114 - A day

The adjuster came by today. He took pics of the microwave, fridge and plug then wrote down a couple of items like the satellite and washer/dryer. He told me to make a list of the 'little things' that were damaged as well. I don't know if the check is cut based on that visit, or if there is further investigation into it. I'm supposed to hear from a couple more people and then I can contact an RV service to see about getting things repaired/replaced.

I finished rearranging the RV this morning, finding homes for things. In every home there is a 'perfect' place for everything, and when you find it the house just feels better... that's where I'm trying to get to. I now have a coffee station set up on the dining room table, found homes for most of the appliances so I don't have to drag them out and put them away anymore, repotted my rosemary, did surgery on the bamboo. It's feeling much more homey in here now. Made a sandwich for lunch and a salad for dinner. Now I'm watching tv... there really isn't much on network tv anymore and I really miss my satellite. I also hate paying for something we're not using, it rankles me. Last night I watched a movie on HBO Go... it really is a sanity saver sometimes.

Used my Christmas money to buy a new laptop this evening. The one I have now has been giving me fits. I get a lot of blue screens lately, an IP address conflict pops up pretty regularly, and when I reboot there is something that it thinks is running that's not running, but until I bring up the Task Manager I can't get rid of the message or make the computer do anything but ding at me. Ain't nobody got time for that. I decided to go with Toshiba this time and found a great deal at Staples.com. With rebates, instant savings, my cash back site, etc. it was around $414. The awesome thing is I get 6 mb of memory and it is expandable up to 16, and I will have a 640 GB hard drive now instead of 581 GB. I am pretty sure the processor is faster too. I can also charge my phone with the lid closed... which doesn't sound important, but I can't do that with this laptop, or maybe I can but just don't know how to.

Feels like things are falling into place to some extent. My hotspot works great here, fastest internet I've had in months. And the great thing is, the cabins here are awesome, so if people feel like taking a vacation out here, it's actually feasible. The water is gorgeous, nice and relaxing. I haven't taken many pics, but here are a few:

Coffee station for Mike

Kitchen looking toward the living room

Gracie being all cute and curled up on the couch with me

Kitchen appliances and bar with paper goods storage above. I love the produce basket too, it keeps everything where I need it without adding clutter.

New configuration with couch facing the tv. It puts the heaviest object in the center of the RV which I think stabilizes it, plus those windows used to mostly be blocked by the recliners so it lets more light in. The corner that you can't see would make a great place for a plant. And I have shelves by the wall that let Gracie get to her litterbox through the cat door but also gives us a place to put a lamp and sit drinks down.

Recliners are where the couch used to be. It's a little crowded, but about the same as they were on the other side and now Gracie has another perch to look out the window.

The bedroom. Nothing has changed but I figure you're curious about the RV now. King-sized bed, a closet, the w/d is behind the wooden door and we have a built-in dresser at the foot of the bed.

TV with fireplace underneath.

Stove and microwave. Very small and inconvenient pantry... I need to figure something out to make it more functional. Things just get lost in there.

It's blurry, but this is the view we have. If you followed it around to the right there would be a playground, and continue following that and you have the clubhouse you can see through the living room window (pic of the sofa). The cafe is within walking distance straight down our row. I have to drive to the dumpster, it's not far, but when you're carrying a trashbag it isn't walkable, and the office is a little too far to get to on a cold day.

So you see, I don't have it too bad here. I know when you say you're living in an RV people form impressions that may or may not be true. We decided that since we were going to be spending a lot of time in the RV, we wanted something nice and homey, that didn't feel like an RV. It was good before, but I think with the tweaks I've made in the last couple of days, and things we've done in the past, it's even better. Once I find solutions to some of the other issues I'll be even happier. Storage is the biggest issue we have... for clothes, for food, for miscellaneous things. We improve it day by day, but there's a finite amount of space so eventually it is what it is.

113 - American Badass

So Mike is in Pittsburgh again. We got up this morning and he drove to the airport... since we couldn't afford the autopilot module for the truck, guess who drove back? Guess who was not a happy camper? Guess who had to get over it? Each leg of the trip was an hour and a half... that's a lot of driving when you're nervous. The worst part is that when I get nervous, and especially when I'm nervous and cold... I end up having to pee. It comes on suddenly, and it is almost immediately urgent. So about ten minutes out from the airport I'm already feeling like a potty break, and then once we got to the airport I had to get past the hospital district before I could find a place that I was willing to stop at. I decided to get gas while I was there but the pump was so dang slow that I cut it off at $15... about four gallons... which means I will have to get gas again if I go anywhere. There's a station just up the road so it's not bad, just sucks that I couldn't fill up while I was there.

