Thursday - Sunday, November 16-19, 2017 Our Last Few Days Before Full-time Living in Our RV

Thursday, November 16, 2017 - Goodbye to Friends, Returning "Home" The Last Time, Closing Things Out

Another morning I woke up past 5:30a.  Am I tired or is my sleeping habit changing?  I'm not sure I like this.  I still had plenty of time to enjoy my coffee, read my Bible, and get quite a bit of packing done before heading to the clubhouse around 8:30 for a farewell breakfast with our friends.  Donna made a wonderful breakfast casserole and bacon, Drena brought yogurt and rolls, Linda brought fruit and I brought granola and sliced almonds to add with the yogurt, and apple juice.  What a wonderful way to end our time together.  

I wanted to tell you a little more about Coachlight RV Park.  It's a really nice park with paved sites in the upper section, nearest to the clubhouse..  There is free wi-fi and it works very well.  There are two meeting areas, one large and small room, with some cooking facilities.  The larger one also has a number of games and puzzles available for folks to use.  There is a nice fire pit outside for enjoying campfires, roasting hot dogs, smores, etc.  There is a laundromat on site.  Coachlight RV is next door and they have a large selection of RV supplies for almost any need.  We really enjoy this campground.  Our Escapees Spring Rally in April will be held here.

After breakfast we finished getting things put away and Dean emptied our tanks.  During that task he found water in our basement and when looking further, it appears the faucet at the bathroom sink is leaking.  We will need to purchase a new faucet.  When it came time to hook up I was sitting in the truck waiting for Dean to get finished.  Dean asked me if I wanted to show off and back the truck up to the hitch.  I said sure!  After I tried to get it backed up a couple of times, the third time was a charm and I backed it right up and heard that ca-clink as the hitch locked in.  Stan and Keith started clapping when I got out of the truck.  

I moved to the passenger side and finished up my log book with the time as we left the park.  It is a short drive back home - only 52 miles.  In no time we were pulling into 1500 6th Street for the last time with Bentley.  The original plan was to move from the house to Hillside RV Park around 2pm on Monday, but since my doctor's appointment was changed to 10, and we have a few errands to run before heading back to Oswego for our closing at 4, we have decided to move Bentley to the RV Park on Sunday afternoon.  We do not want to feel rushed.  This will allow us plenty of time.

We noticed our boxes from Dish Network were delivered so we could return our receivers.  Dean still had several things to take to the storage shed and I gathered up enough to almost fill one more plastic tub as well.  I've managed to find a few more things in Bentley this evening that will be taken to the storage unit in the next day or so.  I moved 2 tubs and 1 box full of stuff to Bentley and I made it through 1 tub and part of the 2nd one.  The box is full of files that I will go through before we leave.  I'll scan what I feel is important for us to have with us, and the rest will be stored.  

This afternoon I called all of the utility companies and scheduled our services to be disconnected on Monday, November 20.  I had one last load of items to go to Chetopa to the church I've been donating things to and since someone was there today I made a trip to drop them off.

Dean was going to work on the storage drawer under the couch but when he removed the sliding drawer mechanism he realized we needed a longer one than we purchased at Lowe's.  We will return it on Monday while we are in Joplin and pick up the correct size.  We'll also see about a faucet for the bathroom sink as well.

It has been a long day and we are both tired.  We are ready to have all of the moving behind us and to get settled in to a routine again.  I know Dean is missing his golf and with such good weather I hate that he's not been able to play much lately, so I hope this weather stays with us for awhile.

We have a few short trips we'd like to make in our area if we can fit them in before the end of the year.

Of course the holidays are coming up, with Thanksgiving next week and Christmas a short time afterwards.  November is also Dean's birthday as well as our daughter-in-law Megan's and granddaughter Dacy,s (on Thanksgiving Day).  Some friends of mine in the area (all former City Clerk's) are hoping to find a day we can get together before Christmas to have lunch and visit.  So I do not think we will lack for things to do in the next several weeks before we head south.


Friday, November 17, 2017 - Laundry Day, More "Stuff" to Storage, Cancelling Utilities, Trip to Joplin 

This morning I was awake closer to 4:30 so guess I just needed a little extra rest the past few days.  We walked 2.37 miles with an average of 16.36 per mile.  

Once we had breakfast I loaded up our laundry for the past 10-12 days and headed to my daugher's house to use her "new to her" (our old units) washer and dryer.  I ran back and forth between our houses all day long and into the evening.  

