments and once again we sang songs and had great fellowship.

I got home around 5 pm and i have to say i had a blast but I'm exhausted! I spent the evening being lazy in my pj’s watching TV. Hope you all had a great weekend …

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T19:52:00.005-06:00

I spent my morning just lazing around enjoying quiet time with hubby. Later our oldest son called and we talked to our grand daughter. Then it was time to get ready to go to the shelter for a potluck lunch. I made a fruit salad to take with the cup cakes. It was great spending Christmas with other whom are dealing with their own circumstance.

I wasn’t sure exactly what today would be like. I received a blessing by being able to witness to a lady who needed comfort. The lady lost her only sibling a little over 6 months ago due to a drug overdose. I know from personal experience about drug overdose and losing a sister.

It’s amazing how in 2 more days it will have been 13 yrs ago that my entire life was turned upside down and had you told me then that my life would be as it today i would never believed it. Today makes me realize that even though I'm going through my own circumstances life could be worse. Not only that but with God’s help I can endure anything through his love.

We had a very nice turn out. The lady over the shelter furnished the ham & turkey and lots of people brought in other dishes to go along. There were lots of different choices and the children were excited about the gifts they got but …..

After the meal we sang Christmas songs and then it was time to clean up. After all the work was done and we had time to play some us spent the afternoon playing games and enjoying fellowship. I got home around 6.30 pm and hubby enjoyed his plate i fixed for him.

I am happy to say it’s been a good Christmas because of others and for that i am deeply grateful. God Bless you all and may you embrace his grace and love this holiday season.

From hubby and I to all of you and until next time ….

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T06:37:00.000-06:00

Last night was quite a night, we had tornado warnings all around us, but luckily for us no severe storms here. It has gotten colder all day long and it’s went between rain and a bit of freezing but no accumulation. I spent the entire day inside and no i didn’t get dressed .. YES i spent the entire day in my flannels .. hehe

I did do something other then play games .. since Ms. Southwind furnace still isn’t fixed i decided to do some baking so that i could use the oven for heat. I baked choc & vanilla cup cakes and decorated them with red icing for Christmas. I kept about 10 cup cakes for us and the rest are for tomorrow. I have 2 of these round pans and each pan has 30 cup cakes for the pot luck I'm attending tomorrow at the shelter. I’m hoping they will go over good with the kids.

After i finished baking i decided i better fix us something to eat. It was hamburgers and French fries tonight. After dinner i got me a shower and just took it easy tonight. It’s very cold here. My weather bug says it’s only 34 degrees! Dang i came to Texas to get away from the cold. It seems the cold and rain follow me no matter where i am. What is it with this cold weather following me?

Tonight i have been thinking about my mom. Today was her birthday. I know she is in heaven and pain free and that gives me comfort. I know that we will meet again in heaven some day and she is enjoying being with my brother Steven and my sister Bobbi Jo.

Speaking of sisters .. I got a wonderful Christmas present this year. I talked to my sister Patty Wednesday morning early and she told me that i had a older sister that we never knew about. She found out that my dad has a daughter that is older then my oldest brother Ronnie. My sister Patty went and met her Tuesday. Her name is Cheryl and she is 52. She is meeting the family Sunday. Unfortunately i will not get to meet her until i return, but I'm so excited and I'm looking forward to getting to know her. Isn’t that a wonderful Christmas gift?

Cell phone and internet is not very good here where we are so if you do not hear from me don’t worry. It’s because i can’t get out. Sometimes the wifi works and other times it doesn’t.

I want to wish you all a Happy Christmas Eve and God Bless you all … until next time ….

A warm rainy day

2009-12-23T20:15:00.002-06:00

I woke up sweating last night .. wow been a long time since I've done that!! I did wake up to a beautiful morning and hubby and i decided to take a walk. I”m in T-shirt and shorts .. Yes my kind of weather. Here is Ms. Southwind tucked away in her temp spot.

While we were on our walk it started to rain and so we got a little on the wet side. At least it was a gentle warm rain. Since i checked the weather report and a cool front is moving in i decided to keep my flowers inside so they are in the dash of Ms. Southwind. I don’t want to take a chance of killing my pink blooms. The dogs are not happy as they are having to share their spot.

This church is down the road from where we are parked. Isn’t it beautiful?

Once the rain arrived it rained off and on all day long. Sometimes it was a gentle rain and other times it was a down pour. I’m not complaining because the temps are in the low 70’s and I'm just thankful to be where its warm! It’s nice to be warm and have running water again!

It’s amazing how we take so many things for granted until we have to go without them. Later in the evening i made sloppy joe and mac & cheese for dinner.

There are some big issues being here in this part of Texas. My cell phone doesn’t work very good and wifi is horrible. If you do get connected it doesn’t let you go or do anything.

