Dashboard Decor

One of the largest areas is the hardest to access - so that has become the location of our fun stuff.  At least while we are not moving.

There is the wooden bear Left Brain brought back from Alaska for me that says Welcome or Go Away.  This could come in handy someday to convey the proper messages.

Then there is the glass cottage Beth created for me and it acts as a beautiful night light to add a colorful glow to the room and kindle fond memories of the maker.

The center area of the dash lifts up and is used as Left Brain's "desk" of sorts.  The one on my side slides forward to reveal a similar desk area for my crap.  It is interesting to learn that if a portly cat lands on this side and it's not latched tight it becomes a kitty surfboard as it glides forward and deposits the cat on the chair.  I keep it tightly secured now.  Not that it isn't fun to watch the surfer cat in action, but I don't want my glass cottage broken.

The gingko theme flag was also a gift from Beth and I have it hung on the side cabinet where there is a nice glow as the setting sun shines through it.  I love the way my stick puppet matches, so she has been added to that area. 
 Everything will need to be removed during transit, but it's nice while sitting for a month or two to enjoy the comforts of home.

Even though this is not technically dashboard decor, it's in the vicinity...but then what isn't?  The reading lights for the front two seats that swivel around to become part of the living room are now adorned with Left Brain's hats and double as a hat stand. 

I haven't found a really good use yet for the narrow cabinets near both the drivers and passengers door.  But I'll think of something!

Long Live the Dashboard Queen

Gardening is SO much easier now

I used to spend hours and hours and a lot of money on the gardening at the old house.  This new style of gardening is just perfect for me!

I gathered my few plants up and headed over to Miss M's house to use her soil, tools, etc and leave my mess there.  What a friend!  I finished up my "gardens" in about half an hour.

Since I have limited space the focus is on herbs for cooking and some miniature hostas.

Luckily I found this cute little guy at Rockwood Gardens in Onalaska and decided he'd be perfect for my garlic chives.  I decided he should have a mohawak hairstyle.

The trio of black planters makes it easy for the other herbs to be picked up and moved when traveling.

The black pot for the miniature hostas is kind of boring, but I just had to get something going.  I can always look for something more exciting later on.  The thrill is really in the hunt for plants and pots anyway.



Long Live the Queen of Speed Gardening

The Living Room

It's fun to find creative places to store stuff, kind of like a big Easter egg hunt for RV'ers, especially with my memory and I can't recall where I put anything.

Let's tackle the living room today, which is basically the whole RV but for our purposes we'll just deal with the couch area.  Right above the couch area when you enter is my funny clay face from Suzanne. 

It's good to have someone happy to see you greet you as you come home...and that sure as heck isn't She Devil. 

It always makes me smile.

too messy!

I wanted to keep all my quilted lap throws, partly because I made them and wanted to maintain something from my past life and partly because it can get cold enough to want them.  But where to store them when every inch of cabinets are used for dishes, food and other items.

Then I found these little folding hassocks at Shopko on clearance and they were perfect!  The concept is to use the space bag that comes inside of them to condense the storage, but I wanted to use the items on a more regular basis so ignored the space bag.  Those got used to store pillows and bedding for guests in the cargo bays.

One is used for storing all those quilted lap throws and the other is filled up with my electric pressure cooker that I just wasn't ready to part with yet.  I'm thinking this will still be handy when it's hot and sticky and I can plug it in outside to cook and I'm not willing to give it up.  The plus of these two items is they double as a footstool for those on the couch; either to place your feet or use as a side table.  They could also double as additional seating for someone not too heavy.

I discovered a very narrow space between the couch and the dinette - perfect spot for the cookie sheets!  Not your conventional storage option for these unless you inhabit a house with someone suffering from Alzheimers disease, then you find things in really strange locations.  But for right now, right here it works!

The dinnette seat was getting out of control with all the paper clutter so now we both have a letter organizer at the end of our bench seats to place items we use all the time. Thankfully TJ had two of them in the perfect color.

