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Morning everyone,

We have reached the last day of 2016. Time to look back at al that has happened in our lives this year. Some of us have gone through health issues, lost loved ones, we have lost some forum sisters as well. Some have hung up the keys and no longer RV, others have joined with their hopes and dreams. Some of us have sold stick and bricks and hit the road or downsized. There have been good times too, fun times. So now it is time to look ahead to a new year with it's own set of hopes and dreams. A clean slate to write another chapter in our lives upon.

I'll be spending the eve right here in my comity house. Figure a Pizza should finish it off nicely along with the TV But first, will be out clearing some snow again. Spent close to 4 hours out there yesterday, but I'm doing my old house driveway till new owners get back from TX for holidays next week and also FL bound neighbors who have some friends coming up to use their house, so they can get in drive. Once everybody's here, then back to just mine. Also helped the guy who does yard and snow maintenance for some neighbors in the neighborhood, get his truck un stuck against the snowbank across from my drive. Took my snowblower, some sand and assistance from a passing neighbor to get him back on road. Deep snow and ice under it.

Before I sign off, I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Thank You for being you. May all of your hopes, dreams, expectations come to fruitation in this coming year and may you have good health and happiness.

Good morning Sue and everyone to follow... yes this is the last day of 2016 and it has been a pretty wild year for me and it's so wild I don't want to rehash it and go over it so I'm just going to move on to my new destiny I'm thinking it's going to be a good 2017!!.... yesterday I stopped at the Chevy garage dealership to get an estimate on my door catch latch... they took your number looked it up so they had one we have time do you want to do it now I aid sure... 60 bucks for part and 1.24$ labor only took them an hour.... better than $1,000 for new door... next few days I will be getting ready to go to Hardee Lakes I'm excited another camping trip.... for some strange reason I just found out the Rose Parade isn't going to be until Monday now what am I going to do tomorrow.... I hope there's some football on worth watching... the Steelers wrapped up the championship for their division so they will be headed to the playoffs I'm not sure if they will even play this coming game on Sunday... I still will be trying to pack up some more stuff I have stuff in my bedroom that I want to keep but I'm not using so it's all going to go into a tote in the Florida room all the totes are in the Florida room now I have 4 pieces of furniture but they're going to stay in my bedroom because in Florida room there's too much humidity out there don't want to do that ...next week I will go and check on estate sales who does them and how much they charge... as soon as it warms up a bit this morning I'm going out and start arranging the RT for the trip... I've decided in past trips lately that I'm not going to take a whole bunch of food with me especially when I got access to a grocery store or Walmart Winn-Dixie whatever close to the campground... now that I have the RT I can just unplug and go when I need something I am totally excited about 2017 coming up as soon as I get all this behind me.... anybody want to come and spend New Year's with me come on over... have a good one & B safe ....donna

Good morning ladies
Finally, the last day of the year
and what a busy year I had!!
My hopes to have 2017 be just
as busy and filled with fun.
I don't have any particular
plans for today or ringing
in the new year, usually just
go to bed like any other night.
The casino down the street
does fireworks and I usually
wake up to hear them and
look out my bedroom window to see
a few.
Happy New Year Ladies!!!

Good morning all. Yes, it's hard to believe another year is gone and another year ahead of us. Don't know what the year will hold for us but hope all will be good things. I'm looking forward to getting Lola on the road this spring with the hope of seeing new things and maybe getting to meet up with some of you ladies. That in between the continuing of getting rid of many years of accumulated stuff that hold so many memories. Your support has helped and I thank you for that.

Sue, i wondered if you were plowing out from under the snow! We actually got lucky and again were just on the edge of the worst of it. I need to get out today and do a bit of cleaning up but the way it was blowing around there's bare spots and areas with snow! The sun is out right now so with luck that'll help get rid of some of it! This definately isn't a snowblower day! Manual labor it is! More to come in this afternoon so need to try to stay ahead of it so it doesn't turn to an icy layer!

I think today I will get out early and head over the mountain to try to see my kids and their families. Figure it's a nice way to start a new year! Otherwise it'll be a quiet evening at home. Probably be in bed before midnight! But when people start settting off fireworks I'll have a vibrating bed since my older dog starts shaking and that'll wake me up for sure!

Time to get moving! I wish all of you a Happy New Year. Safe travels if you are on the road.

Happy New Year's Eve!

New Year's is usually like any other day around here, unless I go to the Rose Parade, and I haven't been in several years. I've been so many times that I don't go unless I've got friends who have never seen it. The crowds are crazy, and you have to get there before dawn if you want a good seat. You can pay to sit in the bleachers, but you're packed in like sardines and still have to get there really early. This year, however, the Parade will be on January 2. The Tournament of Roses has a long-standing agreement with the city of Pasadena to not hold any of their festivities on Sunday, so when New Year's falls on a Sunday everything gets moved to the 2nd.

So this year we decided that we'll do something totally different and pay (through the nose!) for a front-row parking place for the motorhome. And we've got quite a bunch of people coming to enjoy it! Only 3 of us will be staying in the rig overnight. We can't put out the slides so things will be a bit cozy. But for the Parade we'll have over 10 people joining us. The weather looks like it's going to cooperate, and when we get there tomorrow at 10:00 we'll put out a bunch of chairs for everyone. It's going to be a crazy time, but hopefully lots of fun.