That’s a hard adjustment for me. Right now I have no other options because we have to get new front tires and an alignment and unfortunately that can’t happen until after the first of the year. We are here until Ms. Southwind can get new wheels and alignment.

Oh well, I'm going to make the best of it and I'm just thankful God was looking out for us and guided us here safely and because of others we are going to have a wonderful Christmas. I don’t have their names to mention them, but i am going to say this. Thank you to those who know whom I'm talking about.

Texas

2009-12-22T21:40:00.000-06:00

I got up early and got coffee going and picked up from last night. Once hubby got up and got his coffee and med’s it wasn’t long and we were on the road. In fact we were on the road before 7 am!

Hills and curves both …

There wasn’t much traffic on the road .. maybe because were on a toll road

We took 19 on the Indian National Toll road. cost was $3.50 at both tolls for this road… total cost for Indian National was $7.00

Since it’s cooler i always wear my house shoes when traveling .. hehe when it’s hot, i don’t wear any shoes. Once again the dogs had their spots and were enjoying the trip doing

what they do best .. We finally arrived in Texas!

Here is how Ms. Southwind looks in travel mode.

We finally arrived in Texas around 1 pm and after we stopped we were very lucky that God was looking over us. Yesterday when arriving in Oklahoma after leaving the toll booth they were working on the road and didn’t have any signs we hit a bump pretty hard and apparently knocked us out of line and all the miles we traveled wore the front driver side tire and the wires are showing! Oh my if we’d of had a blow out it’s hard to tell what kind of damage it would of done.

After the first of the year that is first on our list to get new front tires and alignment. Oh i dread what that is going to cost. On the brighter side, it’s so nice and warm here. In the low 70’s!

spending the night in Checotah, OK

2009-12-21T18:35:00.002-06:00

Well we finally had things ready and rolled out around 11.40 am from our recent home in Springfield, MO. Got on I-44 West heading to Joplin, Mo.

Here are the dogs all tucked nicely enjoying their nap while traveling down the road.

We arrived at the toll booth and paid our toll fee of $9.50 and once we got to the end we were refunded $4.50 so the Toll cost us $5.00. This Indian statue greeted us after we went through the toll booth. A truck stop sits behind it. There is 5 wifi available but only one is free without a password. I love my hawking dish, it is so nice and keeps me connected when free wifi is available. Without this antenna i would not have free wifi as my wifi on my computer is not strong enough.

We are traveling down the highway and then we arrived at a town. This is different traveling for us as we normally like to travel on interstates when we have a long distance to go. But luckily for us our route is through this highway. I love being able to look around and see all that the towns have to offer.

This train slowed us down as we had to wait almost 10 minutes. I’ve never seen a train this long it wrapped around the road and was as far as you could see.

We then exit off hwy 69 onto US 266 and arrived at the Flying J around 3.40 pm. We filled up with 36 gals of fuel $85.00 worth. We have traveled 201 miles today. It’s amazing how we left Springfield, Mo the temp was 29 degrees and we were in sweatshirts. When we arrived here i had to change into a short sleeve shirt!! Yes, finally warmth! It’s suppose to be almost 70 tomorrow! The low tonight is suppose to be 47 degrees. It’s 56 degrees right now as I'm posting this.

I am posting this blog from inside of Ms.Southwind. We just finished supper which consisted of hot dogs and chips. We have the generator running so that we can watch the local news. Although i have a feeling the generator will be running until bed time … hubby gets 18 channels here! He is in TV heaven!

Luckily we parked over in the corner away from the truckers and anyone else and no I'm not taking a picture as we are over where the trash is! But, we like to be secluded and out of the truckers way. They are driving for a living, we are just living. Another plus is that we can take the dogs out right by Ms. Southwind and not have to worry about traffic coming or going. We are parked near a security light as we do like to be near light so that we can see if need be. Plus it gives me the night light that i need.

Well i hope you all have a great one and until next time …

Delay due to fog

2009-12-21T09:29:00.004-06:00

I had a very ruff night due to my back pain and leg being numb. All the packing and cold was too much for me. We were suppose to be up early and on the road by 8 am .. well that was the plans anyway. Of course our plans are usually written in jell-o and can be scratched out and re-written.

I tried to lay back down since the temps were so cold that we decided to move our pull out time to 10 am. Of course i couldn’t get back to sleep so i got up and finished the last minute packing. It’s a good thing we don’t move often because i have junk stored in the front of the cab. So since we have to use the front when driving it has to go some where when were in rolling mode. So it goes in the dinette seats. As you can see from these pictures they are loaded down with junk as hubby called it. Actually in the 2nd picture is where the desktop computer rides, DVD player, a laundry basket filled with books, bibles, pen & pencil holder, scrap paper, DVD’s, and anything else i don’t have room in a compartment for but do not want to store outside in the compartments. On top of the printer box is the Atlas and truck stop book needed for the trip. The other seat stores the printer, extra covers & pillows. In front of the freezer is my sewing machine, rug that goes over the freezer to keep the table from scratching and our shoes we will be wearing.

