Getting Ready

We should have been gone already but, here we sit. Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. I finished up my final for my second to last class and now it's just waiting on the mail to bring things that we need on the road; eyeglasses, textbooks, stuff that needs to be shipped to other locations and if we are lucky, a big fat check! Not likely.
Don is out mowing the yard for the last time until we get home in the fall and I am supposed to be working on the house (I hate coming home to a messy house).

This trip I want to try to plan meals and utilize the coupons I have been hoarding for months. My favorite magazine AllYou always has really good coupons. I have become an APP hoarder on my phone as well, so I can keep up with all the latest deals in the stores that are along our path and coupon matching sites that help me find really good deals and sometimes, free deals.

Anyway, back to the food thing. Other than fuel, food is our biggest travel expense. We tend to eat out a lot, even when we are home. SO this trip, since we have an added payment for the new toad, I wanted to try to cut costs so we can still have fun. I plan to clean out our home freezer and fridge and plan around those items for the first leg and then when we get to where we are going, working on a new menu plan.

Don is a big fan of fountain soda so there will always be the cost of that vs. drinking soda out of a can (there IS a difference); however, I am going to try to go off of soda and start back on my Digest Diet. This means that I will have to take special ingredients and my ninja blender but the good thing, besides losing weight, is that I don't have to buy a bunch of food!

Wish me luck as I get started on these projects.

From one toad to another...

Okay, okay... I am over my pity-party on the toad purchase.
Here, as promised, is the picture of the new toad...

While she may not be much to look at, at least she will do all the things we wanted in the new toad.
1. Get us from point A to point B.
2. Haul passengers who need a ride.
3. Give us a bit of room to stretch out and enjoy a longer ride
4. Decent gas mileage
5. Haul more JUNK that we THINK we need on our travels.

Okay, beware, back to whining!
Why can't we leave already? I shouldn't complain since this time in Oklahoma at any given year is usually unbearably hot already but this year is different. This year is rainy and cool - which I LOVE and ADORE.
We will be leaving soon, though. This trip back to the PNWest is a big trip since its our family reunion on my mom's side and my youngest niece's wedding. AND she has asked her favorite auntie to take her wedding photo's! I feel so honored to be such a big part of her day.
So, I am gearing up in my "what to do before we leave" chores and adding a few this year. For instance, clean out the fridge and freezers completely. Pare down our food stored to what I can fit in the RV - just in case the power should fail for weeks on end and we aren't home for months on end.

perhaps I will start with this... until then, have a great Sunday and hope you are having fun on your latest adventure! 

RIbbit! Toad shopping!

It recently came to our attention on our last trip that our little toad was not cutting it for others. Normally I wouldn't care what others thought or wanted in terms of my own stuff, but well, when your momma say's "you need a toad that will be big enough for ME to come along!" you listen and act. So, off we went to find the perfect toad for our coach - per momma's statement.

Our current toad is a 1997 Mazda Miata convertible and I love her. She is a blast to drive, a conversation piece, and so light you never know she's back there until you glance at the backup camera screen or walk to the rear of the coach. She is red. I love her. She has white racing stripes and a chrome roll bar, and I love her. Did I mention I love her?

So, there you have it. I am going from this beauty (on long trips) to a 4 door car. We really wanted a smaller 4 door truck and were going to trade in the big truck but the hubs decided that he loves his truck just as much as I love my Miata. <sigh> Here we go! 

We ended up with a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt that matches the coach perfectly but needs to be readied for a tow bar. Mind you, this is an expensive venture to the tune of around 2 grand. So, Don has decided to go with a dolly. Normally, I wouldn't care but the whole point of RVing is to minimize the clutter and a dolly just adds to the stuff one has to store, maintain, and worry about. 

When we get it all worked out and cleaned up (the new/used car), I will post pics. Until then, have a "toadally" great day! 

Your ever worrying about what others think, bloggerette

Lost but so far, not found.

I have several blogs that I try hard to keep up with. Right before we left on our trip to Arizona, I was notified that my domain name needed to be updated for my cooking blog. I put it off and now I am paying for it in more ways than I anticipated.

