Hanging bud vases...

I wrote a while ago (October 6)  about some hanging vases I bought to bring with me in my RV.  This is what they look like in my kitchen.  I have a small galley kitchen and they work well here.  These had a rooted plant stem, and I added the rose buds:

 

These little vases have thin wires around the neck, which extend up into a loop for hanging.  They are so light weight, I just put a push pin tack into the wood on the side of the cupboards to hang them from. I'd love to have a garden window, but the estimate was waaaaay more than I was willing to pay, so this at least gives me some "garden" around my sink area.

This is what they look like when I'm out of roses, although there are usually flowers of some kind around here, but I like the roses best.  I also have a lavender bush that's pretty prolific, and sometimes I'll cut two tiny bunches and add those.

 See how much nicer it looks with the flowers?  Colorful and warm.  And pretty and fragrant.

 I think they look great with the flowers.

These will be super in an RV to add color and if there are no flowers available, any little branch or twig would look good, too.  Could look very rustic and decorative.

That's it for today.  From Me and My Dog, have a great day, everyone!  : )

RV loans - whaaaas up with that????? and Katie's warm sweater

I'm doing some preliminary work to see where I can get an RV loan, and what the interest rate would be.  What I've found out so far is that some financial institutions won't lend on a used RV, others will lend only if it's a certain limited number of years old, and at the RV show on Saturday I was talking to a credit union rep and found I can get a better rate if I borrow more money than I want.  

I have great credit, have owned homes all my life, and yet I feel "less than" because I want to buy an RV that's not new or expensive. 

Why should I have to borrow more than I want or need to get a lower interest rate?   I've been really surprised at the information I'm getting.  I could put the whole thing on a credit card for less interest than some financial institutions have quoted me, like my own bank, who I've been with for years.  They offered a ridiculously high rate at an extremely short term.

I'm very disappointed in my local bankers. : (    At one bank I was told he could offer me a lower rate if I applied for a personal unsecured loan instead of an RV loan.   Whaaaas up with that?????

This is a sweater that was hand knitted by my friend Alice for Katie, then she embroidered a square with her name and sewed it on the neck.  This is the warmest sweater Katie has, and on the really cold days, I'm sure glad she has it.

Katie loves wearing it, but we only use it when it's really cold.

It's very thick and covers her well, and keeps her dry if it's raining.

Isn't it cute?

We woke up last night to rolling thunder and blasts of lightening.  Lots of rain.  It's been dreary and dark, raining on and off, all day.  At work, when I went to my car to get something this morning, I saw this guy in front of the car by the building, with rain on his web.  If you click on it, you can see how detailed the web is.

 Isn't it pretty?  I'm not a fan of spiders, but I'm fascinated by these huge guys and their webs.

From me and warmly dressed Katie, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone!  : )

The Pomona RV show

On Saturday I went to the RV show at Pomona, CA.  They had just about anything you would want to see. It was very well laid out and organized.  Even though I'm going to be buying a used RV, it's nice to see the shiny new ones with all the beautiful interiors.

Gypsy, I did see Lance there, but by the time I spotted them I was so tired, I just kept walking out the gate to my car.  Now I wish I had taken the time to do a walk through so I'd know what your future rig looks like inside. Oh well, next time.

I caught part of a seminar about taking an RV to Alaska, and it was very interesting.  I'm not even going to Alaska in the foreseeable future, but sure did enjoy his talk and photos.  Some of the things he talked about can be used by anyone crossing the border into Canada, too, or just in general.

I also went to a seminar about full timing.  It was very interesting as well and I learned some things I haven't seen in blogs or forums.

I did some looking at Class C rigs, but most of them I've seen before.  There was one that was interesting to me.  Here are some photos:

This is the layout

It has the cabover bed, and then it also has two dinettes.  At first I thought that was kind of weird, but then I thought, "office/craft space."  The rear dinette would be a good office space.  The front dinette is large, and could be used as a couch also.

Do you have any opinions about this configuration for a solo RVer who'd love to have an office to use for computer stuff and crafting activities that don't always have to be put away?

Excuse the blurry photos, they are taken from the video I took with my little Olympus Stylus camera.

 

This was the only Class C rig I saw that had something different in the layout. I thought it was worth thinking about.  I can't wait to start my new lifestyle, but am kind of glad I still have time to think about everything.  It's going to be quite a decision to make as far as what I end up with.

Well, you've all done it, and I guess when the time comes I will, too.