The drinking fountain moved again - now it's under the little table between the recliner and the co-pilot seat.  It's a much better location - not kicked as often, no worry about computer cords dropping in the water and by far easier to access for cleaning and refilling.

She Devil's food dishes have moved full circle.  Once I tried the dry food is under the dinnette table and the twice a day tuna feeding  behind the drivers chair since this is an area not often used and therefore nobody is stepping in her food.  When you have tuna scented socks it's amazing how many stray cats will start to approach you, as well as attracting the homeless downtown. But they both have migrated back to the area in front of the coffee station as it's the easiest to reach and feeding her seems to be a full time job.

Bit by bit things seem to be falling into place.  My last design was adding these sturdy plastic storage bins with handles to the overhead cabinets for food items. Now when we prepare to roll nothing will be sliding and rolling around up here.

Well that wraps up the living room....

Long live the Queen of Living

Memorial Day

The sun has set and another Memorial Day draws to a close.  One of my recent projects was to scan old photos and it seemed appropriate to post this one of Left Brain's father.  Ken was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborn and one of the nicest men I've ever met.  May his memory be for a blessing.

One of the highlights of his career was giving Marlene Dietrich a ride on his motorcycle, which was named "My Doris" after his wife.

After recovering from the visit from the Rossings we spent a quiet Monday here at Whispering Pines.  Many of the campers were gone this morning or in various stages of packing up to depart.  The pond looks much more inviting now without hoards of shrieking children jumping in and out of the water.

It appears that She Devil was tiring from all the energy in the house...at least she seemed to be trying to communicate her wishes to us.

Since I will be without a car for a few days while Left Brain deals with getting the Russian students settled in, I ran some errands and got groceries this morning while I was able.

Then we went to the Shores to visit with old neighbors and friends.  Colleen and Eric never fail to throw the best parties - great music, good food and always a wonderful mix of people.

In addition to Chaseburg Mama and Nature Man I got to say "goodbye" to Tom and Karen from across the street.  It is so good to see people you enjoy!

One of the guests organizes hikes in the Twin Cities area, very near where we will be living.  I find this these serendipitous encounters fascinating. You just never know who you'll run into and I'm excited to realize this is my new life.  New people and old friends all intertwined to form some incredible memories for when I'm old and gray....like Left Brain.

Long Live the Queen

Quiet before the storm

I've been enjoying the company of friends and having long lunches all week to enjoy the freedom of having two cars, which ended today.

On Wednesday we had supper with our friends Gary and Sue - wonderful salad and lasagna with sherbert for dessert - absolutely perfect. They live in the same valley we used to and I enjoyed seeing the rose breasted grossbeaks and gold finches coming to their feeders as we sat on the porch.

Thursday I shared Indian food with Chaseburg Mama, the Divine Miss M and Colleen of the Sea Shore.  I'm never sure which is best, the food or the conversation.  Sure seems to be a lot of eating lately and we'll need to start changing our habits in June!

Then it was off to the laundry mat for Thrifty Thursday to catch up on laundry before the weekend visitors arrive.  I got home just in time to unload the car as it started to sprinkle.  Then I remembered that the holding tanks were full and ran out to empty them.  It's not a hard job, just releasing levers...the trick is to remember to do it before you reach crisis levels, which isn't pretty.  As I got back into the house the heavens opened up and all chaos began.

Luckily She Devil isn't scared of thunder and lightening, it was the gale force winds with heavy rain and the tornado warning that had me concerned, especially when the RV started to shake and rock a bit.  But the only damage done was the heavy downpour knocking down the humming bird feeders - no major damage done, the awning held and all is well. 

Left Brain was out on a driving job and got locked out of the gate when he returned late that night, so he had to leave the car and walk in.  Yuck.  It wasn't heavy rain at that time, but there were many puddles he couldn't see in the dark.

Friday I dined with Glass Girl and her sister to catch up and visit with them.  ThenI picked up my new glasses and had to struggle for a bit to adjust to the change in prescription.  For those of you with glasses you know how words can appear to "swim" on the page with a prescription jump.

