Texas Wrap-Up

So….we left Texas about a month ago, and we’re getting ready to leave our next location so I figure I better get  crackin’ on this blog here. Being away form the blog for so long has made it that much more difficult to get back into the groove, but after reading an old journal from twelve years ago and re reading this blog from the last three years it’s made me realize how important it is to record some memories and preserve our story. In my old journal I wrote directly to Jake (who was eighteen months at the time) and when I read it to the kids the other day they were entranced….they LOVED hearing it and because of them, I vow to keep this this thing going. I also plan to write our story all the way from the beginning, but that’s going to require me to get rid of the TV’s first. And maybe get a cook and a dishwasher.

So where do I start? Let’s see….we did finally make it to The Stockyards. Woop-dee-doo. We were at The Watergardens before that and that was much more my style.

It’s a park in the middle of downtown Fort Worth and it has this Big Pool as shown here, along with a Quiet Serenity Pool and another one full of sprinklers. I went with another unschooling mama, Missi, that we met on park day and naturally we had to break the rules and let the kids play in the water, but only until we were told to get out. We’re law abiding like that.

I dreaded another one of the unschooling moms hair, Angela, and then because she looked so awesome in her dreads it gave me the courage to get my own. Needless to say the dreads did not make me five foot seven and stick skinny, so they only lasted a couple weeks.  Angela and Missi threw me a birthday party and I had one of the best birthday’s ever! Usually we’re on the road en-route to somewhere or Joey is on a job so I rarely even get a cake let alone a party. I’ll never forget what they did, and how much it meant to me.

Aside form the very few encounters with the outside world, we spent ninety nine percent of the time on the Acres. One of my hobbies was googling myself and damn! was I surprised to find my pictures being used all over the web! For articles on catching an alligator at summer camp, to hitchhiking, to national parks, to how to build a chicken coop, to how to take pictures, to how to weld and even for an article on out houses. I’ve since put a copyright dealy-majig on my photos so they can’t be used anymore without my permission, but now googling myself just isn’t the same.

There was a lot of kite flying on Windy Green Acres and Joey schooled us on how to fly a kite with a broken leg.

There was also a lot of Bocci Ball going on. That was definitely one of our favorite games we played together, and as much as my brother tried..he just couldn’t beat me. Oh yeah, I said it.

Of course our favorite thing was playing with the chickens. WHO KNEW chickens would be so much fun?

Jonas decided as long as there was an animal in the picture with him, he would let me take his picture. I’ve decided I’m going to keep a frog in my pocket . Just in case.

The summer was beyond HOT. I never went to another unschooling park day, and the kids did spend most of the day inside. I know my parents probably thought our kids did nothing but play video games but that’s just because they were in bed at 1am when the kids were riding their rip stick and roller blades, or catching toads and feeding them june bugs, or jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler. They were just smart enough to stay out of the heat.

 

We ended up spending TEN months in Texas! Ten MONTHS! In the last twelve years we’ve never spent that much time in one place. It reassured me that I don’t need a stick house, but it’s made the rest of the family want some land of our own again. Jonas even asked for a house for his birthday. Jewel still wants a big bathtub and a trampoline, and Jake just wants to live in Hawaii, as does Joey. It looks like I’m out voted but at least for now we’re still in the bus and hitting the road. If we do end up getting a house again, it’ll be just like when we had a house in Iowa: We spent the summers at the house and the winters traveling and working. So the way I see it, if they want a house in Hawaii ,it’s kinda like the best of both world’s and I can deal with that.

Rock On!

Photo Bus Tour

We’re still parked on my parent’s property here outside Fort Worth. Joey is still on total temporary disability. Kids are still avid gamers.

Not much has changed. Except a few organizational things inside the bus.

Meet the Computer Room. Joey built a shelf for the printer last year, and last week we converted the dresser that came with the bus into a computer desk. We took out the drawers, added a shelf to set the CPU on and then cut out a hole for the face of it to stick out for easy access.

It’ll be complete once I replace the old RV chair for a computer chair.

What bus doesn’t have a Video Game Lounge?

