Reflecting on 2008

2008 has been a rocky year for us...decisions were made and then modified. Then changed completely. I guess that is life.

The first part of 2008 was pretty normal. We went to work and then home with no idea that in a few short months our whole way of life will be changing.

January, February, and March brought on health issues that needed to be corrected. I was in the hospital in January with a kidney stone...the most excruciating pain that I can remember. March found Mac having growths on his vocal chords removed...they were benign thank goodness.

We had already started reading the RV-Dreams website and it got our urge for the possibility of fulltimimg started. We have a 29' travel trailer that we use to go to the lake and to the races, but we were intrigued by what Howard & Linda were doing and wanted and so our search for a new RV started. So, in January and February we started our search for the perfect RV for us. We thought we wanted a 5th wheel so that is what we looked at first. We went to RV show's in Wichita KS and 2 different RV shows in Kansas City. We looked at a motorhome and then we stumbled...do we really want a 5th wheel, or a motorhome. So we started looking exclusively at motorhomes for awhile. Our thinking was that we could tow a jeep with us, but I never really saw one that made me say "This one is for us". So we decided to look at 5th wheels again...

April, May and June passed pretty quickly. Work and beginning to sort through things to downsize. I sold some of my collections on ebay. Wow, I forgot how much some of things are worth. We spent Memorial weekend going to our granddaughter, Britny's state softball tournament. They lost the first game. We had taken our TT to the lake for the weekend, so they came and spent the rest of the weekend with us. Wow was that crowded, 4 adults and 6 children ranging in ages from 1 year to 18. Also, we continued looking at 5th wheels and think we have it narrowed down to the one we want.

July, August, and September found us still working on the house. We went to Ulysses for the 4th of July weekend to see Mac's sister and family. Also, Dana and family were there and also Chris and Dusty, We had a great visit. Our granddaughter, Ashley and greatgrandaughter, Jaelynn came home with us for a couple of weeks. In August our daughter, Christie was having to have surgery so we went to Amarillo TX to be with her and our son-in-law, Dusty. We spent a week with them and Chris was improving when we came home. Thanks to all our RV-Dreams chatters for all their prayers for Chris. It meant so much to us. September Mac was working as an Environmental Inspector for a construction job where he works. We were supposed to go to the races at Kansas Speedway but he had to work. We did go up on Friday night to see Mac's sister and brother-in-law..We had a great visit.

October, November, and December we were in a serious shopping mode to find the perfect 5th wheel for us. We have pretty much decided on a Landmark Augusta by Heartland. We love the floorplan and the quality looks great. We joined Escapees Club and got our Texas address so that when we go fulltime we can use their mail forwarding service. Mac will be retiring December 31st so we are trying to get things done. I will continue to work for a while as Mac will be returning to work as an Environmental Inspector for some pipeline construction jobs.

On December 5th, we made the plunge and ordered a 2010 Landmark Augusta. Our dealer, Daryl from Chetopa RV was in Louisville at the National RV Show and called us to tell us of some of the new changes that were being made for the 2010 model. Also, we could get a $1000.00 discount if ordered that day...so we did. They sent us text messages off and on all day with photos and photos of the new full body paint scheme, and we loved it.

December 22nd, our anniversary, we bought a new to us truck to tow the Augusta. It is a 2005 Ford Crewcab, 4X4. We love it.

And, as everyone knows, Christmas at our house was an experience that we do not want a repeat performance of. Dinner was destroyed. I was trying to recoup from toe surgery and trying to do too much...enough said about that.

On this last day of December 2008, we are lucky that we are still young enough to enjoy our life, our kids and grandkids. That is one thing that we are looking forward to...spending more time with our kids and grandkids in the next few years.

We would like to wish all our family and friends near and far, a Very Happy New Year!

We can't wait to get this next year started so that we can get on with this next stage of our life.

To our RV-Dreams family... we love you just like family and can't wait to see you in Kerrville in March!