Actually the airport itself was easy - there was no one there; hope it's that way when I pick him up. There were bits and pieces of the trip home that made me nervous, but all in all it wasn't bad, there's not a lot of traffic on 85% of the route. There were some pretty narrow roads, but the speed limit was 40-45 mph in those parts so that helped. Actually the worst part for me was the last few miles because even though the roads don't get any narrower, there is a soft shoulder with a steep dropoff into the water... and that makes me nervous because it feels narrower. There are also a lot of twists and turns which might be fun in the Mini or the Green Machine, but not so much in the truck.

Stopped off to get groceries on the way back since I saw a Publix. They carry arugula. You just don't know... I love arugula. I don't even make it fancy... arugula, lime juice, salt and a little shredded parmesan... Heaven. They also had the good ginger ale... Buffalo Rock. If you can find it, get you some, it actually tastes like ginger, not that lame sprite-with-a-hint-of-something-spicy that passes for ginger ale where we're from. It's very spicy. And good for your tummy.

Then I came home and rearranged everything. I moved the couch in front of the tv and put the recliners where the couch used to be. I like it. It's warmer and the windows are easier to get to, there's more light. I figure we don't have to put the slides in any time soon so we have options now. Now we can both sit on the couch. :) Rearranging the sofa meant I had to find a home for all the crap around the dining room table that was bugging me anyway, which led to laundry, which led to moving things around on the counter, which led to putting things in the truck, which led to vacuuming the floor, which led to rearranging the truck, which led to washing dishes... It just wasn't as simple as moving furniture... It never is, is it?

Tomorrow the adjuster is supposed to come by and evaluate the damage to our RV. Glad to finally be able to get that going. I hope I can find a mobile RV repair person here, it's not only convenient, it's kind of necessary. We really can't take the RV in to have it repaired. That last stint in the shop was horrible, if it hadn't been for friends I don't know what we would have done, and I refuse to go through that again. I want to be in my own home with my own stuff, comfortable at last. We deserve that after everything we have been through. The only thing that makes me sad is, I thought my computer was damaged by the surge because the speakers kept buzzing and the music would hang up every few seconds, but it only happened at grandma's house so I guess it was something related to her plug. Phooey.

Doing a lot of thinking lately. I've come to the conclusion that Mike and I get too wrapped up in trying to make things happen. It's hard to be patient, we both feel like we got a late start on our life together and I think we're trying to make up for lost time. But you can't. You have to start where you start and face the consequences of each decision you make, sometimes decisions you made years ago. It's frustrating to find that we are no closer to where we want to be than we were last year. Feels like we're further away in many respects.

I used to believe things would fall into place if they were meant to, and to be honest, that approach seemed to work. It's hard when there are two of you, each trying to please the other and sometimes both misunderstanding what the other actually wants. That's kind of what happened in April. Mike thought I wanted him home at the end of April, he planned on staying through June, I thought he was staying through the end of May... it got all confused and we both got it wrong. As much as we talk about things, as well as we think we communicate, sometimes we miss the mark. I think this last year has taught us to really think things through, to step back and look at the big picture, because instant gratification isn't always so gratifying long-term. If only there was a rewind button...

112 - Things that made me laugh today

First off - we made it to our new temporary home without incident. That's reason enough to celebrate. We also found an end spot at the park which means I get a nice view of the lake to gaze out at, and no one can block that except people driving by. They even sell propane here, so now when we run out, we don't have to find a Tractor Supply or some other place to get it refilled - plus they purge the air so we actually get a full tank, which helps immensely. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Tractor Supply, but just to get propane it's much more convenient to drive to the store here at the park. It's kind of a hike to get to 'civilization' but they have a lot of conveniences here... a store with decent stuff in it... the propane... a small cafe that has catfish dinners on Friday and ribeye on Saturday. So far, so good.

Now to the things that amused me today:

Curl Harbor. That's right. Name your hair salon after something bad. "Your hair's a mess, where'd you get that hatchet job?" "Curl Harbor..." "Girl, you should have known..." "I know... I know..."

