Wednesday Words - Franklin

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

~Benjamin Franklin

Happy New Year's eve, stay warm and be safe.

Living on Tampa Time

We have been South for a few weeks now. So far the weather has been pleasant if not too warm, however, not complaining since up North they are getting cold and snow.

We are driveway camping for the time being and all seems to be going well, we have the solar and plug in is available if needed. Having a few issues with our fridge/freezer but all else seems to be working good. It's still such a learning curve with the new set up. We are so thankful to be able to do this as it is working well to be near family at this time.

While we aren't exactly being tourist we are still getting out and about. There is a great park just up the street that we walk or bike to nearly every day. It's got a nice restroom! There is also a walking/biking trail that offers workout stations. Some of them are pretty fun to do!

We love taking the bikes for errands and have found a close by Starbuck's, Target, Publix, Sam's Club, Home Depot, Dollar General not to mention the base is just a hop, skip and a jump away! Great to be in sunny weather!

There could certainly be worse places to be in the winter!

#TAMPA

Bayshore Drive Bike Ride

It was a beautiful morning to take a ride on the bay. We even saw dolphins!

Merry Christmas

Christmas really is for children in my opinion and ours happens to be grown! She however, did send us gifts and we her as well.

Our Christmas is quieter this year as we are in Florida with part of MiRVs family. Low key and feeling blessed in spite of circumstances which we wish weren't what they are.

So Merry Christmas. We hope you know the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus...very simple, no fuss, a savior for all.

Wednesday Words - Pindar

Every gift which is given, even though it be small

is in reality great, if it is given with affection. 

~Pindar

Oh and Merry Christmas eve...

Wednesday Words - UNKNOWN

You don't have to answer for someone else's opinion of you.

~Unknown

Garage Door Demo

As we wrapped up our time here we tackled one last task. The garage door will be replaced today so we removed it yesterday! Thankfully, it was a quick and easy job. Glad to help out again before hit the road.

Today we are heading south. The road is long and our hearts our heavy. Life is precious, live it while you can.

Wednesday Words - Bergmann

Someday is now. 

Gabby Bergmann

B-Ball

We've been trying to get a bit more exercise lately so we have been walking at the community center to increase our physical activity! I have been trying to take off a few pounds since we arrived with no measure of success so this seemed like a good start to get back on track for that plan!

Walking has been good, we have even done a bit of jogging. MIRV even went for a full blown run! So today we decided to mix it up a little and play a little basketball! And we had a ball! Seriously, we had so much fun and what a way to get our cardio! MIRV has certainly still got some moves! Me, I never really had any moves but I had a good time putting a few through the hoop!

Wednesday Words - Chand

There are seven days in a week and "someday" is not one of them...

Rita Chand

RoadTrip w/o Roada :(

It was off to OKC for a quick trip to take care of RX refilling for MiRV. We were so very sad we could not take Roada as she is STILL being fixed. It's wearing on us both to be without our home...and we had to get a room at the inn.

Anyway, we did enjoy our quick stay in OKC. Always good to see friends from our time there. We left EARLY Sunday a.m. and rolled into town just in time for church. Nice to hear Bro Ryan's sermon and getting to see everyone. Had lunch with friends and then back for the evening 5th Sunday singing, then on to snacks and visiting the evening away with more friends. Great catching up with everyone for sure. 

Monday was COLD and very WINDY and made me certain I do not want to be here for long at this time of year! VA visits are always humbling; so thankful for the health we do enjoy and makes some of our ailments pale in comparison to what we see when we are there. Mission accomplished with refills, so back on the road again. Way too short of a visit, hopefully, we will get this way in milder weather next year! But having great Mexican food was a wonderful bonus as well as getting to see friends who are like family!

#VA
#RoadtrekIssues
#Friendswhoarelikefamily

Wednesday Words - Unknown

BLACK FRIDAY: because only in American people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

Exactly, why I haven't shopped black Friday in years!

Wednesday Words - Meyer

Being negative only makes a difficult journey more difficult. You may be given a cactus, but you don't have to sit on it. 

Joyce Meyer

It's a SHADEY situation here!

Our latest work involved hanging shades...

Eleven shades in all were hung. It was a quick, easy job and just one more thing done making this house a home for the Mom & Littles!!

