I'm almost ready for Christmas

Well, I'm almost ready for Christmas!

My son and his family are coming here for Christmas dinner.  I have a small condo and Tom has a huge house - a really huge house - so he always hosts when we have holidays or family get-togethers.  This year, Kristy and her family are coming the week following Christmas, so on Christmas Day, it will only be me and Tom, his wife, and three kids.  So this will be a great time for me to cook the turkey.

I've got most of the food - just need a few more things including the turkey.

Monday night I made a double batch of my world famous fudge.  I used to make it every year, batches and batches, and bring some to work, give some to friends and family, but I haven't made it in a while.  It's just the Fantasy Fudge recipe on the marshmallow creme jar, but somehow mine is smoother than other people's fudge that I've tasted.  I'm not bragging - it just IS.

I make great turkey dressing, gravy and fudge.  I've always said anyone who can read, can cook.  No excuses.  You just need to be able to read and WANT to follow a recipe.  So, I can cook, and most things I make are pretty good.  But my fudge, turkey dressing, and gravy really are GREAT.  It's nice to have something you're great at.  : )  I'm a good person to have around during the holidays. : ))))

This year I got a container that sprinkles candy cane crumbs, and I sprinkled candy cane crumbs on the tops of the fudge in the pans.  I made two pans without nuts, because my family doesn't like the nuts, but that makes it too sweet for me, and so I made one pan with chopped walnuts.  After the pans had cooled in the fridge, I cut out a tiny piece of the walnut fudge (see top left corner of square pan - really tiny piece gone!) to see what it tastes like with the candy cane sprinkles, and it was the BEST!  I'll see what my family thinks.  If they like it, I have a new twist to my familiar fudge recipe.

I've never used foil before, but it makes sense - less clean-up, the fudge should come out easily.

 The tiny bite I had was delicious - I liked the peppermint on the top.

The pans of fudge don't look very fancy, but once I cut it in squares and put them in pretty boxes, they will look good.  When I make it in a round or oval pan, I always square it off and keep the curved pieces for myself.  Yum.

Since three grandchildren will be here for Christmas, one less than two years old, and then Kristy's family is staying with me this year while they are here for a few days, and some of us will be sleeping on the floor - having a campout in our sleeping bags (I'll let Kristy and Matt have my bed), I thought I'd better shampoo my carpet.  So yesterday after work I got out the carpet shampooer and got all the carpets shampooed.  It looks really nice - and clean.

I was tired and hungry after vacuuming and then shampooing, so I microwaved a fish dinner, made a Waldorf salad, sat in front of the TV and finished every bite.  And fell asleep.  When I woke up, the carpet was dry so I put back all the furniture and things I had moved off the carpet, cleaned up the shampooer, and was done.

Not much else to do.  The presents are bought and wrapped, the house is ready, and just a little food shopping to go.

I always make my own Christmas cards, and usually have them all mailed out by the end of November, but this year...  Well, I'm lagging a bit.  I've put together a couple, printed a sample, and haven't liked them.  I'll have to work on them again and try to get something I like.

When Gavin was here for his Birthday cake baking, I showed him a Christmas tree I made in Photoshop Elements.  He didn't like the way I positioned the buttons (ornaments), so I pulled up the file and asked him how he would have done it.  I moved the buttons where he liked them, and I think I may print it out on photo paper and paste on the front of cardstock, put a greeting inside, and call it a Christmas card for 2010.  I really like the way he positioned the buttons.  Here is what he did.  What do you think?

 I think this is the one!

On nice shiny photo paper, it looks great.  Perfect size.  Gavin specifically liked the "zig-zag" of the diamond buttons.  He took a photo of the tree home to tape to his door.  They are so cute at six years old. 

From Me and My Dog, Katie, have a great Wednesday everyone!  : )

My 100th post! And grandson Gavin's birthday

I love milestones, and 100 posts is a milestone for me.  Especially the way I'm posting lately! :)

Last week was my grandson, Gavin's, sixth birthday.  He's in kindergarten this year.  So Gavin came over on Wednesday to bake a birthday cake.

When my grandkids have a birthday, I have them over to bake a cake for themselves and decorate them to bring home for their birthday.  (At least my son's kids.  Kristy's two live too far away, but I bake with them when I can.)  Lots of kids don't help mom bake in the kitchen anymore - in fact I'm not sure my kids helped me when they were little.  I made their birthday cakes myself.  But now that I'm a grandmother, it seems important to let them bake and decorate their own cakes.

