New Year’s RV Resolutions

New Year’s RV Resolutions

Posted using ShareThis

Christmas Eve 2009

It's Christmas Eve and we had a fantastic day.  First, Dennis and I sold our Joyner this morning.  A couple from Missouri who winter in Quartzsite came to look at it and bought it.  After an hour at Bank of America (THE WORST BANK EVER!!) we finally got our money and they got their title.  The poor saps had to open a checking account because apparently you can't get a BofA cashier's check with your BofA credit card unless you have a BofA checking account.  Give me a break!  What should have been a simple transaction and notarization became an hour-long chore.  The good news is everything went through and we no longer own the Joyner.

I worked until 4 and Dennis picked George up at the airport at 2:30.  We met up at home and got ready to go to Ray & Mary's for our 5th annual Christmas Eve dinner.  Ray's mom, sister and nephew were in from New York.  We took our dogs for a play date with DD and GG.  A good time was had by all.  We had some great wine, a FANTASTIC dinner and a nice dessert (Derby Pie).  I love Christmas Even with them!  We are now watching District 9.  Not very Christmas-y but interesting nonetheless.  Our dogs are SOOOO exhausted now!! 

Tomorrow we are cooking a turkey.  It's soaking in kosher salt right now in the kitchen sink in ice water.  It's going in the oven at 9am for a 1pm dinner.  We are also making mashed potatoes (real), candied yams, stuffing, broccoli/cauliflower casserole, Derby pie and Pumpkin pie.  And don't forget the cranberry sauce and Grands biscuits.  Yum. Lyn and Dan are coming over to have dinner with us.  It will be fun!

Saturday morning it's off to Verde Valley in the motor home.  We are spending Saturday and Sunday nights there, then driving the car home Monday.  Dennis and I are heading back up Thursday after taking George to the airport and getting home from work.  We'll be ringing in the new year with our friends Bill & Dave in Verde Valley. 

We hope everyone has a great Christmas holiday and day off from work.  Whatever it means to you, I hope that it's all that you hope it to be.  Happy New Year, and raise a toast to 2010 being better than 2009!  Take care everyone!!

December update

It's Sunday following a fantastic weekend. We are in Toledo visiting and Friday, George had his annual holiday party. It was a great time, despite the bitter cold! Saturday morning, Dennis and I headed to Williams County to go to my parents' house. We had lunch, took pictures and then had our Christmas celebration. At 4, it was off to mass to celebrate mom and dad's 40th Wedding Anniversary. It was a nice mass. Afterwards, we went back to the house and a big spread was waiting for us. Aunt Shirley is the BEST!  We had a terrific prime rib with baked potatoes, green bean casserole and biscuits. It was delicious! Aunt Shirley also made a very nice cake to celebrate the occasion. I've posted pictures in an album to the left.

Today we hung out with my family. Grandma and Pete came over and we got to visit with them. Uncle Bryce was there for a while. Aaron headed home and Aunt Marie and Uncle Jim stopped by. It was really great to see everyone. Dennis and I headed back to Toledo after dark. When we arrived, we went to dinner with George and Jerry, then came back and watched a movie. It's almost time to go to bed so we can spend the day with the Taylor girls tomorrow. We're here until Tuesday morning, then it's back to sunny Arizona. We miss our puppies most of all!

Pictures from the weekend are to the left. Enjoy!!

Picture above:  Don & Judy Muehlfeld, 40 years strong!!

Christmas Decorations 2009

Dennis and I finished putting up our exterior Christmas decorations today.  They look really great.  Dennis made a couple of videos of the lights just before dusk.  The videos turned out pretty good.  Check them out!

I also posted pictures from our trip to Roosevelt Lake in mid-November. The link is to the left. Enjoy!

Destination camping: McDowell Mountain Regional Park

Destination camping: McDowell Mountain Regional Park

Posted using ShareThis

Anniversary party

Dennis and I had a small party last night to celebrate the anniversary of being together 20 years.  I was 19 and in my second year of college when we met.  He was 25.  We met at a party in mid-November and had our first date 11/21/89.  A lot has changed since that fateful day 20 years ago.  But the one thing that hasn't changed, is that we're still crazy about each other.  Thank you to those who were able to join us for the celebration last evening.  We've graduated from a keg to a pitcher of Sangria and shots of Jack Daniels.  We had a blast. 

One more day of work and we are on vacation until Monday the 30th.  Tuesday morning, we're throwing the dogs in the motor home and taking off for Temecula, CA.  We're meeting some friends' there and staying at the home of one of them's mother.  We are really looking forward to not only the journey but the destination.  We love Temecula and are excited to go back after nearly 3 years.  We are planning to come home on Saturday, in advance of the Thanksgiving traffic rush.

We'll be making a trip to Ohio in a couple of weeks as well.  We're visiting to meet our new nephew Knox, and to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  We're also planning to celebrate an early Christmas with both of our families.  Please order some warm weather for us, family and friends in Ohio!!

Thanks for all of your support of my Examiner.com writing.  I had a fantastic month in October with over 15,000 pages views.  I've exceeded 8,000 so far this month.  I've been slow to add new content this month with so much that's been going on.  I'm hoping to post something on the way to California, or shortly after arriving.  Please continue to visit my site often.  The link is to the left.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.  Let us not lose sight of all of the people and things for which we are thankful.

Almost the weekend

It's Wednesday and I want to make a quick post.  We were out to Roosevelt Lake this past weekend with a bunch of Glampers.  It was a great time.  It was chilly and a little damp on Saturday, but we enjoyed the company, good food, and fabulous campfires!!

We had no electricity except when the generator was running, and we had no cell service.  I was able to receive a text message Saturday morning letting me know that Knox had arrived.  Congratulations Lyn, RJ and Lylah!!!  We love you guys!!

The above picture was taken by our friend Jim as we were leaving Sunday morning.  I thought it was a pretty cool picture. Enjoy!

Picture:  Our motor home, dogs on dash, Dennis driving, me in passenger's seat, towing the Polaris on the trailer.

Hump Day

It's Wednesday evening, and I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to Facebook.  I also added a Picasa album to the left from our trip to McDowell Mountain Regional Park a couple of weeks ago.  It was so amazing out there. I'm going to write an Examiner article about that place very soon.

I would encourage you to continue to visit my Examiner link to the left.  If you subscribe to e-mail on the site, you'll get an e-mail whenever I publish a new article.  For the 2nd month in a row, my link was included in Good Sam Club's CyberSam newsletter.  Last month, I got over 15,000 page views.  So far this month, I have over 6,000.  While this isn't enough on which to quite my job and live, it is a great start!!  And I appreciate your continued support! 

Saturday was Halloween, and I took a couple of cute pictures of the boys in their Halloween costumes.  They had them on just long enough for me to snap the picture.  Clothing of any sort acts as a straight jacket to them, and they freeze up.  Sure wish I could have taken them trick-or-treating in their little suits!!

We're heading North this weekend.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Picture:  Drama and Brother Boy in their Halloween costumes.

RV Lifestyle 101: How do I choose a satellite TV company?

RV Lifestyle 101: How do I choose a satellite TV company?

Posted using ShareThis

Get local channels with satellite TV while traveling

Get local channels with satellite TV while traveling

Posted using ShareThis

Saturday Night

It's Saturday night and we are home watching a movie.  We had a busy day.  We got up at 5:45 (thank you Drama and Brother Boy) and took the boys for a walk about 6:30.  About 8, we left to go to Cigna for me to get a flu shot.  After that, we stopped at a few garage sales.  Very disapointing.  Lots of nasty, gross stuff for sale!  We then went to Ross to exchange a lighted dog leash that didn't work.  Then we went to the Dollar Tree to get some LED flashlights.  We tried to take the dogs in, but we got kicked out because they sell food there and said the health department doesn't allow them to have dogs in there.  Next we got on the road to IKEA to return the Poang chairs.  We discovered that they don't fit in the space in the motor home where we wanted to put them.  Fortunately they were still boxed up and the covers in plastic. 

