Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

We have been in Mission for over a month now and getting back into the swing of things. Computer Club here at the park is meeting every Monday morning and they have asked me to teach the beginners class. I was a little worried about this as I am no pro at computers but said OK anyway. Thanks to some DVD's I bought from Geeks On Tour, I have used them in class and they seem to have saved the day. Now mind you, I do some of the class on my own as well, but the videos have helped a lot. The first weeks lesson was on using the mouse, and basics such as WordPad, the desktop, etc. The second week was learning about getting on the Internet and a little about how to navigate around. This past week, we went into email. We have everyone open a Gmail account from Google and that way everyone is following along on the same screen. Most of them bring their laptops and we have tables set up and it looks and feels like a real classroom. The club also has and advance class which follows the beginners and I feel if I learn just one thing each week, I have learned.

I have also started back with line dancing. They are meeting about 4 days a week, so far I have not made all 4 days in one week. Just seems I have something else going on. They also have a beginners and an advance class. I was going to the beginners (and I still do quite a bit), but I really get a little bored, as every time a new person shows up, it is like stating all over again. With my dancing background, I think I catch on pretty well, so I have decided to attend more of the advance classes. I may go to some beginners classes also.

The park will be having their big Thanksgiving dinner at the hall on Thursday. We have signed up to bring a desert so I will be making pumpkin pie. They have different colored pages to sign up on and that is the group you will sit with during dinner. We are with the orange group. Each color group has serving tables with their food so the lines aren't too long. We have been in some parks, that if you are one of the last tables to be called to get your food, everything is picked over and some of it is gone and by the time you sit down to eat, the people who were first are getting up and heading home. Real get together time there, don't you think?

The park had it's first craft sale and I had my table, but November is not a good month. First of all there are a lot of people who do not come down till after Thanksgiving. Also, people have spent money traveling here, have expenses when they get here, food to buy, etc. so they are not spending there money at craft sales. I made a whopping $13.50 and then had to pay out $3 for the table. Wasn't hardly enough to buy lunch, so went home to eat. I am hoping Dec. will be better. I am making some poinsettia pot holders for the Christmas sale. Hope they are different enough that they will sale.

We have been spending time visiting other parks where you can own your own land and looking at other units. One of the things on our wish list was to have a space to park the RV on the same lot and most of the parks you can't do that. We even went and looked into new mobile homes. Saw some really nice ones, but with the price and then having to buy a lot, and the set up fees and putting on a Texas room, it would be way over our budget. We kept going back to one unit we spotted and even made two showings of it. The owners live in Canada and were not down here yet, Roger talked to them on phone, but we decided to wait till they got here. We went to see them on Sunday and after talking to them for a long time, we decided to buy it. We have put money down on it and will work out all the details later. They want to stay down here till March so we will not be moving till then. It does have a pad for RV with sewer, water and we will put in the elec. hook up for RV. It is 2 bedroom, 2 bath, living, kitchen, laundry and yes, a Texas room. It also has a large covered deck and one small shed and one large shed that is set up as a work shop with over head storage. It is at Valley View park and our friends live right behind this place so it will be handy. We are excited about it, but it will be a long wait till March.

May you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your family and friends.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

In Mission - Bentsen Grove

We arrived here in Monday (19th) around 4:30pm. It is good to get here and get settled in. We are still working on the settling in thing. Have to take RV to the storage area today. We parked RV across the street and unloaded it after cleaning our trailer. I can't believe we had so much stuff to unload. with my crafts and Roger's tools he brought, it took awhile. Roger got my 3 wheel bike out of shed and filled the tires with air. I am ready for a bike ride now. We were going to take one last night, Roger got the front tire on his bike put on and went to fill it with air, and blew the inner tube. Now he has to get a new tube. We took a walk instead.

There really isn't much to write about as not much happening in park right now and our friends aren't here either. I want to make it to the pool today and I want to check out the exercise room and show Roger how to use some of the equipment. We did take our pop cans to the recycle area and crushed them, then to the hall and read the bulletin boards. Seems they are having garage sales here this Sat. and a Halloween party on the 31st. We also signed up for flu shots for next Tuesday. Wow...........isn't that all exciting??? Not really, but like I said before, not much to write about.

The weather has been nice, in the 80's. Slept with the air on last night, haven't done that for awhile. We were sleeping with heater running all the way down here. The fruit trees in our yard are full of grapefruit and oranges, but they are still green so it will be awhile before we get some of that great fruit.