#rollershades

Wednesday Words - Anonymous

The true mark of maturity is when somebody hurts you

and you try to understand their 

situation instead of trying to hurt them back.

Anonymous

I'm probably not very mature sometimes...

Birthdays...

We had to be in KC for work on Roada so we also took the time to have SMARTieDeuce serviced as well. It happened to be my birthday so we made plans to have lunch at Cheesecake Factory.


YUMMMMMM...

I love pumpkin so making my cheesecake choice was a little easier knowing that the limited time pumpkin cheesecake was available. MiRV went for pineapple upside down. I loved it but it has been apparent the last two visits that we should really share. It's usually two sweet no matter the flavor by the time we get to the end. And it's usually just a few bites too many and both our waistlines would be better off with one piece together rather than each our own!

Today was Dad's birthday so MiRV and I took him to lunch. We then enjoyed turnovers. Peach and cherry, they were scrumptiously good, especially the peach, oh my!

Birthday boy w/MiRV

#NovemberBirthdaysRock

Wednesday Words - Alyse

Don't use your past as an excuse as to why you are bitter.

Use your past as a reason as to why you are better.

~Shari Alyse

My Grrrrr makes me s.m.i.l.e!

This girl came down for the weekend and made me smile the whole time she was here. It was awesome to spend time with her!

 Our girl!!!

Me and the girl...

#daughter

Me & Roada

I drove Roada today!!! I think we are going to get along just fine! She is a dream, such a nice ride and I like that. I am pretty comfortable driving her and think I would even be able to pull her in for gas and park her without any trouble. Since she has a back up camera that takes some of the unknown out of backing and that is really good for me! Another bonus is her heated seats! Wow, that's a treat in cooler weather.

We are also going to enjoy the higher MPGs we will be getting with Roada. Even though it kind of stinks that her fuel cost a bit more the higher MPGs and better maneuverability are worth it in our opinion!

#Roadtrek

Wednesday Words - Unknown

Sometimes you just have to 

erase the messages,

delete the numbers and move on.

You don't have to forget

who that person was to you;

you just have to accept that

they aren't that person anymore.

Goodbye Sunny, Hello Roada

The BIG news in our world is that Sunny has a new home so that means we have a new home...we took the plunge and became Roadtrek owners. It was a HUGE decision as the financial outlay was a bit overwhelming and scary as we drained our savings accounts.

Our first look at our new rig!

MiRV drove Roada and I followed in Deuce, we spent our first night at a Sammie's parking lot

Our new rig is Roada and we think she will be with us for many years to come. She is a beauty. Since she is smaller it is taking a bit of getting used to as we adjust to having less space which also means less stuff. This is fine with me, however, does call for even more creativity as we fit in what we consider the necessities!!!

 Moving day or actually days!

Relaxing after moving!

With buying new there have been several bugs to work out, which was and continues to be overly disappointing but we hope/know/pray in the long run it will all be good.

Roada will allow us more versatility in our travels. She is quite small at 22 feet long and just under 10 feet tall that we will be able to go practically anywhere. We will also be able to boondock and dry camp more with her awesome solar capabilities. We are uber excited and are look forward to getting out on the road in her soon!

#Roadtrek
#LivingtheDream

Wednesday Words - Unknown

I may be the black sheep of the family but some of the white sheep are not as white as they try to appear.

Hmmmm...

Wednesday Words - Mac

Don't do something permanently stupid because you are temporarily upset.

Tobey Mac

Speaks for itself...

Wednesday Words - Deschamps

Friends are relatives you make for yourself. 

Eustache Deschamps

Thankful for so many of our awesome friends...looking forward to reconnecting when we take off for our next adventure with a good number of those from our past.

Seeing red among other things!

It's been a painting kind of week! First ceilings,

Then walls, red in one room pink in another. Wowsa that is some bold red! The paint just sucked into the walls and we used nearly 3 gallons of paint to get it evenly covered.

RED Walls!!

For some reason there is no pictures of the painting the pink walls, but it looks good, there are even pink shelves in the closet!

There's also been gas line removal and transition piece work done. So much progress! It's been awesome.

We also did some landscaping, shrub removal work across town.

Glad we are keeping busy.

Wednesday Words - Ramsey

You don't want to have so much money going to your mortgage every month that you can't enjoy life or take care of your other financial responsibilities.

