Monday, January 28, 2018 - Morning Walk; Mexico; Jetpack Stays; Enjoying 80 degree Weather

Monday, January 28, 2018 - Morning Walk; Mexico; Jetpack Stays; Enjoying 80 degree Weather

After a couple of days of not taking our 2 mile morning walk, we were ready to go today.  It was a beautiful morning and I think it is going to be a spectacular day.  

Our friends Dennis and Pam are picking us up at 10 for a jaunt into Mexico at Progresso.  I enjoy the drive from Mission as we get to see many of the vegetable fields along the way.  Pam and I decided we would make a trip to Hidalgo soon to visit the "Appliance Store" - every kind of small appliances available for very reasonable prices.  Last year I bought my airfryer for $20.  We also want to visit the nearby Pulga (Flea Market).  I think they have some of the nicest vegetables I've seen down here.  The cauliflower is just huge.  I'll have to be sure and take some pictures to share.

We arrived at the border.  The parking lots were busy today.  

Pam and I both wanted to get pedicures.  We found a place that had openings.  The guys went outside to people watch and have something to drink while waiting on us.  I was very pleased with my pedicure, but I messed up my left big toe slightly as we were leaving.  It's not too bad and probably no one will even notice it but me.

Regular Vanilla

Large bag of cinnamon

From there we crossed the street to a grocery store.  I purchased 4 bottles of regular vanilla and 1 clear bottle of vanilla, along with a large package of cinnamon.  All of this for $5.40.  The cinnamon smells so good and the vanilla tastes great---I know, as I've almost used up the bottle I bought last year.

Clear Vanilla

We ate lunch at the Red Snapper.  I had a Mexican plate with taco, enchilada, tamale, beans and rice.  Dean had fried shrimp and fries.  It was all quite good.  I was going to take a picture when our food arrived - set my phone on the table and everything - then what did we do - dove right in!  Sorry, no pictures of the meal - but how about these?

Me, Pam, Dennis & Dean

Dennis, Dean and Me

Pictures above and below were taken from the balcony of our restaurant.

I tried to get Dean to get his hair cut as they had a barber in the same shop where we had our pedicures, but he would not do it.   Now, I will have to!!  Lol!

Semi's leaving Mexico - dedicated road just for them.

Cars leaving Mexico - many from US drive over for the day - you can get your car washed right on main street if you can find a place to park.  We prefer to walk in and out.

After Pam and Dennis dropped us at our RV Park, I made the dreaded call to Verizon to backtrack on my decision to get rid of the Jetpack, and asked them to go ahead and activate it.  It wasn't bad so bad, and in less than 10 minutes it was done and Dean had our devices set up to connect to it when needed.  I'm not sure he has the printer connected yet and that is one of the main reasons we got it.  If I'm away from the RV with my phone, he cannot print anything.  With the Jetpack we will both be able to use the printer anytime.  

Our new jetpack - well, I'm not sure about new since it says we've used 36.458 GB - we just connected in the last 3 hours; so I doubt there's been more than a few MB used, I hope!

What a gorgeous day it has been - temperatures hit 80 today and we are in sandals, shorts/capris, and short sleeved shirts.  I'm sorry to rub it in to those of you experiencing really cold temperatures.  Dean called his sister in Illinois to gloat a little since they are having some really, really cold weather right now, and it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow (1 degree) according to my weather app.  Brrrr!

Thanks again for checking in.  I love hearing from you! 

Sunday, January 27, 2019 - Short Night; More Laundry; Planning our Summer/Early Fall Travels; Dinner with Friends

Sunday, January 27, 2019 - Short Night; More Laundry; Planning our Summer/Early Fall Travels; Dinner with Friends

It was later than usual when we went to bed - after 10:30 and I remember last looking at the clock sometime after 11.  About 12:30 or so I woke up to what sounded like metal hitting against metal.  There were several hard strikes and then a few minutes later a few more.  I went to the door and looked out but I did not see anything and did not hear it again.  I finally fell asleep, but at 6:30 a dog started barking and it was just incessant.  It sounded as if it was trying to get someone's attention.  Again, I went to the window and looked out.  It was definitely coming from back behind us and probably up the street.  It went on for quite awhile and finally quit.  I do not think the dog was from our park or it's owner would have quieted it down much sooner.  I'm sure glad this is not a nightly occurrence!

