New Sofa and Selling STUFF

We are so excited to announce the new sofa came today. The store called us to pick it up. Dawn had the utility trailer hooked up to the truck when I got home. We drove to Garland and picked up the sofa. Dawn is worried that we won’t be able to get it into the trailer. I told her “where there is a will, there is a way”! We had to put the sofa in the house for now because the trailer is in the garage. Maybe this weekend we can pull the trailer out and put the sofa in.

Again, Dawn, said she loves the new sofa, and she really hopes we can get it in the trailer!!! I just keep telling her, No Worries! If it won’t fit through the door, I’ll just cut a hole in the roof!!! That's not what she wanted to hear. I feel pretty confident it will fit through the door. Maybe I’ll just cut the sofa in half!! I don’t know why she worries so much!? Just kidding! I wouldn’t cut a hole in the roof or cut the sofa in half. It’ll work out fine.

We had a lot of calls and emails from our craigslist ads yesterday. Within the first hour we sold one of the large curio cabinets and the lady said she might take the other too. Wow, that was fast! We have a lot more we can place ads for. We have decided to only place a few items at a time to keep the amount of calls down. We have added photos and measurements with each item and we think that helps to sell things faster.

We are making more progress!!!!!!!

Boring Weekend

This weekend we did some odd and in things around the house. I spent some time scraping the ceiling in the spare bedroom. I didn’t get finished but I did half of it scraped. Took some pictures of some furniture we are going to place of craigslist.

We trimmed Abbey our little Shih Tzu. She hates to be trimmed but it is one of those things that have to be done. She loves to run with the boys outside and get all dirty but like any other kid she doesn’t want to get a bath or a hair cut!

We did the usual weekend stuff such as laundry and grocery store run. We tried to mow the yard but the belt on the mower is broken. I will miss mowing. It is relaxing to hop on the mower and mow our two acres. The weed trimming, I will not miss. What, am I talking about! I don’t really trim. Dawn does the trimming because she has a nice gas powered trimmer. My back just doesn’t allow me to do the trimming thing. The yard really doesn’t need to be mowed anyway. It has been so hot here the grass is just about dead. Somehow the weeds seem to be surviving the heat just fine.

This is our almost dead back yard

The weather is starting to cool down some. This is really great news for us. We have so many things to do outside and have been waiting for some cooler weather.

Anyway, I placed some ads on craigslist and an hour later the calls started for two of the three curio cabinets we have listed. If these people come through, we will have them sold and out of here tomorrow!

Greetings Followers

We were surprised when we noticed we had 32 followers. We didn't think anyone really read our blog. We don't really have anything interesting to post yet. At this point we are just keeping a journal of our efforts to prepare for our big move. All humdrum stuff!

We are ecstatic to know there are fellow bloggers out there that are following our journey. We promise that our post will get much more interesting in the near future.

As you can see by our list of interesting blogs, we follow a lot of fellow RV bloggers. Reading those blogs has really educated us to what our RV future might entail. We have also made some new friends along the way. We have had a lot questions answered and at times, have received much needed encouragement.

We see our fellow RV bloggers as expedition leaders. As they post about their RV life-style and their exploring, they are providing us with very useful information. Reading your posts has been the best education for us. We have read about great places to stay, sights to see, workamping, technical advice, the list goes on and on. We can only hope that one day our postings will inspire and educate as well.

Even though we are not on the road yet, we sense we are a part of a great community. We would like to say “Howdy” to all our followers and “Thanks” to all the bloggers we follow.

New Kitchen Sink and Faucet

We need to pull the trailer out and install our new kitchen sink and faucet. We currently have a stainless steel sink that is a bowl and a half. We are not sure what purpose the half bowl serves. It is way too small to be of any use to us. We found a great deal at Lowes, a double bowl stainless steel kitchen sink for seventeen dollars. That is a real bargain. We will have to cut into our counter top since this one is larger than our exisiting sink. 

Dawn wanted a veggie sprayer too. We found a kitchen faucet on sale for eighty-eight dollars. It is a Price Pfister brand and it happens to be a brushed nickel finish which is the finish we have on all our other fixtures in the fifth wheel.

Good thing I have friends in the plumbing business, I might need a little help installing this. But I will give it my best shot before I make a call for help!

We spent the evening packing up the crystal that is in two large glass curio cabinets. When I say large, I mean they are approximately three foot wide and six foot tall. We have two of them that sit side by side. They are full of crystal that Dawn plans on keeping.


We are going to sell the curio cabinets so we decided to pack the crystal now. When we were finished, we had ten boxes of packed crystal. Wow, glad that is over. It is nerve wracking trying to get that stuff wrapped and finding boxes it will fit into snuggly.

We finally are getting a break in the weather and it has cooled down to ninety-seven degrees. It is cloudy and we did get a small amount of rain. Maybe we will see some cooler weather so we can get back to having our weekend garage sales. The garage is busting at the sems with STUFF that needs to be sold.

