Monday, March 26, 2012

Yeah! Another Monday! Still feeling horrible; been a week now; beginning to think I'm going to have to give in to Ken's wishes and check into the hospital in order to get over this. Maybe tomorrow.

It occurred to me that I forgot to tell everyone about the "new" Casten's Castle! To start getting back into a stable financial position, we had to give up our motorhome back in the fall of 2010. We hung on to all the gear that went on it, hoping that "some day" we could replace it. Lay off and severance pay made a lot of things possible - paying off some bills, making arrangements to resolve some credit issues, putting $$ away for "just in case," and a little $$ for a camper of some kind.

We started looking several months ago, checking Craigslist all over the United States, watching RV Trader, looking on forums, checking RV places all over the DFW area - for something we could buy for cash...no more debt, something we outright own. Everything we looked at was pretty bad. I stumbled across something at Motorhome Specialists RV in Alvarado online and we went to look at it. At first we said no to it -- too old, priced a little too high, needed some tweaking. But after looking at several things, we went back to look again. We had been talking to the neatest sales fellow, Jimmy Campana. The afternoon we went back, Ken and I started asking questions about everything - experience taught us a lot. Instead of hiring someone to go thru the coach, Jimmy suggested we go thru it ourselves and he and his service tech would help us. We combed that thing completely, and after a test drive and Jimmy offering to help us on a couple of things, we decided to go for it. We made a deposit, told Jimmy we would be back on Monday. He called us on that Friday to tell us the owners (it was a consignment) offered to drop it a $1000 because of the things that needed to be done. Yea. We picked up the coach on March 16, drove it to covered storage, and now can't wait for an opportunity to head out.

The "new" coach is a 1998 Tiffin Allegro Bay with less than 40,000 miles on it. It's gas, has one slide, a bedroom and bathroom that are ok size so that I'm not claustrophobic in them, and just the length we like at 33 feet long. The first trip we will make (if we can EVER get well) is to the valley to go across to Progresso, Mexico because I need major dental work done - can't afford it here. We've already met with friends so we know where to go and what to do. If all 4 of us can get healthy at the same time maybe we'll all go at the same time!

After that we plan to head out on a LONG trip of at least two months. We plan to head to Little Rock, Arkansas; venture over thru Tennessee (Memphis, Nashville, Pidgeon Forge); then to Roanoke, Virginia. From there we'll head into Washington, DC for a short stay/look around, and then head to Philadelphia (Ken's family town). From there we hope to visit Gettysburg and Lancaster, Pa, and then go to Woodbine, NJ. We'll double back to Philly and then take the train to New York City (75 minute ride) to visit the tourist traps, see some things. We'll head back to Philadelphia, pick up the MH, then head head to Raleigh, then on down to Myrtle Beach. From Myrtle Beach we'll wonder to Charleston, Savannah, then Jacksonville, FL, then on down to Orlando and Disney World. Then we'll head back to Texas via Tallahasee, FL; Mobile, AL (see friend Luci); then wonder to New Orleans, Beaumont, Houston, and north back home. We would loe to spend time in Savannah...we love that place.

We're trying to find places in Philadelphia to leave the animals while we go to NY...scares us; we don't leave them at the vet overnight here so I can't imagine that we will leave them at an unknown vet. I'm sure we'll work it out - we always do.

Really nice to have some options again. Been working so hard the last 3 years to get finances straightened out! Still have 3 that will not work with me. All the others are pretty near paid off. We'll take care of those that refused to work with us after the others are paid off.

Take care, we feel really blessed right now, sorry if sounds like we're boasting - it is, after all, a 14 year old motorhome! But it's OURS!!!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Wow! What a GOOD and BAD week it has been! Such is life!

So, to begin. Back in 2002 hubby moved from Irving to my home in FW to take care of me because I needed full-time, around the clock care due to bone infection crawling up from my right foot into my leg. I had been in/out of hospitals for about a year and was home on Home Health Care. He gave up his job in Dallas and moved to FW. that was in February. In April he had a new job as chief accountant for a company not far from our house. The first day he went to work he had a head-on collision with a van immediately in front of his new office. It totataled his Kia, but thanks to the air bag he suffered only cracked ribs and broken glasses.

Since he had been living on what $$ he had since he gave up the Dallas job, he didn't have the funds to buy another car (insurance didn't quite pay off the Kia, much less leave funds to buy another one). Although I had just built the new house and had also financed a new PT Cruiser for myself, I agreed to finance a car for Ken. (We were getting married in May.) Ken and I loved the new VW Beetles, so we went to Hiley VW in Arlington and chose a pretty blue Bug, loaded with all the features of the time. We loved that little car - went everywhere in it - even drove it to Colorado Springs in 2003.