I still had laundry I needed to do this morning so I got started on it soon after I had the coffee perking.  I've been working on our summer/early fall plans.  We had originally planned to do more extensive traveling this year with shorter stops; but we have decided to slow down, try to spend at least a week in most places so we can really explore the area - and not be in such a hurry---allowing a day or two to relax and not be on the run everyday. At this time we plan to spend at least 3 weeks in Colorado, 25 days in Utah, and 26 days in Idaho/Washington (Spokane).  After that our goal will be to make it to upper Montana to travel the Going to the Sun Road, visit Glacier NP for 7 days, on to Wyoming to visit Yellowstone NP and Grand Tetons NP and a few other cities for 21 days.  There's still much to think about and I need to make some reservations soon - especially where National Parks are involved.  The last leg we will spend some time in both North and South Dakota before dipping south towards our home state.

After lunch, we headed to Kohl's.  I've been wanting to get a few new shirts and I happened upon some nice tops and a pair of capri's that I really liked as well.  All on sale, plus I had an additional 30% off coupon--4 shirts/1capri, barely $60.  It was a successful venture!  We ran into our "home" Escapee friend Cathey and had a nice visit.  

I asked Dean if he wanted to stop and see our friends from Kansas that we met here last year, Helen and Hoot.  We interrupted Hoot cleaning their motorhome, and Helen was sitting outside.  We visited for a good hour or more.  It was so good to see them again.  We are going to try and get together before we leave here in 4 weeks.  

Back at Bentley I loaded the washer with the last load of clothes, and set down to update the budget with receipts from the past several days.  I was completing this blog post when there was a knock on the door.  Lynette wanted to know if we'd like to come over for dinner.  Jack was making goulash.  How can you turn that down?  I still had some oatmeal cake in the freezer, so I took it out so we could have a little snack afterwards.  

When we arrived, Lynette was making a salad (fresh apple, banana, walnuts, raisins, cheese mixed with mayonnaise).  It was delicious, as was the goulash.   We had an enjoyable evening and was back home a little before 8.  

After we returned I finished up a few things I needed to do, but once I set down I could hardly keep my eyes open; so I just rested my eyes until bedtime.  Lol!

Saturday, February 26, 2018 - Rain Rain Go Away; Washing my day away; Karaoke Night

Saturday, February 26, 2018 - Rain Rain Go Away; Washing my day away; Karaoke Night

We woke up to rain this morning and it kept it up almost the entire day and evening.  Even though it was a light drizzle a good part of the late morning, afternoon and evening - I'm not sure if it ever actually quit raining.  Fortunately it wasn't cold.  I wore my lightweight jacket and was comfortable when we walked to the office later.  It rained hard at times off and on during most of the morning so we did not walk.  (By the way, Dean mentioned this to me, but I forgot to correct it before I posted a prior blog post - where I said we walked 15 miles one day, that should have been 1.5 miles.   

With the rain we were also slow getting around this morning - after all what was the hurry?  I planned to do laundry this morning, so I got that started somewhat early and did three loads throughout the day.  I couldn't hang anything outside, so I made use of the shower rod in the shower to dry everything with the small fan and heater we move in there just for that purpose.  Everything was dry by end's day.

I talked to daughter Misti for a short time this morning just to check in with her and see how everyone is doing.  She's started back to school and is trying to get back in the routine after being off for almost a month.   It was good to hear her voice.  She talked to Logan the other day and he has started his classes as well.  

Later I called Cindy but she was headed out and said she'd get back with me later.

I also called my very dear friend Dede to visit.  I enjoyed catching up with her so much and wonder why I wait so long in between calls.  We are going to try and meet up the latter part of March when we are in South/North Carolina on our travels.  I am looking forward to that.

I made some chili for dinner tonight and it really hit the spot with the damp/now cooler weather.  Earlier I sent Jack and Lynette a message to see if they would like to go up to the clubhouse to listen to karaoke.  They thought it sounded fun so we walked over to get them about 6:40.  We walked up together.  Lynette and I set at the puzzle table and worked on a jigsaw puzzle for a couple of hours.  The karaoke goes from 7-10, we left about 9 to walk back home.  There was still a very light drizzle, nothing bad at all.  

