Today is Halloween! Boo

Happy Halloween everyone,

So much has gone on over the last twelve days, but I'll try to bring you up-to-date, starting with something we did more than two weeks ago.  
We were frustrated by the lower cabinet in our bathroom, because the door was on the far right side and it was very hard to reach anything stored in the left side of it.  We figured out an inexpensive way to solve this problem.  We removed the piece of wood from the left side of the cabinet and replaced it with a pair of curtains on top and bottom tension rods.  Now we just open the curtains to find whatever we need.  It works perfectly.

As you know, Jim had his first cataract surgery at Loma Linda VA hospital this month, on his left eye.  He is enjoying much improved vision in that eye.  We went back last Wednesday for his follow up visit, and now he is scheduled to get his right eye done on November 17th.  There is something we have been immensely impressed by.  Obviously we see many other veterans at the VA hospital, many of whom have been severely injured, lost limbs, and more.  Much to my surprise, many of them step up to open doors for US.  I feel like we should be opening doors for them, but out of respect for them, we just thank them.  They are ALL polite, and helpful.  If we don't know where we are going, and the place is HUGE so it would be easy to get lost there, a veteran will ask where we want to go, and will walk there with us.  Often, in the lobby you will find a veteran entertaining others by playing the piano while others listen and sing along.  One hears about veterans with PTSD, and I'm sure some of these men and women could be suffering from that, but the people we see are always kind and respectful to others.  I know some veterans are homeless, and may be committing crimes out of desperation, but I really think all of us should do whatever we can to honor them in any way we can.
 
We are still here at Wilderness Lakes, and many of our neighbors have decorated their RVs and their sites for Halloween.  They have a lot of imagination sometimes.

 

 As you can see, they get really creative.

    Not so much for us though.  However, we handed out candy to all of the trick-or treaters Saturday evening.  Jim was wearing his Army veteran baseball cap and several of the older kids who came to our site thanked him for his service!  WOW!!!!  I was so proud of him.  We are fortunate that Jim was never sent to a war zone, but he did serve during the Viet Nam era, and he could have been sent there.  
Today we had a service come out and clean our carpets, and the upholstered chair by the door.  WOW!  We try to keep it clean in here, but the carpet and chair look like new now.  They also Scotch-guarded them to protect against stains.  We knew we had to get EVERYTHING off the floor before they got here, so yesterday we went through all the cupboards, closets and drawers to see what we could get rid of.  I get what I call "the urge to purge" and it feels so good to get rid of some of our clutter.  We took three bags of stuff to the trash, and two bags to the Goodwill bin.  I always say that if one has not used something in six months, one probably does NOT really need it at all.  Carrying too much weight in an RV can damage it, and can increase the risk of having an accident if one cannot stop quickly enough.  To reduce our clutter, we have ordered a smaller Kitchen Aid mixer, and will try to sell the bigger one we have.  We ordered the ice cream maker attachment and will sell the Cuisinart ice cream maker we have.  We might even be able to sell our bread maker if Jim can use the Kitchen Aid to mix up his bread dough.  We couldn't do that with the mixer we have because, for some odd reason, the bowl wouldn't lock into place and would bounce around when we tried to use it to knead the dough.  

In the past, we never wanted to have an RV with a built-in washer and dryer, because it would mean less storage space.  But the truth is, we also hate going to the laundromat, so we put it off until we have a TON of laundry to do, and we really hate that even more!  Our friend Diane introduced us to an alternative that we are going to try out.  We bought a small portable washer from Camping World yesterday.....and ordered a small portable spin dryer from WalMart.  It should get here in a day or two.  This way, in about 15 minutes we can wash about 4 1/2 pounds of clothes, and it will spin dry in 2-5 minutes.  Diane said she usually hangs clothes up for an hour or two and they are ready to put away.  Yesterday she used the dryer for 5 minutes, and the clothes were completely dry!  Again, WOW.  The savings on laundromat cost should pay for they machines in less than 3 months!!!!  Each appliance weighs less than twenty pounds, so they don't add much extra weight to the RV either.   

I guess that's all for today, but I will let you know, in my next blog post, how the portable washer & dryer work out for us.  Take care and stay well.  Happy trails to those of you who are travelers enjoying this wonderful life.  Remember to be kinder than you "need to" to the people you meet.  You cannot know what problems they may be dealing with.  Life is wonderful, but sometimes it can be difficult.  God never promised us life would be easy, just that He will always be here for us.