Ahhhh.....Life In A Small Town......

April 29, 2010

Life in a small town.......there's just nothing quite like it!  You know, it took me awhile to actually "like" living in a small, country town, but I can sincerely tell you, I LOVE IT!  Let me tell you why.....

I had been cooped up in my home office all morning today and was STARVING, so this afternoon I grabbed the hubby and headed down to Dairy Queen for a bite to eat.  We got our food, sat down and immediately noticed the lady at the table next to ours.  She had lots and lots of "change" and was separating it out in piles on her table.  She appeared to be talking on a bluetooth while separating out her change and was carrying on quite the animated conversation....... problem was, she wasn't talking on a bluetooth.  She was talking to an invisible person across the table from her.  I love it when things like this happen around us!!

She was quite the talker too!  She would ask a question and, before she barely got the words out of her mouth, she answered herself.  Then she would laugh.  A really BIG laugh.......she was literally cracking herself up!   And then I noticed she had this "thing" on her forehead......I was really hoping it was some kind of new bluetooth techno-type device for a cell phone, but I don't think it was.   Chuck thought it was a bolt......but I don't think it was.  Maybe a homing device......not sure....

We reluctantly left the Dairy Queen and headed on over to the Pharmacy.  As I was waiting in line to pick up my prescription, a middle aged lady that was much older than me, cut to the front of the line with her little "pull-along" to see if her Rx was ready yet.  The clerk kept telling her she needed to get to the end of the line and she just kept saying "Ya, I know.....I know....but I just want to see if its ready yet..."  The clerk finally just ignored her as the line behind me got longer and longer......Now, let me describe this "pull along" she had with her.  This sweet lady was probably one of the "first" people in Mt. Vernon to go GREEN.  She made her own shopping cart and bag.   It was a wheeled plastic crate with a plastic trash can inside the plastic crate with a plastic trash bag inside the plastic trash can on the plastic wheeled crate and they were all duct taped together.  It was very, very clever.  No need for plastic grocery bags for her, no sir-ee"....she was saving the environment!  Al Gore would have been SO proud!

But these sweet ladies got me thinking........ thinking about when I get old and decrepit and start carrying on conversations with myself and pulling my hot-glued cart attached to my wheelchair behind me everywhere I go.  I visualize myself at the nursing home in my wheelchair (my beautiful niece, Jacque, has always assured me that she will take me in when I get old, but even she has limits on how much of ME she can handle),  sitting by the front door of the nursing home waiting on someone to come that will listen to me talk.  And no one comes.....So I have no choice but to talk to myself.  And talk......and talk.......and talk.......  It's going to happen, folks......no doubt about it.  I'm also going to be hard-of-hearing......I just know it.... It's my punishment for being impatient with Chuck and his hearing issues.....

I only hope I don't remember who I am so all my stories are NEW stories.........

Me in a few years at the Nursing Home still Blogging

P.S.  I smudged out the face of the Dairy Queen lady in case she's your relative......

"Never Shut The Pantry Door While IN The Pantry......."

April 27, 2010

How many of you can say you've accidently locked yourself in the Pantry before??  Come on; admit it.......it's happened to you before too, hasn't it??

For some reason, my sister remembered an incident that happened to me several years ago and practically "PAID" me to tell you guys about it.  An incident that my neighbors and my Bunco Babes from Dallas will remember all too well and that my family will be "thrilled" to see I'm writing about.

It's really no big deal; I would imagine this has happened to most people at some point in their life.............

It was while we were still living in Dallas and used the lake house for weekends.  Chuck had decided to head to the lake on Friday for the weekend and I was staying behind to meet with the realtor on Sunday as we had the house on the market and people coming to look at it.

We had been seeing these pesty little gnats for weeks in the kitchen and couldn't figure out where they were coming from.  I had narrowed it down to the walk-in Pantry (very, very SMALL walk-in pantry, mind you!) and had removed everything that I "thought" might be causing them.  But they were still hanging around bugging us.......  So, Friday afternoon I got, what I thought was a good idea at the time... turns out it wasn't; but ANYWAY, I turned the Pantry light on, stepped inside, shut the door, all in hopes to narrow down where these annoying pesty gnats were coming from.  There was just enough room in the Pantry to turn around.....no walking around.....no squatting down......just able to turn around.....