It's rainy here today, and looks like it's going to rain through the evening. But we'll be doing the "New York New Year's", so we'll be warm and toasty and asleep before 10:00.

Happy New Year's everyone!

Sue, you always write such beautifully-written and interesting posts that it makes me want to just jump in my van and come to see you! The way that you always have "projects" going reminds me a lot of myself. I love to be busy. Makes me want to just jump in my van and motor on over to your house for a little gtg. Unfortunately, there are quite a few miles between Northern California and Michigan!! And, at this time of year, mountains of snow!

But one never knows what I might get up to!

ANNOUNCEMENT: I retired as of December 1, but agreed to work two days per week to train my replacement - and to do other computer-type work that I did for my office that only I know how to do. Another reason to work two days is that I had quite a bit of trepidation regarding retirement - I like to be with people, and without a job to go to every day I was concerned. No worries! I find that I am loving being retired, and can't wait until I can get my van on the road a bit more (I have pretty much recovered from the campground scare I had back in October). I will probably keep at the two-days-per week thing as long as I can (I have been told that if I want to go somewhere and not work for a week or so, that would be fine!). Partly because I am vested with CalPers (the California public employees retirement system) and partly because I want to wait and see what the incoming administration will - or will not - do to change Social Security.

CalPers has been in the news here that indicates that they might be a bit "shaky" in their investments (that fund retirees) and the incoming administration has been talking in the news about how they would like to change Social Security. Maybe they will, maybe they won't - but I want to "wait and see" before I bail from my "part-time" job, because (at my age) it might be difficult to find another job.

Ava: Looks like I have something in common with you too: Although I have been interested in geology and rock hounding since I was a child, other interests got in the way as life went on. However, in the last few years I have joined a wonderful rock club, have learned a tremendous amount from the members, have gone on a couple of rock-hounding trips with the group and have generally just had a fabulous time. I have also learned to cut and polish the stones I have found on my rock-hounding trips, and also to make wire-wrapped jewelry.

Donna: Your post about not stocking up on groceries for your RT also reminded me of me. On my October trip I loaded up with groceries - then decided, once I was on the road, that what I had wasn't what I wanted to eat - and ended up just getting take-out. As you say, Donna, there are grocery stores (and McDonald's to get my morning coffee!) almost everywhere.

I guess I don't do the kind of traveling most of you do - at least not yet. I like to go to visit the Cascade volcanoes, which means that I drive to a place, look around, stay overnight, then move on the next morning to the next volcano. There are hundreds, both major (like St. Helen's) and minor in the Cascade range. On the other hand, now that I am retired, I won't have to rush so much on my trips and can spend more time in one place - although I have found that cooking & and clean up while on the road is not my favorite thing to do - I would rather grab some dry cereal to munch for breakfast, fruit for lunch, and take-out of one kind or another for dinner - or just have cereal again.

Also, like Donna with her RT, it is easy to unplug my van and just go get something - whether it is a quart of milk and some fruit from the local grocery store or Chinese take-out from the place down the road.

The more I go on trips and drive my van the more I am liking it. I have often thought of getting some kind of trailer to pull - my van is rated to pull up to 9,000 pounds - but after camping over the Christmas holiday and watching a camper down the way back up his truck to hook up his trailer, put it on the ball (after a couple of tries) hook the chains, pick up the chocks, unhook the power & sewage, stow everything away in the trailer's storage compartments, etc., etc., - I have decided (at least for now!) "no". I plug in my van (for either heat or ac) with my heavy-duty extension cord and I have "arrived". Unplug, and I am on my way. And if the weather is nice - I don't plug in at all.

As Donna, can tell you, vans are easy! It might be different if I had a traveling companion other than my big dog (it might be a bit cramped with a second person), but for just me it is just about perfect. I have even discovered that I was trying to take too much "stuff" on my trips, so, after paring down quite a bit, I am enjoying the ride even more.

Am also hoping to take many trips this coming year.

There is a famous, and enormous, rock-hounding, jewelry-making, geology-intense, city-wide. . . gathering? convention? In Tucson, Arizona, the beginning of February, and my rock-club friends have been encouraging me to join them.

Have just found out that my daughter and her husband are moving from the San Francisco area to Denver due to his job, so I can tell that a Denver trip will be coming up for me not too far in the future. If they decide to stay - they could afford a house there, they could never afford a house in the San Francisco area - I can see my own move to Denver coming maybe in a year or so. Mixed feelings about that - I have lived my entire life since I was a toddler in California - but, on the other hand, have always wanted to try living somewhere else, so now might be my chance!

And then, of course, the Cascade volcanoes are calling me!! THIS is the year that I will finally make it to St. Helen's - I can feel it in my bones! (I can feel quite a bit else in my bones, especially on a cold morning like this one, but we aren't going to go there!).

To all my forum sisters:

Happy New Year to you and yours, happy travels, and may all your adventures be good ones.