The Rossing bunch arrived Friday night and we managed to cope with rain the first night and blistering heat the next day.

After they left we sat outside and read while enjoying the breeze then came inside and turned on the air conditioning to cool off and watched some TV.  Ah....the quiet.

Long Live the Queen

Taming the bathroom

I love the creative challenges of how to fit everything in and yet make it look somewhat attractive while living in an RV.

The bathroom challenges were to arrange the toothbrushes, toothpaste, pills, cup and the mouthwash on a dinky countertop in a manner that can be scooped up and stored easily when moving.  The solution:  put them in a little basket that allows for ease of cleaning and preparing for moving.

The existing shower head felt a bit like using a water pik to clean your face.  Sure the abrasion might be good for the skin, but it was just too painful.  Solution:  enter the new improved shower head.  It looks nicer and feels better.  It also has the turn off knob so you can shut off the water while shampooing to save water....every RV'ers concern about water conservation.

Where can you hang towels to dry between showers?  This solution is an adaptation from an idea I found on Pinterest.  They had sewn ribbon on the center of the long edge of each towel so they could be hung.  But I'm too lazy to dig out the sewing machine to add the ribbon so I got these little plastic clips so they can be added to the towels to hang.  Pretty slick, huh?  I put up the little suction cup thingeys to place the towels on.  I can't believe they haven't fallen off yet, but they are still holding!

I never used to believe in suction cups - just couldn't understand how they could really work. But I am a believer now and have added them to hold the shampoo and conditioner and another below for my facial scrub.

Then I was having so much fun I added another for the scrubbing mit and back brush.

Left Brain would like to have the overhead rod removed as he tends to whack it while showering, but it's handy for hanging up shirts that have been hand washed.  I never used to want any of these kinds of clothes that were so fussy, but now with the laundry mat experience it's just as easy to wash something out in the sink and hang it to dry.

Long Live the Queen of the Powder Room

The last week with two cars

Since we still have the use of a second car I have been ripping and running all week seeing friends and running errands...just because I can.  Things will be drastically different next week when we must learn to share.  The calendar will be used to show time slots reserved by one another in a lame attempt to avoid conflicts.  THIS should be interesting.

I now have a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea and am struggling to learn to love it.  They are better than they have been in the past but it's still like strapping an athletic support cup to your face with a six foot umbilical cord. When it gets bumped (as it often does with my "active" style of sleeping) it becomes misaligned and creates the most amusing farty sounds.  When I refer to being wild in the bedroom, this is what I really mean.

My most recent lunch gathering was with Judi, Phyllis, Marti and myself at Panera for a three hour lunch.  Man, can we talk or what!  It was nice to have Judi and Marti meet in person as they only know each other due to Facebook comments.  While there we all kept meeting other people we know.  I guess if you stay there long enough you'll see a number of people.

During the course of the conversation someone commented on us being a group of mature women, but that could be misconstrued with being responsible, so another changed it to being a "seasoned" group of ladies.  I finally decided that as long as we've been around, we could pass for a bunch of "marinated" old women.  Oh the beauty of aging.  Each of us had tales of personal struggles we are currently working through and it felt good to share.  Such is the power of conversation with females.

Later that night I picked up Miss M again for camera club and after the brief program on how to shoot animals and children...with a camera that is...we all split up for our assignment of nighttime photography.

Miss M and I went to the top of the parking ramp where we learned that snow has it's own parking spot at the tippy top from November through April.  I never knew that.  I wasn't in love with any of the photos I took but will share one of them here to show the night life of La Crosse.  I'm never downtown (or any where else) late at night, so I was shocked to find out how many people are out and about on a Tuesday evening.  Amazing.

Long Live the Queen of Night Life (as long as it ends by 9pm)

Another successful bus trip

On Sunday we went on a bus trip with the garden group to three garden centers. 

Yes, it does seem odd to take a 45 foot bus for eight women, but we need to space for plants.

We had opened this up to the public but the only guest we had was Jean. 



 She was a quiet but pleasant woman and was delightful to have on the trip.  As she approaches 80 years old she is certainly not ready for any rocking chairs soon! 