While I was at the house I dusted everything, and then vacuumed the carpets and mopped the tile and wood floors.  Dean and I were going through final things in the house to move to storage, take to someone else, or move to Bentley.   Dean took a load of stuff to the storage unit while I was taking care of some other things.

I took enough time at one point to call all the utility/communication companies to schedule having our services transferred to the new owners on Monday, November 20.  I was surprised how quick and smooth this process went.  

We decided to make a trip to Joplin tonight so Dean could get the bathroom sink fixed tomorrow, and we left about 5:00.  We ran by Misti's so I could put another load of clothes in the washer before leaving town.  Our first stop in Joplin was The UPS Store to drop off the two receivers we needed to return to Dish Network.  Next to Lowe's where we found a new faucet for the bathroom sink and returned the drawer slide we previously purchased and then we bought a new one (larger size).  For our last stop, I had received a coupon from Golden Corral for my birthday and it was good through November 30.  It was for buy one buffet and get one buffet free.  Typically if we go here it is at noon.  I was surprised to find out the buffet was $13.99 each on Friday and Saturday nights.  So it was a great savings to get one buffet for free.  We both really like their food - I love all the vegetables and have several other things I always enjoy - especially their fried catfish.  AND I LOVE THEIR BREAD PUDDING!!!  I have passed it up every time we've stopped there in the past couple of months but I just had to have a little taste this evening.  It sure was good.

On the way home we stopped at Misti's so I could move the clothes from the washer to the dryer.  I'll come back tomorrow morning to pick them up and finally, put in the last load.  



Saturday, November 18, 2017 - Buying Groceries, More "Stuff" to Storage, Finishing Laundry, and Delivering "Stuff" to Family

While I woke up early and had the coffee going soon afterwards, we did not walk this morning.  My sister was going to Parsons Walmart, leaving at 6am and asked if I wanted to go.  I did need a few things so I said I would ride along.  It was so nice to pull into the almost empty parking lot...and better yet almost empty store.

As we were leaving, Dean texted me to see if we were on our way home yet.  I told him we were just leaving Walmart so it would be awhile.  He answered okay.  It got the best of me and I had to call him to see why he wanted to know - and I have to say I have a great husband - he called because if we were close to being home he was going to stay and wait for me so he could help carry in the groceries before running uptown to get some supplies at the hardware store.  How sweet is that?  He's such a wonderful guy and I can't believe we are about to set forth on this wonderful journey with each other.  I'm sure there will be some tough days but I know most of them will be full of fun times.  

After getting my groceries put away I drove to Misti's to put in the last load of laundry, brought the dried clothes home where I folded them and put them away.

Dean had gathered up more things to take to the storage unit while I was gone and we had set aside some things for my daughter and son.  For Misti (my Christmas tree) and Marc (some old toys of his I still had that I had been saving for his son Jaxson) and a few things for my sister Cindy.  We delivered all of these and I enjoyed spending some time with Kamron and Jaxson (while Dean and Marc checked some things out in Marc's shop).  

I still needed to take the remaining food items out of the refrigerator and freezer that previously would not all fit in Bentley's refrigerator/freezer.  I took a few food items to Cindy and some of the dry food items I will give to Logan our college age grandson for his apartment when I see him on Thanksgiving Day.

I managed to sort through some other items, and totally emptied and rearranged the pantry in Bentley.  I still have one large tub to sort through - mostly desk type items.  It will probably be Tuesday before I get a chance to work on that project.  I tell myself that is okay - as long as I have all of it done before we leave for Texas is all that matters.  We also brought all of our files that were in our file cabinet into Bentley.  I will go through each of those, dispose of old material, scan all documents that we want to carry with us and then I will return the files to our filing cabinet that's in storage.  Now that all of the work at the house is done I can dedicate time to this chore.  

Once we had finished removing everything from the house and did one final walk through, we went to Bentley for the evening.  I made deviled eggs and banana pudding for our Thanksgiving dinner at church tomorrow, and white chicken chili for our dinner tonight.  I was pretty tired by the time we finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen area in Bentley.  It was full of dishes after all of that cooking - that is for sure!

Afterwards, we watched another Hallmark Christmas movie and when it was over at 9:00 we were both ready for bed.  A long, but very productive day!


Sunday, November 19, 2017 - Final Walk Through the House, Church & Thanksgiving Dinner, Sisterfest, Moving to Hillside RV Park

I woke up a few minutes before 4 this morning and was out of bed pretty quick.  Coffee was calling my name!  I am a list maker and I spent the next hour or so making notes of things I needed to do over the next few days.  If I don't write it down I might forget it!

