Saturday, November 6, 2010

Saturday misc.

WELCOME to our new Follower, Ed!  Thanks for joining Katie and Me as we plan and prepare for full-timing.  If you have a blog, let me know so I can follow along with you, too!

WELCOME also to Gail and Rick of Gypsy Turtles - great name!  I'll read along with you as you get started full-timing.  (Glad you got the red wine stain out of the carpet - lots of good suggestions in your comments, too.)

Remember I told you when I give Katie a treat she puts it in her mouth, gets a ball and walks around with them for a while?  She always has to show me and will stand there like this until I tell her what a lucky girl she is.

 She's so proud of herself and her treat!

It's the funniest thing - I've never seen a dog do this before. 

Yesterday I went out  to shop - groceries, etc.  Went to Costco first and got the sweetest strawberries and grapes.  They also had blueberries - not so sweet but not bad.  Then went to the grocery store for the things I didn't want to buy in bulk.  My Dad's birthday is the 10th, so I got him a present to mail today, and made him a birthday card.

I decided to look later for camping things.  I've gotten so frugal I'm not sure I want to spend the money on equipment I won't use in a year or so.  I used to be a shopaholic - whatever I wanted I got.  Now that I've reversed things it's hard to spend money on something I don't NEED.  I have a tendency to get into activities, buy everything I need and then some, and then not really use them.  I did that with skiing, backpacking, fishing, crafts.  All expensive hobbies and although I really enjoyed doing them, I didn't do enough to justify the money I spent on the equipment.  Last time I moved I had a huge garage sale, and sold most of the backpacking and skiing things, but not the fishing and crafting stuff - I still have those and hope to use them when full-timing.

Last night I did some research on-line for some of the things I'd need to camp.  Comparing prices, re-thinking if I really need them.  Stove, headlamp, tent (I LOVE the SUV tent, but a standalone is 1/3 the price).  Other things in the "camping" section of Costco, Walmart, Target, REI. 

I'm thinking now that I should take Katie for an overnight at first - just in the car.  I can bring food and drinks, we can do a little hiking, see what's what.  I've always done this kind of thing with a boyfriend or husband.  Love the outdoors, but haven't gone alone.  I am never bored - I've always enjoyed my own company, but that's at home where I have all my stuff to keep me occupied, and the TV the rest of the time.

I don't know what's holding me back - I think about it, and plan where I'll go, make lists of what I'll need, do all the research, got the CampBook at AAA, printed out hikes nearby, etc., etc., etc.  Then I put it on my desk and let it percolate in my brain for a while. 

I think I'm going to wrap my Dad's present, drop it off at the post office, and take Katie to Julian - a nice drive - and we can check out some things on the way.  At least it's a start.

Opps - thought I posted this  before we left - We DID go to Julian. I got some interesting photos, which I'll post tomorrow. 

For now, I've ordered takeout Fish House Vera Cruz for dinner and I'm going to pick it up and have a fabulous dinner at home and upload my photos.  A nice dinner to top off the day.

From Me and a very tired Katie, have a super Saturday evening, everyone!  : )