Dean left early this morning to meet up with son Brett and the grand-kids to attend a Kansas City Chiefs game. They plan to do a little tailgating prior to the game. After he left I had a few chores to do before heading to church. I made it home in time to grab a bite to eat before heading right back out again for a gathering with my sisters, 3 of our 4 daughters and my granddaughter Haleigh to a friend's house. Our friend, Linda Schreppel decorates her home for Christmas with some beautiful trees and decorations. She has an older Victorian home and she strategically sets a tree in many of the windows, which is a big draw to many who pass by. She holds an open house for anyone in the community to attend and for some reason we missed it this year. We've known Linda for many, many years so my sister Crystal who worked with her until Linda's retirement a few years ago, called to see if she would mind if we stopped by after church today. She was glad to have us over and we enjoyed hearing the story behind the decorations on each of her trees. Unfortunately I did not have my phone with me to take pictures. Afterwards, we gathered at sister Cindy's house for dessert, more visiting and discussion about our upcoming "Blackledge" family Christmas next Sunday.
Once I returned home I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the newsletter for our camping group - Ozark Chapter 17 of Escapees. For those of you who are not familiar with Escapees - it is a national group of RVer's with Chapters all over the United States. Chapter 17 consists of Rver's from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. Our chapter holds two rallies a year (April and September) where we camp, conduct our spring and fall business meetings, while enjoying potlucks, dinner out, campfires, and lots of visiting with a few games thrown in for good measure. Each month from May-August and in October we have casual campouts - 3 days at different campgrounds in the Chapter 17 area. Our group has over 40 members and our rallies/campouts may range from 7 to 25+ rigs, and we always have a good time.
As I reached a stopping point on the newsletter for the evening, I kept hearing a plane as it flew over. I assume it must be doing touch and goes from our municipal airport about three miles east of here and then flying back over the RV park. I was able to get this picture of it out of Bentley's back window - with an airliner above it and a beautiful sunset included.
Dean returned home around 7. I had stopped long enough from working on the newsletter earlier to make a pot of white chicken chili for our dinner. We enjoyed the rest of the evening visiting and watching a little TV until we couldn't stay awake any longer and finally crashed about 9:30.
Monday, December 11, 2017 - Christmas Shopping
This morning we returned to walking and we logged 2.57 miles at 16:42 min/mile. It felt good to be in the fresh air again.
After we returned to Bentley and had our breakfast Dean played 9 holes of golf before returning home so we could head to Joplin for a little Christmas shopping. Our first stop was in Pittsburg where we picked up our mail at the UPS Store, our mail service. We have been looking for a box from Century-link to return our internet modem. No box - but when I went through the mail later I found return labels for a box. Well, at least we can now mark that "TO DO" off the list.
After leaving Pittsburg, we traveled on to Joplin where we stopped at a number of stores along Range Line. We were quite successful in purchasing all but one of the gifts we were seeking for the grandkids. Since several of the grandkids read the blog, I cannot reveal stores or purchases!
I received a gift card to Texas Roadhouse from our son Heath & family for my birthday. The first time we tried to use it we discovered they do not open until 4pm. Since we retired, we no longer make trips to Joplin in the evening unless we have to, but we planned this shopping trip to take advantage of an evening meal at the Roadhouse. We both enjoyed our meal, as well as the drive home while we enjoyed seeing many beautifully decorated homes for the Christmas season. By the time we returned home we were tired from our busy, but very successful day.
Tuesday, December 12, 2017 - Oil Change, Time with Special Friends, More Shopping
We were late starting our morning walk and therefore we only walked 1.05 mi at 18:01 min/mile. Dean was playing golf at 9:30 and I am taking my daughter's car to Joplin to have it serviced for her. My friend Betsy is going to ride over with me and afterwards we are meeting a dear friend of ours for lunch. As is typical when we spend time together, we enjoyed wonderful conversation as we took a favorite route to Joplin on Bagdad Road. This is a very woodsy, curvy road with a number of beautiful homes along the way. It is one my dad always took us on when traveling from his home in Chetopa to Joplin, and I discovered it was a favorite of Betsy's dad as well.
