Marvellous March 2016

[treegirl]

Morning all!

Well shoot - I posted twice here in the last few days from my phone since we were traveling. Nothing appears here!? So sorry. The online/phone version of the program is not so user-friendly, I guess I didn't press the right 'post' or something.

anyway, I'm home and happy to be here. Traveling, especially two 5 hour flights, is hard. I was very very sick with flu/cold last Thursday and Friday, and I wondered how I would do on the plane. But I had turned it around by Sunday, and did fine on the flights. Then I was just getting ready to post yesterday afternoon when a big storm came up and knocked out phone and internet in the area. Thank goodness we didn't lose power, but it took until 11 PM for the service to come back.

Sounds like life has been busy -
Lav, good luck with the babysitting - sorry you have to handle everything all alone!

Dill - what great news about your trailer. A beautiful route from northern MN is to go into WI, then up into Canada and southeast into NY state. You miss all the cities south of the great lakes, and those 'boundary water' lakes in Canada are just beautiful. When we re-located from western MA to AZ, we drove west using that route - just lovely.

Pauly - Lav and Dill have hit it on the head. I think being grateful each day for not having it control your life is a great way to move forward - being fearful of another lapse just adds fuel to the smoldering fire! I was listening to a meditation teacher, Pema Chodron, while I was on the plane and she made a great point about when we feel disappointed in ourselves -- she said to concentrate on being grateful that you know the difference between what you want to do and what you did do. The fact that you know is a good thing, a very good thing - and you can build on that. (Personally I also agree with Lav - taking AL completely off of the list of possibilities is a big help.) So grateful that you shared, it helps us all.

Star - if you're reading, go back to looking at the beautiful desert landscape! I hope the cholla are blooming now - they're so pretty. Hope you are having a great time.

I'm glad to be back in the saddle - take care all -

[Lavande]

Welcome back Cyn
Glad you are home safe & sound. Sorry you had to deal with germs though, ugh.

Can you believe we are expecting snow on Sunday? The first day of spring is going to be spent shoveling snow, crap. That's just ridiculous!
My granddaughter & I are both experiencing allergy symptoms here, crazy stuff.

Dill, how big is your camper? I am developing claustrophobia as I grow older so I would need a big one, ha ha!!
My old neighbors drove to Minnesota to pick up a trailer many years ago - wonder if it's the same place.

Pauly, remember, positive self-talk only from now on, right?

Peace to everyone tonight!

[dill]

Hello All,

Welcome back Cyn! Thanks for the suggestion about travel. It sounds like a good one. We have our passports so crossing into Canada would not be a problem. Sorry you were sick while you were travelling. I'll bet you were glad to get back to home, sweet home!

Lav and Pauly, the trailer is really small. We were looking for something light weight to make the towing easier and so we could tow with a car as opposed to a truck. I am actually a bit worried about feeling claustrophobic and I do worry about it possibly being a strain on us to be cooped up together. But, nothing ventured nothing gained. We shall just have to see! The camper is a Scamp and it is 16 ft long.

Greetings Star!
Let's all have a fantastic AF Friday!

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Dill - A Scamp! That's my dream camper! I know what you mean about being able to trailer with a car; that's all we have, is station wagons, and I don't want to get another vehicle to tow a camper. It's out of our budget for now, but I dream of taking a vaca with the dogs, and not having to go into hotels! RE; size - well, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Lav - snow, I know, crazy, right? We'll see how much ends up dropping. I never mind a March snow - at least it's likely to melt soon! Yesterday seemed like a completely Spring day, so that was nice. I am sorry that the temps will be dropping...and it looks like 5 days of rain here. I already had visions of getting out and clearing some small trees that have been in my line of vision all winter! Ah well, it may or may not get donel...

For now it's sunny, so I'm headed out for groceries, dog laundry at the laundromat, walk the dogs and hopefully get into my home office by 10.

Star - hope you are having fun! Pauly - positive vibes going out to you - embrace them! Take care all and wishing you a great AF Friday --

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, Cyn,I'll take the positive rays glad your trip was good except the cold you caught,I wish we could be immune to everything, I swear I do all these things to build my immune system and I'm always sick,Kells bf was saying he never gets sick and its true!and he takes horrible care of himself, figure that one out,Dill,I'm gonna Google the camper,they're soooo nice these days,I always used to scoff at them cuz I remember campers back in the day,musty,brown and orange decor yuck!you guys know what I'm talking about, now they're cozy,I like that "extreme motorhomes" ever watch that? Those are like rolling yachts,Lav,hope if you get snow it melts fast,any plans for Easter?hope we all have a great Friday

[Lavande]

Good afternoon friends

Sunny & nice now. Still can't believe the forecast for the weekend.