Here are Gavin's, from 3 to 6 years old:

 3 years old - blowing out his candle.

 Yummy cupcake!

 4 years old - measuring.

 Decorating star-shaped cupcakes.

 5 years old - this poor cake looked great when it was decorated, kind of...

 Getting ready to blow out the candles!

6 years old - licking the bowl, the best part!

 Decorating the cake.

Beautiful! He carefully drew lines, crossed them, put patches of color - all very carefully constructed.

It's really fun to see how Gavin has grown.  At first I just let him stir the batter, then each year he did more of the prep.  This year I measured, and he did everything else, pouring the ingredients into the bowl, stirring, pouring the batter into the pans, and all the decorating.  I decorated one and he decorated one.  He wanted to take a photo of me holding "my" cake:

Happy Birthday Gavin!

That's a tired Grammy at the end of a long day, but the photo he took of me was actually flattering, I thought. I was pretty beat by this time.  Such tired eyes...   But worth it for the memories!  Notice the professional-like decorated cake! Gavin was very impressed - I love working with kids!  : )  

Then the next night at 5:30 Gavin had a pizza party with a few of his closest friends at his house - here are a few photos from that evening:

  Blowing out the candles.

 Gavin and his sister, Kennedy

Gavin, baby brother Graydin, and Kennedy

And that's it until next Saturday when the REAL birthday party is - a couple of Gavin's best friends couldn't come on Saturday, that's why they had the pizza night.  He's having quite a Birthday this year!

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

PS:  If you noticed the difference in my kitchen counters, the first year the tile was an old yellow - from the early 1960s. Still pretty much in good shape, just worn.  The next three birthdays, look at the tile - beautiful.  That's what my company does - refinishing.  Kitchen counters, vanities, bathtubs.  Instead of replacing the fixture, you can have it refinished.  Click on the photos to really see what a difference it made in my kitchen and bathrooms.  : )

Happy Monday

WELCOME to our new follower, The Old Geezer! Thank you for following along with us as we prepare to RV full time.  Hopefully in one more year!

I just haven't felt like blogging lately, but am still enjoying reading your blogs!  So glad Gypsy made it home safely in her new "Sir Lance-A-Lot!"  What an experience she had in her adventure to pick up her new truck camper between the baked potato disaster and "the fall," she's had quite a time of it.

I was also wishing I was on the cruise with Kim, it looked and sounded wonderful, but she is already back home, it seemed so short to me.

Jeana is still in Arizona, I guess, checking out new homes and RVs to full time (?) in.  She has given me some new ideas - with home prices in Las Vegas and Merced so depressed, I am thinking I might buy a home after I retire in one of these areas, and use it as a home base for RVing.  I'd sure love to have a home base to return to once in a while, and have waiting when (if) I tire of RVing full time.  We'll see.  I'll figure that out when the time is closer.

I am going to have a Realtor come by soon, maybe this weekend, and let me know what he thinks my condo would sell or lease for at this time, and if he has any idea of the numbers for one year from now.  That will give me an idea to plan from.

Even the people who aren't RVing full time are traveling.  And the snowbirds.  Some of you have found warmer weather, and for the rest, I hope things warm up for you soon!

New mushroom family in the yard:

There are three more families, but I won't take space for them all.  I love my mushrooms. : )

Above is just an odd-ball photo I took when I was up in Julian a month or so ago.  These large concrete stairs looked like they were very important once upon a time.  I stopped the car and walked up them to see if anything was left of the home they used to lead to.  Nothing.  Just brush, weeds, and trees.  I wonder what the house and grounds looked like in it's prime.  Funny how sometimes all that's left is a chimney or stairs.  If these weren't concrete, they would have been long gone.

That's all for now.  My grandson had a 6th birthday last week, I'll post some photos tomorrow.

From me and Katie, have a great Monday evening, everyone! : )

Katie's bike ride, a little Christmas decorating

Last weekend I tried out the bike with Katie in the basket.  Unfortunately there's something wrong - I'm going to have to bring the bike to a bike shop or have the man next store look at it for me.  When I put Katie in the basket and walked the bike, there was a rubbing sound.  I couldn't tell where it was coming from, somewhere in the front, and the front tire looked like it had lost a little air.  I think I'll take it down to a bike shop and have everything checked out.