We met our friend Barbara at her workplace and visited for about 30 minutes before we headed to the Red Onion Espressoria just a few blocks away where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch while catching up with each other. I first met Barbara in the 1980's when she was the City Clerk in Galena, KS. While I've known Betsy since I was a child, she served as City Clerk in Chetopa (my former hometown) and then moved to Pratt, KS where she served in the same capacity there. As a former City Clerk myself, we all attended many training sessions and meetings together over the years. It had been quite awhile since I had seen or visited with Barbara, but it was like no time had passed at all once we were together again.
After leaving Barbara, Betsy and I stopped at Northpark Mall where we visited a few stores and she made a few purchases. Our next stop was at Sam's where I picked up two large bags of frozen rolls for our Christmas lunch this coming Sunday (the 17th) and two rotisserie chickens. I will cut the meat from the chickens and freeze them for various soups, casseroles, salads over the next month or so. I just love the flavor of the meat and for the size and price you just can't beat them.
It was a very enjoyable day with two great friends. When I dropped Betsy off at her house, I helped get a few things she purchased at Sam's out of the car for her, and then she handed me a bag and said Merry Christmas. I don't know how she managed to buy something for me while I was practically standing under her nose, but she did. Thank you Betsy! I loved the gift.
After returning to Oswego I dropped Misti's car off at her work and picked up my van, stopped at her house to store one bag of rolls in her freezer - my freezer wasn't quite big enough to hold both of these large bags, and then headed home to Dean and Bentley. We enjoyed a nice quiet evening after a bowl of white chicken chili (made earlier this week using the last bag of rotisserie chicken in my freezer) and watched some TV.
Wednesday - December 13, 2017
We were up early this morning but we did not have time to walk. We need to get our address changed on our driver's license and we want to be in Parsons, KS early this morning as close to 7am as possible at the Driver's License Bureau. We arrived at 10 after 7 and were the first customers through the door. Great - we can be done and back in time for Dean to play golf! Well, maybe I spoke too soon. Come to find out I forgot an important piece of information, I did not have any documentation to show our physical address and they must have it in order to issue updated licenses.
Fortunately for me, my insurance agent is also my sister and she just happened to go into work early this morning. She will fax a copy of our auto insurance policy (that shows our physical address) to my son Marc, who works two blocks away form the Driver's License Bureau here in Parsons. Since he won't be at work until 8 and we have about 30 minutes to kill, we headed to McDonald's for breakfast. When we left McDonald's we drove across the street to Marc's workplace to pick up the insurance policy, and then traveled another two blocks to the Driver's License Bureau where we had to wait for three customers ahead of us before we could complete the process of getting our licenses updated with our new address. We had to make one more stop back at Marc's workplace to sign some paperwork that authorizes a change in address for different documents his workplace handles for us. We left Oswego at 6:40 and it was 10:10 when we finally returned to Bentley
Dean left for his golf game and I went to my Bible Study group. After we both returned home we enjoyed a sandwich together. I had more paperwork to work on this afternoon. I finished up filing the rest of my papers and was able to make labels for the remaining file folders after purchasing the label maker refill earlier this week. The next thing I needed to do was complete health forms we received from our new primary physician that we will see next week. I managed to get mine completed and included a copy of my recent blood test and bone density report. I still need to complete Dean's.
We had planned to attend our grandson's basketball game tonight in Columbus but his mom texted that he was sick and would not be playing. He has another game on Friday in Fort Scott so maybe we can make that one! Since we now have the evening free and we haven't seen grandkids Kamron and Jaxson for several weeks I suggested checking to see if we could take them to dinner. Dean agreed and about 40 minutes later we were at their house.
We enjoyed watching the sunset on our drive to pick them up.
Jaxson, 5 years old, loves El Pueblito so that is where we headed. We had a nice visit with them during our meal and afterwards we took a drive to look at Christmas lights in several neighborhoods, before we took them home.
