phyllser

I have same experience with ironing! Got paid a nickel a piece and we also ironed everything from pillow cases to Dad's boxers! Hated ironing! Then Earl was in the AF when we got married and I had years of having to starch and iron FATIGUES!! He was so particular about them I finally started taking them to the base laundry! If you get a chance to go to South Coast winery while in Temecula, I think our step-granddaughter-in-law works on Fridays... Stephanie. Say "Hi" to her. She's a sweetie. Very good news, Julie!!

Good Morning! Everything good with the car now. Just have to get a new tow bar put on the front so we can drag it around behind the RV. Lots of frustrating stuff going on at home in Buffalo! Uncle Ed took a bad fall about a week ago. Wouldn't go to the ER. Then about 3 days later, suddenly became disoriented while driving, hit a car, turned around and kept on going, knocked over a mailbox and finally stopped in a friend's driveway and my Mom went in and called 911. They took him to hospital in an ambulance. Said he had a stroke. I think maybe bleeding in the brain from the fall. At any rate, he was discharged the next day... go figure!!! And the cops were there when he got home. Charged him with leaving the scene of an accident and property damage and took away his drivers license. So..... my youngest sister quickly decided that the car should be sold to her daughter since Uncle Ed can't drive anymore! As I understand it, they each paid half for the car but it's in my mother's name. The situation deteriorated in to a huge family feud over the car because my niece really doesn't have the resources to pay for the car. She is a social worker who doesn't make much money, single mom of 2, including a new baby, and in the midst of all this, found out that her boyfriend has another girlfriend. He totaled her car, so his car was her only transportation and I assume she kicked him out. It's a huge mess with everyone mad at everyone else all over a stupid car that's maybe worth $7K! Ridiculous. Glad I live on the west coast!! I just have to deal with the phone calls, text messages and nasty FB posts!!

I'm here!! Spent another 3 flippin' hours at the Honda dealers. Yesterday they couldn't find the 2nd key for our new car... they had one key and the valet key. They kept saying they were "looking" for it! So we had to go back today to take the rest of the keys and the title for the old car. They were still "looking" for our other key! So then they decided they'd give us a new key, but that meant the other two keys had to be "reprogrammed"! But Earl left the valet key at home. So we had to go all the way back home to get it and then wait an hour for them to reprogram all three keys! And we found out that the two bar from the old car won't work on the new car, so another $1200-1500 to get a new tow bar on the new car and then hope it'll fit on the RV hitch so we don't have to replace that, too! Had left over fish, a few frys, and a little bit of leftover Soup for dinner. Then I went and PB'd a good part of it! Happy days!! LOL!

Well, it was called "opal" and it was a real pretty shade of green. Kind of "seafoam" green. And then the dashboard was dark grey, but the rest of the interior was that awful yellow. Like baby poop yellow sort of. Yeah... we all agreed before we left that we were only going to LOOK today. I wanted to drive a Mazda Tribute and a Subaru Forrester before we made up our minds, knowing we'd probably end up with another CR-V because we liked our old one so much. But.. before we knew it we were test driving. But Earl didn't go with us because he was measuring to see if my scooter was going to fit, and pushing to get a trade-in number. I never saw him make a car decsion this fast. I'm not sure we ever bought a car on the first trip. Amazing!

What a day!! Went to church this morning... tried a new one.. met Tracy and Jim there. Then I invited them over for chili. Had a bunch left over from when Peter and Candice were here. So.. we had lunch, and then we decided to go car shopping. I think that was around 2 pm! We got home at 8 pm! And we bought identical Honda CR-Vs! Both "Glacier Blue". Only difference is theirs has a leather steering wheel cover and built in bluetooth. We both liked the same color, both wanted 4WD! We saw a green one we liked, but the interior was this really obnoxious bright yellow! I said I could live with it, but Earl said NO! Didn't want white or grey, didn't want the dark colors because they show the dirt too much... so we finally decided we'd just both get the same color!