It was really hard to ride - even downhill - so I decided not to risk wrecking the bike and just walked Katie for a couple of blocks.

 Hey, Mom, this is fun!

I have to tell you - Katie was a natural!  She just loved it.  Never even tried to jump out.

When I walked her back up our little hill I parked it and held on the the handlebars to steady the bike to get her out and she wouldn't budge.  Just looked away from me.  So I checked what I could on the front brake, tried to see where the rubbing was coming from, but - nothing obvious to me.

Don't park - let's going again!

Finally I had to MAKE her get out of the basket, and she let me lift her out.  I have no worries that she'll be fine when we're streaming down the roadway.  If I can get in good enough shape to stream anywhere! : )

 Okay, Okay!  Lift me out already!  But I'm not happy.

Today I did a little Christmas decorating.  I put up a lighted wreath on my mantle mirror and hung my Barbie ornaments from it, a couple of outside decorations, wreath on the front door, etc.  Small things here and there. I have scented candles lit and the fireplace going.  It's very cozy here tonight.

 This is an Electric Fireplace, I love it!

Christmas presents all wrapped -  a few more to buy!

I am going to a Christmas show/service at my friend Alice's "other" church.  Alice is in her 80's, as quick, bright, healthy and busy as any 40 year old I know.  MUCH busier than I am.  She married a man a few years her senior around three years ago.  They had the BEST marriage for close to two years, then he died.  He and his family were very active in a different church, so Alice started going to his church with him.  Now that he is not here with her, she is dividing her time between his church and our church here at the lake.  The service tonight is at her late husband's church.

Alice invited me and Jan, from our church here at the Lake.  I haven't seen Jan for a long while, and am looking forward to seeing them both tonight.

That's it for today.  It's been a busy weekend, and now I have to get ready.  Alice is coming by at 6:00 to pick me up.

From Me and My Dog, Katie, have a nice Sunday evening, everyone! : )

Subscribed to Norton and an AOL RANT!

WELCOME to our new follower - I don't have a name ("Hi" is all I've got) or blog site, so I can't thank you by name, but we're still very happy to have you along on our journey to future full-timing. 

Unfortunately my blogging has become very sporadic lately, I'll try to do better!  I've been either too busy or too lazy.  And there's not a lot going on in my neck of the woods lately.  When I have real "woods" outside my windows that should improve. : )

I decided my laptop needs a new program to protect it, and my brain doesn't.

I subscribed to Norton Internet Security.  My original 30-day trial is up so I'm going to continue it. It really does make me feel safer and more secure, so that's the one I've chosen to protect my laptop. It's also the one recommended by our IT guy here at work.

Warning - long winded rant ahead:

Then I TRIED to cancel my subscription to Cognifit that I posted about a month ago.  They have a 30-day refund policy, and I opted to use it.  I still think it's a great program, it ended up costing me nothing, and I found out my brain is still working just fine. Good to know. : )  (And there are other free programs you can access that seemed to do the same thing for you.)  If I was having difficulty performing the tasks, I would have kept it, because then obviously I would NEED it.

I e-mailed Cognifit that I wished to cancel and have my initial payment refunded.  They immediately e-mailed me back (this was over the weekend, so I was surprised to hear from them so soon) that since I went through someone else to purchase, I had to cancel through them. 

So, I then tried to cancel through AOL, since I purchased through them.  Since I am not a member of AOL, I didn't have the option to speak to a live PERSON, but had to send an e-mail.  I needed to go onto my personal page and click on the program I purchased, then cancel it from there.  Soooooo, I go onto my personal AOL page, where it shows I am not subscribed to ANY programs.  That 's funny, since I was already charged through AOL for the first month. 

There was absolutely no option offered by AOL to contact them. 

I could not call - I tried the number provided and was informed by a message voice that if I didn't have an AOL account number, I couldn't speak to a live person. However, if I wished to join AOL as a paying member.....   

I couldn't send an e-mail.  You can cancel certain listed services provided by AOL by e-mail, but Cognifit was not listed.  I was not subscribed to any services on my "page."  Therefore, I couldn't e-mail. 

