view from kitchen towards bedroom

bedroom

Today was focused on the bedroom flooring. Start time was a little after 8:00 a.m. up until 4:30. The bedroom is so close to being completed, but not quite. Tomorrow will be a quick finish to it, I hope. Notice in the second picture the white wall below the oak trim? That is where the hideous green carpet was. We removed the carpet and were pleasantly surprised to see the same wallpaper we have throughout the coach, and it is in perfect condition. This alone makes the room look wider and definitely brighter.

In the first picture, obviously the transition strip is not yet on between bedroom and bath area. That will be the last piece Ernie puts on tomorrow.

So, as we head into day 6 tomorrow, we are looking at finishing up in the bedroom, and then tackling the stairwell, which I suspect will be time consuming. Then of course, some detail finishing touches. We do have the driver's chair and our couch back in. Yay! The couch that I thought I hated actually looks very nice with the new flooring. Who would have thought??

Flooring, Day 4

all the flooring down in the front

Fl
stairwell, to be finished tomorrow

steering column collar
frame

finished collar for the steering column


Today was a long day, but productive. All the flooring is laid in the front living room area, and the collar Ernie built for the steering column turned out great!

Tomorrow, day 5, will entail the bedroom and the stairwell.....plus, of course, the final touches.

It's all looking fantastic and I can't wait to start enjoying it!

Day 3 New Flooring Install

Jack likes it

a view from down under

looking towards the front of coach

stairwell

gas/brake pedal area...(like you couldn't tell, right?)

Alright, we are at the end of day 3 of our new flooring install. A few more rows of hardwood were laid today but the driver's area slowed the day down a bit. They had to put the back wall up again to hide all the wires (that took about an hour), then the measuring twice and cutting once on the flooring that went around both gas and brake pedals.

Ernie's friend Ben showed up today with his Bluebird Wanderlodge so now there are TWO Wanderlodges parked outside and of course we had to go check out the interior.

Back in the bedroom area, the carpet, pad and staples are all removed and ready for the new flooring. We are not replacing the carpet that was on the first 2 feet of wall space and have just removed the old carpet which revealed the same wallpaper that we have throughout the coach.

There have been 5 days planned for this project so we shall see how the next two days go. I know it always ends up being the small details that require the most time, so tomorrow's yet another day.

Day 2 - New Flooring

Today was still a demolition today because the bedroom carpet had to come out, and speaking of the bedroom, I had mentioned about the 2 ft. area of carpet on the wall running up to the strip of oak. Well, in removing the old carpet today from the wall, we discovered that behind the carpeting is the same wallpaper that runs throughout the coach. Awesome! It's white, it's bright and it looks fantastic! So, scrap the plan of a neutral carpet on the wall. We will just leave the original wallpaper.
A lot of time today was spent focusing on the entry stairs into the coach, so progress felt slow. But, at the end of the day, all was good because we've got 6 rows of flooring laid. It looks amazing! I'm happy with the flooring we chose and can't wait to see it all completed!

Demolition Day-Day 1

What a handsome boy!


5:00 pm


I apologize for the blurriness..my mistake with the camera

Today was a good day! We began at 8:00 a.m. with Ernie. First stop was Home Depot where we purchased 5 cases of flooring, some adhesive ($82.00 a bucket) and a transition strip.
We had already decided on which hardwood we wanted and we lucked out because Home Depot had the flooring in stock.
Then the fun began. Removing both chairs in the front and the sofa. Everything went smooth with no problems. Next step...out comes the knife to cut the carpet for removal. By 10:00 a.m. the furniture was out and carpet was being thrown out. Fast forward to 2:00 p.m....the steps and around the driver's area....slow her down to one. Lots of detail and things to work around in both of these areas. The guys (Ernie and Henry) have been brainstorming and are coming up with all kinds of things to make it look amazing. We will be putting in some additional insulation in the driver's area (we will never see it of course).
The Step area: We have a step cover that slides out....they've been talking options. All sounds good.

One final note: At some point in the history of this coach, a cat lived here. We found major amounts of cat hair in the front cowling area (behind the dash). I might mention this is an area I could never have seen , so therefore, could not have cleaned it. (my personal disclaimer...haha).

Jack went to the groomer today. Isn't he handsome??? Yes he is!!

We begin our day with Jack, basking in the
morning sun. (oh, brother)

Naturally, the gentleman who will be installing
our new flooring just happens to own a
Wanderlodge. 1983 40' long.