As you can see even our bedroom floor has our crate of shoes that usually is stored in the floorboard of the passenger seat.

It turned out that it didn’t make any difference i was down in the back because when I got up it was only 17 degrees outside! There is no way either of us was going to try to get things done or even try to start Ms. Southwind in such cold weather. So we decided to just wait until it warms us. i raised the blinds to find another surprise … look ….yes … Fog

Here is what it looked like outside this morning it’s 9 am and still looks like this. So of course Ms. Southwind will not be rolling anywhere until this fog clears up.

Will today be a rolling day … hmmm .. guess you’ll have to stay turned to find out … It’s 10 am still foggy, so of course it’s still not sure what time we will be pulling out or if we will … until the weather clears we will be staying parked .. new time is set for 12 pm. Hmmm …

It’s 11 am and it has cleared some what so we are unhooking and getting to roll on the road …. so until next time …

A Packing Day!

2009-12-20T21:41:00.004-06:00

I was awake most of the night with my back killing me. I was up and down most of the night. Being out in the cold has gotten me down in the back. Finally around 4 am my pain med’s kicked in and i was able to get some much needed rest. I finally got up around 9 am!

There is tons to do if we are going to be heading out in the morning. We finally both got ourselves moving (hubby is moving just as slow i am). He had one of his really bad headaches last night and his right side is basically useless today and is hurting him. He is having big time problems with confusion and so I'm having to constantly remind him what needs to do. It’s horrible how these headaches make him so dysfunctional.

I tried to start packing but all i actually got done was strip the beds and hubby helped me get the laundry going. He tried to work on getting things done outside. He really struggled and had to come inside every few minutes and ask me what he was doing. I finally gave up doing the inside and helped him get the outside done. At least today the temps are around 45 degrees with the sun shining and feels pretty good after the cold we’ve been having.

A trip to Wal-mart had to be made for another qt of oil, transmission fluid and dry dog food. Supper was very simple once again. Salisbury steak with bread. I also made some tuna fish for sandwiches tomorrow on the road. Showers were taken and then we went out and drained our tanks as it’s suppose to be like 25 degrees in the morning. The car is loaded on the car dolly and all packed and ready to roll. All that is left is to clean out the front of the motor home, take the TV down and clean the table off. I plan to do this all early in the morning before i get hubby out of bed.

We have spent our entire evening getting things ready to go and the past few hrs have been on planning our route out and printing off directions. Then i remembered my plants in the car and had hubby bring them. I have them stored in the shower for our trip. I don’t want to take a chance of them freezing in the car even though their saying a low of 25 tonight. My geranium has a bloom!

I’m exhausted and going to be heading to bed to get some sleep .. hopefully tomorrow will be a travel day and we will be on the road … i will post when i get wifi and until then have a good one … I'm finally going to get to go where it’s warm .. i hope anyways ….

Another cold day!

2009-12-19T21:14:00.002-06:00

Well we woke up to another very cold day. Temps were 24 with the wind blowing. It’s very cold outside and lots to be done. We got dressed and headed over to the local RV Parts store to see about getting parts for the furnace and Ms. Southwind.

Well they didn’t have the parts we needed but they gave us 2 other places to try. One was only open on Saturdays. We headed over to reliable to see if they had a ignition switch in stock that would fit. The said they did but we’d have to wait a bit for it to arrive. No problem we’d gladly wait. Well we got the part and headed back home, uh oh on the way home i kept saying how you had to push in to turn it and on Ms. Southwind we’ve never done that. It didn’t dawn on either of us that Ms. Southwind looks completely different until we got home and looked. Duh it’s not the right one. I called reliable and they said to bring it back. The parts guy said to get the vin number and call them they’d have to order one.

On the way home hubby decided we’d stop by O’reilly’s and see if they had one .. yep they did and it was much cheaper then reliable. Once we got home it appears it’s the same one but hubby decided since the other one is working after he tried his trick to leave it in until we need the other one. (I hope this doesn’t come back to bite us later) We also got more gas in the cans and put them in Ms. Southwind. We started her up and pulled her up a bit. Then we went to Wal-mart to get heat and oil.

Since i wasn’t in any mood to cook again today we bought frozen pizza for dinner and spent our evening mapping out our route. The plan is to pack the car up tomorrow as it’s suppose to be warmer and head out early on Monday.