When I went to open the door after researching the Pantry shelves, I couldn't reach the door knob.  It had this tiny tiny little interior knob which you couldn't reach cause the prior owners had put these shelves up on the door that were SCREWED into the door which blocked the ability to reach the knob.  At first, I thought I was strong enough to bend the shelf bracket, but turns out, I'm a weakling.  Then I had a thought: "What would Lara do??"  Lara Croft, Tomb Raider......I had been playing Tomb Raider like, ALL THE TIME, and was totally addicted to the Lara Croft Tomb Raider games (& yes, I'm aware I'm too old to be playing this....quit judging me!).  I figured I could use some of my "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider" moves that I had been learning......so I stepped back as far as I could, did the coolest Lara kick EVER, but that didn't work.  Tried again.....nope.....I was still a weakling (although I ROCKED at Lara Croft Tomb Raider Game....ROCKED folks!!!).......and I think it was about this time that I started hyperventilating.......The air started getting thinner, hotter and the gnats were driving me crazy. 

I started wondering how long it would be before anyone missed me.......hummmm.....Chuck was at the lake and would probably call, but not be terribly worried if he couldn't reach me.....after all, besides being the Lara Croft Tomb Raider Queen, I was also the Welcome Wagon Lady of our Woodbridge neighborhood and was pretty much a "busy body" around the block (before you judge me.....that's the "job" of a Welcome Wagon Lady........so there!); the realtor wasn't going to be there until Sunday and everyone else around the neighborhood thought I was at the lake!

Soooooo.......I concluded it was going to be a long, long time before I was missed.  I think I "might" have started crying about this time, not sure about that though,  and then after what seemed like 2 days but was actually only 3 hours, the gnats and I started working together on a solution.  I located a flat-head nail in the wall of the pantry that we used to hang stuff from; wiggled it out and used the flat head side to "unscrew" the shelf from the door.......WHALA.......the shelf came off and I opened the door!!

AIR!  It never felt so good...........and those pesty gnats??  They were now my friends....

And that, my friends, is the end of this story.  Sissy, you can send me CASH tomorrow for telling this embarrassing story.........

Callie Can Hear Again!!

April 22, 2010

Our dear, sweet, blue-eyed 15 year old Pound-dog, Callie can finally hear again; after years of being deaf and unable to hear a thing, she is finally able to hear perfectly!  Also, that tumor growing on her side; gone!  What took years to grow, took only minutes to go away........

You see, Callie went to the Rainbow Bridge today......

We had been struggling with the decision to put her to sleep for some time now; she was totally deaf, getting harder and harder to wake up and had a tumor on her side and on her eye.  One day would be good; the next not so good........I've never had to make this decision before; my pet has always made it for me.   As we lifted all 25 pounds of her into the car today and headed to the vet, we couldn't help but remember that ride home from the pound 12 years ago with our new 3 year old dog, Callie.  Chuck and I spent weeks going from Pound to Pound looking for that "perfect" dog when we ran across Callie.   She was bigger than we had wanted and had a few insecurity issues, but when the Pound said she had been found tied to a tree in a park somewhere in Dallas; had been at the Pound the maximum amount of time  and was scheduled to be euthanized the next morning at 6:00, there was no question she was ours and we were hers.

Callie filled a void in our lives and was a very special dog with the most beautiful blue eyes you've ever seen.  She formed a strong bond with Chuck's aging Dad and spent many, many weekends providing company for him, and he to her, until his death several years ago.  She had a knack for irritating the little neighbor dog, Whitney, just by her presence, and Murphy never ever missed an 8:30 pm reminder to Callie to go outside by barking and hitting her face with his paw as she slept.  She didn't know she needed to go outside, but Murphy sure thought she did.

Callie will be missed.  She had a good life here at the lake and the freedom to roam the road with Kruger the 1-Claw Cat.....they were "Best" friends......and I know Murphy and Kruger are going to be lost without her; just as we will be......

My heart hurts, not just for us, but for the person who tied this sweet dog to a tree 12 years ago and missed those many years of love she gave.........

Anniversary = Friends........

