It was COLD and then .. The Sun finally came out!

I got up early and went to breakfast.  I wanted to say good bye to friends Jackson & Anna and new friends Boyd & Diane.  They are heading to KY to work at Amazon.  Good luck guys and have a safe and good winter. Man O Man .. it’s so COLDDDDDDD!

This morning hubby first emptied our gallon jugs of water in our fresh water tank then he went to work on installing my porch light.  It had to have a new complete light set as some of the wires broke in the old one.  While he was doing that i worked on cleaning out  all the jugs for fresh water.  I hadn’t refreshed them since coming home from Florida.  So it was that time to empty them out, bleach the containers and add fresh water.  I like to travel with several jugs of water for that just in case.  We do not use water from our fresh water tank to cook with, it’s basically cleaning and personal use.  I carry water in jugs for cooking with and we buy drinking water.

After lunch the sun finally came out and it warmed up enough i could stand to be outside working.  Hubby dug out our generator to do some maintenance work on it .. gotta make sure it’s working for when we start our journey. 

 

I decided to work on cleaning out the truck.  It was horrible and needed cleaned up.  The grands had food in the back seat and all that good stuff that has collected over the months of being here.  While i was cleaning i had the doors open and Roo’s chain reached far enough for her to join me.  She was making sure she wasn’t being left again. First she was patient, then she started squirming and finally ….

 

she gave up and just laid down.  She was like i’m not getting out because i’m not being left again!  We are hoping that her mom doesn’t come get her as she is fitting into our home very well.  We love her so much.  So if her mom doesn’t call, were not telling her when were leaving.  Once we leave Roo will officially be part of our family and there will be no return.  She has gotten to where she doesn’t try to run off and you can even let her off her chain outside and she runs inside instead of away.  I think she has decided that she has found a good home and wants to stay in it.

 

Dolly and Lexi were looking at Roo like hey if your going so are we.  They both barked at me as they couldn’t get to the truck.  They were disappointed when they realized that our home wasn’t moving yet. Once we both had some things marked off our ta do list it was time for dinner.  We have decided that if we can get everything together and done we may be pulling out on November 5th. That is the new departure date we are looking at.  It’s not written in stone and could be sooner or delayed at any time.  Our lives are written in Jell-O and I have the right to change it at any time :))

 

The rest of the evening was spent just relaxing and trying to stay warm.  Oh Me O My it’s getting cold again.  With these cooler temps I have to limit my activities with the cold because it doesn’t take this back long before it starts screaming at me.

Day/Night Nightmare!

I had a really ruff night of sleeping.  My back was screaming and it was around 4.30 AM before i got it to calm down enough to get some sleep.  YES .. i slept in this morning.  The rest of my day was spent doing absolutely nothing but laying around watching tv and Yes a few naps here and there.

Later on after dinner hubby decided to tackle our day/night shade that has been broken for some time and I've been using a curtain rod to hold it up with during the day.  Well since hubby is working on his “honey do list”  and he is struggling to get all it done as soon as we can so that we can move up our departure date.  Neither of our bodies is liking this cold weather.  YESSSS .. we were born and raised in the cold Illinois winter but neither of us can take the cold anymore.  Were wimps!!

What a nightmare!  Who invented these things?  We took the valance off, np all went well.  We took the shade down .. all went well and from that point on it all went down hill …  I paid bucks for this kit as it had a how to cd included .. yeah right .. it had every one but ours .. grrr.. while i looked at the cd hubby tracked where the cords went.  Finally i got online and looked up our brand and found some what of some directions.  What helped the most was the chart i found for the cord.  Well it would of if someone would have listened to me!!    NOOO .. he has to do it himself and of course it didn’t work right .. so once again we took it apart and FINALLY someone is willing to listen to me.  After all it’s only almost bed time and my back is screaming.  YES your right by this point I'm not the nice person i usually am :)  Hubby finally gets the string right and we hang it up and the bottom bracket is on wrong.  We have one side hung back up and i say “Um this doesn’t look right”  I get the look and keep my mouth shut and when he is done he says “that isn’t right .. why didn’t u tell me me” EXCUSE ME!!  I just smile as i help him take it back down.  We turn the rod around and behold it works better then it ever has.  YES finally the day/night shade nightmare is done .. sure hope the rest of them never break!