After Dean was up and we had breakfast, he asked me if I thought we should do one last walk through the house and I told him yes, as I wanted to take a few pictures.  I do not think either one of us has missed the house itself that much - we've been in Bentley continuously since July; but I know there will be times Dean will miss his garage/man cave.   

I did take a few pictures in the house and the views from our large picture window and sliding glass door as that is one of the things we most loved about the house.  There was a lot of bright light coming through those two openings into our living room  Before we retired and started RVing we had several bird houses and hummingbird feeders.  We loved watching all of the birds from the living room.  We look forward to watching birds in various places around the United States that we do not see here in Southeast Kansas.  I recently heard about the parrots that frequent South Texas from our friends who have spent winters there in the past, and I understand there are many interesting birds near the Gulf coast where several bird watching stations are featured.  I think this is something we really enjoy doing.

Above 3 pictures are of Dean's garage/man cave.  He built the cabinets and how about that special door he installed?

View out front window.

Large sliding glass doors.

Our backyard -- looking out the sliding glass door.

Front yard

We left for church at 10:00.  Following the morning service we will have a Thanksgiving lunch.  I'm sure it will be really good......and it was.  I did eat very small portions of everything because it was nothing but carbs!  I was proud of myself though as my plate was only half full.  I did eat two desserts one small scoop of my banana pudding and a small scoop of cherry cobbler and they were soooo good.  I'm finding out that I really can eat smaller portions and feel quite full.  

We left the church a little after 1.  Dean dropped me at my sister Crystal's when we returned to Oswego for our sisterfest gathering.  

We discussed plans for our family Christmas which we will have December 17th at the Community Center here in Oswego.  We worked those details out and visited for awhile and then Jody was good enough to take me back to the house - for the last time.  Dean was waiting on me to finish packing up the last few things in Bentley before moving to Hillside RV Park here in Oswego.  It didn't take me long to finish up as much of the work was done before we left for church.  It is two miles from our house to the RV Park - talk about a short drive! 

Leaving the RV pad north of the house for the last time.

Dean and Bentley in my rearview mirror at the stop sign before entering the highway through town.

I stopped in the entrance at the RV Park to get this picture of Dean as he nears the park, at the south edge of town.

Moving to our site.

My cousin Todd just purchased the RV Park from my uncle.  He wasn't there when we arrived so we both got in the van and drove to the RV sites to pick one out.  As we returned to where Bentley was parked, Todd pulled in.  He told us to park in whatever site we wanted, and we visited with him briefly before moving to site 14.  We chose the south side so we could make the most of the view out our back window and large side windows to the west - and because of it, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset our first night here.

Beautiful sunset in Southeast Kansas.

After getting set up, we had a sandwich, followed by Dean making popcorn as we started watching Hallmark movies.  

Looking at our calendar, with all we have scheduled and all we want to accomplish before leaving for Texas I think the next 35 days or so are going to fly by, and another year will have passed.  

I hope you enjoy following along on our journey as we travel the United States and possibly Canada in our full-time RV life.  Please feel free to comment as we love to hear from you.



  

Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - Shopping at Coachlight RV Store, Breakfast French Toast & Weiner Roast

Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - Shopping at Coachlight RV Store, Breakfast French Toast & Weiner Roast

I woke up once in the night and realized it was raining.  I enjoy hearing the rain when we are in the RV - as long as it is not a deluge!  It was just a nice pitter-patter type sound that just lulled me back to sleep.  When I woke up it was almost 6:00!  I wonder if this sleeping late is going to become a habit - honestly, I hope not as I like my quiet mornings with my coffee while I enjoy reading and/or listening to music.

After our coffee we walked 2.22 miles, 17:19 min/per mile.  The walk here is nice as the park sits on a hill that requires us to gain some elevation.  I like the challenge of that.

A few pictures of the park while on our walk this morning:

Entrance to the park

This is from the park entrance road overlooking the campground.

Coachlight sells RV's - both new and used

Welcome to our Escapees group

Leaves are falling fast!

Clubhouse

Our Bentley

Keith/Drena on the right, Stan/Linda on the left

Dean/Cheri on the right, David/Donna on the left

After breakfast we heard a knock at the door.  Dean opened it to find Stan with a bowl of french toast bake his wife Linda had made.  She wanted to share some with each of us.  How very nice and how delicious it was!  So delicious, I asked if we could get a copy of the recipe and she sent each of us one.  