She kept in touch with her family by texting while en route. 

Her family met us with a banner and welcome worthy of this matriach and it was a thrilling end to a perfect day. 

She is a lucky woman to have such adoring people.

notice my one pathetic purchase!

Even though the group is aging and many of us have downsized our gardens, or in my case gotten rid of them completely, we still managed to do some retail therapy as we traveled.

This is such a fun bunch of ladies to hang out with and we were fortunate to have the entire group attending with the addition of one of our former favorite members, Sandra - the loveliest of the lovely ladies.  It was so good to see her again!

This was the last "offical" trip for Left Brain as he prepares to retire from bus driving and it was fun to follow him as he prepared for the day by going with him to the bus barn and greeting the group with him.

As you can see it was 5:30 as he pulled the paperwork to start for the day.  We were up at 4:00 am to get to this point.  He has loved driving for the last 10 years, but is looking forward to just having some down time to enjoy for himself.  More golf...less work. 

Long Live the Queen of the Garden Centers

Freaky Friday

Friday was a nice day.  I started out by cleaning the RV while Left Brain was off golfing with Larry Boy and after he returned I took off to go see "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and run some errands.  Loved the movie, made me laugh and almost cry, but then I was a bit emotional considering it was my mother's birthday.

I decided for her birthday this year to give her a dead cat.  Okay, before I get replies of how cruel that is...you have to understand a couple of things.  Both my mother and Simcha have been dead for two years now.  My intention was to bury her in the flower bed behind the house...the cat, not my mother.  But I just never got around to it.

she loved to "hang out" with Left Brain

Then when we decided to sell the house I didn't want to bury her there anymore because she never met any of those people.  And then it hit me!  My mother always liked Simcha.  And Simcha, being the sweetest cat in the whole world, liked everybody.  So, I decided they should repose together.

After the movie was done,  I drove out to the cemetery to perform the deed, which may be illegal, I'm not sure.  But to ask permission is to risk being told no, so I just did it.  The cemetery caretakerswere out there mowing and trimming.  I wasn't figuring on that little twist to my drama.

So I proceeded to put my back to them and kneel down at the grave site and hoped it looked like I was praying.  It probably looked like I was overcome with emotion as my body dipped up and down trying to dig with a small hand trowel.  Grave digging isn't as easy as you might think; that ground is packed down firmly.

I managed to get down far enough to slip Simcha in without bumping into my mother, thank goodness, or get arrested.  Then I packed down the dirt and proceeded to stomp the sod back in while singing the prayer for the dead...in Hebrew.  My mother wasn't Jewish but my cat was, so it seemed the thing to do.  Hopefully the caretakers thought the stomping and singing were some kind of archaic Jewish ritual.  It's always good to keep 'em guessing...that's my motto.

Later that night the Shores came up to see the RV and join us for Friday fish fry.  They even brought along a house warming...er...cooling gift in the form of a bag of ice to use for our drinks.  It was great to see old neighbors again and we're sure going to miss them when we leave the area.  I learned during supper that his father and my mother shared the same birthday.

Today I attend shul, well...at least most of it.  I left early to meet up with the director of the Regional Pump House for lunch and chat and catch up.  She was intrigued by our decision to ditch everything and take off in a radical new lifestyle.  Left Brain was able to join us for part of the lunch, so it was nice to offer his side of the story as well as mine.

As we left she commented on how much courage it must take to do this and I thought about it for a while before responding.  I told her it felt liberating, joyous and exciting...but I didn't feel there was any need for courage.  After we made the decision and set it into process it has just felt right.  Add to this the way the doors seemed to be opening up for us to make this happen and I just have to believe it's the path we're supposed to be on.

Left Brain and I enjoyed some left over taco salad and my weight watcher carmel apple fluff for supper and spent the evening reading our kindle and watching the hummingbirds come to the feeder.  I'm starting to understand their patterns now and will need to set up the tripod for some photos soon. 

