Have RV, Will Travel

Haven't posted for a while

2011-10-10T15:54:00.000-05:00

Because we're not mobile and not too much going on around here. I'm back on my Effexor and Ambien, and am now on Chantix to help quit smoking (I really really hope!!!). It's fall in Iowa, trees are changing, and most everything else is the same. So, I'll post news when it happens, otherwise I'll wait till we get moving again.

A note to Erik: I am not physically disabled; I am bipolar and mentally disabled. I have a very hard time dealing with people on a regular basis. However, I AM employed, for the state of Iowa, as a caretaker for Mom. She understands my moods & ups & downs so it helps. As far as missing the kids, I'm sorry, I DIDN'T. They were making me crazy when I left by not listening and totally misbehaving and I'm sorry, I didn't miss that at all. Any more questions? :)

Whatever Wednesday

2011-09-14T14:52:00.000-05:00

Did you know it was a year ago next month we set out on our journey? And now we're back. I guess we've come full circle.

The kids are making me crazy. Which, of course, is making everyone else crazy. I use the F word way too much so now am saying 'feck' instead. And loudly.

Everybody seems to be pissed off. Which is probably infinitely better than being pissed on. Dad's mad all the time, Mom's usually grumpy, I'm mad at the kids most of the time for one reason or another, and Mark is pissed at everybody being pissed off. Sometimes, with all the attitudes, I wonder if we should have even come back here. Some days I don't think Mom and / or Dad even want us here. Ask a question and pull back a stump, if you know what I mean. I wonder if it's the season?

And the whole family hasn't been this sick since before we left last time. I think it's a combination of the mold growing (thriving) in Mom's basement (can't do anything about it without ripping the whole foundation out and we really can't afford THAT), the farmers spaying shit all over the crops, and the flood aftermath nearby. Alex didn't need her inhaler once in OK but we're thinking we need to send it with her to school here for track and such. I think Mark has his walking pneumonia back, and there's really nothing we can do about that. I sneeze and wheeze and cough and get the old elephant on my chest constantly. Have I mentioned that I hate Iowa?

We have a baby bird. Not sure what kind but he IS the eating kind. He thinks I'm Mommy, although I'm not so sure he's 'right', if you get my drift. His head flops to one side and he's fairly good sized as far as baby birds go. He doesn't always remember he should open his mouth so we can feed him and we have to pry his beak apart. I wonder if I got myself a retarded bird to raise for his lifetime. Oh well if so, I couldn't very well leave him to starve on the sidewalk. What a horrible way to go, baby bird or otherwise.

Blah today. Not much going on. I did, however, get my stitch markers from the wonderful lady on Etsy, and they are just the absolute cutest things!

Off to Winster, later folks. :)

Ten years later and I still cry every time I see this video

2011-09-11T10:19:00.001-05:00

Busy, sick, and tired, all at the same time

2011-09-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

Things have been just crazy with Mom in the hospital. She's doing much better, by the way. However, with her there, we've all been living like a bunch of nutty bachelors. Things laying where they're thrown, stuff everywhere, you know how it goes.

So today, I've been cleaning. Scary, really. It has to be clean before she gets home, which is currently set for Tuesday. And, of course, everyone else is busy doing their own thing, so getting any help is like pulling teeth.

Tonight, I have to take my laptop up to the hospital so she can work from there, and I have to help her. It's a long story but it involves hosting games and doing reports. Plus, while she's there, I've been fielding calls and emails and doing all her daily stuff as well. State of Iowa better hurry up and send my check for all this!

Plus, I'm still trying to get rid of this damned cold. We all have it so when we go up to see Mom, we wear those godawful masks so she doesn't get sicker. And if we're not over it by the time she gets home (which I don't see happening), we'll wear them here, too. I need some rubber gloves so that I don't touch anything she touches, either.

And I'm exhausted. Probably from the cold. Nyquil is my friend, though.

I'm really missing Oklahoma. Not because it was all that great, although, except for the RV park we were stuck in, I loved the city, but because of the humidity. I haven't been sick since I left here, and neither has Mark. Not to mention the farming, flooding, and chemicals on TOP of the humidity.

Oh, and Amanda left her hubby so she's probably not on here much. Long story, there.

Oh well, off to do something. Sue, I'm going to take my knitting tonight and hopefully work on it between doing things for Mom.

Happy Sunday all.

MotherF***ing Monday

2011-08-29T10:21:00.002-05:00

Today is total shit. Sorry about the language, but today has gone terribly wrong and I'm MAD about it.

First, Mom is in the hospital. She managed to catch our cold (imagine that, with two kids that only listen when it's something THEY want to hear about THEMSELVES, no one else, oh hell no) and with her breathing, that's a recipe for disaster. Last I heard, they have her on a CPAP machine.

Second, some nosy ass neighbor that needs said nose rearranged for them decided to tell the city we're living in our camper on DAD'S property. I guess that, like every other thing in this stupid piece of shit town, is illegal. They also told the city that my kids are peeing in the yard. WTF???? I know my kids are jerks but they ain't THAT stoopid!

So, I told the cop that showed up at our door that we go there to give Mom a break, although we don't sleep in it. What a crock. The city of We Wanna Run Your Life can stick it up their asses. I hate this place, always have. Your business is ALWAYS their business. Buy local! As IF!

Then, the state of Iowa can canceled my claim for Mom for August because in 2010 I didn't live at the old place anymore and mail was returned. Excuse me???? HELLO???? So I have to fax stuff in to get paid. That's not really that big of a deal, but with the rest of this?

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Insomnia

2011-08-26T14:52:00.001-05:00

We're all stressed. Too many people living in too small of an area. My kids are monsters. Yes, I am the bitch of the year when it comes to parenting, but they know how to push my buttons also. And do it intentionally. So yes, I yell, the kids cry, but still do what the hell they want, and everyone is stressed out. And Mom thinks I'm just horrible to them, although she doesn't remember doing the exact same stuff to me.

Anyway, I can't sleep. Now that I've gone off of most of my meds, including the heavy hitting sleep ones, I have a really hard time. And that doesn't do much for my frame of mind, either. I go to bed, I'm tired, and I lay there. I just doze off and BAM! Wake back up. Toss and turn and can't get comfortable. I don't know if any of you have restless legs or not, but if you do, you'll understand what I mean when I say my whole body feels like that.

Last night I got mad, got up in the dark, fumbled around for the Benadryl in the medicine cabinet, shook some amount into my hand (like four or five, I couldn't see) and took them, thinking they would help me sleep. It still took forever. I don't understand why I can't sleep. I really don't. My mind is usually not going 500 miles an hour when I go to bed, so I don't get it. I've tried everything I can think of and nothing's working. I'm thinking of going back to the doctor and getting the Ambien and Trazodone back. :(

What a week!

2011-08-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

Thursday, I finally cast on for Sue's sweater. Then we walked up to the farmer's market to see if they had anything decent this time (they didn't and we're not going again). On the way home, it started getting pretty cloudy. No big deal, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Mark no sooner put the blocks on the DirecTV dish so that it wouldn't blow away before all hell broke loose. And I mean broke loose. I still blame it on finally getting to Sue's sweater. :) We had 100+ mile per hour winds, hail in town the size of baseballs (although I didn't see any hail at all), lightening, and lots of thunder. We had trees down and roads closed everywhere, and we lost power around six-ish that evening and didn't get it back until around midnight. Cable went, and Mom was working, so she had to call Canada on my phone. She has internet, cable, and phone through Mediacom, and when one goes, they all go. Which isn't good if there's an emergency when the damn power's out. I was really worried about her not being able to use her nebulizer or oxygen concentrator while the power was out all that time. We had basic power in the camper because it ran on battery backup, so out went the important stuff in the fridge. And the camper leaks. Oh, joy! I swear, if it's not one thing, it's another.

Dad hasn't been sleeping well so he's pretty pissy lately. The kids are here so I'm pretty pissy too. And Kat's birthday is today. Whoo freaking hoo. :)

Supposed to storm again tonight. Next month we're getting the good stuff for the camper roof. Got stuff we thought was good this month but it's probably old or something, and junk. Didn't help at all. Should've just thrown our money out on the highway. I've a strong mind to find their website and tell them what crap their product is.

Mark used Dad's Best Buy card and FINALLY bought a new laptop. His old one was junk since the kids ruined it. Now he won't trade it with me! What a jerk! It's the same as mine, but prettier with better features. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Blogger decided I needed to moderate some comments from MONTHS back that I've never seen before. Sigh.

I'm off to something. I'm a little scared to work on Sue's sweater. :) Happy weekend, everybody!

Finally!!!

2011-08-12T15:40:00.000-05:00

I have photos. And explanations. I put an ad on Craigslist for a reasonable RV, travel trailer, or fifth wheel. I received an email from a man about a half mile out of town. He said he really knew nothing about it as it was bought for his son who ended up going into the Air Force. So, we went an looked at it. It wouldn't start, so we brought the starting battery back here and charged it, then went back. Now, things were getting a little tight in Mom's house. We were all getting on each others nerves, as so often happens when you have two families living together. So, it started, Dad said it ran good, which is what I needed to hear. Yes, we're going to need a battery or three. No big deal, at least it's not a motor. The details: It's a 1988 Winnebago Itasca, I think it's 31 foot long but it could be a 28 footer. It's certainly laid out a bit different than our other one. And it's a basement unit, which means TONS of storage under the coach. On to the photos, I think you can figure out what's what on them. On the most important part you're going to ask: $2800. :)

The adventure is over

2011-08-04T12:04:00.000-05:00

At least for now. Actually, with us, something's always a feckin' adventure, but that's another story. He broke down a block from the RV park. Got it jump started and up to the mechanic. We were thinking maybe oil pump. Maybe just a battery problem. Nope. Not our luck, of course. It's the feckin' engine. Naturally.

So, he's renting a Uhaul, which is money we don't really have, throwing all of our stuff in it with a dog and two cats, and coming up here. Mom's already going batshit about all of us staying here and Dad's not too sure about my animals (including a cat with claws) living in HIS RV, but we'll figure it out. Our RV will be stored at the mechanic's for free this month, next month it will cost us $35 a month, but it will buy us a little time to figure out what we want to do.

I'm really pissed off and feeling pretty hopeless. Every damn thing we try to do goes wrong. This whole adventure has gone wrong from the very beginning. This is ridiculous.

Laters.

Unmotivated Sunday

2011-07-31T15:22:00.001-05:00

I'm getting a few things done today. I did dishes and am currently washing Mom's dog's toys and pillow because they absolutely stink, but otherwise, I'm not real motivated. I've been like this for a week or two now. I don't know if it's the Iowa heat & humidity or missing Mark or what, but I'm getting lazier. I can't go ride the bike or walk because it's too hot & muggy, even at night. I haven't even been visiting my friends' sites much lately. All I've been doing is dishes, sudoku online, and knitting. And watching TV. I don't know what this is all about but I hope I get over it soon.

Mark will hopefully (keep your fingers crossed) be here this coming week if he can limp the camper here. I'm hoping it makes it. Dad & him can rebuild the engine once it gets here. But not on the side of the road. If he makes it at least halfway, we can get him towed the rest without spending our entire check on it, I hope.

We watched "Insidious" on pay per view last week. I loved it, although it reminded me a lot of "Poltergeist". It's a great movie, though.