Dean wanted to walk next door to Coachlight's RV store and take a look around.  After making a slow walk through, we left there with a new fan for our refrigerator (ours broke recently), a new water filter and some caulk.  We always enjoy looking at the gadgets in RV stores.  We tried out a couple of recliners and agreed they were quite nice and very comfortable - just not on our "to buy" list today!

This morning we congregated at the clubhouse and visited for awhile while Drena taught us more about apps we can download to our phones - this time about food apps such as Subway, McDonalds, Popeyes, etc.  Wow I am amazed at the deals you can get through these fast food places, so I downloaded a few that we like to stop at, along with Cracker Barrel and Golden Corral - I'm beginning to feel like I'm growing older as I type these.  Lol!  Dean made the comment to me the other day I see why everyone talks about a fixed income when they retire - it never increases as much as prices do.  I guess that is why we need to look at every possible way to save money - if we can get two Quarter Pounder Cheeseburgers at McDonald's for the price of one, why not take advantage of it?  Now, the other half of being a senior citizen is remembering that I have the app on my phone, and then how do I use it?  

We headed back to Bentley about 1:30 where we made a quick sandwich before heading to Walmart.  Donna is making a breakfast casserole in the morning and we are all going to bring a little something.  I'm taking granola and sliced almonds to add to the yogurt that Drena is bringing.  I also bought some tea to have on hand.  I've been cold today for some reason and I needed something to warm me up.  I could not find the hot chocolate mixes I love but they are so high in sugar content anyway I really do not need them.

We made one last stop at Lowe's.  We have a storage drawer underneath our couch.  In fact if you  have been reading our blog you might have remembered we had the rig almost a year before we even knew it existed.  We went over some railroad tracks in Mississippi, and when we got to the next RV park we found the drawer all askew.  I was so surprised when I discovered it had a nice storage area.

We have fought this drawer off and on (pun on words since it's off almost as much as it is on) since then.  We looked to see if Lowe's might have a new drawer slide so we could just replace the ones we have.  We did find some but we weren't sure of the size so we'll check that out when we get back to see if they will work.  The slides at Lowe's are definitely much stronger than what is on the drawer now.  Well, the slides on the drawer are 12" and Lowe's smallest size was 14".  Dean's going to see if the 14" will fit and if so we are going to give those a try.

The storage drawer under the couch is just sitting on the ground for now.

The sun is shining and it is really beautiful out however the wind is cooler today.  Here is my view as I am working on the blog.

Not a bad view.  The leaves on the trees look much prettier than this picture indicates.

We've had a great time with these 3 couples this week.  It has gone by so fast.  We will be heading home after breakfast tomorrow as we still have some work to do before we close on the house Monday afternoon.  I have a doctor's appointment Monday morning in Joplin.  His office staff called this morning and changed my 8am appointment on Monday to 10am so that means we may go ahead and move the RV to the RV Park before we go to Joplin rather than after we get back.  You never know how long you'll be in a Dr.'s office, and we want to move the RV before the closing takes place.  It's always something.....

Tonight we had a weiner roast.  I brought the last batch of the hot dogs I bought from the Oswego Locker.  I purchase them frozen and have used some out of the pack several times.  The park has a really nice fire pit outside of the clubhouse.  The guys had the fire going and by 5:30 we were cooking our dogs.  We had chili, cheese, relish, ketchup, and mustard to go on the dogs, along with cole slaw and chips.  For dessert we had more pecan pie with ice cream or dream whip.  It was all delicious!  About 7, we headed back to our respective rigs for the evening.

We will have breakfast at the clubhouse with everyone before we leave tomorrow.  I know it will be delicious.  Fortunately for us it is only an hour drive back home so we should be home before noon.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 - Instapot Dinner

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 - Technology and Instapot Dinner

I was up around 4:30 this morning, made the coffee and set down to read my Bible for awhile.  I started reading earlier this year with the intent of reading the entire Bible in 1 year.  I did great until we went to Kentucky/Ohio, and then when we returned home we've been so busy with the house I have had a hard time getting back to reading everyday so now I'm trying to catch up for all the times I've missed.  I feel certain before the year is over I will be back on track and finish out okay, and I really enjoyed reading it this morning.

After Dean got up and had his two cups of coffee he asked me if we were going to walk.  We both agreed we should.  It rained in the night and it was definitely damp this morning but we enjoyed a nice walk here in the park and out near the main entrance that leads to the camping store that Coachlight owns next door.  We walked 2.29 miles at an average of 16:40 min/per mile.  

After breakfast Dean walked down to Keith & Drena's rig to have coffee and I showered, washed dishes and made the bed.  I am driving the ladies to the Carthage Walmart to pick up a few things we need for our Instapot Meal tonight at 9:30.