We did venture out yesterday and did some driving round and looking at other parks for mobile homes for sale. I can see this is going to take awhile to find the right price and everything we want. I like the park we are in, but we lease the spot and own our trailer. The activities in this park are great and I have made many friends. Roger wants to own the land as well as the mobile home and many parks are set up that way. It is the activities in those parks that sometimes are not up to par with what I want. Roger doesn't do activities, so it really doesn't mean anything to him. Also, we have a wish list of what we want this time around, so finding everything is the challenge.

"How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it"

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Too Cold.......Left Iowa

Wow, the title says it all. It was cold and they turned off the water at the campground we were staying at, we checked into another one, but they were going to turn off water too. Roger called both the Dr's and they got him in on Monday (12th) so Tuesday morning we took off for the south.

When we left our place in Stanwood, the satellite box was one of the last things we took out, and wouldn't you know, I pulled all the wires off the box, went to back of TV and gathered up wires and then missed the power cord for satellite box. Called the new owner and she found it and dropped it off at our son's house who lives a half a block away.

Monday while Roger was running around doing his DR appointments I spent the day at daughter, Sandy's house doing laundry. Took my lap top with me and the cord with my Verizon USB card and when I left, I left the cord. Didn't get lap top out of bag till last night and had to call Sandy to see if it was there. Now they have to mail it to me. They are going to overnight it and we will pick it up at a post office close by. I just can't go without my Internet. I must have a block for cords.

We are at Mark Twain Landing campground outside of Monroe City, MO right now. Will go into Monroe City and check at post office tomorrow, if the cord is there, we can move on, if not it will be another night here. I must say this is a very nice campground, but it is still cold here. Don't know how much further we will have to go South before it gets warmer. I went to office today and she gave me the code to use the Wifi here, so I am now almost a happy camper. We have cable TV here, but no ABC. I watch alot of ABC, so having some withdrawal with that.

Tuesday morning before we left, Roger had to drive back to Stanwood and stop at post office as we needed to pick up mail (they were closed on Monday, Columbus Day). He also had to go back to Dr for blood test. Besides picking up mail, I asked him to get me 100.........forever stamps. He gave me the check book when he got home, the check was for $80.80, then he gave me the stamps. He had a total of 20 stamps....................WHAT..........20 stamps for $80, WOW. I guess he and the gal at the post office did not understand each other. I called her this morning and she said she changed to check. I guess my lost cords aren't that big a deal now.

Not much more news, we are glad to be on our way, just wish it was warmer. Checked weather in Mission and still in 90's there with some 80's. Sure sounds good to me right now.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Paper's signed.....we are now homeless

We closed on our home yesterday and are now moved out and sitting in a campground in Cedar Rapids. I must say it was a lot of work those last 4 days. I am soooo tired, getting to old for this. We have some mixed emotions about it, will not miss the town of Stanwood, never really made any friends there but we will miss the mobile home. We really liked that place, just hope we can find a good place in Texas that is as great. There is no hurry to find one, we want to be certain so we don't have to do this moving again.

Roger has Dr. appointments on the 19th and 20th and we will be leaving here after that. We are going to take this time to try to see all our friends and family and get a few things done we have been putting off. Who know, we might even take in a movie. While living in Stanwood, it was always a long drive to Cedar Rapids, so didn't get to do some of those things. It is getting quite cold here, and our old bones are not use to this, we are looking forward to heading south.

Till later

Thursday, October 1, 2009

House Closing on Monday the 5th

Just wanted everyone to know, we got word this afternoon that we will be closing on our house on Monday. We were hoping for a week of two to get everything moved, but lawyer said we should be moved out by Monday, so she can get keys, etc. It is a good thing, we have almost everything packed and waiting in garage to be moved. Roger went down and got a storage unit today, so will start with some of it tomorrow. Making my list of things to get done and which day to do them. It is raining here, so that may put a damper on things for tomorrow. Geeee........we are getting tooooooooooo old for all this moving stuff.

I think I told everyone about the sending the new camera in to get fixed. I did get the card back and now have those pictures in "My Web Albums" There a some of our place here and most of them are of our grand-daughter, Emily and the high school band. She is in color guard and does a great job. If you want to view all of them, just click on photo and it will take you to the web album.

From 2009-09-30


From 2009-09-30

Not sure when I will get back here to write again, I am going to be busy for a few days. We will be taking RV into Cedar Rapids and camping at Morgan Creek at least till the 15th, that is when the park closes for the season. Roger has two doctor appointments the 19th and 20th, so can't leave till after that. We are hoping Morgan Creek will remain open for a few more days, if not, I think we will be headed to Hawkeye Downs Fairgounds. If you are in the area, stop by and see us.

