Saturday before Christmas.

[Colliemom]

Good Morning as we begin this weekend before Christmas. Lots of travel expected these next few days as families gather near and far.

Judy, your talk of baklava brought back memories of the years I worked in an elementary school library. One of the 3rd grade teachers was Greek and she always brought baklava to our staff Christmas parties. I hven’t Had any in years. Beth, I love the picture of the lake. Perfect spot to spend Christmas. I’m watching our state parks website for lake front sites as well, as our 6 month window moves toward July. Know it ounds crazy in December, but gotta get em while we can.

Nothing new here. Just working on my project. Coming along nicely. Getting into the fun part now, not that I haven’t been enjoying it from the start. But first thing this morning, I guess I had better do some house cleaning, then that will be done for the week. So best get this day moving. Have. Nice day everyone.

[Shirlv]

Morning Sue, I have been making lists so much to do but a lot has to wait until Christmas Eve day. My son brought me some sprigs of old scrubby pine I use to make a centerpiece for the table. Throw in some rosemary and thyme from the garden, a candle, a few red tree ornaments, a string of tiny fairy lights among the greens and ta! da. That is my only creative project. Safe travels.

[Irmi]

Good morning Sue, Shirl & everyone!

Sue, I'm looking forward to seeing your finished product in your basement. Shirl, my Mom used to make a center piece for her table with Christmas greens, very similar to what you will be making.

It's chilly in Ocala. Our high today will only be 60, we've had over 10 inches of rain in the past week and a half, but on a good note, the sun is shining today and will for the next few days. Just put my keyboard away after practicing for tomorrow's service in church and the Christmas Eve service. Will be making appetizers for a get together with friends later this evening and for coffee hour after church tomorrow.

It's exciting reading about everyone's travel plans and hoping Tina will be able to head in this direction after visiting with Liz & Bob. Have a good Saturday!

[OregonLuvr]

Think I am ready to start my day. I have a full day of housecleaning planned. You know the deep down kind. Starting with the kitchen and dining area. Need to get the cobwebs out of the windows, wash the windows in there, do something with all the clutter that seems to find a home on the kitchen table. Then steam mop the floor, that should do it for that room. Will see how long that takes me as I might tackle my laundry room with many of the same issues.

Rain is coming but the chatter about snow has disappeared. Might get some in the passes but down here just be rain...whew. As much as I love the snow I like to just drive a few miles to enjoy it.

Will be playing some Christmas tunes while I work. Yup good day planned.

[Acadianmom]

I finally got my pants hemmed so I could put the sewing machine away. If you want to see how good your eyes are, try hemming some black pants. I should have done it in the bathroom where the best light is.

It is back up to 70, which feels good until you step out in the wind. The burn bin is full of feed sacks but it's too windy to start a fire. I don't think we are suppose to have any rain until after Christmas. But might get 3 inches around New Years.

I'm sure I have posted before about my Grandmother sending pine and holly to a friend in New Mexico. They had moved to Louisiana after the dust bowl and she loved how green Louisiana is. She even painted her bedroom furniture green. I wish I had kept more of her things but my life was in turmoil when she passed away.

I have to go to the grocery store. I have been putting it off all week. I hope I have everything on my list because I don't want to go again.

Martha

[Bethers]

Ok, I'm bored. Do NOT feel sorry for me. It has nothing to do with RVing or being alone. It's simply one of those days lol. The sun is shining, it's beautiful outside. I have a fabulous lake to sit and enjoy or walk and enjoy. I have books, puzzles, tv channels, movies I can watch. I could drive into town or sightseeing. I could, heaven forbid, clean the rig. Nothing is drawing me... So in a bit I'll be good to Ty and take a 2nd long walk and see if I can clear my cobwebs.

Happy Saturday... Enjoy.

[JudyJB]

Beth, the 38 degree temps where I am would clear your cobwebs! And you also would not want to sit outside or take even one walk, so you would be really bored! I have to take trash out today and pull the handles to drain my tanks and am not looking forward to it. Mostly, today will be an indoor day, like almost every day for past month. I have a class to get ready to open on New Years Day and a new portable ice maker to get operating. Also am using this time to do sorting and organizing.

For those that wondered about my water pump: I have had a problem since I bought this rig with water pumps failing about once a year. It is not the pumps, and a Shurflow engineer even once sent me the new insides to a water pump. Here is what happens--water pump starts out working fine, but after a few months, if I do not use it at least once every two days, it will lose its prime and take a very long time of running to start working again. I also have to always remember if I have been using city water to make sure I unhook the hose and flip the switch to run the pump right away. If the water drains out of the water system, it can be very hard to get the water pump pumping again. Then after a few more months, the pump pumps less and less water, and it sometimes just quits. A couple of times, it has ended up with a hole in the membrane that prevents the city water from flowing through it and into the water tanks, so my water tank will fill and start overflowing. Because this has happened to so many pumps, it cannot be a defective pump.