A series of signs pointing down a side road. One sign was for a drag strip. One sign was for a funeral home.

A commercial for someone whose last name was Pippin. Which I heard as Pimpin'.

So tomorrow Mike heads to the airport. I get to drive the big beast back from the airport. Like it's a treat or something... more like I have to drive it. Not looking forward to either of those things... Mike leaving, or having to drive that truck through Huntsville. I'm hoping by nine traffic calms down and/or is headed the other way, and that most of the roads are as lightly trafficked as the ones we drove in on today. I don't think I'll have a problem with the last few miles of road to get here, I just have spatial issues with Rammy. He has a very large ass. At least it's daytime so I can use the cheat mirrors to make sure I'm in my lane. Driving at night sucks because I just have to trust that I'm between the lines.

I'm glad we're here. It's nice to settle for a while. To take a break from making plans and just let things fall into place for a while. We need a reset period to figure out which direction we want to go, and almost all offers are on the table. So I'm looking forward to exploring our options, and maybe finally attempting to write again. In the last couple of days I've started getting random ideas and feel like maybe I can start to play around with them and see where it goes. All this time I've had off up to this point has been about survival and I haven't really been able to relax and enjoy it like I was supposed to. Hopefully that tide is turning now that we have a homebase and money is coming in again. Fingers crossed.

After I drop Mike off my next step is to call the Allstate inspector so we can get our RV repaired. Microwave... that'll be nice to have again... Fridge... will be good to power it with electricity instead of LP... Self-leveling jacks... they're acting up... My laptop... the speakers are screwy now... couple of other little things. I think all the electronics on the right hand slide need to be looked at since that's where the microwave and fridge are, and they got fried. That's just my thoughts. I've used the washer/dryer to do three more loads of laundry and it seems to be working, no more weird burning smells so I still want someone to look at it, but I think it's okay. And I have to send the satellite off to get it repaired, which sucks, but at least we can get network tv through the antenna in the meantime. Having no tv really sucks... paying for cable and not being able to use it also sucks... They have wi-fi at the park so I can at least watch the online cable channels like HBO and Encore. Better than nothing...

Alrighty, time to head to bed and try to sleep.

111 - Warm fuzzy

Just returned from Walmart. Oh how I love Walmart.

Oh how I love sarcasm.

Nonetheless, I did make unnecessary purchases, which is the primary basis for my dislike of Walmart, but there are others (bases that is... basis-is... reasons y'all). Item number one - I usually don't leave the house much if Mike isn't around, so I tend to wear "comfy clothes"... lounging clothes... yeah, okay, they're PJ's. I was going to buy another bra, but truth be told, when I'm at home I don't generally wear one of those so... no point. And something about Walmart bras just screams broke stripper... maybe it's the zebra print, I don't know... I just can't bring myself to buy them. Item number two - Who has two thumbs and loves her some Lucy? This girl. And there are movies she is in that I haven't seen - I don't know how it happened. Walmart is working hard to win me over so I was presented with the opportunity to own five more Lucy movies than I currently do, all in one lovely package. Now I own two copies of DuBarry was a Lady, but honestly, that group of guys at the beginning who do instruments with their voices? So worth it. Item number three - My warm fuzzy. My new precious. My fuzzy-on-the-inside-so-you-wanna-keep-slipping-your-bare-arms-into-the-sleeves-cuz-it-feels-so-good hoodie. Does anybody know why are hoodies so awesome?

Mike is "training" Gracie to do tricks. He is of the opinion that she does not have a job, and will not do chores, so she needs to earn her treats. He doesn't scoop her poop so I'm not sure what he's all wound up about. :/ He is devising new and interesting ways to antagonize my baby. I also hear him talking smack in the mornings as he feeds her and it kinda cracks me up. It's cute really, but I'll never say it out loud. Anyway, she'll eat a treat out of his hands, so now he has gotten her to stand on her hind legs and she'll put a paw on his hand as if to make sure he doesn't pull it away, then she'll get her treat. This evening he put the treat on the ottoman and she hopped up and knocked it to the ground instead of trying to eat it off the surface. She's wily that way.

