Here we are Relaxing

 

Our work week ended Thursday so we have three days to enjoy. The only thing on the radar is taking our home in for it's last appointment under our 2 year warranty. We will be moving into our 5 year warranty this year and will have to see how well that works out.

We arrived home on Thursday evening and spent most of the day unpacking and relaxing in our recliners. We have a long weekend to rest and we want to make the most of it. Sherri had planned on doing some wash but we just sat in the living room and did nothing. It is so nice to get home and do nothing for a while so that is just what we did for the remainder of the day.

We woke up Friday morning early...out of habit...and I fixed us a pot of coffee. We had to head into Mesquite Texas so Sherri could get her teeth cleaned. It takes us about an hour to get to the dentist office so we hurried up and got our showers and dressed. The trip was uneventful except for the usual traffic. Upon arrival I let Sherri out at the side door of the mall...were the dentist office is located. I proceeded to park and walk in to wait with her. Once inside the mall I noticed that there was no escalators working so I had no way to go down stairs to where the dentist office was. I found out from some others there in the mall that I had to use the elevator and was directed to it's location.

Finally I reached the waiting room which was empty. Sherri had already been called in for her appointment so I settled in to read People Magazine. It wasn't too long and she was through and it was time to head to Terrell Texas where we had to get our oil changed in the Jeep.

This was about a half hour drive and a hour and a half wait to have the service done. While at the dealership we got our new license plates and had them installed. To kill some time while waiting for all this to get done we headed over to Big Lots to look around. I bought me some insulated gloves and a $3.00 movie.

We went back to the dealership picked up the Jeep and drove to our daughters house...in Wills Point...to visit. We were not there long when we decided to go out to eat Mexican food. We loaded everyone up and went to Canton Texas to Ochoa's. We had a good lunch and then went to...where else...Wally World for some grocery items. Back to the kids house and then home.

What a great day we had...not much relaxing but a lot of fun...

Somewhere in Time 

 

What started this?

 

Here Sherri is with her new Ice chest she won at a Tupperware Party.

Soon we were camping out in all kinds of things. This is our pickup camper and tent.

This is a picture of our kids wondering what happened to their parents? Why are we living in a tent?? We have a nice home in town.

Mom and Dad in their tent living room.

Yes we have progressed through it all into a 38 ft dream home with granite counter tops...convection oven...king size bed...washer dryer...fire place...outside entertainment center wall to wall carpeting. We are roughing it but someone has to...and yes we love every minute of it.

Well now you see how all this got started years ago and now we are really hooked and loving it. I guess we will be doing this for a long time. Maybe I will have some more pictures of our early years to show you...

Somewhere in Time

No we are not building a house

 

Our first camper...a Jayco popup pulled by a 72 4 cylinder Vega

No way we would give up this life style. Here Sherri is in the early 70's when we camped in the back of a Pickup.

We did graduate to a 19 foot Layton...was this a dream!

Sherri and I were up early and I started reading blogs and see where many of our friends were wondering if we were giving up the full time life style and buying a house...

The answer to that is NO and NO... We might give up traveling when we forget how to start the truck or can't remember where we are. We were just looking for some land for a place to hang our hat when in the area. The place that we have is a quarter acre and not really big enough for all we want. But after pricing other lots we have decided to stick with our place and just make do.

We are in Waco now and will be leaving here tomorrow for Hillsboro. We have to work in different towns every day this week and will return home next Thursday night. We will be loading the RV up and taking it back to Explore USA for a new Window sill in the back of the living room. We had a leak and it messed up the window stool so they have ordered us a new one and will replace it along with some other odds and ends that we need tweaked.

Better hit the hay now...we have a long day tomorrow. We have to leave for Hillsboro tomorrow after work and check into a hotel there. Work there and then leave and go to Mabank Texas work and day and then end up in Tyler Texas on Thursday. I might pass myself coming down the road...

Somewhere in Time

Tomorrow is next year?

 

We have no signal here so this may be posted late...I want to tell all my friends out there....

Happy New Year!!!

Sherri points out some nice Oak Trees.

Well the title of this tells it all. Sherri and I slept in this morning until 7:00. OHHH how good it felt to sleep that late and get up when we wanted to and drink our coffee without any rush to it at all. This only happens on the weekend and we savor every minute of it.

Sherri says..."We could have a house here...Somewhere in Time"

Today we do have to get up and go to town to check our mail and get a few things...and while we are out we will stop by a couple of properties that we have looked at on the Internet. We found one that fits all the criteria that we have laid out so it will be one we will have to go back and look at again. But until we make that final decision we will  look at many more to be sure that when we pick one it will be the right one.

This is the front of the property...the phone box is at the corner

We drove for some time today and stopped by a friend of ours to see the lot next door to her. She said she thought they may be foreclosing  this property soon and wanted us to check it out before we moved on any other.