Lots of showings.... that's good. Are you getting any feedback from the lookers?? I got an iTouch for Christmas and still learning to use all of it's functions. I bought an "iTouch For Dummies"! Now if I could just find where I put it... the book, that is!! We're still unpackng. I have one more basket of clothes to put away and a whole bunch of books to sort through! Now I've been thinking, maybe I should'nt have talked DH in to getting me one because maybe I want an iPhone when the new ones come out! I'm almost due for an upgrade on my cell phone. Salesman was trying to talk me into a Motorola Android the other day. It was pretty impressive but.... bottom line is.. I'm not sure I can give up my Blackberry!!

So sorry to see Peter and Candice leave this morning! We had a GREAT visit. They're on their way to Ninaimo on Victoria Island to visit Peter's brother.

Sightseeing with Peter and Candice

NO, we're NOT eating any chocolate. But, no comment on the wine! :biggrin: And we're feeling FINE this morning!

Yep... it's definitely wine time. When you're retired, "Happy Hour" starts no later than 3:30 p.m. Sorry about the crabby lady. Most RV parks are very friendly, but we've been in a few where they hand you the don't do this and don't do that list! Give me a break. Reminds me of a B&B we stayed at in the UK once with our DD#2 and SIL where we weren't allowed downstairs on the main floor because it was "family" space. So basically, we could be in our little bedrooms or in the bathroom. And as I remember there weren't even any chairs to sit in. But, on the other hand, we stayed in one in Victoria B.C. once where the people insisted we use their car for the weekend! We got up there without a car planning to take buses all weekend only to find out the buses had gone on strike! They were the nicest people! They had a van camper and siad it they needed to go anywhere they could use that. We had some good conversations with them and others who were staying there, and then we ended up going to church with them on Sunday morning. So.... usually the positive experiences outweigh the negative. I hope most of your stays are more pleasant than this one!! Tracy says you can park at her house if you want, but Earl says no problem running an extension out to the parking lot. We will take the dogs over to Tracy's for a good run, though if you want. She has 5 acres all fenced in!

Yes.... Surf Shack makes the BEST lattes!! But.... when I picked up my mail.... there was my Starbucks GOLD CARD!! I bought so many lattes this winter that I reached GOLD status... I think that takes 30. So now I get a free one every 15 drinks, 2 free hrs of Wi Fi every day, free flavors, free soy milk in your drinks, etc. But I won't be doing much Starbucks until fall! Sounds like your weather is pretty similar to waht we're having! Rain, rain, rain... high in the 50's today! Candice and Peter will be here tomorrow. I probably should get the rest of the STUFF unpacked and out of the living room!! Bags of books that need to be sorted out and put away somewhere! Wonder if I'll ever actually READ all of them! Earl is on top of things... RV almost all unpacked. Yesterday we both worked for several hours. I put a garbage bag in the bathroom sink and took EVERYTHING out of the medicine cabinet! It was a total mess... such that you couldn't find anything in there! Cleaned it out, sorted through everything and only put back those things that we actually need! And way too much of that, probably... like a whole shelf full of bandaids, adhesive tape, etc. Oh, well.... guess we're prepared. Can add it to our C.E.R.T. kits in case of a catastrophic emergency!!! Also took everyting out of my make up table. Found an Alaska headband I'd been missing for about 4 years stuffed way in the back! Problem is... what to do with all the crap I took out and brought home! Probably most of it needs to go in the trash! Little bottles of shampoo, lotion, etc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Linda! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Lori! :smile::party::drool::party: Yes, and she definitely doesn't consider her dogs to be "animals"!! LOL Nice pictures, Laurie! Apples.... very much enjoyed your description of your farming! Interesting and informative. I didn't understand the "tiling" before either. Janet, hope your day goes better today! Still unpacking, but it's almost done. I have way TOO MANY books! I need to sort and get rid of a lot. That will be a challenge! I don't like to get rid of any books! But I probably had close to 50 paperbacks in the RV and that's sort of ridiculous. Certainly need to get rid of those I've already read, and I need to get rid of those I probably never WILL read! I like forensic novels, so I have a bunch of Tess Gerritson, Kathy Reichs. Then there's a whole set of Catherine Coulter, Dean Koontz and throw in a few J.D. Robb. Okay.. so I don't have just a hat, purse, shoe problem... books, too!! LOL

