Ramblings

I sure hate that Ed McMahon died. He was such an icon thanks to Johnny Carson. I know he has been on hard times lately but it's sad he is gone.

I've been trying to come up with an easy to stay in touch with my family and close friends. I don't want to put information on my blog until after I leave a place so I came up with the idea of keeping my Google calendar up dated and give them permission to view it. Brilliant! So I get everywhere I'm gonna be posted to my calendar and then click share and it brings up an email to mail to recipients. I fill all the addresses into the To and then explain what I'm doing and why. The first email I get back is from my BFF, Debbie, asking what she is to do next. I just naturally assumed there would be a link for her to click on and then she could proceed from there. I click help and see what's up. Well, everyone has to have a Google account in order to see my calendar. That would have been nice to know before hand. Oh, well, I'll help her out tomorrow night and then I'll know how to talk others through it.

I really like Google and all it offers. I have this blog, Picasa for photos, gmail, and other things I'm just beginning to explore. Oh, and their maps and Google Earth is just the best. Gmail has chat, IM and video chat, however everyone has to have a Google account in order to chat with them. Video chat is much like Skype and that works very well for me.

I've been busy planning my travelling schedule through my birthday, July 2010. It's been fun and a little challenging. I had found one place in Miami I thought would be good. I called a good friend, Bill, who is from Miami and his family still lives there. I asked him if he knew anything about the park. He said it had been years since he had been there but he would ask his sister. He said NO WAY I should stay there, high crime area. I love friends. They never steer you in the wrong direction so his mother (86) is on the hunt for me a good place to stay a month. Lots of her friends have RVs and know the best place. I love it! Thanks Bill. Hope it works out. Hope I haven't waited too late. South FL in winter, hum, may have.

I hope the next leg of my trip is as easy to plan and that I have a definitive trip in mind. I think that is what made it so easy to plan. Since it's my first time out, I'm sure I'll refine some things and learn from mistakes. One good thing is most of my trip will be paid for before I retire so the most expensive trip will not hurt so badly. Anytime you make reservations at a state park in FL, you pay for it upfront. That works well for me now, next year I'll be on a tighter budget so it will be interesting to see how that does for me.

I got an email from my friend, Margie, today asking how I kept up with what I wanted to see in different states, sort of a Bucket List. She keeps an Access database which is a great idea. I keep my info in an alpha folder by state. Any article I read that is interesting or a place I want to go, I tear it out of the mag, newspaper, print a copy and in that state alpha. Works fine except when there are more than one state in an alpha, i.e., MI, MN, MA. Yes, you get the idea. I'm sure that will be something I'll perfect as time goes on.

Margie and Roger are preparing to go full time as soon as their house is sold. She keeps a great blog that outlines their preparation for full time. She also is selling her class B motorhome. It is just about the best style I have seen for "Bs". She has a link to her sell site. If you are interested, check it out.

Sedona is going to Duchess' birthday party tomorrow night. She is trying to decide what to wear. Such a hard choice for a little one. There will be many other cute dogs there. Should be interesting. I'll have pictures later.

Talked to Becky today. They are all moved in, now they just have unpacking ahead of them. It's nice for them to be 2 hrs behind us. Especially after 9:00 Verizon talking.

Last projects

I finally finished my two projects that will probably my last until I get all settled. Here they are: The table can be broken down into two pieces for travel. I did the parrot to follow my theme of It's 5 o'clock Somewhere.

I started the flamingo several months ago to post in my front window when I am parked. I have put off completing it for quite awhile but I knew I had to finish it before I tore down my crafts room. I probably should have used a lighter grout on the flamingo but I had the black mixed for the table above and didn't want to mix another round. Black is so messy to work with.

The craft room is just about torn down. Theda is coming this weekend and will take most of it over there. The tools for stained glass is so expensive so I wanted it to stay with me so I could put my hands on it when I was in the mood again.

Things are really looking up for the move. I had a couple come by today who bought my dresser (thank to Becky) and they carried it off. Don't have but a few more things to sell.

I pick Taylor up from the airport tomorrow. She will be w/me for the week and it couldn't happen at a better time. I sure will be able to use her help.

I just got off Skype with my family who are together in East TN for Easter. It was just like I was there except when they started bringing their desserts over and eating in front of the webcam. Shame on them, boy it sure looked good. Just reminded me of what I am missing.

Later...

Skype

Talked to my sister via Skype. She and hubby go to FL for three months in winter and Skype is a great way to keep in touch in person. They talked about the market being so low in Ft Myers. It would be a great time to buy if someone was looking for a winter place. It gets too hot in the summer. Of course I can't imagine what the insurance would set you back.

Sedona has been delivered to Theda. Most of southern Tennessee got quite a bit of snow but it didn't affect the roads heading west. Now I will miss Sedona because I love it when I come home and she is so happy to see me. This is best for right now. She loves being down at the park so I know she is in a happy place. She will still be happy to see me when she returns home.

I'll post the MLS number when I get it and you can see my Town Home on the web. Heck, maybe some of my readers will want to buy. LOL I am so ready and am feeling so liberated with all the work that I and friends have done. I will be ready to live my dream when it happens.

Watching the Lady Vols hopefully beat Vanderbilt. One can hope.

Later...

Christmas week

Where has the year gone? I cannot believe it's almost Christmas. I am headed out to East TN tomorrow as long as the weather holds. The weather man said it was supposed to be icy rain in the a.m. and will warm as the day wears on. I may not get out as early as I had hoped but I want to get settled at Deborah's before dark.

I got a new phone from Verizon. It's a basic no frills phone and hopefully it will hold a charge longer than my other. While I was at Verizon I bit the bullet and got the Internet service. So far so good. This trip will be the test. In Nashville I get a strong signal. If I get a strong signal in more rural areas I know I have made a good decision.

I have also contacted Tennessee Consolidated Retirement for my information regarding how much retirement I get, what the taxes will be and the cost of my insurance. Getting all the facts and figures to really start planning. At least this way I can have exact figures with which to work. I plan on putting my condo on the market in Jan or Feb. It really depends on when I can get it cleaned up and staged properly. That's the thing I hate about putting it on the market, keeping it picked up.

Oh, a great site I found and probably everyone knows about this already but me. Anyway, Skype is a free site to download and you can talk for free to anyone else who has Skype. If you have a webcam you can talk to whomever you want. You just locate them, put them in your contacts, if they accept, you are in! It is so cool. I think it will be extremely useful when I get on the road. I tried it with my nephew the other night and we talked for about 26 minutes. The picture is good and the audio is pretty close to the video.

Guess you will next hear from me from Stone Mountain, GA. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Don't forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Later...