GREAT WEEKEND FOR DAYDREAMING

WOW.. a long weekend with an RV show to boot! We started our weekend by dining out after we both ended our workdays. During dinner we planned our weekend activities, which included and RV show, quick visits with the grandkids, dinner and movie and of course some relaxation.

Saturday moring we slept in until around 9AM, then sat around drinking coffee and having some breakfast. We then went to Walmart to pick up the grandkids some little valentine's gifts, then on to present them. After the visits, we headed to the RV show. It is held every year by Bayou Outdoor Sports Center and they only show a few RV brands that they sell, mostly Thor products. We did see a few that attracted us, the only close to full time fifth wheel was the Grand Junction, and it is a beauty, however has some faults, ie very little storage room. Here are a few pictures of our visit.



There were a few motorhomes in the show as you may can tell from the slideshow and we tended to migrate towards them more than the fifthwheels. Hmmm does this mean we are leaning towards a motorhome? Who knows? We still have a lot of time to think about it.

Well we left the show and headed for the movie theater. One thing we forgot about was the Mardi Gras parade this weekend. We had no desire to go to the thing, however in my effort to get us to the movie theater, I landed us slap dab in the middle of the traffic headed to the parade. It was bumper to bumper and we fought traffic for an hour and a half. That was long enough to make us miss our movie. Since we missed the movie, we headed to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. After dinner we headed home as it was getting late for us (9PM) :)

We did finally get to the movies Sunday afternoon, after another visit to the RV show (yes we are RV show addicts) :) By the way, if you get a chance to see the movie "Taken", go for it, an excellent movie! Till we meet again.......... GBY

Ok, I know it has not been a week, but I have something to post. I went to my grandson's birthday party yesterday and it was a blast! I took a few pictures and wanted to post them here for family and friends. Enjoy..... :~)



NICHOLAS AARON PAYNE... 8YEARS OLD
Nick is the one in the light blue shirt (opening gifts)

The lovely little princess, again in a light blue shirt is my one and only granddaughter. The youngest grandson, loving on a slice of pizza and wearing a dark blue "Wolverine" shirt enjoyed the eats and so did the oldest grandson, wearing the light gray "Auburn" shirt. Happy Birthday Nicholas!

ANOTHER WEEK CLOSER

Here it is another week gone by and another week closer to our rv dreams.. :) I guess I have become a weekly blogger, not by plan, just lack of time or laziness (maybe a little of both). Sometimes I just feel like all I have to write about is work and that is just boring as heck to most anyone who is out there traveling in their rv and enjoying life to the max!

This time of year I am leaving for work before it is daylight and since I have started a new project, it seems most days it is dark when I get home. I am not getting a lot of things done around the house in preparation to sell it. It is probably a good thing I have some time before selling. In fact I hope the housing market will improve before that time!

I was researching some of my options for leaving work and it seems I will not be eligible for the pension until February 2015. I am not willing to wait that long, so I guess I will be leaving without a pension as soon as I reach those financial goals!! I think that will be sometime in the next two to three years. In the meantime I will be sticking to a budget and hoping the stock market recovers to around the 14,000 point mark before then also :)

Speaking of budgets, I am trying to adjust mine to fit in a trip to Kerrville in March, then to South Carolina in September and Kerrville again in October, not mentioning several weekend camping trips to Rocky Point. I love the trips we have planned, but I don't want to slow down reaching our financial goals. The trip to South Carolina is to visit family, the one in March to visit RV Dreams family, then again in October for the rally! Oh well Cheryl just loves working overtime anyway!! :)

Well I have been lounging in this recliner since 7AM and it is now 10:45AM, I guess I better get up and get ready to go to my grandson's birthday party at the local skating rink. Hey, how would you like to see some pictures of me skating? I may get some uploaded, it depends on if they have WiFi at the hospital or not.. :) GBY

I LOVE SATURDAYS

Woohooooo it is Saturday again, my favorite day of the week. I got up around 0700 hrs, fixed a pot of french vanilla flavored coffee and some gravy and biscuits, I then sit around on the computer here until now (1228 hrs). I get to catch up on the RV blogs, RV Dreams forum and I am even taking time to post on my much neglected journal! :) I spent some time working on my financial accounts and budget also. This was important work because it is my blueprint to becoming a fulltimer. The budget is going well and I am getting closer to reaching my RV Daydreams, paycheck by paycheck!