What the heck!! Where is everyone?? My almost 8 hr old post is the LAST one!! We unloaded more stuff out of the RV today. It's over at Tracy's now. Her dog, Misty thought it was great fun to run up and down the RV steps. Then she decided to come in. She got a little bolder with each trip and explored a little further each time. One time she even pushed me out of the way with her nose! Then she started sniffing around the kitchen... found the place mat where the cat's food usually sits. Earl keeps a little piece of non-slide fabric under it so it doesn't slide when we're driving. So, Misty goes running out the door with it in her mouth! By the time we figured out what she had, she'd chewed it up, dropped it and ran away! So... since she started stealing stuff, we didn't let her in again! LOL! She's a riot! It was nice and warm Sunday/Monday, but temp dropped about 20 degrees today and it's been cloudy all day. Sprinkled a little, but not the pouring rain they said we'd get today!

Too funny!! Maybe I'll make you a big pot of my chili Thursday! You're going to stay a couple of days, right!? Could go out to dinner with Tracy and Jim Friday night... that's their usual Friday night routine. Maybe we should go see the tulip festival if the weather is good... Saturday? I think it's supposed to rain today, but then just cool and cloudy the rest of the week. Sorry about the ciggy rant! I just get so angry about the lying. I don't usually "ask", just say something like, "I smell cigarettes", which prompts his "I don't have any" comment. So, yeah, just keep my mouth shut, I guess. He was well away from the pumps when he was smoking... that's why he was so easy to spot!! LOL! We got home yesterday morning and SIL came over and helped unload for a couple of hours. Then moved the RV over to his house because we didn't want to block the parking lot for any longer. Neighbors knew we were coming, so they moved their cars before we got here. Now we have all this crap to put away! I put most of the kitchen stuff away while they were unloading... refrigerator, spices, canned goods, Rx, etc! My clothes are in baskets all over the bedroom... the ones that don't hang up. books and junk in bags all over the LR! Bag of mail that I picked up yesterday afternoon in a bag on the rocking chair! So... yeah, some stuff to put away, but it'll get done! So.... do Candice and I have to tell you how much wine we drink while they are here??? Candice, I don't remember what kind of wine you guys like to drink. We have all red right now. Tell me what you drink.

Yeah.... spoiled, I guess!! I've never been very good at long distance driving! But, Monday morning traffic in Seattle???? FORGET IT!! I dilly dallied around long enough so that it was 10 a.m. before I got on the interstate!! I filled up the gas tank and got the car washed. Funny thing, though... well, really , not so much!!! When I got off at our exit, which is right next to costco, there was Earl puffing away on a cigarette while the RV gas tank was filling up. HAHAHA!! Every time I ask him if he's still smoking he says the SAME thing..... "I don't HAVE any!" in a rather indignant way... like I can't believe you are even asking me that! What it really means is, I don't have any in my hand right this minute!! So I look over as I'm at the signal by the exit, and there is the RV at Costco, and there he is in a cloud of smoke! He just doesn't get it that what pisses me off is LYING about it!! If he wants to smoke, so be it... there's nothing I can do about it, but it infuriates me that he lies about it! How stupid!! I mean... like I can't SMELL it??? Maybe I AM stupid, because I'm always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt! Every time he tells me he quit, I believe him, and it's never true!