I was hesitant to update because I was thinking about consolidating all the blogs into one cohesive blog and to cut costs, just use free blogging sites such as this one or Wordpress (where the big blog is). Well, after really researching everything, I chose to go ahead and renew for another 2 years as some of the benefits were worth the extra cost.

After submitting all my information (again) and transferring all my domain and hosting information to one company rather than several, I lost all my data in transition. <sniffle> This is not a HUGE deal since the majority of all the data entry work is also on a hidden blog that was just for personal use; however, all my posts and photo/cooking posts are history and nobody seems to know where they went or even how they got lost.

Bottom line, I am starting over and now I am working on getting a new site up and going. The reason I am posting this information over here, other than to whine and cry on your shoulder, is to let you know that some changes may be occurring here as well.

Sincerely,

your aggravated but not giving up bloggerette

Spring Clean and Fling!

Okay, here goes.

I have to get rid of a lot more junk. This will be round two and while I am anxious to be clutter free, I do love my stuff.

I googled "spring cleaning list" last week so I could compare it with my own list (in my head) and have a printed copy to hand to the dear husband in hopes that he would help. HA HA HA! I know, I am delusional.

At any rate, this is what I found and I LOVE it:

Spring cleaning list

The gal who writes this blog has some really clever and brilliant ideas! I wish I were so brilliant...

Anyway! I have gotten off topic, sorry about that.

Now that I am armed with my list I can get started tomorrow, or the next day... or even the day after.

I am not really looking forward to all the work and what has kept me from being motivated today is knowing that we have some construction repairs planned and why bother cleaning if we are just going to mess it all up with dust, dirt and construction grime again?

Well, I can start sorting through and getting rid of stuff - that will help with the moving stuff to storage project so we can do the repairs without stuff in the way.

Alas, it's time to begin.

Sincerely,
your procrastinating bloggerette

Houston! We have a leak...

What is more annoying than waking up to find your roof leaking? Nothing that I can think of.

Yes, the house is leaking so that gives us a new project on the top of our priority list. Apparently, I failed as a wife to "listen" and my husband has no desire to tear down the house and install an RV pad per my suggestion, so we now have to replace a roof.

Gads...
Anyway, Happy Easter!

We had a lovely time at church with our kids and then lunch with the grands and their dad. Their mom also made a big boo boo and scheduled lunch with us AND at her mom's house so she went there while Gary came and ate with us. :)

Nevertheless, tomorrow I will be calling for estimates on the roof and starting my spring cleaning job. I found a great list on the internet that I will share with you tomorrow. :D

Your deaf-to-her-husband bloggerette

Home again!

HI all! We have been home 2 weeks now and life is starting to "settle in" before we uproot ourselves and begin on our journeys again in May. I am excited to get out of town as this trip takes us home to Oregon and to family on my side. 

While we are home here in Oklahoma, Don will be having surgery to repair a cornea separation in his eye from his past cataract surgery. Then hopefully, he will be fitted for his new hearing aides and new glasses. Yay! We had also planned to go camp with our friends but that gathering is the same weekend as his surgery. DRAT! 

Today the kids and I went to my friends new tea room; Magnolia Tea Room here in Bartlesville and oh my! the food was amazing! I am so happy for my friend and I wish her all the success she can handle and then some. So far, it has been a huge hit in our area and the tables are consistently full. 

Then we headed out to "the farm" where my sister-in-law and brother-in-law live. They have cows. I love cows. They also have calves and I love calves even more. I wish I had taken pictures of them. However, I did take pictures of their little charge, Anna. She is just over a year old and constantly going non-stop. 

Miss Anna

Is that not the cutest face? Well, she is a spitfire and reminds me so much of her momma - my niece. 

In other news, God has been at work on the whole sunset scene too. Oh boy! 

Well, that is all I have for you today. Tomorrow is Easter and we are headed to church. He is risen!!! 

Have a blessed Easter Sunday and hug your "peeps" a bit tighter on this Holy day. 

Your faithful Peep-lover-of -cows-and-calves-and-Anna :)