Off to knit or play numbers or something. Have a good week, everyone. :)

Saturday again

2011-07-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

And my back is feckin' killing me. It's hurt since I got here. Now, I've never had back problems before, so I just assumed it was the futon I'm sleeping on. I have tried everything I can think of, from cushions to taking the mattress off and just sleeping on the cushions and so on. Yesterday, I got in the tub and tried to bend around to shave my legs and damn near screamed. And was worried I wouldn't get back out of that position. I did manage to do it, as Mom has one of those tubs with the door and a seat, so I put my foot on the seat and did it that way. I was wondering for a bit if I was just going to be hairy. Anyway, last night was awful. I digested I don't know how many Tylenol and ibuprofen. The only thing that even vaguely helps is Mom's Vicodin but she's not parting with any more....lol So, I tried to eat some cereal, even though Mom wanted me to wait till later and eat with them. I kept having to stand up because sitting was too painful, and for some reason, that made me nauseous. I gave my cereal to the dog, then I went to the bathroom and gave back what I had previously eaten and went to bed. I think the pain made me sick. I have never had back problems so I'm not sure what to do! I still hurt this morning, although not quite as bad, so I've taken a couple extra strength Excedrin and am hoping my back will loosen up. Dad said it could be a kidney or liver from all the OTC's I take, but I don't think so. I think I'd have a fever if it was. My doctor prescribed Tylenol arthritis, two twice a day, several years ago and I've been taking it since. I haven't had to get any more shots in my knee since I started, although I'll take the knee shots over this any day. Also, on the same side, the left one, I've had an enlarged (sometimes baseball size) lymph node under my armpit that goes up & down for at least a year. The last doctor I showed it to didn't seem too worried, and Dad has one in his neck that has done the same thing for years, so I'm not too worried.

Off to do something that doesn't hurt. Wish me pain free, friends! Happy Saturday! :)

This, that, and the other

2011-07-18T14:58:00.000-05:00

So I finally told my oldest daughter that I'm making a blanket for my 14 month old grandson. It's slow going, because it's huge, and like fifty patterns all in one. I think it should last him into his teenage years if the width of it is any indication. I'm only on row 14 and I started it before I got here. That's because I can't just sit down and knit it. I have to be able to knit without interruptions because of how complex it is. I don't want to put it down because if I lose my place despite all the stitch markers, it will be a big mess. Anyway, what it will eventually look like is here. I'm knitting it on smaller needles since it's for a baby, but it's still huge. And here's my progress and a close up of one of the stitch patterns. Sorry it's not so great but the photos were taken on my cell.

Meanwhile, I've uploaded another pattern for sale on Ravelry. It's a cute little coin purse that I whipped up since Kat didn't bring her purse up from Oklahoma with her.

It's HOT HOT HOT here. We have heat advisories for like the next week or so. It's only supposed to be in the 90's but with the humidity at should be raining it makes it twice as bad. Like walking into an oven. So, probably won't be any bike riding or walking for a while. :(

Off to find something to do. Happy Monday everyone!!!

Life in Iowa

2011-07-16T11:54:00.000-05:00

It is HOT here. I know it's not in the 100's like it is in Oklahoma but it's three times as humid which actually makes it seem HOTTER. And the breathing gets harder because of it.

Not much going on here. Kat came back up with Dad, so now she's here also. She's bored to tears and it's too hot & muggy to go outside, but then she knew that coming into it.

Mark's still in OK. Hopefully next month he can limp that piece of crap camper up here to join us. I miss him. I also miss my doggie. And I really really miss my espresso machine. :)

Alex has new friends whose parents insist on buying her a bunch of stuff she doesn't need (like clothes). I have no idea where Mark is putting it all in the camper.

I'm just plugging along here, waiting for the family to join me. I'm bored too but brought my knitting (I'm still working on the big blanket and a small project of my own design that I will put up for sale on Ravelry when I'm finished) and a zillion sudoku books.

Have a good weekend everyone. :)

Sunday, and there IS a God

2011-07-10T10:40:00.000-05:00

And I loooooooooooooooooove my in-laws. They're such nice folks. It's probably not often you hear people say that, but it's true. Here's the story:

Yesterday, about 4 PM, I got a call from an Omaha number. Who else could be calling me from Omaha but, wait for it, GREYHOUND???? They've located my bag and can I be in Shenandoah to pick it up at six? Um, no, that's a bit of a walk for two hours. I can walk relatively fast but twenty miles in two hours? Ain't happenin'. So, I asked if they could keep it there till I could pick it up. The man said yes, not a problem, since it had already been to Kansas City and back a few times. KC is an evil, evil, city that sucks luggage out of your hands.

So, a few minutes later, it dawned on me, and I called Greyhound back to see if someone else could pick it up. Mainly, my in-laws who LIVE in Omaha. Sure enough, lickety split, Ardelle (mother in-law) was calling me about the questions on the pickup form. Then she said they'd bring it out - THEN. Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!

So, I walked down to the store to get money out of the ATM and to go McDonald's to wait for them. Now, OKC is HOT, but not humid. I was soaking wet by the time I got to the store, even though it's a full mile less than the walk to Walmart. Anyway, they got there, then they brought me home. Have I mentioned I love my in-laws? :D

So, I now have my bag and some clothes and my MEDS!!! I'm a happy camper. Happy Sunday all!!!

It's Friday...big feckin' deal!

2011-07-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

Day one without meds. I can live without the Effexor, since, according to my doctor, I take a baby dose anyway, but the lithium and tylenol arthritis I really kinda need. I haven't called Greyhound today because I'm really pissed at them and because I'm 99% sure they haven't found my suitcase yet. And even if they had, I would still have to go to a proper Greyhound station to pick it up, rather than where they dropped ME off, which is 70 miles away, and I don't think I'm quite up to THAT walk yet. And Dad took the truck to Oklahoma to help Mark so I don't think it's feasible for me to use it. Jerks. I will never again, so long as I live, take a Greyhound or Jefferson or ANY bus anywhere. If I'd have flown and they lost my luggage, it would be delivered to my door when found. But no, not Greyhound. Never, ever again. Tell your friends - GREYHOUND SUCKS! I really need my meds, but do they care, even though THEY lost the damn bag? Nope. Not one iota.

It's humid here. It's only in the 80's as far as the temperature goes but the humidity is 48% with a dewpoint of 63%, so you could cut the air with a knife.

I'm going to go brood and knit.

You know how...

2011-07-06T18:03:00.000-05:00

You have it all planned out what you're going to blog about and what you're going to say, then the kids have an issue or Mom wants to talk or the dog needs out and you pretty much forget everything you wanted to say? That's what being bipolar is like, but not just while blogging - ALL the time. Just saying. Anyway...

I got to play with Dad's money today. It's not as weird as it sounds. He has V nickels and mercury dimes and buffalo nickels and all kinds of crazy stuff that I'd never seen before, and some I've only read about. If I had days and days I could do some research on the internet and prove to him that his collection is probably worth way more than the $600 he thinks it is, but I really don't think he'd sell anyway so who cares what it's worth? It was really cool to see some of those things, though.

The bus was a damn nightmare. No other way to put it. It was an hour and a half late to OKC because of a breakdown, which made me really nervous about my KC layover / transfer because it was only supposed to be an hour and a half layover. So, with the bus pretty much stuffed to capacity after the stop in Tulsa, and very narrow and uncomfortable seats, off we went. Got to KC, found my bag, had to fight a couple of baggage handlers and tell them it is supposed to go on THIS bus (which, apparently, it did NOT), then cram 500 more smelly, tired people onto the bus and away we go. Now, on the way to Tulsa, I had the lady behind me yelling into her phone that she didn't put her hands on the gal that pissed her off because she'd have killed her, repeatedly, to several people, and on the way to KC I had the gal behind me crying and yelling on her phone about her hubby beating her up and she's leaving him because he was cooking meth while the kids (yes, PLURAL) screamed all the way to KC because they wanted her attention and, naturally, she was on the phone. She changed the baby's diaper on the seat right behind me, and let me tell you, THAT was a feckin' treat. But, on the way to here I had a nice older man sit next to me and end up with his hand on my leg when he fell asleep. The first time, I didn't know whether to smack him, yell, or ignore it, but then I took into account the very narrow seats and forgot about it. We chatted, and he was sorry to see me off, but I was all excited to drag my ass off of that bus at 4:15 AM in sleepy Iowa. I went into McDonald's at 5 and had a sandwich and my coffee, then called Dad at 5:30 since he wasn't there. Turns out he was waiting for me to call and let him know what was going on after Mark called him about the late bus. So anyway, I'm here now, slept last night finally, and feel almost human.

Dad is going to OKC tomorrow to help Mark with the camper. Hopefully they'll get it figured out and Mark can come up here. I miss him terribly already. We've been married 20 years and have never really been apart for this long, so I'm going a bit crazy.

And Sue. She starts with the 'feckin' business. Now, that's not cursing in Ireland, but the less polite way of saying it is, even though it all means the same thing. So, I was telling Mom about it, and the very same day, someone said it on one of the sites she goes to. So now, we're all running around saying it here. Thanks, Sue! LOL

Well, now I've got you all caught up, I think. Hopefully they'll find my suitcase soon. That's just the damned icing on the cake, though. Next time I'm flying. Period.

Off to knit or play sudoku or some such. Happy Hump day everyone!

Life in Iowa

2011-07-05T11:55:00.000-05:00

I'm here, I'm tired, and I'm angry. I was off the bus for a whopping thirty seconds in Kansas City to switch buses. I grabbed my luggage and was about to load it onto the bus I wanted to go on when two big, burly men grabbed it and set it off to the side and said they would do it. Well, guess what? I get to Shenandoah and no socks, no shorts, no YARN for God's sake!!!! So, tomorrow I'm going to call Greyhound and see where the hell my suitcase ended up and will end up. Lots to tell you about the trip but I'm going on three hours sleep (at Mom's, couldn't sleep on the bus, of course) so I'll relate the WONDERFUL details of the ride later.

Happy Tuesday all!

Today is the day

2011-07-04T08:59:00.000-05:00

That I get on a bus and head back to Iowa. I have a lot to do yet, of course, the things you can only do at the last minute. Wish me luck everyone, and I'll check in with you when I get there.

Happy fourth of July!

Six days

2011-06-27T11:31:00.000-05:00

And I'll be off to the land of water and a thousand floods. I'll be taking Jefferson bus lines, and probably this route, as long as it's still available when we get paid. If not, well, I'll go another day. It's going to be a busy few days getting packed and laundry done and the usual race to go on a trip. I'm excited, but yet I'm not. I want to see Mom and Dad, and get to the MUCH cooler weather, but I'm not too happy to leave Mark here alone with the kids.

I've started the Burridge Lake afghan, although I've already made modifications. I'm knitting it in one piece instead of strips, since I absolutely hate sewing stuff, which means 324 live stitches on the needles. I also switched to smaller needles to make it a bit smaller, and I'm doing garter stitch edging rather than the knit and purl edging so that, once again, I don't have to sew anything on. I think it will be pretty when done, but it might take me ten years to get it that way! :)

Off to knit, happy Monday everyone.

The road home

2011-06-16T13:46:00.000-05:00

Today Mom told me that she has issues, more than usual, with breathing. I won't tell you exactly what she said, because her personal life is her own, but I need to get back to Iowa to help out. I've checked Greyhound and that's probably the cheapest and closest and most direct route. However, it's around $100, which, of course, being the middle of the month and all, we don't have. Not to mention the cab fare to get to the bus station. It's entirely too far to walk. I'm still trying to figure out if I could take my bike along with me; that's to be decided.

So, I suppose, with no resources available, I will wait till the first of the month when we get our checks. I have emailed traveler's aid, the salvation army, and the red cross. If I don't hear back from them by tomorrow I will call, although with all the natural disasters going on in Oklahoma alone, I don't hold out much hope. Meanwhile, Mom's not getting any better. At least, if I were there, I could help with the little stuff, and while Dad's sleeping. He does occasionally need to do that, you know.

Mark will stay with the kids & the camper and try to get it running. Once he does, he will come up there and we'll figure everything out then.

So, I'm just sitting here pondering, wondering if I should check Craig's list for rideshares, which scares me. We're right beside a truck stop here, and in the old days, perhaps I could hitch a ride, but again, nowadays, that scares me.

Off to think.

Blah Wednesday - Photo Intensive!!!

2011-06-15T11:26:00.000-05:00

I haven't been online much lately. I just haven't wanted to be. We walked 5 and a half miles to the store and back, got sunburned, walked about 5 miles to Walmart and back & wore sleeves so we wouldn't get sunburned. This is getting easier, folks. I remember being a teenager & pregnant walking from 42nd & Lake in Omaha all the way to 15th & Farnam without a problem. I have always been a walker, so I'm getting back into my groove, I think.