We visited for some time and then headed to the house to get settled in for the night. We have to come up with something to eat at home tonight because we are off expenses until Sunday. The temps are going to fall into the mid 20's this evening so I have to roll up the water hoses and put them away. We have plenty of water in our 120 gal tank so we should be OK until it thaws out tomorrow.

Tonight we are meeting my sister and BIL at the Mexican food place for dinner. They are doing First Monday Trade Days this weekend. We try to meet up with them every time we are in town when they are.

OK better sign out of here for now...Just noticed on TV that Jackson Miss. area getting some bad weather. Hope John and Bridget are OK...we will have to give them a call when we get a signal here...

Somewhere in Time

Working in Louisiana

 

We were up this morning very slow. I had made the coffee the night before so all we had to do was flip the switch and wait. I wish there had been a switch I could have flipped and got me going but I could not locate one.

We sat around for some time talking about what all we had to  do that morning and then we started looking for land. This has been a past time for us for some time. We are looking for a place we can eventually build us a house or barn on and live out our unable to travel years...You know the years when the kids take the keys away and pray that you don't have an extra set.

Sherri found several possible sites and we got ready and went out looking. We traveled for some time and found a couple of sites that we wanted to look into but we have to leave today so this will be something we can do when we come home.

While we were out Jenny Johnson called http://elevenfootrv.blogspot.com/ She wanted to wish Sherri a Happy Birthday. They talked for some time and then I got to say my hellos. Jenny is planning on coming through Louisiana soon and we are trying to plan a meet. We have not seen Jenny in three years and miss her. This will be fun if we can pull something off.

OK we got packed up and headed out to the east. We stopped by my daughters house on the way and dropped off some things that we had for them. I got to see my granddaughter and grandson's new bikes. They were out front riding them and sure looked good. Santa brought them both a bike.

We arrived late to the hotel...as usual and met up with some co-workers. We all went out to eat and then came back ready for bed. It has been a long day and we are really tired. Time to close the old eyes and dream of traveling...

Somewhere in Time

 

Birthday Party

 

Sherri's birthday cup cakes

Sherri woke up this morning while I was in the kitchen fixin the coffee. While it was brewing I went upstairs and took my shower and shaved...I had not shaved in two weeks and it was starting to show. When your beard turns grey it takes a while for it to start looking bad.

 

Frank and Jennifer fixed a great meal for us

I came back down to the kitchen and and poured out coffee. We sat there and enjoyed two cups before we got up and started getting ready to go the Jennifer's house for lunch. Jennifer and Frank had worked yesterday and this morning to get our lunch ready. They had turkey and dressing...broccoli casserole...yams...green beans...potato salad and rolls. WOW...for dessert we had two kinds of pies and then to top off the evening Jennifer and the kids made chocolate muffins with candles on them for Sherri's birthday! Was she surprised. We all sang to her and then had more dessert.

Frank's Mom brought her pictures over on disc for me to copy onto my computer. I worked on that while the Cowboys got there heads crushed in. Got to love the Stealers!!!

We stayed until about 7:30 and then headed to the lake to spend our last night here. We leave in the morning for Louisiana. We will be there all week and then return to the lake for a few days. I still have to make an appointment at the service center to get the last of the work done on my house. We are getting a new drive motor on one of the slides and they are replacing a window stool in the back where we had some water damage. This will finish all the 2 year warranty items and now we will have to depend on the extended warranty for the next 5 years.

Well Sherri is playing her game and I am just about to finish this post. It is getting time for me to lay my head down and dream of things to come...

Somewhere in Time

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Sweetheart

Yes kids this is Santa...

XX years ago today I received the best present ever. My wife was born on Christmas day and little did I know that in the future the Lord would pair us up to make the family we have today. How lucky can one guy be to have all this given to him so many years ago. The gift he gave me just keeps on giving too...

 

How lucky am I

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and the kids had so much fun. Sherri and I could not help but smile when we got to Jennifer's house and had the opportunity to spend time with all. The kids opened their presents and had so much fun. We got to visit with all and tell stories and laugh.

We miss our boys in Kansas and hope to get some pictures of them opening presents and having fun. We both hope in the future that we are able to spend a Christmas with them there. We love all our kids and miss them when we are far away.... Pictures Please Brice if you read this.

Merry Christmas to all my friends out there...

Sherri got soooo many facebook Happy Birthday wishes from all of you out there and she was touched. It means a lot to her that so many friends thought of her on her birthday...being Christmas and all. She has always felt second on her Birthday...competing with the Lord and all.

Happy Birthday baby from your traveling companion in life. I pray that we have many miles left together...

