Meeting a Fellow Blogger

Levonne and Gingee

I had a super wonderful day today. 

 First I met up with Levonne , a fellow blogger , who is camphosting down the coast a bit at Big Sur.  Monterey is about half way between my home and Big Sur, so we met there and had a nice lunch and went for a walk on the beach.

 Mother nature smiled on a pair of new friends.
       The weather was fantastic!
              It has been cold and rainy for days.
                       It was a treat to have a clear, sunny day.

We found we had a lot in common, and neither of us stopped talking for the entire time.  Levonne has a sweet little dog that also enjoyed the walk along the shore.

 I really enjoy her blog because it is very well written and a pleaurse to read.  Do check it out.


Since Levonne and her husband plan to be in the area for awhile we decided to met again after the Holidays!

This is proof.
    You are real people!
          Last spring I met Paul and Mary,  and hope to get together with Evelyn when      we are both in San Diego this Christmas.
I'm definitely looking forward to meeting a lot more of you, either on the road, or as you pass thru this beautiful part of the country.

On the way back up the coast I spotted a likely looking fresh vegetable stand in Moss Landing.  Since we like artichokes, and this is artichoke season, in an area considered the artichoke capitol of the country, I decided to stop.

The prices were unbelievable.  Less than at our grocery store, and less than any farmers market I have been to in years.  This picture is of all the vegetables I was able to buy for less than $18.00!

Corn: 7 for $1.00 ... raspberries:  $2.00 per box ...  giant cauliflower:  $1.00 ...  persimmons:   5 for $1.00 ...  avocados:  2 for $1.00  ... and  artichokes: $2.00 each.

We have driven by that stand several times when we went to Monterey.  We have stopped at one a short distance away and were not impressed by the prices.  It seemed like  a tourist trap!

The third good thing that happened today was I met the mountain Handyman!

I found him in my driveway when I came home.

Why was he in my driveway? you may ask.  We happen to live in a GPS "black hole" Anyone trying to find us or some of our neighbors with a GPS inevitably gets lost. They can find the road, but for some reason their units are confused about the addresses on the road. He had pulled into my drive to call his next client, a neighbor just two properties down the road.

When I found out he was a handyman I got his card, some information about his rates, and an estimate on one of the many projects that need to be done.

I feel like I have struck gold or found a treasure.  I have seen his adds in our local mountain magazine, but now I can ask my neighbor how his work is before I hire him!

To complete a nice day there was a vivid sunset.

Now I am in front of my warm fire, drinking tea, and will be reading all of your adventures as soon as I post this.

One more box sorted

My daughter and family were here for Thanksgiving.  For 22 years I have had a large "dish pack" box of her things  in our attic.  I asked her to go thru it and set aside what she wanted to keep.  We are driving down to San Diego for Christmas and I will take it to her.  I have decided to just seal up the box and put it out with the trash on Thursday.

One more box gone!

I have some art work to get out this week, and I am meeting Levonne on Tuesday.

I just might start stripping wall paper on Wednesday!  I have the stuff to do it, and it's about time I got back to work on the house.  I had told myself I should complete the sorting of the two front hall closets before I started on the wall paper, but maybe doing the walls will get me motivated to do the closets!

I have been doing a lot of blog reading and thinking about our alternatives.

  At the moment there  many options to think about!  If and when I figure it out, I'll write a post.

Hope you all have a good week, I will be reading.

I'm Still happily sitting in front of the fire every night with my laptop.


Hope you are keeping warm and dry as well.

Finally figured it out!

I started a new blog recently to write some very short stories about my childhood.  I was having a problem with the blogger format.  I couldn't figure out why I was able to get comments on the first post Start Here, but not on any of the others.

Finally by digging thru the help forums, I found the answer and I fixed it!

Yea Me!  Fixed a computer problem without any help from Craig!

He is my "go to" guy, but I knew the answer was there somewhere!  What will I be able to do next!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 My family will be arriving in the next few hours, and I am very Thankful for them all.

I will miss our Son, but will see him at Christmas.

Stay warm, eat turkey, (or not for our vegan friends.)

Corelle, Pyrex, Corning ware, Outlet

I have always liked Corelle dishes much better than stoneware.  I have used them for years.  I like them because they are lighter, take up less room in the cabinets and dishwasher, and usually don't break if dropped.   I have had a few shatter if they hit wrong, but compared to other dishes they last much longer.

I've also heard that a lot of people use them in their RVs for the same reasons.

For the upcoming Thanksgiving meal I will be using my fancy china, but for the other meals of the weekend the Corelle will do nicely.