April 20, 2010

WHOO HOOO.......THANKS to our wonderful neighbors for helping us celebrate our Anniversary today!!  Troy and Becky took us out to dinner and while there, Kris and Steve, Ashley, Aaron and Dylan used their artistic abilities and "postered" our front door......FABULOUS!!

Spent most of the day on the motorcycle, enjoying this beautiful weather and seeing God's fingerprint all over the Spring countryside.......Doesn't get better than this........

My Junior Bridesmaid.........Sordof

April 19, 2010



Want to hear about a super special family member of mine??   Thought so.......

But before I do, you need to know that my family are all "shuttering" right now wondering if this Blog is about them......I just love freaking them out like that.......So, I'll end the suspense and let you know this Blog is about my very special nephew, Lance Calloway.

Are you ready to meet the most handsome guy in the Calloway family??  (No offense, James......)

Lance is my brother, James' only son; the only male in the entire family to carry on the Calloway name;  very tall, very muscular, very handsome and the best part of Lance is that he is so very "tender hearted".  He just recently graduated from Midwestern State University in December with a degree in Business and is preparing to join the Marines in the Fall.  I'll tell ya "why" I'm blogging about this dude in a minute, but first, let me share a little about my Lance......

Lance is an only child..........He and I secured our nephew/aunt bond when he was still real little.....actually, he was in my wedding prior to his being born......his Mom was a bridesmaid at my wedding and about 5 months pregnant with him at the time,  so I guess you could say he was a "Jr. Bridesmaid" at my wedding.....hummmm.......never thought of that before.  Lance was never one of those wimpy little munchkins growing up.....he's always had a football sized body and a STADIUM sized heart!  And he was a funny kid......especially loved it when his little private school would make him do stuff like square dance!  The whole family would show up to watch him drag that poor tiny little girl around in circles....to "do-si-do".....We still torture him with the video's......  And that little thing he used to do with his mouth when he knew we were watching him and he was self-conscience......I loved that!!  Oh, the stories I could tell.............

He excelled in school, football and family......pretty much everything he chose to do, he did well.  He's disciplined, works hard and for these reasons, he is being awarded tomorrow with the National Football Foundation Gridiron Club of Dallas award.  This is only awarded to 10 (ya, you heard me right; 10!!) scholar-athletes from the entire region at the collegiate level for their combined achievements as students, athletes and leaders in their communities.  This is BIG folks!  He will be honored at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington with that evil Mr. Jerry Jones in attendance.  Lucky for Mr. Jones, it's my anniversary tomorrow and I won't be available to torture him........

So as you can see, he's quite a special guy and I'm one very, VERY proud aunt!  To sum him up, I'd have to say this:  He's quiet like his Dad, smart like his Mom, sensitive like his Grandma, inquisitive like his Grandpa, bold and sweet like his Aunt Debbie, funny like his cousin Jacque and, of course, flat out adorable like his Aunt Liz........

Congrat's Lance, and know that We Love You Very Very Much and couldn't be more Proud Of You!!!

(Would you mind tripping Jerry Jones for me, please??  Pretty Please??  I'll give you $10........$20??)

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 6

April 17, 2010

This morning, our last morning, we woke to the sound of........RAIN!  Ah man, I wish it would just give us a break already!  We have suffered through rain the entire week and we are down right sick of RAIN!  First thing out of Ant Ellie's mouth this morning was, "Liz, I think we must be parked near a roaring river.  I could hear it all night long........"  

LIZ: "Well, I don't "think" we're parked near a roaring river......

not suppose to be parked near a roaring river....."  

ANT ELLIE: "I could hear it getting closer and closer to the motorhome 

as the night went on...." 

 LIZ: "Do you hear the river now?"  

ANT ELLIE: (Head tilted listening for the roaring river) 

"No, I don't believe so..."  

Well, it was about this time that a thought occurred to me (yes.....that does happen sometimes....).

LIZ: "Ant Ellie, did it sound like this?" 

ANT ELLIE:  "Why yes, I believe it did..."  

Turns out, Debbie's "noise machine" to help her sleep was the roaring river Ant Ellie heard all night.....Poor Ant Ellie had her plan of action already set in place in the event she had to swim out of the RV Park during the night!  Bless her sweet heart!

