Sunday, August 31, 2008

Trouble Posting, New "To Us" Truck

I have to say it is really hard to post as often as I would like. I have lots of good excuses.....been working at my part time job almost 30 hours a week because one of the other ladies took some time off, too many errands to run, still trying to put stuff away, and I could go on.

Had one day off last week and Nolan needed to take a Peterbilt to Springfield to get some work done on it before he makes a trip from here to Colorado Springs and then to Maryland. While we were in Springfield I convinced him to look at the Dodge dealer for a truck. We parked the Jeep and of course a salesman attacked us. I told him what Nolan was looking for 06 with the old engine, six speed, diesel, dual wheels. He said let me see what we have....he's checking out his sheet of paper while Nolan is looking around on the lot and the salesman says I think we just got one in yesterday. We look at it and ask them to tell us how much they will give us for our Jeep. Within an hours we bought a truck. It's a 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 with the old engine, dual wheels, diesel, 6 speed, white.....just what he wanted!!!

After stopping at the credit union to get money and the papers we needed to get the license on the RV, we went back to Springfield Thursday and took the Peterbilt to another repair shop and picked up the new to us truck.

Will put pictures out here next week of the RV and the truck!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Lunch with Friends, Vacuum

Once a month a group of ladies that I worked with at various times during the 34 years I worked at Fort Leonard Wood get together for lunch. Today was the day. It's always fun to catch up on what everyone is doing and who has heard from fellow workers. I also ate too much but it sure was good!

Then it was off to Wal Mart to look at vacuums. I have a very good, almost new Electrolux canister style vacuum that I thought would work great in the RV because it would be easy to take apart and store. It is; but, the only good place to store it is under the bed. The bed is heavy and hard to lift up and it seems in this small living space, I need to vacuum more often. So, I was looking for something light weight that would be easy to get to for a quick clean up. I bought a Shark carpet cleaner. It's rechargeable like a dust buster. Of course it needed to be charged for 20 hours before I could use it. I think it looks like it might work if it will stay charged long enough and will pick up the dirt. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Lien Release, Auction

Credit Union called the seller's bank and they would not fax another copy of the lien release to them. They would only mail it and told the Credit Union it would take 7-10 days. Guess we'll be waiting another week before we get the trailer license.

Nolan's auction is this Sunday and we spent most of the day distributing auction flyers to the different small towns in the area.

Don't have to work tomorrow....maybe I'll get some more sorting done in the trailer! Wish me luck!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Still Things To Do, Work - No Truck

Well, since early last week we've been trying to get the Lien Release on the RV so that we can pay the sales tax and buy license. Just one more thing on the list of things to do and evidently one that I should have started sooner. Started out with me going to the license bureau and them telling me I needed the release (didn't have a clue that I needed that document to get the license). Called the Credit Union to see if they had it and they took 2 days looking for it only to tell us that they did not have it. Called the previous owner who faxed me a copy of the letter from his bank saying that the loan was paid in full. Went to the license bureau but that document would not work.....it has to be notorized from the bank. Called the previous owner again....he then called back to say his bank would not release the document to either me or him that if my Credit Union did not have it they would have to ask for another copy (they claimed they had sent the original document to them already) and then I would have to get it from my Credit Union. Credit Union was closed by the time I found this out today so I guess I'll work on it some more tomorrow.........

And, since I've been having to work so much at my part time job, we have not had time to look for a truck yet. I'm getting anxious to start out this new adventure!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Worked, St Louis Longaberger Trip

At the last minute, the convenience store called and wanted me to work from 8:00 to 2:00. Not what I really wanted to do but I went anyway. Came home and got ready to leave for St Louis for a Longaberger meeting where Tammy Longaberger would be attending. Tammy is the President of the the Longaberger company. Was a long meeting and not very informative for such a long trip. Was fun to see friends and had a good time. Didn't get home until midnight, not so fun!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Black Tank, Swimming, Nolan Returns