The bikes seem to have one issue after another. First, Kat's bike had a flat, so we aired it up, and not two blocks later, it was flat again. So, walk to Walmart for a tube so we can ride again. Then, guess what? I had a flat, and it wouldn't air up. Guess what happened? Walk to Walmart, get a tube. We rode last night but I'm getting kinda scared to ride around here because there must be something we're riding on that's killing tires. But we rode last night and had a lot of fun, so that's ok.

Alex WILL be going back to the hospital as soon as we can arrange it. She wants to be babied and all her needs met while not having to expend any effort at all. In other words, she refuses to try. She doesn't want to be a part of this family, all she wants is HER needs met, and to hell with everyone and everything else. She deliberately pushes buttons on all of us to get the attention she craves (she doesn't care if it's positive or negative as long as it's on HER), so rather than break every bone in her body or wringing her neck, she needs to go. Maybe this time they can help her a bit. Medications, therapy, none of it will help unless you're willing to help yourself. She'd rather sit around and feel sorry for herself (and try to get others to feel sorry for her, i.e. attention) saying nobody likes her rather than asking "Why" and "What can I do to change this?". Someone needs to teach her some social skills and coping skills and I just don't have it in me anymore. I've tried for nine years and she plain ass does not listen to me. And it's like she's in a competition with me, for Mark's attention, and who gets to 'run' the house, and I personally can't take it anymore. We're supposed to be a family but she's not interested. It's all about Alex. I was going to spend the day in our bedroom today rather than be around her, because it always inevitably leads to a feckin' (stolen from Sue!) war, but I want to be around the family. She will need to steer clear of me today, and until she goes into the hospital, and Mark will help with that. I told him last night that it's me or her. I can't take the constant b.s. anymore. I"m bipolar and have issues of my own, and I've tried and tried to cope with this, but she knows exactly which buttons to push to make me see red and does it on a daily basis. We can't EVER have a peaceful family day.

So anyway. I'm going to try to upload all these damn pictures again. They're from various dates and they're dated, so you get the idea. Some are from tornado days and some are just storm days and some are just stuff.

Happy hump day, everyone.

Wednesday whining

2011-06-08T12:00:00.004-05:00

I kinda feel like whining today. I have a headache. Last night, after we got home from about a two mile walk, Mark collapsed and today his legs are hurting, so I don't want to push him too much but I WANT TO MOVE...lol

So, instead of playing the heartless bitch, we're going to stay home today and possibly walk tomorrow. Or maybe this evening, depending on how he feels. We have to walk to Walmart again. Kat's back tire on her bike needs a tube since it's totally flat, even after we've put air in it. Sigh. Seems I'm just finding my 'athletic groove' and something's always going to burst my bubble. However, I am feeling a lot better since we've been biking and walking. My bike and I have almost achieved perfect Zen together! Ha!

I put in a change of address today. No sense in having the PO box if we can't get to it on a regular basis.

My hair is getting way blonder now that we've been out in the sun moving around. I'm just worried that the underneath, which I dyed black, is going to turn bright clown orange with all the sunlight. Oh well, I'm always trying to be a freak anyway.

My coins are soaking in olive oil for the next several days, if not weeks. That's the safest way to clean them without losing value. I tried ketchup and baking soda, and it DID clean them, but somehow, it looked really strange after, and most collectors don't want perfectly shiny coins anyway. They like the aged patina, just not the dirt. So, attempting another method. :)

I've been fighting with getting the photos uploaded, and Blogger seems to be having one of it's many brain farts, so not today. When I can get this figured out I have a ton to upload.

Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

Sheeesh

2011-06-04T13:19:00.003-05:00

Trying to change my email with Blogger is a bit of a pain. I had to invite myself at the new email to 'contribute' to the blog. Whatever.

Lots of stuff to tell you. We walked to Walmart a couple of days ago, and swore by the time we got there it was 3-4 miles one way. We were all wore out. Turned out it was a little over two!

Thursday, I didn't sleep at all. I'm readjusting my bedtime meds, eliminating some, adding some, trying to cut down on others. Mainly because I don't want to have to go to the doctor for refills, especially with no car. Anyway, we got up at 4 AM, although Mark & I were up pretty much all night. Like I said, I didn't sleep at all. We went to the truck stop for breakfast, then walked back to Walmart, which, even though we were all pretty tired from so little sleep, didn't seem very far at all, and not nearly as far as the first time. We got bikes and helmets and water bottles and so on. I am not even going to mention how much it cost us to walk out of there, but suffice it to say, it was well over the usual $100 our first monthly expenditure costs us there. Then we sat outside the door and assembled the trailer (sort of, not sure it's right...LOL) and Mark put on his new cheap shoes (the last ones were just scary), we took the tags off of everything, put the groceries in the trailer, and set off. Now, I just love my bike. It's a cruiser and so smooth to ride. But, we ended up walking most of the way home, with the kids bitching the whole way about it. With the heat, being tired, and being old & out of shape, we managed to make it about two blocks before I couldn't do it. Now, mind you, I kept trying, most of the way home, but my upper thighs were ROCKS after about a block, and hills just didn't happen. I'm talking small bumps in the road! :) So, hopefully this evening when it cools down, we're going to 'practice' on our newly found favorite road. It runs around the back of the truck stop, and it's pretty level with very little traffic, so it should be fun. We can't do night riding yet because we're required to have headlights and we spent ENOUGH.

Walking is getting much easier though. I just wish it wasn't so hot during the day. We have to do it very early in the morning or late in the evening to not die of heatstroke. And all of us are on meds that require us to not get too overheated, so it has to be.

We're definitely getting healthier, though. Tomorrow is the 'big' trip to the grocery in a cab, and I'm hoping to get a bunch of fruit and a bit healthier foods. The kids would eat fruit for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert if we'd let them, but fruit is SO expensive nowadays, and doesn't last long at all, especially in this house. I don't know if they realize it but they haven't had sugar for dessert for several weeks now. At least not much, just natural fruit sugars, mostly. And, a certain few people (ARE YOU LISTENING MOM & DAD???) should be happy to hear that we're weaning them off the stimulants. Rather than Ritalyn twice a day, morning and afternoon, they get a slow acting or reduced dose in the morning, and a caffeine pill and diet Mountain Dew in the afternoon. Yes, it's still caffeine, but it doesn't last nearly as long as the pills, and it's what the doctor ordered. And we're trying to cut out sugar and refined carbs as much as possible because that can hype them up too, she said. It seems to be helping, or at least they're acting pretty much the same as they did on ALL the pills. So, we're working on that. I would love to take my Lithium twice a day, Benadryl or something at night, and be off the rest of my pills, also, so that's part of why I'm adjusting my pills at night. I take massive amounts of sleep meds at night, and I'm slowly reducing that.

I have some photos I want to show you, and some I need to take yet, but I am hot & don't have much energy today, so perhaps next time. But, if you need to see, I know you're dying to, THIS is the bike I got.

Ok, all hell is breaking loose around here again, and as usual, it's centered around Alex (she is so close to going back the the hospital, especially since it's obvious she doesn't want to be here and yesterday said something about riding her bike out in front of traffic), so I need to finish this now.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Updaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate

2011-05-26T11:34:00.000-05:00

We sold the car. For $400, which is less than I wanted, but still better than what we had. And then one of our new friends, one that helped us push the car, suggested we should sell him the car trailer also. Mark told him $50, I didn't know that and told him $30. So Mark agreed with me and came with them up here to get it. Well, apparently the guy liked it, because he handed Mark $100 and told him it was worth more than $30. So we made $500 anyway. I had to take the ad off of craigslist, though, because we were getting a zillion calls on it. Whoooo hoooo!

Okay, off to figure out a PLAN.

When life hands you lemons...

2011-05-25T15:06:00.000-05:00

You know the drill. We were going to walk to Walmart to buy something for dinner. When we got across the bridge, we saw that, amazingly enough, the car was still there. Someone ran across the street and told us he and two other guys would help push it to a parking lot nearby. Mark didn't bring his keys; we fully expected the car to be impounded by now, so he had to walk back home to get them while the girls & I went to Braum's Fresh Market to see if they had any groceries rather than walking all the way to Wally World. We weren't too impressed, but they had milk for the same price as WW, so we walked back to the car to wait for Mark. These three guys and Mark managed to push this car across a busy off ramp into a parking lot in less than five minutes flat.

Now, on the way, before the man came to us, we were talking about perhaps leaving the car in impound and getting bicycles, how it would be so much cheaper without insurance and fuel and repairs the damn thing always needs. We talked about it more when we got home, I'll tell you why in a bit, but I think we're pretty psyched about it. Maybe we could finally quit smoking if we got healthier, and if we got healthier we'd feel better. There's a lot of pros to this and not very many cons. We would need to buy our bikes as the kids have them but we don't. I want a pedal brake bike, and after looking online, I find they're making them again and calling them "cruisers". This is the one I really like, and unlike all the cars we've owned, we could actually almost afford to buy the bikes new. Especially if.

One of the men that helped push it was seemingly joking around about buying it from us. Mark told him $500 (which is EXACTLY what I was thinking of putting on Craigslist for!!!) and the man seemed flabbergasted and very interested. He's on disability as well, so he doesn't get paid till the third, so we'll see if he calls, but it's just weird the way things are working out again. That $500 would more than pay for our bikes and a trailer to pull behind it for groceries. So keep your fingers crossed for us!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Good grief...again

2011-05-23T14:07:00.000-05:00

So I try to keep my spirits up even though we don't have a dime to our name and I really don't know how we're going to eat the last part of the month because most of the food pantries don't serve our zip code and if they do, you get a package of tortillas and a 5 lb. bag of potatoes to feed four people for 15 days, so what's the point? The damned RV is broke, we're broke, we thought Kat had a broken tooth, so Mark took her to the dentist this morning (the kids can get state insurance, although we supposedly make too much for food stamps). The tooth is a baby molar just trying to come out, so they didn't do anything. No big deal, cool. Mark is on the way home, gets off the interstate and sitting at the light to come less than a mile to our house, and pffffffffffft. The damn car dies. And won't start again, even though we waited two hours and went back. We don't have the money to tow it home (about sixty bucks for less than a mile, hookup is the most expensive part) and I have a strong feeling the city's going to tow it to the impound sooner or later. The closest grocery store is over a mile away, and, obviously, we don't have cab fare even if we did have money for food. AND, we're supposed to get strong to severe storms today. I guess it's a good thing we don't own a gun, huh?

I'm off to pout.

Bipolar Blogging?

2011-05-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

Someone suggested I should make a mint by blogging daily about my bipolar moods (thank you, Sue!). I'm thinking I should do that. I made an error in the checkbook, and, guess what? We're poorer than dirt poor again. My Ebay things aren't looking like they're going to make me rich, either, I don't think.

I sleep a lot. I think I might be depressed. But I'm not exactly boo-hooing today, even after sleeping twelve hours, although hubby is giving me the "Did you decide to get UP today?" look. It feels like a mixed mood. I'm a bit depressed but also feel a bit hyper. Could that be because of 12 hours of sleep?

I didn't go to take my driving test. I can't afford it. I will check into it next month. I think I need to go to overspenders anonymous or something. I think it's just so long of a month struggling that when we DO get money, we go completely batshit with it.

Oh well, off to knit or something. I have been searching for a great cabled tank pattern but have only found one and it's six dollars on Ravelry, which I don't have. I'm a bit anal about my knitting. I absolutely refuse to spend a lot of time knitting something I don't absolutely love. What's the point? When I want to knit something, I spend days or even months looking for a pattern. That's probably why I have to have a 16 gig flash drive to hold all of my patterns. What is the ONE that day may not be the ONE the next time. I have recently decided I like to do cable knitting, so all of the patterns I avoided previously are now ending up on the flash drive. Another bipolar day in the life. :)

Someone left a comment about me contacting her. I wrote her, but never heard back. Can you please either leave another comment (as I didn't publish that one) or contact me at rachelknits1968 at gmail? Thanks.