I am going to finish up this little update and get to work on a "fix-up-the-house-so-I-can-sell-it" project. Today it will be sheetrock repairs and hole patching in one of the bedrooms. Although I am an engineering technician, I will need much prayer!! Till next time, GBY.......... Doncat

Don't Worry

Yes, I am still alive and kickin’. Sometimes it is a chore to try and make time to sit and write a post. I have been very busy lately at work and after working long hours, when I get home I can only manage to spend some quality time with my better half, then off to bed. Is that violins I here in the background?
Anyhow, things have been pretty routine around here, except for work. I thought we were going to have some icy weather this morning, but we dodged that bullet by a hair! It was cold and breezy with ice on some bushes, but nothing on the roads or bridges and more importantly no downed power lines! It is still cold and the wind feels like a knife cutting through you. It must be nice to be able to hitch up your house and drive it to a warmer climate! I sure hope to find out one day.
Cheryl says hi and we are both working towards the day we can meet you all out on the road. Until then and until I find another few minutes to sit and write, God bless you all……………………

JUST CHECKING IN

Hey, just checking in to let everyone know I still have an internet connection (so far). We have been having a good holiday weekend that included an outing with the "grands" yesterday. We took the three younger ones to the aircraft museum on Barksdale AFB and they had a ball. The oldest "grand" stayed home and watched football with his dad. I wish I had taken the camera, but alas, I did not. The youngsters wore me out running around the airplanes, but I needed the exercise anyway!

I made a slight change to the website, I had to remove my PayPal purchase buttons for the "Stable Tablecloth". I had a customer from Canada order one and evidently I did not have the system set up correctly, it did not include the shipping cost in the billing. The shipping cost to his address in Canada was about as much as the cost of the tablecloth! He decided to wait for an upcoming visit and save some shipping cost. Maybe he will just drop by Shreveport to visit and I will give him a discount :) Anyhow just to let everyone know I still have a few tablecloths and if you would like one just shoot me an email. I am going to rework the PayPal "thingie" and maybe get it back on the site soon.

Well it is really nice outside right now and I believe Cheryl and I are going out for a walk. See ya next time..........

Computer Problems and RV Improvements

I know it has been a while since my last post, I have been having some aircard problems, coupled with a laptop problem (trouble seems to come in pairs). I am finally able to get back online and do some catching up! I broke my aircard by plugging a booster antenna into it; actually it was unplugging it that did the breaking. When I unplugged the antennae, the connector came out of the aircard, in other words I ripped its guts out! I sent the aircard off to be repaired and have not heard any status or estimated return date as of yet.

Other than the unfortunate computer problems, things have been mostly routine. I am writing a couple of new service contracts at work and it is keeping me pretty busy. Seems like I leave for work before daylight and get home after dark!

I did find the time to install our newly acquired Oxygenics shower head and new faucets in our trailer. It was not a hard task, however I highly recommend that if you ever have to install a new faucets; always ensure the water connections are straight threaded and use teflon tape or plumbers putty. :) I screwed one of the connections on cross threaded and while Cheryl watched the plumbing I went out to cut on the water, in about a second flat I heard her yelling, “cut it off, cut it off” ! Water had sprayed all inside of our cabinets where the access was located. Oh well, after drying all that out, everthing else seems to be working great. The shower head definitely has more pressure :) .

One day this past week we were on the way home and spotted a Select Suites fifth wheel sitting in a parking lot with a for sale sign in the window. Of course we had to stop and take a look! It is a 2007 Select Suites TK3, 36ft long. It was locked of course and we could not see the inside, but besides being a bit dirty the outside looked good. We took down the phone number and gave the owner a call. It seems they just want the “pay-off” amount of $47k. We still have not made an appointment to look at it yet, but it has peaked our interest. The only problem is getting a truck that will pull the thing! I have a 2002 GMC Sierra 2500HD and I think the tow capacity is 11,000lbs. I don’t believe is enough. Anyway we are trying to make up our minds whether to even look at it or not. :)

Well I have bored you enough for this time, hopefully it will not be as long before I can bore you again :) or maybe something exciting will happen soon (like my winning the lottery or something) and I will have something interesting to write about ;) Until then God Bless You...