However I have noticed the inside of my mugs have become quite discolored over the years.  A few have permanent finger prints on the sides from where I held them with resin on my hands in the studio.  Yuck! Time to trash them.

I took a trip over to the Corning Ware Outlet store this afternoon to get some new mugs.

I love to browse.  I saw a number of things I might like to have in an RV someday.  Didn't buy anything!  Self control.

But a stop at the Outlet will be a fun part of the preparation someday.

Cold and rainy here last night!  Down to 37 degrees when I got up at 3 am.

A New Blog

Years ago I helped my mother write a book of stories about herself.  I had given her a copy of a book called "To My Children's Children" that was full of questions that helped her remember her life.  She wrote long rambling letters, and I entered them on the computer, editing,  combining, and organizing them without loosing her voice.
I had family pictures scanned and added numerous "quick pick" illustrations, and we ended up with a quite nice book.  I had hard bound copies made for all of my siblings and their kids.  I think Mom was very proud and happy with it.

Last Mother's Day my daughter gave me a similar book.

So, I have decided to use blogger to start writing  some of my stories.
I Think it's going to be a long winter, so with laptop and a warm fire I'm starting
Merikay Remembers.

Of course I'll keep up my dream here, but remembering will be fun.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2 miles Friday

Thinking of  Margie

  

Total walked = 254 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Birthday Cake!

Craig always see to it that I have a Birthday cake.

This one was a party all by itself!  Ribbons and sprinkles.  In fact it had a cupcake on top of it!

       With the exception of my laptop, which is officially an early Christmas gift, I think consumable gifts are the best! This one should prove interesting over the next few weeks.  It is a "Grow It At Home" Mushroom Kit.

By the way, I really want to thank all of you who sent me such nice Birthday greetings.  I really was in a "down" mood, but after getting the comments I felt quite "up" again.

I've never been one to celebrate my birthday. 

 I enjoy the thoughtfulness of my husband bringing me a cake however.  He is a sweetheart sometimes!

AND  he says he still needs me,  even at 64!

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2 miles Thursday

Thinking of  Margie

  

Total walked = 252 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

64

I' m 64 today.

  My goal is that the house will be fixed up by one year from today.

  I have my doubts.

Evelyn,  your comment didn't distress me.  It just allowed me to vent a bit.  I fell less like I'm whining if I'm answering a comment.

 I always get distressed when I have to clean the house.

On the plus side I have tossed a few more things, and moved a few more to the garage flea market box while cleaning for the Holidays.

On the minus side, I put  a few things into drawers and closets that I had worked so hard to clear last spring.

One day at a time.

One year at a time.

Happy Birthday to me, I'll spend it dusting.

I will also walk a couple of miles on the treadmill later today.

Will we?

Evelyn's comment of: " I noticed you're 1/4 way toward your goal of 1,000 miles. Does that mean your 1/4 of the way to fulltiming and hiking in the national parks? :) "

Made me think.   How far along are we?  Will we ever get this house in shape to put it on the market?  If we do will it sell?  Will we ever be able to cull down the stuff to a reasonable amount for storage? 

Will we ... Will we  ... Will we? 

If I think about the whole process I feel overwhelmed and a bit depressed.  If I think about it in small pieces, like the 2 miles at a time that I am walking, I feel we can get there.  Someday.

Over the weekend Craig replaced most of the shakes on the wood house he built about 15 years ago.  It started to leak a bit last spring.  Not a big job, but one that needed to be done.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2 miles Monday

Thinking of  Margie

  

Total walked = 250 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Vanity at my age?, updated profile picture

My new laptop has the photo booth application built in and I have been experimenting with taking my own picture.

 Feels a bit strange, and a bit self centered, but the picture I started this blog with was several years old (my hair was colored and had a curl) and not really me anymore.

The profile pictures are so tiny, it really doesn't matter much, but I wanted a picture that looks like me now, so if I ever meet some of you, you will have a little idea of what I look like!

I think I got a good one today.









Started walking again yesterday:

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2 miles Saturday

Thinking of  Margie

  

Total walked = 248 miles

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

All Caught up, and a gout attack!

For most of 2009 and spring of 2010 I was pretty sure I was on the edge of having gout.  My mother had it, and Craig was told he has had at least one attack. When he was in pain I did a lot of research about it.  Then  I tried to be fairly careful about what we ate and avoided many of the foods that are said to be  bad.  I was taking care of myself and being a "good wife."

Last spring I asked my Doctor about it and he assured me that I "did not have gout."