Rain drops streaking the picture as we walk back after listening to karaoke.

We said our goodbyes as we reached our trailers.  About 10:30 we headed to bed, when I realized I had taken the sheets off the bed - but never did put clean ones on.  Fortunately it doesn't take too long.    

Our truck and Bentley!

It was another wonderful day!

Friday, January 25, 2019 - Checking off my To-Do List; Enjoying some girl time; Hand, Knee and Foot

Friday, January 25, 2019 - Checking off my To-Do List; Enjoying some girl time; Hand, Knee and Foot

Before I went to bed last night I made a list of things I wanted to get done in the next few days.  This morning, I decided I could manage to get most of them done today so once I had my morning chores done I set down and got started.

I ordered a Jetpack from Verizon a few days ago.  This morning I had an email from Verizon with the amount of what our new bill would be, plus the following month's bill.  Needless to say I was a bit upset as I had specifically asked if there would be a monthly charge to our bill for having the Jetpack and I was told no, there would be no monthly charge for it.  This was done by online chat so I had that in print.  I called Verizon this morning to ask about it and was told yes, I do have to pay the monthly fee.  I told them I didn't want it (which I am already regretting, and will probably have to eat crow on).  I don't know if the person I talked to was not trained properly, didn't understand my question (I have a hard time believing that from the chat printout), or they just flat lied to me.  I spent quite a bit of my time on the phone/computer getting this done only to find out it was untrue!  Extremely frustrating!  

I posted a message to our local Escapees Facebook page that we will have a luncheon for our members that are here in the Valley on February 12, and called one of our members that is not on Facebook to let them know about it.  I hope we have a good turnout.

Dean and I walked up to the clubhouse to look at the event signup sheets to see if there was anything we wanted to do and to look at the caps they are selling with our park name (Val's) on it.  We didn't sign up for anything new, but I did notice they are having a park wide meeting, and one item they will be discussing, is raising the rates for 2020, so I guess I'll go up to see what that will amount to.  It's a pretty decent rate here so unless it's a big increase I understand.  There are lots of expenses with something like this that many people do not understand and the people who own it need to have a return of some kind.  While we were there I checked our mailbox, but the prescriptions I ordered didn't come yesterday like they said.  Hopefully they will show up after lunch.  I took the last of that medication yesterday but if it comes today I'll be good.  (I checked later in the afternoon and it was here - so all is good!)

It was such a nice day Nancy, Flora and I decided to go to Mom's Place, the little cafe that the ladies here in our park went to last week.  I was telling Flora and Nancy about it and they thought it sounded good and they wanted to try it.  We had a nice visit and the lunch was wonderful  We all had the salad.  I chose the chipotle chicken salad (it had a bit of a kick to it) to go with my salad.  Nancy had the chicken salad with grapes and pecans, and Flora chose grilled chicken.  Since it was Friday afternoon and near the end of the day (we went at 1:00), they gave us a slice of cake for free (they didn't want to throw it away).  How nice was that?  It was delicious too!  When I took them back, Flora asked us to come in for a little while and we continued our visiting.  They are so nice and fun to be with.  I thoroughly enjoyed the time with them.

I set down and typed a letter to our grandson Logan who is at A school, in the Navy.  I'm anxious to hear how he is doing now that he has started his training as a medic.  

Dean told me at a little before 5, he was craving Kentucky Fried Chicken (just what we need!) and he had found one just a short distance away, so off we went to KFC!  We brought it back to Bentley to eat.  It was way to much food but I have to say it was good.  Afterwards, I walked up to the clubhouse to play hand, knee and foot.  Vicky and I were partners.  We won by a little over 100 points - a very close game.  

Shirley let me borrow an extra wooden stand to hold my cards and she will get me one like it for $5 from her friend.  Yes!!!!  She told me to keep this one to use until she can get it for me.  That was such a nice gesture and I am grateful.

This is the kind of stand I was looking for at Don-Wes.  This one is okay but the knot holes do make your cards lean a bit.  I think she keeps it for someone to use when they don't have one.  Her friend makes them for $5.  They are much nicer than what we found at Don-Wes, and cost less too!  