This is it. Home for at least the next 5 days. Ernie has already been in our coach, checked everything out, made a few excellent suggestions and even showed us some wood samples.
We have decided to go with hardwood as opposed to laminate flooring, and it will be glued down. No floating floor, hence, no hollow sound when walking on it. Tomorrow we go with him to buy the floor.
We are only doing the front of the coach and the bedroom, which means we are leaving our ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath. Right now, in the bedroom, the carpet runs up the wall a couple feet to an oak strip, which we were going to leave. (remember, the carpet is a dark green). Ernie's suggestion is to replace the green carpet with a much lighter, more neutral carpet which will make the room look wider....the best part is that he already has the carpet...and it wouldn't cost anything to us. Woo hoo!
He has offered to build a collar for the steering shaft. Awesome! It will look so much better.
Another suggestion is to put stainless steel on the risers of the steps coming into the coach, with the hardwood on the sides.
I'm liking all of Ernie's ideas and am getting super excited to get this project going.
We got BlackJack a grooming appointment for tomorrow, so he'll be out of the way during demolition and will come home wondering what happened to his house.

Oak Creek at Night

The clubhouse-office, reception hall, laundry

There we are!

A couple pictures of our own taken today at Oak Creek RV Park. Nice, right?

$1.00 Breakfast And $31.00 Stay

After overnighting at a Wal-mart in Burnet, Texas, we drove the last leg into Weatherford today.

Did you know subway serves breakfast? We found a coupon in last Sunday's paper for a FREE breakfast sandwich. Show up before 11 am, purchase a drink and the breakfast sandwich is free! It was pretty good, too! We had a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and a cup of coffee. Total cost $1.00 + .08 cents tax! That was for both of us!

We arrived in Weatherford, found a place to get diesel and filled up. $3.53/gallon. Youser!

Our appointment for the flooring is tomorrow, which means we'll be parked in the guy's yard for the next week with water and electric only, so we found an RV park to stay at tonight. The coach is getting a bath as I write this and Jack's getting his bath later this evening.

Now, about the RV park. We looked online ahead of time to check prices and location, finding them all about the same in cost. (Click on the title of this post for the website) We decided to check out Oak Creek RV Park and it is gorgeous! All new concrete slabs, spacious sites and a creek running through the middle of the park. Good Sam members get the 10% discount, so our cost was $31.00. Hey, we've stayed at some less than desirable parks for alot more money, so we're happy.

Tomorrow we begin the hardwood floor adventure!

Duck, Duck, Goose?

Big day today! Will be leaving the San Antonio area today and driving a little over 100 miles. We've got a couple days to get to Weatherford, so no need to hurry. Luckily, it is not raining this morning.
The picture of the duck is one H. took yesterday when I kicked him out of the RV. I had to clean and he just gets in the way, so off he went with his camera. He only came back with pictures of ducks though. ??? Funny guy.

Saturday Blues

Still in San Antonio. We were scheduled to leave today, but our appointment for new flooring got pushed back a few days, so we will sit another day here. The weather has been wet and drizzling and we prefer to not drive in the rain, so it's not a problem.

There is a Winnebago rally going on here this weekend, so we've got Winnies all around us at the park.
Last night, being Friday night, we decided to eat out, and went to a highly recommended place called the Hungry Horse. Guess who had the entire back room? All the Winnebago owners! And the front room of the place was filled with at least 20 teenagers, all talking at the same time.
It was busy, it was loud and we should have turned right around and left.....but we didn't. Strike one.
At the Hungry Horse, you order at the counter and when your order is ready they blare your name over the speaker to pick up your food. Strike two.
Because it was so loud and crazy in there, we decided to make our order to go. --A meatloaf sandwich w/fries for me and a chicken club for H. Sounded good. Strike three.

Lesson learned: Don't rely on 'I highly recommend...' Oh well.

Dinner At Taps Exchange

We had dinner last night with an old friend here in San Antonio. We went to a place called Taps Exchange and had some nachos, some beer, some more beer....a burger with fries....and some more beer. (I don't drink beer. That's what the guys had :) ).

Ben and H. have known each other since 1975. In 2006, we came through San Antonio and that had been the first time in 20 years the two had seen one other. It was great for them to reconnect, so we've made a conscious effort to stop and say 'hi' when we are in the state of Texas, central Texas that is. Texas is a BIG state, oh my gosh. But.....not as big as Alaska. Isn't Texas cute??? I love it! (sorry. But Texas ain't got nothing on Alaska).