Hope your all having a great weekend .. Today has been a better day for us … until next time …..

A Generous Gift and then my day turns to Nightmare!

2009-12-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

My day started off with my morning routine and then i got a phone call that someone who wishes to remain nameless donated a little bit of money to help out. What a wonderful Christmas gift. I was very touched by the generosity. During a struggle for most Americans someone or more then one donated a gift to us. It is very touching and greatly appreciated and i can not thank you enough for your generosity. Thank you to who ever you are and God Bless you.

My afternoon turned into a headache of a day! What could did go wrong! It’s cold and the wind is blowing. The plan was to get everything packed up and ready to roll in the morning. Of course life had other plan. We needed to work on trying to get the furnace working , still no working furnace. We still do not have water inside of Ms.Southwind. Something is going on with the pump it runs but no water, i read online and it appears to be that it’s lost prime (hoping that’s all it is).

So a run over to Ace hardware to get a hose for priming. Finally that went right and that is what was wrong with the pump, we have water again! Next we went to start Ms. Southwind to go fill up with fuel. She wouldn’t start, in fact i had nothing but the lights come on. So the battery charger was put on the battery and it said it was dead. After several hours of charging still nothing so hubby thought it was the starter so we removed that and took it to Auto Zone and had it tested, nope starter is fine. So hubby tried it again and still nothing. So he decided to try something on the ignition switch and behold she turned over but wouldn’t start. So hubby got some gas and put it in the carburetor it tried to start but sputtered like it was out of gas … grrrr

So a trip to the gas station to get gas in the cans and then in the dark we were pouring them in. Behold Ms. Southwind starts up. So of course no packing or anything were done and at this point were mentally and physically exhausted from our nightmare of a day so we decided to go to Wal-mart and get dinner.

Our evening was spent trying to warm up, for me to stop my very aching back and for hubby to stop his aching body. The cold is hard on my back and for hubby it’s very hard on his entire body. His fibromyalgia doesn’t do well with the cold at all. So for both of us we headed to bed early to end this nightmare of a day!!

New Phone & Christmas Gifts

2009-12-17T20:38:00.000-06:00

Christmas presents .. I received a new Kodak printer for Christmas and hubby got a new sewer hose kit. We needed both and were thrilled to get them. My printer died on me a week or so ago and our sewer hose broke the other night when we were out in the cold emptying our tanks … so it was perfect timing for both gifts and we were both thrilled with our new gifts.

Up early and got things packed and loaded back in the car. Then on the way to doctor’s appointments. Finished those and don’t really know anymore then did before went. After the doctor appointment headed over to the cell phone place because this new phone is junk! It’s the 3rd one I've had of the exact one and once again it isn’t working. The green razor was my old new phone .. i loved this phone other then it’s junk but for the color and style i hate to see it go …

At first they wanted me to take one of their cheap Sony phones and i refused. I told them i travel and am not in their local area very often and i needed and wanted a Motorola. In my opinion and theirs they get the best reception. So finally after looking at different phones I wasn’t for sure if i was going to like this new phone as the keyboard is very tiny. But out of the phones this was the one i seemed to like. They said this phone was built for kids it’s a Motorola hint slider with a full qwerty keyboard. It was built for kids to do lots of texting, i don’t do much texting but i am a kid at heart … hmmm

After leaving the cell phone place it was time to fill up with gas and hit the road. We finally arrived back to Ms. Southwind around 4 pm and exhausted.

Unpacked the car and spent the evening relaxing from a exhausting trip.

A Trip to see the grandkids

2009-12-16T09:29:00.000-06:00

Got up very early Wednesday and finished packing the car. Loaded the dogs and on our way we were. The trip actually wasn’t that bad. 5 hrs on the road didn’t really seem like 5 hrs. Maybe it’s because we actually had sun shine today and it felt great!

Arrived around noon and unpacked the car and finished my errands and then headed to see the kids. Spent the afternoon and early evening with the grandkids. We had a blast as always. It’s amazing how much they grow every time I see them.

The kids were eating candy canes .. it was great seeing them eat them because their daddy and his brother did the same thing. Tradition caring to the next generation .. I love it! Although Hailey has put her foot down and said Toby can not have any more of the blue ones because the rest are hers .. apparently he likes blue just like his big sister so now Toby has to eat the red ones which are good they are Watermelon!

These are the most adorable faces and no .. well yeah because they are my grandbabies and i love them so much!

Finally it was getting close to their bed so it was time for hugs and kisses and the dreaded good bye. Hailey locked the door thinking that would keep us there. She always makes us feel so special when we visit her. She never wants us or for her to leave. Right before we left she decided she would let me get her picture in front of the Christmas tree so this was a quick shot as Toby was getting very sleepy and cranky and he doesn’t like to sleep when Grandma and Papa are around.