SHEDDING "STUFF"

We had a great weekend and spent some time getting rid of "stuff". What a liberating feeling! Cheryl and I were both surprised that it wasn't that hard, or at least not emotionally like we thought it would be, but still physically exhausting. We gave all of the stuff to our oldest daughter, who will sort through it and keep what she would like to keep. She will also have a yard sale to make some bucks :) Cheryl and I decided we didn't want to go through the hassle of a yard sale right now, since we spend all week working and my daughter could use the money more anyway.We still have a ways to go in getting rid of a lifetime of stuff, but now we feel great starting our preparations for fulltiming :) We know where the rest of the stuff is going, some in storage, but most to our children as "hierlooms".

Well it was a great holiday season, and a productive weekend, but now it is back to making a buck. I am on a financial plan that will have us ready for the road in 2 to 3 years, depending on the market and unforeseen expenses. I need to rush the plan, because I think my health may give out before the money! Cheryl and I are working hard to accelerate the plan :)

We are also still trying to decide on an RV, fifth-wheel or motorhome? My health issues may play into that decision also, for example; athritis has set into my left hand (probably due to a past injury) and I cannot grip much with my left hand. How will that effect my ability to set up a fifth-wheel versus a motorhome? Of course I have to take into consideration that new technologies are out there that help us to "work smarter" and not so hard. Wow, this is not an easy decision for us, hopefully some of our RV friends out there will give us plenty of good advice and make it easier :)

In the meantime, I am making a few repairs to the travel trailer to make it more enjoyable for couple of more years. I need to replace the tires before I make another "long haul" trip. I hope to do that before March and then maybe I can make "the gathering" in Texas :) I recently order new fixtures for our shower, which included the much acclaimed Oxygenics shower head. I am not as handy at making repairs as my friend Speedhitch, but hopefully we will make our trailer comfortable enough to last us another couple of years until we buy that ...... uh whatever we decide on :)

Once again I have run out of time....... Until next time GBY :)

LATE REPORT

Well they say "better late than never". What does that mean and who exactly are they? I don't know, but I am finally getting back to posting about our family adventure at Christmas at Roseland!

These family get togethers serve as a reminder to live for today and tomorrow will take care of itself. Sure, I dream of the day that Cheryl and I will travel fulltime in an RV, but I also realize how precious each and everyday can be.

Well enough of the deep philosophical thoughts, back to the adventure! It was quite a night for us, the gardens were decorated beautifully and the kids were thoroughly amazed with lights. The youngest, Brendan, was also "energized" and quite a handful! He will take off running and he is hard to catch. I am thankful his dad was around to do all the running after him. Check him out in these pictures:








Can you tell that someone always has to have a hold on the little guy? Oh, but he is worth the effort though. He loved the decorations, in fact this one he loved so much he tried to eat it!






Yes, the little guy had fun and so did my other little blessings. Check out my little princess, Hayley:



and here she is again with my little prince, Nicholas (he would hate it if I called him that!):



Now here they are showing their "true nature" as goofs:






The "rumored to be adults" had fun also, mostly just because of the kids. Meet my oldest daughter and the mother of Brendan, Sheila:



and here is my youngest daughter, Crystal:



of course most of you know the love of my life, Cheryl:



The adventure would not be complete without visiting Santa:



We even got the little guy to visit with Santa. I am not sure but I think he was a little leary of the jolly ole elf, what do you think?




Here are a few more pictures:












We all had a wonderful time and look forward to many more. I am going to post again this week with some pictures of our Christmas. I hope I am not boring anyone to death out there :) Until next time remember:
EVERY DAY OF LIFE IS A GIFT FROM GOD

CHRISTMAS IN ROSELAND

I should of titled this post "Blessed is Papa" and here is part of the reason why:



Need more proof? Here is more:




and yet more:



Well now that I have bragged about how blessed I am and offered proof, I have to go for now! I have company (some of those blessing) and I am going to finish this later. So stay tuned and I will tell you all about the great time we had Friday night at Christmas in Roseland..............