One or Two more Onesies

There has been some interest in the onesies my daughter makes, so thought I'd post some more examples of ones she has made. I had forgotten about the little sweater she made which you can see below. She can do any graphic and custom colors.

(To see a larger image, just click on the picture).




Puppy


Detail on the puppy

Giraffe in teal

Princess

Detail - rattle and bow on baby sweater

Baby sweater

Which Way?

Yesterday should have been an easy breezy travel day. After all, San Antonio is only 35 miles from Hondo, right? So, 60 miles later we finally arrived at our destination. We thought the Alamo Fiesta RV park was actually in San Antonio.....nope. It's in Boerne, pronounced 'Bernie', which is a good 30 miles from the River Walk, if not further.
Yes, I checked online prior to coming here, but apparently I was more focused on the cheapest place rather than location...and it's not really that cheap. $29.70/night with our Good Sam discount. Other parks in the area were running $36-$45/night.
Long story short, we should have stayed right where we were, in Hondo, 35 miles from San Antonio at $25.00/night. Because we are still 30 miles away and it's costing us more money. Definitely not one of our smarter moves.
Will be here four days and meet up with an old friend, do a little sightseeing and hopefully take some great pictures.

Tuesday's Child

Remember the onesie our daughter made? Here's Laela with it on. How adorable.

Today we travel to San Antonio for a week before heading to the Dallas area to have hardwood flooring put in the motor home. It's been great here in Hondo. This RV park is one I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a quiet place with lots of space. We shall see what the place is like in San Antonio.

Puppy Love

He was so adorable at 3 months. (trip to Alaska)


Several months later. Jack in Baja...Baja Jack


What Jack does best.


Don't ask. I have no idea. -Yuma, 2009


Moab - Jack's in the Jeep..duh.


Jack in Mission, TX -(broken nail)

I had an awful dream about Jack last night, can't get it out of my head today, which is probably the reason for this post.
BlackJack's been the best and yet the most frustrating dog we've ever had. The best, in that he's a great little traveler, he's very small in size for a Schnauzer and he's not a yapper.
Frustrating because he's incredibly picky about food. Almost 4 years ago, the Vet told us he had a liver shunt and would probably not make it for another year. They prescribed two medications and special dog food for him. Being the picky boy he is, he just turned his nose up at the food and walked away. So, we did what any loving person would do and let him eat whatever he wanted, as long as he ate. Fast forward to today. Mr. Picky now will not eat anything at all unless it is one of those special expensive dog treats. He's decided the gourmet treats will be his diet.
That's where the tough love, puppy love comes in. As of today, no more treats, no more chewies. His bowl has food in it, but he refuses to eat. We'll see how long before he (or we) give in. Poor Jack. But, he's still here and officially weighs 10 pounds!

Grocery Shopping & Coupons

Today I went shopping....for groceries. I'm trying to save a few bucks and want to share what I've learned and what I like.

Two sites I especially like for the great finds are hip2save and sweeptalk.
These ladies have done the work for you and make it so easy. Both sites have the most recent deals and they provide you the link to grab the coupon.

Pick up a Sunday newpaper and pull out all the inserts with the coupons...I know, I know. Sit down with your favorite glass of wine and cut out only the coupons on products you actually use, including the Target and Walgreens flyers. A couple deals that appealed to me were:

Target coupon for Kraft shredded cheese - $1.50 off
Add the manufacturers coupon (Kraft) for .50 off ---I've just saved Two bucks.

Maxwell House International Coffee (I cannot live without my Cafe Vienna...mmm)
Target coupon $1.00 off
Add manufacturers coupon - another $1.00 off ---My $3.00/can coffee just cost me a Buck!

PetSmart - $10 off dog grooming. ---anytime I can save Ten Bucks, I'm going for it!
------------------------------------------
All in all, I saved a few dollars today on the groceries. After all, it was my first time with the whole coupon thing. I'm hoping to get soooo good that the store ends up paying ME at the checkout. :))

Valentine's Day!

