Labor Day Weekend

I put my closet in order and I have way too many clothes.  Slacks, capris and shorts in black, navy, white and beige take up a whole rack.  You can only wear one pair at a time!  And three drawers of casual tops plus another rack of better tops.  Then there is a smaller area of dresses.  I have sworn off shopping for a long while.

I went through our meds and toiletries and got that all situated and the linen closet shelf put in order.  Next up was the pantry which was jammed hither and yon with what we brought home.  We can leave many things in the RV pantry but opened boxes, etc. would draw bugs and go stale and some canned goods are a constant in our pantry at home so I bring them so I don’t find in the middle of cooking that what I need is in the motorhome!  

Last I worked on the things on my desk.  I am always happy when that is all done down to balancing the check book.  I felt good surfacing without feeling worn out.  And, I cooked dinner every night.  

Saturday we went to Mass and I wore a dress I had bought for Cancun in May, that got cancelled.  I had a new bathing suit with me all summer and never removed the tags.  Afterwards we met Terry and Carol at our favorite Mexican restaurant and got caught up.

Sunday I cleaned and cooked because we were having Tommy, Susan, Stella and Jay over for Labor Day.  Ted cooked pulled pork and I made cole slaw, fruit salad, Mac & cheese and beans.  

Susan brought a cake for dessert.  We talked non-stop because it has been a long time since we had been with Jay and Stella.  Normally they are in Colorado in the summer.

Ted went shooting Tuesday and I had my nails done after six weeks.  And in the afternoon I had my mammogram almost three months late.  But you have to wait one year in between which was June 14 and we left June 9.  Thursday we both get haircuts.  The next weeks we will be getting caught up with all our doctors.  

Wednesday Ted went in search of our medical eye files since I could not find our eye doctor, trying three different phone numbers, all disconnected.  He remembered we had seen him at Avery Eye Clinic last year so he went there.  Our doctor was there, only doing eye surgeries and is retiring at the end of the year.  They gave Ted papers for us both to fill out to get our files transferred to the clinic as new patients.  Ted also made appointments for us.  

I didn’t have to search long for our dentist.  He was where I left him!  I made that appointment too.  I received word today my mammogram was benign.  Always good news!

We received a photo of CeCe after she had just taken a bite of a pickle.  She started walking at 10 months and I think she looks as if she is saying “you” whatever came next!  She apparently is an adventuresome and good eater.  

Thursday was haircut day and it took the whole afternoon.  Cindy cuts a little, stops and talks, then cuts a little more.  She could double her number of customers if she talked less and cut more.  But she does a good job so we put up with it.  

Friday Ted worked a shoot at the gun club.  These outings can be trying because you have people who have never handled a gun. Goal #1 - keep everyone safe!  We had brought some LaRosa’s pizza sauce from Cincinnati so we made pizza for dinner.

Saturday was a do nothing day until we went to church at 5:00.  Then we went to Cracker Barrel where I can get chicken or fish and vegetables.  These stubborn two pounds are not going away.  I know, I know ... the pizza didn’t help!

I am starting to work on next summer’s trip.  This year was so hard because so many rules, so much closed, dangerous hotspots you don’t want to travel through, etc.  But we had a great time visiting so much family, some friends and stopping at small towns we probably never would have.  Except for the window thing, it all went well.  

Next summer I know we have to arrive on Sanibel Island around June 18 for a week.  This outing replaces Cancun that got cancelled.  Then we will visit Kristin in Orlando, Tom and Eileen near St. Augustine, Freightliner in Gaffney, SC for yearly maintenance, and arrive in Raystown, PA for our 11th family reunion on July 19.  It’s a start!  This is 2019, Nashville Shores in Tennessee.  

My friend Gerre had surgery awhile back and is still not totally mobile so I offered to take them dinner.  She said she would like to get out of the house and could they come here.  I said of course because I did not have to pack it all up.  Ted grilled pork tenderloins.  I made cherry sauce to go with it.  I told them they were my guinea pigs because I was making my tried and true wild rice in the Instant Pot recipe for   the first time ... and it worked!  Instead of baking for 1.5 hours, it was done in 35 minutes!  Green beans, fried apples and banana cream pie rounded out the non-WW meal!  Fortunately I was 1.6# off my numbers today (in the wrong direction)!