After IKEA we came home and relaxed.  I did some laundry and we took cat naps in our recliners.  About 3:30 we decided to get cleaned up and head out for dinner.  On the way, we stopped at CostCo and returned the medicine cabinets we bought since we are now not going to remodel the bathroom.  After that, we headed downtown to FEZ.  We had a fabulous dinner, then on the way home, stopped at Redbox to rent some movies.  I asked Dennis when we got old.  It's not even 8 and we're in for the night.  We're now kicking back, having a beer and watching the movie Fast and Furious.

Tomorrow, Patrick's helping us return the vanity to CostCo with his truck, then Lisa and I are going back to IKEA to return the lights we got for the bathroom that don't fit/work and a sliding tray she bought.  Then, we should be all done returning stuff. 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Very hot here in Phoenix.  We are hoping the cool weather comes back very soon!  Take care!!

Weekend with the girls

This past weekend, I went up to the motor home with Lisa and Lyn.  We hung out, relaxed, had some great food and beverage, and went on an amazing buggy ride.  We went to Blue Ridge Reservoir and Blue Ridge Dam, just a little ways from Clint's Well.  We had to travel about 4 miles on the highway, but there was absolutely no traffic on Saturday!  The Reservoir is about 4.5 miles off of Hwy 87 on Forest Road 751, and the Dam is another 2 miles past the reservoir.  The views were amazing.  I was also awe struck at how close you can get to the actual dam and see on the other side of it.  It's a great place to go for a day-trip from Phoenix, or for the weekend if you want to tent camp in the area. There's also a public RV park, Happy Jack Lodge, just 4 miles away from Clint's Well and it's open year-round.

It was a little chilly up there since it is October, but it was so nice and relaxing.  Dennis and I are going up with a bunch of friends this weekend, and we're bringing our motor home back to Phoenix, since Clint's Well is closing next week for the season.  It's been a great summer, and we are looking forward to winter camping!

Our big trips coming up include Roosevelt Lake in mid-November and Temecula, California for Thanksgiving.  We are looking forward to hitting the road with the motor home!!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!  Please visit my Examiner.com page (link to the left) for the full story on Blue Ridge Reservoir and Blue Ridge Dam.  Thanks!

Picture:  Blue Ridge Reservoir

Yard work is the pits!

We spent the weekend at home doing yard work.  What a drag!  Saturday, we ripped out the dead bushes out front, trimmed the Mexican Fan Palm, blew the leaves out of the courtyard and power sprayed the entry.  The yard looks so much better now!  I think cleaned the house and we had friends over for drinks and pizza last night.  It was a late night but a lot of fun. 

Today, our big project was ripping the stump out of the side yard.  We lost 2 of our trees a year ago and we just covered up the one stump.  In the spring, it started growing, so we dug out around it and spent today pulling it out of the ground.  What a chore!  We tried to hook a tow strap on to the Joyner and pull it out, but the tow strap broke.  So we did some more digging and cutting and then got the bright idea to use the winch on the Joyner to power it out.  Ultimately, this was successful!  We were able to pull it out and drag it to the curb.  I'm hoping to sneak it into someone's trash can on Friday since ours is full with yard debris from yesterdays project.

Once we conquered the stump, we got cleaned up and went to lunch and shopping.  We went to Chino Bandido Takee Outee for lunch (YUMMY).  We then went to Big 5 for shoes and to Sam's Club and CostCo to look at vanities for our bathroom.  Nothing.  Then it was home to watch movies and relax.

Have a great week!!

Picture:  the stump from the side yard.

Saturday in the forest

It's Saturday afternoon and we had a great ride in the forest.  Dennis and I ventured out with the dogs about noon.  We took a forest road that went all the way to an incredible canyon.  As far as I can tell from the map, it's Jack's Canyon.  It was incredible.  I'm posting a Picasa album of some photos we took while up there.  On the way back, we ran into a killer storm.  We drove right into it.  Heavy rain, hail, thunder, lightning.  We stopped and got out the rain ponchos and covered the dogs with their towel.  A couple of times, we stopped to take it all in.  We tried to take pictures of the hail but they didn't turn out too well.  It was pea sized, nothing major.  Before we got on the highway for the short trip back to camp (<1 mile), we stopped to wait for the rain to let up.  It didn't, so we just went for it.  I have to admit the rain hurt a little! 

We got back a little after 2, and I've been cooking and uploading photos ever since.  I hope everyone has a great rest of your weekend!

Picture:  Me with the dogs. 

Labor Day

We got home today from a great weekend up north.  We left about 3:30 Friday and arrived about 5:15.  We stayed at Patrick & Lisa's cabin in Munds Park.  We had a great time Friday.  Saturday, we went garage saling in the morning.  Saturday evening, we had our friends Jeremy, Brandon, Jim and Chuck over to the cabin for dinner and karaoke.  They were dry camping in their motor homes very close to Munds Park.

Sunday, we hung out while Lisa and I farmed and Dennis and Patrick played XBox.  About 4, we went over to the motor homes and had some cocktails and appetizers.  It was fun.  We got back to the cabin just after dark and put dinner in the oven.  I think we finally ate about 11:30pm.  It was hard to go to bed with a brick in my gut!  :-) 

Today, we got up and had breakfast, then got packed up.  We learned there was a crash that closed I-17, so we delayed our departure.  We left about 1:30, and got home about 3:15 or 3:30.  It was a difficult drive home, and the freeway was busy.  Traffic was bumper-to-bumper in several spots along the way.  We finally got off the freeway at Carefree Highway and took 29th/Norterra home. 

It was a great weekend.  Check out the Picasa album to the left.  Lots of pictures!!  Enjoy!

Picture:  Dennis, Brother Boy, Drama

Mid-week

It's Hump Day!  Only 2 more days until an extended weekend!  I wanted to post a quick note about our fantastic weekend last weekend with Jim & Ray at the motor home.  They brought the dogs up for the day and hung out with us.  We had a great time.  So did the dogs!  I've posted a Picasa Album with the pictures.  Enjoy!

One Year Anniversary

It's hard to believe that a year has gone by already. It was 8/24/08 when, in the parking lot of JoAnne Fabrics, we became parents of Drama and Brother Boy. Sounds so seedy, I know. But that's how it went down. And our lives haven't been the same since.

They are the center of our lives. They have so much love to give, and expect so little in return. Whoever would have thought WE would have dogs! We hit the lottery with these two. We are so lucky to have them in our lives. Everyone should be so fortunate. Take care.

Sunday - what a weekend!

Well, I had my knee surgery on Wednesday. I had torn meniscus that had to be removed and cleaned up. It went very well. I was home by noon. Thursday I just rested and iced my knee and took pain killers. We also went to the optometrist Thursday afternoon. I'm trying contacts again. Both Thursday and Friday, they gave me a horrible headache. Friday I worked from home. I felt good most of the day, but had to lay down for an hour or so due to the headache from the contacts. It was debilitating. Friday night, Dennis and I stayed at home and went to bed early.

Saturday, Dennis got busy cleaning the bedroom. The dust was starting to pile up, making it difficult for him to breathe. He washed the sheets, vacuumed and was just getting ready to mop. He went into the garage to get the mop bucket and stepped into a puddle of water. That's when he discovered that the hot water heater was leaking from the top, spilling onto the floor and seeping into the baseboards and walls. Ugh. We turned off the water main to stop the leak, and paused the washing machine. We called a plumber, but they couldn't be here until 4 (it was noon). So we called another plumber who could get here quicker. The guy arrived and within 5 minutes, determined that our water heater was shot and needed to be replaced. At the same time, we also called our home owner's insurance and ServPro.

