Thursday, March 14, 2013

Mama Loves Our New Home

Mama  has been wanting me to write about what she loves about our new home. There isn't much that she doesn't love, so maybe we should start there.  The kitchen sink is big on one side and small on the other.  She doesn't like that.  The sink is deep though and she likes that part of it.

Mama can't figure out what you do with the small side - rinse maybe?

She is not sure she likes the wood floors.  We have bought rugs to cover them because: 1) I took a tumble the first day and 2) Mama says the wood floors are cold.
 
We have two of these in the kitchen and one in the bedroom.  We have a matching rug that is 5x7 in the living room.  Mama loves the colors, but they show a lot of hair and lint.  Since the place is basically just beige, she wanted color.
 Okay, so what does she like?

1) She loves the shower. The water heater is larger so she can take long showers. She used to have to get wet, turn the water off and soap up and then turn the water on to rinse.  Mama said she would freeze while the water was off.  Her showers were short, but now Mama says she can take a long, hot shower and loves it. She noticed that Dad was running late in the mornings since we moved in here and she asked him why.  He said it was because he could take a normal shower.  Yes, he likes the shower, too.  There is a light in the shower which is different.  The shower head has several settings and that is nice.

Dispenser in the bathroom that the folks installed to hold Mama's shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

2) She really likes the microwave/convection oven, but she is surprised by the amount of heat that it produces.  She prefers it to using the propane oven.  The downside is that if you use the convection oven and then want to use the microwave, you have to allow the oven to cool off first.  It is an all in one appliance.

3) She loves her washer/dryer. It is true that the loads have to be small, but it hasn't been a problem yet. It takes about two to three hours to wash and dry a load, but it does it automatically.  The spinning does vibrate the place and Scout hates that, but it only lasts a few seconds.  Mama says it is so nice to have her own machine again.

4)  The kitchen - the kitchen counter is beautiful and has more space than the old place.  She can cook the way she wants to again.

5) We have a four door refrigerator, so we can buy a lot of food.  It has an ice maker.

6) The bedroom is bigger and the bed is really comfy.  Scout knows about the bed.   I like the bed because there is a raised floor by the bed and I can walk up the step and check on Dad when he is sleeping.  I can stand over him.  BOL!

7) The bathroom has two medicine cabinets, so there is a his and hers.  Mama loves having her own space.  She can keep everything in there and doesn't have to go back and forth between the bathroom and bedroom to get things such as her make-up.

8) The furniture is so comfortable.  Mama always sighs when she sits on Dad's sofa.  Yes, they have his and hers. BOL!

9) The windows are darken so it keeps the sun out and prying eyes from seeing us.  BOL!  The only downside is that it does get pretty dark in here on a cloudy day.

10)  The lighting fixtures are pretty. We even have aisle lights.  They are near the floor and we put them on at night so that we can see where we are walking.  It is really nice in the bedroom so that Dad doesn't trip on that step he has to go up to get in his side of the bed.

See the light on the step.  These are the steps that lead up to Dad's side of the bed.   Why are there steps?  It must have something to do with a diesel engine because they all had this.

11) We have a keyless entry.  Mama just clicks a button to lock up the place and a button to unlock it. There is also buttons to lock and unlock the cargo areas (areas on the outside that hold the BBQ chair, lawn chairs, etc.)

12) We now have 50 amp service over 30 amp service. This means that the coffee maker, hair dryer and space heater can all be on at the same time.  We used to have choose which one we wanted to use.  Mama was really tickled the first time that she was able to iron and run the air conditioner at the same time. It's those little things that you take from granted when you leave in a house, but when you are camping you have to make choices.  She has tripped a breaker in this one, but I think she was running the coffee maker, microwave, electric skillet and space heater. It was one too many things.

Mama has purchased a few things that she loves.

She found this at Hobby Lobby.  It looks like it has liquid in the glass.  We have it "glued" to the counter.  We use a special adhesive that keeps all our breakables in place while we are going down the road.  It can be moved it we want to move it though.  Mama liked the pink color.

What is this?

It is a strainer.  It doesn't take up much space when it is collapsed.

And this?

It is a dish drainer.  It goes in the cabinet when not in use.

This is a Memory Foam Rug from Kohl's.  Mama says it feels good on her feet.  It is in the bathroom.
Croft & Barrow Quick Dry Towel
Mama found the towels at Kohl's.  They are thin which is what Dad prefers over bulky ones.  Mama says they really absorb water nicely.  The color is actually a lighter color, but showed up dark here.

Next week, we are going to have some screens installed on the outside of our rig.  It will cover our windshield as well as our tires.  People will not be able to see in, but we can see them.  BOL!  It will help block out the sun which is a big issue.  We have drapes, but the sun still heats up the place through the windshield. The tires will be covered to protect them from the sun when we are parked. Several of the motor homes that the folks looked at had that feature, but this one did not, so they are having it installed.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Was Your Tour Guide Today

Monday, March 11, 2013

Mama Is a Texan, But Dad Is Not

If Mama is a Texan but Dad it not, what does that make us?  BOL!  Today, Mama turned in her Missouri's driver's license for a Texas one.  She also put the Texas license plates on the Jeep. It is a little sad seeing the Missouri ones inside the motor home.  Mama said that it will be interesting to see if Texas drivers are nice to her if she needs to get into a lane at the last minute now.  They seemed to be nice when she had her Missouri plates on the Jeep, but now she is one of them.  BOL!


Dad will get his driver's license switched when he gets home from Denver. He had to wait until we had the Jeep registered and titled in Texas before he could do it and he wanted to wait to do that until we had the new motor home. We thought we would have to register the new motor home ourselves, but the dealership did that for us, so we just had to do the Jeep.

