Wednesday Words - Smith

I don't know why but this made me do a double think so I am sharing it.

Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you, too.

~Will Smith

#lifeANDliving

Duck Tape OR Duct Tape

I know it was originally "duct" tape and was only available in silver. Now there is a brand, which we used for this project that is "duck tape". I am convinced that duck tape is one of THE best things ever! It can really help out in a jam and it's so useful for many things. For years we have carried a roll with us for any of those unforeseen circumstances and it's always, always been handy to have around!

We used "awning tape" on our awning a while back. It is notsogood. It's the equivalent of clear heavy duty packing tape (and I'm not even sure of the heavy duty part!) and it's expensive; think $9-11 for a small roll. So when it's not working so good we start looking for another carryover fix. You see, we know we are going to need to replace the awning we are just trying to get the most mileage from the one we have! CUE the duck tape!

Yes, I said duck tape! It comes in all sorts of colors and sizes and is reasonably priced. We think it's a great alternative and it's going to help us stretch the use of our current awning just a bit longer! We are using the white roll since it goes best with our awning. It's been working fabulously. MiRV just recently used it to make even more "repairs" and it looks great AND best of all it's not so expensive! It's about $3-4 a roll!

What are you waiting for, get some duck tape and tape something!

#ducktapeisAWESOME

Hmmmm...

So as of late we have had several "encounters" with what I call charity cases. Others call them panhandlers or opportunist. Pretty much all the same I guess. However, I think we tend to deal with them differently than most as we rarely if ever just hand over money.

Just last week while in Orlando a man approached us as we were exiting the car and after a pretty in depth lengthy story asked for a mere $11. The story seemed legit at first glance and I am sure there are many who just popped up the money and went on. We don't roll that way so MiRV offered to go to the hotel and pay the balance due for him (that was what the $11 was for) and he floundered at that suggestion. After a little bit it was so obvious the story was a scam and he moved on when he realized he was not getting $11 cash.

There are a few very busy intersections near us and it seems like every time we pass by there are always folks holding down on their luck signs. They say all sort of things but most read like this:

• Out of Work/Hungry-Please Help
• No Job, Have 3 kids and hungry
• Homeless Vet
• Hungry and Homeless - Please help and God Bless

I am quite hesitant to fork over cash. Yet I am sure that some truly have a need. MiRV is more likely to stop and offer to bring them a meal from the closest fast food restaurant or offer to fund a small grocery trip. More often than not they question him as to why he won't just give them the money. That's the part that makes me hesitant.  Really, if you are truly in need why are you questioning. Others do accept his offer and he pays for whatever they would like to order/buy within reason.

Lastly, as of late, while in an establishment (most recently a fast food restaurant) a person approached me for a specific amount of money, which I did not have and I referred her to MiRV. He obliged and we were still at the counter when she ordered and over half the money she asked for was not spent. It irked him that she did not return the change. I think this is usually why he just pays for what they want.

I don't know how you handle these situations but I am always unsure if it's legit or not and therefore often very cautious. Right, wrong or indifferent I don't know but it makes it hard to feel good either way.

I knew it!

Groceries have gone up and I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. I mean I have noticed that on the things I buy some of the prices have steadily increased over the past year but I thought maybe it was because I am not buying at the same place all the time and it is location dependent. NOT SO it's everywhere and prices truly are rising.

I saw a tweet about this article that was on ABC news a few days back and thought, yep, I certainly agree, grocery prices are definitely higher!

No wonder I am having a hard time staying on budget with my grocery money! UGH

#FoodTOOexpensive
#ABCnews

Wednesday Words - Frehley

Since she has been here visiting this week, I thought I would share words that I could certainly echo!

One of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten is a daughter.

Ace Frehley

Of course, I love her bunches and it makes me and her father happy to see her happy. Life is so very good.

Bunnies and Dolphins and Manatees...Oh my!

It's just a wealth of habitat around us lately.

We found a rabbits nest under the RV when we moved it to go get the oil changed the other day! 

 

 Can you see that cute little baby bunny??

And since we have been on the water we see dolphins almost daily...I even paddled with the dolphins the other day, THAT was soooooo super cool. I really wish I would have had the goPRO camera on but it was recharging at the time!

