Yay!! Money!

[Echo]

What a surprise! Our unemployment funds have been deposited onto our Chase cards. YAY!

Kelly just paid our camping fee for the coming week so we have a home and don't have to rip everything down and pack up. YAY!

Kelly is now taking a shower and we are gonna head for Parker AZ to the banks to swap some money around and to WalMart to pick up a few things. Of course we will need to get groceries!

Ahhhhh a place to live and food! Don't get much better!

Ya'll be good while I'm gone now, ya hear!

[OutandAbout]

Sounds great Echo. Now you guys can settle down and stay warm and dry. Any plans yet while you are waiting for the end of April? Take care and stay safe. Linda

[Liz]

Glad your "ship came in" Echo. I was worried about you living so close to the edge. Don't spend it all at Walmart, ya hear? Save some for a rainy day...hear you might be getting a few.

[ali1257]

Glad your funds came in! God is faithful and does provide.

[wickedxgrl]

Left outta here, hit the road with a gas-up on the way. Swapped $ around between Chase and BoA. Found out that either with gas purchase or paying for campsite that someone held back about $20 from my Chase account. I swear, can't do debit hardly anywhere these days! While @ BoA we got direct deposit forms so will get that going asap. Of all the problems people have had with BoA they seem perfect compared to my other accounts.

Got groceries and came home. Didn't know the rain was gonna be so bad so stuff got wet. With the ground getting so soft 2 of the stakes holding the vestibule of mom's tent came loose and so that went down. Rest of her tent seems fine. My tent leaked a bit last nite so while I was showering mom was spraying my tent. Saw a few drops overhead but that may just be leftover. Floor looked dry so that is good. Will probably put her old tent fly back over it just for extra protection.

Bellies are full, bills are paid and we have a home for the next week. I think the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow so some of our stuff may dry out a bit, lol. Think I'm gonna be putting on an extra blankie tonite. Had to put on socks last nite as my feet got cold. Thankfully not as cold as Florida!

Dunno if we have any plans between now and next Tuesday. Mom said something about going to Q. On the way here she saw a tent with all kinds of tie-dye stuff and that perked my lil ears up!! Maybe we'll go see Snowball and Jenny and Dan? Need a map to find them, lol!! And maybe gps? As for the rest of our time here? Will have to see. I want to go see my friend in Escondido and (forgive me, I can't remember who) one of our Sistahs mentioned she lives there too.

Well, that's all for now. Gonna blog a bit and then it the sack. G'nite y'all!

[snowball]

Cricket (Donna) lives in that town...we had wind today besides rain and the awning dh made for over the kitchen window is who knows where
oops ..........wonder what the fee is for tittering
sheila
I won't be hard just find QIA and ask for sheila in salads after 2 ok? or in the am we are in la posa north go to the dumpsters find the bear/cardinal signs says boyd on it follow the signs tomorrow morning will find me at the laundromat a must do!

[Acadianmom]

I ended up with a Chase account because the bank changed hands about 4 times. I am seriously considering closing that account. The CEO ticked me off the other day when he was on TV talking about the big bonuses they are giving out. Their sense of entitlement galls me. They will be entitled to a bonus when the stock market, housing market and everyone's 401K's recover. The banks that we had to bail out started this mess.

Martha

[AlmostThere]

All the Washington Mutual banks got taken over by Chase and I have had nothing but problems with my accounts so I can sympathize.

[dcricket]

yup, I'm not overly excited with Chase bank since they took over WAMU. Hate their online billing and such

Echo, glad your $$ ship $$ came in...certainly does make travels much easier. Be careful out there though...we are suppose to get the worse of the storms on Thursday. Still expecting rain all week. Safe travels.

[Echo]

Rainy day? Whats that? Rain, wind, small tent stakes and being gone don't mix well! Did what we had to do yesterday and nope didn't save any money except for the hold back on Kelly's Chase card. Grrrrr! Of course it did turn out to be a rainy day yesterday so I guess we're allowed. Sure did run thru some biggie puddles on the way home and the road had a few mini rivers running across them. Sure glad it didn't rain any more that it did before we traveled home. But we got what we needed for the week and we're set.

What a mess when we got back here. I see Kelly posted about my tent. With all the rain it softened up the ground big time and the wind whipped around and yanked up my small tent stakes. If the wind hadn't gotten rambunctious I think we would have been OK. Have the 2 small ones back in place also 2 more with guy ropes stretched out to hold it. Today I'll find my other heavy stakes and the rest of my rope and I will set more guy ropes out. She didn't tell ya that the wind also blew the tarp I had over top of the picnic table off. So everything on the table got wet. Good dang thing I used 4 of my heavier stakes on the corners of the screen room and had the corners tied out for stability or the whole screen room might have went sailing off. And of course I am so glad that as I always do, I put my laptop in the Blazer when we left here. Got wet trying to get things fixed back up but had our umbrellas so at least we didn't get completely soaked. Mad tho! Couldn't remember where the heck my other heavy tent stakes were. ??? I will have to dig them out today and batten down a little more. The tarp I had over the table is now hung up as a wall around at least 2 of the screen house walls. I just kinda tied the tarp up in the corners last night. It's rather droopy, not pretty at all but it does the job.. Today I will take it down and put it back up with the tarp held between the screen walls and the legs so it wont billow if the wind starts again. Will have to pick up another tarp for the other two sides of the screen house. Have no idea how often the wind and rain does that around here??? Can anyone tell me??? Will have to check with Chris too as she says she's camped in this park for 3yrs. But if this is the season for this kind of weather? We just might have to get the other style canopy that Kelly wants, at least it would be heavier and sturdier. Probably wont get the solid walls for it? Will probably use tarps as they can do double duty to cover other things when not needed as walls. The rain I can deal with and live with but when it's coupled with wind it's a (*&%^&%!