Have a good week, all.

The DMV sells tickets to BIG NAME concerts

2011-05-06T17:34:00.000-05:00

Well, at least they SHOULD. I have to take the driving test, since my license from Iowa expired on my birthday and I already (barely) passed the computerized written one. No big deal, right? They open at 7 on Monday to start driving. Also, no big deal. Except. He told me they start lining up between five and seven. Whaaaaaaaaaaat???? And another person in there told me that during the summer, they start lining up around 3 AM. Good grief. So, I'll need plenty of coffee Monday and nerves of steel. I haven't actually driven since my very first license.

I'm selling a Prada on Ebay, if anyone's interested. Found it in a thrift shop for cheap. I am sooooo lucky at these things!

Happy Friday all and have a good weekend!

The darker side of bipolar

2011-04-29T11:08:00.000-05:00

I thought my sprint modem was unlimited. Now I found that I only have 5 gigs, and I owe them $275 more. My $2 Gucci bag and my $2 shoes from the thrift shop are going to come back to haunt me, as we have no food and no gas and the so-called food pantries around here are a JOKE. Two bags of potatoes and a package of tortillas for four people. We are almost out of smokes, which I'm sure is going to make me a LOT happier. I already bounced a check on our new account (to buy food) and I'm worried they'll close it before we get paid. Which would be a problem because our checks will be direct deposited into that account. This place is a disaster, I'm a bitch, and Mark hasn't realized what a joke this whole thing is yet. I'm terribly homesick and we've already taken out all the payday loans we can and hocked everything we own. We applied for food stamps but the worker was confused and didn't bother to call back, so we got denied. I reapplied but haven't taken the app back yet.

Now I get calls and texts 24/7 from the unscrupulous payday places and all their stupid affiliates that don't know what 'privacy policy' means. I can't exactly try to find a job - would YOU want to work with me? I hate this camper and I'm sick of the kids and I'm sick of being hungry and I think the dog is sick.

I just want to die. The only problem is how to go about it so that I don't end up 'saved' in some stupid hospital and jacked up with a bunch of drugs that make me drool. I'm sick of it all.

Sorry to whine. I have a legitimate medical excuse for doing so.

A perfect Easter present!

2011-04-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

We awoke this morning to the best Easter present we could hope for – RAIN. Thunder, lightening, and glorious rain. And, according to the forecasts, it may continue, off & on, through Wednesday!!! I’m so glad! Maybe now the fires will diminish a bit.

I have some photos for you. First, the bag:

Any Gucci experts out there? Does it look real? I’d just like to know if I have a genuine Gucci or if it’s a knockoff, not that either answer would make me like it less. However, if it’s real, and I ever get sick of it, I could sell it on Ebay…lol

Next up are the Yo-yo shoes I love so much:

They just feel so retro in a 50’s movie style way.

Here’s a photo of our kingbird that hangs out around us. I think it’s because of the field we have right next to us. He eats BUGS! LOL

And lastly are the clouds we caught before the Tushka tornadoes. They were just east of us, and from the height of the thunderheads and the updrafts in the clouds, we knew it wasn’t going to be good.

Happy Easter everyone!

Gucci and Yo-yos and wildfires and the dove

2011-04-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

All stuff that I forgot to mention last time! My favorite pastime, when we can afford a little bit, is 'thrifting'. We hit the thrift shops and see what treasures we can find. I also rarely buy new clothes. I've been to Wet Seal three times to return original purchases and still don't have a pair of shorts that fit! Why bother? Anyway, went to a few last week. I saw a bag that just, you know, CALLED me. I answered. I looked at it and about fell over. It SAYS it's a Gucci. Now, here's a $1500 bag for $2.50 at a thrift store. You KNOW I had to get it, although I have doubts about its authenticity. I guess I don't know enough about them to tell for certain, but from what I've seen online it may be a fake, unless it's been relined inside. Still. It has the name on it and I got it for almost nothing and I love wearing it with the name side out! We do this all the time, though. Mark has found I don't know how many $300 espresso makers at the thrift shops for a little of nothing, and they've worked. Which is good, considering he uses it at least twice a day. And, at another thrift store, I found something I haven't seen since my tween years: A pair of Yo-yo shoes! Vintage, although they don't have the hole in them, which is just fine with me. I love how Katherine Hepburn starlet they look on. I'll try to get a photo later. No foot fetishist emails please!!! LOL

The wildfires have just been going insane lately, and I heard on the news that a lot of Texas is on fire, as well. We had two fires by us yesterday, one was a hotel and one was an apartment fire. You can always tell when you see the vultures (news helicopters) circling and hovering before you even see smoke. I appreciate being able to see it on the news, but they really are like vultures also. We're supposed to have very improved rain chances for the week starting tonight, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

The dove must have injured his feet, because he seems to be slowly and wobbly improving. He will teeter very short bursts on them now. I'm so happy for him.

Off to do other stuff. Happy Hump Day everyone! :)

Mourning doves that crawl, hail the size of grapefruits, and gays

2011-04-18T17:46:00.000-05:00

We have a mourning dove that we think has no feet. He comes to eat at the seed. At first, we thought he was just gluttonous, laying down in the middle of the seed, but we never see him walk. He crawls on his wings. Perhaps a cat got ahold of him? He's really something to watch. He would be a poster bird for overcoming adversity.

The last storms that went just east of us produced, at first, baseball sized hail, which was bad enough. But then we heard of hail the size of grapefruit in Tushka, OK, which isn't that far from us but was along the dry line that prevented us from getting rain and storms (thankfully, after all of that!).

The gay community here is so much greater than anywhere we've lived recently, and I just love it. I'm very big into gay rights, because they are, after all, human, like us, despite how some religions and bigots seem to feel. I'm also, as I think I've mentioned before, a fag hag so I really enjoy being around them. I'm not gay (or lesbian, whichever), but I just love hanging with the boyz or going to a drag show. I think that's why I enjoy RuPaul's Drag Race, although shows are soooooooooo much better in person. :)

I'm sure there is a whole bunch more I wanted to tell you, but memory fails me, so this is it for now.

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Internet!!!!!

2011-04-13T15:25:00.001-05:00

After putting up with spotty (at best) internet from here, I decided to do something about it. They have one little antenna, on the SIDE of the office, not on the roof, and a bunch of trees that are filling in blocking reception. First, we went to the carrier that we've been with for 6+ years, US Cellular, and were told that we would have to come up with money up front for the device. I guess it's because of the 'mail in rebate'. How's that for customer loyalty? So, I got online and went to what will probably be our next phone carrier when the contracts expire next year - Sprint. This came today, and after messing around for about an hour will the installation and updates, I really like it. I only get 3G here in OK, but it's so much better than the park's so-called WiFi.

It's been very warm and dry here. Around 90 most days, and still no rain. Everyone do a rain dance for us! We still have fires almost every day because of the conditions.

Last post I forgot a couple of shameless plugs. First, on our anniversary, we went out for dinner. We stopped at a place that was one of the only ones without a full parking lot. As a matter of fact, there was hardly anyone in the parking lot, which worried us. Were they nasty? Terrible service? We took a chance with El Sombrero, and were very glad we did. Excellent and fresh food, and amazing service. We will certainly go again!

The other plug, hands down, goes to our favorite grocery store, Homeland Foods. All grocery stores are alike, right? No. These folks are generally HAPPY to see you and HAPPY to work there and HAPPY to save you money, and the food is the freshest I've seen here. I am not joking when I tell you that a lady that works in the deli chased us down because she saw tea bags in our cart to tell us about the big sale they were having on another brand. With the saver card, she said, we would get them for six cents. OMG. When is the last time you had THAT happen?? And the cashiers are generally very happy and friendly. One of them is usually even BUBBLY, and it's a man!

So, if you're ever here in OKC, check these places out. I don't get paid for these plugs, but I do think people should know the great experiences I've had here, along with the bad ones, like our current phone company. Is it next year yet?? :)

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I have so much to tell you

2011-04-07T10:46:00.000-05:00

That I hardly know where to begin. We went to Lake Thunderbird, in Norman, and saw all the trees downed by the tornado in May of 2010. That was where we were originally planning to go here in Oklahoma. I hate to say it, but I'm kind of glad we didn't. The lake was nice, but I wasn't real impressed with the campsites. Here are some photos of the damage (almost a year later) and also of the martin houses (complete with martins) that they had up by the park office.

On the way to Norman, we took the back roads out of the city, and found this, my next house. I just wonder how much it would cost to install a moat?

Yes, it IS a house. I really need to go knock and tell those people if they don't get out of my house, I'm calling the cops. :)

Our anniversary was nice. We spent all day out doing things. We had breakfast (and of course, coffee, which should have its own food group!) at Starbucks, then lunch at a place I haven't seen in years:

Saturday we went and visited Grandaddy's grave. It took forever to find it, and we got covered in goatheads, but finally we did.

On the way back, we passed a few windpower fields, and, knowing me, with a camera, you know what comes next, right? :D

And we have turkeys outside the fence here! On a regular basis!

He's hard to see, kind of caught in the glare, but you get the idea.

Well, the fix isn't as simple as we hoped. Changing the oil did nothing, we still have the rattle. Have it even after dumping transmission fluid down the carburetor in the hopes of dislodging carbon chunks. Last thing left to try is removing the belt for the water pump and seeing if it still rattles, and if so, pretty much the only thing left is the motor. In which case, we're done until I can figure out how to buy another RV.

We finally rented a PO Box, so if anyone wants to be pen pals, let me know. At least we can get mail now. I also opened an Oklahoma bank account (all online, it was amazingly simple!) and we got DirecTV today. I am sick of the TV fuzzing out, even with the converter box, because the antenna is shot. Plus, we get a lot more channels than air. So, we're in for the long haul, I think.

We need rain. Desperately. The wildfires here are horrible. They remind me of the ones in California you see on the news. The one yesterday raged for hours and took out several houses and lots of acreage. That one was on the opposite side of the city, but it's still very scary. No one is immune and it could happen anywhere. A cigarette tossed out a car window or a still-lit match dropped on the ground can wreak havoc. I try not to even flick my cigarette ashes out the car window here, because they could still be hot. It's just very, very scary.

Happy Thursday everyone! :)

Things change fast around here

2011-03-27T10:45:00.001-05:00

So try to keep up. God knows I do. :) New plans (again!): We're staying in this RV park for awhile. It's not the greatest in the world, but the park itself is fairly quiet and calm, if you can ignore traffic and planes, which I can. It's cheaper, by about $30 a month, and we can get a DTV converter for about that much and have TV. Plus, we don't have to try to risk moving and running the camper, or pay the 100+ dollars to get it towed to the new place. Mark is going to sneakily (is that a word?) do an oil change when the owners aren't looking, catching the oil and all, to see if that's the problem. Now, onto the camper.

After the initial fear of blowing a rod through the roof of the camper, and through Mark leaning over the doghouse, I let him 'mess with it'. Then, being my father's child, I got interested. Mark took off the air cleaner and the valve cover on the side making the noise. We called Dad like a hundred times for advice and I even went out and crawled under the camper while it was running to see if the noise was coming from the top or the bottom. It's really hard to tell, being in a pretty closed in space and the engine being so loud. It sounds like a damn jackhammer. BUT. I can't be certain, because of the noise level, but after holding the lifters while it was running and moving all over, I think it COULD be all the lifters making the racket. The oil on my hands wiped off with a cloth, no soap needed, so I'm thinking (look OUT) that just possibly, since it got so damned hot, could we have thinned the oil enough that everything is making the noise? Could we be so lucky as to only need an oil change? I guess we'll find out next month. It could be a rod about to be thrown, so I'm not sure, and I'm not holding my breath, BUT. Can we really be this lucky? Hoping against hope we are. Cross your fingers for us!