It was back to Gabe house for some one on one time with him. I started watching a movie earlier in the day called Enough. Jennifer Lopez and i forgot the other actor but i have seen him before. I finished the movie and then Gabe decided we’d go see the Christmas lights. Of course i forgot my camera .. sorry we saw some beautiful lights.

After seeing the lights Gabe had rented another movie called Christmas with the Kranks. It had Tim Allen in and of course anything with him is funny. We watched movies until after 1 am!

A Christmas Program

2009-12-15T21:20:00.005-06:00

I got up this morning and man was it ever cold … brrr it got down to 17 last night! It was really chilly inside of Ms. Southwind and when i checked the furance cold air was all that was coming out .. grrr I just said how good Mr. furnance worked too ... oh no!!

Since we coudn't get the furance going i decided to wash off and guess what .. yep no water! Were frozen up inside .. double oh no!!

Finally I got my self moving and dressed up for a Christmas program at one of the local church’s in town. I dressed warm as it’s suppose to be a cold day.

It was a beautiful program and Central Church is absolutely gorgeous. I took a picture before the program started and I'm glad i did as the church was packed and we barely had room to breath let along try to take any pictures.

It was a great program and i truly enjoyed it. After the program I went to lunch and then it was time to get back and get the car unloaded and re packed up. A trip is planned for Wednesday and doctor appointments on Thursday.

My evening was spent lazing around and re-cooping from the past couple of days .. Hope you all have a great one and until next time

What a day!

2009-12-14T21:20:00.000-06:00

I got up this morning and got Ms. Southwind cleaned up. She was looking great and then i decided i needed gifts for the boys.

I decided to do some baking. I haven’t baked for my kids for some time and so i made a trip to Aldie’s and Wal-mart and got the ingredients i needed to … first on the list was to make home made caramel cinnamon rolls. My boys love them ….

Next on the list was rocky road fudge and almond bark candy. Of course these 2 are so easy to do. After all the mess making it was time to clean up the kitchen. This is my Christmas gift to my sons.

Christmas has become so commercialized that i do not enjoy it like i did years back. Christmas used to be my favorite time of the year but I'm not so sure of that anymore. I still enjoy the lights, the true meaning and spiritual part of Christmas, i just don’t enjoy all the commercial stuff that the TV and stores do anymore. In my opinion they take away from the true meaning of the season. To me the true meaning of Christmas .. giving from the heart and giving to one who is less fortunate. I taught my kids to have compassion and be giving to others.

When my youngest son called me a few weeks ago and told me that he had just gotten home from taking care packages he had purchased for the troops and toys that he had bought for less fortunate children i have to admit i had tears in my eyes and my heart swelled with pride. I felt that i had succeed in teaching my children the true meaning of Christmas after all. He told me he wanted to continue the Christmas tradition and since his brother had his own family are struggling times he felt it was his Christmas gift to himself. I’m so proud of you Gabe and I love you.

Oh My Back!

2009-12-13T20:34:00.000-06:00

What a night .. i knew being out in the cold was going to be ruff on me … but i forget sometimes just how bad the cold can be on me! I barely slept last night for the unbearable pain. I couldn’t get comfy no matter what i did .. i tried laying in bed, laying on the floor with my feet up on the couch, i tried sitting, i tried laying with my stomach on pillows in a bend position, i took several pain pills and even tried sleeping on my heating pads. Nothing worked!

Most of my day was spent in bed and later on this evening my back finally let up some what … hubby was craving brownies and so i helped him make them and as you can see once again my shower is full of dirty dishes and the kitchen is a mess!

It’s amazing how little it takes for things to get such a mess. I let the dishes go one day and boom Ms. Southwind looks like a tornado has gone through her. Oh well, they will once again wait until I'm feeling better. Just helping make brownies was more then this aching back could take. I never even got dressed today, i have stayed in my flannels.

I did snap some pictures of the dogs tonight, as you can see they are all nice and comfy and enjoying a lazy day like me

Hope your all having a better day then me, I'm heading back to bed to rest this back …

A Christmas Parade!