Somewhere in Time

Merry Christmas Eve Day

 

Sherri and I woke up this morning laying on the Living room fold out bed. One of the G-kids had wet the bed while staying with us...Go Figure. We had washed all the bed linens but were just too tired to make the bed. It was Christmas Eve Day and we were invited over to Jennifer's house to have brunch and open presents. We wanted to go early but we were so lazy this morning. The day before we had been out all day shopping and just could not get going.

Sherri made the coffee and I got up as soon as it was ready and poured us both a cup. We laid there in bed and drank our coffee. The conversation soon turned to all the Christmas that we had in the past...Yes there were some tears.

One thing I know for sure we had a great life with the kids and Christmas was always special. We would not take for all the wonderful memories we store in our thoughts. It is so important that everyone makes those memories no mater what the cost! That is all you are left with in the end when everything else goes...and you know what I mean.

Sherri and I both would like to take this time to wish all our friends out there a Merry Christmas. I hope that all of you make memories...

Somewhere in Time

Christmas Week

 

This is the week that we all empty out our bank accounts for those folks we love. Sherri and I are no different than anyone else. We too are spending money like there is no tomorrow. This may be the last Christmas that we have the financing to give every child what they want. The older ones are really getting expensive with their wants.
Everything they have their eye on is $100. plus! They will be the ones that really feel the impact of our fixed income.

We have most of the shopping done. We still have to go out and finish up some loose ends but that should be easy. Most of the big shopping is behind us. I think Wally World will be the place to finish out and that will be good because everything is under one roof.

We got all our presents for the boys in Kansas in the mail and they should get it before Christmas. We had to spend $40.00 on shipping alone just to make sure they get it on time. I had told my son that I could send them the money for everything plus the money I would spend shipping it but I don't think he wanted to have to shop for it. We don't mind shopping for the boys but when you have to find a box to ship it in and then wrap all the presents fit them into the box and get them to the shipping place...We both wish we lived closer to them...then we could watch them open the presents and be there with them. OH well such is life.

Christmas is Saturday and we will be spending some of it with our youngest daughter. Sherri is already planning her menu and gathering up all the necessary ingredients to make special food for the gathering. She likes doing this even though it wears her out.

OK this might be my last entry until after Christmas so I want to tell all my readers out there to have a Merry Christmas...

Somewhere in Time.

Lake Tawakoni State Park

 

We were up fairly early this morning and headed out to pick up our home. We left Shreveport around 8:00 am after eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant. The trip to our lake property was lengthy but uneventful. The Jeep rides so much better than the one ton but it does not handle the side winds well. We had a lot of side wind but we managed it OK.

We arrived at the lake around 11:00 am and changed over to the truck. We swung by the State Park to see if they had some openings for us to stay there for Christmas. Sure nuff it was deserted so that is where we will live for Christmas. Then on to Dallas where we stopped off at Red Lobster for lunch. We then jumped back on the highway toward Denton and ran into more traffic than you could dream of. It was the SHOPPING traffic. Oh yes they were out in force and then it was mixed with the getting off early for Christmas Holiday traffic...Well you can imagine we just made it to the dealership at 4:00 pm.

We found out upon arrival that our house was not ready? We gave them two weeks to do the work and for some reason it was not complete when we arrived. Two Weeks! What did they do in two weeks??? Needless to say we were both a little upset...but we did wait for an hour and a half and they were complete...

This put us in the worst of the worst traffic by this time. We drove through the traffic from hell but made it OK to the State Park about 8:30. WOW we were exhausted. Now remember 12 hours ago we were sitting in Shreveport! It was nice to be in our own home after being on the road all this time.

We found us a pull through with sewer and hooked up. Then we both relaxed in our recliners...got on line and caught up with the rest of the road travelers out there.

 

Knowing that tomorrow was going to be a shopping day back in the big city we turned out the lights and soon were...

Somewhere in Time  

Our last day here

 

I guess I owe Don and Cheryl Cato an apology! We never did get together of dinner. We have worked so late every night and here it is time to go and no visit! Sorry maybe when we are here for pleasure we can work in some time to visit.

We worked a long time today...unusual for us and then we came straight to the hotel and jumped on the computer. I am having to mail in some paperwork to the office and it seems like every night we have to get all that done and then try to find a quick bite and back to the room to sleep.

We will leave out of here tomorrow and drive to Denton Texas to pick up our house. I called today and they have all but one of the warranty items finished and they said they would schedule it for the week after Christmas.

I guess we will go to our lake property and park for a few days. I am not sure where we will spend Christmas but there will be as good as any. We don't spend Christmas with the kids so they can do their own thing. We will visit with them before and after but not on the day of. Sherri's Birthday is Christmas Day and we usually go somewhere...just her and I.

Not much shaking today. I will write tomorrow and let you know how everything went...

Somewhere in Time