Lots of Love,

Mac & Netters

Back to work tomorrow...at least one of us.

This is the last day of the Christmas vacation and I will be back at work tomorrow. Even with my bad luck on Christmas day and problems with my foot, this vacation sure seems like it went by fast.

I will be going in to work on Monday, and leaving at 2:15 to go to the Doctor. I will go back to the office after that until 5pm.  Tuesday is usually my day off but  I am working until 2:00 and then have a dentist appointment that will last at least 2 hours. Trying to get all these in before the end of the year. Then we will be off on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for the New Years holiday...seems like we have been off more than working the last couple of weeks.

Work has been slow the last couple of months, but we still received a Christmas bonus. I was very surprised since I knew things had been slow. I know that our boss appreciates everything that we do, so was very thankful for the bonus. He is such a nice man and very easy to work for. He told me when I went to work for him that nothing is more important than family. He said "I would not expect anymore from you that I expect from myself..and family is more important than this job". He has been very good to let me and the other lady that works there off when we have doctors appointments or if there are illness in our family. There are very very few employers that even care if you have a family, much less tell you that family is more important. And he even pays us for the time off...Great guy!

Well,we need to get back on track and get started again on doing things in the house. Mac is still limited to lifting so we won't be moving anything but we can still keep sorting and boxing things up.

There has been a lot of thing happen in 2008, and will try to give a brief description of those in the next post.

That is about all I have for today..

Life is a journey...enjoy it!

Christmas Dinner Disaster

I spent most of the day today getting things ready for a late afternoon dinner.

Mac went and picked up our grandson, Jordan so that he could spend the day with us. He is living in Lawrence, Ks. Our granddaughter, Natalie will be coming over this afternoon for a while also. Mac is going over to pick my mom up, and Jenni will be bringing my brother, Jerry home from the assisted living facility where he lives in Ottawa, Ks.  She works in the Long Term Care Facility which is next door and in the same complex.

Things were going great, except for the fact that I was spending way too much time on my foot today. I got the desserts made, the rolls raising, and everything ready to make the mashed potatoes and gravy. I had cooked the turkey yesterday, so Mac got it out of the fridge and I put it in the oven to warm a little so that he could slice and take the meat off the bone....everything falling right into place...

About 1:00 I put the stuffing and the broccoli/rice/cheese casserole into the oven to warm up. Everyone's here and lots of talking going on....still on my feet and starting to throb a lot now.

About 2:00 took the stuffing and broccoli casserole out of oven and set it on top of the stove while I finish the gravy and mash the potatoes. Put the hot rolls into the oven...get everything set out so that we can get ready to serve ourselves... everything going great...and then disaster strikes...the glass baking pan that I had made the stuffing in explodes on top of the stove and all over the counter...yea, where all the food is setting out buffet style. Glass is everywhere!! That just does it for me..I am hurting like h*ll and now my whole dinner is ruined...time to cry...

Mac steps in and soothes my emotions saying that the turkey is covered and that the desserts are ok. The mashed potatoes and broccoli just need to have the top layers scooped off just to be safe. Of course by now I am devastated, my mom & family are here for dinner and I'm afraid to feed most of it to them. One turkey can't be served because we can't tell if any glass got into the pan(it was a clear glass pan that exploded).

Anyhow, we salvaged enough to serve dinner but by then I couldn't eat. I was short tempered and snapped at my daughter because she wasn't helping me get things done..and I am still on my feet...hurting and really throbbing now..pain pill time. I suppose I owe her an apology tomorrow.

We exchanged gifts and I guess everyone liked what we gave them. Mom gave us a gift card and we will use it for stuff for the new 5er.

Mac took mom home and then came back to take Jordan to Lawrence. He had to be home by 7pm. Jerry rode with him and Mac will drop him off at Village West in Ottawa on his way back through coming home.

I took a pain pill and plopped my butt in the recliner to crash after today's disaster...I will NOT be cooking Christmas dinner next year!