2009-12-12T19:47:00.002-06:00

I woke up to a very chilly morning. The local weather reporters got the weather wrong big time! It was suppose to be sunny with a near high of 50 but that didn’t happen. Instead it rained off and on, windy and very chilly. The temps said around 35 but the wind chill was 21. So since the cold & rain are horrible on the back i spent most of my morning just taking it easy playing games and suffering the web .. well when the internet worked! I don’t get a very strong signal early in the morning or late in the evening from the motel. Weather permits how much connection i have. It also decides on what TV stations i get … What a bummer … well i guess you get what you pay for … and since both are free …

I went to a Christmas parade today! I heard on the local TV station that there was a parade earlier in the week. I got online and checked it out and sure enough there it was. Sounds of the Season is the theme. Well since the news media missed the weather forecast i decided this morning i better get online and checked to see if the parade was still on since the weather isn’t what was predicted. Sure enough nothing stated otherwise so I got dressed up warmly and left early to get a good parking space. Arriving an hour early paid off as i got a front row parking spot and if needed be i could of watched from my car. Instead right before the parade was to start the rain let up and so i walked a few feet and stood along on the side walk with everyone else.

I spotted a different looking umbrella, i thought it was pretty cool looking. I was wishing i could get a better picture but you can get somewhat of what it looked like. Yes … it is shaped like a ball cap with eyes!

As you can see people were dressed in coats and wrapped in covers. The parade venders were out hoping to acquire some green backs before the big day arrived. Although there didn’t appear to many takers this was the only gentleman i see that even attempted to talk to the vender. I guess the economy is even effecting them. Parents/grandparents just don’t have the extra money to splurge on none necessity items.

The parade was led by of course by the traditional local police car and then yep you got it the local fire truck. The kids love to hear the sirens going…. i know my granddaughter is fascinated with sirens.

Then wow came the fancy sports cars … Yes … look at these police cars …

Then came the volunteer police car … i had never seen this before … citizen patrol .. hmmm are these volunteers police officers or they like patrolmen/women who help citizens cross the street … interesting and kind of neat to me … how about you?

Here came the RV mobile command unit … i have never seen this before in real life …

Of course what is a parade without cheerleaders .. i have to admit i’ve never seen so many cheerleaders in one parade … the trailer was full and there was a huge group walking .. go girls

Wow … look at the National Guard ride … our soldiers were answering to the call of duty and they were giving treats to the children.

Look what i spotted amongst our troops .. Yep a K-9 dog in our armed forces … and how cute that even our K-9 dog is doing whatever to serve our country. I’m sure the dog just loved being decorated for the season and having to walk miles in the rain and cold .. Thank you to our troops and the K-9

Look presents were in the parade and another K-9 …

One of the most wonderful things i seen today in all of this wonderful parade was the next 2 pictures. This group brought handicapped adults out to be apart of the parade and the smiles on the faces and being allowed to say Merry Christmas and having it said back to them was the best. Giving is what the season is all about. It’s not giving of expensive gifts but of gifts that touch the heart. Thank you to who ever you were, you touched my heart and that is what the season is about.

An old fashion milk truck … wow what a neat thing to have in a parade

Look even the local news station had their truck and a float in the parade, actually several were in the parade but i only took pictures of this one for some reason.

of course what is a parade without the shiners! In fact i read where they are actual the organization that sponsors and organize this parade .. what a wonderful job you do .. so please anyone who can donate to this organization it does so much good for so many sick children.

I rather liked this fire truck .. I'm fascinated with older style vehicles .. hmmm maybe that is where my boys get it from???

more awesome cars ….

Cocoa cola had this truck pulling a trailer full of coke! Then they had these clowns passing them out and of course i had to get me one too … sorry kids i’m not sharing this one … anytime i’m at a parade and candy is tossed i always give mine to a child i see standing back and not participating. It’s the joy i get …

The vender walked up and down the streets looking for takers .. here is again.. still no takers … hmmmm

Since the vender was in the way i had to take another shot of this float .. i felt it deserved a second shot .. they not only fit the season but they were doing a wonderful job of singing.

The cow truck was a favorite of mine as well. Although i was upset i didn’t get one of their stuff animals they were handing out. I had to stop and think about the statement the old man standing next to me spoke… they seem to forget the old people in parades and head straight to the children … old people enjoy the parade and threats as well in fact i think children get threats more then we old folks do … hmmm now that i think about it he does have a point .. once elderly folks go into an assistant care living they are limited to what they are given and I'm sure a treat is a special thing for them. I guess that is why ever time candy was left in the street and ran over he ran to pick it up and stick it in his pocket. Of course i decided to stop picking up candy and let him have any that was thrown at us out of respect.

It was rather on the chilly side to be boating but this boat was all decked out and pulling an elf behind it. pretty neat huh .. since it’s too cold do water ski how bout roller skiing? Looked pretty fun to me

It was once again time for the police to come through and patrol .. although i think the state troopers patrol cars were much neater then those fancy new ones .. reminds of the good ole days i guess .. hmm am i getting old or what ???

What is it with these young girls in these costumes? I bet one thing .. they were freezing their toots off …

The salvation army had they disaster van pulling a kettle hoping for donations ..

more costumes and more cold girls … hmmm

although I'm sure these gals were freezing as well .. i liked their costume ..