I have had my water system checked at the factory service center, and they said they checked thoroughly for leaks, even putting it in a vacuum tester. I am still pretty certain there is a leak somewhere because if I leave the pump on, it will periodically cycle on and run a minute to pressurize the system. So, I have mostly been living with it by using water from my tanks and using the water pump. If I go somewhere with city water, I have to remember to turn it off every couple of days and run the water pump for a few minutes. Then I can go back to using city water!!!

[Rufflesgurl]

Judy have you had a chance to get your portable ice maker running? How is it working for you? Do you use bottled water in it?
Thanks,

Linda

[Bethers]

Judy, it was only 40 degrees when we walked this morning. No problem there. It's upper 60's now and we came back from a walk sweating. As long as it's sunny, I love these temps.

I changed sites for something to do. Went to tell the office and learned of another section to this park. I might move down there Monday for 4 nights. If anything Ty and I would have totally new areas to walk. And temps are going down for those days.

[JudyJB]

Linda, I am just using tap water so far. I washed it out inside best I could and then tossed the first few cubes and refilled it with tap water, which is what I usually drink. It does produce very small, cloudy, ice cubes, and I might try some bottled water, but I don't like to buy bottled water because of the excess plastic trash it produces. The important thing is that while it produces only about 8 small cubes at once, it does this every 8 minutes! They dump into a little basket and then I put them in the freezer. I envision using it once every few days and filling up a lot of little bags and then putting it away for a while because it takes a lot of counter space.

The thing is that I really like ice in my drinks, and I drink a lot of iced tea and lemonade I make myself. I was really getting tired of putting ice cube trays in my crowded freezer and having it taking 10 hours to freeze one small tray! I explained to my Ohio son about RV refrigerators, and he looked up how they worked as I talked to him. He bought me the ice maker but did not realize how slow to cool these RV refrigerator/freezers were and how they worked, so was surprised. I told him how they can be a problem in hot places, and how I always make a point to park in the desert so that side of the motorhome is facing north or east and how his brother had problems once and ended up hanging towels to shade the refrigerator on the outside, on my advice.

Of course, the positives of this type of refrigerator is that I once left my rig for 6 very hot days (up to 100 degrees) and nights in the Salt Lake CIty airport and came back to everythinig frozen and cold! Could not do that with a regular refrigerator. Will report back on how this thing works out and if bottled water makes a difference.

Beth, it really is pretty bad when you have to move spaces because you are bored. Don't you have anything you can clean out?

[Cudedog]

Beth, it really is pretty bad when you have to move spaces because you are bored. Don't you have anything you can clean out?

Come to my house, Beth. I can put you to work. I have spent approximately 40 hours cleaning my house over the last two weeks (LOL - one bedroom alone took 8 hours - don't ask!) getting ready for the holiday.

Still a few things left to do. Haven't wrapped my kids presents yet, and the tree is still out in the garage. But, what the hey! I still have a few more days.

Beth, when will you be here?

Anne

[Bethers]

I could clean... I don't feel like it lol. Ty was the winner today... Extra walks.

I'll probably change cg's Monday to avoid some women who want me to join them for Christmas. Yes, it was nice to be invited. It's not what I want to do. Oh, and my invitation came with a request to heat her ham in my oven. I told them if I am to come, I'd rather just bring my own plate and come for the camaraderie. But then I learned about this other section down the road I didn't know about and think I'll just move there Monday. New places to walk. As I believe I said in my last post.

Oh, and Judy, I use a Brita pitcher. Just recently purchased their add on filter for my sink. Either way it means no bottled water. Except in parts of Arizona where I fill pitchers as needed.

Meantime, I believe there's a new Hallmark movie tonight... Will indulge.

[snowball]

I have had this intermittent sound on my tv not sure what causes it when it first happened years ago I thought it was the tv it was an older one that sil put in cause the one that came with the rig quit. it still happens so could be the cable going from the rig to the dish...or could be who knows but now the sound happens and sometimes the picture is gone but the sound is there until the noise happens again and on it came just happened I may get to see that Hallmark movie after all..
Got the floor vacuumed started a few days ago but stuff comes up and it wasn't finished till tonight...as good as it will be till the tree is taken down... and fall out starts again...
Dec and Jan are typically cooler months this year it seems it started earlier need to go turn on the buddy it's chilly looked over and it's 63 inside outside it's 59 yep time to turn on the buddy..
looks like it will be a good movie think I will wish you all a good night haha
Sheila