I looked everywhere I could think, did a bunch of Google searches, clicked on every "contact us" link provided by AOL, only to be brought back to the same messages. : (

I finally called the number shown on my AMEX bill that is associated with the charge.  The woman I talked with was very nice, but she said I was not signed up for any programs.  She was very sorry, but since I wasn't signed up, she couldn't cancel it for me. 

My only option at this point was to dispute the charge through AMEX.  Which I did, and asked to have it removed.  It's in process now, according to a letter I've received from AMEX, and they will let me know.

I'm thinking that AOL takes your application, charges your account, but does not show the service on your AOL page until the 30 days are up.  Then they probably list the service, but at that point, it's too late to take advantage of the 30-day refund policy.  Since I was unable to reach anyone other than the number provided in my AMEX bill, I don't know for sure, but ??????

I think it's awful to provide a service that bills monthly, offer a 30-day refund policy, then have absolutely NO WAY to contact the company to cancel.  So, beware purchasing anything that you see on the home page AOL has - they often have interesting stories I click on to read, and they are really "advertorials," trying to sell something.  If it looks good, GO TO THE PRODUCT'S WEBSITE AND ORDER FROM THEM.  It might cost a bit more, but at least you can reach the provider if you want to cancel it.

Thanks - it's nice to get that off my chest!

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everyone!  : )

Santa's message to Katie

WELCOME to our new Follower, Taz -  Only a Moment in the Grand Scheme of Things.  Thank you for following along with me and Katie on our journey to future RV full-timing.

My daughter sent me e-mails with messages from Santa to her kids, and I thought they were so cute, I did one for Katie.  Honest, I'm really a normal person with a dog who is a pet.  I really don't think she's a real person,  I just think these things are cute.

This is free, and you can go on the website and make them up for your kids or grandkids.  Or husband or wife.  I'm going to e-mail Katie's to my grandkids.  I doubt they will question that Santa will bring Kristy a present from the North Pole.

 Santa checking his book for Katie's file

My grandson Andrew was doing well, just needed to try a little harder to keep his room clean and help around the house - he's five.  Lauren, on the other hand, little darling Lauren who is three, Santa put her on the "Naughty List" for now, and told her she needed to keep her voice quieter in the house.  Poor thing.  Oh well, maybe she will try harder for Santa.

 Katie's file in Santa's Book

So here it is:

Santa's Message to Katie

Click on the link above; be patient, it takes a minute to load.

Have a happy weekend, everyone, from Me and Katie! : )

It'sThanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I am very thankful for all my loyal Followers and also the other folks who read my blog.  I am thankful for the wonderful comments I receive.  And I'm thankful for two new followers:

WELCOME to Karen, our new follower!  It's nice to have you along for our journey.  I don't see a blog listed for you, let me know if you start one.

And WELCOME to Tom at Big Sky Chief, a man who cooks!  It's nice to have you along to share our daily adventures as we prepare to RV full-time.

I'm thankful for this RV blogging community.  I'm thankful for having my dream to RV full-time with my dog, Katie.  When I am able to follow through with this dream, it will open so many doors to  me and also solve a lot of problems I would otherwise have when I retire.  It will be, I hope, the perfect solution to retirement for me.  I can't wait! : )

The first Thanksgiving was in 1621 and lasted three days!  That sounds like a long holiday, but these days most of us get four days off, so...  Lucky Us!

I'm thankful for so many things.  I'm not going to list the things I'm thankful for - it would be too long.  Every year it grows.  All year long I appreciate my family - I have two wonderful kids who've given me five perfect grandchildren and they would top the list, and of course Katie.

I'm sitting here typing as I watch the Macy's Parade - there's a really good float of a huge turkey going down the road right now.  I'm thankful even for little things like that.  I'm in my warm home, Katie is laying out in the sun on the patio, four days off ahead of me. A fridge full of food, cupboards full enough to find almost anything I'd need for any recipe I'd care to make.  A car full of gas - I can drive anywhere I want.  Great neighbors around me.  These are the kinds of things I'm lucky enough to have all year long, and I DO appreciate them all year long.

 Isn't he beautiful?

My son and his family drove up to visit my daughter and her family in Vacaville, and I know they are all going to have soooo much fun.  The grandchildren all love to be together, so it's a treat for them when the families visit.  I'll see them all together during Christmas week down here in San Diego, and I'm looking forward to that.

 
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, from Me and My Dog, Katie! : )

Lots of new Followers, and a First Place Winner!

