Geocaching

Waiting is not always easy. You would think Mike and I would be getting better at it but it seems we are indeed getting worse. I know everyone that has ever had their house on the market understands our pain. You keep the house totally clean EVERYDAY! Now I am a good housekeeper, always have been, but this is getting ridiculous. We had not had anybody looking for the past few days so I decided to take some time off. Well, as luck would have it, I got a call today that somebody wanted to see the house this afternoon around 4:00. Note I said around 4:00, that could be anywhere from 3:30 to 5:00 on a bad day. On a good day it means around 4:00. So I got the house in its "show" mode, grabbed our Shih Tzus and headed out for our road trip. They are getting to the point that they know the signs of an upcoming road trip. They are the only ones having any fun with this selling process. The folks came around 4:30 and stayed approximately 15 minutes. Wow, all that work for 15 minutes! One day it will all pay off, at least that is what I keep telling myself!!

With that said, Mike and I decided to look into Geocaching. This is a huge, fun, phenomenon that many fulltimers are involved in as they travel. I went to http://www.geocaching.com/ to see what it was all about. The more I read the more hooked I got. I signed up for a free account and found out that there are many caches hidden in the area around where we currently live and many in Pine Mountain, where we did our hosting last summer. There are not many tools necessary for geocaching but one item that is needed is a hand held GPS. After doing some reading on the subject I discovered that you don't need to purchase the most expensive GPS available for this hobby. We have found the Garmin eTrex Legend might be the one to meet our needs. The GPS should have the following features: basemap, 12 parallel channels to help acquire satellite signals faster , the usual antenna jack, interface jack, memory, power source that can support external power, rocker keypad or touchscreen and most newer GPS devices have functionality specifically created for geocaching. In addition, it was noted that sooner or later you would be glad you purchased a GPS that was waterproof. There are many good GPS devices suited for outdoor use, such as geocaching, but we like the Garmin eTrex Legend and the cost is in the mid range. Once we have purchased the GPS we will begin our first search. We are excited and should be able to purchase the GPS this weekend.

It sure beats cleaning and waiting for that 15 minutes of glory and besides getting outside and smelling the fresh air has to be better than the usual Pine Sol and Scrubbing Bubbles.

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

Ok, generally we are very rational people but after all these months on the market we are getting a little desperate. The other day I found a site on the computer explaining all about St. Joseph and the belief, by many, that he has helped them in the sell of their home. The legend says that St. Joseph is honored as the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus. He represents a humble family man who worked as a carpenter and is considered the patron saint of home, family and more recently house-hunting (or in our case, house selling). Popular belief holds that people wishing to enlist St. Joseph's help in selling a house should bury his replica upside-down, facing away from the house about three feet from the "for sale" sign. After the statue is buried you say a sellers meditation and then wait for a buyer for your house. Well it seemed harmless enough so I bought one. Sunday afternoon Mike and I buried our replica of St. Joseph, said our little meditation and now we wait for that perfect family to fall in love with our home.


















Of course, some people are VERY skeptical!!!

We will let you know how it goes - you just never know!!

Essential Advice for Life!!

FOX HUNT

WHEN YOU ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE, LOOK STRAIGHT AHEAD, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT and SAY NOTHING.

Hot Chocolate

A friend sent this to me the other day and I thought I would share it with my fulltime friends because of all the people I know you understand and know how to enjoy the hot chocolate!


A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:"Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups are taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive, and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups."Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of the life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate that God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate.


I am so thankful that Mike and I have found a lifestyle that enables us to enjoy our hot chocolate. I hope you enjoy your hot chocolate also!!!

Where Have We Been? And a little Amazing Grace

Well we are still alive and well and still living in our sticks and bricks. You know the old saying about washing the car and it is sure to rain? Well leave it to Mike and I to list our house and the market totally bottoms out. I am sure the realtors of America hate us! LOL. We actually decided to take the house off the market during the winter months and let it "rest" and now we are back at it. This doesn't mean the market is much better it just means we needed some time off and now we are more energized. Don't you just love the selling mode? Everything has to be just perfect so you feel like you can't just relax and live in your house. Oh well, it is part of the process and a step we must take.

Now about the Amazing Grace thing. Our son Stephen graduated from LaGrange College May 17th. Now I know a lot of young people graduated from college this past spring. For us however, this day almost never happened. About three years ago our son made some really terrible decisions concerning his life. Decisions that impacted him as well as us, his parents. I will spare you the details but his life was going in the direction of literal death or figurative death. Neither sounds too great. We almost lost him. Our family experienced the hell of drugs and the impact that they have on all people involved, not just the user. We learned the true meaning of "tough love" and love was the one thing this evil could not destroy. He finally decided he wanted to live and returned to college. Now there is so much more to this story but I will spare you the long version.

So there we sit among all those other parents and friends on the lawn of LaGrange College. That is when we heard the bagpipes playing Amazing Grace. The bagpipes led the processional. They were impressive but not nearly as impressive as that one college student dressed in cap and gown walking to his seat. When his named was called and he walked across that stage to receive his degree I could only think of the journey he had taken to be there. The grace that was sufficient. It was indeed Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found - Was blind, but now I see.

Thro' many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.


If anyone reading this ever needs someone to just talk to please know that we are here for you. I only told the very short version of this story there is a much longer version that only someone going through the impact of drugs in a family can understand. We understand your pain and fear. We've been there. Feel free to e-mail us privately and we'll talk or just listen.

Yes, We Still Exist and Have Been Tagged!!

We honestly haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Our RV friend, Jo Wishnie, contacted us to see if we still exist and then to "tag" us. More on that later. Yes, we do still exist, LOL! Our house still has not sold so we are still in the waiting zone. The market is really soft and most people looking to buy want to offer a very low price thinking you MUST sell. We have decided that economically it is worth the wait. Our home is very nice and it is where our "life" is at this moment in time. We have wonderful friends and a great church so all is not negative. When the time is right things will happen. We just have to be patient. That is the hardest part. I really think we must be content in whatever circumstances we happen to be in at the moment. If not, you drive yourself crazy and you aren't really "living" anywhere and when those days pass they are gone forever. So those of you that are waiting to fulltime, make the most of your time wherever you happen to be. We have decided that there is so much we haven't seen in Georgia we plan to do short trips and explore our state when the weather gets warmer.

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! It is hard to believe it is 2008 already! This is the year that our son, Stephen, will graduate from LaGrange College. He has done a great job while a student there bringing his GPA back from a nose dive to a wonderful 3.25. We are so proud of him and all that he has accomplished. What an inspiring story!

Well it seems we have been "tagged" by the Wishnies. I am going to copy and paste the rules for the game and then I get the awesome job of tagging some people.

Here's how it works: First the Rules: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Share the 5 top places on your "want to see or want to see again" list. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5 Random and/or Weird Facts:

1. I love my birds. I have over 25 feeders in my yard and love watching the many different
birds that come to feed each day. I like to take pictures of them whenever I can.
2. Mike once catered for Bob Hope. It was his 82nd birthday and Mike was there!! Mike is a
very good cook and has done extensive catering in the area where we live. Of course, he is
in management now so he doesn't get to cook except at home!!!!
3. We have been campground host at FDR State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia two times and
haven't even begun to fulltime yet. Weren't we lucky?
4. I am a retired teacher of 35 years. I taught every grade from Pre-K to 5th and loved every
one of them. I miss the kids but not the other "stuff" since I retired. This is my first year
retired.
5. Mike and I met on a blind date and because he was in the food service I thought he would
look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Boy was I wrong!! We have been married 25 years as of
November 27th.

5 Top Places We Want to See or See Again:

1. Our dream trip is to Alaska. We have no idea when we will get there but one day, Lord
willing, we will travel through Alaska.
2. We dream of returning to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We especially want to return
to Crazy Horse Memorial. Mike's mom and dad took us on a trip out west many years ago
and this area was so special to all of us.
3. I dream of visiting the Grand Canyon and then seeing the Pueblo architecture.
4. Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands National Park.
5. New England states
There are so many wonderful places it is soooo hard to just pick 5. I want to see it all.

I would like to tag Darrell and Judy Patterson, http://www.wanderingamerica.com/ because they are
such great folks. They have been fulltiming for 2 years and have been so helpful in answering
many of our questions. We feel like we have known them for a long time.

I would also like to tag Lee Ann and Larry of www.mytripjournal.com/leelare. They are great folks also and so helpful in answering our questions. They started fulltiming in 2006.

Another couple we have grown to know a little better are Gary and Vicki of www.mytripjournal.com/werewinginit. They are originally from Springfield, Tennessee which is a little north of Nashville which is where Mike grew up. They have just bought a brand new Phaeton and are waiting for delivery! Congratulations guys!!

Another great inspiration to Mike and I is a lady who calls herself Froggi Donna! You can meet her at http://lilypad.froggilady.com/. She is a single fulltimer and is having the time of her life. Her story is a great inspiration to so many people and what a "bubbly" personality she has!! A great person to know and call an RV friend.

Last, but certainly not least, is a couple we started following when they were on their Alaska trip. Jackie and Tony Albasini can be visited at www.mytripjournal.com/AlbasiniRVAdventure. They have been fulltiming since 2006 and are such fun to follow in their journal. They also did a great job writing about their adventures in Alaska. This was a great read and such inspiration to visit this wonderful place.

Ok, now I am finished! It really wasn't so bad after all. I agree with Jo, it was actually quite fun.
Have fun and I look forward to reading about the folks I tagged.

Until next time, take care!