Mama has been stressed about getting everything switched over to Texas since before we left home.  She heard stories of lines wrapped around the license office. She chose to drive to a "mega center" that is 25 miles from here because she heard the lines were much shorter.  Her GPS quit working on the way there though and she thought she would have turn around and come home.  She was able to get it working and she continued.  She knew she needed her birth certificate, passport card, driver's license, car and motor home registrations, insurance on car, social security card and a bank statement with our current address.  She did not realize she needed the insurance card on the motor home.  They told her if she could get it and come back within two hours, then she would not have to wait in line again.  She rushed home, but remembered the cards were in her email, so she stopped at two libraries to see if she could print it off there.  The libraries were closed, so she continued home.  She rushed in and out so fast.  We were not happy.  She made it back to the license place within one and half hours.  She took her vision test and passed.  She always worries about that because she has a lazy eye that doesn't like to cooperate during eye tests.  The lady was very nice though and told her to take her time.  The lady then told Mama she was now a Texan and gave her a temporary license.  YAHOO!  Mama was very excited and we all did the happy dance when she got home.

Our latest box of Bully Sticks arrived today.  We were out and we were driving Mama crazy at night.  Sorry Mama. Dad told Mama she better stock up before we leave for Denver because it will be harder getting mail there than here.  He told her to order us another box. 

 Remember Goldie?

Our Goldie on our last day with her.

Believe it or not, this is our Goldie.  She is now silver.  Isn't she pretty?
Goldie is all painted and looks beautiful!  She is getting hardwood floors.  I hope we are able to view pictures of her before she is sold.  She was a good rig for us.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thinks He Is More Than Half Texan Since He Spends Most Of His Time With Mama


Friday, March 8, 2013

The Bed Remains

We were a little nervous that Dad might see the empty bed on our blog yesterday, but he is very busy at work right now. We are probably safe until he gets home.  Last night, I was in the bed and Scout really wanted it.  She kept crying to Mama.  Mama said she would have to wait her turn.  Scout has been in it since we returned from our 6 a.m. walk.


 I am keeping the dinette bed warm.  All is well in our home this morning.

Mama ordered a knitting loom project book last month from Amazon.  The delivery time is from February 25th until March 12th. It has not arrived and there is no tracking available.  She checks with the office every day.  She finally decided to check out YouTube for some patterns.  She found one yesterday that she liked.


It is a potholder. Dad said "How many potholders do you need?"   Well, I bet she needs a few more because she likes this project and she has a lot of yarn.  BOL!  

We finally figured out our mystery neighbors.  Well, we don't know their connection to each other, but they are working at the rodeo.  They have a parking pass in their car.

Remember the really nice neighbors that brought Mama the Subway sandwich when we moved here?  They left on Sunday.  Mama was really sad to see them leave.  They are headed further south. They said they drove by our place and noticed we had a new motor home.  The man said "You really stepped up in the world!"  Tuesday afternoon, we had our door open and we heard someone say "Hello, hello?" We went to the door and it was a couple from Houston, MO.  They wanted to know what part of Missouri we call home. They talked for a while and said they noticed we had upgraded our motor home.  They are here for medical reasons.  The man said he just found out he is CANCER-FREE!   Mama congratulated him.  Mama was sad to see our old friends leave, but then we made new friends. That is the way it is in our life now.  There are a lot of goodbyes and nice to meet yous going on. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Glad Mama Is No Longer Making Hats

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Ruh-Roh


Joey,
The Greyhound Who Thinks It is Good That Dad Is Away And Didn't See This

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Still Holding Onto The Bed

Scout and I have been able to hold onto the remaining bed so far. We are taking turns occupying it.  The only time it is vacant is when we are on walks. This plan seems to be working for us.

Scout is in the bed, so I'm on the dinette bed.


See, Scout is in the bed.

Scout taking a break on the couch.


Me holding down the bed.

Scout's turn.

Holding down that bed is exhausting.  I needed a break.

Dad commented that Scout looked pretty comfy here.  We thought the bed might get thrown out, but so far so good.

Dad is in Denver until the 15th. We are doing fine, but a little bored. We think we can relax about the bed issue while Dad is away.  Mama is pretty soft. 

We are going to stay in state parks while we are in Denver for the first month.  They only allow you to stay 14 days at each park and I think you have to wait 45 days before you can come back.  They also charge an entrance fee each day, but we are going to buy a $70 pass that is good for a year. It is cheaper to buy the pass than pay the fee each day.  It will not cost us anymore than it costs us to stay here.  We may have to stay at a private park if we are there for more than a month.  We are excited to be staying in state parks again.  We will have more room and there will be trails to hike!  Mama doesn't have to worry about finding a laundromat since she has her own machine. Life is good!

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Misses His Dad

Friday, March 1, 2013

An Ugly Rumor

There is an ugly rumor going around our new home. We have heard that our wonderful new beds may end up in the Jeep!  One of the beds has already been sentenced to a life in the Jeep. While it makes riding in the Jeep really comfy, it does nothing for our daily life.  Scout and I decided to take matters into our own paws.

Just try to take this bed away from us.


Scout:  "I am not sure I like this arrangement, Joey."


Joey:  "Shhh....Mama is still watching."

Joey:  "You are right this is not very comfortable."  
Scout:  "Yeah, this is not a good solution."
If they take our bed away, where will we sleep?





I just really don't understand what our folks are thinking.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Not Happy About Loosing His Bed

Home Again - Part 3

 Well, we just realized that we didn't finish telling you about the rest of our trip home.  I don't know if we even remember the res...