Thursday, December 14, 2017 - Phone Calls, Laundry, Appointments Made, Christmas Program
We walked 2.57 mi at 16:42 min/mile. It was cool when we started out, but once the sun breaks through we warm up pretty quick when we are moving along at a fast pace. I decided instead of making numerous trips to and from Misti's doing laundry today I was going to our local laundromat and just get it done. In two hours I was done and back home, and since I was the only one in the laundromat so I didn't really mind it at all.
Today was another day of getting lots of little things taken care of - making an appointment to get our car serviced while we are in Joplin next week for doctor appointments; going to the bank to sign some paperwork; finding boxes for Christmas presents; cutting Dean's hair and winterizing a washing machine at Misti's (she has our old set and her old one is in her garage); returned to the storage unit to find a pair of shoes I thought I could get by without - but discovered I really needed them (they are winter shoes with a thermal insulation in them), as well as some additional files and folders I needed to complete the filing I want to keep with us in Bentley. While these all sound simple they sure seemed to take up most of the afternoon.
I made cheeseburgers and used low carb tortillas as our "buns" along with some sweet potato fries for dinner. Tonight we are going to Columbus, KS to attend the Columbus High School Christmas program. Both of our grandchildren, Dacy and Tucker participate in band. Unfortunately Tucker is still not feeling well so he will not be able to attend. We thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening. Columbus has a wonderful band director, therefore they also have a wonderful band and jazz band. Band was something I really enjoyed while in school and I always look forward to hearing a good band perform. Dacy plays clarinet and Tucker plays the tuba.
We visited with Dacy before we left for home. Before we returned to the RV Park, I asked Dean to drive to the parking area across the river from the city's water plant. I wanted to take a picture of the park from this location. Again, my camera does not do justice to the view or this star that is located at the water plant.
Friday, December 15, 2017 - More paperwork
We walked 2.13 miles at 16:43 min/mi this morning. It is not supposed to get as warm today but it sure seemed warm by the time we were finished.
After breakfast and taking time to straighten things up in Bentley I had a few things to do today while Dean played golf.
First, was to pick up the keys to the community center for our Blackledge family Christmas on Sunday; stop at the Courthouse to get updated vehicle information from sister Crystal for paperwork I need to work on later; and then at Commercial Insurance to visit with sister Jody about what dinnerware items we might need for our meal on Sunday (she was good enough to keep the tub of items I used to maintain, of all of the paper products: i.e. plates, cups, silverware, napkins; for our family reunions, dinners, etc.) Another stop at Dollar General to get Christmas bags for gifts we will be taking on Sunday. With all of that done, I headed back to Bentley.
I feel like I have really accomplished a lot this week. We have medical appointments 3 different days next week and I am taking my two 16 year old granddaughters shopping on Thursday to celebrate their birthdays. While their birthdays were in October and November, it's been difficult to schedule anything with their busy lives, but finally we found a day to squeeze it in. Needless to say it was important for me to get all of these things done this week and out of the way knowing what next week's schedule would be like. We'd like to focus on just spending time with family the last week before we leave.
Saturday, December 16, 2017
This morning started off as a pretty lazy day for us. We felt like we needed a bit of a rest before tackling some tasks later today. Around 9, our son in New York texted us to see if we wanted to Skype; and of course, we did. In about 15 minutes we were connected and enjoyed watching grandchildren Josh and Sarah in some of their antics and visiting with all of them. Josh will be 4 in April and Sarah will be 2 in July. They have a sibling on the way - due in May. Josh showed off his newly learned spelling skills and Sarah liked blowing us lots of kisses and saying Hi Papa and Hi Nana! They both showed us some of their dance moves which were just too adorable. It was a great way to start our morning! We look forward to our trip east next summer to spend time with them.
We had breakfast and then I took care of some housecleaning duties around Bentley before I settled in to continue work on this blog post. Later I got our gift bags ready for our Christmas dinner tomorrow, and made sure all of the items I needed to take for the dinner were ready to go. I prefer to make the food I am taking to our dinner tomorrow morning. My contributions are going to be macaroni & cheese, hot rolls and pecan pie bread pudding.