Before I forget... grandma-isms. She's got a sense of humor, my grandma. The night we ate at Country Squire, the evening ended on a sour note after my five'ish year old cousin barfed all over the table (thankfully I was allllllllllllll the way at the other end when it happened, but it sounded like someone knocked a drink over, it was epic). On the way out I told grandma she threw the best parties... almost like a frat party... we were loud and obnoxious, we had a good time, and at the end of the night someone threw up. She laughed and said, "Yeah, because he drank too much." Now you know, and I know, that this fits perfectly with my frat party scenario. But what she meant was... he had three glasses of coke and was working on his fourth. She meant that he literally drank too much. It was so deadpan when she said it though that it took me a second to realize we were on two different wavelengths... that were eerily similar...

A couple of nights later we're at the house trying to find a movie to watch. Grandma's DVD player was broken - a fact that was verified by no fewer than three people... they plugged it in... it didn't work... therefore it was broken. So our choices were now limited to that of the VHS variety. My aunt chose Mr. Magoo with Leslie Neilsen and then proceeded to narrate the entire thing, so I went to the kitchen to do something else. In the meantime, grandma was trying to persuade everyone to watch "The Bad Girls" (which I think is just Bad Girls). She kept telling everyone, "They're bad girls, you see... but they're good girls in the end." Something about her delivery made me smile a little on the inside, as if they were hookers but in the end, their virtue had been somehow restored. My mind is a bit twisted.

Don't get me wrong... it's good to see family, the park is nice (when it's not raining), but we're ready to move on. I'm looking forward to getting settled in for a nice long stay in one spot, and Mike is anxious to return to work... where he is supposed to be now actually. We both assumed the sunroof would be a quick fix. We completely underestimated the Goober Gas Station-like qualities of the local body shop. They actually called us to ask if we had the frame because they were missing two screws... there is a parts desk down the hall... seriously. Then came the weekend, then the guy took a vacation day, then it was New Year's Day. Seriously hoping he's working on it TODAY and will have it finished by the end of the day so we can head out in the morning. Not getting a warm fuzzy about it, but really hoping.

And now... I'm going to play me some Walking Dead. Took me all night to download it so it had better be worth it! I decided to buy some games for my PC so that when I get bored I have another option that will keep my mind active. And when there's nothing on tv, or Mike wants to fire up the X-Box or PS3, I can also kill things. Plus Walking Dead is on hiatus right now and I miss it. It's a sickness. And sometimes things just need to die. So I got The Walking Dead, a game called Amnesia, a CSI game, and Dragon Age: Origins, because I'm not a D&D nerd, but I still wish dragons were real.

Hope everyone is having a great 2013 so far. Thank you to all of you who read this and cheer us on or sympathize with our plight. As I said before, when things get bad, your encouragement can be all that helps us keep it together sometimes.

110 - Happy 2013

Well, we made it through the last year of 2012 without incident. Had lunch. Refilled a propane tank. Attempted to get a replacement cord for our satellite - most depressing RV dealership in the world... was a nice building, but all the people inside just looked like they wanted to wake up dead rather than work there another day. Then grocery shopping to get our New Year's supplies and movies. Oh the horror...

I cooked dinner... crab cakes and steak that we bought from Certified Steaks earlier, with a baked potato and pan-fried mushrooms. Mike wanted to try prepping the steaks by salting them first (kosher salt), the salt draws water out and then the liquid sinks back into the meat and tenderizes it... some sort of chemical goodness happens with the protein fibers that makes the steaks nice and tender. Then you rinse the steaks, dry them really well, and fry them in a pan. I think it was good, they were indeed tender, but the cut and quality of the meat also probably had something to do with it. Then I made chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Too much food, too much yum.

We watched the latest Resident Evil... I never watched that series before because (while I know it's odd given my borderline obsession with The Walking Dead) I don't like zombies... at all. It was kinda dumb. I guess if you play the video game it makes more sense and holds more entertainment value. All I can say is, when the zombie apocalypse happens... it had better be TWD kind of zombie and not the RE kind of zombie or we're done for... the latter can shoot guns, operate motor vehicles, and they have some crazy cognitive skills for dead things... Then we watched Neighborhood Watch. Not at all what I was expecting. It was decent but I wouldn't recommend it to my parents because of the orgy scene... for a minute there I thought we rented Eyes Wide Shut. This morning we finished watching The Raven. It was pretty good, kinda gory in spots. I wasn't sure about John Cusack in that role, but I think he did well. He's one of my favorites in a quiet sort of way... he doesn't come to mind when people ask who my favorite is, but when I see that he's in a movie, I'm pretty much going to watch it.