Well, I have an embarrassment of riches today - four new Followers - WOW!  WELCOME to you all, and thank you for joining Me and Katie as we get ready to pursue our (my) dream of full-timing.  Well, actually, if she could talk, I think Katie would say this is her dream, too.  You've seen her in the car seat - she's always ready to go!  Just yell, "Road Trip!"   : )

Dee and Jim, Tumbleweed - I've been following your blog, too, and always enjoy your posts.  Nice article about you guys in the Garner newspaper - congratulations!

Terria Fleming from Daily Good, I LOVED the story about The Whale!  Definitely nice to read about Good Things.

Laura from Pursuit of Idle Pleasures - great blog and great house and great RV.  You've got it all covered! And you're retiring next month.  Soooo covered!

Kate and Terry - Travels in Cholula Red - I've been a Follower of your blog also and love your photos. Sunday's hummingbird shot with the feeder is fantastic. How'd you do that?

My eldest granddaughter, Kennedy, who is 7 years old, is a member of a competition cheer squad.  They practice twice a week, during the week they practice cheer, and on Sunday they have a gymnastics class.

 Kennedy's flip in September at practice

On Sunday Kennedy attended her first competition.  I called her when they were on the way home from Los Angeles (I think, somewhere up there) and she said she was kind of nervous before competing, she didn't know what to expect.  And guess what?

They won First Place for their division!  

That big trophy will be displayed at the facility where she practices, and on Tuesday evening they are having a ceremony where all the team members will be awarded ribbons.   I'm very proud of her and all the hard work she put into earning that trophy with her team!

Is Katie's Daily Puppy Pic the cutest thing, or what?

Short week for us at work.  Today, tomorrow, Wednesday, and that's it.  Nice! I'm also taking Monday off in lieu of my paid holiday Friday, which is a regular day off for me.  My boss isn't happy about me taking an extra day off, but the rest of the company gets Thursday and Friday off, paid, so we had a little discussion about it this afternoon, and he agreed to give me an extra paid day off.   From the research I've done on-line, that seems to be what most companies do, so...  He thinks I'm taking advantage - what do you think?  Any opinions?  Am I wrong?  I'd appreciate any input, and am willing to be flexible.

That's all for today - From Me and My Dog, Katie, have a wonderful Monday evening, everyone! : )

A quiet, rainy Saturday for us, a bit of this and that

WELCOME to our new Follower TEX0322!  He has two new blogs, one shows his NetFlix Picks and the other is a blog about ways to make money online.   Since AdSense has banned my blog, your info might come in handy!  Katie and I are happy to have you along for the ride on our journey to full-timing!  Feel free to comment any time, and I hope we keep you interested and/or entertained.

Again I want to thank my readers for all the great comments.  Some are very supportive, some educational, some from "stealth" readers, and some are really funny and make me laugh.  All very supportive and I appreciate every comment.

I was "stealth" reading lots of forums and blogs when I first decided to RV full-time, and FOUND you all.  I found the forums through a Google search on RV questions I had.  Someone's blog was referenced, I clicked on the link, and WOW, a whole new world opened up for me.  Meeting new people  in the blogosphere, learning soooo much... I know things now that I didn't even think to ask earlier this year.  Another year of following along with all the full-timers, part-timers and planners will help me in each of those stages as I go through them.

This is a weird day.

I accidentally "followed" my own blog.  Then I had to figure out how to delete myself.  I was at least glad that my photo didn't pop up in the first spot.  It was way down on the second page, so I was hoping no one saw it before I figured out how to un-follow myself.

It's raining outside, so Katie and I are snuggling on the couch.

These are "rain shots," but I don't know if you can actually see the rain unless you click on them.

I made "rag quilts" for all my grandkids, my daughter and one for me (not really made out of rags, just what they are called.) Katie loves it, and when we sit on the couch, I lay it out next to me, or partially covering me, and Katie noses herself under the quilt and snuggles in and dozes. Today she is snoring.  I've never heard her snore before.  Little tiny snores. At first I thought the noise was coming from outside on the patio.

This is one of the rag quilts I made for me during my quilting days.  I made six total. Click and you can see the street detail better.  I LOVE this fabric:

This is a perfect size for a lap quilt, and fits perfectly on top of my queen size bed if I need it for a really cold night.  I usually keep it on the couch in the living room, though.  See?  As soon as I laid it on the floor, Katie was right there.  She LOVES these things.  When I was laying the squares out on the floor to see how they looked, I couldn't keep Katie off them.  I was planning to sew one up for her, but haven't yet. I still have all the material, though.  Yards, and yards and yards.  My stash.  Quilters will understand.