It was a crazy day. ServPro got here and started ripping up the baseboards, taking pictures, testing for moisture. It was insane. I was trying to rest and ice my knee, but kept having to get up to look at this or that or answer this or that. After all of the commotion, we ended up with a new gas water heater, a new valve, a new hose bib, and 6 ServPro fans and 1 ServPro dehumidifier in our house. The fun is only beginning. We are considering taking the opportunity to remodel our bathroom. Ray's coming Monday to look it over. ServPro is coming Monday to see if every thing's dry and take their equipment back.

I added a photo album of the pictures Dennis took while all of this was going on. It's quite a mess.

Saturday after all of this was done, Lyn and Dan came down for cocktails. Lisa and Patrick came later. We had a great time drinking, hanging out, listening to music and goofing off. We did a little karaoke later in the evening, and Lisa and Patrick left about 2:30am. It was LONG day. The boys let us sleep until about 8 this morning (WOW). We haven't done much today - the boys have done a lot of sleeping.

Tomorrow it's back to the office. I'm ready for it. My knee feels pretty good. I'll just have to take it slow so it can continue to heal. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I also posted a new link on Examiner.com if you would care to check it out. You can get there by clicking on the link to my page that is to the left under the Picasa album of water damage.

Have a great week!

Picture: water heater platform and water heater after damaged unit removed.

Post Op Update

It's Thursday morning and I'm awake. Barely. Vicodin kicked my butt this morning when I took it at 5:30. It is helping with the pain, though.

My knee surgery went well yesterday. They took me back about 9 and I woke up at 10:55. They immediately got me up and kicked me out. Dennis pulled the car around and we went to Walgreen's to drop off my prescription. He then took me to Arby's for brunch. After picking up the medicine, we went home. It's the funniest thing, the boys HATE crutches! The instant I start using them, they both start barking like maniacs. I tried to use the cane instead, with similar results. It's curious what must have happened to them before we adopted them to make them bark insanely at crutches or a cane!

I slept in the bed last night, and the boys were pretty good. I was up a couple of times to go to the bathroom and refresh my medication. Both times, they protectively followed me to the bathroom to make sure I was alright. They were nice enough to wake me up at the usual 5:30. Dennis let them out and I immediately sat down and fell asleep after taking the Vicodin. That brings us to now. Thank you all for your well wishes, thoughts and prayers.

Dennis' birthday was last weekend on 8/14. We went camping at Clint's Well with 10 friends in their RVs. We arrived Thursday to enjoy a 3 day weekend. It was FANTASTIC! The weather was great, the company was awesome and the Karaoke.....well, it was fun, too! So much great food, good liquor and fun times. It was amazing!

This weekend is recovery time so that I can get back to the office on Monday. It's also the 1 year anniversary of us adopting Drama and Brother Boy, formerly known as Bubba. They are such loyal and loving companions!! Thanks again for the well wishes for recovery. Have a great week and weekend!!

Pictures: doggies on the back of the sofa; Forest Road 751 near Blue Ridge Reservoir.

Check out my updated Picasa Album from our buggy ride on 8/15/09!!

New Article on Examiner.com

Hi everyone! I have a new article posted on Examiner.com. There's an RV Show in town this weekend inside the air conditioned University of Phoenix Stadium. Enjoy!

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner~y2009m8d10-RV-Lifestyle-101--Whats-the-best-way-to-shop-for-an-RV

Thanks for reading! If you subscribe, you'll get an e-mail whenever I post an article. Thanks!

Rodney

Hump Day Update

It's Wednesday already. Wow, this week is flying!

We had a fantastic weekend camping. We left home about 3 with Dennis driving the motor home (got it fixed Friday morning - YEAH!) and me and the boys in the car driving behind. We got to Clint's Well a little after 5, after stopping at Mustang to fill up with gas. The weather was glorious! It was 77 when we arrived. We grilled and watched some TV. It got a little chilly overnight, the boys were snuggled into the covers by morning! Saturday after getting up the 2nd time (first time at 5:00 at the request of the boys), I made us some eggs and Dennis made coffee. We went for a buggy ride. It was so calm and quiet in the forest. Dennis went hunting for geodes. He found a few cool ones. When we got back to camp, we gave the boys a rinse in the shower, and I took a shower.

Saturday afternoon, we spent a great deal of time outside on the "patio" enjoying the weather. It was so nice - about 83 degrees. We had perfect shade from the forest, then our awning until sunset. We grilled for dinner, then watched a movie. By the time the movie was over (Step Brothers), it was almost time to go to bed. It was a VERY relaxing day! Sunday, we got packed up and put the buggy and motor home in storage. We left camp a little after 11 and got home just before 1. What a great weekend!

Sunday after we got home from camping, I went bowling with a Wells Fargo group. Only one person showed up. Fortunately, he brought 2 friends so the 4 of us had a great time bowling. It was great to meet some new friends.

Monday was fairly uneventful, except that I got all the way to work and realized I had left my laptop at home. I stopped in my bosses office to let her know I had to go home to get it. We started talking about things going on, and an hour later, I finally went home to get my laptop!

Tuesday I got new tires put on my car. Now I need to go to Honda to get them to do an alignment on my car. It was their car's fault that the tires went bad so quickly (less than 20,000 miles). They fixed the problem that wrecked the tires but wouldn't replace the tires. Now they need to give me a free alignment so that the steering wheel isn't 5 degrees left of center. Drives me nuts!

Wednesday Dennis and I carpooled, so we got to the office at 6:40. I had computer problems, and didn't get logged in until 7:15. So much for getting in early! It was a productive day, and we left about 4. We had a scrumptious dinner, then watched some MMA on VS, I farmed on Farm Town, and we'll be heading to bed shortly. Tomorrow, we're carpooling again. Friday, we'll see!

Pictures of our camp site.

Back from Ohio

Well, I made it. I'm back! It was a very fun trip and a long journey home, but I am back in Arizona. I really missed Dennis and the boys. It's good to be home.

I left Arizona at 11pm Thursday and flew to Atlanta, then Dayton. I got there about 45 minutes late. My sister, brother in law and brother picked me up for the airport and we headed north towards Toledo. We stopped in BG to get some Myles Pizza and had lunch at my other sister's house with my 3rd sister, nieces and nephew. Yummy! It was then time to get food ready for the gathering at George's house. We had a very nice cookout there with lots of food and wine. I was up until about 1am Ohio time (that's nearly 36 hours since I got up at 5am AZ time on Wednesday).

Friday it was lunch with some of Kate's former co-workers, then a road trip to Williams County to our parents' house. We had a nice dinner/party with my mom's family Friday night, complete with lots of good food and wine. Seeing a pattern here?

Saturday was wedding day. The ceremony was at 2 followed by the reception starting at 5. We had all made reservations at the hotel where the reception was held, so we went there (after a pit stop at Sonic) to get checked in. Even though we had 2 designated drivers, it was still easier to just stay there. It was a great time, and I now have a new favorite song (Crazy b*tch by Buck Cherry). It's not for the faint of heart!

Sunday morning, we all went for breakfast at the Four Seasons diner across from the hotel in Montpelier. It was yummy!! We all then went to mom's house to hang out for a few hours until it was time to head to our destinations. Kate, Brian, Aaron and I headed to Cincinnati about 4 after Lyn, RJ and Lylah headed to Toledo about 3:30. We stopped in Dayton to have dinner at Fricker's, then went to Graeters for ice cream. We got back to Kate & Brian's about 9:30. After getting settled in and ready for my 3am wake up call, I finally went to bed at 11pm.