You better take it easy with that remodeling going on!! We're in a condo, and next door neighbor showed us all the remodeling she's done since we left. Made me jealous!! She had someone build in cabinets the entire length of her dining area! Looks great! I sure could put all those cupboards to good use! It's very tempting! And she had new kitchen sink and countertops put in. That would be nice, too. Her Mom just left her a nice inheritance, so she redid her kitchen, all her floors, master bath, fireplace, etc. Don't understand insurance denying you another shot! Often takes a series of three before you get decent relief! I used to be a pre-cert nurse, but things have changed a LOT in 10 years! And, just wait.... it's going to get worse! Last 5 years I worked it was with insurance.

Good Morning! Took a break and now I don't remember what anyone said! Read a couple of pages trying to catch up. Julie... so sorry you are having such a time with the pain! Hope they figure out some relief for you SOON!! Eva.... MORE cement!! Good grief!! Lori, hope the house sells quickly! Sounds like you had a very successful shopping trip!! I LOVE when things come together like that! We had a great visit with DD#2 and family yesterday. SIL went and bought steaks, corn on the cob and a bottle of Merlot when he heard we were coming! So he fixed us a really nice dinner. Kids are always a "gas"!! I'm going to upload a photo.. they're laughing at me because I yelled "smelly socks' to get a response from them! I want you to notice Johannah, the oldest. I often wear those "newsboy" style hats and I bought her that one several years ago. She went and put it on when she heard we were coming and wore it all afternoon! And.... notice she is sipping cranberry juice from a wine glass!! LOL!! She loves her grandma!! Those kids are such a blessing... One of these days I will tell you the whole story... Kids were married over 13 years before Johannah was born. Were told only a 30% chance of getting pregnant! Other photo is DS#1 and his family back east visiting family last week. Cute picture!!

Good Morning! Just finished my coffee and breakfast. Bought smoked salmon in OR, so I'm having a little in my omelet each morning. Yummy! Still in my nightgown at 8 a.m. I'm trying to stall! Not anxious to drive north.... towards Seattle, until the morning traffic subsides! Earl is making me drive the car! 65 miles! Ugh! He doesn't want to hitch it up. Has to dump... didn't have a hook up last night, and has to stop for gas at costco on the way home. SIL will come over and help him unload when we get home. I've alerted the neighbors that we're going to block parking for an hour or two while we do that. Good visit with Jodie and family! SIL BBQd steaks on the grill. Oh, well.... at least if I'm driving myself home... I'll be stopping to see my latte lady when I get there! Better, and cheaper than SBUX! Karla.... chill.... it'll all come together. Enjoy visit with Candice and Peter! Where's Karri been?? Good to see Linda post again! Miss our gals when they're not around! Janet.. sounds like you had a really quiet weekend. Dogs... Tracy & Jim dogsitting for Alisha today! Little mini dachshund. Picture on FB of the two dogs snuggling looks like all is going well! Here's photo of kids from yesterday, and my favorite of Chris & Kellie's trip to Buffalo to see family last week. Kids were laughing.. I yelled "smelly socks" to get them to laugh! Notice Johannah... as soon as she heard we were coming.. she went and put on her "Grandma hat"! I often wear that style hat, and I bought her that one several years ago. Also, note that she is sipping cranberry juice from a wine glass!! :thumbup:

Good Morning! Beautiful day here near Portland OR. Taking my time getting moving as I-5 is closed from Olympia to Tacoma until noon. We will be crossing in to WA state shortly after we leave here. Can you believe we are camped behind an outlet mall and I haven't gone over there to shop??? And a Starbucks right in front of us and I haven't been over there YET either!! I am going to use the park showers today.. and after that I will venture over to SBUX. I've been whining about not enough caffeine for a few days. And yesterday, in Bandon, I bought a hanging sign that has a big red crab on it and says, "I'm crabby until I have my coffee!" I threatened to wear it around my neck. I wish they had a sweatshirt or t-shirt that said that!! Because Earl doesn't get it. He keeps handing me my Breakfast before I've had a chance to drink my coffee. Then, I CAN'T drink it for a LONG time and by then it's cold! I shouldn't complain.. we have been trying to get on the road by 8 a.m. and I don't usually get up until 7 a.m., so it's hard to get the coffee in, get through my morning routine, have breakfast.. all in an hour! I haven't yet touched the fudge!! But I did eat the four little cranberry creams/milk chocolate that I bought yesterday. I'm saving the wine for a leisurely afternoon. Had a nice visit with our friends yesterday evening. They took us to dinner at restaurant right in front of the RV... Elmer's. I had fish again.... but it was fried!! food has not been very good last two days. I did eat lightly the rest of the day, though. Tight at lunch time. Ate two small leftover ribs and a little tomato soup.. Better get to the shower so we can get out of here before noon!! :biggrin::confused:

On the move in OR! Back in to WA today but not going home for a couple more days. Will "camp" south of Seattle for a few days to visit with daughter #2 and her family before we go home. Beautiful day ... near Portland. Taking our time getting on the road today as I-5 is closed from Olympia to Tacoma until noon. Trying to keep up reading all your posts each day so I don't get too far behind!

Mt. Rainier... well, you can go there without hiking, but it'd be an all day trip and we'd probably enjoy some other things more. Wine tour is a definite possibility... Woodinville has many wineries and breweries. Probably need TWO designated drivers as no van to haul all of us. I'm counting 8, is htat right??? Anyways, we can get Earl and Jim, maybe! If Tracy & Jim aren't gone that weekend. I think they might have plans, but I can find someone. Seattle waterfront would be fun. And definitely we have to do Anthony's HomePort Happy Hour one night. You can get touristy t-shirt on the waterfront. Decided not to go to Tillamook... weather reports said wind and rain on the coast today and tomorrow. Took a beautiful drive from Reedsport OR over to I-5 along the Umpqua River. Saw a herd of elk today... two yesterday along 101. Now we are at Portland-Woodburn RV park, behind Woodburn outlet mall, but Earl is discouraging me from going shopping and I really don't have it in me anyway!! Waiting for old friends from days gone by to arrive for a visit and we'll probably go to dinner at restaurant right in front of the RV park. Just had one rye crisp cracker w/lite cream cheese and a strip of smoked salmon we bought in Bandon this morning! Oh... washed it down with some Merlot!! LOL Yes... wineries.. a good idea. There are lots more besides just St. Michelle now! And we can hit the Seattle waterfront and maybe Pike Place Market!! Fun! We can watch them toss the salmon around at the fish market. Karla..... so glad you are settling in to YOUR NEW HOME!! Candice has been doing pretty good checking in considering she's on the road!! Chatted with her on Skype... yesterday, today???? One of those days!! Tomorrow we will be crossing the Columbia River and entering WA!! But... not going home for a couple of more days!! :thumbup::biggrin::laugh: We are going to stay at an RV park in the south end... Black Diamond, where we lived for about 6 years, because it's close to where DD#2 lives. It's a 65 mile drive to go see her, so we'll stay there 2 nights so we can visit and see the grandkids before we go home. I was drunk last night, I think!! And just had two glasses of Merlot!! Candice, we are SO BAD!!! And my buys of the day, in Bandon this morning, were ALL BAD!! I bought a bottle of Pinot Noir, from the Bridge Winery.. 2004, I had a bottle last fall and it was SO good that I sent my sister a check so she could get me another bottle and bring it to SF when we were all there for Christmas. Then I bought 1/2 lb of fudge and some chocolates from Cranberry Sweets!!! The smoked salmon is okay, but the rest of the stuff is BAD! Friends here... have to close!