New Sofa

We bought a new sofa for the fifth wheel. We found one at World Market that we both really loved and it is very comfortable. It is just what we have been looking for and it was also on sale! Not only was it on sale but we also have a 10% off coupon!

The store was sold out of spice color we wanted so they have ordered it for us. We were told it would be in within the next ten days. We can't wait to get it and put it in the fifth wheel.

Here is a picture of the sofa in the color we ordered.

It is reversible. That gives us the option of placing the lounger on either end of the sofa. The back is low enough that it won't block the window like the recliners do. It will sure make the fifth wheel feel more like home. We will post pictures when we get it in the fifth wheel.

The Wedding

We had a wedding on Sunday and we were busy. The wedding was beautiful and the newlyweds are now off on their honeymoon. They went to Playa del Car.


I have taken over a thousand pictures for this wedding all together. It takes time to go through them and weed out the closed eyes and all those that don’t look so good.

Here are a few.

Angel

At the chapel

Angel

Angel

Tired of the Heat

Too HOT! The temperatures here in the Dallas, Texas area has been ridiculously hot for the past three weeks. We have had record heat. The temperature has been in the one-hundred plus for seventeen days in a row. It is too hot to do anything outside and it's almost too hot to do anything inside either. We heard of the news that there have been eight heat related deaths in Dallas this summer.

From what we have heard there is no escaping it, this heat is everywhere right now.

We haven't been doing our usual sorting and packing because of some other things we have to tend to right now. I have been spending all of my spare time reviewing and preparing my nieces bridal potriats. The wedding is Sunday and I will spend a week reviewing and preparing the wedding photos. Once that is done we can get back on track. We are really hoping this heat will find it's way out of here so we can get back to our part time jobs in the garage sale business! Our garage is once again busting at the sems.

Tailgate Installed

We were busy on Saturday so we had to wait until Sunday evening to install the new tailgate. It took longer to remove the old tailgate then to install the new one.

Wow! it looks good and I am very proud of the good deal we got!

Internet Down / New Tailgate

It has been terrible! Our Internet has been down and we are having serious withdraws!!!

It seems to be working fine this morning.

We had a busy weekend. We had lots of errands to run on Saturday morning and I had a family gathering that evening.

We happened on a wonderful prize while out running errands. We decided to stop by Camper Capital in Garland since we were in the area. We strolled through the store just window shopping and ran across a hose fitting we needed. Big six dollar purchase! As we were paying for a big purchase, we struck up a conversation with the manager. Dawn asked what the turn around time was on the tailgate orders. We know we will need an airflow tailgate and needed to know how long it would take to ship. The manager told us it usually takes a couple of days at most. The tailgate we want cost about four hundred dollars and we just couldn't afford to get it right now.

He asked what year the truck was and then asked if we could wait a minute while he checked something out. I few minutes later he returned. He said he had a 2004 Airflow tailgate that had been order last year and the customer never came to get it. He said he would sell it to us for the cost of the lowest price tailgate in the catalog. We looked it up in the catalog and was surprised to see one hundred and seventy-eight dollars. Wow! we'll take it.

He went back to the storage room and came back with a box that had about an inch of dirt on it. He told us he wouldn't be charging us any thing extra for the dirt!!

We were in the Saturn so we removed the tailgate from the box, laid down the back seats of the car and placed it in the trunk. Wow! I am so excited. What a deal!

Bridal Portraits

On Wednesday afternoon we picked up my mom and drove to Fort Worth to meet my niece for her bridal portraits. I am always a little nervous about taking pictures for something as important as this. The fact that she is depending on me to take her wedding pictures is a little nerve wracking!


I am testing out a new camera, Nikon D80 to see how it does and I barrowed a friends flash. That too made me nervous. The flash is expense and I didn't want to break it.

Anyway, we arrived at the chapel which is absolutely beautiful. It is the Marty Leonard Community Chapel in Fort Worth. It is located at the Lena Pope Home. We only had an hour for our photo session so we rushed in and helped my niece get into her wedding gown. She looks stunning by the way.

I took over four hundred pictures. We did manage to get a few outside but it was too hot to get too many.

I couldn't wait to get home and download the pictures on the computer. I placed the memory card in the card reader and waited for the pictures to download. No pictures to download! OMG! I was on the verge of tears. What could have happened? Did I push a wrong button? This cannot be happening!

I sat looking at the computer with my mind running in circles wondering what on earth was I going to do. I was nearly in tears and my heart was racing.

I got up and walked around the room to clear my mind, fixed myself a Pepsi and sat back down at the computer.

I decided to hook my camera directly to the computer instead of using my card reader and thank goodness I did, the pictures began to download!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! I took a deep breath and started to review the pictures. I must say they look pretty good. I think my niece will be happy with the results.

Ceiling Scraping

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we loaded a few more boxes, cleaned house and did some laundry. We also ran errands.

Sunday we took a friend out for her birthday. We ate at our favorite local seafood restaurant and stuffed ourselves with crab legs. Wow, It sure was good!

We decided awhile back that we needed to remove the popcorn texture from the ceilings. We only have two bedrooms and a bathroom that have it. Those rooms were not a part of the remodel. We understand that no one likes that type of texture anymore. We don’t either!

We know that it is another one of those things on out to-do list that has to be done before we place the house on the market.

When we got home Sunday afternoon I decided I was up to the task, I changed my clothes and scrapped the popcorn texture from my bedroom ceiling. Where do I get these hare-brained ideas? It wasn’t that bad; I sprayed a little vinegar and water solution on it and scraped it off. It took me a few hours to scrap the ceiling and a few more to clean up the mess. What a difference that makes! That type of texture makes the ceilings appear shorter. I guess it is because the ceiling looks so heavy with all that texture on it.

It will sure be a lot easier to paint now. Anyway, I will rest up and take on the other bedroom and bathroom later in the week. I need to let my arms and shoulders recover first!

China Packed and Stored

We are doing great! We finished packing and storing all the china. That may not seem like much to some but, when you consider we have two sets of china with service for twenty. That means each set of china has at least twenty plates, twenty salad plates, twenty dessert plates, twenty bowls, twenty cups, twenty saucers, many platers, many serving bowls and salt and pepper shakers. One set even has matching stemware! So now you get the picture on way this is such a big accomplishment!

Now that chore is done we can move onto the next of several hundred on our list of to-do's. We already have boxes to we can use for packing the crystal. We have some crystal too. We will be looking for more boxes before we have that packed up!

It has been a real chore for Dawn with making the decisions on what to keep and what to get rid of. She has a lot of memories attached to this STUFF. She has done well and I know it is not easy for her.

Blog Comment Problem

We just want to let everyone know how much we love getting comments on our post. We read each one and click Publish. However, we have found that they all don't make it to the comment section of our blog.

We are not sure what the problem seems to be.

Please don't be offended if you posted a comment on our blog and notice that it doesn't show up. We published them but some seem to disappear after we click on Publish.

Maybe they are just wondering around in blog outer space!

Thanks again for all your comments 

On a Roll

We are on a roll. We visited our local Lowe's Hardware yesterday and low and behold they were stocking. That means they had a lot of small boxes that were heading for the compactor. I asked if we could have some of the boxes and they told us to help ourselves. We did! We had a buggy full of small boxes in no time. This is very exciting for me. We now have small boxes to pack expensive china in.

Dawn has decided she wants to keep both sets of her mother's china. We want to pack the china in small boxes and then place the small boxes into plastic totes. This is a preventive way to keep down the possibility of damaging the china when it's moved.

As soon as we got home we started packing the china in the small boxes. The small boxes really worked out great. The boxes are not to heavy and we stuffed them full of shredded paper. We now have all the china boxed and put into our make shift storage area. We are currently using a spare walk-in closet as a storage room.

As soon as my son moves his STUFF out we will be using that bedroom for a storage area too. It is the smallest of the three bedroom. We want to make sure that everything we are keeping will fit into an area no larger than 10x12. We think we can stack it to the ceiling!!!!!

Day Dreaming

We are so addicted to RV blogs, We just can't get enough. We are checking every couple of hours for new postings. We get so excited when there is a new post waiting to be read. Just like a kids in a candy store!

We click on the latest title and read what others are doing out there in the fulltiming world. Where they are today, what they are seeing, what life lesson have been learned.

When a post includes pictures it raises the excitement level even more. We will sit in front of the computer and admire the pictures and imagine we are there. Enjoying the mountain air, playing in the water at the beach, sharing a meal with friends, strolling through unique shops, hiking in the woods, admiring historic buildings, staying in different areas and exploring new places.

We are so envious of all those who are already fulltimers. 

Thanks, It is your postings that keeps us moving towards our goal of becoming fulltimers. We will someday be posting about our lives as fulltimers too.

Purging

Now we are getting serious! Our house is a danger zone right now, but that is a sign of progress. We have pulled out boxes that are now setting all over the dinning room. We have been very busy sorting and throwing out. We are doing some serious purging!

We are removing pictures from the walls and boxing up the odds and ins we are keeping. My hobby is photography and we have some of my photos framed and hanging on the walls throughout the house. I have decided to ask my family if they want any of the photos. What they don't want I will put in the garage sale.

We have stacks of LP record albums. I'm not sure if we can sell them or not. We laugh as we see things that remind us of our childhood. We found an eight-track tape. Not sure whats on it cause the label was so faded. We have found lots of cassette tapes too.

I discovered a few more boxes of family pictures, jewelery and recipes. Dawn's job is to sort through all this during the day while I am at work. Her mother had a lot of costume jewelery. We have decided we will take some of the questionable jewelery to a local jewelery store to see if it worth anything. We are trying to find out if any of it is real gold. Dawn loves to cook and so did her mother, so we have tons of recipes. Dawn has gone through boxes of pictures with people she didn't recognize. I think we will be taking a load to the dumpster this week!

We are planning another garage sale as soon as the weather cools down. This garage sale will have a lot of new merchandise. That should make our regular customer happy!