For lunch we had cabbage, cornbread, black-eyed peas, and hog jowls. I am determined to adhere to the guidelines so we squeeze all the good luck we can out of 2013. I had never cooked the peas before, or cornbread for that matter but they turned out pretty good. The hog jowls were the surprise hit. Instead of pan frying them like mom does, because I remember the last time I attempted that my house was filled with smoke, I put them in the toaster oven for 20 or 30 mins on 400. They came out perfect, crispy and light but not tough, almost like a pork rind but more dense. I don't think Mike expected to like them, but he snarfed them up and said they'd be perfect with couche-couche. So... guess what I'm making for dinner? I've never made couche-couche before... sounds kind of like grits... cornmeal and oil stirred together with milk? I think. I'll have to go over it again with him.

Last night it was pouring when we went to sleep. It made me a little nervous... flashbacks of Ike I think, can't really say because I can't figure it out. There's no real chance of it flooding here since there are hills for it to run down. Anyway, it was still raining this morning when we woke up, not nearly as hard, but dang... I didn't know it rained this much in Mississippi! The ground is just saturated at this point. Once again reconsidering adding pontoons to the side of the RV so that if we ever do encounter high water, we're set. :p

All in all, good New Year so far.

109 - Lowkey

The last few days we've kept a low profile, mostly due to my inability to be more than 15 minutes (if I was lucky) from the nearest available toilet. Good times. Last night was especially fun for me. If I never experience anything like that again I'll die a happy woman. You remember the house from Up? If the gas I was producing had been helium instead of some noxious form of methane, we would have been floating somewhere near Neptune. On the upside, not being able to sleep has enabled me to spend more time reading...

So, today was better. So far I haven't suffered an attack, and my stomach isn't distended nearly as bad. Night's not over yet. I'm watching a horrible movie, one of those gory, slasher flicks... one I call a torture fest... it makes me nervous, which is not good for the tummy. Not my cut of tea... I meant cup of tea and would normally correct that, but it was appropriately Freudian. In some ways I'm watching to see how the survivors avoided death... but, it's a movie... it doesn't go down like that in real life. In real life this movie would never have happened at my house... I would have shot the bastard. That applies to the first and second victim, who actually stood a chance... not the dog, the child or the girl who was kidnapped. Anyway... here's hoping it's almost over, he has a circular saw out now, and that's way beyond my comfort zone.

So I figure now is a good time to get back on my IBS regimen. I have been battling gut issues for the past few months and this recent bout of unpleasantness brought it to a head. I can't take it anymore. So back to the Heather's Tummy Fiber, and peppermint capsules. I also got some peppermint, and fennel, teas for Mike because his gut is still recovering from the gall bladder removal. The fiber helps give bulk to... things, and the peppermint oil helps with gas and bloating, so does the tea but I don't do tea.

Here's a segue for you... Last night as I went to fill the fresh water tank, and empty the black tank, I was being all vigilent and stuff... had the flashlight ready to shine if I heard movement... had my back to the RV so nothing sneaks up on me from behind... door flush with the side of the RV so I can see both sides... I stepped away to turn the water spigot off and when I came back to the control panel, here comes a kitty cat from underneath the RV... which was, only a moment ago, behind me... so much for vigilence. He seemed friendly, but I don't want to make friends with any stray cats so I just said hello and left it at that... then comes another cat to join the first. I squatted down to see how many more there were and saw a calico. Poor things, I felt bad for them... it wasn't raining or freezing last night, but they were obviously huddled under the RV to keep warm. The first cat was eyeing our storage compartment so I had to keep an eye on it, and when I went inside, it tried to follow me in. They were all still there this morning and will probably be with us until we leave. I wonder if they were dumped here. My heart breaks when I run across a stray, but there is nothing I can do short of telling the park about them.

Well... tomorrow we're hoping our truck will be ready and we can head out by Tuesday morning, so we will probably be celebrating NYE here at the park. We crazy. And you best believe we're going to grab some cabbage, some black-eyed peas, and some hog jowl to eat on New Year's Day. I'm going to have me a good 2013 y'all...