Drove less than 150 miles today.. Santa Rosa to Garberville. So we were here by noon. I fixed sandwiches while Earl finished set up. Then we unhitched the car and took a drive through the Avenue of the Giants. Every time we come through here I want to do that, and there are always excuses as to why we can't. So I thoroughly enjoyed being able to do that today!! Tomorrow we will probably stop at Gold Beach OR. I think it's about 200 miles. Sky Valley neighbors arrived there today for their summer job. But not sure we should bother them on their first day on hte job. My favorite fish place en route is about 20 miles north of there, and there's an RV park there that we've stayed at before. It would be our day to stop at my sister's but she is gone through Monday, so not this trip! Yeah, driving in the wind is a killer! Hate it!! We are traveling up Hwy 101, currently in No Cal. On in to OR tomorrow. I think we'll be home about the 20th, maybe a day before. Depends on how much playing we do between now and then. I'm thinking I might like to visit Tillamook cheese factory again. It's been quite a few years. We haven't had any free stops, except at our friends' in Three Rivers. But last night only cost us $12.50 and tonight $16.50, thanks to our Passport America membership. I am having wine, too.. and I think my new favorite might be Pinot Noir! Got this one in Gilroy for about $15 and BOY is it good! And... I totally enjoy correcting everyone's spelling!! LOL! Drink up! Cutting Vancouver Island would be depressing! Think about a day trip out of Seattle (hydrofoil) or Bellingham. Bellingham is about a 90 minute drive from our place, but you can catch a boat there at 8:30 a.m. that will take you to Victoria. Then you can take cabs, or rent a scooter, and see Victoria for the day. Boat goes back about 5 p.m. and they serve a nice picnic style salmon dinner on the way back. Think it might be around $100 a person. Doesn't give you a lot of time there, but enough to hit the Dutch Bakery and Rogers' Chocolate!! :biggrin::crying: It's also a possibility for July, but don't know if you gals want to spend a whole day on something like that. There is so much to do in our area, picking a few is a real challenge...Mt. Rainier, Leavenworth, Victoria, Seattle waterfront, etc! I wasn't too upset by the two who got kicked off AI last night. Just so glad it wasn't Michael. I really like him! He might be my favorite, but I like the two gals that are left a lot, too!

Yeah, and he was already grumpy and now we have electrical problems. Like no turn signals, brake lights, back up lights and maybe anti-lock brakes. Stopped in Mountain View at his brother's so... two electrical heads to figure it out. Janet, I don't know how you will curtail your shopping "problem"!! My friend Jacki that we were just visiting... she has a similar problem, but hers is with 2nd hand stores. She dragged me around to every one within 20 miles the other day! And she never leaves empty handed. She buys mostly glass and household stuff. She has provided us with a lifetime supply of matching champagne glasses that we'll probably never use!! And Earl doesn't know where to put them all! She has every kind of glass you can imagine, wine glasses, champagne, brandy, etc., etc.! So.... maybe if you switch to 2nd hand stores you'd spend less! :cool::biggrin::eek: I did find a couple of things.. a nice polo shirt... pale blue with pink rose pattern. I love it! And a nice teal short sleeved cardigan that I wore on Sunday. And I bought a bunch of beads that I'm going to clean, cut apart and reuse to make more jewelry!

I think Earl said it was because Obama canceled Bush's tax cuts. Same thing happened to us. Nothing changed. Last year we got back over $1500. This year we got $289~!!!

Thanks... just starting now so I had plenty of time to walk over and take a shower. Sick of no water pressure in the RV. He seems to be grumpy about every other hour! Sick of it! Pissed me off the other day... was online checking accounts and found that Desert Sun charged us for 1 yr subscription on the same day I put it on vacation suspend... $80+, so I got chewed out about it! It was an automatic payment... didn't even know it was going to happen and I didn't do it. But he got all mad at me. Then we go in the house and he flips a switch... oh, Mr. NICE GUY, sweet as can be to everyone. I was ready to kill him. Ruined my day and then a big phony! Then he always tells me I took it TOO personally!! He wasn't mad at ME!! But I'm the one that gets yelled at!! Give me a break!! Stick to your guns!! Good plan!! The ONLY one you're taking care of is YOU!!!