Work, Work, Work

Today was another slow day at work - I spent the entire five hours folding brochures and flyers - I'll stuff them tomorrow. Seriously, it was so slow that when Mike, the early gate ranger, changed cash drawers with the late gate ranger we had a total of $6.00 for our deposit - and admission to the park is $6.00 a car. (Now we did have a few people that came in that had permits). I'm sure that part of the reason we are not having that much traffic in the park has many reasons - starting with it being Monday (the tram does not run on Monday and the Hammock Inn is not open on Mondays - the little snack bar/restaurant), half the loop road (where all the walking trails are) is closed due to cutting of trees, the campground does not have many people due to the construction that is still going on (the roads are paved but they are still working on the retention ponds). In one way it is really pretty nice not having a lot of people in the park - the campground is really pretty quiet - but the flip side is I really don't have that much to do at work. Oh well, the problems of working!

When I got home from work Dan was already here - he had taken some chicken breasts out of the freezer for dinner, but he wanted to go into town and check on some things. We ended up going to the Verizon store and asking some questions. I HATE my phone - I have NO service here in the park but I have service for my air card. The guy at the store called someone and they talked about my phone - I have to call them tomorrow from the ranger station and they are going to talk me through some steps and see if it is my phone or just no service (I really don't think it is the service - like I said - my air card works fine and two of the other volunteers have Verizon and they don't have any problems with service). I'll just have to wait and see what happens when I call them tomorrow.

Let me back up a minute - while I was at work today I made a call to the tag and title agency here in Sebring. Why? Well, I've misplaced the title to the truck and the motorcycle. I have absolutely NO idea what happened to them - I know where they were before we moved into the new unit but I can't find them now. Sooooooo, we will have to get a duplicate title for the truck and I've asked Dale to get us a duplicate title for the motorcycle. I was somewhat surprised to find out that we can go to the office and walk out with a new title - of course it's going to cost an arm and a leg (over $85.00), if we want to save a couple of bucks - and I do mean a couple- we can wait for Tallahassee to mail us a new title - which will take 10 business days and only cost $78.00. Of course, I can't really say too much - it is my fault - I'm the one that is suppose to keep up with this stuff. I have torn the house up looking for those titles and I just can NOT find them. I don't know what happened. At this point, I just need to bite the bullet and get duplicate titles and let it go. Of course, Dan says that now is the time to sell the motorcycle (which is probably right) but he says he can't because I LOST THE TITLE - so he is going to blame me for not selling the motor. Oh well, I have big shoulders and I'll take the blame (and I guess it really is my fault). When we get the new titles I know where I will be putting them and they will stay there.

While we were in town today we went down to Wal Mart and picked up a few things (but NO frozen food! LOL). I wanted to get a black belt to wear with my uniform (I had been wearing a brown belt with black pants - NO! NO! NO!) and Dan wanted a few things. We also picked up a poinsettia plant for the picnic table outside - we have to decorate some outside other than just the lights. I bought some things like lunch meat, broccoli salad, banana pudding (desert), cokes, milk, butter - you know the basics). Anyway, we left with only spending about $120.00 - not too bad for not needing anything major. HA! HA!

I fixed the chicken breasts today with some of the noodles that we had purchased in Shipshewana and some salsa mixed together - we also had some sugar snap peas. It was pretty good - just took a lot of dishes to cook dinner in which meant there were a lot of dishes to wash - UGH! I guess that I haven't gotten used to this new kitchen yet - I just seems like I don't have any room to do anything - but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon. Oh while we were at Wal Mart we looked at things like powdered milk and evaporated milk - trying to figure out what we are going to take to Alaska with us - we know that we will not be able to get to fresh milk that often - we have looked on the map and the closest Wal Mart is in Anchorage which is about 150 miles away - ONE WAY. Not a trip we will take every week. We will really have to plan our grocery buying trips. It will be somewhat interesting to say the least - I'll keep you posted on our plans.