Tomorrow is our final bus driving trip, he as the driver and me as a passenger for my garden group.  We're going to three garden centers and somewhere for lunch.  I'm going to look for a cool planter for my miniature hosta Scott gave me, some herbs and a salad garden.  This is probably the shortest list I've ever had for planting season and it feels alright.

Long Live the Queen

Shade for a sunny afternoon

Out here in little RV on the Prairie, the sun can be without mercy.  We have no big trees on this end of the campground, just a few small dead ones that couldn't survive.  But we have full hookups...that's the trade off.  Maybe having shade and having to move every 7 - 10 days to dump would be a better deal.  Perhaps next time as we learn each time we do something.

Having kept the two black mesh screens from when I did shows,  we decided to try to rig them up for shade on the awning.  Isn't it just amazing what a person will decide to hang on to!  But it proved to be worthwhile as they do give us some shade and a small modicum of privacy. It also helps to anchor the awning down during the wind gusts.

It was a quiet day of taking laundry to the laundry mat and cleaning out a couple of the cargo bays to better organize them.  Okay, I admit it...it was just to rearrange something!  Old habits are hard to break.  The laundry experience was more pleasant than I would have thought and it's nice to have all of it done in about an hour while reading my Kindle.
Last night we had a visitor from the campsite next door.  He works on the railroad and they travel with a cat and a Great Dane.  I guess She Devil doesn't take up that much room after all.  I warned them when I went into the RV that I was about to try lighting the pilot light and if they heard a loud explosion they'll know it did not go well.  Found this to be an effective way to send people packing, I must remember this for future use.  Although I enjoyed his company.  Oh well.

It's a strange feeling to sit on the floor with your head in the oven while the gas is on and start flicking the flame on my lighter in search of where you think it should light. This just seems counter-intuitive to me.  You can only imagine the visions running through my head.  But, it did light (after reading the instructions for the third time and realizing I was missing a minor but very important step) and I proceeded to bake my bread.  Okay, it's only a mix where you add water, but I did get to knead it and let it rise, so it's almost like really making bread.

It actually turned out pretty good, so we had French baguettes with our spaghetti and then I made a blueberry parfait with go lean crunch cereal and a chocolote pirouette for garnish.

Long Live the Shady Lady

Beets are messy

I know - this is an apple...but I couldn't find a funny beet photo

I confess....I have never cooked beets before.  Today I conquered that fear!  I found in my veggie book that to get the sweetest flavor from them for a salad you should roast them.  So I washed them and wrapped them in foil and put them into the convection microwave on convection bake and stood back waiting for the sparks to fly.  It just goes against my better judgement (and we know how questionable THAT can be) to put tin foil in a microwave...on a metal rack.  But they were fine and after the allotted time I cooled them and prepared to slice and dice them.

First off I forgot to peel them so I went through all the little diced pieces of the first one to remove the outer peel.  These are disgustingly messy to work with but the color is vibrant.  I would look at my hands and sink and conjure up images from the movie I had just seen with Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows.  I kind of wanted to apply dark eye shadow and drip some from the corners of my mouth and see if I could scare Left Brain.  But it was just too messy and I didn't want to stain things in the new RV.

Then I added the feta cheese and walnuts with a little pomegranate dressing and served it for supper.  It was good, but I think after it chills more it will be even better.  However, I will probably just buy canned beets like I have in the past for this kind of thing and save myself the trouble.  But I did it!


Long Live the Queen ....or should I say "the beet goes on"

Inside the new canned ham

Even though this RV is much larger than the little canned ham we loved so much, it's still a creative challenge to find just the right place for everything and an even larger challenge to keep everything in its place. 

fridge on the left, bathroom on the right

There are mirrors everywhere ...it's like living in a house of mirrors and I really don't want to see myself all that much.  I guess I should just be glad it's not like a fun house mirror that distorts the images.  Although sometimes I think it is...I can't possible be that fat, can I?  But they do bounce around the light and that is a good thing.