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - Lunch with Kansans; Thursday, January 24, 2019 - Slow Start on This Cold Morning; Visiting with Friends - All Day Long!

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - Lunch with Kansans

Last year we were asked to attend the Kansas All-Valley Day Event and we didn't follow up, so when we were sent information this year we sent in our reservation and today is the day.

After our 2 mile walk, breakfast and showers we headed to Donna, Texas, about 20 miles away.  We left early and I'm glad we did.  Even though there was quite a bit of parking, it was filling up fast.  As we walked to the front door, we met our friends Raymond and Carolyn.  

The planning committee set up the seating so everyone was arranged by location in the state - Southeast, Northeast, Northwest and Southwest.  We set with our friends who are from Baxter Springs and also a couple from Riverton on our left, and two couples from Wellington on our right.  I cannot remember the wife's first name from Riverton, but it was easy to remember her husbands - Jesse Jackson.  They were such a nice couple and in visiting I found out she used to serve on the KS State Tourism Board and worked in PIttsburg, KS with their Visitors Bureau.  She knew several people that I have known over the years due to my municipal government background.  The wife of one of the couple's from Wellington used to be the Assistant Supt. in Wellington.  Dean's oldest son Heath is serving in that position now as well as Director of Special Education.  Isn't it a small world?

Our lunch was amazing - it was catered by a group from Mission.  We had chicken (so tender you could easily cut it with your fork), mashed potatoes, vegetables, grilled bread, cake and beverage (tea, water).  

After lunch Rusty Rierson from Augusta (Leon, KS) was the entertainment.  We were impressed with his singing ability, his very comfortable connection with the group, his true country sound, his humor and his love for our country!  

Prior to the meal they sold tickets for chances to win LOTS of prizes, I'm guessing well over 100.  Whoever was in charge of gathering these prizes did an amazing job.  While we did not win anything many people won some great gifts.  

I thought it was very interesting they start each year with "0" dollars and pay for the event with the tickets they sell to win prizes and the tickets to attend the event/meal - I believe there were close to 300 people attending.  I'm pretty sure the prizes were all donated.  Any monies left over are also given in prizes.  I was impressed and the people who put this together are a very dedicated bunch.  There is no doubt they work extremely hard to bring this all together each year for their Kansas friends.

To all my Kansas RVing friends who visit the Valley, I would encourage you to put this date on your calendar for next year - January 22, 2020 for Kansas Day at Trophy Gardens RV Resort at 11 am.  Rusty Rierson will again provide the entertainment.  If you are interested in attending and need more information let me know and I'll make sure you have it.

After the event, we made a quick drive to Don-Wes.  I was looking for a wooden card stand and a card holder for the card game hand, knee and foot.  I could not find a card stand like I wanted, but I did find the card holder.   

There are 11 cards for each pocket - hand, foot, and knee.  Such a fun game.

A few pictures I took at Don-Wes Flea Market:

Parking Lot - it closes at 4:00 pm - we arrived close to 3:00.

Some metal signs, characters for sale.

Fruit stand. 

Walkway toward the main building from the parking lot, as we are walking back to the truck.

Booth inside of shirts

Our next stop was at a Tire shop to see about tires for the truck - the 4 tires on the back.  The front tires were replaced last fall while we were in Sandusky, OH.  We recently joined the FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association).  The savings on the these four tires will pay for our annual membership for four years.  We felt like their membership was well worth the money for tires and a few other items.  The tire shop can order the tires for us, but we will make payment through FMCA.

I wanted to make one last stop at Sam's.  While we were there a few days ago I forgot to purchase sliced almonds.  I use them almost everyday - a few in my morning yogurt - and I'm almost out.  

Back at Bentley we relaxed the rest of the evening and I worked on the blog.  I could not believe it when I went to post it later and everything I had added or changed was gone!  I have no idea what happened - it's never occurred before but I wanted to cry.  Instead I just went to bed!  Lol!



Thursday, January 24, 2019 - Slow Start on This Cold Morning; Visiting with Friends - All Day Long!