What’s a parade without Harley riders …

Now these costumes are more like it .. much more fitting for the time of year .. just my take

This float was another one of my favorites .. my favorite one is yet to come ..

more neat cars … is this a parade of oldies????

There were pirates in the parade as well .. hmm they seem to have taken over this float of christmas trees .. i have to admit my first seeing pirates in a parade .. they were advertising a local fair in Aug 2010

I thought both of these little neat things were pretty cool .. what you think?

I just love this … beauty

these were neat and Kermit and the monkey was a cutie in my book …

This poor K-9 looked how i felt .. although these dogs are just the cutest and they always look so sad

how about this school bus and Krispy Kreme .. no they were not giving out donuts .. of course i wouldn’t be sharing those either … lol

I thoguht this bus add a nice touch esp since it kept saying Merry Christmas

Okay here is my favorite float! I thought this was just so adorable and this reminded me of the season .. when i think of Christmas i think of Little House on the Prairie type Christmas where it wasn’t about commercial but the real reason for the season and the gift of giving in the spirit of Jesus birth

What is a parade with out horses .. these Clyde dales were my favorite ..

Of course what is a Christmas parade without the official arrival of the guy all the kids have been good for all year long .. yessssssss … look who finished the parade off .. he may be last but

but to the children he was the prince of the parade … yep .. Santa Claus and his lovely wife Mrs. Claus

The parade was very nice, one of the longest parade’s i have ever seen. Of course the first Christmas parade I've ever been too and it was a great even though i was literally frozen to the bone!

After the parade i needed to swing by Wal-mart and get some laundry soap and soda .. man what a mess .. everyone else must had the same idea .. the parking lot was packed .. inside was crazy and packed with people … i got what i needed and got out of there .. I'm so glad i don’t have to do that anymore ..

After the craziness I finally arrived home and got me a cup of hot cocoa and tried to get warmed up. I had planned to go see the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield presentation but i didn't get home until 3.30 pm and since this started at 4.30 pm i still wasn’t warmed up and there was no way my back could take another outing so my evening was spent inside of Ms. Southwind snuggling up to the warmth that felt so good. I’m sure i will pay big time tomorrow for today’s fun …..

Happy Birthday Tyson!

2009-12-11T13:59:00.000-06:00

Today is my oldest son birthday. Wow 26 yrs ago! It’s hard to believe it’s been that long ago. Here is a picture i took this summer of him holding his son. Time sure does fly.

I hope your day is a great one and Happy birthday .. I love you!

As i stated earlier in the week this cold weather has been horrible on my back. I’ve been in pain and haven’t been able to do much. Since i baked cookies the other day after finishing the baking i reached my limit so Thursday was spent pretty much in bed & on the couch.

My dishes have continued to pile up and i put my dirty dishes and the mess from baking cookies in the shower .. here is my messy shower …

Of course I'm sure you can imagine what had to be done today … Yessss … unfortunately after several days of continuing to pile up this is what Ms. Southwind kitchen looked like .. what a mess… actually Ms.Southwind is a mess all over. I have a cartoon of soda in the floor, water jug, bottled water & a gal of oil. These things had to be brought inside from outside in one of the outside compartments. The green water jug you see is water used for cooking. Even though i put bleach in the fresh water tank to keep things from growing i still do not like to use water from it to drink or cook with so when dry camping i use water from Mr. Green jug and drink bottled water.

Since it’s been extremely cold the water has been unhooked and I'm basically dry camping. Wednesday night temps dropped too 7 degrees! Yep, it’s cold here and it’s only suppose to be a high of around 30 today.

Since I'm still down in the back i had to do a few dishes, rest and then do a few more. finally Ms. Southwind was all cleaned up .. well the dishes were done. As far as the other stuff, it will remain until we can move to warmer weather. The only good thing i can say about this cold weather is that Ms. Southwind furnace works really well. With the extreme cold weather and the wind Mr. Furnace has been running. Even though it’s cold outside we are warm inside.

Hope your all warm where ever you are ….

Baking Cookies

2009-12-09T21:13:00.003-06:00

Oh my it was a very cold and windy night last night. Mrs. Southwind was rocked all night long with winds gusting up to 40 mph! The temps dropped to a low of 13 and I'm not sure what the wind chill was other then it’s really cold here.

The high today on my weather bug was 21 and it’s reading 15 right now at 8.22 pm. They are saying it’s suppose to get as low as 7 degrees tonight. Brrrr that is just way too cold for me anymore. We had snow flurries and even a bit of snow on the curb in front of Mrs. Southwind. It was way to cold for me to take any pictures. My back couldn’t take going out in that stuff.