At 12:55 am, my phone rang. It was AirTran calling to tell me my 5:50am flight from Dayton to Atlanta was cancelled and they had put me on a 2:38pm flight that got to Phoenix at 10:05 pm (12 hours late!!). After I regained my composer (at least I didn't get hung up on) I investigated my travel insurance that I had the foresight to purchase when I bought my ticket. Turns out I could get some reimbursed for at least part of the cost of another plane ticket on a different airline. After much research, I decided to fly on US Airways out of Columbus which got me to Phoenix at 9am (90 minutes earlier than AirTran would have got me there). Aaron picked me up at 4:30, and we headed to Columbus. It was a good flight and arrived early. I made it to work by about 9:30.

I went to my orthopedic surgeon for the follow up after getting my MRI films before leaving Wednesday. The diagnosis: torn meniscus (aka cartilage). I have arthroscopy scheduled for 8/19 to have it fixed. I had the same surgery on the other knee 4 1/2 years ago, so I know what to expect. It's not pleasant but it's also not the worst thing in the world. I just want to get rid of the pain.

I got a good 7 1/2 hours sleep yesterday and now I feel as good as new! I just got back from CostCo and dinner is in the microwave. I'll blog more later this week with an update on the motor home. I hope everyone has a great week!!

Picture: Uncle Bill, Aunt Marie, Aunt Pat, Grandma, Dad, Aunt Sue, Aunt Karen. This is my dad's siblings along with my Grandma. How fun!

New article posted

I've posted my latest article on Examiner.com. It's about our friends Jon and Gladys (real people, fake names) and their journey from home to motor home. Check it out!

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

Please subscribe to e-mail to receive updates. Thanks for your support!!

Sunday - the end of the week or the beginning?

I guess it depends on your point of view. For me, it's kind of both. I'm excited about this week because I get to go to Ohio to see friends and family. I haven't seen most of them since November. I'm really looking forward to it!

I've written a few articles this week. If you haven't already, please check out my Examiner web page. Please subscribe to e-mail and keep up to date on what I'm writing. I'm working on my next article now and hope to post it by Monday night. It's going to be a good one!! Here's the web site:

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

This was a nice weekend. Friday, we went down to Ron & Marilyn's for our final Friday night drinking at their kitchen table. I know this because they sold their table and chairs today. If only that table could talk!!! It was an enjoyable evening.

Saturday, we didn't have much to do around the house. We both did such a great job keeping the house picked up this week that we didn't have to spend all day cleaning! It was very nice! We contemplated going out to look for Jeeps (we want one to flat tow behind the motor home) but Jeremy and Brandon did all of the work for us! Well, Dennis did talk to our Salesperson at Power Dodge about a couple that she had, but we decided not to go look at them because they weren't what we are looking for. Saturday late afternoon, we headed out to Litchfield park to our friends Ron & Bob's house for a cookout. We had cocktails and appetizers with some pool time, then some fabulous burgers and brats. It was ice cream sundae bar for dessert. YUMMY! And the company and hospitality was even better than the very tasty food! We were home by 10, I was falling asleep on the way home. Fortunately I wasn't driving!

Today has been relaxing as well. We had coffee, then about 11:30, I decided to make pancakes after reading Facebook updates from a couple of friends who were making pancakes. I was inspired. They were very good! The rest of the day was spent feeding the laundry machine. I washed and dried and Dennis folded. I put everything away after the folding was done. We can start the week with clean clothes and towels. This afternoon, Marilyn called me to come get the knives from their motor home that she gave us. Taylor and her sweet adorable Chihuahua Terrier mix came while I was there. I think our boys would really like her!!

Tonight it was pizza and wings for dinner. I cleaned up the kitchen, got the coffee pot ready for morning, and watered the trees outside. I almost got in the pool but it got dark and it feels like a storm is rolling in. I'd hate to be zapped by lightning in the pool! We watched our 2 favorite shows this evening - True Blood and Hung. Both excellent shows on HBO. You can catch up on Hung as they are playing all 3 episodes this week. It's on at 10pm EDT on Sundays (7pm for those of us in AZ). This is Season 2 of True Blood, so you'd have to buy the first season on DVD to catch up!

I am going to the doctor tomorrow to have my knee checked out. It's the one I injured in 1987 while I was a Senior in High School. I've had a lot of pain recently and have put up with it long enough. My PCP referred me to the same ortho practice that did my surgery on my other knee in 2004. I hope it's easily fixable! Tuesday Bullseye comes back out to look at the motor home and do more troubleshooting on the jacks - and hopefully can order the part to fix it. We want to leave town 7/31 and leave the motor home up North for the rest of summer. Fingers crossed!

Wednesday I'm off to Ohio. Dennis gets to stay home and watch the doggies. And I might actually get some sleep! :-) I hope everyone has a great week and watch for my Examiner article Monday night or Tuesday. Take care!

New adventure

I'm excited to inform everyone that I've recently became a freelance writer for The Examiner as a Phoenix RV Lifestyle Examiner. I'll write 3-4 articles a week about my RV experiences, news, advice, etc. and post them to the web site. I'd be really grateful and honored if you would bookmark my site, visit often, and subscribe to my e-mail. This is a new opportunity for me to share my passion for RV'ing with others. Below is the URL. Thank you so much for your support!!!

http://www.examiner.com/x-16754-Phoenix-RV-Lifestyle-Examiner

It's been an interesting week already. Brother Boy spent Thursday at the vet. He woke up and started vomiting all over the place. Being the nervous mother that I am, I called the vet when I got to work and they were able to get him right in, so I went home to pick him up and take him in. Of course, Drama went along for the ride. They wanted to do some tests which would take a couple of hours, so I left him there and went home to work. About 12:30, they called to let me know he was ready to go home. I went to get him and after speaking to the doctor, the tests didn't turn up anything other than "he had a tummy ache". It was comforting to know there wasn't something serious wrong with him. Poor baby!

Thursday afternoon, I went to my doctor to get my left knee checked out. She referred me to an ortho and ordered x-rays. I immediately went to get the x-rays done, and on the way home, scheduled the ortho appointment for Thursday the 16th. More to come, I'm sure!

Today's Friday and it's hot as hell here - literally! We'll be spending the weekend inside and in the pool. I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. I'll write more later!

Independence Day 2009

What a great weekend! We left work around 3 on Thursday, grabbed the puppies and jumped in the motor home and car. Dennis drove the RV and the boys and I followed behind in the car. I was worried about towing the car on the sharp curves and mountain grades going up to Mingus Mountain. We encountered a few sprinkles on Fain Road, just outside of Prescott Valley. We got there around 5:45. There were a total of 6 RVs Thursday night. We stayed at the Playground area on Mingus Mountain, hosted by our friends Brandon & Jeremy. The weather was so gorgeous.

Friday we had a nice breakfast. Jeremy's mom Shane and her husband Steve came from Temecula to spend the weekend with us. Steve made bacon and pancakes, and hash browns and Ron & Bob made a nice egg casserole. It was an excellent breakfast! The rest of the day was spent hanging out, setting up the Easy Ups for our group dinners and preparing for our Friday night potluck. Barb & Karen arrived after taking the 'long' way to Mingus Mountain so there are 7 RVs there Friday night. After a nice wine and cheese happy hour hosted by Ron & Bob, we had a fantastic dinner - 2 kinds of pork, salad, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, veggies followed by apple crisp and ice cream. YUMMY!

Saturday we had a red white and blue breakfast, compliments of Jim & Greg. We had blueberry and strawberry pancakes with whipped cream and sausage. Yum! We then put together the smoker that we bought to smoke the meat that Brandon & Jeremy were making for dinner Saturday. Once that was done, Dennis and & went into Jerome with Melinda & Dorian. We wandered in and out of some of the shops there, then went to the Mile High Grill for lunch. It was fantastic! We got back to camp just in time for about 8 or 10 more sprinkles of rain. We played a little Wii bowling, then started happy hour about 4.