It wasn’t long and i was taking a very hot shower, pain pills and off to bed i went .. sorry no pictures .. i wasn’t sure if one of us was going to make it out alive .. I’m proud to say that we both made it out alive and with no scars :))

Windy Day

We woke to cool temps and a very windy day.  Yep, I would say winter is on it’s heal to arriving here in Illinois.  I did my regular morning routine of checking blogs i follow and of course face book to see what was going on with my family.  It’s amazing how we are now a society that uses the internet to keep family informed of what is going on in our lives.  My sister Rosie became a first time proud great grandma today and YESSS .. I’m a first time proud great great aunt today of a bouncing little girl.  Welcome to the world Aubree Lin.  Then i picked up our home and got some laundry going.  I decided to take the day off from cleaning out cabinets.  I have been doing 1 cabinet a day.  Reaching above my head is very hard on my back and with these cooler temps it’s best to do absolutely nothing to aggravate it. 

Later in the afternoon we went to our youngest son Gabe’s home in Jerseyville and got to see our grand dogs.  YES as always they were excited to see Grammy and Papa.  Then we went to see the house our son and daughter to be are trying to buy.  It’s perfect for a first home and the wonderful part is that I love the basement that i am thinking will make a great mom and pop apartment :))  My son say’s it’s going to be a man cave .. i have another idea and best part of all is my daughter to be agrees!  She says she could enjoy coming home to dinner ready, her home cleaned by pops and a built in dog .. oops babysitter :)

These men do not have a chance with the women in this family .. we stick together!  Their drive way is big enough for our home to fit into and the yard beside the driveway with some work of removing some trees and some gravel could easily be made into a nice parking place for our home, but I'm loving the idea of making the basement into an apartment :)  Oh YES ..I can see it now .. our investments may be starting to pay off with some serious mooch docking in the near future!! 

After we looked over their cute home to be we took the kids out to dinner at Hardees(their choice).  We spent more time visiting & discussing plans to their new home and of course WEDDING plans.  July 6, 2013 our baby is marrying a wonderful girl that we are proud to call our daughter.  We are hoping that the kids can get all the paper work done and be moved in by the first of the month.  We’d love to move our departure date up but there is a few things that will need to be done to the house and hubby will help our son and his father in law to be do the work.  So right now our departure date is up in the air until the kids find out when the repair work can start and our son can get moved in.  Unfortunately time flew and before we knew it 8 PM had rolled around, so it was time to head home.  The kids have to work tomorrow. 

We got home just in time as the rain arrived.  I was tired and my back was starting to scream so it is pain medication, a hot shower and off to bed I’m going. 

The toppers have been installed

I woke up this morning and temps were not too bad.  The sky was clear and the around 11 AM the clouds started rolling in.  By 1.30 PM the rain and cooler temps had arrived.  I had to rewash my bed covers as i had them hanging out yesterday and they were smoked by my fire.  Ughhhhh  I ended up washing them in my washer and drying them here at the campgrounds laundry room.  I also needed to get a couple of zucchini peeled and shredded to put in the freezer before they went bad.  I decided while i was at it i would make some zucchini bars. 

Last Tuesday the toppers for the silo were installed and I managed to get out of bed early enough to see one of them installed.  The first one was set in place with the truck still hooked up when i arrived.

 

This has been an on again off again project going on all summer here at the camp. 

     

they look really nice and the plan is to put rock climbing walls in them.  Of course you won’t see me climbing them :) 

 

Around 6 PM the down pour rain arrived and it’s nippy outside.  Looks like the cooler temps have arrived.  We had to run to wal-mart to pick up our med’s and dog food.  Once we were back home i made chicken and rice for dinner.  That was as productive as i got today.  With this kind of weather it’s weather to snuggle up in bed with a good book. So YES … It’s another night of resting the back...  as it’s screaming what are you doing to me???  You know that I do not like this kind of weather.  Unfortunately this is hubby’s kind of weather.  He loves the fall with the cooler temps, the fact that no one is around.  So instead of doing what I'd prefer which is ………. 

I’d love to head out sooner but we have several things we must do before our departure date.  Although I’m happy to tell you that we are discussing the options of moving it up.  Not sure yet but i will keep you informed.

Fall Colors

It was a beautiful day .. temps were wonderful.  I spent my morning cleaning under the bed and burning receipts and tax records that are no longer needed.  Ughh glad that job is done for a few years!