 Dolphins!!!

We love to see the manatees. I have been fortunate to paddle with them on the river and we have also seen them in the cove at the marina. Always love to watch them!

 There were at least 6 of them!

 Manatees!!!

There are little lizards just about everywhere you look! Thankfully, they are little! They usually hang out near the showerhouse door and also by our outdoor lights! Sometimes at night they kinda creep me out!

Cute little lizard...

It's just a regular little zoo around here!

#manatees
#dolphins
#bunnies
#lizards

Rocket Boy paddles out!

It was wonderful as always to be able to have Rocket Boy join us for dinner. What was really cool this time is that he was able to get out on the paddle board. MiRV has wanted him to be able to try it out and he finally did.

We always enjoy seeing him and feel honored when we get to have some of his time, after all, he is here to launch rockets and such! To success Falcon 9!

#SpaceX
#SUPlove

Wednesday Words - Grant

This pretty much sums up life for me at this stage and I have no complaints! It is not for everyone and some days I wonder how did we get here and can we really keep at it? But so far we have been blessed beyond measure and it's working for us quite nicely.

My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.

Cary Grant

Have a great day and I hope you find yourself "living" in a way that is fulfilling to you, a blessing to others and glorifying to God.

Lunar Eclipse-Blood Moon

I wasn't really sure I would see it, I didn't set an alarm but I was not having a restful sleep so when I checked my clock and it was 2:20 a.m. I thought why not just take a peek. So I did from the door and I could see it pretty good. However, I decided to step outside quietly trying not to wake MiRV.

Wish I would have grabbed a drink and a jacket, it was a little breezy but by no means cold and a drink just would have been nice. I was thankful for the breeze since I think that it kept the bugs away. I watched until it was completely aligned and the orange color glow was just absolutely brilliant. I slipped back inside and within a few minutes MiRV got up for the bathroom. When he got back in bed I could tell he was still awake so I told him the eclipse was happening and it was really pretty neat he should go take a look. Out of bed he went to check it out, he only looked through the door but it was still plenty of a view. 

I already marked my calendar for the one this fall on 8 October! 

Hope you got to see it ;if not in real time at least some of the spectacular photos taken by NASA and the other news pros! 

 My not so spectacular lunar eclipse photo with my iPhone!

#BloodMoon

#LunarEclipse

#awakeat3am

Rocket Launch

There was another launch last week. Since we had the RV in for service we stayed in the area instead of heading on up towards the Cape to see it. We still got a wonderfully spectacular view when it lifted off!

There should be another one soon. In fact, we thought it was going to happen yesterday but there was a scrub. We hope it doesn't go until after Mr&Mrs Bud are here but as of right now it is scheduled for a bit earlier than their arrival on Friday. Oh did you miss that? Yep, they are coming for a visit! WOOHOO!

The LONG & short of it!

I do not like nor enjoy getting my hair cut. In fact I dislike it a lot. It's me, really, it is. I have "bad" hair so to speak. It's very fine but there is a lot of it, it's flat, as in NO volume and I have cowlicks along my nap and forehead. 

I always tell the stylist all this before we begin and ask them to leave it about a half inch longer then they think it should be cut on the nape and to not go too short on the bangs, else I have trouble getting them to lay right. Well, sometimes it works and they take to heart what I say other times not. 

Last week I got a haircut. It has been since July last year since it was trimmed for the wedding. So it was long, probably longer then I have worn it in many, many years. See...

This was on the way to the scalping, I mean hair appointment!

And well, this is what it looked like when she was done...

 BIG change for me... 

And unfortunately for me she did not take to heart what I shared about my hair and it is quite a bit shorter then we talked about. 

And this is my doing it a few days later along with my being a bit silly!

It's going to take some getting used to. I had asked it to be left long enough to still get up in a ponytail and that just didn't happen. It will grow...right? And maybe next time it will work out better!

#hairisnotmyfriend

Money Matters

It’s here! The first quarter financial look…Honestly, I still kept up with it monthly! 