I wanted to get some hand lotion because I have two fingers where the skin is cracked around the nails.  Drena suggested I try O'Keefe's Working Hands hand cream that  guarantees relief for extremely dry, cracked hands.  They are so sore I am willing to give it a try.  I guess I'm going to have to get the rubber gloves out to wash dishes.  I do have to admit my fingers aren't nearly as sore tonight as they were this morning so I hope that means it is working.

After returning from Walmart we gathered at the clubhouse where Drena and I tired to download a ringtone for Dean's phone but no matter what we tried we could not make it work.  We took a break for lunch to each of our respective rigs and then we gathered back at the clubhouse to play a game that Donna brought.  We selected a card with a topic and then we had to try and guess the answers provided on the card.  We had some great laughs.

About 4 everyone headed to their rigs to gather up what was needed for our part of the meal tonight.  We are using our Instapots to make most of our evening meal.  Drena made quartered potatoes cooked in butter and deviled eggs.  Linda made glazed carrots.  I made smothered pork chops and used both mine and Donna's Instapots.  Donna made a pasta salad.  For dessert Linda brought pecan pie and ice cream.  What a wonderful meal we had and we enjoyed using our Instapots.

Enjoying our meal.

Front Left to Front Right
Keith, Stan, David, Dean, Donna, Linda and Drena.

Instapots and our meal.  Coachlight set up pthe table and decoration for our get together.

Instapots being used to make smothered pork chops.  All the food was excellent!

It cooled off quite a bit since we walked this morning .  I hope it warms back up in the morning in time for our walk tomorrow.

Good night!

Monday, November 13, 2017 - Camping with Friends, 2018 Travel Plans - Carthage, MO

Monday, November 17, 2017 - Camping with Friends, Carthage, MO

When I work up this morning I thought it must be near 4:30, and was quite surprised to see it was only 2:30.  I rolled over and hoped that I would go back to sleep.  The next time I checked my phone it was 5:30.  So thankful I went right back to sleep and rested so well.

Now coffee was calling my name.  In no time I had a hot cup in hand, and pulled out my Kindle to read on my Bible app this morning.  After my second cup of coffee I was getting ready to read a few blogs when Dean asked if we were going to walk or not.  I said sure, so we changed into something a little warmer and headed to Riverside Park.  It was such a nice morning - about 51 degrees, no wind and we walked 2.32 miles in 16.45 min/miles.  

Once we returned home and ate breakfast we both got busy.  I had several errands to do this morning, cutting Dean's hair, depositing funds at the bank, pick up a T-shirt I had ordered to support a friend who is battling cancer, mailing some cards and submitting an address change to the post office, picking up groceries at G&W, dropping off old prescriptions at the Sheriff's Dept., and making a call to the city to get a special pick-up at the house on Wednesday and giving them a date to close out our account for utilities effective Monday, November 20.  Once I returned I helped Dean get hitched up for our 3 day camping trip at Carthage, MO with three other couples.  We are looking forward to a little down time and just enjoying being with some great friends.

We left Oswego at 10:33 and pulled into Coachlight RV Park in Carthage, MO around  11:45.  We stopped at the office and went in to register.  We had to wait for about 15 minutes before someone showed up to get us signed in.  He explained he was the only one there today and he seemed to be wearing a lot of hats while doing so.  

Soon he was leading us to our site, number 21.  What a great location - the site was the most level site we have had in a very long time.  We pulled in and basically stopped - without having to move forward or backward, and it was already level to boot!  We liked this and wish it was always this easy when parking - not that it is typically that hard but usually there is some kind of maneuvering to do.

This last week has been so busy that I've not had time to clean Bentley the way I prefer to have  him looking, so once we had the slides out I moved things out of the way and vacuumed the living area, bedroom, bathroom and the steps/landing to upstairs.  Wow, what a difference that made.  I also did some dusting and got everything in place.  All in all it took me about 30 minutes.  This is my kind of cleaning!

We had some left over pizza from Friday and we shared that for our lunch.  For some reason the large drawer under our couch fell off the rail on one side on the way here today.  Dean has fixed this two or three times but today we could not get it to go back in place.  We'll deal with it when we get back to Oswego.

About 2pm, two more rigs showed up within a few minutes of each other and by the time they were parked the last rig for our group drove in.  After everyone was settled and had set up we walked down to Keith and Drena's rig with our chairs and visited for a couple of hours.  Drena made some coffee - it tasted great with the temperatures starting to drop.  At 4:30 we discussed dinner options and decided on Mexican at El Charro.  Everyone seemed quite pleased with their meal selection.  We returned to the park about 6:30 to our respective rigs for the evening.  