Best wishes,

Anne

Mornin' ladies ~~~ and congrats Anne on your retirement!

Bright & sunny here in Chitown, but temps are supposed to drop again tonight. Ah well, it is Winter. Nothing exciting planned here for New Year's Eve but Mom will come over tomorrow for dinner.

Anyone have New Year's Resolutions? That you know will fail or are really hoping to get done this year? I'd still like to retire at 60, but don't think that's going to happen anytime in the next 23 days

Have a safe & happy New Year everyone!

No resolutions here other than to be the best I can be, each and every day.

Laura, that's the way I'd want to see the Rose Bowl. What fun.

Sue, that pizza sounds good. I've been thinking soup, but...

Anne, if you come to Tucson for the show, let me know. I'll be here till April. Also, one reason I workamp is to be in contact with folks. And Denver would be a pretty nice place to spend time. With your van, you'd be able to head back to California to get that fix, too.

Happy New Year all my woman RVing friends. Let's hope for a wonderful 2017!

Oh joy, there is football on ABC, basketball on CBS and soccer on NBC. I might watch the football game because it's LSU. I really couldn't care less about any of them.

It has been raining off and on all morning and looks like that's what we will have the rest of the day. Unless our neighbors shoot off some fireworks we live too far out to see any. We might hear a few booms.

Laura, I don't know how much it would cost for an RV spot for the Rose Parade but some of the places charge upwards of $800 for a week to be on the Mardi Gras parade route in Lafayette. No telling what it would be in New Orleans. That is the only way I would go to a parade but I'm not spending that much money. Some places pack RV's in so tight they can only open their door.

Anne, working 2 days a week is a good way to ease into retirement. I didn't miss the work but missed the people I worked with. I don't think I would ever pull a trailer. I belong to 2 groups with vintage trailers and I have watched them set up and take down many times. I pull in, plug in the electric and I'm set. Sometime I will get around to hooking up my water. Since my refrigerator is electric only I don't even worry about being too level. I took a geology class in college and I was helping my son with a geology class right before a trip out West. It was so interesting to see some of it in person. I don't remember much of it now. We live with the threat of hurricanes every year but on my trip to Seattle I was only worried about volcanoes. That and getting over the mountain passes.

I have quit hauling so much food unless we are going to the lake. Most of the places we camp are within a few miles of stores and restaurants. Someone is always going to the store so most of the time I don't have to go myself.

I made a double batch of chili this morning. Maybe I can get some of it in the freezer for quick lunches for Harold. Looks like I will have to eat the soup I froze. When I suggest the soup I don't get any takers.

I'm sure I will be up for New Years since I almost never go to bed before 1:00. I will probably watch Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. They must pay him a lot to put up with her shenanigans.

Everyone have a Happy New Year and much camping for us all.

Martha

Beth:

Thank you for the invite! If I make it to Tucson, I will definitely let you know. Would love to meet you.

Martha:

Your post made me smile. Looks like we are on the same page as regards trailers, other areas as well!

I am going to "celebrate" the New Year tonight by doing my usual: stay home and go to bed early.

Although pizza sounds awfully good, I have decided to give myself a treat for my dinner. When I was growing up, my mother (gone now nearly 30 years - I can hardly believe it) always made turkey for Thanksgiving, baked ham for Christmas and prime rib for New Years. She served a real feast on these holidays.

I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed that prime rib roasts were on sale. I was feeling a bit sad, and a bit nostalgic, that I wouldn't be having prime rib again this year. For some reason, I was actually picking up the meat packages and giving them a look (wasn't going to buy one - too much meat for one person) - when I suddenly uncovered, way down in the pile, a single-rib, rib roast! It was actually more of a large rib steak, but the label said "rib roast", so rib roast it is!!

I couldn't resist, and snagged that puppy and brought it home. It is out of the freezer now, thawed, and I am getting ready to put it in the oven. I have a square cast iron skillet that I will cook it in. . . this skillet belonged to my grandmother, and must be at least a hundred years old, still in excellent shape. I have used it most of my adult life.

Man, it has been YEARS since I had rib roast on New Years, and I am really looking forward to it (I think I had cold cereal for dinner last New Years - which was fine, I often eat cold cereal for dinner. I like it.)

Gonna also put in the loaf of frozen sour dough bread, fix a strawberry and banana fruit salad, and mashed potatoes. Tossed green salad too. I can't wait.

I just poured myself a glass of my favorite white zinfandel. Mmmmmm.

Ladies, join me in a toast, why don't you? It's New Years Eve after all!

My friends, I raise my glass to make a toast to Mom's everywhere - those of us that are ourselves Moms, those Moms that are still with us, those Moms that have gone, and to all those Moms yet to be.

Here's to you!

What would the world be without Moms?

Anne.

A toast to all moms...

I'm going to get a glass of something and toast Moms with you. I spent many New Year Eves playing cards with my Mom. My husband went right along with that. As a child we stayed home on the Eve and my parents had a New Year's Day party. Lots of food.

I will join your toast to Moms! My mom has been gone for 9 1/2 years now but I dream about her almost every night! We were best friends! To moms!