Saturday night's dinner was a fabulous smoked brisket, salad, corn on the cob, Parmesan bread followed by peach cobbler made on the dutch oven and homemade ice cream. NUMMY!! about 8:15, several of us headed to the campground down the road to get ready to watch the fireworks. We had 2 vehicles and 11 people going, so we had to make a couple of trips to get everyone there. We were able to see the Cottonwood fireworks from atop Mingus Mountain, which is about 7,700 feet (Cottonwood is about 3,200 feet). It was pretty cool! We also caught a glimpse of the fireworks from Flagstaff at the same time. We then shuttled everyone back to the Playground and enjoyed the fabulous fire that the 3 who stayed back had built and enjoyed.

This morning it was time to pack up to head home. We left the camp about 9. Dennis drive the motor home and was having trouble with large moths that had taken up residence in our motor home over the weekend. At one point going down the hill, he pulled over and started swatting them. In all, he encountered about 10-12 moths that somehow got into our motor home while up there. We stopped at Cordes Junction before getting on I-17 to use the dump station and put some gasoline in my car. I-17 was moving surprisingly well for Sunday of a summer holiday weekend. We got home about 11:30 and got everything unloaded. We then stopped at Safeway to fill up the motor home before taking it back to storage. After getting everything put away, we were back home by 1. We've been relaxing ever since.

The weekend was a dog weekend. We had 12 dogs at the camp. Everyone got along well. Our boys had a BLAST on Friday chasing a tennis ball with Haas and Diva. They got SOOOO dirty! We had to give them a bath Friday afternoon! They really enjoyed it! Jeremy and Brandon had their 3 dogs Daisy, Peggy and Joey. Jim & Greg had Haas and Diva. Shane & Steve brought Molly and Zeus. Melinda & Dorian brought Pat and Henry. And Ron & Bob brought Sedona. Karen and Barb left their dogs at home and enjoyed a weekend without them! But....our little lovers gave them some attention.

We hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day weekend. We sure did. Happy Summer! I've attached a couple of pictures from the weekend. Have a great week!

Sunday update

It's Sunday morning after another weekend at home. Sometimes its nice to not travel, but to just stay home and not have to do anything - unless we want to.

Dennis and I carpooled every day this week except for Wednesday morning. That made for long days since he is working overtime. We were there before 7 and stayed until 4:30 or 4:45. Friday we left at 3:30 which was very nice!

Wednesday I took the motor home to Payless to have the jacks fixed. They broke down after we got home from Flagstaff a few weeks ago. We are really hoping to get it back by Wednesday so that we can go out of town Thursday.

Friday we went to PF Chang's with Ron & Marilyn. We then stopped by Cold Stone for some ice cream to go, then came back to our house for some ice cream and wine. It was a fairly early night, we were in bed by 10:30. Saturday, the dogs woke us up at 5:30. We got dressed and went down to Ron & Marilyn's because they were having a garage sale. We bought some stuff and helped drive in some traffic for them by putting our neon green signs out at strategic places. We had a new alarm installed Saturday morning - ADT didn't want to make it worthwhile for us to become their customers again, so we signed up with American Alarm/Monitronics. We got a new keypad with cell phone communication to the monitoring station and got all new batteries in our sensors. The monitoring fee is about the same as with ADT. It's ADT's loss.

After a couple of naps and lots of relaxation, Lyn and Dan came down and we drank some wine, had some appetizers, and then had dinner. We watched The House Bunny - which was very funny - and then they left. It was a very nice evening.

Today the dogs let us sleep in until 5:45. They've both been very emotionally and affectionately needy this morning. I think it's because they are cold. They're 10 pounds, and with the a/c and ceiling fan going, it gets cold for them at 12" off the floor. We kicked them out of the bed this week - by setting up a bed for them on the recliner that we took to the bedroom from the family room. Drama does a great job staying in the chair but Brother Boy gets out of the chair several times a night and jumps on our bed. And several times a night, we get up and put him back in the chair. It is nice to sleep without worrying about rolling over onto one of them. But they don't like it very much!

We've also taken to giving them free reign of the bedroom and bathroom when we go to work. We did it 3 days this week and they did great. They are less energetic when we get home because they romped around all day, and they entertain each other. Thursday they got some bar soap out of the bathtub and chewed on it. Friday, they found a wooden ball that was somewhere in the bedroom and chewed it up. Now we know we need to leave some of their chew toys in the room with them to keep them occupied. They're such good boys!

This week is a short week. We are off Friday and - assuming we get the motor home back - leaving early Thursday to head to Mingus Mountain. We're really looking forward to taking the dogs camping in the forest with little/no electricity. It should be fun!

We hope everyone has a great week and an enjoyable and thankful Independence Day holiday. We should never forget the freedoms we have or what has been sacrificed in order to guarantee them for us! Also enjoy the picture of Drama sleeping on his back between the cushions on the couch.

June update

It's Saturday morning, bright and early. June has been a busy month. The first weekend of June, we stayed home and worked around the house and yard. The week of the 8th, I traveled to Charlotte, NC on business. I'm part of the Coast-to-Coast integration team and our in-person meeting this time was in Charlotte. The weather was great - mid-80's but the worst part was the humidity. 75% humidity was horrible! It was a great meeting, and I managed to have a little fun while there.

Five minutes after getting home from the airport that Thursday, I jumped in the car that Dennis had loaded up and we headed to the mountains. Thursday night, we stayed at Clint's Well. It was beautiful there. The temperature was in the 30's Friday morning when we took the boys out. About 10, we pulled out, hitched up the car dolly and car and headed NW to Flagstaff. We camped at the KOA with Rainbow RV and had a great time. The weather was beautiful, it's a great park, and we had a very relaxing time. It was quite windy but we staked down the Easy-Up and sat outside most of Saturday, enjoying the weather. Our site became somewhat of a gathering place for the people we know best from RRV. It was great.

We didn't even make it to the Pride Festival. Saturday morning, we met our friends from Munds Park at CostPlus WorldMarket and did some wine shopping. After we dropped the juice off at the RV, we then took the boys and headed to Camping World to buy some new chairs. We got some very nice lounge chairs and also stumbled on some very comfortable and light-weight chairs for our guests to use. It was time to replace our old lounge chairs and the old-school "Coleman" camping chairs we've been toting around for years. It was a productive shopping trip!

Sunday we headed back to Phoenix because we wanted to get the car dolly back home. We're planning to go to Mingus Mountain on 4th of July weekend and we want to take the Polaris up there. Next weekend we're hoping to retrieve it from Clint's Well.

Monday morning, Brother Boy woke me up at 4:30, pacing on the bed. He then jumped off the bed, so I got up and let him outside. He promptly went out and threw up. Poor thing was obviously having stomach pains - probably over something he ate that he shouldn't have. He came back inside, then got up again and needed to go out. He threw up again. When we came in the 2nd time, he sat on my lap in the recliner for about 30 minutes, sleeping soundly. He seemed to be better after that. I got showered and dressed, but when we were getting ready to leave, Dennis suggested that I stay home with him - so I did. He was pretty lethargic all day but did have an emergency poo-poo around noon which he finished the worst of outside. After that, he slowly got back his happy personality.

Tuesday I worked at home because we had our new recliners and fridge and dishwasher delivered. We got stainless steel to replace our 10 year old fridge and our recalled dishwasher. They look great! We also rearranged the family room to fit the recliners and took out the old recliner. The new ones have massagers in the back and seat and also have a full-chaise which the doggies LOVE. It's nice that we can both sit in front of the TV instead of me having to sit to the side of it. Tuesday night, I put the old fridge (which still worked) on Craigslist. I got about 10 calls/e-mails about it - I think I priced it too low - and Wednesday we sold it for $150. That along with the $150 back from GE on the recalled dishwasher, and the dishwasher ended up being about $100. Not bad!