Here it is 8:06 and we just turned on Dancing with the Stars.  We missed half of it.  😒 

I spent the rest of the evening doing some preliminary planning of travels for 2018, including our trip to South Texas for Jan-March, and from Sedalia, MO to Grand Island, NY via Canada to see son Matt and family for most of the month of June.  

Sunday, November 12, 2017 - Weekly Sister-fest, Fall Leaves and Popcorn Memories

Sunday, November 12, 2017 - Weekly Sister-fest, Fall Leaves and Popcorn Memories

This morning was overcast but much warmer so for the first time in several days we headed to Riverside Park for our morning walk.  Other than the really cold breeze "blasting" us from the open area along the bluff it was quite nice.  Wow, have the trees changed since we were here last - the leaves are falling fast.

I love our park.  This is along the bluff - still some beautiful colors showing here - and look at all of the leaves on the road.

I had to leave the road and walk over to the edge of this bluff that overlooks our water plant.  These are the trees across the road from the plant, still a lot of beautiful colors!

I posted a picture of this tree last week - look at all of the leaves on the ground now.

I managed to catch a few leaves falling from this tree as we walked by.  

We walked 2.5 miles in just under 17 minutes per mile, slightly slower than our last walk.  The weather is supposed to be really nice this coming week, so I hope that means we will be walking every morning.  

After returning to Bentley, we had our breakfast and then I got ready for church.  When we first started going to Sherman for church I dreaded the drive, but now I really enjoy it.  There is something soothing about driving in the country especially at this time of year when the trees are so pretty.   

Today is sister Cindy's day to have our weekly sister-fest.  I called her to see if I could do a load of laundry while I was there - I wanted to wash the shirts I bought at Kohl's yesterday, along with a few other items.  I gathered those up, along with some hangars and headed to her house, where I tossed them in the washer before everyone else showed up.

Our Aunt Lil, my mom's youngest sister joined us today and that was really nice.  We had a great visit and enjoyed a wonderful 7-up cake Cindy had for us.  She also was kind enough to have a pot of coffee made, which today I really enjoyed.

We typically spend a couple of hours with each other so shortly after 3 we all headed home.  I had a list of things I wanted to get done yet this afternoon before we leave for our campout at Carthage tomorrow with three other couples.  I got busy defrosting the freezer in Bentley, changed the sheets on the bed, we skyped with our son Matt and his family in New York, fixed dinner, swept the floors, did the dishes and readied the coffee pot for tomorrow morning.  The weather is supposed to be great and we are looking forward to a couple of days of fun, then we'll return home Thursday to finish up the last few things we need to do before we close on the house Monday, November 20.  

After all of that, Dean and I settled in to watch a new Hallmark movie and of course he needed his Sunday night popcorn.  A reminder of my childhood as my dad almost always made popcorn for us on Sunday evenings as we all watched TV together.  Sometimes if we were lucky we might even get a small glass of pop to go with it.  What a treat that was!  I still have the wooden popcorn bowl he used.  One of the few things I could not give up in this life changing event we are about to undertake.

Saturday, November 11, 2017 - Finishing Things Up

Saturday, November 11, 2017 - Finishing Things Up

I really was tired from all we accomplished yesterday and slept in until 5:30 this morning - late for me.  I felt well rested though.  I turned the coffee pot on and set down at my laptop to write up a post from yesterday's activities when my cell phone buzzed.  My sister Cindy was checking to see if I was up yet.  When I said yes, in seconds my phone rang.  She was looking for a new vacuum cleaner in Joplin yesterday and one of their stops was at Khol's.  I had asked her if she had time would she see if they had any of their long sleeved t-shirts out yet, and if so, to pick out 3 for me.  She wanted to let me know they never even looked for them.  She said the parking lot was packed, there were no carts available and after they found the vacuum she wanted they went straight to the register, paid and left.  She wanted to let me know she still had her 30% coupon if I had the chance to go and could use it if I wanted. 

After we visited a bit, I worked on the blog post from Friday.  Once breakfast was over and my chores were done in Bentley I headed into the house to do a few things.  I needed to gather up everything left in the house that will not be staying for the new owners.  (I am leaving several pictures, decorative items, etc. for them)  Dean and I also needed to take a few things to Misti this morning - she is taking our TV, and DVD player.  She already had taken our Wii but we still had a couple of parts that go with it. Dean needed to change out the dryer plug-in so while he worked on that and hooking up the TV's I made a few deliveries and ran some errands.  I took a few things to my sister Cindy, and my garage sale kit (price tags, adding machine, tape, paper, extension cord, markers, etc. - all the things we've needed over the years as my sisters, daughter and nieces have held garage sales) to my niece Nikki, and then ran a few errands.  