Brrr Got wet and soggy fixing things back up but didn't change. Fixed supper as we were starving!!! Ate and while Kelly played on the laptop in the Blazer I sat here reading. Was chilled so had her grab my other sweatshirt and jacket out of the Blazer and finally sat here and change out of the wet one. Jeepers that felt good!!! Hadn't realized just how chilled I was until I changed and threw my jacket around my shoulders and back. Ohhhhh warmth!!!

I had started this post last night before I went to bed. But the power cord on Kelly's laptop must have got jiggled and as I was about finished with my post her laptop went dead. OMG was I P-O'd. Grrrrr So here I am doing it again. ~sigh~

Something else we will need to figure out is what to do for a campfire. There are no fire rings here cause ground fires are not allowed. So unless we want to do the next 3 months of camping without a campfire??? We will have to pick up one of those portable fire pans?, dishes? or whatever they are called!!! Hmmmm? Hit the flea markets and find an old monster roaster, put some dirt in the bottom and use that!!!

Sheila, what the heck is QIA?? We've never been here before so I have no idea?

[oregontocal]

Re: Weather here in Blythe. In three years, this is the first time I've ever seen so much rain and wind. Not to say they don't have it. Just surprised with the amount last night.

Re: Campfires. My friend David bought a cheap small Weber-ripoff grill at the Ranch Market, by K-Mart, and it works just fine with wood. I think he paid about $15. Steven and I tried using a foil turkey-roaster pan in November, but it burned right through. Had a pretty good campfire for a while, though. I've noticed a lot of people using the washing machine innards for fires, but they're kind of big and heavy.

[Echo]

Well we now have a wish/shopping list going in wordpad. We have a nice list ie. grill, camp table like Nan had, canopy?, brita water filter pitcher, (water here is funky) firepit and an ele skillet. Would dearly love one of those mats like the RV'ers put under the awnings but that will have to wait as it's a luxury not a necessity. ~sigh~ Use to have a big hunk of stuff that was like astro turf but it finally rotted away. It was old when I got it and I used it to death. Poor thing! But they sure are nice to have and would be great inside the screen house.

[wickedxgrl]

Re: Chase

I have read such bad reviews about them on a community I belong to (called bad_service, on livejournal). Especially from those that used to have WAMU accounts. Accounts getting charges that have no business being there, fees up the wazoo! I had WAMU when I lived in Seattle and they were good to me. I suggest getting away from them asap. Gonna look into that very soon.

[oregontocal]

Re: Chase

I have read such bad reviews about them on a community I belong to (called bad_service, on livejournal). Especially from those that used to have WAMU accounts. Accounts getting charges that have no business being there, fees up the wazoo! I had WAMU when I lived in Seattle and they were good to me. I suggest getting away from them asap. Gonna look into that very soon.

About ten years ago, while I was going to school in Seattle, I opened a WAMU checking account as well as a WAMU VISA card. Never had any problems with either one at all UNTIL they were in the process of being taken over by Chase. Even with my excellent credit record, especially with the WAMU Visa card, I received a notice that they were going to raise my interest rate from 10% up to 21%, and that I had two options: I could either keep the account open and accept the rate change (NOT!) or close the account and keep the same interest rate. After writing them a letter and receiving a canned reply, I immediately closed both the Visa and checking accounts. There are much better options out there.

[wickedxgrl]

Re: Chase

I have read such bad reviews about them on a community I belong to (called bad_service, on livejournal). Especially from those that used to have WAMU accounts. Accounts getting charges that have no business being there, fees up the wazoo! I had WAMU when I lived in Seattle and they were good to me. I suggest getting away from them asap. Gonna look into that very soon.

About ten years ago, while I was going to school in Seattle, I opened a WAMU checking account as well as a WAMU VISA card. Never had any problems with either one at all UNTIL they were in the process of being taken over by Chase. Even with my excellent credit record, especially with the WAMU Visa card, I received a notice that they were going to raise my interest rate from 10% up to 21%, and that I had two options: I could either keep the account open and accept the rate change (NOT!) or close the account and keep the same interest rate. After writing them a letter and receiving a canned reply, I immediately closed both the Visa and checking accounts. There are much better options out there.

I have heard of that too! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. So many people are unhappy with them now but I really didn't think we'd have much trouble with our Chase cards. Maybe my naivete is showing but I have never really dealt with companies taking more off a card than what you sign for. I don't think it's right. I called last nite and I got back the extra (I'm figuring that) the gas station took when I got gas. Maybe it's because it's on credit instead of debit? But I can't do debit there, it has to be credit. You pay inside, you pump, go back inside and sign your slip. What a hassle! At this point I'm hoping to be able to get to Chase in Parker next wk before having to get gas. That way I can withdraw all of my money and put it into my BoA account. Then we won't have a repeat of Tuesday and not being able to withdraw everything. The only other way I can think of doing it is going somewhere in Blythe, run the card as debit and get cash back to pay for gas.