I'm getting into a bad habit of sleeping in and I don't like it.  I am missing my "alone" time every morning.  My husband is the greatest guy - and I love being with him - but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy this special early morning time by myself.  It helps me get off to a good start for the day.  

It was too cold again this morning to walk - 37!  Ugh, what's with weather like this here in South Texas?  (It is almost always better than Southeast Kansas though) I had not visited with just Nancy and Flora for awhile, so I was going to walk over to visit this morning.  Dean decided he would walk along with me so we could get some steps in after a bum morning with no exercise.  We had a nice visit before we left.  On the way back  Ron and Kim (who was parked on the other side of the fence behind us last winter) were out, so we stopped to visit with them for 30-45 minutes before we made our way back to Bentley.   We are blessed to have met so many wonderful people through the Heartland Owners Group, Escapees, Winter Texans, and through the blogs I follow.  

Once home, we made some lunch.  About 2:30, Jack and Lynette stopped by.  We visited about the places we have both traveled to.  At 4 we took them for a ride southwest of us to visit a nearby park that sits on the Rio Grande near a large dam.  Unfortunately, when we arrived at the park they were not permitting anyone to come in.  We think that was because it was near closing time.  Our next stop was at The Riverside Cafe where we enjoyed a pork tenderloin sandwich and an order of battered french fries.  We all agreed the meal was delicious.  We both shared the sandwich and fries with our spouse, as it is quite a bit of food.  The best part, it is a very reasonably priced meal when shared!

We returned to the park about 5:30.  I got started on the blog around 6 and at 9:50 I'm about ready to quit and head to bed.

It looks like next week is going to be busy, busy, busy!

God bless you all for following along with our travels.  

Monday, January 21, 2019 - Tuesday, January 22, 2019 - Getting some work done at Bentley; Cookout with Friends

Monday, January 21, 2019 - Tuesday, January 22, 2019 - Trying to get some work done at Bentley

It was cold this morning so we didn't walk, so after breakfast I was ready to take care of some business.

My goal today was to make some phone calls and take care of some paperwork for items that came in the mail on Friday.  After making three calls I realized it was Martin Luther King Day.   Keeping track of what day it is has been harder than I imagined since I retired.  

I managed to make a couple of phone calls.  We needed to go to Walmart - mostly to get a new color cartridge for the printer.  When I bought this printer I asked if the printer would work without a color cartridge.  The salesman told me it would work as long as the cartridge was in it - but I have discovered that was wrong information.  The printer has been giving me a message for several weeks that the color printer cartridge needs to be changed.  The printer finally quit working.  I'm not happy about it, but at this point what am I going to do?  We've had the printer for over a year now.  I have to think the ink either dried up or a portion of the color is used when printing in black ink, because I don't print in color.  Hopefully the next cartridge will last that long.    

Back at Bentley, I went back to work on printing the items I needed but another gremlin has taken over my printer.  I, ct would just not print.  Dean finally had to remove the printer name from the printer selections and set it to print to the cloud and now it works fine.  I'm so thankful he can figure these things out.  I get very frustrated and just want things to work!  Lol!

(Note, January 24, 2019 - Last night, Wed, Jan 23, I completed the blog through Jan 23, but when I published it, it did not print and when I went back to where I type in the blog - about half of Jan 21 and all of Jan 22-23 was gone.  So here I am recreating what I wrote about.  I've never had this happen before.)


Tuesday, January 22, 2019 - Cookout with Friends

We walked 15 miles this morning because we started a little late and I wanted to have time to get ready so I could go to the Bible Study here in the park this morning.  I got back to Bentley about 11.  

Jack and Lynette invited us over for brauts and the fixings this evening, so I got busy making phone calls:  ordered new prescriptions, called Verizon to discuss a jetpack; called Freeman Health about paying an ebill (when making payment it did not indicate who the bill was from); called my friend Drena to discuss our spring southern trip; called Escapees to discuss their mail service options; and submitted a health insurance questionnaire to FMCA Health Insurance; and double checked to be sure we had all of our reservations for our Colorado trip in June. 

It was a productive day and my desk looks so much better.