I have to tell you, I keep thinking about Margie and Bruce and Annie.  I had a lot of things to do yesterday and today, but they kept popping in throughout the day.  I'd guess you are all having the same thing happen.  I hope Annie and their family are doing okay, they are in my thoughts and prayers.

Sam & Donna, Katie's Puppy of the Day looks like a "Riggen the Wonderdog" puppy.  : )

From me and Katie, have a nice evening, everyone...

Such tragic news

I just read about Margie and Bruce in some of your blogs.  I went to the RV show yesterday and was so tired I went to bed early and didn't open my computer till just now.  I was settling down to catch up, and the first post I opened was about Margie and Bruce.

This is such a terrible thing, I can't believe it happened.  I guess I didn't realize how attached I've become to this blogging community, and I'm surprised at my reaction.

Margie had two blogs, and I read them both.  I loved reading about their adventures, following along on all their walks, and enjoyed her beautiful photos.  She was an inspiration to her followers on her second blog.  The last post that I read on her blog, My Healthy Living Through Weight Control, was an inspiration to me, and I was using her blog to get back on track.  I'm sure there were many people she inspired. 

I felt like I knew them in the short time I've been following Margie's blogs.  Margie was a good commenter  too, and I appreciated that.

They seemed such a happy couple, living a wonderful life, loving each other, their kids and Grands and Annie.  They will be missed by many people who never even met them.

Katie's cookie eating method, and a product review

I've been practicing with my new camera, snapping different things using different settings.  I was taking some pictures of Katie the other night when I gave her a treat, and when I got the third picture, I had to write a post around it.  I don't know if you've noticed, but Katie usually has the same look on her face all the time.  One ear up, one ear down, looking at me very seriously.  It was so unusual to get a picture like this one.   

Katie has a procedure she follows when I give her a cookie.  She'll pick up the cookie, then she walks around the house looking for the right ball (she has 15 tennis balls).  When she finds the one she wants, she picks up the ball, too, and walks around with both in her mouth for a few minutes.  She usually comes over and lets me check out what's going on.  I pet her, tell her she's a lucky dog, check out the treats and ball, etc.  Then she's satisfied and usually jumps up on my bed, drops them both and eats the cookie.

 

 

YUM, THANKS, MOM!

This is such a silly picture. She's got her right eye squinted.  Do you think her tongue reaches up to her eye???

I received an e-mail from Julia Taylor at Digeus, Inc. asking if I'd be interested in reviewing a new product on my blog called SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7.  She said if I do review the product, I will receive it free.  It looked interesting so I thought, Why Not?

 I captured this graphic using SnapIt.

Here is brief information about the product:  "SnapIt is easy to use screen capture software which allows you to easily capture anything on the screen including windows, menus, full screen, rectangular regions, web pages and take shots of moving images."

I have Windows 7 on my laptop, and one of the little gadgets that comes with it is a tool called Snipping Tool.  I've used it from time to time, and it is a pretty cool little tool, but only comes with Windows 7.  SnapIt does the same thing, but also works in Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP, 2000, 2003, Vista x32, x64 and Windows 7.

Our website at work is set up so that you can't do a copy/paste.  Right now we're doing an update to the website, and I'm compiling the page changes to give to our web person, who is outsourced.  I don't have Windows 7 at work, and since I can't do a copy/paste of a section of a page, I have to do a screen shot, paste it to another program, crop what I want, then save it as a new jpg.  Then I can insert it in my document explaining what I want done.  Pretty time consuming, since we have lots of pages and lots of changes.  SnapIt would be a perfect program for me to use completing this task.

All you do is click on the camera the program installs on your task bar, click on the function key you chose (I chose F12) and then draw a box around what you want to capture.  Save as a JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP or TIFF file, then simply import it into your document, or blog, or wherever it's needed.  And that's it. Pretty simple to use, and so much quicker than the old cut, paste, crop, etc., etc., etc.  Check it out, they have a trial copy to see if it works for you.

Julia Taylor said in her e-mail to mention in my blog about a giveaway for readers if you also create a review in any blog/forum/twitter/facebook, etc, and contact her with a link to the review.  She will then issue a registration code and name for you, too.

Here's a link to their website.  SnapIt  You can check it out and if it looks interesting you can download a 14-day trial copy.  If you do like it, write a review and email Julia at julia.taylor@digeus.com and send her a link to get your free copy.

I would also be happy to write a review on any Class C motor homes... under the same conditions. 

I went to the RV show today; I'll let you know in a day or so what ideas I came home with this time.  Don't worry, I didn't buy one.  Too soon.  Too soon.  Too soon.

From Me and My Dog, have a wonderful Saturday evening, everyone!  : )