After some trial and error (meaning things crashing to the ground in the dark of the night) I have learned that if you wash the mirror with rubbing alcohol first you CAN get the command hooks to stay on them.  This has allowed a great deal of fun for me since I wasn't able to install some of my favorite things without being able to pound in nails or use screws.

The kitchen was the first area to tackle.  After getting my magnetic strip installed to hang knives on and my utensil rack for, well...utensils I was set.  Then I added a double metal basket to hold produce and stuff.  Now I'm ready to cook....once I figure out how to light the pilot light and conquer the combination microwave/convection oven.  It looks a bit wonky with the reflection of all the stuff,  but really helps.  Now I can pick up the basket to remove it when desiring to use the stove top burners.  To access these you have to lift up the counter top and put them somewhere for the duration.  A bit of a hassle but worth the benefit of a full countertop when not in use.  Every bit of space is precious. The same procedure goes for the sink.

The other dead area was the wall with the...yes, another mirror.  I kept the rolling plastic cart from the old house and have utilized it as a coffee spot.  It adds another bit or counter top and some storage below for the spices, trashbags, popcorn popper and other sundry items.  I have used some gel clings to add some summer flowers and another command hook (I LOVE those things!) to hang our calendar with photos of the grandkids.

One of our first concerns (because it's ALL about the CAT) was where to place her water fountain and litter box.  You can see by this photo that her fountain is underneath our dinnette table.   Hey!  What is my margerita mix doing under there!?!?  Is she adding this to the water?  No wonder she sleeps so much during the day.  Is that salt on the rim of her water dish?  This has gone too far!  I will speak to her as soon as she wakes up!  I placed the fountain in another litter box so it can be pulled out easily for cleaning and refilling without sloshing water all over the place.  I'm thinking I can add the snap on lid while we are moving and it should contain any spills.  We'll see.

litter box is below the shelf

The second dilemma was where to put the litter box.  Especially since it's such a big honking huge thing required by a big honking huge cat.  When we saw the space beneath the desk area in the bedroom we both smiled and thought the same thing....litter box.
The desk area is then used to store the printer.  I added the extra shelving from the old house to provide a place to store the paper and ink also.

Luckily this is the one window that cranks out so it's reachable through the shelving and prevents rain from hitting the printer if left open during a storm.   Left Brain has successfully installed the flatscreen above the window area so he can watch sports in bed...once we get the TV to actually run, still working out all those cables and hookups.  Oh well, one day at a time.

Now I think I'll go find a movie and goof off for a bit while Left Brain is out golfing with Larry Boy.

Long Live the Queen of Relaxation

Another quiet day

Day by day we keep getting ourselves established in our new life on the road.  I never imagined so many places to inform of our new address and lifestyle.

He's always on that phone!

While Left Brain went to the dentist yesterday I went shopping at TJ in search of a storage solution to all the loose papers and paraphenilia that seems to float around on the table near our computers.  Believe me, even with as much as we have on the computers now...life is not without papers everywhere!  I foiund the perfect desk organizers that match our color scheme beautifully and have conquered the mess.  Of course, our "desk top" happens to be the bench seat we sit on to keep the table top as clear as possible.

She Devil's favorite spot

We met up at Manny's for a nice Mexican lunch in their outside dining area and then went to meet with our financial advisor about our life changes and how to handle some issues we had questions on.  It looks like we will be setting up a bank account with Wells Fargo to make sure we have access to cash through a debit card nationwide.

Then we went over to the clinic to complete the release of information forms for them to put our medical history on a CD so we can have our records with us in case of an emergency.  I love this electronic age we life in!

He went on his motorcycle to deliver the DVD of the fishing and biking trip to Lanesboro to the professor who is making a memory CD for everyone in case he is able to use any of my photos.  I ran the car through the car wash and then got groceries and headed home.

That night we dined on bacon wrapped sirloin and green beans outside on our little "patio" area.  I had purchased a small rug for this spot during the rainy season when I got tired of trucking through mud all the time.  It does help to define the area.  We rigged up the solar shade behind us to offer a bit of relief from the harsh setting sun out here in our prairie settings.  No big trees to shield us here.  But no matter what the circumstances we live in...it's going to change in a month or two anyway so we don't get too upset.