Weirdest thing happened to me yesterday. I buy used books, they're cheaper, and less painful to give away when we're done with them. I can't keep them all around here; we don't have the room. Especially when i read "The Lost Symbol" and "The Bridges Of Madison County" in two days flat. So anyway, I started John Sanford's "Naked Prey". I was a few pages in and talking to Mark when something dropped out of it. It was a fortune, from a fortune cookie (!!!). It reads, "You will soon be crossing warm water for a fun vacation". Now is that just strange or what?????!!!

Ken, aka Homeless Millionaire: My oldest just tells me today that when she was on my computer playing Club Penguin that someone named Ken tried to page and she "forgot to tell me". Please email me at dreamweaver1968 at gmail with what you needed. Thanks! :)

I have photos but not today. Happy Sunday all!

Mark is the luckiest man I know

2011-03-20T10:02:00.000-05:00

And I'm the luckiest woman I know to be married to him. I think. If all goes well. He LIED to me. About a piece of wood being stuck near the engine and making all the racket. Well, I'm sorry, but no wood would make THAT racket. Still. He wanted to start it, so I finally let him. No racket!!!! We think what happened was the thing got so hot it thinned the oil to practically nothing which was why it made that Godawful I'm-gonna-throw-a-rod-in-the-next-ten-seconds noise. We think he figured out why it was getting so hot, also, something about the heater core. So, when we get paid, we're getting an oil change (duh) and the thing checked out by a really good local mechanic (I don't know how we keep finding the good ones, but we do) and MAYBE we'll be back on the road in a month or so. A helluva lot cheaper than replacing ye olde beast. :)
We've been out seeing the mostly free sights, and of course, I have pictures. We went to Bricktown to see the canal. We were going to ride the boat seen in the background of one of these photos until we found out it was $8 per person to go less than a mile both ways!!! Onto the pics!

We also went to Bass Pro Shops in Bricktown, which had some cool stuff also.

And we went to the Crossroads mall to walk around, which is really a dead mall, but it had this:

We went to check out a campground near Chandler, which wasn't much better than your bad part of town trailer park, but found Pops along the way. We had to stop for a bottle of soda, with 400+ cold to choose from! Kat & I got coffee soda (it was waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than it sounds), Alex got a Jelly Belly cherry soda, and Mark got a root beer variety.

It was certainly soda heaven. And they have a restaurant, too.

Mark found this sign in an alley in Bricktown and we all laughed:

I also found someone's knitting in Bricktown! I've put ads up on all the local free classifieds I can find, but so far, no one has called.

Closer to the home front, we have flickers out of our windows! For you non-birders, they're a really pretty type of woodpecker.

And Pugsley really likes his morning coffee.

We had to sell Mattie. I wouldn't give her away because of lab animals and such, so we sold her for $25. Anyway, she refused to be housebroke, and in a small motorhome, that means a very bad smell and very unhappy conditions. So, we're going to stick with just one dog. We do not have good luck with more.

We tried to go for a walk "in the woods" so to speak. Right close to the camper, beyond the fence. All of us except Mark were wearing sandals, etc. Took the dogs too. Not ten feet in, we were all limping back. GOATHEADS, stickers, burrs, whatever you want to call them, and attack ones too! That's one big thing I don't like about here.

The weather's gorgeous and supposed to stay that way, so I think today we might put away the winter clothing and get out the summer stuff.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Photos off the camera and rambling on

2011-03-14T17:06:00.002-05:00

Some of these photos we've had since before we left Vinita. These first ones were from our Grand Lake campsite, a few nights before we left. They were doing a controlled burn of the field. It was really cool to watch.

The next few were on our way to Lawton and Fort Cobb.

I really like wind turbines, can you tell? And see how red the soil is?

This next one was Lake Lawtonka in Lawton, with an Oklahoma mountain behind it. Beautiful lake, just don't want to live in a parking lot!!!

The next one is of my stepgrandmother, Corrine. The woman will be 73 20 days before I turn 43, and acts 20!!! She gets around much better than I do, and we all got on the floor to look at photos while I was there and it was like she was younger than me, even after having three knee replacements!

She is still an amazing lady. We talked about Grandaddy a lot. I told her I was glad he found her, because I know he was very happy in his last years of life, especially after my biological grandmother. She was a witch. And Corrine is dating a new man, thirteen years later, and I swore to her that he looked just like my grandfather with a little weight added. She loved my grandfather as much as he loved her, and it just really makes me happy to know they had that. She's such a sweet person; I hope we can spend more time together while we're here.

Today we went driving all over heck & back looking at RV parks. A few were scary, a few weren't so scary but didn't have what we wanted, one was on a golf course but a long way from town. And very few trees. So, I think we have settled at Roadrunner RV Park. It's quite expensive, almost as much as Twin Fountains, but it has EVERYTHING we want and they'll take us long term. And we were still discussing how much we love being in The City. I was actually starting to feel a bit claustrophobic going out to Guthrie! LOL I guess we've lived in small places for so long that I don't like having to drive 30 miles to the grocery store anymore. Like I said in a previous post, I think breaking down here was actually a blessing in disguise. :D

Happy Monday everyone! :)

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!!!!

2011-03-12T15:41:00.000-06:00

It is just really weird the way stuff works out. It really is. Mark siphoned some gas out of the camper for the car, since it's obviously not going anywhere and there was 60+ gallons still in it and it's a heckuva lot cheaper than buying it, and we decided to go 90 miles south to check out Lawton. That's where we were going when we broke down here. Beautiful lake with a mountain view (or what OK calls mountains, anyway), but the 'campground' we were going to? It was a parking lot with hookups. No trees, no anything. So, we decided we really do like the City, just not this park very much. ANYWAY. We stopped in Fort Cobb to see if we could look up my stepgrandmother and maybe find out where Grandaddy's buried, and visit a bit with her. We stopped at a gas station to look at the white pages but I didn't really find anything. There were a couple of old-timers outside soaking in the sun, so I asked them. Well, they took us back inside to ask another old-timer at the cafe table. He didn't know my grandfather or his wife, but he gave me a number to someone who had lived at the lake for a very long time that might know. So, I called the number, and they told me that she had moved away after Grandaddy died. To HERE. So, when we got home, I did a search on the net and found a number. I called, and sure enough it was her!!!!! We're going to go visit tomorrow. This is just so weird the way it has gone. Yes, our camper's broken, but I like the big City and even this park is a little better since they brought us a picnic table. We're going to find another place to do the extended stay next month here in OKC while we save up for a new camper. And I have relatives here!!!! This is just too freaking cool!!! So, I am a bit happier today. Can you tell? LOL

Happy Saturday everyone!!!!! :D

Wrote this review all over the web

2011-03-10T09:13:00.000-06:00

"Do not recommend. The internet barely worked, it was worse than dial-up, and without offering cable television, that was pretty much the only thing we had to do. The manager was snooty when we came in with our broken down RV, although she willingly took the $500 a month for the space furthest in the back where no one could see us. She told us the list of rules and as we got into our space we noted that apparently we would be the only ones following her rules. She also stated to watch out for the homeless folks in the woods behind us. THAT’S comforting! Fairly quiet park if you don’t mind the traffic and airplane noises. Will not return."

They didn't even give us a Good Sam discount, even though they have stickers plastered everywhere from them. I still hate this place. Can you tell?

I don't know how much I'll be on. It's supposed to be windy tomorrow and the dog moving around our camper makes the internet not come in, so you can imagine what 40 mph winds will do.

Siggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I still hate this place

2011-03-08T11:40:00.000-06:00

Two days later. I know all I do is whine on this blog but I'm really depressed. I'm bipolar, so I guess I'm allowed. If you don't like to listen to me whine, don't read it. Simple as that. I'm not out for popularity. Mark asked me what was wrong this morning. I said, "Really????" I mean, come on. I'm stuck in a shitty RV park in a really shitty RV without a dime to our name and you want me to be happy? That might take a while. He's gone to hock our rings (no Mom, not the yellow diamond) so we can eat for a few days. We're both scouring the classifieds on the internet for part time jobs and the kids are bored as hell. So, yeah, I'm happier than a pig in shit. I tried to sleep as long as I could this morning so that I wouldn't have to deal with it, but that didn't work either.

A couple of somewhat good things. We're in the industrial part of town so the only real noises are traffic and planes, which I don't mind, but Mark hasn't got used to yet. And Fort Cobb is a suburb of OKC, and that is where my grandaddy lived until he died.

I always wanted to visit here, just not break down & live here. I'm still exploring my options, like bad credit RV loans and such. My house is broken and I don't know what to do. I am with the reader that said she thought that you needed to have money to do this. And no state agency anywhere is going to help us unless we're homeless, which, technically, we're not.

Anyone want to sell me a DECENT motorhome cheap on payments?

Off to brood some more.

I should change the name of this blog

2011-03-06T18:04:00.000-06:00

To "Have RV, Will Break Down On The Side Of The Road Every Two Hours". The engine really is shot this time. We need to buy a new one. I don't want to fix this one because I don't trust it any more. We are now in Oklahoma City at this campground, where they kinda stuck their noses up before they decided we could actually pay them $500 a month for the privilege of being the oldest eyesore of the park. Maybe I'm just tired, or sick and tired, but today I hate it here. We have $20 left to our name to eat all month. The tow was $200 for 15 miles, which actually wasn't bad, but the price of this place is a bit ridiculous for what they have. They have no playground and no cable TV. I can't afford to buy a digital one and if I could I'd stick it in savings for a new home on wheels!!! I'm just frustrated today, I'll blog more tomorrow when I'm (hopefully) in a better mood. See ya.

Change of plans

2011-03-04T13:30:00.000-06:00

We're going to Lawton, OK for a month. With rising gas prices we can't get to AZ all in one shot, so we're going to do small trips every month until we get there. Unless, of course, gas goes down. Yeah, right! LOL

Laters!

We got lucky again!

2011-02-28T09:55:00.000-06:00

There were tornadoes right above us in Independence, Kansas, and they said it was getting hinky south of us. Middle of the night we got rain & thunder, and we had tornado watches most of the night after about nine PM, but nothing major. Thank God.

Someone said I should research weather patterns in Bullhead City. I just about fell off the chair laughing. Average temps during the winter in OK is supposed to be 40 degrees, and average snowfall is supposed to be around 4" per year. I did my homework before coming here. I no longer believe in averages!!! LOL But with snow in San Diego, and the entire south having a rough winter, I don't think it's an average year. At all. I'm actually beginning to wonder about the 2012 theory. Weather has been getting weird EVERYWHERE. Mom in Iowa said they have only had a total of about 6" of snow, which is really weird. Are the poles shifting? Is the world coming to an end? I only hope we get AZ before it does. :)

One week from today we start our next journey. I will try to get photos and blog but internet may be iffy and we may be a bit tired from driving all day, so no promises. I am getting more antsy by the second. I want to GO!!!

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Spring-ish in tornadoville

2011-02-27T09:06:00.000-06:00

Last week with the big storms we dodged the bullet. Tennessee, northern Louisiana, and southern Missouri all had tornado warnings. When I looked at the weather channel there were eight warnings at once, all along the line of the storm front. Yikes. This week, we're supposed to have a much greater chance. Next weekend it's supposed to storm again. Have I mentioned I want to get the hell out of here? Dark & dreary so far today, and WARM and humid, which is a bit scary, considering what it's supposed to do. I'll just say conditions are going to be really favorable. If we see something and aren't running for our life, I'll get pictures. :)

We have a new neighbor. His name is Jason, he's probably in his twenties, and he's rented his site for a year. He's very nice and very gay. I had to go meet him this morning. I am what the gays call a "fag hag" and some of my very dearest friends have been gay. It's just sad that we only met him a little over a week before we're supposed to move.