About 4:30 or so we walked over to Jack and Lynette's, and everyone else showed up shortly before 5.  We had a great meal of brauts on buns, salad, chips/dip and veggies, baked beans and beverage of choice.  Jack had to cook then in the electric frying pan because the wind was so strong his grill would not stay lit.  He cut them half way through to cook them.  I'm not sure I'll ever have brauts the regular way again.  They cooked much faster this way.  He found some buns that were a little wider and the brauts fit perfectly in them for a great sandwich.  The rest of the meal was delicious.  Nancy made homemade tapioca pudding.  It's been years since I've tried it, but I really liked it - much to my surprise!  We had a nice visit with everyone and we left for home (across the street) around 7-7:30.

Saturday-Sunday - January 19-20, 2019

Saturday-Sunday, January 19-20, 2018 

When my alarm went off the morning, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  I guess the wind from last night stirred up some allergies.  I felt kind of "ugh" this morning, but once I got up and started moving I felt much better.

We are having our rig and truck washed and waxed this morning and the crew showed up around 8:30.  They worked until 11:30 or so.  Dean was very happy with the job they did.  I stayed inside to do some chores and to work on our 2019 budget.  

For some reason when I made a copy from my original blank spreadsheet, the formulas did not copy over.  I've messed with the copied spreadsheet a bit but it was just too cumbersome to try and fix, so this morning I decided to make another copy from the original spreadsheet one more time - and lo and behold all of the formulas were there and it is now working perfectly.  What kind of gremlins live in computers? 

Speaking of budgets, we didn't do too bad last year especially since our budgeted amounts were only a guess in a number of categories.  This year, having actual detail to use allowed me to set realistic budget amounts.  We are 19 (now 23) days into January and we are well within our budget in almost every single category.  The line items that are slightly over probably won't have any expenditures in the next month or so, so we aren't too concerned about those.  I'm really watching the grocery and dining out line items - to keep them in line for two reasons - one to keep us from over spending, but more importantly that we are more careful about what we eat. 

I started doing laundry and planned to vacuum this morning but about 8 or so the electricity  in the park went off and was off for a little over two hours.  So I called my sister Cindy and talked for 20-30 minutes during, and got the breakfast dishes out of the way.  Fortunately the battery on my chromebook was full so I was able to do quite a bit on it.

It was over 80 degrees yesterday and today it is nice out but a cool wind is blowing.  Just perfect for having the windows open----well, at least once they were done washing the RV.



Sunday, January 20, 2019 - Chiefs Football Tonight!

I was up early this morning and got started with laundry right away.  I did three loads.  Can I tell you again how much I love my combo washer/dryer?  I love, love, love it!

I also made use of that time to make corn dip, and deviled eggs to take to our friends house this evening - where we will watch the Kansas City Chiefs in the play-off's.  We are so excited for our Chiefs!

About 10:30 or so our friends Jack and Lynette pulled into the site across the road from us.  They will be here until around the end of March.  We said our hello's but didn't bother them while they were sitting up.  Once they were settled they walked over to visit.  We enjoyed catching up with them since we last saw them in Maine back in September.  By then we were all getting hungry so I suggested we go somewhere to eat lunch and we decided on Ranch House Burgers.  We both ended up ordering the swiss and avocado burger and half order of french fries (homemade).  Each of us just ordered the one burger and  half order of homemade french fries, that we shared with our spouse.  It was plenty of food and again, it was excellent as all of our meals have been here.

We visited with Jack and Lynette awhile after we returned until we needed to get ready to head to Pam and Dennis' to watch the Chiefs game.  Dennis made BBQ ribs, Pam made baked beans and I added the deviled eggs.  Pam also made brownies that we will have with the cheese dip and fritos for snacks during the game.  We never should have had something like that during such an exciting game.  All of the work I did to keep my eating under control for the past week or so and even during dinner tonight, was out the window during that game.  Never have food around when you are stressed!  I won't tell you how many brownies I ate!

Even though our team lost in the last few minutes of the game, we are proud of how hard they worked this year.  We look forward to next year!

Friday, January 18, 2019 - Eat, Eat, Eat - We Do A Lot of That Here in the Valley!

Friday, January 18, 2019 - Eat, Eat, Eat - We Do A Lot of That Here in the Valley!