Friday, I participated in the Junior Achievement Hula Bowl for Wells Fargo. I raised $120, most of which I donated, and had a really great time. Dennis stayed home and hung out with the dogs.

Today, we are hoping to power-wash the back patio and pool, wash the cars and get the new bed frame put together. It's going to be hot today. June has been the coolest June on record since 1913. We haven't had many days over 100 degrees. It's been great! I'm sure it's coming, though! We had a dust storm last night while I was driving to the Hula Bowl. No rain to speak of hopefully that's coming too.

We hope everyone has a great weekend. We'll blog more when we have time. The picture above was taken in the motor home at the KOA in Flagstaff. Aren't they all cute??

Sunday again

What a great weekend! We left Friday after work to head up to Clint's Well again. Our motor home has been parked in the same spot all month. It was still daylight when we arrived. We took leftover chicken from the night before, and dinner was easy! We relaxed, I fell asleep and woke up about 10:30, just in time to go to bed!!

Saturday was a sunny morning. It was gorgeous. We changed the tire on the buggy (took off the spare, put the tire we got from Ron on) and went for a buggy ride! We took the boys and went on both some old and new trails. We tooled around the forest, running into some ATV riders and other UTV riders. We stopped at one point and let the dogs walk around while Dennis scoped for rocks and treasure. It was very pleasant and awesome to be in the middle of the forest! We continued on and ran right smack into a nice storm. We got rained on and hailed on. It was some big hail - M&M Peanut sized. We stopped and put on our ponchos and covered the boys up with the towel they were sitting on and waited for the worst to pass. Once it did, we headed back to camp.

When we got back, Dan (the manager) reminded us that there was a lunch at 1 - burgers & brats, mac salad, beans, watermelon and cream puffs - all for $6 each. So we decided to head down and have a bite to eat. It was good! After lunch, we got back on the buggy and went out in search of some "geodes" that Dan said were in the area. After going down a very treacherous rocky hill, we came upon a clearing that had lots of gorgeous rocks. Dennis found several geodes - whole and partial. He was in heaven! The boys and I hung out by the Polaris, enjoying the outdoors. This is where I snapped the above picture. I could spend all day in the forest. It's so peaceful and serene. We eventually decided to head back and found our way back to the main road. As we approached camp, it began to rain (again). That was it. It was official. Saturday night was going to be a curl up on the couch watching movies night.

We watched Wall-E and baked some chicken. It was a relaxing night. Dennis made us a frozen strawberry margarita - the best he's ever made! It had fresh strawberries and fresh bananas in it. Delicious!

Today we had to pack the motor home up and move it off our site into storage. We got everything situated and headed for home about 10:45. We made it home about 12:30. The boys had a grooming appointment at 1:30 and while they were getting their hair done, we had some lunch at Dickie's BBQ pit. It was good! Then we went to Walmart and got some stuff that we needed. By the time we got back to the groomers, the boys were almost done, so we waited.

The rest of our day has been relaxation. I spent some time in the pool and scraped the calcium off the tile. It looks so much better! I've done some farming on Farm Town (Facebook) and now we're watching TV. We hope everyone has a great week.

Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We left Friday after work. Our friends Jim and Greg went to Clint's Well as well as Brandon and Jeremy. Jim and Greg weren't towing a vehicle, so we asked them to tow our Polaris and trailer, which they graciously did. It was great to finally get it up there! It rained most of the way up there, and rained all night Friday. When we arrived at camp, we noticed that a truck and travel trailer were stuck in the mud in the meadow across from the camp sites. Genius!

Saturday we went for a Buggy ride and the other guys came in Brandon and Jeremy's Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. It's lifted and ready for off-road. They had fun in the mud just like us! We only had one spot that was scary and they were at risk of sliding off a hill into a watering hole. Fortunately, Brandon's expert driving got them through without drowning the Jeep!

It started raining again Saturday afternoon and rained all night. Sunday it was clear when we woke up, and was gorgeous all day. We took a buggy and Jeep ride and the trails were surprisingly dry - except for the occasional mud hole. I took the picture above of Dennis and the puppies overlooking a cliff into a canyon. It was so cool. The boys enjoyed the ride, since they didn't get to go Saturday.

Sunday night we had a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. Greg and Jeremy had made cupcakes earlier in the day and lit candles and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was awesome. After dinner, Jim and Greg went home and Jeremy and Brandon came over and we played Sequence Dice. It was fun.

It was beautiful today when we got up. In the spirit of "planning your next meal while having the current one" we decided at dinner last night that we would have pancakes for breakfast this morning. Jim and Greg made pancakes and sausage/bacon. We also had some fruit. It was delightful to sit outside around the table having breakfast. It was great until the storm clouds opened up and dropped rain on us. We cleaned up quickly and went back to our own motor homes.

It was a nice drive home. We didn't encounter any traffic until Pioneer Rd, which is between Anthem and Carefree Highway. Traffic was stop and go all the way to Dixileta, where there was a 3 car pile up in the left lane. We had to pull over twice for emergency vehicles to get through. We saw one lady on the ground on a board and several other adults and children standing on near the cars. It was probably one stupid driver who messed up the last 10 miles of our trip home! The rest of our day was spent relaxing. The dogs were exhausted from the weekend. They slept solid for about 3 hours when we got home. Poor babies!

We each took time today to remember our men and women who have and continue to fight and die for the freedoms we enjoy. Their sacrifice shall not be forgotten. We hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Summer is here!!

Relaxing Sunday

It's a beautiful Sunday morning. It's 97 degrees outside at 11:10 am. I slept in until about 9:30. It was awesome! I've had coffee, watched Graham Norton from last night and now we're watching The Spirit. It's a little comic-booky movie that I'm not really into, which is why I'm blogging! The dogs are sleeping and Dennis is watching the movie. On the to-do list today: laundry, laundry and hair cuts. And, lots of relaxation. We might even go in the pool later.

You might notice that I added a Picasa album to the left. I took some pictures at Sunrise Resorts Clints Well last weekend. This is a great little park at 7,000 feet that's North and East of Phoenix, South and East of Flagstaff and North and West of Payson. It's 2 hours from home by car and we love going there. We are heading up Friday after work for Memorial Day weekend with our friends Jeremy/Brandon and Jim/Greg. It should be a fun, relaxing time.

Yesterday we did our part to stimulate the economy. We bought a new area rug for the living room. It adds warmth and depth to the room - and the dogs love it! We looked at several rugs at Kohl's, World of Rugs and Big Lots and ended up buying one at Ross. It isn't perfect, but it was cheap and I won't feel bad if it gets dog vomit on it! I've attached a picture of it. We also bought a few other things at Ross and Big Lots and then got some gas and groceries at CostCo. We left the dogs at home so it was nice to get out, just the two if us. It was a beautiful day for shopping!

Tomorrow is the big day - Dennis starts his new job. He's going to do great. We hope everyone had a fantastic week and a happy, safe Memorial Day weekend. Don't forget to take time to remember all of those who have fought and died so that we can live free.

Dennis Job Update

Happy end of week! I have an exciting update for you regarding Dennis. He accepted a job yesterday with Wells Fargo as a QA Analyst in Home Equity. He'll be monitoring recorded phone calls and providing feedback for coaching and improved quality. He starts on 5/18. Tomorrow is his last day at the temp job and he'll have a week off before starting the new job. He'll be working in my building, so we're planning to carpool. He's happy to finally have a permanent job lined up.

We are heading up to Clint's Well tomorrow after work. The weather is supposed to be glorious - 79 Friday, 43 low; 77 Saturday, 42 low; 77 Sunday. It doesn't get any better than that!