And today was the day I've been most nervous about all week......the day Liz empties the sewer on her own!  This sewer is different from our last motorhome.....it has a blender-type device on it that puree's the poo poo and sends it down a smaller, sleeker, kinder looking hose into the city sewer.  But its a little more complicated to empty because of this blender-of-the-poo-poo device......You may recall in an earlier blog that Charlie had walked me through it at home prior to leaving, but he wasn't here to stand over me and make sure I didn't screw anything up....plus, let's remember, it was RAINING!  So, with instructions in hand, I set out to empty the sewer.  Debbie stood over me with the umbrella, I followed each step of the soaking wet instructions step by step, carefully making sure to open the BLACK handle at the right time; then open the GRAY handle at the right time; then push the RED button at the right time; then monitor the levels the WHOLE time.......And I've got to tell ya, we were fantastic sewer custodians.....We can now empty the most complicated of sewers anywhere!!

We could "feel" every male in the RV park calling to their wives as they stared at us through their RV windows saying "Hey Myrtle, get over here.....check out these three women unhooking their RV.......why can't YOU do that???" as we emptied the sewer, unhooked the water line, unplugged the electrical, lifted the jacks (which had sunk into the asphalt) and hooked the car up to the motorhome.  We looked like hell, but we DID IT!

We hit the road as it continued to rain....and rain......and rain.......and rain...... The roads were starting to flood and the RV was hydroplaning just a bit..... I ended up running one very VERY RED light as there was no way to stop the RV in time without sliding.....and the closer we got to Cleburne, the worse it seemed to get.  At one point, I was thinking to myself, "I don't want to do this anymore.....this is no longer fun" and just wanted to stop right then and there, but unfortunately, that was not possible.  We were on a two lane road with very little shoulder and big hills to climb.....Once my knees and hands started shaking, I knew it was time to pull over somewhere...ANYWHERE....and either cry or throw up.

We finally arrived at Deb's house and I practically kissed the wet ground.....it had been a long, very long, stressful day and without a doubt, the hardest drive I've ever had in the RV, but we arrived home safe and sound with many new experiences learned.  I simply can't imagine how I would have made it without the pre-trip prayer this morning asking for God's bubble of protection.  I gained much comfort from knowing He was watching over us throughout the day, helping me steer and make good choices.

See, it was a good day after all..............WE SURVIVED!

COMMENTS:

 Now, I want to go on an RV trip with you but I don't want to empty the sewer.  I'll clean, I'll cook, I'll do anything but empty the sewer.  Well, I guess I could hold the umbrella.

Glad ya'll have fun and make it home safely.  Sounded like you all had a great time.

Carla

Liz,

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your daily blogs!  I laughed with you and sympathized with you for the rain, rain, rain. It took me back to our camping days with three kids and a dog and how we loved every minute of it. 

Mary

Well I have really enjoyed your trip.. I felt like I was actually there.. how neat is that..

Take me on another one soon.. :)

I kept my sister up to day by sending them to her and she was so happy to hear every

day.. so you have an audience out here..

Cynthia

So glad you made it home safely!  Thanks for the "entertainment" during these rainy days!  You made me tear a time or two with Ant Ellie stories!

Perfect ending with the pic of the church. 

You are a brave woman!

~Marlene

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 5

April 16, 2010


"An old friend met in a far state is like rain after drought."~ 


Chinese Proverb

Well folks, the quote above describes our time with Ant Ellie this week!  We have laughed, we have cried, then laughed and cried some more, and enjoyed our treasured visit with her so very very much!  But tomorrow we leave Fredericksburg and head home.......and yes, it's still raining!  But I wouldn't trade a moment of time or dampness we've had with her this week!  She is our rain after a drought......... 
  

We woke up this morning with the words, "Flea Market" on our lips.......We were pumped and ready for action in record time..... Proper shoes; cash in hand; layered clothing; plan in place!  We pulled into the very, very swampy mud puddle parking lot, dodged the sink holes and made it into the first of 6 covered buildings.  We decided to split up and meet at the opposite end so everyone could go at their own pace.  You could see the excitement dancing in Ant Ellie's eyes......she'd been waiting for this all week!  Forget the bluebonnets; give this lady a flea market!!  At the end of the first building, we headed on over to an "open air" part of the Market.  I don't think Ant Ellie actually "heard" or was even aware of Debbie and I after she arrived at the "open air" market, cause she was off like a streak of lightning to what Deb and I would call "Sanford & Son's Backyard" and we didn't see her again for quite some time.