I wanted to get some pictures of the trees.  There are some beautiful colors here in the campground

 

This house around the lake is ready for Halloween

   

Our home all nestled in .. this will be home for a few more weeks.  Although i have to admit i’m ready to roll.  But the to do list is not finished yet.

 

the lake was beautiful with the fall colors

the rest of the evening was spent just relaxing surfing the internet.

A Ruff Weekend

Well it was a ruff weekend for me.    I didn’t get much sleep Friday night. After the kids left i took a hot shower and curled up in bed to rest this aching back.   Saturday started off a bit on the warmer side but the wind blew and my aching back could feel the rain coming.  We needed to do a grocery run so we’d have some grub to eat.  We also went by the camper dealer and picked up some needed things for minor repairs. 

We got some heavy duty latches to install on our new frig so the door will stay closed while going down the road.

  

and some new refrigerator bars to hold things in place during travel.

 

a day/night shade repair kit, ours are beige but you can no longer get beige so I'm going to dye this string and then hubby will attempt to repair the broken shade.  We also purchased replacement bulbs and a an analog for our water heater. WoW $88 worth of stuff!!

Saturday night was spent in bed on heating pads.  The cold moved in and the rain wasn’t too far off.  It was another night of not sleeping and suffering with an aching back.  I shouldn’t of went shopping and stayed in bed but it was to the point of a must as there wasn’t much in our home to eat on.

I spent Sunday resting my back while hubby attempted to do some maintenance work .. well in between football games :)  Hubby got our analog installed in our water heater .. good thing as it was eaten up. The latches are going to need some fabrication work since our refrigerator doors don’t snug up against the wood work.  Glad I'm married to a fabricator :) 

Sunday evening i laid in bed resting the back and watched the movie RV.  I had seen it before but still enjoy watching it. 

Today (Monday) was a beautiful day as the temps warmed up in the low 70’s.  I limited myself at doing anything due to my back and legs being very tender.  I did clean out a couple of cabinets and did a couple loads of laundry.  Later tonite i went up and play 13 with some of the other RVer’s for a bit and then came home.  I shouldn’t have gone and sat in those chairs as my back is screaming at me. 

It’s one of the caught between a rock and hard spot .. do not do what i want to enjoy life or enjoy life and suffer with the pain later.  Looking like it will be another night of sleeping due to back pain.  Tomorrow is suppose to be 80 degrees and then the cold and rain are returning.

On a good note our youngest son and his fiancée called to let us know that they got the house they have been bidding on.  The bad news is their not suppose to close until Nov 15th we will be gone by then.  Hopefully they can get all the paper work done and move the closing date so that we can help with the moving.  I’m excited as their new home will have a place for us to park our rig .. YESSSS .. I'm finally going to have a kid i can mooch off of!!!

Fall is in the Air

We woke to a nippy morning and an early morning.  The grands arrived around 7.30 A.M. to spend the day with us.  We have been slowly easing our time away from them.  We’ve enjoyed spending lots of time with this summer but now it’s time to wean ourselves and them.

Fall is in the air and the trees have turned colors and the leaves are falling off.  It won’t be long and ole man winter will be here.

It warmed up fairly nicely this afternoon.  So i decided it was a good time to clean and organize underneath the outside compartment on my side.  I dug everything out and re-organized it.  While i was doing that hubby and the grands cleaned up the garden.

 

Hailey was a good helper for Papa

 

Toby helped too, although he had to stop and play as well :)

The campground is beginning to be bare.  3 friends pulled out yesterday.  One on their way to Louisana which we will meet up with them next month at a campground there.  Another is on their way to winter in Texas.  This is their camper, they have a park model they spend the winter in.

The other couple is headed to Arizona and we plan to re-connect when we get to AZ this winter.  Things are looking bare and are very quiet here.  Although i have to admit hubby enjoys a bit of time when no one is around and it’s peaceful.  He feels like he is back secluded living in the back woods again

  

The grands went home around 8 PM and we will not see them until next week.  My home is a wreck as it is when the grands leave but i’ve decided it will wait til another day.  I’m tired and am spending the evening computing and doing nothing but watching some tube.  It’s going to be a shower and time for bed before long.  This cool weather is not good on the back and my sleeping pattern is off big time.