A New Milestone Reached

OK, I turned 60!

The weekend started out as any other weekend.  Got home from work, hurried to pack and get things in the truck, then off to camp for the weekend.

We pulled up to our site and it was dark.  I thought it seemed like things were a little different, but I was very tired and my eyes were playing tricks on me...or so I thought.  When I got into the trailer and turned on the lights I saw all the decorations.  Our friends at camp decorated the deck, canopy poles, and golf cart with streamers, banners and black roses in a vase with a black tablecloth on our table on the deck.  They even decorated the golf cart!

We had a great time at camp, I went for a massage and when I got back to our neighbors place, there were about 30 people there for a birthday party for me!  We had burgs, dogs, salads, and other goodies and some awesome smoothies (the adult kind).  We partied all day and all night.  The dance that night was a lot of fun, I had many dance partners!!

We left Sunday for my mom's to celebrate with family.  I didn't know that everyone was going to be there.  I walked in and heard "SURPRISE!".  My mom, sister, son, daughter-in-law, brother and his family were all there.  I got some great gifts, and my son and daughter-in-law had too much fun with what they gave me.  It was a large box covered in duct tape.  Then inside there was another package covered with duct tape.  Inside that was a purse filled with wrapped gifts.  It took me a while to get all of it open but it was a lot of fun!

Now I am back to the daily grind, trying to recover from a very full weekend.  I think I need a vacation to recover!  I never had a surprise party, and this weekend I had TWO!

I am very lucky to have family and friends like that!

Deep Thoughts Exposed

Did you ever stop and think of things that you thought of in the past and forgot them?  
Or things that you wanted to do but never had the chance?

At my age, if I don't write things down, they disappear forever, or at least a few years.  My short term memory is something of the past, and long forgotten.  This is due in part to Fibromyalgia.  A curse I have that robs me of life as it used to be.  But that's not what this is about.  Just an explanation of why I have such a crappy memory.

Anyway, I was thinking of things I have never done or done in a while or had in a while, and thought I would have a chance eventually.  There are also things that many don't know about me.  These are my exposed thoughts.

As a kid, I loved turnip, mashed with lots of butter.  My grandfather loved that about me, because he liked them too.  But nobody ever makes them anymore.  Well, my friend Peggy did, a few weeks ago, and they were delish!  They were white turnips, and she grew them in her garden!

I grew up in the 60/70's, a time of free love and make love not war.  I didn't go to Woodstock, I was only 13 after all.  And I never tried drugs.  Never wanted to and still don't.  I have enough prescription meds that my doc says I need to survive, so many that it is almost like a meal when I take them.

I've never been to the ocean.  Really.  Well, from 10,000 feet up.

I am allergic to cats.  Never was around cats until I was 18.  I went to visit my Great-Aunt in New York and she had a beautiful Calico named Timmy.  He loved me.  The first night, he slept at the foot of my bed.  When I woke up in the morning, my eyes were swollen shut and crusted over.  I couldn't breathe, and I was itchy all over my body.  My aunt took one look at me and exclaimed "You're allergic to cats!".  Needless to say, I had to move to my other aunt's house who had only outside cats.  Believe it or not, I now have a cat.  She found us, probably was dumped since she was only about a year old, very clean, well fed and pregnant.  She lost her kittens, but stayed with us.  That was 7 years ago and I have not had any problems with allergies around her.  She sleeps in the bed with me, usually on my pillow at the top of my head.

I grew up on the South Side of Chicago... South Side Irish.  I am a Cubs fan!  I used to like the Bears, til Ditka left.  Now I don't really pay  much attention to sports.

I never did learn to swim.

I am afraid of heights.  Can't even stand on the 2nd step of a step ladder.  I am also claustrophobic and don't like to fly.  I think they all go together.

I didn't read "50 Shades of Grey" or any of its sequels.

I still believe there is a Santa Claus.  He may not be a man in a red suit with a white beard, but a spirit who looks out for us and somehow makes things appear when we need them.

Winter Is Here.....Camping Season is Over For Now.

Took me a while to get this post up, been kind of busy with other things.

We closed the camper up Halloween weekend, so now it is winterized and ready to greet us in the Spring.
Hopefully we will have better weather next year than we did this year.  Not many hot days, well not hot enough to get the pool temp up to a comfortable "warm".  It was quite cool most of the year.  There were a few weekends where it was very nice and the water was just right for swimming and/or just floating on our floaties and noodles.  I even acquired a moderate tan!

Now that winter is here, we stay in most of the time, maybe go out for dinner or to visit mom on the weekend.  I have taken up crochet again, and we have been watching a lot of old movies and lately the Christmas shows that have been on TV.

We haven't been playing much World of Warcraft, I guess we need a break from it.  I get on occasionally to do a few things but we don't stay on for hours like we did last winter.  It just isn't a priority for us.

I have been contemplating re-arranging furniture to get a different look, but not many ways to change it around in these small rooms.  The living room is pretty much the way it will stay since there aren't enough solid walls to put a couch against or enough room to re-arrange end tables or other furniture to make it work.  The bedroom is about the same although we have the option of moving the bed from one wall to the other, but that would make the angle at which we need to lay to watch TV would be an uncomfortable contortion LOL.

Missy Dawg continues to be a source of entertainment for us.  She seems to even converse with us.  We tell her something and she makes sounds like she is answering, or most likely sassing.  She knows our schedule and routines and never fails to remind me when it is time for bed, or when it is time for me to get up, even on a weekend!  She did finally adjust to the time change, took her about a week this year.  But she still doesn't know how to read a calender.