So I started eating things that I had been avoiding like red meat and beans and lots of mushrooms and asparagus!  I also started enjoying red wine again, but then I had some painful joints and the Doctor prescribed  Mobic.  (At that time I again stopped all alcohol.)

Months go by.  I felt great.  The Mobic was working.

Until the World Series!  During the playoffs we had lots of "baseball food."  Hot dogs, Bratworst, beans.  Ice cream became an evening ritual after the games. I even had some forbidden beer!  On the last night of the series, we had a steak dinner with red wine, and a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

36 hours later, while grocery shopping, my ankle seemed to disintegrate into 1000 shards of broken glass.  I could barley walk and hung onto the cart to get myself into the van and home.  I called the doctor and described what had happen

and he said, "Sounds like a gout attack."

 No kidding.  I knew that, and now he finally gave me some medication for it.  He also suggested a vegetarian diet for at least a week to ten days.  I'm doing that, and I do know what foods to avoid in the future.  It's not hard, but when he told me in spring that I didn't have it I saw no reason to give up red meat and all the other things I liked.

So for now I'm not eating any meat and my ankle is ok again.  Tomorrow I want to resume walking.  Next week I'll try some chicken.

On another note, I finished all of the sculptures that had been ordered and shipped the last of them this morning.

The next two weeks will be devoted to a much needed house cleaning effort.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we will be having family visit.

Folding Table

Last spring when we were at an RV show we saw a Georgetown Gas Class A that had a kitchen island.  I liked the idea of having so much counter space because I do cook from scratch a lot and have enjoyed my large home kitchen for years.  But ... We probably don't want a Georgetown.


Over the months I have been thinking about how we could achieve the same space.  We did notice that many of the larger Class A's had a decent amount of floor space in the "kitchen" when the slides were open.   Hmmm!

Yesterday when I was at Whole Foods I noticed a gal folding up her demo table.  It was not too wide, and had extended legs that made it about 3' tall.  I asked her if she knew where it had come from, and since it was her's she was able to tell me the source.

It was from Lifetime Products. In the picture it looks a bit flimsy, but her's seemed quite sound. I like the fact that it folds down into 24" x 24" x 3" and has a handle.

  Maybe I could use it as a counter space while I was cooking and fold it up and stow it when not needed.

I could also see using it as a work table outside for my art.   I like to stand when I work, and have been thinking  about building a portable work table that wasn't to bulky and could be broken down for transport.

 Actually I could use more than one!





BUT I'm trying not to buy anything until we actually HAVE an RV,

BUT I could use this at home now.  Maybe I'll order one next week ...
That way if it didn't seem like it would work, I could return it.

BUT the art account is  fat this month...

I think I'll order one now,   It's  tax deductible.

Cover-up

I found this neat "cover-up" in a catalog the other day. 


 I thought it would be great for mornings in a campground if I wanted to step outside, or walk over to the facilities before being fully dressed.  (I'm very used to having two bathrooms!)  


Or I could use it in the evening if I want to slip into my night gown early!  


No one will know it is a bathrobe!  Not that I really care if they did.


This is the North Style URL if anyone else is interested.


North Style denim cover up.


I was going to buy it myself, but then thought if I send the URL to my daughter it  will make her Christmas shopping a little bit easier!


I will like to use it at home as well.  I'm not into big fluffy terry robes.

Busy Busy Busy, but happy

We had a couple of cold rainy days, but it seems the warm weather has returned.  It was in the 70's today and will be t least that warm again tomorrow.  The crickets are still singing.

I got another order over the weekend, this time for a Moose and a Bighorn.  Of course the customer needs to have them by the 15th or the sale is off.

Scramble.  I CAN get them done along with the other three I still am working on, but it means very full days for the rest of this week.

I took a couple of pictures of all the unfinished work I have in the studio, but I haven't had time to try to download pictures to the new laptop yet.

Speaking of which, I have really enjoyed every evening.  I went to my first One on One session at the Apple store on Monday.  Learned I knew more than I thought I did.  I canceled the second session because I just don't have the time this week.

I will do it soon however.

I always feel good when I have art work to do.  Orders make me feel "loved."  A little extra money is nice too, but I always say I could earn more per hour working at McDonald's.

Not much progress on the house for the last couple of weeks either!

I only have had time for one exercise walking session in the last few days, but will get back to it when the rush is over.

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2.25 regular miles Saturday

+1 extra mile in memory of Margie

  Total walked = 246 miles  (I hope to make 300 by Thanksgiving)

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Daily countdown:

364 days  to get the house fixed up!