Have a great weekend. Thank you all for your love, support, and good wishes over the last 4 months since Dennis got laid off. It means a lot to both of us!!

Great weekend!

It was our first weekend in the pines for the summer. It was a great, relaxing time. We were the only ones in the park except for the workers. It was fabulous! The Manager allowed us to leave our motor home on the spot for the month to make it easier for coming back next weekend, and for Memorial Day weekend.

We have no Internet service there (Verizon) but we did have cell service (Sprint). There's an Alltel tower up there and according to Verizon, they're going to be opening it up to Verizon customers but so far, nothing. The new manager is putting in high-speed wireless Internet along with an Internet room in the cabin, so we will have access to it if we want to take the laptop to the lodge. It'll do!

The dogs loved the park - especially the elk droppings out in the grass. Gross! We contemplated letting them off the leash to run around, but I'm quite sure they would have either 1) stopped at the first pile of elk poop and got distracted or 2) ran around in it and gotten it all over themselves. So we thought better of it. There were fresh droppings in the grass this morning and on the edge of the forest so we definitely had elk at camp last night. Too bad we couldn't see them!

We hope everyone has a great week. We're looking forward to heading back to Clint's Well this weekend. Take care!

Friday morning

Good morning! Long time no post.

We've been very busy since we got back from our Easter camping weekend. We've done some work on our house and yard in preparation for summer. Dennis' sisters Joan and Sheryl were here for about 6 days. While they were here, I took them to Sedona for a day trip. They spent time in the pool and just enjoyed our weather. It was really great to spend time with them. We played lots of games, had some cocktails (imagine that) and sugared up. It was fun. They left Tuesday morning and the rest of the week has been spent getting ready to go camping.

Today after work, we're heading up to rim country to camp at Clint's Well. We're planning to leave the motor home there so that we can go back up for Memorial Day weekend. We're also planning a trip to Flagstaff in mid-June, then a dry camping weekend at Mingus Mountain for 4th of July weekend. Beyond that, not sure where we'll be but know that it will be somewhere in the cooler country!!

The dogs are doing great. They love being outside. We'll see if that continues when it gets hot. We've had an amazing Spring. It's been very pleasant while cool at night. It's awesome. We got the dogs in August so they didn't get a lot of experience with our 110+ temps. They are such cuddlers! When the ceiling fan is on, they cuddle up with one of us - or each other. It's so cute.

We hope everyone has a great Friday and an awesome weekend! My immediate family is heading to Louisville for Derby Weekend. They're going to have a great time. Blog more later!

Happy Easter!

It's Sunday morning and we're slowly getting the motor home ready for travel. Checkout is noon, and we don't have a lot left to do. Should be simple. I took this adorable picture of the dogs this morning, up on the back of the sofa. It's been a great weekend out here, despite the rain yesterday. As you can see, it's nice and sunny this morning. It's going to be a beautiful day!

Have a great one!

Cloudy Saturday

We're relaxing out at McDowell Mountain. It's cloudy today, rained over night and was raining this morning. We strolled into Fountain Hills with Brandon & Jeremy and Bob & Ron and had breakfast at Phil's Place. It's a nice little greasy spoon with a decent breakfast. The coffee sucked, but the food was good. Fortunately I had coffee at home before we left.

I took some pictures of the mountains and clouds around us. I posted them on Facebook if you are my friend. If not, send me a friend request and I'll accept you. I've posted one or two on here. It's a chilly day but we have the windows open for fresh air and the space heater turned on. The boys are loving it. They are such cuddlers.

Dennis is taking a nap and the boys and I are hanging out, blogging, listening to The Blend on XM/DirecTV. It's a nice day to do nothing. We're intending to play board games later with our friends. We may even teach them "Flip It" and take some of their money. We brought lots of quarters. While we were out today, we stopped at Safeway and bought lottery tickets, so hopefully we won't have to go home tomorrow. ;-)

Have a great weekend!

Windy Friday

We made it out to McDowell Mountain Regional Park. The dogs and I arrived in the motor home about 3:30. Dennis drove the car out after work and arrived a little after 5. We hung out with Jeremy and Brandon until dinner. We had baked chicken with green beans. It was delicious! It was way too windy to grill tonight. The wind is almost as strong as it was 2 weeks ago when we were here with Jeannie. The only difference is that it isn't as constant. Ron and Bob are here as well as Bart and Jeff. Bart and Jeff are in the South Loop. The other three of us are lined up in a row in the North loop. I really love this park.

It's almost bedtime, I just thought I'd drop a quick line on the blog. Take care, everyone!

Wednesday Evening

Time sure does fly! I wish I had the time to blog more regularly. Our company left on April 1st. It was such a joy having Dennis' sister Jeannie here. The boys REALLY loved her, too! The house is so empty since she left! Last weekend was garage sale weekend. We didn't have much left so we didn't do quite as well as we did last month. We did about $170 in 2 days. More importantly, we got rid of a bunch of STUFF. Saturday, after we closed, I boxed up everything that wasn't going back into the house and took it over to Goodwill. It was nice to get it all out of the house!

Sunday was outside project day. I spent the day cutting and fitting together PVC pipe to run a line from the pool pump to the sewer clean out in the front yard. This allows us to backwash the pool directly into the sewer without having to use a pesky rubber backwash hose. It's so easy to use! Dennis helped me glue everything together once I got it all cut and fitted.

Tuesday evening, I went to the pool store to get the replacement pop-up heads for the in-floor cleaning system. We had 3 of them break over the winter. I also picked up some debris bags for the skimmer basket. The pool ran all night with all of the in-floor cleaners running and it was crystal clear this morning. Now it just needs to warm up and we'll be ready to get in!

This coming weekend, we've decided to join some friends out at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. Brandon and Jeremy are already there. They're going to let us know how full the park is tomorrow. If it's filling up, we may take the motor home out and snag a spot, then come back home to go to work Friday. After work Friday, we'll head back out for the weekend. If the park is looking pretty empty, we'll just wait until Friday. It's such a nice park and there aren't many weekends left where the weather is fit go to out there.

Dennis' first week at his temp job is almost over. It's not very cranial work. He would definitely prefer something more thought provoking and challenging. But I guess it'll do for now while he waits for an answer on the other opportunities still in the works. Continue to cross your fingers for him!

Have a great week and weekend!

Saturday evening

It's been a very relaxing weekend. Today, Ray and Mary, Gabrielle and Brooke and Dawson and Geter came over to visit us at McDowell Mountain. Dennis' sister Jeannie took this video of the 4 dogs playing in the living room of our motor home. They had a GREAT time! Our boys are exhausted, and have been sleeping ever since. Poor babies! We had a nice dinner - tri-tips and potato chips (glamorous, I know!) and are now watching TV.

I hope you enjoy the video. It's a lot of fun. Take care!!

Windy Thursday

It's Thursday and VERY windy! Dennis, Jeannie and the dogs brought the motor home out to McDowell Mountain Park this morning to get a spot. This time of the year, they often fill the park and put people in "overflow". We didn't want to camp in a parking lot tonight, so they came early to snag a spot. I drove out after work, arriving about 4:30. I can't even begin to describe how strong the wind is out here. The entire motor home is shaking. The dogs don't quite know what to think of the motor home moving while no one is in the driver's seat! We closed the blinds just in case the windows blow in so that no one gets hurt! That would bite!

The sunset tonight was beautiful due to all of the dust and dirt in the air. The cell phone picture doesn't really do it justice. This picture is looking out the door of our motor home. It's supposed to calm down and be gorgeous for the rest of the weekend. The dogs were scared on our walk because the wind was actually blowing them along!