Work has been pretty steady, lots of Wal-Mart's and Sam's Clubs going up and we are doing almost all of them in our area.  We are looking for a new location for the office and warehouse since our landlord sold the unit we are in now and the new owner wants to use it for his own business.  So hopefully we have until maybe February to actually move out.  I am already stressing about the move, worrying about getting everything packed, getting rid of what we no longer need to keep, making sure everything gets moved without damage, especially the computers and my big plotter.  I am not going to worry about the warehouse, let the guys deal with it, but the office is mine and I have to make sure everything is moved and relocated at the new place in the correct locations.  I am really hoping to get an office that has more than 1000 s.f. this time, as we have literally grown out of what we have now.  The only other thing that concerns me is how much further I will have to drive to get to it.  I don't like expressway driving, so hoping it is somewhere that I can take back roads that are plowed and salted in the winter and don't flood in the summer.  Is that asking too much?

Opening The Camper....Literally!

So I took last Thursday and Friday off so we could go to camp and get things opened up for the season.  We knew the floor in the kitchen area was weak from a prior water leak that happened before we bought it, but never expected what we walked into on Thursday when we got there.

I'll start from the beginning....there was a leak from a previous owner that weakened the floor between the fridge and the bench.  We put a sheet of plywood down last summer and it stabilized it somewhat.  The table still had a weak post and would wobble a bit when walking past, but nothing major.  This year, probably from all the rain in early Spring brought a greater leak down the outside wall and under the floor.  It literally rotted the joists and when my husband walked into the camper he almost went through the floor.

After much thought and planning our next move, we decided to pull up the one bench closest to the door, and the entire floor.  There was about an inch and a half of water under the floor setting right on the skin that covers the bottom.  We had to cut a slit to drain the water and let it sit to try to dry it out.  Had to pull all the wood joists out since they were rotted, all the insulation that was soaked and part of the wall where the leak had come through.  At first we thought we would have to scrap the bench and table, but later decided to re-install them once the new floor was put down.

the new frame in for a fitting

We then got a sheet of 1/2" wolmanized plywood and a couple of 2x6's.  My husband ripped the 2x6's down to 2x3's to make a new frame for the floor deck and got that set into place.  Then he took measurements for the plywood, cut that to size and installed it on the frame. Now we have a solid floor.  He then put the bench back in place and secured it to the floor.

Next time we are out there, we will put down the Pergo that my mom had left from her house.  It will look great since it's very close to the color and grain of the cabinets.  We anticipate having this all completed and back to normal before Memorial Day.  Next step is to get the back side of the camper cleared out so we can reposition the camper back there and have more room in front for our picnic table and fire ring.

This is our first camper and we really want to make it last for a few more years so we are making the little repairs that come along.  It's not a really big one, but is just right for the two of us.

Updates to this saga will be posted when we make further progress.

Mother Nature----I Want To Go Camping!!

Mother Nature is not having a good year.  She is suffering from memory loss judging from the weather we have been having.  Doesn't she remember that this time of year we are supposed to be in the 60's?  Doesn't she know that in order for April showers to bring May flowers, there have to be a few days of warmth and sunshine?

I know, I know, in another few months we will be complaining about the heat and humidity. But even 50 can feel comfortable if there is no rain or wind to go with it.

I am comfortable at 80-85 degrees.  Any cooler and I freeze my patootie off.  Any warmer and my hot flashes and night sweats have competition.

I would be happy with days in the  80's and nights in the mid 50's, as long as I have my hubby to snuggle up to.

We want to go camping but it's just too darn cold.  Want to go this weekend but if it's going to be under 60 and raining, it won't be worth it since we have a lot of work to clean up our lot from the winter mess that good ol' Mom Nature left us.  I am planning on taking 2 days off next week, hoping that we can get the floor in our camper replaced and put the kitchen benches and table back in place.  I really would like to get all that heavy maintenance type work done early so we can just relax and enjoy the peace and tranquility of sitting outside having our coffee, sitting around the campfire, and not sweating and busting our butts doing work all weekend.  After the major stuff is done we just have to worry about watering the flowers that I plan on getting planted in my containers, and maybe sweeping the sand off our plastic grass that never needs cutting.

Once the camper is re-positioned on the other side of the trees, we will have more room on the door side so we can move the table away from the camper and sit on BOTH sides of it!

I already know we have a potential leak in the cap over the vent in the kitchen area, since a friend stopped in to check on things and told me that the floor under that and the table appeared to have gotten wet.

I can't really complain, we got the trailer at a really good price and it has served us well over the last 2 years.  We bought if from another friend at camp who had it for several years.  She took very good care of it, kept it clean and in great condition.  Many of the issues are because it is so old, 1985 I believe.  This will be our 3rd year with it and we will probably be putting a little more $$$ in it in the way of new floor base, fancy-schmancy stick on linoleum tiles, and hopefully new mini-blinds and curtains.

I can't begin to tell you  how I look forward to leaving the office on Friday afternoon, getting home and changing to comfortable clothes.  I know that my hubby will have everything packed and ready to go when I get home.  Usually just have to stop for gas and maybe something for dinner (usually sliders LOL).

From that point on until we get home Sunday night, all stress, tension, and drama are non-existent.

It's HAPPY CAMP time!!