Not much else going on here. Just getting itchy to go, and NOW! LOL

Happy Sunday all! :)

Wanderlust & tentative agenda

2011-02-23T14:05:00.000-06:00

I am so ready to go YESTERDAY. Possible bad storms tonight. I know they probably get storms in AZ, but I am really sick of being here. I told Mark this morning that I still love Oklahoma, I just don't want to live here! LOL

We mapped our route today, barring breakdowns or other problems.. We will leave out of here the 7th of March, early in the morning, and drive about 7-1/2 hours to Amarillo, TX (yuk). We'll stay a night here, then continue into New Mexico. We'll stop here, after about another 7-1/2 hours, and should make it to our destination in Bullhead City, AZ, on the 9th, after another 6 or so hours. We'll then be in Mountain Time, which is going to be kinda weird calling home. :)

It's kind of like spring fever, but worse, I am ready to MOVE! We have about two weeks of me going totally batshit and then we'll be in one of the places we've always wanted to see. I can't wait!!!! Have I mentioned that? LOL

Happy hump day, everyone! :)

Not much going on

2011-02-21T12:27:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's been awhile, I've just been a bit overwhelmed with things. We finally got the camper mostly cleaned up after the 2nd overflow of tanks, then my in-laws came down from Nebraska to visit before we move 1300 miles away to Arizona. We took Alex out of Willow Crest for a day pass while her grandparents were here and she had a MAJOR meltdown. I have never seen her that bad before, which could mean one of two things. One, she's getting worse. Two, she's getting better. Hard to say. I have a call in to her therapist but haven't heard anything yet today.

And I went to the doc to get blood taken for my Lithium levels since I haven't had it done in quite a while. Couldn't have it done that day because she wanted to also test my blood for other things (I'll get there in a minute) and I hadn't been fasting. Also took my Lithium that morning and I guess you're not supposed to take it when checking for the levels (makes no sense to me, but whatever). So I went in this morning fasting and had it done.

I showed her the hypernova lymph node under my arm pit. It was supernova in the hotel when we went, about the size of a golf ball, but it was down the day I went in. She decided to put me on antibiotics and test my blood. I told her it happens all the time, my nodes swelling, but she was a little freaked out about the size, so I figured I'd get the necessary stuff done. No word yet, but I'm halfway through the ten day course of the antibiotics and it's the same size. Sigh.

I can't wait, and neither can anyone else in the RV, to get the hell out of here and to Arizona. We were in the 70's last week, 40's today and windy, and possible severe storms on Thursday. WTF???? We go from nice to tons of snow to nice again then all the way over to possible tornadoes? I really think we're not meant to be here. Worst storms they've seen in 50 years with the snow & cold, now this? ACK!!! LOL

Off to find a purse to knit. And looking for warm weather stuff to knit, as opposed to mittens and blankets! :)

Happy Monday everyone!

Round two

2011-02-09T09:33:00.000-06:00

I WAS going to tell you how bad Oklahoma's streets still were four days after the fact, and show you pictures. I was also going to show you pictures of every available surface in our camper covered as Mark steamed the carpets after we finally unfroze the tanks with a hair dryer. But. We got another 20" or so last night & this morning. The sewer hose broke and the tanks are all over the floor AGAIN because they're frozen. So, right now, I really don't give a damn about the pictures and all.

Another but. If we can survive this month here, we're leaving. We're going to or near Bullhead City Arizona. Sick of the cold and sick of the snow and sick of frozen wet floors. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, if we can just make it that long.

If you want to live in an RV, take my advice. Either buy a newer one that has better equipment, if you have the money (obviously, we don't!), or live in a warm area. Consistently warm area. Not one that only has snow and freezing cold if you show up!

See you later, when it warms up.

I give up

2011-02-02T09:09:00.001-06:00

Yes, I'm depressed. About to have a nervous breakdown, I think. Do people have those anymore? And if bad words offend you, you may want to stop reading now. Anyway, last night the toilet overflowed. We figured there was ice somewhere in the black water tank. So, Mark went out in the freezing blizzard to check. Seems there was ice in the sewer hose. But when he moved it around to try to dislodge the ice, it broke into a million pieces in a million places. So he capped the tank and we could flush again.

Then this morning, Kat wakes us up saying the floor is SOAKED. Seems there's ice in the gray water tank somewhere also. The tub is full and the floor in the bathroom, our room, and half of the camper is probably ruined.

We can't afford to buy a hose and even if we could I don't know how we'd get anywhere till at least tomorrow.

I am sick to death of this shit. One thing after another going wrong in this thing. Yes, I realize, most campers couldn't withstand this kind of weather either, but still. Why me? I told Mark that I want to rent a house and scrap this thing. I mean I am tired of it!!!! This was supposed to be fun. I don't expect a smooth ride the whole way, really I don't, but this has been pretty much endless. Maybe we're just not supposed to be doing this.

Oh, and, it's cold in here. It's old and drafty and two space heaters and one normal heater can't combat that.

So we're going to have to do some repairs sometime.

I'm going to go pout now. :(

Pictures.

2011-02-01T19:43:00.000-06:00

Sigh.

Forgot to mention

2011-02-01T12:23:00.002-06:00

They've called out the National Guard. Again, last time I saw this was Colorado. Holy (&%%$#$!!!!!

Wow.

2011-02-01T12:20:00.000-06:00

The last time I saw snow & wind & drifts like this was Colorado, the year we had three feet in one dump. In Denver, not the mountains. We are getting hammered. TV was going in & out this morning, but seems to be working now. Internet is slow, electricity is still on so far. They've closed the main vein, Will Rogers Turnpike or I-44 for short. It's about the only thing on the noon news. And we have an old drafty camper. We've put blankets in spots that seem to be more drafty than the rest. The heat is on a lot, although I'm not sure how much it's helping because the 40 mph winds keep blowing and all but putting out the flame. So, again, wow. This was so not what I had in mind when we moved to Oklahoma. I don't think the rest of OK has exactly been counting on this either. They have 14.5 inches in Owasso. Not sure where that is compared to us, but it's bad anyway. I have a friend in Anchorage, AK, and they're only expecting 6 inches. Is the world tilting?

I'll keep you posted on developments and snow totals and so on. Yuckkkkkkkkkkkk!

OH. MY. GOD.

2011-01-31T13:18:00.000-06:00

So much for moving here to escape snow, cold and ice. We are expecting 10-15 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow. Maybe more, especially if it's anything like Colorado in September of 98 (or 99, I can't remember). And on top of that, it's going to sleet first. Which means ice. And lots of it. We're getting propane delivered today, went to the store to get food. I swear, no matter where I go, bad luck follows me!!!! Current forecast and radar for us is here. I'll keep you posted!

We took Alex here last week. We're hoping since they'll keep her longer than the 7 days that Iowa City did that hopefully we can calm her down a bit. They've changed the timing of her normal medications and that seems to have helped a bit. I'll keep you posted on that, too.

Off to pout. :(

Snow and not much else

2011-01-25T10:11:00.000-06:00

We got MORE snow. I guess it's been a weird year everywhere, cold, snowy, and freezing. Today is 40's and sunny, so I guess I'm not going to complain too much.

We've all been going a bit stir crazy. With the weather and sitting in one place, we're all ready to GO. NOW. But we need to fix the RV before we can go, and we need to have $ to do that, so we're going to sit a while longer.

While we were in Red Oak and Dad wasn't feeling too hot, I did the catbox for them. They had tried a new cat litter, and now I have to do the shameless plug. This cat litter is amazing. It's the one you see on TV, with them eating it (gross, I know). It's made from corn and works amazingly well. It clumps better than any clumping litter we've used but yet feels non-clumping. I know, I don't make any sense. But try it, you'll understand. It's expensive but seems to last forever so it's really pretty cost effective. I think you can get a coupon for a free bag on their site but I don't have a printer so it doesn't work for me.

I've been hoarding patterns; knitting, crochet, and plastic canvas. As a matter of fact, I've been so busy downloading patterns that I haven't had time to knit! Hopefully, I'll get some knitting done today. Thanks to all my friends on Multiply that help me find what I'm looking for (and even things I didn't know I was looking for until I saw them!).

Salad for dinner tonight, with some ham thrown in. And iced mochas all day long...lol Good thing we have a new espresso maker! Mark has a KNACK for finding expensive model espresso makers at thrift & resale shops. We have another $300 machine that we bought for $13. Don't know how he does it! But that's one reason I love him! :)

Off to find something to do.

Looking 4 new knitting contacts

2011-01-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

I share & I'm safe. :)

What the hell is THIS?????

2011-01-10T08:28:00.000-06:00

It started last night. By Tulsa. This is sooooooooooo not funny. We moved to Oklahoma to avoid all this.

Can you believe it? It follows us! We're only supposed to get about 3 inches at the most but we're in the South. Do you know what comes with snow and freezing temperatures in the South? Ice! There's already a ton of roads closed. I'm kinda surprised they didn't call off school.

Here's a picture of a coat Alex got for Christmas. I'm thinking she's going to need it!

Have a good day all!

Dad's sugars and birds

2011-01-09T10:24:00.000-06:00

We had to go back to Iowa at the beginning of the month. Dad was hospitalized because his blood sugars were over 500 and he was having some major complications from it. We didn't even know he was diabetic! He's taking pills for it now, and it seems to be helping, so keep your fingers crossed! I tried to show him a little about eating small meals several times a day and how to do food counts and such. We did the Atkins diet for a while about ten years ago so I have a good idea of what you can eat.

Birds! Everywhere! We went to take the garbage to the dumpster one morning, and it sounded like it was hailing on the roof next to the shed. I looked up, thinking squirrels, and saw about two hundred of these:

They are cedar waxwings. You saw them about once a year in Iowa; otherwise they were migrating elsewhere. Like here! :)

We still have robins! Apparently they must winter here since it's so mild.

And several times, going to one place or another around here, we have seen these. They have NO fear of cars and refuse to move. If they're crossing the road, they don't hurry. I'm thinking dinner.

I feed the songbirds on a t.v. tray top outside the window on the ground. It took at least a month for them to start coming to it, and now that they do, there's usually piles of them. Cardinals, snowbirds, sparrows, occasionally crows, and today a pretty little starling. I'll get photos if I can.

That's all for today. Have a good week, everyone! :)

Lazur kat iz eatin ur noms

2010-12-25T09:10:00.000-06:00

So this is Streak, the kitty that we've been feeding. Cute, huh? Well. When I first put out a tray of bird seed next to our camper, we had none. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Now, I think we have every bird in the whole of Northeastern Oklahoma eating here. If you feed them, they will come, right? Right. Look.

Ahem. Oh really? And we're not done yet. Last night Mark went out to feed Streak and Stormy (the bigger gray one) and there was a very skittish black and white cat hanging out. No, it wasn't a skunk, it really was a cat. I guess I'm feeding the entire neighborhood again. Today is Christmas, so everyone, animals inside & out included, get Christmas dinner. I refuse to let anything go hungry.

I have finished knitting a couple of shelter snuggles to give to the Grove Humane Society next month. The first one I just finished last night, and it's double knit, which means basically knitting on both sides. It creates a double thick, double cushy blanket. It's small, so it's a cat mat or would work for a very small dog.

The next one I finished about a week ago.

On a sad note, the little guy didn't make it. His head injuries were too massive and they had to put him down. Good bye, little owl, I hope you're in a better place.

We are getting some snow. If you look real hard and squint and wait ten minutes. But it is pretty cold out, and the wind is blowing like mad, as usual here.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope yours is good.

Where do I start?