Dill, as long as he stays on his 8 ft, you can have your 8 ft all to yourself, ha ha!
The whole point of camping is to be outside anyway. Bring some comfy folding chairs along & sit outside as much as possible. That's what we used to do when we had our popup campers. Have fun!!!

Cyn, I have to delay those dreams of planting gardens or even cleaning up outside for a while longer. I don't know if YB is going to make it back from IL tomorrow night before the snow starts. He will be furious if he gets stuck out there with the basketball team, ha ha!

Pauly, I haven't made any plans for Easter yet. I just don't know who is going to be available, who is working & all that. I have little choice but to plan things last minute.....story of my life. How about you?

Have a great AF day everyone. The boys will be here at 2 pm so things will get interesting real fast, LOL

Lav

[dill]

Hello All.

Lav, I will devise strategies to cope with too much time together while travelling. I suppose I'm not the only one to have this anxiety. But the trade off is worth it. I want to see the country and I hate staying in hotel/motels! I think our second road trip will be to the Grand Canyon. It's been on my bucket list forever! Do you still have a popup camper? I hope YB gets hoe safely.

Cyn, it sounds like you are familiar with the Scamp. I had not ever heard of them or seen one until a couple years ago when I got the notion to google lightweight campers. I didn't want a pop up because I felt I'd be more comfortable in a hard shelled enclosure. We thought of buying used but it was too hard to find one! My daffodils are lovely this year, so cheerful! I think of you when I see them for some reason. They are certainly early this year so I didn't have to make my own to get thru the dreary late winter doldrums! LOL

Pauly, I haven't got set plans for Easter yet. I know that at some point the grand kids will be here and we will color eggs and have an egg hunt. I'm thinking that my son will come too and we will have a dinner together. I'm not sure what I'll make. How about you? Our Scamp could probably fit inside one of those extreme motor homes! LOL! No, I haven't seen that show. I do remember the colors you are refering to. YUCK.

Not much planned for the day. I'll just have to see what develops! Let's all enjoy the day with clear AF eyes!

[paulywogg]

Morning friends,I'm just gonna put together bags of Easter candy for the kids and make a ham cuz its easy and sounds good not buying any toys for Lou cuz he just had his birthday, did get him a paintbrush coloring book but that's it,guess what came in the mail yesterday? Bobbi's card!!! Looking like its been ran over by a truck,shoved in a ditch,etc but its here and the moneys still in it,what a relief,so I'm gonna put a CHECK in it and box it up with some socks she left on her last trip(her fave pair) and some Easter candy and ship it through that way,did Kells birthday yesterday now I'm done for a bit woo-hoo,off to choke down my acv and honey barf,hello Dill,Lav,Cyn,Star hope we all have a nice Saturday

[Lavande]

Good afternoon friends!

Can you hear the quiet?

First time with no kids in the house since Wednesday, ha ha! It was a fun week but certainly noisey. YB is on the way, he texted me about an hour ago that they were just west of Pittsburgh. They've been driving through snow the whole way too. I'm just getting flurries off & on so far.

Dill, the popups are long gone. I got fed up with the less than stellar bathroom/shower conditions we kept finding at our favorite campsites & the kids get to an age where they don't want to go anymore. Besides, I am way too old now to wake up & have to walk half a mile, uphill to a bathroom, ha ha! I am sure you will have better experiences.

Pauly, isn't that weird how mail gets lost like that but eventually finds it's way home? Lol
I don't go overboard on candy & stuff for Easter, the kids don't need all that. I usually end up making decorations & baking stuff to make the kids happy.

Hello to Cyn & Star!

I am making a pot of dairy free potato & leek soup. My farm share box has had a lot of really nice leeks & humongous potatoes lately. I think I make a batch of pizza dough now so I can throw a pizza in the oven later when YB rolls in. Nice of me, ha ha!!

Have a great AF day everyone!

Lav

[treegirl]

Hello all - Late, late checkin from here! Early morning travel to SD's 1.5 hour away, and the day just flew from there. Dinner didn't happen until 7:30, even though I made the chicken at 4 PM! I did get an hour in battling with the ancient forsythia - I wanted to get it cut out before it started to bloom. It's old, and a nuisance, and it only blooms on the last 6 inches of 10 foot-long branches, grrr. And it's covering up a gorgeous rock outcropping that I want to see. So....slowly but surely it's going bye bye (I don't have the heart to do it when it starts to bloom, so bonus, I've gotten most of it already.)

Lav - we've been totally downgraded for snow tomorrow. I sure hope you don't have to shovel - that would be a hard way to start spring. It's cold here, but I think no snow.

Dill - love to hear your plans for the camper.

Pauly - so glad the card arrived back to your hands!

Star - hope you are having a great time.

Cheers all for a great Sunday - I'll check in tomorrow evening...