We found 8 track tapes, a "Miss Me Yet.....George Bush" sign; an adult trike; a Tin Man; a man who saw us at the Tea Party yesterday that came up and hugged us; and much, much more!  This is, without a doubt, one of the friendliest places I've ever been to.  No less than 3 times have I heard locals call this place "Paradise".

We then headed out in search of more wildflowers and bluebonnets upon the suggestion of a sweet older couple we met at one of the flea market booths.  We headed towards the town of Mason, found the small country road we had been given directions to and saw more and more beautiful wildflowers!  The road ended at a swollen river overflowing it's banks and dangerously flooding the bridge we needed to cross.
Well, you don't have to rain on these Three Women and an RV's head to convince us to head on out of
there......

Next, we found ourselves in the town of Llano and then eventually on back to Fredericksburg, where lo and behold, we actually saw a sliver of blue in the sky........HALLELUJAH!!!  We took this opportunity to do some dangerous, destructive and illegal stuff.....we picked a couple of bluebonnets for Ant Ellie!  She was so happy!!  We told her to disguise and hide them until we got back in the RV for fear of the US Government finding out.....and she did as she was told.

We finished up our final day here by popping some popcorn and watching family video's of my niece's wedding and my nephew's college graduation.  We were all wiping our eyes and blowing our noses by the end of it.

This past week has more than reminded me just how very precious our Family is to us all........As time moves on at the speed of light, I realize this more and more.  These Three Women and an RV realize that we are all better people "because" we have each other.



COMMENTS:

Liz you were in my Sisters town of Llano....thats where I go every Christmas to her house.....so you see how far it is and such a beautiful town....sounded like you had alot of fun.

Love Jeanette

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 4

April 15, 2010

Rain, Rain Go Away.....Come Again Another Day.....(or at least until we leave..)

As I'm typing this, I'm leannnning to the right.......yep, we've had so much rain over the past 36 hours, our rear jack has sunk into the asphalt.......either that or we've gained too much weight from all the ice cream and chocolate volcano's we've been eating!   Either way, we're losing ground fast in the rear!

Today we went to the Fredericksburg Tea Party Rally!  What fun, what fun!!  Pouring rain couldn't stop these Three Women and an RV from standing on a downtown corner with our Tea Party signs meeting new friends, waving and encouraging honking.  Just like us, there are a lot of passionate people around here who hate to see their country heading in the direction that it is.  It was a blast watching Ant Ellie and Debbie, with their rain slickers on, signs in hand, waving at passing cars!!  Ant Ellie even met a passenger in a car from Florida at the red light!  Fun, Fun Fun!!!

After the rally, we headed back to the RV to dry off and put thicker socks on!  It was a bit chilly out there in the rain!  Check out my Alaska socks.......aren't they cute!??  They have polar bears on them!

Since there's not a lot you can do in the rain, we decided to stay put and play Mexican Train Dominos all afternoon.......I've got to tell ya, Ant Ellie, whose never heard of Mexican Train Dominos before, beat the crap out of us almost every time!  And unfortunately, we weren't "letting" her........UGH

After about the 10th game of her beating us, we decided we were losing due to lack of nourishment.....so we headed back into town to check out this little hole in the wall Italian restaurant we had heard of.......Pasta Bella.....Have you ever eaten deep fried cheese ravioli?  Me either.....at least not until tonight!  Delizioso!!   Oh ya, yum yum yum....And who would even think of eating deep fried cheese ravioli without topping it off with a chocolate volcano dessert??!!  Obviously not us....

Did I mention they are having a Volkswagon Convention here in Fredericksburg this week and there are VW's everywhere??!  Way cool.......... My Dad went through a VW stage back when I was growing up and we had countless VW bugs most of my growing up years.......Can you imagine taking a cross-country trip in a VW Bug with a family of 5 that didn't get along??  Not one of my happier childhood memories......

Tomorrow these Three Women and an RV are headed to the Fredericksburg Trade Days...Rain or Shine (assuming we don't float away or sink tonight.....).  See ya tomorrow!!




COMMENTS:

Has it stopped raining? Hope you are having 

a great time!

Do you happen to have 9 large pics of Murphy

could email me easily?

Brenda

LOVE THIS ONE!!!

How are you?

Tiffany

Thanks for the update. glad you ladies were at the T partyBarry Crow


My twin sister is headed to the volkswagen festival this weekend. Her husbands volkswagan is a black and white police with cherry on top. Short blonde hair, named Gerrie. Hope you get to see her.

Sherrie

I loved the blog ... sounds like you are having tooooo much funnnnnnnnnn.... boy am I jealous..

But so glad somebody can get out of here for some FUN..!!!!!!!!

I loved the pictures.. and I just sent you last blog to my sister in Ca.  she told me yesterday that

WE should BE THERE with you guys... she would be the one in trouble.... she loves old barnes

and exploring ... but I'm just as bad... so guess it's good we aren't there..

Cynthia

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 3

April 14, 2010

Well, Day 3 of "Three women and an RV" went very, very well......the Gods were looking out for us and kept the rain at bay just long enough for us to find the perfect road with the perfect bluebonnets and the perfect wildflowers........just perfect!!

The perfect road was called The Willow City Loop.  It was slightly north of Fredericksburg on a lonely little country road with many cattle guards, barbed wire fencing and millions of flowers.......and heaps of cow doopy.   Oh ya, those cows had been fed well; very well.....matter of fact, I might could even tell you "what" they had eaten.......but let's move on........

As we worked our way around all the geriatric sightseers (people our age had to work, you know!), we found this little road off to the north that no one was going down.  This was reason enough for us to try it, so off we went; and boy howdy, were we ever glad we did!

The first thing we came upon was a fallen windmill....JACKPOT!  It was surrounded by beautiful bluebonnets and a "cistern" which this city girl learned was for storing rainwater.....cool!   As I was trying to talk my sister into giving me a hand and booting me up on the ledge of this cistern so I could get a better picture of the surrounding countryside, I hear my Ant Ellie saying with quite adamancy, "No Liz, you don't want to do that....you might fall in.."  Well, I figured it had a pretty thick ledge to it and really thought she was over-reacting a bit.  And since I couldn't see in it, I held my camera up as high as I possibly could and took a picture of what was in the cistern......As I looked at the picture I just took, I was SO very glad we had Ant Ellie with us to keep us out of trouble...........One word about what was in the cistern:  CREEPY and DISGUSTING!  (Ok, two words).....

We headed on down the road until we came across this awesome ranch called Cottonwood Coal Creek Cattle Co.......This place was simply amazing and literally out in the middle of nowhere and at the end of our road........I didn't see any signs that said anything about "shooting" trespassers or anything, so my inner voice was screaming at me to "Go closer......" but again, Ant Ellie and Debbie were insisting we turn around.....I did, however, see this one sign that said, "We Don't Call 911".....hummmm.......

As we arrived back into Fredericksburg and sat down for some much needed hot pizza, here came the rain!  It had held off just long enough for us to have the perfect day!!  Yippee......

So, here I am finishing up my Blog in bed, sleeping next to my sister, listening to "white noise" from her "noise" machine that she has to have to sleep.  In her defense, she did give me a choice of "noises"....1) Storm Noise (I'd worry about a tornado); 2) Wilderness Noise (I'm scared to death of crickets & that's all I could hear) 3) Ocean Noise (I'd be in the bathroom all night) 4) Heatbeat Noise (Ok, that's just plain creepy)......so I'm listening to "3:00 am TV-off-the-air" noise."

Tomorrow we're headed to a Tea Party Rally!!!!  We plan on "shaking things up" a bit around here......

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 2

April 13, 2010

"The wheels on the bus go round and round; round and round; round and round...." Yep, the wheels on the ol' bus were burnin' up the highway early today.......and we three women were burnin' up the inside air as we fought for air space by all talking at the same time.

We arrived in Fredricksburg early afternoon today, followed the detailed instructions given by our husbands on how best to "hook up" the rig and we had this puppy hooked up, plugged in and sewer-ready in no time at all.  After high-fiving each other, we decided a good reward for our excellent work was a trip into town to get a little shopping accomplished before the stores closed at 5:00.........but only after a little lunch and a super dip of "cake mix" ice cream as a reward for our smarts!  Our Ant Ellie kept using her trademark phrase, "Pinch me, Pinch me" from excitement (& then we'd pinch her!) as we walked from store to store and found new and exciting things to peek our interest......

Ready to hear how three women in an RV handle RV hiccups?  I thought so.......Well, let me tell you, there is nothing we can't handle....well....there is, but not today!  As we arrived back to the RV, we discovered water dripping down from under the living room slide.....YIKES.....so as we checked closer,  we noticed there was a crack in the water hose going from the city water spricket to the RV and it was shooting water up under the RV slide.  We realized this only after my sister got a shot of water to the head......whew......what a relief!!  A relief because it was a minor fix and that it wasn't ME that got the shot of water to the head!!  It was at this time we grabbed up Ant Ellie and headed to Wal-Mart for a new hose.  As we walked into the landscape section, we see these four strong looking Wal-Mart guys just standing around gabbing about fertilizer or something while this nice older lady was pulling this huge dolly full of heavy supplies right in front of them.  Right In Front Of Them!!!   So I had no choice but to bring their attention to "What is wrong with this picture???"  They all thought it was funny; the older lady pulling the dolly then said, "Ya, why aren't you guys helping me??" and as these "Three Women in an RV" slipped on out of there, we could hear the guys still trying to explain themselves.......unsuccessfully I might add!

So folks, that's DAY 2 of "Three Women and an RV"..........We are all heading to bed after a fun day together with dreams of beautiful bluebonnets in our future........See ya tomorrow!!






COMMENTS:

I cannot believe that you can leave somebody touched, moved and inspired by a conversation with Aunt Ellie.  You are such a great writer.  Love it.  When can we have lunch.  I mean it.  Give me couple of days that will work for you and lets do it.  Sherrie

Three Women and an RV.....DAY 1

April 12, 2010

DAY 1:

"On the road again.....durn durn durn durn durn durn durn durnDAdurn...."  Yep, we are headed on the road again, but this time............it's ALL girls week!!  Yep, packed up my Ant Ellie who drove in from Florida and drove the RV over to Ft. Worth to pick up my sister, Debbie.  Tomorrow, we head down to Fredericksburg, TX in search of the perfect field of bluebonnets.  We are soooooooo excited!!

This is the first trip I've made in the RV without Charlie......and I've got to admit, I'm just a little nervous.  He's my sewer guy; the one who hooks up the water, plugs in the power, attaches the cable.......He did a little run-thru with me the other day, and as I was taking pictures of the sewer compartment and frantically writing down all the instructions he was giving me, I was just hoping all these scribbles would make sense when the time came to actually use them.  Here's a sampling for those of you interested in the mechanics of RVing:

UPON ARRIVAL:  SEWER

Unscrew bottom plug in floor of MH

Take small sewer hose (keep GREEN plug on) to sewer island.

Unscrew GREEN tip & stick down in hole.

Return GREEN cap to sewer compartment - DO NOT LOSE

Take WHITE hose from Water Compartment.  Screw to exterior city water supply

Take other end up thru hole in floor of MH - Hook to “A”

Leave GREEN handle down (in up position)

Monitor Box to see sewer levels.

                             TO LEAVE:

 Check BLACK Water Level

 Check GRAY Water Level

Open BLACK water handle 1st

Immediately turn pump ON - “Sani Con” RED button

Watch BLACK water level go to lowest mark.

Turn OFF Pump

Keep BLACK handle OPEN; Open GRAY Handle - Do this for 1 minute

CLOSE GRAY valve (BLACK is still open).  Turn on pump again & watch level gauge.

Turn OFF pump

 Close BLACK valve

 Open GRAY valve

 Turn ON Pump & watch GRAY level scale to empty

 Close GRAY valve

 Turn OFF pump

 Now both GRAY & BLACK are closed

 Go to sewer island - Be sure & raise hose & let excess out before removing

 Reinstall GREEN cap before putting back in RV

 Rescrew bottom plug of RV floor

Yep, this should be interesting.........

Poor Ant Ellie; tonight, while she's sitting on the couch between Brady (Debbie's dentist husband) and me, with Debbie sitting in a chair close by, each of us playing with our Iphone/Ipod's/Laptops, here is what she experienced:  Brady is showing Ant Ellie a YouTube video on "Root Canals"; Liz is showing Ant Ellie a YouTube video of "Murphy Walking in His Shoes & Overalls"; Debbie is showing Ant Ellie all the ring tones for each family member near and dear to her...... ALL AT THE SAME TIME!  As I watched Ant Ellie's head "spinning" back and forth between each of us, I realized just what a bunch of attention starved idiots we all were!  This poor lady will probably never come back to Texas for the above mentioned reason.  Geeeeeeezzzzzz......

Tomorrow, we take the 4 1/2 hour drive down to Fredericksburg!  What a nifty town that is.....and we are so excited we can barely contain ourselves!!   I'll try and report back tomorrow to fill you in on DAY 2 of "Three Women And An RV".............

COMMENTS:

As long as you are in Fredricksburg, you really need to drive to LLano.,  We just got back from bluebonnet hunting and the best we saw were in LLano and we also went over by Chapel Hill by Navasta off I 45 and both places were so beautiful.

gg

I have to tell you Liz, I LOVE getting your blogs.   Your stories are great!  Have a safe trip!

Kathy McNaughton

I am so excited for you and your sister and Ant Ellie.. you will have so much fun.. the only problem

is I wish I were there with you'all.. how much fun could that be.. It's always so much fun when it's

just women.. seems like that is when we all turn back into little girls.. so all of you have a wonderful

time and think of me every now and then..

Can't wait to hear about day 2... of "Three Women And An RV"...

love ya,

Cynthia

And How Was Your April Fools Day.....??

Friday, April 2, 2010

Charlie and I are infamous for playing April Fools jokes......our families won't even take our calls on April 1.....we've played some doozies over the years and they've learned to avoid all correspondence from us......but it doesn't stop us from trying!

So, on the morning of April 1, I received a text from my neighbor, Kris, reminding me it was April 1st and not to forget to play the joke on her husband that we had planned on doing.  So, as I sent Charlie down the street to "fool" her husband Steve,  I contemplated on how to "fool" my own family on this special day; afterall, it's the only day all year where its "legal" to lie........

So, as I headed out to Bible Study (ya ya ya, no comments please), it came to me.....I texted my whole family telling them my brother had won the lottery.  I decided I better let him know so he could "play along" too when he talked with them, so I called him and told him what I'd done.  There was this brief silence on the other end of the phone and then........are you ready for this...........he notified me it was March 31.  I don't remember how long I argued with him that it couldn't be March 31, that it was April 1, but I was doing the old knuckle trick trying to determine if March had 30 or 31 days in it.......and sure enough, March landed on a knuckle and thus had 31 days.  UGHHHHHH.....It was about this time, I pulled into the parking lot of the church and the response texts started coming in......first from Sarah.....who has had the least amount of time around Charlie & me thus not realizing she was suppose to avoid us this time of year.....she bought it hook, line and sinker (sorry about that, Sarah.....love ya!); then the nephew responded with "LIAR"; and the texts just kept coming in........

Since it wasn't April 1 afterall, I did have to pray for forgiveness for lying, so it was a good thing I was headed to church at the time, huh?!

Anyway, when I first saw this attached video, I thought surely this dude was playing an April Fools joke, but unfortunately, it was just one of our  typical Democratic representatives......I'm sure most of you have seen this already, but if you haven't, YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE THIS......It's scary, unbelievable, and its NOT an April Fools joke.  The guy is either stoned or.............or ............stoned.

In all fairness, he later explained (after 800,000 hits on YouTube) that he was referring to the "eco system" and didn't "really" think that Guam was going to tip over.  Uhhhh, okay.......but like I told Charlie tonight, I wish he would hurry up and finish that HUGE book he's reading every night in bed, cause I'm truly afraid the bed is going to "tip over" and "capsize".......