I have got to get it together and get some Christmas presents bought - I haven't gotten anything yet for anyone and IF I order things on line I better get it together - I only have about 10 days to make sure I get things in time for Christmas. I just don't want to go into the big city (whether that is Lakeland or Fort Myers) to go shopping. I guess the older I get the more I don't want to fight with other people at the malls. Anyway, I think I'll get on line tomorrow when I get home and see how much I can get done. (One of the other advantages - I can shop for Dan without him knowing - which is the only way I will ever be able to buy him anything without his knowledge since the only time we are apart is when we are at work!) Such is life as full time RVer's.

That is about all I have to report today - Donna, if you read this, I would love to be your neighbor in FarmVille. I sent you a message on your blog so you will know how to get in touch with me. I'll look forward to hearing from you. Crystal, I'm glad your open house went well - you just stress too much! Joyce and Jewel, I loved the pictures from the Christmas parade in Live Oak - you couldn't have found a prettier Angel! Take care all and -----------------

I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Things don't always go the way you want them to

Football has a way of not going the way you would hope that it would - sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I guess it's the same in life - but people seem to get more pleasure in putting a losing team down -not because they played hard and tried, but because they lost, or because someone doesn't like a certain player, or coach. I have to admit there have been times I have done the same thing (can anyone say Steve Spurrier), but, with age, comes some wisdom and I realize that it's not the best option. I now know that you can celebrate the victory of your team without putting the losing team and that teams players down. I think that is called sportmanship. That is the same in college ball as well as pro. I will strive to practice what I preach - so if you hear me falling into that "put down" trap, please correct me. Now, let's move on.

Today was slow at work - only about ten people checked out today and only four people checked in while I was at work. But my OCD definitely kicked in. We have these brochures that have to be folded in thirds and then we stuff them with flyers that we also fold in thirds. Well, when I went into work today someone had folded the flyers and brochures and they were not straight. Well, that just won't work - so I spent all morning refolding all the brochures and all the flyers and then restuffing them. The rangers laughed at me, but they appreciate that I am particular with what we hand out to the public. (At least I think they appreciate it -LOL.)

After work I came home and we decided to spend the afternoon in - so Dan cooked some hamburgers on the grill for lunch and I fixed beef and bean burritos and Spanish rice for dinner. We just spent the day watching football and I did some 'farming' (Farmville is certainly addictive). At least the weather has cleared up - no rain today - we had over four inches of rain on Friday night and about six inches on Saturday - lots of rain! However, we needed it - it had been really dry. I'm trying to figure out what we are going to do for Christmas - I should have spent the day balancing the books, but I can say "should have, could have, would have" all day - the point is I didn't. I'll just have to force myself to do it tomorrow because I'm sure I have bills to pay.

Well, I don't have much else to report - I didn't mean to "preach" at the beginning of the blog - but I needed to get it off my chest. I won't talk about it again. I hope you all had a good weekend and that your upcoming work week will go well. Crystal and Kim, I hope your party went well - I'm sure it did.

I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Back to work tomorrow

Today was another semi wash out - it did finally stop raining about 3 this afternoon - we were suppose to have a concert here in the park tonight, but that was cancelled because of all the rain. Oh well, it would have been a mess. I don't know if they have rescheduled the concert or not - probably not.

We pretty much stayed inside today - I made some chili in the crock pot and just sorta stayed close to home - after we got home from Lake Placid. I did leave my phone at Melissa and Justin's last night and we went down to pick it up - but Melissa and Justin weren't home - they had come to Sebring to get some stuff and then buy their Christmas tree. The only good thing was we did beat them back to our 'house' and so I did get my phone back. Dan is determined to get him a phone this coming week. That's okay - I just hope we can figure out what is wrong with my phone. I HATE my phone - if anybody out there is in the market for a new phone DO NOT GET A CHOCOLATE! It is awful!!!!! I would love to get another phone, but I just got this one in April so I have another year with this piece of - well you get the picture. We'll just have to go with the flow and suck it up and let it be. (Maybe we'll just use Dan's phone when we get him a new one - yeah! that's what I can do.)