Christie called and wished us a Merry Christmas. We chatted for a while and I told her what happened. Just talking to her calmed me down some.

Hopefully all our family and friends' Christmas Day went much better than ours...We are still so blessed with a great family and wonderful friends.

Merry Christmas & a Very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas...

Life is a journey...let's enjoy it

New Augusta Paint & Truck

Well I saw a photo of the new full body paint scheme on the Heartland Owners forum tonight and it was posted by the Landmark and Bighorn Product Manager so I guess if they can show it, so can I. Here are a couple of photos showing the new paint scheme. Awesome!! This model is the Oakmont, not the Augusta, but with the same pait scheme.

It is Gray, Silver and Burgundy, with a little white around the burgundy swirls. We are so anxious to get it.

We did buy a (new to us) truck today. It is a 2005 Ford crew cab Diesel with a short bed. It looked dark stone gray at the lot, but when Mac went and got it today it looks like a dark brown stone..so hope it looks ok with the 5er. It already has the tow brake system built into the dash and the bed has the spray liner in it. It also has the receiver for the 5th wheel hitch...all decked out with options like auto start, seat warmers..and more. ...WoooHooo!!

I guess we are all set, if our 5er ever gets here...lol

Well I am having some minor toe surgery tomorrow. They are removing my toenail from my big toe on the right foot...ouch! I have to be off my feet for 3 days, so I did some of my Christmas cooking tonight while on chat...multi-tasking. We ordered a roasted turkey and spiced apples and pumpkin pie so I only have to make the stuffing, potatoes, gravy and broccoli/rice/cheese casserole and one more low sugar dessert. Going to try to make part of that in the morning before going to the hospital.

Mac has a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon in Olathe after he gets me home and settled in. This one is for the Ear Nose and Throat doctor for the surgery he had last week on his vocal chords. He is also going to check with his other surgeon about getting an appointment for a follow-up from his hernia repair surgery. He has been having some trouble recuperating from that surgery and has quite a bit more pain than he thought he would. so we will see what they have to say.

Well, if we don't see or talk to you before....Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Mac is recuperating and Christmas

Mac is recuperating, but slower than we thought it was going to be. He has been in quite a bit of pain. I tried to tell him that he would have a lot of pain with abdominal surgery. Every time the doctor touches any organ, it bruises it. He says that he feels full all the time and I don't think that is normal. He is supposed to call his doctor tomorrow to make an appointment and to ask about that.

I will be having some minor surgery on Tuesday. I am having a really bad ingrown toenail taken off of my right big toe. The doctor is actually taking off the whole toenail and hope it will not grow back the same way. I have some nerve damage from a herniated disc surgery years ago and it is that toe that is affected. I have to be off my feet for 3 days...now isn't that convenient being 2 days before Christmas!

I am doing most of the cooking tomorrow night so it can just be warmed up. Jen will bring over the turkey and we will cook that on Wednesday since I won't be able to walk and Mac can't lift anything...we are such a sorry couple right now..lol

My mom and brother will be here. Also our daughter, her boyfriend, and our grandson will be here for the day. Hopefully there won't be too much trouble with dinner since Mac and I both will be kinda laid up...

We finished our Christmas shopping yesterday and I got the gifts wrapped today. I still have to mail a few out.

We went truck shopping on Saturday and found one that we both liked. We will decide tomorrow if it is the one for us. If so, I will post photos on my next blog.

We would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!!

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Gregg's Surgery

We were off about 9:30 this morning on our way to Olathe Medical Center for Mac's surgery. We got him all checked in about 10:45 and they took us back to the pre-op room for them to get him ready for surgery.

He was taken in to surgery about 12:20. Dr Anderson did the hernia repair first and it took about 30 minutes. Then Dr Metz went in and did the surgery on his vocal chords.  Both doctors came out and talked to me after each procedure and told me that everything had gone well.