In 2004 we decided to buy a Dodge Ram 2500 pick up because we were going to buy a travel trailer. This put us with three vehicles. I had a daughter who was driving her old Ford Escort to work in North Dallas and we were so scared of her breaking down driving back and forth. We decided to let her drive the PT Cruiser. But we needed to have some work done on the PT before we let her drive it so we took her the VW in the interim. One thing led to another and the VW never returned to us. Ken ended up trading in the PT Cruiser for a 2004 Ford Escape, plain vanilla. That VW became a major bone of contention for us thru the years. Ken loved that car, and he would almost cry whenever he would see it.

Move forward to Saturday night, March 17, 2012. Ken had gone to bed, and as he and I have done for a very long time, I began to look for a VW Beetle, preowned, low miles. Couldn't find one via Craigslist. Just for grins I checked out Carmax. By golly! There it was! A 2007 VW Beetle, formerly owned by a couple in Temple, Texas, with mileage less than 22,000!!! I immediately sent Ken an email he would see the next morning. When I woke up on Sunday he was excited to the nth degree! Do you think? Maybe? I told him to clean out the Ford (now 8 years old, has issues), and to call them first thing on Monday morning. By the time I awoke on Monday he had already talked to them, knew where it was, and was waiting for me.

It never occurred to us that we could actually get this car. Our financial situation has been pretty dire since 2009. But, as I told Ken, you never know if you don't ask. And I had another plan up my sleeve. So we drove to Carmax in Arlington to meet with the person Ken had spoken with. When I saw her I immediately told her that I didn't think we could qualify and I didn't want to see the car until we looked at financial arrangements. So we went to her office, we told her our story, she took it from there. Rhonda (sales lady) ran the credit check, and surprisingly it came back as approved - because I have been doing business with Capital One for so long. The amount was a bit high, with higher percent interest than I wanted. So, she had the Ford Escape appraised, it came back at twice what we expected, and then I shocked Ken when I told her I also had $$ to go with the Ford as downpayment. (As the guardian for Ken's disability funds, I put $$ away every month from his check.) With the finances arranged, we said we were ready to see the car. I could see Ken's face light up the instant he saw it. Same blue he had chosen originally, moon roof, automatic, loaded with same and more features. I didn't go for the test ride with him, this was going to be his, not mine. I could tell when he came back from the test drive that he was one happy boy. We told Rhonda to write it up.

Ken kept thanking me for the car, but I told him I didn't do it, he did. It was his Ford traded in, and it was his money that had been put away. My only part in it was to put his money away so that he didn't spend it. So, this is Ken's new ride:



So, Monday was a great day.

On Tuesday afternoon I got to spend some hours with friend Denise looking at and playing with doggie clothes (my female Maltese wears doggies clothes a lot). had a great time - always learn something from this incredible lady.

That evening I started feeling horrible -- strep throat, couldn't breathe, coughing, chills/fever. It got worse. To top it off, Ken had done something to his back, was screaming in pain, could hardly move. We made it thru the night but I was too sick to help Ken. I sent him by himself to the local "doc in the box" clinic up the street. They would not see him because they do not accept Medicare. So, I sent him to the ER at Harris Southwest. I was afraid he had kidney stone, appendicitis, or? They did blood work, did a CT scan; determined he has spine problem. He called his neurologist, Dr. Siadati. They wanted him to have a MRI. Took 'til Sat. morning to get MRI scheduled. Now Siadati will be out of town this next week, Ken is still screaming ever time he moves. He has had about all he can take. Right now he has gone to bed with a muscle relaxer. I'm hoping that helps. We are supposed to call his doc's nurse in the morning. Hopefully Ken will be seen by another doc in their office. This has to be addressed SOON.

In the middle of this chaos, and even feeling sicker than sick, I managed to complete a quilt block for contribution to a hug quilt for a fellow member of the NE Texas TOGA (Treadle On Group). I did a Disappearing 4 patch following the instructions at
http://andiejohnsonsews.blogspot.com/2011/03/disapperaing-4-patch-tutorial.html. I followed it exactly, but it did not come out at 8.5 inches - came out at 8 instead. I tried it again, same thing. So, I made a third block using 6" blocks as the first 4 squares and then cut it down to 8.5". Sick of it by now I put a label on it and mailed it.

I also managed to complete a new doggie dress for Luci. It was obvious I wasn't feeling well. I originally made buttonholes instead of putting on velcor, but the buttonholes came out horrible. I ended up covering the buttonholes with velcro and finishing the dang thing. So now she has a reversible jean dress to wear to such places as Canton and to the park.





I'm feeling a little better today. I managed to take a shower/shampoo my hair this morning. That took about all the strength I had. I need to clean house, so hoping I can do that tomorrow. Will depend on Ken's situation.

'til next time - God bless anyone who reads this; and as always a note to my children and grandchildren that I love and miss all of you.