I was happy my fitness band worked just fine when it woke me up at 5:00 a.m.  It was a much nicer little bzzz "alarm" than hearing my phone play an annoying song as I'm trying to get up and rush to the living room to turn it off!  Picture that will you!

Dave was picking Dean up at 8:00 for their golf game, so he didn't walk with me this morning.  I left to make my laps around the park to get in my two miles.  It was nice out but pretty foggy.  

Dean left not long after I returned.  I had my breakfast before I took care of my morning "chores".  I had a text on my phone from Nancy letting me know they were going to have movie night at their place (at the park next door) if we wanted to come over.  She was making pulled pork and beans, and Flora was bringing cole slaw.  I told her I could make some deviled eggs, so I got out my Instapot and boiled the eggs while I was getting some things done.  I was completely done in less than 30 minutes and had them in the refrigerator to cool.

At 11:00 I headed to the clubhouse to join 26 other women for a lunch outing at Mom's Place.  I rode with Rosie, Dorothy and Rosie!  We had such a nice lunch.  The owner told us they had just opened their cafe in November.  They were so appreciative of us coming.  Besides sandwiches, soups and salads they had some lovely looking cupcake desserts.  I ate way too much lunch - a chicken salad sandwich, broccoli cheese soup, cookies and iced tea.  I brought my chips and 2 of the 3 small cookies home for Dean.  The food was delicious and we'll definitely go back again.  

Our table at Mom's (Carolyn in front on the left is our next door neighbor here in the park).

After lunch I rode to Hobby Lobby with Rosie and Dorothy.  I mentioned getting magnet pictures for the rest of our grandkids in yesterday's post.  My friend Drena told me I could buy adhesive magnet sheets, then I can put a picture on the magnet sheet, cut it out and wah-lah my picture magnet is done.  I found the sheets at Hobby Lobby.  There were only 2 sheets so I bought them both.  Now to get the pictures printed off.  

When I returned to the park it was close to 2:30.  Dean was already back.  He has been wanting to start our generator and let it run a bit, and that is what I found him doing.  

We decided to walk up to the office to see if our mail came in today.  I called to have it sent on Friday, January 11th.  I finally had to leave a message since no one answered the phone after trying a couple of times - and I left my name and address where it needed to be mailed to.  When we still didn't have any mail on Wednesday I called to see when they had mailed it.  When she told me the "owner/manager" was on vacation and she's the one that listens to the answering machine I couldn't believe it!  I was pretty irritated.  What's the purpose of an answering machine in a business if you don't use it.  Fortunately, our mail came today.  However, our insurance company wanted us to take some pictures of our new property and the garage on it and have it submitted by January 22.  Of course we can't do that.  I called my sister who is also our insurance agent to see if she would mind taking them for us and sending them in.  She was on the phone so I left a message with one of the other ladies in the office.  It was almost 5 when I called and they are off on Monday for Martin Luther King's Birthday - so it means she has to do it on Tuesday - the day it is due.  I felt bad about the short time frame.  

We are seriously considering finding another way to get our mail next year.  Between getting the wrong mail in our box several times and this, it's getting frustrating.  While we are here in the Valley, sending it later isn't near as bad as if we were moving.  When we are traveling and moving every few days, I call when I know we will be somewhere long enough to get it.  I have to be able to depend on them getting my calls and then following up before we move to another location.  It could have been a real mess if mail showed up after we left as we typically move 150-250 miles from one spot to the next.  

It really warmed up today - about 81 or so and it was quite warm in the RV.  I hate to turn on the air conditioner until we have to, but I did find a week or so ago that I sleep better with the air conditioner on - less humidity in the air, so we turned it on before we left.

We left a little before 6 to head over to Dave & Nancy's.  Flora and Corbin soon joined us.  Our meal was delicious.  Misti called just before we started filling our plates.  It was good to visit with her.  She and Haleigh had just been to Chetopa and they had some family history questions for me.  I love they care enough to ask!  

Corbin had recently purchased some DVD's.  They picked A Star is Born to watch this evening.  It was quite a bit different than the original movie.  It was pretty windy out this evening, so it is great that Dave and Nancy have a nice canopy pop-up that we can set under to watch our movie outside.  They had side panels (3 sides) made for it.  The panels keep most of the wind out, keeping it comfortable inside.  