I LOVE Valentine's Day!! When my daughter was little, we found this great recipe for Valentine Day cookies and it's become somewhat of a tradition. I always used the Pillsbury cookie dough, but of course, she is making her own dough from scratch. She takes after my sister when it comes to cooking, believe me! And I love it! Anyway, here is our daughter baking the Valentine cookies with her niece, Harper.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The recipe:

1 Tube Pillsbury Sugar Cookies

1 contained Pillsbury Cream Cheese frosting

red food coloring

powdered sugar

Roll out the dough, and cut with heart shaped cookie cutter and bake as directed. After they cool, frost with pink frosting which you've colored with the red food coloring. Meanwhile, using a smaller heart shaped cutter, cut out the center of each heart shaped cookie dough, and bake. After cooled, place the cut out on top of baked, frosted cookie and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Sure to be a hit! They are a very pretty Valentine cookie that can be shared with school classmates and family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please notice the Scentsy warmer behind the girls. So pretty!

Out And About

Guess who?


Once a hotel, now a Bed and Breakfast est. 1898

Lone Star Beer - see it?

I liked this building for some reason.

Okay, so today was one of those days. I had to get out and do something. Anything. We grabbed the camera and the dog and off we went. There are lots of farm roads crisscrossing small towns around here and the pictures above are from one of those towns. Old buildings and dirt roads. Very few people and hardly any traffic. Right up my alley.

We did see the two cutest baby deer though....unfortunately though, as soon as the door of the Jeep opened, they were gone. So, no picture of them. That was our lazy Sunday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BlackJack Gets His 15 Seconds

Happy Friday!

The sun is shining today! Yay! The best part is the wind is not blowing. At this RV park there are 3 of those new wind powered windmills - and today they are not spinning....at all. Woo hoo!

Here is one of the windmills from two days ago when it was whipping in the wind.

What's for dinner? I wasn't thinking this morning and didn't take anything out of the freezer. So, time to get clever. I've got some leftover chicken breast in the fridge.....add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce.....get out the crockpot. Perfect!

There are some great 'from scratch' crockpot spaghetti recipes online, so with just one minor modification, ie a jar of prego, we've got dinner.

So easy. Line the crockpot with a slow cooker liner and spray lightly with Pam.

Pour a large jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce in crockpot. We always do chicken in our spaghetti because my husband is not a huge fan of ground beef. So, chop up leftover chicken, throw it in with the sauce, set to high.....and let it cook for 3 hours. About one hour before you're ready to eat, break spaghetti noodles into the sauce, stir it often, until done.

Serve with a green salad, cooked corn and garlic bread. Enjoy!

All in the Family

This is Quincy, our daughter's Schnauzer.
With the cold weather everyone has been
having (even in Arizona) Quincy is prepared
to weather the cold. Poor baby.

And, of course, BlackJack, on his one of many perches in the RV.

Especially Made Onesies

For a closer look, you may enlarge the photo simply by clicking on the image.
These adorable onesies were made by our daughter as a gift to her cousin's new baby.
She's done several different ones in the past and will make whatever someone chooses.

In The Kitchen

There are countless uses for baking soda in the kitchen. Here are a few as it pertains to cooking:

• Out of baking powder? 1/4 tsp. baking soda plus 3/8 tsp. cream of tartar to make 1 tsp. of baking soda
• Add 1/2 tsp. baking soda for every 3 eggs to make a fluffy omelette
• Add fluff to your mashed potatoes with a pinch of baking soda during mashing
• A pinch of baking soda to any boiled sytrup will prevent crystallizing
• Avoid curdling boiling milk by adding a pinch of baking soda
• If your gravy separates, add a pinch or two of baking soda to emulsify the fat globules in seconds
• Fish for dinner? Soak fish for 1/2 hour in 2 Tbsp. bking soda and 1 quart water. Rinse before cooking. No fishy taste.
• Avoid over cooking cabbage and make it more tender by cooking it in water with a pinch of baking soda added
• Add 1 tsp. baking soda to the water when you cook cauliflower to keep the vegetable snowy white and cuts cooking odors
• Add a dash of baking soda to baked beans to eliminate gaseous side effects

Totally amazing, right? Baking soda, your new best friend.

World Market

I love World Market. I can easily spend a couple hours just browsing. They've got original items, hard to find items, gifts, specialty foods, wine, beer, spices...you name it.

Right now they've got some great specials with coupons you can print from your computer. Just click on the title of this post and you'll be directed to a site where you can get 25% off chocolates (Valentine's day in 4..3..2..) OR $10.00 off when you spend at least $30.00....I could have used that a month ago when my friend and I were in the Dallas area. I spent $36.00 that day, so I could have saved ten bucks. Hey, that's ten bucks to put towards something else, right?

worldmarket-coupons --worth the 3 minutes to print the coupon!