Sunday Morning, March 11, 2012

It's granddaughter Courtney's 17th birthday. She has grown up so fast -- where did all the time go? Unimaginable how much I love that girl. but I feel the same way about all my other grandchildren, too! There's just nothing like grandchildren. It's like having children -- after the first one you can't imagine how you could ever love another child as much...but you do! Each one just reaches out and grabs your heart. I wish I could see everyone of them.

So, what's been happening? Ken had surgery on Tuesday of last week - yep, my birthday. That's about the 3rd or 4th time he's scheduled something so that I had to spend my special day at the hospital. But, at least that surgery is over! He's still having some pain with the right arm and hand but went to the doc on Friday and doc says it's normal.

Our little Luci had spade surgery (hysterectomy) on Thursday. I couldn't bear to leave her overnight so we picked her up late that day. She's had a tough time - been in quite a bit of pain. She and I slept in the living room that night - I had to give her pain med before it was time so she wouldn't be screaming. She's doing better today...but right now she's konked out from another pain pill, and so is Ken!

I was able to go to the LM Blanketeer's lunch Friday before last. Enjoyed seeing everybody; and then I attended the LMB quilting bee last Sunday afternoon. Really enjoyed that because one of the ladies had inherited several vintage quilt tops and blocks - absolutely beautiful. And Susan, our leader, has been working with her husband cleaning out his dad's place in Shreveport. In so doing she has inherited a beautiful vintage Kenmore sewing machine, several hand made crochet pieces, etc. Makes me want to get out several things that I have that Mother made. Just don't know what to do with them because my children will not want them.

On Saturday, March 3, I decided I wanted to make a quilt top. Been watching the Missouri Start Quilt Company tutorial on how to make one of the Jelly Roll race quilts. Didn't want to spend 40 dollars for a Jelly Roll so made my own 2.5" strips and then got busy. Wow! I ended up with a quite nice quilt top which reminds me of Arizona Sunrise or Sunset. and this one was so easy to make - I took it to quilting bee with me because the ladies wanted to know how one would come out. It's really cute. Now have to find fabric to put on a 2.5" border plus fabric to put on a wider border. I considered making the edging scalloped, but I think instead I will just round the corners. When finished this quilt will go to great niece Presley down in Lone Oak, Texas. She's my brother Gerald's granddaughter.

Oh, for that strip quilt, I used my little vintage Singer 221 Featherweight sewing machine. First time I've used it, although I've had it a couple of years! This is the crown jewel in my sewing machine collection, but I've been afraid to use it. Just love it; it did an amazing job. I have another quilt top to make that is slso a strip quilt top but in Texas strips. Think I'll use that machine again.

And speaking of machines! Cousin Judy traded me a vintage Brother sewing machine for a television for her daughter's room. This machine belonged to her mother-in-law but hadn't been used in forever - wasn't in such great shape, very dirty. I started jacking with the machine, cleaning it up a bit, everything on it moved, the bobbin case and bobbin were in it, it didn't appear to be as bad as I first thought. Wiring isn't good,and it was in a non-original cabinet with a knee control - and some southern engineering was used to wire the machine into the cabinet. Ken and I took the machine out of the cabinet, did some initial cleaning on it, decided it was not in such bad shape, then took machine and cabinet to Mr. Bruner to see have him check it out. He won't be in the shop until Monday, but we're anxious to hear what he has to say!

I had originally planned to give the Brother machine to another cousin for his wife (if the machine would run), but I'm thinking I'll buy Mason and Andrea a new machine instead (Walmart) and keep the vintage one!

We made our way to the Dallas Quilt Show at Market Hall yesterday -- dang rain and all. Fortunately the rain let up long enough for us to unload our scooters and get into the show, and then when we left it let up enough for us to get to the car and load them. We were somewhat disappointed this year with the show -- I was hoping to buy some pretty fabric to finish Presley's quilt, but there were not many vendors there with bolts of fabric, mostly fat quarters and small cuts. Didn't find what I needed, so will have to go to Cabbage Rose to look for it. Joann's definitely does not have it. In fact, Joann's doesn't seem to carry much of anything fabric any more.

Last year at the show we saw a demonstration by the folks who make the Easy Quilter track system. Can be used with one's home sewing machine. I saved money all year which got used for everything else under the sun, but save back enough of my severance $$ that this year when we saw them again I actually bought one! I can hardly wait for it to arrive. I cannot afford and can't justify having a long-arm quilting machine/set up, and don't have the space for one anyway. But at least with this one I can use my home machine to quilt smaller quilts. Last time I paid to have a quilt done by a long arm quilter it cost me over $60 and that was for a quilt that was less than 60" square!!!

Today is Sunday, but I have to work on this house anyway. Seems we don't have time during the week even though we're retired. We always have doc appointments, hospital visits, etc., during the week. I find the year is going by so fast and I'm not completing anything I thought I would when I retired. A lot of that is due to crippling depression - I recognize it for what it is. There just doesn't seem any reason to do anything. Why clean house? Nobody comes.

So, off to slay dragons - or to at least clean the kitchen!