When I returned to Misti's, she mentioned they was going to Joplin later.  Haleigh was wanting to do a little shopping and I asked if she minded if I tagged along.  They didn't mind, but it would be a little later this morning.  That worked well for me as I still had a few things to do at the house.  As I mentioned I had several things in the house that needed to go to Bentley.  While I did not take them out of the house yet, I did gather them all in one spot.  A few will need to go to my son in Parsons and I'll get those to him one day next week.  I want to wait until we get back from our camp outing next week to put anything else in Bentley.  I need to do a good cleaning of both Bentley and the house, and maybe a little purging in Bentley before adding anything else - although small, I do not like clutter so I want to be selective in what I add.

It was about noon when Misti and Haleigh got here.  While we are taking my car, I have some other stuff for her to go through when we get back.  I had quite a few cleaners, soaps, etc. that are already duplicated in Bentley.  She may as well take advantage of them if she can use them.

On the way to Joplin Misti was telling me about a number of apps where you can earn points for shopping - sometimes just for visiting a store, or scanning an item within the store.  Once you hit a certain point amount you can earn gift cards or cash.  I told her she needed to take the time to show me each of them and how they worked.  Yesterday while we were shopping I was surprised at how many points she logged.  We also discussed the Walmart Savings Catcher and its apparent she knows a lot more about it than I do and I guess I need a tutorial from her on it as well.  However, I do know that I've acquired almost enough money to purchase a Nutra Bullet which I have been thinking about for quite sometime.  On our way home from Joplin yesterday we stopped at Tropical Smoothie, my first visit, and the smoothie I chose was delicious.  This is one of the reasons I'd like to have the Nutra Bullet, plus it takes up very little space.  I do not have a blender or chopper of any kind in Bentley so this could be used for a variety of needs without having a bunch of appliances on board - it's all about weight.

Our first stop was at Khol's which turned out to be a good stop.  I found 3 long sleeved t-shirts and a flannel shirt for $35 with tax.  That being said I did not take the time to try them on, so hopefully I am happy with the fit - if not they will go back.  The parking lot and the store was packed as were the dressing rooms.  It's much easier to return than to stand in line waiting to try clothes on.  

Haleigh wanted to go to the mall where we stopped at a number of stores, and had lunch at the food court.  There was a new taco place since I visited last that I could not pass up.  One of the items advertised was a street taco for $1.99.  It was soooooo good.  I will definitely return here.  It included pork, pineapple slaw, BBQ sauce and I added a mild taco sauce.  Wonderful!  Speaking of new, I guess it's been a while since I've been through the entire Joplin mall - I was surprised how many new stores had opened.  I don't do much shopping anymore - much different from when I was working.  Other than acquiring a few clothes now and then, there's not too much I want or need.

After stopping at a few more stores we headed to Sam's where I picked up a couple of things for Dean.  We made our last stop for the smoothies I mentioned above.  The one I ordered was not only delicious but huge - way too big for what I needed but so good I drank every bit of it.  I would love to learn to make one exactly like it, just a smaller version  Here's the description from their website: 

TRIPLE BERRY OAT^™

Strawberries, blueberries, cranberry, multi-vitamin, ground flax seed, whole grain oats, whey protein & Splenda®

What a fun day we had!  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my daughter and granddaughter.  Watching Haleigh and listening to her reminds me of myself so much at her age.  

When I pulled the car in the garage I could see Dean had been working hard while I was gone - all of the leftover items were gone or stacked to one side - things we will leave for the new owners ( a few things we talked about), take to the storage unit (because he still needed to use them before storing) and a few things we hopefully will dispose of in one manner or another.....maybe just sitting out for someone to take if they want them, or for the city to get on their bulk pickup day.  The floors in both garage bays had been swept and it looks great for the new owners to take over.  He is such a work horse - never backing away from anything but takes it on like a new challenge everyday.  I love that man!

After going through the cleaning products and selecting several, Misti and Haleigh headed home and Dean and I went to our now truly permanent home - our Bentley!  I put together a big batch of chili.  We settled in, Dean to watch a little TV and me to work on the blog.  That lasted long enough for me to type the first paragraph and I was already drifting off.  About an hour later I woke up and cleaned the kitchen area and once again we settled in...this time to watch Conagher, a movie with Sam Elliott, and his real life wife, Katherine Ross. It was a good movie.