So how did we do? I think great overall, we are living within our means and we are still able to save a little bit and best of all we don’t feel as though we are just barely scraping by. When we first started this journey my fear was that we would just be scraping by. Now don’t get me wrong, we DO NOT live extravagantly by any stretch, we do not own one of those “BIG” rigs (but we do own what own), we rarely dine out and I don't buy steak on a regular basis at all! However, I don’t think we are suffering and push come to shove we could tighten the belt even more if we had to. We are always mindful of our expenditures but this is nothing new for us. We have always been budget conscious. I really think it’s just how God blessed me to be, I am not a spender.

A glimpse into the first quarter numbers!

First figure is the budgeted amount, second it the actual amount spent.

2014 - 1^st Quarter - Jan-Mar

RV Parking $1650 / $1600

RV Upkeep $900 / 576.02

Groceries $840 / $872.34 (OVER)

Eating Out $300 / 281.92

CRV Fuel $450 / $336.50

Clothing $195 / $165.80

Household $107.86 / 112.66 (OVER)

Gifts not Christmas $165 / $148.69

As you can see, I am still struggling with the grocery budget. I KNOW groceries have gone up and I can’t change that but it annoys me to have to spend that much money on food. We don’t eat a lot of meat as it is I don’t know how people who do afford it. I have also been buying less fresh produce, it’s just gotten too expensive, especially fruit! Being in Florida I would have thought fruit to be cheaper, NOT TRUE! As for the Household line item being over, it’s a catchall category and sometimes it’s things that have no other category to fall in.

Also for 2014 some categories were increased. Those are Groceries by $30, Eating Out by $45, Household by $5.86 (which appears may need to be more!), Gifts not Christmas by $25 and Entertainment by $35. We also added a line for Savings $300/month and Medical Co-Pays $20/month.

I enjoyed the quarterly report even though like I mentioned I am still tracking monthly. Quarterly figures are so much larger it kind of scared me at first!

Couple thoughts to share… there was a $12.72 raise for 2014. In addition, just this month we changed our cell phone plan; we are still with AT&T but now we have the value share plan. We have more data then before and are paying less. That’s definitely a change we like!! Savings when all is said and done should be about $30/monthly.

Oh and now there will be a new facet to our finances called VA benefits that we will just be thankful for but not count on. While we are extremely grateful for the monies they are not permanent so we will not be adding them to the budget.In addition we are looking at another change as far as our health insurance. We have some options when MiRV retired and chose the one we thought best but now after nearly a year with it we are considering changing. It would be better for us since we are mobile but it could mean a bit more out of pocket expenses however there would be no monthly premium. It's something we are thinking through.

Looking forward...it is still our plan to continue this RV lifestyle while we can. We know we will need an exit plan at some point and we continue to explore options on an ongoing basis. We are also looking at upgrading Sunny in 3 years if we do stay this course. Much food for thought and long range planning on my mind! And while I don’t want to over think it, I don’t want to not think it through. So his saying always pops into my brain whenever I think of finance… 

Fail to plan, plan to fail. 

So keep that in mind as you make your own journey, I know I am!

Wednesday Words - Confucius

I liked this, I am sure I have been guilty of this but honestly I am trying not to be...

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.

~Confucius

Paddle Boarding

It's been a while since I've been on the river. Just proximity I think has kept us both away. Hauling the board from our other sites to the rivers just usually doesn't happen. However, since we are now "riverside" it is so easy to take the board out. We have both enjoyed it!

I saw dolphins and manatees on my last paddle. I am going to get brave and get closer to the dolphins!

MiRV did a sunset paddle the other evening. It was so calm and gorgeous! I really didn't even realize he had jumped on the board and gone until he was coming back!



 















He needed a bit of water therapy after he spent the better part of the afternoon on the RV doing preventative maintenance! ALWAYS good to make sure your roof is in good condition...just thankful MiRV is physically able to do most of the upkeep even though he pays dearly for it for several days after. Those knees aren't what they used to be nor are his shoulders.





#Paddling
#GoodLife
#RVmaintenanceISimportant

Wednesday Words - Tyson

There is no shame in admitting you do not know something,the real shame is pretending to know everything. 

~Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Hmmm, why is it hard to admit we don't know something? This is a great reminder!