Well, I opened the black tank valve and it sounded like everything came out OK but I then drained the sink tank to make sure. Everything seemed to be OK and the monitor said the tanks were empty. Not so hard. Cain and I decided we would go to the creek and play in the water. We took the dogs and had a great time. Just before we left Nolan called and he was about 45 minutes away from home. When we returned from swimming, he was home and I sure was glad!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Shopping, Exercise Pen

School starts Thursday so my nephew (Cain) will only be with us during the day till then; however, today, Cara came to stay with us because the Day Care staff was having some kind of meeting. So, we all took off for town to pay the sales tax on the trailer and do a little shopping. First stop was the license bureau. I'm convinced that the people in those offices sit around when they are not busy and think of ways to make the lives of the people coming in to do business as difficult as possible. Needless to say, they got me. No license today. Have to have a lien release from the seller's finance company before I can get the license. Tried to call the seller cause I thought maybe he could fax it to me at the license bureau but did not have his phone number with me. So, we were off to eat lunch and go shopping. Went to the kids favorite place....Pizza Hut. Then to Wal Mart and of course we couldn't get out of Wal Mart with out some toys that I'm sure they didn't need but we had a good time. Came home to the trailer and they played with the toys the rest of the afternoon.

Ordered two exercise pens for the dogs so that they can spend some time outside without me constantly watching them. They were delivered by UPS today. Very easy to set up and I think they will help let them out for a little bit longer and relieve me from constantly being out with them. We'll see. I'll take a picture when I use it.

Talked to Nolan around 7:00 p.m. and he was in Witchita, KS. He didn't get to leave Colorado until 2:00 p.m. Guess he won't be home till late afternoon tomorrow. Sure wish he was back.....I'm going to have to empty the black tank by myself....wish me luck!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

I'm Back!

Wow! What an experience!

We closed on July 15 as planned and started the moving out process immediately on July 16. 5th Wheel was delivered by it's previous owner on July 17 and we started moving stuff in. We started the yard sale on Friday, July 18, and ran it through Sunday. Got rid of lots of stuff and got everything in our 2700 square foot house sorted and dished out or sold. Was the hardest thing I've had to do physically for quite some time. It was terribly hot and humid the whole time we were moving and terribly exhausting!!!! Managed to get everything that I wanted to keep down to about 7 RubberMaid containers and 4 boxes that either my daughter or my niece are storing for me. We're still not completely done. Nolan had several guns and tools that he thought would sell better at an auction that we have scheduled for Aug 24. I couldn't talk him into keeping very much even though he's not so excited about the whole deal. He originally kept saying I kept too much "stuff" for the trailer but now that it's all stored away and I still have room left, he's not saying anything.

Boy, I sure went throught some ups and downs and frankly still not sure I made the right decision. For me, I'm sure but I'm afraid that I've pushed Nolan into something he's not going to enjoy. Although he kept telling me that if we sold the house, we could travel, I'm not sure he really meant it. Oh well, it's done now so I guess we'll see!

We were out of the house by Jul 22 and I put stuff away until I left for the Longaberger Bee (Convention) on Jul 29. Had a great time but I was already exhausted and that trip is always tiring even when you start out in good shape. Returned home on Aug 2 and then Nolan left to make a trip to Colorado to haul equipment back for a friend on Aug 6. He should be back Tuesday, Aug 12. However, then my plan is to find an assisted living facility for my grandmother to move to before we get serious about going somewhere. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we installed hookups in my sister's back yard and that's where our new home is parked! We'll stay here until we get my grandmother settled and find a truck.....yeah, we still haven't had time to look for a truck yet. I guess since we aren't going anywhere, it's not such a big deal right now.

Now for a little about the RV experience. Like I said previously, Nolan is not thrilled about this new life and the changes required to exist....like emptying the tanks, fusing with the LP gas tanks, a severe wind storm that felt like we were going to blow over, getting the ACs adjusted right, hot water heater problems, phone jack problems, DishNetwork installation, and lighting the oven......all these things were major events in our past 3 weeks of existence!!!

Hopefully, I can post more regularly now