Then it was off to bed for us.  Good night all!

Friday, November 10, 2017 - Moving Day Is Finally Here!

Friday, November 10, 2017 - Moving Day is Finally Here!

I was awake by 3:30 this morning and I laid in bed as long as I could stand it and finally got up about 15 minutes later.  Once the coffeepot was on, I started up the laptop and finished my posts from Wednesday and Thursday.  

While we were eating dinner last night, Dean commented he was ready to have all of the packing and moving done - and so am I!  We are to that point and at the end of the day we hope to only have a good cleaning and a few minor things to finish before handing it over to the new owners in a little over a week - November 20!

My task today is to finish marking a few boxes, tape all of the boxes shut and to wrap my larger family pictures inside a few of the smaller folded boxes.  We found if we leave them folded flat, we can slip them inside, wrap them in brown paper and tape them up.  A few of the pictures were too large for any boxes or tubs we could find so this is going to work perfect.  I hope to have all of that done before the boys arrive around 9:30.  We are hoping 2 trips to the storage unit will be sufficient.  With our van (back seats removed), our truck, Heath's SUV, Brett's truck and his trailer we can move a lot of stuff in a short amount of time.  Heath is bringing his oldest son Abram.  He was a great help the last time we moved Heath and Casey and that was a couple of years ago.  He's only 10 but he's tall and stout for his age.  

Dean headed in to the house before me and taped up all of my boxes, and loaded boxes and plastic tubs in the van.  Once I finished my work in Bentley I went to work on packing our large family pictures.  I decided to wrap each one in brown paper first and then put them in the folded boxes, finally taping both ends in several places.  We were able to pack 5 large pictures this way - with 2 boxes holding two pictures.  We were able to place the rest of the pictures in plastic tubs.  

The boys showed up within a few minutes of each other around 9:30 and got right to work loading up the other vehicles.  

Before pictures of the garage.

Before pictures of the garage.

Before pictures of the garage.  Heath, Dean's oldest son and Heath's oldest son Abram.  Notice Abram is almost as tall as his dad.

I had to take a picture of this to share so I would have documentation of it.  This was Dean's homemade door between our two garages.  Looking through the door is where the vehicles were parked and leads into the back door of the house.  The other side is Dean's shop/man cave.  It worked well for when he wanted to heat or cool his man cave.  He always thought he would put a regular door up but it worked so well he never did.  

Our grandson Abram.  He wanted to know if "Papa" was taking the door between the garages?  We all had a good laugh about that.

By 10:15 we were headed to the storage unit with our first load.  

Our train of vehicles pulling into the storage unit.

It was almost 11:30 when we returned to Oswego.  I ordered a couple of pizzas for lunch,  while the guys continued to load things until I returned with the food.  It was nice to have the break but then we were right back to loading again. The second trip consisted of taking a lot of lumber, individual hand/garden tools, and smaller items that were not boxed so it took longer to load; and of course longer to unload.  By the time we returned, and they looked through several items Dean had set out for them to go through, it was nearly 3:30 before we finished up with our house.

Some after pictures.

Our next task was to take our washer and dryer to my daughter's house, where they had to remove her existing units and then hook up the ones we delivered.  The task went fairly smooth until Dean went to plug in the dryer - and of course it was different than the receptacle already installed.  Something else to do!  

Getting the old washer and dryer removed and new ones installed at Misti's.

Once we returned to our house, Dean and Brett loaded several items he was taking to his house.  He could not get everything in his truck and trailer so we loaded our truck to haul those for him.  We had a few things to do before we left, including making a stop at the local hardware store to pick up a new plug for Misti's dryer.  I'm so glad we did this before we left town since we discovered they would be closed tomorrow.  

Fortunately when we got to Brett's Dean, Brett and Tucker unloaded everything.  I would have helped but silly me did not bring a jacket.  Since the sun had set it was a little too cool, so I set in the truck while they did the work.  We stopped to get something to eat and it was about 7:30 when we returned to Oswego .  We were both pretty well spent.  I tried to check Facebook and my emails for the day but I just kept nodding off.  We finally headed to bed a little before 10.  We didn't walk this morning since we had so much to do, but I'm pretty sure we both walked enough today to make up for it, and with the bending and stooping added in I'm sure we got a little extra exercise as well.  I just hope it made up for the pizza, hamburger and french fries I ate for lunch and dinner, that were NOT modified for a low carb diet.  Hopefully one day won't throw me off too much!