When I saw this fabric, I knew I'd found the material for MY quilt.  I love any material or art that has town streets, houses, windows, doors, anything to do with houses, I guess.

Another scene - looks like a cool, big city street with apartments and store fronts.

This is another fabric with lots of tall buildings, in contrasting browns/whites.

This is the back - squares of warm flannel.  There is batting inside, too, so this is a pretty snugly quilt.  It's definitely coming with us in the RV. 

Then, I  knew I was getting dog hair under my keys on my laptop, so I pried a couple up and shot them with liquid air.  I must not have gotten the space key back right, because I'm running all my words together.  I'll have to fix that!  What a pain.  (I think I fixed it - seems to be working fine now.  There's a little wire thing attached to the space key that has to fit into little tiny holes on each side.  I didn't put them in the holes the first time.  MUCH better now.)

I guess our bike riding won't happen today.  I thought we were going to have intermittent showers, but it's pretty wet out there and windy.  I think we'll stay snuggled inside today.

So, that's about it for today. Isn't it amazing how I can post an extremely long post when absolutely nothing is going on.  Sorry about that, but you should know by now... One of my newest followers, Andy, posted this: "The worst feeling in the world is when you are in the middle of a good story and realize no one is listening to you."  But it's okay, you don't have to keep reading even though I'm still writing and writing and writing.  LOL

From Me and my Quietly Snoring Dog, have a great Saturday, everyone!  : )

Our very normal Friday

WELCOME to our new Follower, Andy - his new blog is here.  I read back to the beginning, and Andy, you really have your work cut out for you!!!  It will be fun following along with you and your progress in your RV remodel.  Good Luck!  It's nice to have you following along with us, too, although my goal is going to be quite a bit easier than yours.  : )

Pretty easy week with nothing much going on.  I finally got the certified copies of my marriage certificate and divorce decree this week, and brought them to the Social Security office this morning for them to examine and copy for my file.  It's all done, and now I just have to wait till the middle of February for my first check to be deposited.  Yeah!

We needed dog food so while I was out, we stopped in at Petco to get Katie her special food, the only thing she can consistently eat without it affecting her (apparently) delicate digestive system.  We had some problems, and a co-worker who has a Chihuahua said they solved their dog's potty/vomiting issues with this food, so I tried it, and Katie has been fine since.   And she likes the food. They have different food for different dog breeds.  This is Katie's:

While there, I got her a new jacket to wear on our walks and bike rides.  Sooo cute, and it fit her perfectly. I think I used the wrong setting or flash (?) - these are kind of a weird color, but you get the idea.  I wanted to get the photos done and let Katie lay back down.  She's getting so good at being a model.  She just sat there for me until I was done.  Such a good girl.

 I'm so pretty, oh so pretty...

 Back view - see the ruffles?  Very feminine for a little girl dog.

 This shows the warm interior fleece.  Nice on cold morning walks.

The zipper makes it really easy to get on and off, and Katie seems to like it.

When we got home it was around 2:00 and I hadn't eaten.  I was going to boil up some pasta and open a can of marinara sauce.  I've been so good about not overbuying food and I didn't realize I was completely out of spaghetti sauce. I didn't want to go back out again,  but I was craving spaghetti.  I found a can of chopped tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, a can of cut mushrooms, and I did a search on line for "easy spaghetti sauce" and got the BEST recipe!  It was truly easy, fast and REALLY good.  Probably the best I've ever made - and I used to simmer my sauce all day. It was thick and sweet, just the way I like it.  Made some garlic bread and I was set to sit down and eat and relax.

Tomorrow if we can fit it in between the rain that's expected, we're going to go for a bike ride.  Katie has her nice, new warm jacket to wear. 

Till next time, from Me and My Dog, have a great Friday evening, everyone! : )

The bike

Good Morning - and WELCOME to our newest follower, Leovi.  I'm so happy to see you've joined us in our adventure which will end in RV full-timing.  Things seem to kind of settle down because we have a ways to go, then I get excited again and the full-time issue comes to the forefront again.  Hope you enjoy reading along.  If you have a blog, let me know - I'd love to read yours, too.