He was in recovery until about 3:00 - 3:15pm. It took us about an hour to get him home. He's moving around pretty good but is hurting in the hernia repair area. The pain med's are not doing a lot for that pain. He says that the pain isn't bad in his vocal chords, so I'm assuming that the pain med's are working for those.

He is to take it easy for tonight and not lift anything over 10 pounds for the next 4 weeks and then increase weight by 10 pounds each week til he is back to normal...that will put a kink in getting some of the things done around here and getting ready for the new 5er.

He is eating some soup for supper and surfing the Internet...lol.  He will probably try to be in chat tonight!!

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Getting Ready for Mac's Surgery

Mac is having his surgery on Monday. He will be having two surgeries at the same time. Hernia repair and removal of growths on his vocal chords. Both surgeries will be done as an outpatient so I will be able to take him home sometime late Monday afternoon. I won't be getting any work done from him for several days...lol.

Heartland sent us some better photos of our new Augusta paint job, but we had to agree not to publish them until after the first of the year. Take my word for it, the other ones we saw, do not compare to the new ones that Jim Beletti sent to me...Whew, it sure is a nice looking rig!

These next few weeks are going to be crazy around here getting everything all finalized for Mac's retirement. We both have a few doctors appointments to get done before the 31st. I have dentist, dermatologist, and having surgery on my right big toenail...ouch.

The snow is almost all melted. It snowed pretty hard on Tuesday and we got about 3". Looked like it should of been Christmas!!

Speaking of Christmas, we still don't have our shopping done. I think we may just do gift cards this year except for the great granddaughter. A pink tricycle for her, I think.

Also have to get mom something..she's hard to buy for. She really doesn't need things that we can buy...so maybe she will get a gift card too! She's wanting some clothes.  Shopping done!! That was easy. Mine and Mac's was easy..a new 5th wheel and a new GPS. $$$

Well that's all for today.

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Sleep Study

We had our sleep study last night and I don't want to do that again!! We were hooked up to about 50 wires that monitered everything like breathing, eye movement, leg movement and much much more. We checked in about 8pm and it took 45 minutes to hook me up and 45 minutes to hook Mac up..I got to bed about 10:30, and they took him to his room and he got to bed about 11:30. I didn't sleep well. I spent most of the night laying there looking at the ceiling so they probably didn't get a lot of info on me. They did say that my oxygen levels did drop down from 98 to 66 a few times when I was asleep. That doesn't sound too good.

Mac on the other hand didn't sleep well, but he did have some sleep apnea episodes. They said that he did quit breathing 35-40 per hour so they hooked him up to a C-Pap machine about 2:30am and he messed with it for a long time and finally fell back asleep about 5:30am and was up again at 6:30 to take all the sensors off.

They took mine off about 7:00am and we were out of there and on our way home about 7:30.

We got home and brought our stuff inside, read our email and blogs.
Went to mom's and got her grocery list and went and got her groceries.
Now we have been looking at checklists and trying to decide what to use and make one up for ourselves in excel.

We almost have the TT cleaned out. Only a few boxes left to carry out and then clean out the basement...that could be fun.

The people we talked to on the phone did not call to come and see the TT so hopefully someone else will see the ad on Craig's List and call. We have it priced to sell.

Well we need to finish the TT so I'm outta here...

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

Cleaning out the TT and Dr's Appointments

Last night we spent a couple of hours boxing up our "stuff" in the TT just in case it sells quickly. I don't want to have to kill ourselves trying to get everything out. There sure is a lot of stuff in there. We sure won't put all of it into the new 5er. We will be more careful about what we put in it. We will pack it for full time living instead of weekend camping. We will try to finish it on Saturday.

We went in to Kansas City today for doctors appointments. Mine went fine. Mac is going to have to have hernia repair surgery in the next week or two. It will be done on as an out patient which is good. They will call us tomorrow sometime and let us know for sure the date and time.

We have to have a sleep study done tomorrow night which ought to be interesting. We check in at 8pm and will be done around 5:30am. I usually have a hard time sleeping in a new bed so we will see how that works out...lol

Not sure if we will go down to the Chetopa RV Center on Saturday or on Tuesday. It kind of depends on if that couple comes to look at the TT and what date they schedule Mac for surgery.

We got another photo of the new paint scheme of the Landmark. This isn't the model we are getting but it will give you a side view of the full paint job.

Well, it has been a long day and I need to get ready for work tomorrow.

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away...

 

Well, We Ordered It...YeeHa!

We placed our order for our Augusta. It was kind of scary and also at the same time very exciting.

The dealer called us from the National RV Show in Louisville and told us that if we committed today, that Heartland was offering a $1000.00 discount. So we made the plunge. The Augusta is going to look fabulous! The new options are great...They are offering a full body paint scheme instead of the combination paint and graphics. The upgraded paint scheme looks great. I will try to add the photos that the dealer sent to me by text. They may not come out real good but it will give you an idea of how the outside will look. This paint option will be offered after the show for $7995. but since we placed our order today we will get the upgrade for show cost at only $2500.00. Sounds like a deal to me. The company that are painting this new paint scheme only committed to doing 40 of these. He may do more and maybe not. So we couldn't pass it up.

They are also offering a new interior decor color called Godiva. They sent me a text with the samples on it but can't really tell the details of it. Said it is shades of tan, and blue.

We will have to look at the swatches when he gets home and we go over to make the final interior decisions. He also told us that we can have a wood door with glass insets installed at the bedroom entrance. That was really the only thing that I didn't like on the Augusta. It had a small accordion door for the bedroom door. So we are getting the wooden one.

Whew...this morning went fast with all the calls from the dealer and the text messages, but now it is final....we will be the new owners of a 2010 Heartland Augusta that should be delivered by Feb 9th 2009.

We will still be going over there this Saturday or next Tuesday to sign the contract and get all the other selections made.

Now all we can do is wait. That will be the hardest part of this. It will seem like forever before we get that call telling us it is time to pick up our new 5er..."Gus"

Today I can relate to the quote I always put on our blog...

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away....

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

First of all, Thanks everyone for your input about the RV colors. I think we have made the decision to go with the Slate color. Mac likes it the best and I like both. He is going to call the dealer on Thursday because he will be back from the National RV Show. Hopefully the new changes will all be for the better.

As of today I cut my work schedule back to 3 days a week for awhile. We have so many things to get done here at home and a lot of things to get sorted out with Mac's retirement. Dr Padfield was very good about it and said that it was fine with him. Things have been kind of slow and with that it helps me and him at the same time.

I'm trying to decide what to get started on next here at the house. We are going to go through the kitchen stuff and get rid of the things that we will not be taking to the RV. Next we have to get the Utility/Storage room cleaned out...that is the scary room! So much stuff stored there for years and we don't really even know what is still down there..lol

We have so much furniture that we will not be needing. Who needs 4 desks anyhow. I will try to list some of these things on Craig's List and see what happens. What do I do with my collections...I think I will split some of them up and give to my granddaughters.

Well I am off tomorrow and we are going to see another financial advisor. I hate this part. Who do you trust with your money...we are pretty sure we have decided, but still want to talk to this guy first. Also, we have to pick our "Retirement" medical plan. the company offers 3 different plans. One is almost the same as we have now and that is the one we will probably take if we don't have problems if we re-locate to Texas. That is a big question I want answered first.

We have set our mail forwarding up with Escapees so are ready to change our residence when we are ready. We will be going to Kerrville in March and probably on our way home we will go through Livingston and maybe proceed with the paperwork. We will have to keep dual residency until the house is sold and I am ready to retire which won't be for a while yet.
Well that is about it for today...

Counting down to Order date...5 days

Life isn't measured by the breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away...