Since i needed to help the electric heater out i decided to bake some cookies. So i decided since my back isn’t going to let up anytime soon and spending the last few days in bed i was going bed crazy. I baked oatmeal raison, choc chip and butterscotch/white choc chip cookies. They turned out very good and tasted very good on a cold winter day.

Later in the evening i put some chicken breast in the oven for dinner. Steamed some Brussel sprouts and that was dinner. Chicken was very good and the oven helped keep us warm and cozy inside.

The rest of the evening was spent playing on the computer and watching tv

Hope you are all warm and comfy where ever you may be… I’m counting the days until we can head to hopefully warmer climate. Although this cold spell has seemed to hit several places and if it’s not cold/snow/ice then their having flooding with all the rain. Although i have to admit i will take the rain and warmth any day over the cold. My body just doesn’t adjust like it use to with the cold. It prefers warmer weather.

Have a good night and until next time ….

Anyone want to trade backs?

2009-12-08T19:48:00.000-06:00

It’s rained off and on and it’s just cold enough it’s not freezing. My back is still giving me lots of pain and numbness. On top of it my soap channel went out … grrrr

I spent most of the day trying to get this back to stop .. of course nothing is going to stop it with the weather like it is. Come on 17th get here so i can head to warmer weather. The only positive thing today was we didn’t get any ice or white stuff.

Hope your all warm and feeling better then i am … until next time

A New Game

2009-12-06T20:42:00.000-06:00

I spent the day just taking it easy and trying to get this back to let up. This cold weather is starting to get the best of me. I didn’t even go to church this morning. Most my day was spent laying around and just playing on the computer.

I installed a new game and i love it. It’s called Rain Forest Adventure by Game House. Although i have to admit it’s addicting and hard to stop playing. Here is the link to it, go check it out … http://www.gamehouse.com/download-games/rainforest-adventure

Hope you all had a great weekend and until next time ….

It’s still cold … brrrr

2009-12-05T21:17:00.002-06:00

Well i woke to another cold morning and my back is still not liking it. I spent most of the morning just trying to get this aching back to let up. Later in the afternoon a trip to Aldi’s was needed and it warmed up to 40 degrees! So i went to Aldi’s and Wal-mart but by the time i got to Wal-mart i was hurting and couldn’t remember what i actually needed. I was just ready to go home and lay down.

Once i got home filled the fresh water tank and drinking water jug. I spent my evening on the couch with a very aching back.

Down in my back

2009-12-04T21:11:00.000-06:00

Ughhh it’s not been a good night or day. It got very cold last night and all night long i was up and down with my back. Nothing i did would make the pain go away. I couldn’t get comfortable and it didn’t matter how i tried sit or lay down. I have been in bed most of day with this aching back. Well actually between the bed and couch.

My camper is a mess and i haven’t done dishes for a couple days now. Oh well until the cold lets up i will be held up inside of Ms. Southwind.

Hope your all staying warm where ever you are … until next time

Brrrr

2009-12-03T22:13:00.002-06:00

I got up this morning and brrr it’s cold. I went to headquarters today to help out the gals. Beth called me yesterday afternoon and asked if i could come help them out for a day. I had a great time and yes it’s still cold here. They are predicting an even colder night tonight … when i got home i hooked up the hose thinking i could use it for a bit. Well i never thought but in no time it was froze up and when i went to turn on the water i got nothing. So i got the hose unthawed using my hair dryer and brought the hose inside to the shower. I then dug out my back up 5 gal water jug and filled it up to use. The fresh water tank has water but i wanted drinking water.

Tonight supper consisted of salad with steamed green beans … mmm it was good. After supper I spent my evening doing laundry and curled up on the couch .. I'm exhausted!

A Cold Day of Shopping!

2009-12-02T22:06:00.000-06:00

I got up and got dressed. I’m going shopping today. I need a few things from Wal-mart and I can’t resist the Dollar Tree or any Dollar store on my way home i seen a Family Dollar store and Dollar General that i just had to stop at. I got some Christmas lights at both. I got a neat looking globe that has lights. I chose the clear light globe as i figured i could use it for summer lights as well. At Dollar General i got these multi-colored lights and here they are.

Ms. Southwind is looking so festive. It has continued to get colder all day long and late in the afternoon we had snowflakes! Luckily nothing stuck and it didn’t last too long. They are predicting very cold temps tonight so this evening after doing my dishes and getting showers we drained the tanks and unhooked the hose from the hydrant as to prevent freezing.

I was tired from all that shopping so supper was grilled ham & cheese sandwiches. Even though the wind is blowing and it’s very cold outside we are nice in warm inside of Ms. Southwind. The evening was spent on the couch watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer one of my favorite Christmas shows. Hope you are all staying warm where ever you are.