After lunch, Dean and I both set down to put the finishing touches on our RVing budget. We are using the budget format prepared by Howard & Linda Payne of RV-Dreams. We have estimated the best we can, based on our travels the past 4 years, but there are most likely some variables that will require us to adjust some line items as we transition to full-time living. One thing we definitely want to keep an eye on is the cost of groceries and eating out - two big line items we need to work on reducing. Trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle and a low carb diet has increased our costs some over the past several months, however, I believe we can do a better job of lowering these line items if we work at it.
Dean went outside to dump our waste tanks and I completed his medical profile we need to take with us Tuesday when we meet with our new primary provider. It felt good to have that done. I heard Dean talking to someone outside and when I stepped out a short time later I saw it was my cousin Todd, owner of the RV Park. I joined in their conversation for awhile before going over to my daughter's to get a couple of pans I will need for our Christmas dinner tomorrow.
Sunday, December 17, 2017 - "Blackledge" Christmas Dinner
I was awake at 4:30 this morning and after lying in bed for a few minutes I got up and turned the coffee pot on to review what I've written the past few days before I post it all later today. All too soon, it was time for me to meet my sister Cindy at the community center so she could leave her food items so I could set part of it out at 11:00 when I arrive and then get them in the oven at noon. She and her husband Elmer are having Christmas with their kids this morning before our dinner and will not get to the community center until later. We will eat at 1:00. After returning to Bentley I did a few dishes from last night, and then spent the next hour or so making the bread pudding and macaroni and cheese. Once I cleaned up the kitchen area and washed dishes, I set down for a couple of minutes before getting in the shower. My daughter Misti stopped by with her covered dish for our dinner today. I will take it with me and get it in the oven, since she will not get back from church in time to cook it herself.
While she was here she asked Dean if he would check her tire because her tire pressure monitor had come on. Sure enough it was about 10# less than it should be. She was concerned about driving her car to church - about a 20 minute drive on gravel roads, so I told her to take my van and I'd drive her car since I would just be here in town. At least if the tire did not hold up, Dean could take me to the community center in the truck. After she left I showered and was ready to walk out the door with all of the food when I realized I had left the keys to the community center in my van and I needed to have food in the oven in a very short time. Now what? I called Carol, my good friend who is now the City Clerk to see if I could borrow her key to the building after explaining why. She said, of course! Thank goodness for friends! With that problem averted, off I went.
My sisters Jody and Crystal showed up within minutes of me and we set to work getting things set up, ovens turned on, drinks made, food in the ovens, etc. It seemed no time and other family members started to show up and we were ready to eat right at 1:00. While our group was a little smaller than normal we still had a great time. After lunch, we did our gift exchange with a twist. We played bingo. After the first person called bingo, they chose a gift. Each time someone else had a bingo, they had the chance to steal from someone who already had a gift or choose an unopened one. There were lots of laughs and good times over the course of the game.
Next were pictures which we needed to get done before everyone left.
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| My nephew Wade, his wife Devin and their precious daughter Payton. Wade is Jody's son. |
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| My sister Cindy's family. From left her daughter Nikki, husband Ty, son Kass and daughter Dani, Cindy and her husband Elmer. On the right is Cindy's daughter Melissa, husband Tim and their daughters Hannah (left) and Kennedy (right). |
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| The sisters - me, Cindy, Crystal and Jody with our step dad Larry and his wife Verna. |
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| The four of us with my mom's oldest sister, Aunt Betty and her daughter Barbara Ann. |
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| My daughter Misti, granddaughter Haleigh, Dean and I. |
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| Crystal, Mark and Jody |
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| Dani Jo playing the piano. |
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| I didn't get a picture of my nephew Nate (Jody & Mark's son) except in this one - with the ball cap on the right. |
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| Nikki - the bingo caller. In the green with her arm outstretched. |
After cleaning up, we said our goodbyes and everyone headed home. I stopped at Carol's to drop off her key, and at Misti's to drop off some things she left in my van. When I got home I couldn't wait to just sit down for a bit. I was very tired, but it was worth it all. We had a very enjoyable day with family!
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