2010-12-12T10:48:00.000-06:00

So much to tell you, and I'll probably forget half of it. First. Our cute little car has made noise since we bought it. On the passenger side. Dad did the brakes, pulled the tire off, and we still couldn't figure it out. Now, we knew the upper ball joint was bad. But it made quite a racket. First was a wheeeeeeeeeeeeee sound, then rattle rattle around corners. But we came all this way and drove around all this time, and it only got a little worse so we figured we'd fix it when we could. You know how THAT goes. And when we got here, we took it to a Vinita Dodge dealer, who looked up the VIN and said there were no active recalls on my particular car, even though I had already found this on the web. So, fine, it's okay, someone's already fixed it and that can't be it, right? We went to Vinita to check mail, and go to our home away from home, Walmart (we're there at least three times a week buying supplies and food), then we had to go to Grove to the Humane Society. The car was making a little more noise when we got to Vinita, but we checked the mail and was heading to Walmart before it started really raising hell. I mean griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiindddddddddddddddddddddddd. I told Mark it sounded like the damn tire was about to fall off. We pulled over several times, he pulled the tire off and did what he could, we discussed our options, and ended up at the parts store. The clerk told him that there was a repair shop just around back and we limped it over there. They got it in the garage a lot faster than I had anticipated, and come to find out, guess what? It was the same damn thing as on the recall. Imagine THAT. They said we were LUCKY as the control arm SNAPPED. We could have caused a major accident. Anyway, I was scared, because I just knew it was going to be upwards of $500, but, all told, with tax, labor, and parts, it was a little over $200. I guess it WAS our lucky day! And we will definitely be taking any further repairs back there as they are very reasonable and do good work. Although it's too bad Plymouth is no more, because I would send them the bill. And I won't be buying anything from the Dodge dealer that told me there was no problem with my car, either.

And. We went to Grove one day to do something, I don't remember what, and drove by the Humane Society on our way somewhere. I saw they had a thrift shop and wanted to stop. Mark said something, jokingly, about getting a dog. So I said we'd go in and look, also jokingly. Well, we went in and looked. See?

Her name is Mattie and she's a two year old Welsh Corgi mix that recently had puppies, all adopted now. That's why we had to go back to Grove, to pick her up from spaying. Isn't she adorable? Like most shelter dogs, she has a few issues, but nothing that we can't work out.

We went yesterday to Wild Heart Ranch's winter open house. It was amazing. I saw the owl, who seems to have seizures now. That could be a sign of healing or it could be a sign of swelling. It's hard to say at this point, but none of us would have given him odds on surviving the first night, so he's really come a long way.

And I seem to have adopted a few causes. I am going to start knitting with a knitting club in January that is is with the church that we had Thanksgiving dinner. I had originally wanted to do baby things and chemo caps, but I have now decided to knit Snuggles for the Grove Humane Society. And yesterday, at the open house, I also volunteered to do some transport when possible, to get injured animals to the ranch. I seem to have always gravitated toward the animals, weird to say but I like them more than people generally, so I might as well knit for them. I'd like the shelter animals to have something a bit cushy to lay on instead of a cold concrete floor. And Grove is a no-kill shelter, which, of course, makes me respect them more.

It is freaking cold here today. Not snowing, like in Iowa and Nebraska, but cold nonetheless. The wind is blowing like a monsoon and with the wind chill it's about ten degrees. So much for being warm here. And, it's an old camper and drafty. Can you say Arizona dreams?

I have probably forgotten half of what I wanted to write but the net is really slow today and I'm tired, so I'll blog about whatever I forgot next time. Happy trails! :)

The things you find on the side of the road in Oklahoma!!!

2010-11-29T11:31:00.000-06:00

We were on our way back from Vinita this morning after checking the mail and going to Wally World when I made Mark turn around and go back. Thank goodness US 60 / 69 wasn't too busy that time of the morning. Anyway, we pulled over and I got out. I said something like, "Hey there" and received a head turn in reply. I walked up to the thing I was talking to and got no further responses to my being there. So, I checked for traffic both ways, so that if I scared 'it' I wouldn't have to worry about a car barreling towards it. I wrapped my coat around it and brought it home. I thought it was dead SEVERAL times between then & now, but believe me, it's not. I've been calling wildlife rescues and hopefully someone will come and get it before it gets rowdy at nightfall. I believe it was hit slightly by a car, because it had blood by its eye and mouth, but it still gets a bit grabby with the talons if you wake it up. So, without further adieu, here's Bubba:

Isn't he / she the cutest little barn owl wrapped in my hoodie you've ever seen? LOL It's BIG but fluffy, not heavy at all, but STRONG. I was trying to wipe the blood off of its mouth with a warm cloth when it grabbed me THROUGH my jacket with the talons. I had to peroxide my finger, and the dog (who supposedly doesn't know what's going on) wanted to investigate my loud "Ow!"

We are going to Joplin Saturday to look around and go to some hobby stores. I need some more yarn (always) and we just want to 'do Joplin' for a day trip.

I'm off to knit, or look at knitting patterns, or something...lol Happy Monday all!

OOOOPS, forgot to mention!

2010-11-26T13:47:00.000-06:00

Duh, I won a trivia question from the KITO radio station out of Vinita today. The answer was my favorite snack crackers - Cheese Its. I won a Chex Mix football serving bowl (cute little critter), a Pillsbury cookbook (I can't wait to make some of the things in there), a $10 Walmart gift card, a $25 credit for BidCactus, and three different types of Chex Mix. Can you say I feel lucky today? LOL

Just stuff!

2010-11-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

We didn't get blown off the map Wednesday night. It got really loud and windy and rainy, and I think lightening hit right behind us at least once, but no tornadoes here. Good thing! And yesterday morning was FREEZING cold. It reminded me of Iowa. I know it doesn't get AS cold here, but cold is cold no matter where you're at! Here's a few photos of the clouds before the storm:

There were some tornadoes from this storm, but not near us.

Wednesday morning, the kids were tossing their stuffed animals around after I told them to stop, so I took them away from them. I asked Mark to get me a bag for giveaway stuff (a book I was done reading), and they apparently ASSUMED I was giving the stuffed animals away. Then a temper tantrum to end all tantrums started, and we have pictures! LOL

Thank God THAT'S all over with!!! Although I will be saving these photos for future boyfriends!

I neglected to mention in my last post that Mom was in the hospital. She had her gallbladder removed, and that seemed to help, so hopefully the problem is fixed. Although she's as bad as her sister, won't let me come up and visit while she's in the hospital!

Yesterday, we went to the South Grand Lake Christian Church for their free (yes, free) Thanksgiving dinner. It was absolutely amazing. We expected your typical low budget dinner; turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and a roll, and none of it any more homemade than throwing it in an oven. Let me tell you, that was NOT the case. They had turkey, ham, homemade stuffing, green beans, yams, rolls, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, tea, water, coffee, and about a zillion pie varieties that at least TASTED homemade. I had pecan (mmmmmmmmmmmmmm), Mark had coconut cream, and the kids had cherry. And everyone was so very friendly!

The kids are still in school and liking it at Ketchum Elementary School. For not having much funding per child or however that works, I still find their schools here way above the ones in Red Oak.

Have I mentioned lately that I love Oklahoma? The people here are just so friendly, no matter who they are or who you are. There's always a few that aren't but that's anywhere. It just seems northerners are just grumpier than southerners. Probably because of all that cold weather!

I'm off to knit, or something! Happy Friday everyone! :)

Thanksgiving, foxes, eagles, and severe weather!

2010-11-24T11:59:00.000-06:00

We are going to a church tomorrow for a free Thanksgiving dinner since we don't have room in our teeny RV oven for a bird. It should be nice, anyway, to meet a few people here in the area.

Mark saw a fox running through the RV park a few mornings ago. He told me, and I saw it also. It was way taller than I thought foxes were! It was about as tall as Pugsley, our lab / Brittany mix. I always thought they were shorter. Anyway, he was really neat, healthy and energetic looking. Hopefully we'll see more of him.

We saw three eagles yesterday, being chased by crows for whatever reason. We sat and watched them for a good ten minutes. Two were adults, with the white head and tailfeathers, and one was a juvenile with the brown and buff streaked breast. And they were pretty much in the park also. It's AMAZING the wildlife we see here!!! We also have snowbirds, aka dark eyed juncos, mockingbirds, bluebirds (still!), starlings, and purple finches. We see very few common sparrows.

We're supposed to have severe weather tonight, and when they say that here in Oklahoma, I take it seriously, especially living in a tin can, so I will keep an eye on the skies and radar. I might get some photos if it's during the day. Seems when I was a kid, we had most of the storms during the day, but about the last ten years or so, the majority now seem to come after nightfall. Global warming? Just the evolution of the earth? Who knows?

Anyone need any knitted items for Christmas or other gifts? I can make socks, baby blankets, wash or dish cloths, dog sweaters, hats, scarves, mittens and gloves, fingerless or fingered, and a host of other things. If you're interested, leave a comment here and I'll get back to you! :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

A plan!

2010-11-14T11:01:00.000-06:00

We have a tentative itinerary finally! I have added a travel map to the side, and here's the plan:

First will be Oklahoma City and Fort Cobb, because we haven't seen it and Grandaddy lived in Ft. Cobb. Next will be Mineral Wells and / or Breckenridge, Texas, because I absolutely HATE Fort Worth and want to stay away from it, and that's a little further in to Texas. Next, of course, will be Austin. I miss that town, and I love it, although it's become really expensive, like most everywhere else. After that will be San Antonio, for the same reasons and to go to Sea World and the Riverwalk. Next will be, are you ready for this, ROSWELL, New Mexico. We have to go see where we were hatched, you know! LOL Then the last stop until we plan some more will be Albuquerque. I've always wanted to visit there.

This all probably won't happen until at least February, but now that the RV actually starts and runs, we can plan! Whoo hoo!!! :)

Lots of news

2010-11-13T14:22:00.002-06:00

We went up to Iowa to visit a week from last Thursday and came home on Sunday. It was fun, and nice to see everyone, but we were glad to get home, and I'm pretty sure most of the folks were glad to see us come home. Then, Mark bought a starter for this thing. All the wires TO the starter were melted, along with several plug wires, and who knows what else? So, he managed to fix the wires to the starter, got it all hooked up, and guess what? THE MOTOR CRANKED. WE HAVE NOT LOST A MOTOR! He even started it and tried to move it onto some blocks but without the plug wires, it won't climb. But at least it runs!!!! We can probably have it fixed next month!

We were on the way home from Vinita, on the little road leading from the highway to our park, and we saw a skunk laying in the road. We thought it was dead until it got up and started staggering across. We stopped, and I started to get out of the car to see about it (they're just stinky cats, ya know!) because I thought perhaps it had been hit by a car, then I watched it and thought better of it. It didn't look hit; it looked DRUNK. And it turned and looked at the car like, "Come on, baby, make my day". Its' stripe was yellowish, and we decided it was probably rabid. We thought about hitting it, and Mom said we probably should have, but we just couldn't. Put it out of the misery or not. Good thing I didn't get out and go to it, though, or I'd probably have to get a few painful shots. I hear they are now in the arm rather than the belly, though.

It was COLD in here this morning. See your breath cold. We have very little propane, less than a quarter of a tank, and we're trying to save it for cooking. Hamburgers just aren't good in the slow cooker. We went to Wally world and got two $15 space heaters. They're not the most powerful, but at least they'll take the chill out.

We hope to have this thing running next month. Mark's already talking about Arizona, and this morning I agreed with him, but by the time we are actually able to go it will be January or February and that's just about the time it's starting to get really warm there, so we may have to rethink this. And, of course, we'll have to spend a few weeks (at least) in Austin and San Antonio first.

The kids start school Monday!!! YAY!! I'm so excited. We get some time alone and they get to exercise their minds. Homeschooling is just hard when you have bored kids and parents that feel stranded and trapped! LOL

Off to do other things. At least it's warmed up in here a bit. Supposed to be around 55 today here.

Birds, bugs, and parties, OH MY!

2010-10-31T13:25:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe the amount of bluebirds here! We never saw one in Iowa, and they're here in FLOCKS! And mockingbirds, and scissor-tailed flycatchers, and eagles, and water birds, and hawks. It's just amazing to me the birds here.