Beautiful weather in San Diego lately.  Right now it's sunny and 74 degrees, very slight breeze.

Just took some shots of my little patio to show you on this beautiful day.  It's a small area, but exactly what I wanted.  A little patio to put potted plants on, a small patch of grass, which as you can see Katie keeps pretty brown, but still grass.  It greens up nicely when we have enough rain. A little tree of my own. It gets sun and shade at the same time, which is nice.  I usually  have lots of color with potted and hanging plants, but not so much right now. 

I just love my patio, it takes so little work, and I get such enjoyment from it.

Things have been pretty quiet around my house lately.  Just the same-ole, same-ole.  I did take the bike out, finally.  About six years ago I took it in for a tune-up and check-up and everything was good to go.  I rode it only once.  I was living with my son and his family at the time, I had just arrived in San Diego and they lived in a hilly area. Too much for me to ride.  So I put it away.  I DID think about it in the last six years - but lazy me, that was all.  I never went any further than that, other than getting the dog basket free at Camping World.

So, yesterday was such a beautiful day, I got it out of my little storage area, the tires needed air and it needed some cleaning.  I had it covered, so the cleaning part wasn't too bad.  I have new neighbors - a wonderful young family moved in a month or so ago.  He's retired from the military and they moved here to San Diego County to be near her mom.  When he saw me out looking at my bike, he came over and offered to help.  He brought my bike into his garage, moved his truck out and got out a machine to pump up my tires. He fixed my light so it worked, adjusted my gears, oiled the chain and tire innards (?).  He knew all the terms for everything and explained exactly what he was doing as he did it.  He tried to fix my speedometer but didn't have the right battery, so took it out and showed me how to open it up to replace it.  What a guy!

3-speed Easy Ride - What a beauty!

But Easy ride?  Not so much - yet. : )

I took it out for a spin, and am happy to report that my balance kicked in just fine, and I did okay.  I couldn't remember the gear thing.  He told me exactly how to use each side, but when I was going down our slightly sloping street, I forgot it all.  In fact, as I was streaming along, I couldn't remember how to stop - it's been that long since I've ridden.  I backpedaled - I'M THAT OLD! - then remembered there are handles on the handlebar for brakes.  Isn't that awful?  I had completely forgotten how to stop the bike.  

I was thinking fast - okay, when I get to the corner, wide turn to the left will slow me down - hopefully no cars coming - not usually any traffic on that street.  Then I remembered where the brakes are.  Whew!  That was a relief.  I felt kind of like when you fall down and look around and realize no one saw you.  I can tell you now, but I would have been really embarrassed at the time to admit I couldn't remember where the brakes are.

This is a perfect area to ride - mostly level streets with some slight inclines, but not much, except on my street.  I rode the bike back up  to my house, almost.  Walked it the rest of the way.  I definitely need some practice and my legs are going to get a workout, which is good. 

When I got back I got Katie's bike basket out and put it on the bike.  I couldn't believe how easy it was.  Simple simple simple.  Today I am going to try it out again, then put Katie in and see what happens.  But first I'm going to Google "bike gears" and make sure I understand how the three speeds work.

Then Katie and I went to Target and I got a new bike helmet.  I know I had one, but couldn't find it, so I got a nice new one, and a headlight, too. A headlight for me, not the bike, the kind with a band around your head with a light attached.  : )  When I put Katie's basket on, the light on the handlebar didn't fit anymore, so I thought the headlight was a good idea.   I wanted one for camping, anyway, and walking at night, so when I saw one I got it, as well as some walking poles.  Been wanting those, too, so I broke the bank and got them all.  I also looked at the camping things, but reined myself in and "walked away."

I'm going to have to get good at this if the bike is going to be my transportation around parks and short distances to stores, etc. when I'm on the road.  I'd love to be able to just jump on it and go like I see kids do. But that is going to take some practice.  LOTS of practice!

I'll let you know how we do.

As soon as I post this I am going to take my coffee into my office and do some wii exercising.  Things that will work my legs.  I might as well start getting in shape now so the bike riding will be a little easier.   I've stopped using my wii and need to get going again.  I've been pretty sedentary lately and it shows and I can feel it.  I need to get back in shape.

Katie was playing with her treat ball while I'm writing - as long as I have the camera out:

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