Wednesday was laundry day, and boy did I have a bunch!  Turns out I hadn’t done any in a week and a half.  That and cooking dinner was about all I did.

Our sprinkler system has seen better days so we had a sprinkler company out today to replace the above ground pipes, include a new valve box and cut off two sprinklers that aren’t sprinkling anything needing watering!  I also put a call into a deck company to have someone come give us an estimate on replacing our deck.  We had it built along with the house in 2003.  It gets intense sun facing west and really needs attention, up to and including replacement.

Leftovers for dinner and let’s call this week a wrap! 

What A Trip Home

 Sunday we pulled out of Red Bay Acres in Alabama heading to Vicksburg, MS.  

We had an uneventful trip to Ameristar Casino Campground.  We stayed there several years ago and the park looks better than what I remember.

We continued on Monday, crossing the mighty Mississippi River, and entered Louisiana.  It was near Monroe while I was talking to Kristin, there was a loud crack that sounded like a shot!  It scared the heck out of all three of us.  We guess it was a rock that hit the driver’s side window.  It cracked into a kaleidoscope of small pieces but just hung there.  We determined it was the outer pane broke and the inner pane was intact.  Our intention was to drive to the upcoming rest area and  tape it when Whoosh! It all went flying behind us and broke a lady’s windshield.  We pulled in at a truck stop and exchanged info.  Ted used a whisk broom to sweep the pieces that hung in the edges, sweeping them up so no one would ruin a tire.  Then we  headed out again.  The lower left hand window is the one that lost its outside pane.  However, it is all one unit so the entire thing will be replaced.

It wasn’t too long and the windshield wiper on my side went to the right, past the edge of the window, and stayed there.  We stopped again and determined it was a stripped shaft and just hoped the rain wouldn’t start up again.  Ted’s was working but a broken one, flailing around, could be dangerous.  So we stopped at a Freightliner dealer in Shreveport and they removed it all and sent us on our way.  No charge!

We continued on to Carthage where we had a reservation and stay often.  We didn’t want to unhook the car so we just ate in and went to bed after a trying day.  The next morning we headed to Woodlands Lake for two nights.

I spent the rest of the day and the next day, emptying out and cleaning the inside of the coach.  Ted washed the outside which is a big job.  When we finished, there was lots of stuff to put away at home and laundry to do.  

We also spent a lot of time talking to our insurance company, their glass people, repair facilities, and Newmar.  I think it is falling into place to get the ball rolling.  The window unit has to be manufactured and it will be 4-6 weeks.  That leaves our October San Antonio trip up in the air.  The past two years we have not stayed at my brother’s banker’s Air BnB but we may this year!  It is a nice place but far from the shooting complex so we chose to stay in the trailer closer to the complex but if the RV is not ready, we will join them once again.  

Thursday morning we went to the campground and got ready to put the RV away.  I followed Ted to storage and we backed it in with no trouble.  He said I do a terrific job directing him.  There isn’t a lot of room for error with only two feet on either side. And the huge mirrors stick out pretty far so you have to account for them to get past the poles.  It is clean inside and out.  But now we wait the 4-6 weeks until the window and wiper components arrive from Newmar to be installed.

I stopped at Nancy’s for our packages and mail and to give her a gift and a thank you gift card,  She has all our important things right in the front of the box so it was easy to renew Ted’s driver’s license, activate our new EZ passes, reminded us to get the Expedition inspected to renew its plate, filed our two titles that had arrived, filed some stock quarterly reports, etc.  There is actually very little “important” mail anymore.   Lots of ads and magazines.  What used to take me days to go through only takes an hour or so now.

I will be busy for another day or two getting what we brought back home into the right spot.  I hung our clothes up in the closet but I need to get it sorted by item and color and hung all together.  Then there are the meds and toiletries.  That took a bit of sorting but I got it done.  There is still stuff on my desk that will get tackled on Friday.  I expect by the beginning of the holiday weekend, things will be back to normal.