[dill]

Hello Ladies,
Cyn, well done on the forsythia! I know that was an effort! It sounds like your day yesterday was full. I know how that goes. I don't like eating dinner late anymore because I don't sleep well on a full stomach if that makes any sense. My day was full too. We had both grandkids and it was a drizzly cold day so we headed out to the mall just to get out of the house for a bit. The kids got to do the bungy jumping thingy and LOVED it. I wish I could do that myself!

Pauly, so glad you got the card returned! Hurray! I mailed a smallish box a week ago and was kinda surprised at how expensive it was to mail. But oh well. I wanted gson in New Orleans to have a few little things for his Easter. We emailed a regular kid toy, an airplane that launches a motorcycle out of it. And We sent him a prism to hang in his window to catch the sunlight and make rainbows.. I loved them both and facetimed us to tell us. Such a sweet boy! He's same age as gdaughter, 4yo.

Lav, ha! I totally get the campground bathroom experience! I know it takes up precious space in our little Scamp, but I insisted on a small bathroom/shower in the unit. I don't want to be getting up in the middle of the night making the trek! The other feature I wanted was an awning. We can sit outside even in a light rain. I know what you mean about the candy. They get enough of that! The egg coloring and egg hunt are what make it special here, not so much the foods. They live in an apartment so an outdoor egg hunt isn't really possible. Weather permitting we always have it outside. Do you do the egg hunt at your place?

Star, I hope your week was full of family and fun experiences and that you also got some good rest and relaxation.

[SnoopyC]

Good morning...

Back after a week in the desert and it was warm and beautiful. I got on MWO and wrote a post, but it would not go through for some reason, so couldn't keep in contact. Sounds like everyone is doing well, all types of weather to deal with. It is cold here today, but that is OK. I like the desert, but one week there is enough for me, it is so dry, I started to dry out, chapped lips, always thirsty, it always happens to me, and the allergies were there to, had to take some OTC stuff, but it was fun to swim and be outside. So, I am sure I gained back all the weight I lost, darn, but the biggest decision of the day was where to go to eat. Ha!

Have a good one, it is great to be back!

[Lavande]

Good morning friends, happy Sunday & happy Spring!

Cloudy, 34 degrees & just waiting for the supposed snow to start. I don't think it's going to much, just annoying. Speaking of annoying, YB returned last evening, ha ha!!

Good job on the forsythia Cyn!
Remember all those plants YB dug in last year to make a fence between our property & his brothers? It's all growing quite nicely & beginning to bloom. Someday someone new will be wanting to tear it all out I imagine, LOL. Forsythia will make a huge wall if left to grow naturally.
Glad you don't have to deal with snow tonight! Sounds like Papmom's area will be getting hit though.

Dill, glad you are enjoying time with the grandkids! Skype has been a blessing for families situated too far apart for quick visits. Even my grandsons do FaceTime calls with me & they live 8 miles down the road, LOL
I'm happy to hear you are getting a camper with a private bath - really
I haven't done any egg hunts here primarily because the kids have them at their schools, church & in their communities. I still don't know who is or isn't coming next weekend, we shall see.
I do know that my older grandson will be staying with me for a few nights this coming week. His parents & brother are going to Denver for an event. YB still has school until Friday.

Welcome back Star, sounds like you had a good break. Good for you!

Pauly, what's on your plan today?

Wishing everyone a great AF Sunday!

Lav

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, Star,wonderful to see you back thank you for the pm before you left,I have a hard time replying cuz they never go through for some reason,Dill,I cannot eat late either,I hate food in my stomach at night,we usually eat by 3 pm and I'm done for the day,the family usually snacks later on but I just don't care to,Cyn,don't think I could cut a bloomer either,would make me feel guilty for some reason,Lav,grocery shopping for me today,got to run to Sprouts again and get some more hylands allergy tabs,they seem towork ok,not extremely noticible but better I just like that there's no SE's with them,hope everyone enjoys their Sunday

[treegirl]

Hi all -

Star, glad you are back safe and sound, and that you had a good time! Yes, the desert is extremely dry -- I remember those years...Your body gets used to it eventually, but it takes awhile.

Pauly - I'm with you on early eating. I feed my dogs at 4:30, and I eat then too! I'm trying to get HB on that routine.

Lav - Well, you'll enjoy your forsythia for a few years - they'll be beautiful. These were terrible and looked like brambles. What I'd like to find are the colored pussy willows - I heard there are some in apricot colors. Wouldn't that be beautiful in the early spring?

Dill - the prices for mailing things keeps going up and up. I always send things to both niece and nephews' families -- but it's getting expensive! The kids really look forward to receiving the box though, so I can't very well stop. The boxes are getting smaller!

Wishing all a peaceful Sunday night ---