Till later.................Happy Trails

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Sold our home

We have an offer on our place and there has been earnest money put down on it. We took the papers to the lawyer to look over and get things going. Now it is a wait game. The lady who is buying it is going thru a divorce and wants this place to move into. She is living with her mother right now. We are not sure if it will close before we leave for the Rio Grande Valley, but we are packing up everything and getting ready anyway. We will be moving it all into storage for now and after we find a different place in Texas, we will come back and get it.Image035

Here is a picture of our place. This was taken from the street.

The time just seems to fly buy. I have everything almost packed up here and only kitchen left to do. Don’t want to pack it too soon as still stuff we are using every day. As it is, it seems like there is always something we are looking for and it is packed. Been loading RV at same time, so most of what we need is there.

I got Roger a new camera the end of July. We had taken some pictures with in at the Jefferson football game last Friday night. Our grand daughter, Emily is co-captain of the color guard and they preformed. When trying to upload them to my laptop, I couldn’t get the cord to attach to camera right, now the camera won’t work at all. What a bummer. I hope I didn’t mess up something trying to get the cord attached.

Not much more happening is dullsville (Stanwood). I must say, we will not miss this town. Have never made any friends here, we will miss our home and Roger is going to miss his garage, but those can be replaced. I am really looking forward to doing more traveling next summer. Not sure where we will be going, but even if we make a few RV rallies, it will be a start. At least we will not be tired to this place, mowing lawn and working in garden.

I will keep you posted when the sale is finale, hope it is soon. Roger has an eye appointment the 19th of Oct, and we are planning on leaving after that.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Where did this month go?

Wow, we are in the last full week of August and I just can't believe it. I don't know where it went. I am not sure if that means I am very busy or just retired and we all know time goes by faster when you are retired.


We have an appointment tomorrow to take the Vue into Cedar Rapids and have the tow bar welded on. We are going to have to take both cars as, it will take all day and too far to come back home, so we will make a day of it. Not sure what we are going to do all day, I called one of my friends to let her know we would be in town, but haven't heard back from her. Guess maybe we might see if there is a movie we can go see, that ought to kill some time.

After getting home from our camping trip with Roger's brother Larry and wife Sherri, we have been trying to finish up with things here at home. We had ordered two new bathroom sinks and they came right before we left to camp, so Roger got them installed. The other project was to get the crack in kitchen ceiling fixed. We had a guy come to do it, he works on mobile homes all the time and when he was here to winterize the place last fall, he told us he could fix it. Well, he wasn't quite sure how he was going to do it, but ended up mounting a 1x4 on ceiling all the way across. Roger is now painting it. That will pretty much end all the fix it projects. Now I need to get out to garage with Roger and start sorting all his garage treasures (that's what he likes to call them).

I have been working on my crafts for the craft sales at our park over the winter. They have one every month and the table only cost me $3 each month. I have many crocheted items, manly bookmarks, butterflies, hanger covers and photo frames. I have also made tissue box cover with plastic canvas and these have photo frames on side. The other item I make is sun catchers made out of beads. These I learned how to make sometime ago and they take quite a bit of time to do as I have to drill the holes, cut the sticks, sting the beads, etc. I have just finished making some 34 of them. They are not all alike, I have cardinals, blue jays, USA hearts, hummingbirds, red hats, Canada flag, and hearts. I am now working on some more of the tissue boxes. Don't know what will be next, I made a list of everything I had left in Texas and that helps to decided what I need to make more of. I like to keep my hands busy, so it is craft, craft, craft.

I decide to look into Face Book as everyone seems to be doing it. I joined and can keep up with what the rest of family is doing. I have been able to see photos that I never would of seen if I hadn't joined and read about what family is doing. I also go hooked playing Farkle. Oh well, you only live once, might as well enjoy it.

We are not quite sure when we will be leaving Iowa for Texas. Roger has an eye appointment the 19th of Oct. so will have to be after that. I really wanted to leave earlier, but guess not. We are still waiting for the sale of our place to happen. Have one gal that wants it, but is getting a divorce so the money has not happened yet. She did line up for someone to come and evaluate it and they are suppose to come this afternoon. I hate this waiting till the last minute as if this is going to happen, I need to start packing. I am getting too old to try and get it done all in a time frame of a couple of weeks. I guess we are going to give her till the end of Sept. and if there is no down payment, we will pull it off the market and try again next spring when we get back. I have packed some things and have them sitting in garage. It is just hard to know what to pack and still make this place look lived in. I can't strip all the walls bare (yet).

Roger likes Bluegrass music and we missed the festival that was in Strawberry Point (Backbone) so I looked on line and found out the one in Central City is this weekend, so we are going to go to that. Will pack the lawn chairs, cooler and maybe I will take a craft to work on while listening to music. Should be a fun time and good to get away for a day.

"The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra."