Luck of 3

Yesterday afternoon = not so good.

The day started out as a typical summer day. Kids woke up on their own time. Played video games. Did a little reading. I have a Monday routine of taking the kids to the library to get a fresh book selection for them to read over the next week. When we were leaving the library my van hesitated to start. I'm thinking no it will make it, there won't be a problem. We proceeded on to my aunt's house for my kids to have their first ever piano lesson. (Thanks again Cindy.) Lesson was over and kids loaded into van. ERRrr ERrr Errr. This isn't good. Luckily my uncle was able to jump start the van and I made it home. By now I am think it was about 2:30 (notice the time). I left the van running and figured I would move the RV so that DH would have access to the garage or tools while he checked it out. Next problem I wasn't able to start the RV. I am a little ashamed of this but I was little relieved because I wasn' t looking forward to backing that behemoth out of the drive using just the mirrors. So maybe just maybe it saved me from wrecking our future travel plans. Yep, that's it. That is why the RV didn't start. So instead I squeezed the van next to the RV so that DH could now check out both vehicles. UGH! Then about 3:15 I received a text. DH is getting furloughed. After consistently working over time he is now going to be limited to 32 hours a week! YIKES! Thank God I recently worked to reduce our monthly bills. Maybe that will get us through this. We were just beginning to catch our breath and looking forward to have a little to spend on other necessities like clothes and hair cuts (those just got bumped down again). So if you were keeping track that was three blows in less than an hour!

BTW the truck that you can barely see behind the RV it has needed a new radiator for the last year. That is another project back on hold. Does it ever end?

Something new?

Today we went with my FIL to a Chinese buffet type restaurant. My dear dear darling little girl was feeling a brave. She decided that she would try these two not so normal everyday dishes for our little corner of the world. In her right hand she is holding a crawdad and in her left an octopus. Just getting her to hold these was quite the entertainment value. She had poked at the crawdad a bit and had gotten past its wierdness but the octopus. She couldn't get past the fact that the head was still attached. She dropped it almost as fast as I placed it in her hand.



I think she began to think the crawdad just might be a friend. I showed her how to get the tail out after she had been poking at it for awhile. I was suprised she actually ate it. First it was a little nibble then she went for it. She didn't think it was bad but for some reason she didn't want another one. Hmmmmm



Next was the octopus. She wasn't about to eat the head. I ended up breaking off one of the legs for her to try. The expressions that went across her face were priceless. I wish I had videoed that. Then she suprised me again and ate a second leg. After that she was done and wanted dessert. I'm really impressed with her. While I have had crawdads a long long time ago I don't think I could eat octopus in that form. Maybe battered and fried and disguised but definately not that way.

Ghosts, Giggles and a 9th B-day

This last weekend we celebrated my little girls 9th Birthday by visiting Fort Reno. I was looking through one of the state tourism books and found out that they offered ghost tours occasionally and it just so happened that there was one on my daughters b-day. She got really excited. So the plans were made that we would go on the ghost tour from 8pm-11pm and spend the night in the RV at Lake El Reno. My daughter ended up with two friends attending as well as her 15 year old cousin (whom walks on water I will have you to know).

We registered at the visitors center it started to rain. First they took us through the visitors center and we heard our first ghost story. The rain subsided then we were waiting out side for the other groups. We were treated to one of the most beautiful sun sets I have seen in a while. The picture above does not do it enough justice. Then we were divided into groups of about 30 for the tour of the different buildings of the Fort. Wouldn't you know we were teamed up with a couple of teen boys. I suddenly was not so worried about the younger kids as I was about my niece. They teased and flirted with her the entire time. It was so cute when her and I were talking. It was really obvious that the dark haired boy liked her. So I took the opportunity to point out to her that his friend liked her as well. She told me that she thought so but wasn't sure. I explained that he was following the "man code" of not making it obvious because his friend was. I am so glad I'm not her parent they are going to have their hands full. She is so cute. Anyway, the kids had a great time listening to the different tales. At the end of touring the Fort all the groups met up together so that those who wanted to could go to the "CEMETERY!" (Insert creapy music.) What is a night of ghosts without a cemetery? So of course we followed. We listened to the guide tell a few more stories. At the very end she challenged the under 10 year old kids. They had to go into the POW part of the cemetery and touch the headstone of the man whose grave had been robbed and his head is missing. Isn't that a great way to end a ghost tour. After a lot of persuading the girls finally touched the stone. They all ran back over the stone wall as fast as their little legs would carry them. What a hoot.

We arrived at the RV about midnight and proceeded to do the traditional cake and presents thing. The girls had the front half of the RV while I tried to stay in my own little world in the back. They all watched Ghostbusters but then only two of them made it through The Princess Bride. By then it was about 5am. When I finally got up at about 9:30ish this is what I saw.



Notice anything here. There are only the three younger girls. Because this is where the 15 year old was.


That is MY bed! It is only a twin size and I would say almost to small for just myself much less both of us. So after she had fallen a sleep. I snuck into the cab over for a little rest. The morning sun came sooner than I was ready for but then when doesn't it for a sleep over. We headed back to the city and returned everyone home.

I think over all this was one of my better birthday party ideas yet!

The New Money Pit!

This is our not so new but new to us 1982 Travelcraft GMC class C RV. We inherited this from my FIL. His wife passed away on Christmas Eve. He has decided that he was not going to use this any more so he passed it on down to us. Which is a good thing he is 86 and I don't think anyone wants him out in the sticks driving something this behemoth. While I am grateful for receiving this I am beginning to wonder if it is going to be a gift or a nightmare. From the outside it looks to be in real good condition especially when you consider it is 27 years old. When we first received it we found out that it has been black tagged for about the last 8 years. In other words it has been sitting in my FIL backyard doing nothing for that long. We were really shocked when the thing started up. Never mind that it sputtered and complained. It was like waking up an ole giant. We topped the tires off with air. They were a little low after 8 years. Then DH drove the thing home (very slowly just encase there was a major malfunction). After telling our insurance about it they figured up what our cost would be. I went there to give them the deposit and once again I was amazed. I was expecting to write a check for $100-$200. When they told me it was only going to be $29 I was completely shocked (then our monthly amount is about $16). This was going to turn out to be a great adventure. Why hadn't we done this before. When I went to get the tag/title I was amazed the thing is so old that the tag was only $22.50. When we got home we started exploring our new friend.



These lights are probably one of the main features I told my DH that we needed to save if at all possible. Cann't you just see a disco ball and John Travolta doing there thing!


Once we were inside we knew we had our work cut out for us. Our aging dinosaur had been sealed up for about eight years and this was like a time capsule. We had a LOT of purging to do before we could even start making any repairs. It was a little entertaining. We even found an old rotary phone inside one of the cabinets. It was funny teaching my kiddos how that worked. Then you have to stop and think. Why on earth would there be a rotary phone in an RV. It's not like it could receive cell service. In fact if my memory serves me correctly. Back in the early 80's it was a big deal just to have a pager. Even the old suit case type mobile phones weren't about yet. Touch tone phones were just becoming popular. In the following pic you can see just the top of the piles of junk we had to remove. Sorry it is so dark but is was the best we could do at the time.


Then we started with some of the repairs. This before pic is one of my favorites. I call it the fish bowl head light. The cool thing was we were able to replace both headlights for about $20. I hope the rest of the repairs go this well.


Now our luck is changing. Remember I said it has some leaks. Well in this first pick that is mold so now we will be having to do some big repairs. At least it is just wood and insulation. Not to costly just time consuming. The others are pretty much just water damage but since we are already in the area these will get repaired as well.





This is going to be an adventure. I hope we will be able to get it going before to long. So that we can get some use out of it before school starts.

Well there it is in all of its glory.

First River Kayak

Ok, so I'm a little behind. I don't want to let this memory get away with out its significance. On the 17th I went on my first river kayak. I had not realized the significance of this until I was on the water. While I have been on the kayak several times in lakes I just did not realize the difference. A river would be. It all started the day before when hubby mentioned a group wanted to go through Stinchcomb on Sunday. I have been wanting to do that for some time but with kids, school, and life in general it just never worked out. This time though I knew I would be ready after the previous two days of dance rehearsals and recital. We made arrangements for the kids to stay with someone and off we went. (Currently we only have two kayaks so taking kids really isn't much of an option yet.) We met up with the group at the Route 66 bridge at Lake Overholser. Left a couple of cars there and then went to the drop in point. Now remember I have never done this before. The closest has been maybe canoeing on the Illinois River in NE Oklahoma with one of those "professional" places. Most recently about 10 years ago. To just drop at any place in a river was quite different. There wasn't a nice sandy beach with a gradual drop off. OMG when they showed me just where this "drop" in place was I just about turned around and went back home. We put in where Garth Brooks Blvd. crosses the North Canadian river in Yukon. Where's the sandy beach? Where's the gentle slope? Where's my freakin brain? I looked down to what might as well have been the ledge of the Grand Freakin Canyon! Let me get this. I am not only going to climb down this boulder wall to my death but I am going to carry a kayak while I do it! Never mind the paddle, life jacket, sun screen, and beverage. I will give hubby some credit here. He stepped up and did all the carrying. In reality it probably was only 20 or 30 feet down. Although it was still jagged boulders the size of watermelons. He managed to get both of the kayaks to the bottom in the amount of time that it took me to just climb down by my self. Now mind you by this time the entire group knew this was my first time in a river. Do you think they would have warned me about the current. Heck no! Hubby nicely holds the kayak in place while I climb in. Now if you haven't been in a kayak you should probably know there is absolutely no way on God's green earth a graceful way of getting in or out of one. Lucky for me I remembered to hold on to the paddle. What I hadn't realized is that I was the first one in my boat. At first my thought no big deal, then followed by "Thank God I didn't dump over getting into the boat. Geesh I wouldn't want to look like a dork in front of this group that I would like to be friends with." Now comes the fun part. Once I finally and I do mean finally figure/remember how to maneuver this thing I look back and there isn't ANYONE! Then I proceed to yell at the top of my lungs. "How did the most green person end up in the front of the pack!" From around the bend I heard chuckling. "You were the first one in!" You would think that someone one anyone would get the hint and get their sorry @#% up to my rescue. Finally after what seemed like an eternity hubby caught up. He kept pointing out these "places" I might be able to bank the kayak and wait. He never did get it. "Don't you see I am on this class 4 rapid and I don't know what the h-e-double hockey sticks I am doing!" After about another 20-30 minutes the rest of the group managed to catch up and I was starting to calm down. Really this was only a class 1 river and I have discovered I am a big CHICKEN! During this same trip several in the group were trying to convince us to go with them this weekend on a river that has a few 3 foot drop offs. DO YOU THINK I AM FREAKING INSANE! Give me a few fallen trees in the river and that is enough. Maybe once I have a bit (A LOT) more experience we will give it a try. As the picture above shows I eventually did relax and enjoy myself. We did 7 1/2 miles. I was a little worried that I would lose the use of my arms for the next week. To my surprise it wasn't bad the next day. On a scale of 1 -10 I would guess a 2. I even managed to finish the trip on a good note. I pulled directly into the unloading point perfectly. Then got out of the boat without falling back into the river. See I wasn't too much of a dork! I stayed dry.

The Last Dance - Maybe

This is my beautiful little girl and her friend just moments before what will probably be her last dance recital last Saturday. I wish I was a better mom about taking pictures but I tend to get so wrapped up in the moment that I don't get enough snap shots for the scrap book. This is probably my favorite dance costume she has worn to date. I was so proud watching her. She has really grown as a dancer and shows a lot of maturity in her dance. I can not believe it has been six years since her first recital. The time is going so fast.


Here she is in her last ballet dress. While I think she is beautiful I think that this neck line may be just a little older than I want to admit that she is. I think I am going to have a little trouble letting her grow up.

Remember how I said I get to caught up in the moment. I did not get one picture of her in her tap costume. Some of that has to go with the fact that it was pretty simple. A blue sequined vest with hot pink neckline, black pants, tan shoes and then this hot pink boa feather thing on top of her bun. While I was not to impressed with the costume the dance was terrific. The girls did such a good job at keeping in step. I do believe it was probably her most difficult number this year.



There she is in her last Hip Hop out fit. The group was so cute. They were all in black, yellow, or white and it was all mixed up. No one was wearing the same thing as any one else. My daughter complained about the music it was "Together Forever" from "High School Musical." They still did a great job.

As anyone who knows me knows how I liked to complain when it came to recital time each year. Secretly though I actually really enjoyed it. Planning out how we were going to get to where we needed to be. Figuring out just how I was going to get something nutritious for her to eat when all she wanted was the abundant junk food while we were on the mad run from place A to place B. Arguing with her while we were putting her make up on. She wanted more and I wanted less (don't figure). Even when she was little and they insisted that all little girls hair MUST be in curls. My daughter's hair is as strait as a board. I don't think there was a single recital that I did not end up teary eyed and full of pride. I have sincerely enjoyed seeing the accomplishment in my daughters eyes as she would come off stage. The true beauty she exudes. She is such an amazing girl. I am going to miss this.

While it breaks my heart that we are closing this chapter can still be the beginning of another. She has a true desire and interest in music so we will start exploring that journey soon.

A Day that was 12 Years in the making!

Can you tell what is going on in this picture? That is my DH finally for the first time EVER cooking breakfast for me. To his credit he has done many things for me in all our years together. Breakfast just hasn't been one of them. I'm not sure what FINALLY gave him the idea but I'm not complaining. This really was sweet of him and I only gave my 2 cents once. (I told him which pan to use so the eggs would not stick to bad.) Never mind the fact that I closed my eyes and blocked the view from myself. He even had the munchkins clear the table and do the dishes! I got breakfast as well no mess (well for the most part).