Tomorrow Dennis has to go into Phoenix for an interview at 2:15. Things are finally starting to happen for him. He interviewed last Friday for a job at Wells Fargo in Education Financial Services as a Loan Processor. Tomorrow he's interviewing for a Sales Specialist position also in EFS. Monday, he meets with Arizona State Retirement System. He'd really love to stay in health care, but will consider other options as well. He has a temp job lined up starting 4/6 with Wells Fargo in the Home Equity area, but a different group than what I am in. I'm confident something is going to happen for him soon!

Our visit with Jeannie is going great. It's great to get to spend time with her. I would say she's enjoying not having all of kids around her, but then again, they are on her phone all day. :-)

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

March Mayhem

It's been a busy March! I didn't realize it's been so long since I last blogged. The first weekend in March, the Wells Fargo community service event we were going to do got cancelled last minute. So we decided to join some members of our Rainbow RV Group and boon docked out in the middle of the desert near Congress Arizona. It was a great time. Very dry, gorgeous, cold at night and no running water or sewer but lots of water in the tank and gasoline to make the generator go! It was a great time!

The second weekend of March, we had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. It was a lot of work to get ready. We swept through the house pulling out things to sell. We were very successful on Friday - $260 dollars in profit! Friday night, we swept the house again and brought out even more stuff. Saturday was equally successful. We had a 2-day total of $565! And better yet, we got rid of a bunch of stuff that we either didn't use or no longer wanted. It was great! At the end, we boxed everything up and put it in the garage. We decided we're going to have another one April 3rd and 4th - and will sweep the house again to get rid of even more! It's so cleansing to get rid of stuff in the house!

This weekend was a little more relaxing. We had a nice Friday, having dinner down at Ron & Marilyn's. Our other neighbors Greg and Bryan also came over and the 6 of us (and our 2 dogs) had a great dinner. We then played "Flip it" for quarters. We came out about even for what we brought. Greg and Bryan were a lot in the hole and Ron and Marilyn were probably even but short given Greg and Bryan losing big. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday morning, we went to the RV Show out at University of Phoenix stadium. Ron and Marilyn found one they really liked right away. We went with them on the test drive, and then left them alone to do the negotiating. They ended up not buying, but it sure was fun to go for a ride in it! While they were negotiating, Dennis and I found a motor home we REALLY loved. It was way out of our price range, but it was nice to dream. That's the best part about RV Shows - you can dream what it would be like to own and live in one of the big, expensive motor homes. It was fun!

When we got home from that excursion, we continued cleaning our house in preparation for Jean's visit on Tuesday. In addition, Jeff from Vegas is coming and spending Monday night here as he has an appointment at Mayo on Monday. We're almost done. It's easier now that we have less stuff in the house! About 5, we headed to Elephant Bar with Ron and Marilyn to have dinner and help them use some more of their Elephant Bar gift card! It was a very nice dinner. When we got home, we took the dogs into the bedroom to watch TV (our living room TV has a burned out light bulb) and I went to sleep about 8. I slept until 7 this morning. I was tired!

It's now Sunday, and it's a beautiful morning. It's 69 degrees, sunny, and the dogs and I are hanging out. Dennis went back to bed because he got up at 5. Today, we're going to finish cleaning and get Jeannie and Jeff's rooms put together. I also have a project I want to attack, to run PVC pipe from the pool pump to the sewer to make it easier to back wash the pool. We'll see if that gets done!

I hope everyone has a great week! I'll blog more when I can! Take care!

Friday Eve

I'm really into sunsets lately. Probably because we have the most beautiful ones on the planet. And who said pollution was all bad? Anyhow, this one was from this evening at the end of our street. I was filling the fresh water tank on the motor home with water at sunset and decided to snap the photo of it. Gorgeous!

Tomorrow, we're heading out to the middle of the desert to camp with some of our Rainbow RV friends. We're sort of "crashing" their party as our plans changed at the last minute. We were in need of a motor home weekend and decided to go with them rather than going somewhere by ourselves. It should be a fun time, provided I can get out of the office by 2:30 so we can hit the road by 3ish. We're not towing anything (after much back and forth discussion about taking a car, taking a buggy, etc.) so it should be an easy trip there.

We hope everyone has a GREAT Friday and a Wonderful weekend!

Hump Day Evening

It was a very traumatic day today. I had the displeasure of dropping the dogs off at the Vet at 7:30 am this morning. It's not that I was worried about them being at the vet....we just don't like them being left with someone else. We are overprotective! The good news is that we got then all taken care of. Brother Boy has an ear infection so we got medicine for his ears. They both got micro chipped so if they ever get loose without their collars/tags, chances are better that we'll be able to get them back. We also got heart worm medication for both of them, got their nails trimmed, their anal glands expressed and their ears swabbed. They were both very lethargic tonight, and really just wanted to be loved all night. We were happy to oblige. Dennis got to pick them up and they still aren't convinced that I still love them since I dropped them off to the house of torture. Poor babies!

We also got our Motor Home back from the dealership today. We took it in to get the 'last minute' warranty items take care of before our 1 year anniversary on Sunday. It's hard to believe we've had it a year already! So....we decided to go camping this weekend. Originally, we were picking up trash on 7th Avenue with Wells Fargo PRIDE AZ. However, due to the Seventh Avenue Merchant's Association's Melrose on 7th Street Fair on Saturday, 7th Avenue will be closed down. SO....we decided to join Rainbow RV camping out in the middle of nowhere near Stanton, AZ. It's total boon docking, dry camping. No water, no electricity, no sewer hook up. The other people going are going to target shoot and get their CCW licenses but we're just along for the company and the peace and quiet (minus the gun shots). It'll be fun. We really need to get away!

We hope everyone has a fine Thursday. Dennis is still job searching. His background is in health care benefits and pharmacy benefits along with 13 years of customer service/call center experience. He also has experience as a QA analyst, listening to recorded calls, providing feedback for coaching, and doing case audits. He has a very strong work ethic and is a team player. Let him know if you have opportunities for him to pursue! 602-369-9058.

Thanks for your support and assistance!

Sunday evening recap

It's been over a week since I last posted. Sorry to all of my disappointed fans. It was a busy week! Sunday I flew to Dallas to work for my favorite small business, ANTHiLL Events. Our company, VENDZILA LLC, supported ANTHiLL for a client meeting that lasted until Tuesday. I flew home on the 6am flight out of DFW and upon arrival in Phoenix, went right to work at Wells Fargo. It was a VERY long day.

When the weekend arrived, we had a quiet shut-in evening on Friday. I slept in the recliner most of the evening. Saturday, we were on a mission to find the part we need to put the light bar back on the Joyner. We went to Ace, Autozone, RideNow, Home Depot and Harbor Freight and no one had the part. No one even had anything close that we could make work. We'll keep looking. On our way home, we stopped at Safeway to get the groceries we needed to make the Apple Brown Betty aka Apple Crisp that we were taking to dinner at Terry & Cindy's.

Saturday night, we left the boys at home and went downtown to Terry & Cindy's. We had a delightful dinner. Once the sun went down (It was a beautiful sunset - pictures above) it was cool enough to eat on the balcony. When the sun was up, it was a little toasty. The boys were so excited to see us just after 10 when we got home. I love the welcome we get from them!

Sunday we spent the morning enjoying the leftovers Cindy sent home with us. Just after 11, I took the Polaris to Circle K to fill it with gas. We were heading out on a ride at noon with the Johnson's and Randy and Cari. Bondy was supposed to come, but he had car troubles so we left without him. Chris from down the street and his kids followed too, but just to see where we cut through the fence to get to the trails. It was a GREAT ride. It was a little warm, though. It got over 90 today, and I neglected to put on any sunscreen. After two plus hours, I was feeling crispy so we headed home.

The rest of today has been spent relaxing, napping, talking to my parents for an hour and a half and watching some movies. The boys have been delightful today, too. Tomorrow begins another week. We are going to win the lottery on Wednesday.