While we were in Iowa, we started noticing these little bitty bugs on the ceiling occasionally. They walked slowly with their butts up in the air so we called them slowpokes. I took one in to show Mom once, and she had no idea what they were either. I would take them out and put them on the tree and they would go their merry way. Well, we saw one on the ceiling when we arrived here, and thought we had brought him with us. And then we saw more, and decided that they were here too, which they are:

Scary looking critters, eh? We went to do laundry at the clubhouse and saw a bunch of them in varying sizes climbing around on the wooden deck. THEN, I found what I thought was a shield bug hanging out with them, so I thought they were shield bugs. Of course, I let the large bug crawl around on me for a while, then finally put him back on the deck. Then, when we came home, I did some research on the internet. What I found out about knocked me flat. But first, the pictures of the sort of bug I was playing with:

These are a member of the family of assassin bugs, and known as wheel bugs due to the large half-cog on their backs. See that long thing sticking out of the front of it? They are called beaks. I read online that their bite is ten times more painful than the sting of a hornet. So maybe I just know how to mess with bugs without getting myself hurt? LOL

Saturday, the 23rd, the park had a big old Halloween shindig. Kids trick or treated at five, then dinner at six, then hayrides and haunted house at seven, all for $5. I was amazed at the amount of kids here. We got way more than we got in Iowa. Dinner was absolutely wonderful, we brought a side dish, as did everyone else, and the brisket was done the way it's supposed to be! :) Then, we went up for the hayrides and haunted house. I'm really not much into the haunted houses, but I thought Mark & I would go in if the kids wanted us to. They had a friend of thiers from here with them, so they thought they'd be cocky and tell us we didn't need to go in with them. Fine by ME. So, they finally get in the door, and the next thing we hear, not two seconds later, is this huge commotion with them screaming and banging down the door trying to get back OUT. Mark & I about DIED laughing while the poor spook manning the door had to yell at them to not break down the door, he had to let some other people out of the other side. It was hilarious!! Then we all went on the hayride, which I really enjoy, and had our two tickets from the haunted house left so we let the kids go on the hayride again. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening. Here's a photo of them (and Pugsley) before they went out:

And since everyone in my last blog loved my idiot blue eyed or red eyed if the light's hitting them dog, Pugsley, here's some of him, and yes, he LOVES his blankie:

This was a funny we saw on the way to Tulsa one time. I guess only snow cones can turn there?

And we have moved sites. We are a little further away from the water, with a few less trees, but a LOT less neighbors, and it's half the price. Once again, the owners pushed & pulled us here, for free. If you ever come to Grand Lake of the Cherokees here in Oklahoma, you need to come to Water's Edge. They are some of the nicest people I have met in a long time.

Off to eat lunch! :)

Stormy

2010-10-22T12:23:00.001-05:00

It's supposed to storm here today. Possibly severe, but in my book, probably not. Especially since we went fishing this morning and the fish weren't biting like a big storm was coming. They were biting, and pretty good (all little things though), but not the feeding frenzy we have come to expect before a big, nasty storm. I had three bluegill I wanted to keep and put them in the basket. I went to let them loose later and found out that they were loose, considering the big hole in the basket! Sheesh!! Next time, we use the stringers!

We will be staying here through the winter, whether we get this thing fixed or not. I love the scenery, the people, all the little towns around here, and most of all, the owners. They have told several people who might be able to help with our plight about it, and we've been approached by these people wanting to help, offering to work on the RV and we can pay them later because the owner says we're good for it and so on. I just can't get over how friendly folks are here.

Had to laugh yesterday, though. One of the gentlemen offering to help told Mark he was "Fifty-nine going on sixty". ONLY in the South do people say that. Like we'd think he was fifty-nine going on thirty!!! LOL I am NOT making fun, I was raised in Austin, TX, and I used to say that too. I just think it's cute. :)

The kids are out playing with some new friends about their age that are here till Sunday and have been begging to play. It's nice to have some children around their age here in the park.

We saw something yesterday that I haven't seen in years and years: a walking stick!!! I let him on my hand and he started climbing me in a hurry. Wow, have I ever missed the South. And the owners here? They're from Texas. South Texas, like Austin. I feel right at home!!! :)

Not much going on today, so thought I would post a bit. No more monsters out of the lake yet but I'll take photos when there are. Have a great Friday! :)

Rambling on

2010-10-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

No photos again today, just me rambling. It's a cool, damp, rainy day here, and I love it. We're staying in after going to Vinita this morning to check mail (still no care packages from home!!!!) and do a bit of shopping at the Walmart. It seems like every day we find something else wrong with this camper! I am so about to have to make payments on a newer one, preferably not a Fleetwood!

Seen by Mark, as Kat was supposed to be walking the dog: she is following the poor dog around, with the bag, every time he looks as though he has the urge, she puts the bag on the ground directly under him. Um, yeah, RIGHT!!! LOL

Overheard by Mark at a convenience store, from a true Southerner: "I went up North and went into a restaurant and asked for biscuits and gravy. The server looked at me like I was crazy, and said, 'We eat rolls here. We feed our DOGS biscuits.' " Ahem. I would've had a few things to say about THAT.

Just felt like actually remembering to put those on the blog today. Off to do some more nothing!!! LOL

Oh, AND, folks, you CAN leave comments once in a while so I know someone is actually reading this!!!!

Oklahoma!

2010-10-17T18:22:00.000-05:00

No photos today, just me yammering on. I LOVE this state. It's like the best of Texas without the hassles - no fire ants, not too many rude people. People here are, for the most part, extremely nice, polite, and they have that adorable charming drawl that I'm starting to get back. I can see why my Grandaddy loved this state. I can see him in every part of it!

Today we went to Tulsa again, to go to the Great American Flea Market. This was the largest flea market we've seen in a while, since Colorado. We only bought a lighter (for Mom), two peacock feathers for the girls, and a bag of peanuts and a coke. Total spent was about $5. Amazing. Then we went to a place for lunch that I haven't been to in about 20 years: Whataburger. Mark wanted to be a smarta$$ & send Mom a gift card, but I called him mean and smacked him. I've also been to Braums, which, except for the grocery store added on (!), is exactly like I remember it. I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane.

I keep hoping to get rich so I can buy Mom & Dad a house & move them down here. They would just love it. And the birds! The bluebirds, the scissor-tailed flycatchers, the great blue herons, the eagles, the roadrunners (YES, I saw one!), the kestrels, all of it is just amazing. I even love the bugs, they make the kids run screaming but I enjoy them all. And I haven't seen one scorpion yet, but I don't think they're around much till summer.

We may travel around the states, but I am sooooooo in love with Oklahoma. I know this is home base, and I have said that before, but I think this is also home. :)

Day 8

2010-10-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

This place is quiet, serene, beautiful, and filled with birds and wildlife, not to mention the goats, horses, cows, and longhorns that are right around here. It's a lovely place and we have decided that this part of OK will be our "home base". But.

I am very homesick. And our engine is blown. And it will cost somewhere between 3-5K to fix it, so we can't move for at least a few months. And we're almost out of money with a lot of month left to go. Sigh. Okay, enough whining.

Saturday, the dog kept looking out of the window and cocking his head. Mark couldn't figure out what was going on. So, he looked out. Yes, we are definitely in the south:

The last photo is of him going to my foot. I caught him in the critter keeper, let the kids see him (and scream a lot) and put him back outside, where he promptly ran under the camper & stayed there a while. And yes, I know it was a HIM because we talked to the man at the Disney bait shop. He said females don't wander much; it's the males that go a-roaming. Figures, huh? We also found out that the grey bats they have here are the opposite. The males go south for the winter and the females hang around here & hunt. Interesting what you learn!

Alex also caught a tiny fish Saturday, which otherwise wasn't a great fishing day, except Kat caught a good sized catfish. We learned, again from the man at the bait shop, that these tiny fish are perch.

Then I caught the girls actually getting along and being quiet together, so I had to get a shot:

Then yesterday, Sunday, I caught a huge carp, and no, Mom, I am not about to eat the thing! Thanks to Paula for the photos of all of us!

Today we went to do laundry, which is right below the clubhouse and practically on the beach. We sat on the deck and saw at least one red-headed woodpecker, several geese, what I call a pterodactyl (a great blue heron), several ducks, and a mess of spiders. Plus one mahogany wasp that I think lost an argument with a bird. He was missing most of a wing and the entire lower part of his body, the stinging part. I picked him up and put him on a tree so he'd be a little safer. The bottom photo has an orb spider on the black part of the tiki torch.

Today we're not doing anything exciting. We've already done laundry, cleaned up the camper, and now have the kids in the shower. That's one thing I guess I didn't realize about here - they don't have showers! So now my storage area is getting used for what it was intended for! LOL

Finally posting! Photo intensive!!!!

2010-10-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't feel much like posting when we arrived or for a few days after. We made it, but barely. We made it into the RV park before the motor gave up. The owners pushed and pulled us with their truck to a pull through site, NOT what we wanted but oh well, and refused to take any money for it. I must say, however, the owners are very nice and very helpful and not at all what we expected. The park is amazingly quiet, very pretty, and the fishing is like nothing I've ever seen in Iowa or Nebraska. So, if you ever want to take a trip to a HUGE, beautiful lake, you might want to consider Water's Edge RV Resort.

Onto photos and what we've been doing! First, we went to Bernice, OK, and the state park, and saw PELICANS!!! Amazing! And photos of the lake at the state park, which is all still part of Grand Lake O' The Cherokees.

Next we took historic Route 66 to Tulsa, and stopped along the way at the Totem Pole park.

Next was the Tulsa zoo, and although it was really hard to find even with maps and a GPS, it was much more than I expected! And in the rainforest, there were very few cages, the birds and animals could walk right up to you! The first time I saw a squirrel here in OK, I thought I had lost my mind. Squirrels in Iowa are brown or black, here, they're grey!

These next photos are of the park, Karen, the park hostess, and Cherokee State Park, across the Pensacola Dam. The last photo has the dam to the left side & you can see how long it is.

And of course, we HAD to fish. We kept catching some little fish that I have no idea what they are such as in the first photo. Then I dropped my line right by the dock and had a HUGE catfish bend it over. Mark had to reel her in, and she doesn't look so huge in the picture, but let me tell you, she felt like a shark on my rod!

Today I told Mark we had to go to the Diamond Triple C Alpaca ranch. We got to see a day old baby, and of course, I got yarn!!! They have such sweet faces!

Ok, now that you're sick of photos and I'm sick of uploading them, I think we'll go fish some more. It's 90 or so degrees here, in October!!!!

Tomorrow!!!!

2010-10-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

We are busy busy today, getting ready to leave in the morning. We are "batting down the hatches" so nothing moves too much while driving, cleaning, and doing all the last minute things you normally do before going on a road trip.

It seems like winter is descending upon Iowa; there's no snow yet but it feels like it could any moment. I can't wait to get to Oklahoma!

Meanwhile, we took some photos, as promised. They aren't the greatest but you'll get the idea. :)

This is of us near by the RV.

And again.

And yet again!

Here's Dad, looking happy as usual.

And Mom's all proud of her armpit...lol

Here's the RV.

And again.

And here's my baby!

Ok, off to clean some more. The next time I write, we should be in either Kansas or Oklahoma!!! :)

And the (mis)adventure is almost ready to begin

2010-09-30T15:31:00.000-05:00

I set up this blog so that my family, my friends, and some really bored people in cyberland could keep track of where we're going and what we're doing. First, for those of you that don't know, here's the plan:

We have bought an RV. After selling our house, we are currently living in it in my Mom's backyard in Boohickie (aka Red Oak) Iowa. We are planning to head to Oklahoma (yes, SOUTH!!!) the first of October. We are going to stay here near Vinita for at least a month. And from there we have no idea yet. I was raised in Austin, Texas, so I would like to go there, and of course we would HAVE to go to San Antonio. Our goal is to see the United States, and perhaps part of Canada, and once that's done, we'll probably do it again. However, we're in no hurry (except to get out of here, especially before the snow flies!). We want to take our time and see what each place has to offer before moving on.

Mark and I have been married 20 years next April, and we have two daughters. Katherine is 10 and Alexandria is 8. We plan to unschool them, which is the reason Oklahoma was our first choice.

We are tying up loose ends now and preparing to leave in two days; making sure everything is in good running order and planning routes. I will post my "reviews" of places we visit, and of course, photos, and anything that we did that was exciting or interesting that day.

I'll try to get some photos of us, the kids, and the RV up later. Hi to cyberland! :)