Well, it looks like congratulations are in order for the Alabama Crimson Tide - they certainly had the Gators number tonight. That's okay - I really was routing for Tim Tebow - he is a good kid and I really just wanted him to get another Heisman, but I guess that was not to be. That's okay - he'll be fine (he'll be upset and disappointed in himself) but Alabama certainly was the better team tonight. It's been a good run for Tim and the Gators. However, there is some good that came out of this game. Now I can route for Texas and not feel bad. Hook em horns!!!!!!

I want to say thanks to all of you that keep the comments coming - it certainly makes it easier for me to keep writing every day. Linda and Darrell - sorry you won't be able to make it down this way, but we certainly understand how things can get in the way. Ted and Donna - thanks for coming along on this ride - it is nice to know that others are out there. If you talk to Rick and Brenda tell them we said 'hello'. Hope you keep reading and staying with us along the road.

Well, I don't have anything else to report tonight. We go back to work tomorrow - thank goodness it's not raining any more - but look out it's gonna get COLD! Take care all and

I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Rain, Rain and More Rain!

Today was a total wash out - it has rained all day long - and it is suppose to rain all day tomorrow. Now, we have heard that this area really needs to rain - and Dan says that he would much rather have it rain on our days off then on the days we have to work. Why, you might ask - well, Dan has to be outside all day when we are at work and he doesn't want to work in the rain. Makes sense to me. It is suppose to clear up by late tomorrow afternoon and be nice on Sunday - our first day back at work -who would guess that we would like the rain on our "week end". Such is life.

We went over to Melissa and Justin's tonight to watch a movie - "Angels and Demons" with Tom Hanks. I had read the book and let me just say that the movie takes great liberties with the plot line of the book - oh well, I guess that is just Hollywood. I will say that it was a pretty good movie (especially if you had not read the book), but I thought the book was actually the better of the two. However, it was nice to spend a quiet evening with the kids with nothing to do but sit and watch a movie. We took over some frozen individual pizzas and everyone had one of their own. It worked out well.

Tomorrow I am going to fix chili in the crock pot - not only is it suppose to rain all day it is suppose to be pretty cool so I think chili will taste pretty good. Of course, we have to big game tomorrow (although I don't know what time it comes on). I'm sure we find out and sit right here and watch it. It should be a good game.

I think I left my phone at Melissa's - at least I can't find it and I know that I put it in my pocket before we left to go over to their house. I don't know if it fell out of my pocket while I was sitting on the couch or if I took it out and laid it down somewhere that I don't remember. Anyway, I guess I'll have to drive down there tomorrow and look for it.

Well, I don't have much else to report - oh, Dan and I did go into town today as we needed dog food - we also went to Books-A-Million and ordered a copy of the new Milepost (which is the book about the Alaska highway) and I also bought a copy of "Going Rouge". Then we stopped at the music store and we bought a copy of Susan Boyle's CD "I Dreamed A Dream" and it is excellent. It is a very unique mix of music, but each song is done beautifully - she certainly has a wonderful voice and I wish her much success,

That's all for tonight ----

Talk to you tomorrow!!!

Back to School

Today I went into Lake Placid to Melissa's Middle School and did a presentation to all her classes. I think it went really well - I hope Melissa liked what I did. I enjoyed doing the presentation but I had forgotten how talkative sixth graders are - when I taught middle school before my daughter was in Middle school (when I taught kindergarten Melissa was in kindergarten) I really think it makes a difference when your own children are the age that you teach. Plus most of the time that I taught (even when I did substitute teaching in Live Oak, Florida) I taught fourth grade. There is a definite difference between fourth graders and sixth graders. However, for the most part, the kids were good (I only had to use my "teacher voice" a couple of times and only had to move one boy in sixth period). I hope the kids enjoyed the presentation.

Melissa and I ran to Wal Mart after school and then came home and got Dan then we went to Sonny's for dinner. After dinner, when Dan and I got back home, I realized that he had done the laundry for me while he was at home today. That was a very nice surprise and I really did appreciate it. That means I don't have to worry about doing it on Friday or Saturday. Yeah! I can actually just relax the next couple of days - Tomorrow it is suppose to rain all day - it poured last night, plus there was a lot of thunder last night - it work the girls up which means it woke me up - Jessie was a little scared until I covered her up with the quilt and scooted her up next to me - then she went right back to sleep.