Dave Ramsey

 

A mortgage is not an issue for us right now and if it ever is again I definitely want it to be a small one. In fact that is the only way we will make that commitment again!

Wednesday Words - Nas

I just enjoy life now, I enjoy every morning I get to wake up.

Nas

Road Trip

So the time had come to move our STUFF from point A (Louisiana) to point B (Nebraska). We will be in NE more than not as that is where Mr&Mrs Bud are so why not have our things there too? Right, sounds easy. Sure...

After securing a PENSKE rental truck in LA, loading it up and heading north, we stopped overnight in AR before landing in NE to unload and return the truck to MO. 

 Loading in LA

 My view for 750 miles!

 Bonus was seeing the kids and daughter cooking for us!

The daughter is now the keeper of the keys. Amazing that nearly every thing we own fits in this 10 X 20 x 10 space. Talk about downsizing, we certainly have. There are also some things of the daughters that she doesn't have room for in the apartment. There will be a few more things added as a few items are still MIA but believed to be in OK but there is still plenty of room for that. She will have plenty to fill that home she hopes to own someday!

And ohbytheway, who knew waiting in line for over an hour for the cheapest diesel fuel in town would be the most stressful portion of this trip. We drove from NE to MO to return the truck since that made the rental contract nearly $350 cheaper. And well, you know, I am most generally all about the cheaper. So we had to fuel up before we returned the truck and I checked my handy dandy gasbuddy for the best price and that was Murphy and that was where the line was since a farm type guy was there filling his 1000 gallon tank for the winter. 

Anywho, mission accomplished and we are thrilled to have that done! Now to file all the paperwork!

#gasbuddy
#PENSKE
#moving

Wednesday Words - Mustaine

Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind that is hard.

David Mustaine

Wednesday Words - Drake

This reminds me I should be saying less and doing more...easier blogged than done. The words are from a song sang by a guy named Drake.

Poison Ivy Update

Trust me I am itching! Oh yes! I'm still fighting this PI outbreak! No, I haven't gone to the doctor and I'm not planning to go. After all, I have consulted Dr. google more then once and since it is not near my eyes or unmentionables, not warm to the touch nor crusted with pus letting it run it's course is the recommendation. I'm good with that!

The itching, did I mention it itches. Yeah, well, it does and it is extremely annoying at night. I'm currently using vinegar on it. The calamine lotion which was good at first actually seemed to make it weep as the outbreak progressed. So I switched to the vinegar. Seems to help in drying it up. Keeping it clean and dry is key. So no sweating is good but hard since I cannot just sit around in AC! After all, the yard needed mowed, walls needed washed and flooring has to be installed.

Oh and I also have been taking a Zyrtec the last two days. I really think that has helped tremendously! I am thankful it is not worse than it is!! Seriously!

Took these pics last night after my shower.

#PoisonIvySUCKS

Snapshot of life as it is...

It's just been a myriad of goings on and comings in our world and without a doubt we are staying busy. It's been running the gamut on activities...from more plumbing, weed removal and tree trimming, lawn mowing, getting poison ivy, oh yes, that's been awesome, NOT! To enjoying eating yummy cake, to fun family dinners in and out, cleaning for a soon to be new homeowner, hanging out with the Littles, more fresh veggies, football games, steri-stiches (oh yes, yes indeed), sanding and staining our BBQ table as well as going to the races again and having .50 corndogs at Sonic. Yes, yes, it's been good in our world, very, very good!

 Yummy good foods!!!

 The NOT SO FUN poison ivy I am battling...

Boogity, Boogity

Seriously, it's not all that terribly exciting or extremely difficult, it's just life for us right now. We are certainly enjoying being with the family and just doing life along side them.

I will say without a doubt some days are better than others depending on what we do and who we are trying to please, LOL, it's not always easy trying to do for someone else, their vision is not always clear and our skills are NOT professional. We just have the willing, somewhat capable bodies to do what they cannot. Let me state that again...we aren't professionals...sometimes we are hilarious to watch I suspect but we are having a good time so that's what counts and we are sleeping well at night!

And just an FYI Internet access is still a challenge,sometimes it's so maddening, most of the time it's down right scarce and very slow, hence the low posting activity, sorry! I want to try to post more directly from my phone but it's just not that easy (at least for me).

#poisonivysucks
#LucasOilSpeedwayWheatland
#Sonic