Pulled pork Nancy made  - it was delicious!

Dave, Dean, Me, (Nancy's chair), Corbin and Flora.   We are sitting in the enclosed canopy.  It's such a great wind break!

The spread - besides the pulled pork, we had deviled eggs, guacamole dip with chips/celery, baked beans, cole slaw with pie and cookies for dessert.  It was all wonderful!

A big thank you to Nancy for letting me use her pictures from "movie night".
Jarred tried to call us during the movie because Emerson wanted to talk to us.  I sent a text when we were back at Bentley, that maybe we can connect sometime tomorrow.  He told Emerson and she said "I can do that".  She's a doll!

What a great day we both had.

Thursday, January 17, 2019 - A Little Work, A Little Play

Thursday, January 17, 2019 -  A Little Work, A Little Play

I have started sleeping later in the morning and it's been messing with my morning routine so last night I set the alarm on my phone to get up at 5am.  The problem with this is I was awake on and off between 4:15 and 5:00.  I finally got up at 4:45, started the coffeepot and did my exercises while the coffee perked.  The timing is almost perfect for me to be done by the time the coffee is ready.

I've been trying to spend more time reading my Bible each morning and that is why I wanted to get back to my 5:00 wake up time.  We try to walk between 7:30 and 8:00 each morning, and today was no different.  We got in our 2 miles and managed to walk just a tad bit faster than yesterday.

Other than doing things here and going to the grocery store later today we had no plans, so our goal was to get some projects done.  I started the laundry and Dean finished up two projects for me.   We didn't have anywhere to hang things up that I wanted to have a better way to keep track of; and I wanted it to be a magnetic board.  I found two metal sheets at Hobby Lobby over a year, or two ago.  Originally I thought I would attach them to the freezer doors, but I decided it just wouldn't look good.  We finally decided to paint the metal sheets brown and today Dean hung them on the wall by the coffeepot.  

Our magnetic note board.

I now have the monthly calendar for here in the park attached so we can keep track of the activities, and the bottom will be an area I can showoff our grandkids.  I need to print a few more grandchildren's pictures off and have them made into magnets to add to the collection.

The shelving we bought to hang in the pantry needed something to cushion it so it would not damage the inside of the door, especially when we are on the road.  We used weather stripping and attached it to the back of each of the baskets.  It looks like it will do the trick and I guess time will tell.

My sister Cindy gave me a plaque for Christmas and I finally got it hung up.

I was doing some straightening up on our dining table (used as our desk) and ran across the book that came with my exercise armband (similar to a fitbit).  After looking through it I realized I could set an alarm on my armband to wake me up in the morning, rather than using my phone.  I was able to get that set up - now I just hope it works!

I mentioned recently Dean got a new watch that provided information on golf courses.  He spent time working with it this afternoon to make sure it would function as needed.  He is playing golf tomorrow with Dave so he wanted to be prepared.  

It's been pretty cool and drizzly here the past couple of days so we were glad it warmed up some today.  I went outside and swept all of our "concrete" off.  It was just nice to be outside.

We made a trip to Walmart for groceries.  So far we are doing great on our budget with both groceries and dining out.  Today was the largest amount of groceries we've needed since we arrived, but it was less than I expected.  

Dean grilled chicken tenders and I sauted vegetables for dinner tonight.  It really hit the spot.  We are trying very hard to keep the calories down and get some exercise every day.  My blood pressure is back to normal so something's working.  Once I had the dishes taken care of, I headed to the clubhouse to play Hand, Knee & Foot.  I really enjoy playing and meeting the ladies here in the park.

Our granddaughter Kamron called me after their basketball game tonight to let me know she made 2 points in the game.  She really didn't expect to play since it's a tournament and she's an underclassman.  She was fouled during the game and made both of her free throw shots.  We were really proud of her!  I told her it must be from those good genes - her mama and daddy both played basketball.  Jaxson even talked to me for a few minutes, but he was on his way to bed, so it was a very sparse conversation!  

We had a full day, and getting things done or ticked off your list, always makes it very worthwhile.  We've got all kinds of things planned for the next week or so, so we'll have lots to share and hopefully some pictures as well.