I am really tired tonight - I guess the teaching thing tired me out more than I thought - so I'm going to sign off for tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Last Work day this week

Today was b-o -r -i -n -g at work - nothing happening - since the walking loop is closed due to cutting trees to enlarge the bike path - a lot of our "regulars" did not come to the park today - it really made for a long, long, long day. The only good thing to say is - No more work this week (yeah!).

Tomorrow I'm going in to Lake Placid and visit Melissa's classes. She told them about our travels this past summer and they asked her if I could come in and show them pictures and talk about what we did this past summer - so, tomorrow that's what I'm going to do. I was going to do this one day right after we first got here, but that was when I got that flu bug that was going through the park. Anyway, it should be interesting tomorrow - I know I have plenty of pictures to show them. The biggest thing will be deciding which pictures NOT to show and staying within the time frame that Melissa gives me. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I came in tonight fixed dinner - lo mien chicken - it was pretty good. Like I said last night - we really need to eat at home for quite a while - we keep talking about what we are going to take with us to Alaska - we are really worried about what will be available to us and the price of food in Alaska. I want to take as much with us as we can. Which means that we need to look at storage items that will keep things fresh - I mean things like rice, dry beans, etc. We'll see - it will definately be something to work on.

Did I tell you that we decided that part or our problem is the grocery stores (as well as other stores and restaurant's) are just too close to us. When we were in Idaho the grocery store was 60 miles away - so we made the trips count and we ate at home almost all the time. Now, the stores are 10 minutes away and it's so easy to just say "Let's run up to ---------- for dinner (you fill in the blank)". We are going to try and get away from that this month - and then when we get to Dowling Park for two months we will have to remember NOT to go to "The Gopher" every night. Of course, we won't be working in Dowling Park, so it should be easier to stay in (at least I hope it will be). That is something we will have to see.

Well, that's about all I have to report tonight. Hope your week is going well and

I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Too much frozen food!!!!

After work today Dan decided we needed to go in to Wal Mart and pick up a few things. We were out of some of our vitamins and supplements that we take and I knew we needed things like bread, milk, even cereal and eggs. Anyway, we went in and walked out with over $250.00 worth of groceries (well, we also bought some large crates to try and consolidate some of our storage issues). We did pick up some frozen stuff - individual pizza's, some frozen dinners, ice cream (Dan's Butter Pecan), some skinless, boneless chicken breasts, ground beef, and smoked sausage. Didn't seem like that much in the store - until we got home and I remembered how small our freezer compartment is (and this one is twice the size of the one we used to have). I was somehow able to get everything in - only had to take out the ice trays and the "blue ice" package. Not too bad! I told Dan, after we got home, that we needed to eat out of the freezer for the next few weeks - we probably don't need to buy anything except fresh stuff - you know, bread, milk, eggs, butter - you know, that kind of stuff. We'll see how that goes.

Today at work things were okay - we weren't too busy and I was able to fold and stuff about 300 brochures to give out to people who come into the park. It is amazing how different the rangers are - and what they expect me to do as the volunteer - some want me to do everything except check campers in and out (that's because it's on a state run computer and you have to have a password) and other don't want me to do anything but greet people coming into the park and take admission fees. It's crazy - actually I like it much better to work with the rangers who let me do whatever needs to be done at the time instead of having to wait for them to do something. I understand not getting on the state computer (I really don't want to do that) but the other stuff can get kinda silly. Oh well, I've learned what to do with certain rangers and what not to do with others. Plus, we only have about four more weeks to work - that is amazing to me.

We need to figure out what we are going to do about Christmas this year - I don't know what the kids want and I haven't figured out the budget yet (Dan needs to sell the motorcycle!) so I know what we will have to spend. I'm sure we will figure it all out in the next couple of days.

Well, I really don't have much else to report - Oh, Dana, Congratulations - which position did you accept???? You guys take care and

I'll talk to you tomorrow!