Long Live the Queen of Trailer Trash

Another weekend gone

This is a reminder to never grow to old to giggle with a friend.

You'd think with all the time in the world things would move slowly, but yet another weekend has blown by.

Saturday I attended shul for my usual hour or so until my tiny little attention span says to move on.  This is the nice thing about a three hour service, people can drift in and out as they want.  I love the morning service and get to chant the morning blessings so I always show up for the start of it.  Then I like to wander over to Pickerman's for their fabulous soup and pick up some groceries on the way back home.

This Saturday I stopped by the old house to see if there was any mail and then hung out with the Shores at their rummage sale.  They live at the top of a steep hill so only the brave and daring came up to check out their treasures.

Sunday was spent scanning recipe books so I can pass them on to our daughter.  I also worked at removing files, photos and music from the old computer on to the new one.  In the process I blew out a bunch of stuff I no longer needed.  During the downsizing process even things that take up no visible space can get overwhelming.  I'm sure that many of things I've transferred over to the new computer will be deleted also, but my goal was to get it cleared out quickly so it's ready to turn over during their Memorial Day visit.

Then Miss M called and was heading to a green house my way and would I like to join her?  YES!  I walked over to the gate so she wouldn't have to get through the security and on my way was greeted by a giant sea turtle driving a golf cart wishing me a Happy Mother's Day.  Maybe I wasn't totally awake after all - that was strange.  We went to the garden center and I got two long hooks to use to hang the hummingbird feeders from the awnings.

Left Brain managed to install the flat screen TV in the space provided for it in the bedroom.  Now we need to figure out how to run the surround sound - this is where our son-in-law will come in handy during their next visit!  We have yet to try running a DVD yet to see how (or if) that works.  Each day is a new adventure.

I was blessed with phone calls from both my kids on Mother's Day and that was sweet.  It's always nice to be remembered and I like the personal touch of a phone call instead of just getting a Hallmark card.  Now that we have an official Texas address we prefer everything via the internet as we will have to pay to have any mail forwarded to us.  Our first step is to convince the postal deliverers that we no longer live in the old house as mail seems to keep coming through.  I was going to do the change of address online but it cost $9.95 to do that so I marched my wide behind into the post office and did it at the counter for free.

Today will be spent running some errands, going with Left Brain to his dentist appointment and sorting out more things and since I seem to have the photo process figured out now, finally get some photos of our new home to show off.  My only disappointment is that the place seems to be getting dirty already.  Somehow I thought living in an RV meant not having to do housework.  Oh well....I knew that wouldn't be realistic.

I just discovered that the table could be lowered a notch, so we'll play with that later.  We also need to try opening up the sofa to see if it makes into a bed so we have a place for our grandkids to sleep when they come.

Long Live the Queen of New Adventures!

A Day in the Park

Friday was a lovely day.  I was privileged to spend the day with Left Brain as he drove for his favorite group on a bike trip to Lanesboro.  There was a blue sky and perfect temperature for the days activities of biking and fishing with a picnic tossed in for good measure. You might say it was just "duckie".

Although my main purpose was to photo the group, this mother duck and her brood swam by and before I knew it I was sprawled out on my belly on the dirt and grass.  I have no shame when it comes to cool photo opportunities!  The kids were really cute too, so it was a full day of snapping the shutter.

While we were enjoying the bike riding portion of the day our house was being signed away.  We are home owners no more!  Well, not stationary homes anyway.  This motor home has felt more like a home to me than most places and I couldn't be happier.  I mean, can you see any sign of stress on Left Brain's face as he takes a moment to rest on the bench?

The group was joined by family and UW La Crosse students and the ratio of child to adult was at least one to one, if not more adults per child.  Many of the family members also attended for the day and helped out with their little ones.  The attending dog was a bit hit with the kids and I couldn't help but laugh as she took her turn at the fountain.

You might say it was a wonderful day for all creatures great and small.

Long Live the Queen of RV Living!