This is the wheel well directly behind the driver’s seat. When we got it there was a cupboard built on top of it, then about a year later we cut it out and added another RV couch. The two couches just took up too much room so we got rid of it, and then realized how nice it was to have all this extra space. Then one day at Target I found these gaudy college dorm room cushions on clearance and I knew I just had to have them! They work out great either to sit on as is, or for the kids to throw on the floor to sit on while playing video games on the TV. The shelf cubby my Dad built for me while we were staying in their house to clear off the clutter on our dresser, and I wanted to use it in the bus but couldn’t find a place for it. When Joey suggested hanging it on the wall I thought he’d lost it, but it’s actually perfectly practical. It holds my mini laptop, all of Jewel’s papers to draw on, their strategy guides for video games, and magazines. I also turned one shelf into their DS, Gameboy and MP3 players charging station. It has helped to contain all these things that were usually everywhere but someplace neat. Directly across form here is the couch.

The Dining Room:

We removed the standard RV table skinny leg that was always getting kicked under and sideways, with this shelf unit that we bought to sit on the “dog house” (engine cover on bus pullers) to hold the kids’ video game equipment. Here I flipped it over, painted it black and it still houses all the controllers and accessories for the Wii, PS2 and Xbox consoles. The top shelf holds more strategy guides. On the left there is a chalkboard hanging on the wall which is the start of the kitchen cabinets, and these little chairs are a perfect fit for the small space. They even fold up easily if need be. Directly across from the table is the Computer Room.

Next room as you walk to the back of the bus is The Kitchen.

As far as RV’s go, this is a large kitchen..and I LURVE it! I have my talking microwave. We  know the second we’ve plugged into electricity because she says “Hi! I’m Temo, and I’m ready to cook.” Below that is my convection/toaster oven, and below that is the standard RV oven/stove combo. Directly across is the refrigerator and large pantry slide out drawers.

Keep going back and it’s the former closet, turned bunk beds.

That’s the shiny new black fridge directly on the left. When our RV fridge died last year we didn’t want to spend $1500 to replace it so we went to Lowe’s and got a normal 10 cu. ft. fridge. It’s not great for boondocking, but we’re looking into getting solar just for it. This door slides closed and is the only door that separates the back of the bus from the front. To the left are the bunks, and the right is the bathroom. These curtains were previously my Mom’s guest bath shower curtains, which rarely got used before she replaced them with a glass wall. They are complete with a travel theme! I found old rebar in the scrap pile, sprayed it silver and they became the curtain rods. The mirror was also recycled, from my parent’s old 1980’s waterbed headboard.

Jake moved his bed to the pullout couch and we gave Jewel the top bunk.

I first painted it with FIVE layers of magnetic paint to ensure a good coating, then in order to cover up all that blackness I had to do FIVE coats of red paint. She absolutely loves her new space, being she’s waited three years for it, but we’re not too sure if it might be a little dangerous. Her second night sleeping in it she woke up sick and throwing up, and then moved back in bed with us. She has slept in it a few more times with no problems, so we’re just kinda testing it out and seeing what happens.

Directly across from the bunks is The Bathroom.

Vanity is far right with huge mirrored medicine cabinet and underneath storage. Then there’s the tiny tub/shower with new rod we installed. We also installed the towel shelf unit.  And that’s our bedroom nook behind that entryway. Behind the bunks and before climbing into our bed is where the previous owners had the small dresser we converted into the desk, and now we have wall to wall shelves for our clothes.

This is our Love Den, with our own escape hatch. Which we installed mosquito netting around so we can leave the door open and listen to the river gurgling behind us. (when we had that river gurgling behind us)

So there it is, Home Sweet Bus.

Because I haven’t written in his baby book since 2001

AGE: 11.9

HEIGHT: 4’ 10”

WEIGHT: 67 LBS.

 

ADDITIONAL MILESTONE: FIRST ZIT

WELCOME TO PUBERTY, JACOB.

LOVE, MOM.

What we’ve been up to……..

We took a couple days to recoup from the trip to Colorado and back, the heavy pressing on the bus’s gas pedal really gave Joey’s foot quite a workout. By the time he went back to therapy he was able to stand on his healed foot, when just the week before he wasn’t able to support himself on that foot at all. He’s noticing improvements daily now but still says the top of his foot feels like it’s sunburned and then one of the kids stood on his foot and did the twist.

I’ve been going through the bus cabinets getting rid of as much stuff as I can. It’s much easier this time than when we moved in almost three years ago (Has it really been that long?). This time I don’t have to stress about getting rid of something I may regret later…..I just stick it in my mom’s closet.

For a week it got really nasty cold here, so we spent it inside catching up on seventy two hours worth of mind stimulating reality television. As much as I love watching reality TV, I would never be on reality TV.

Then the sun came back out and I came alive. I’ve been converting Jacob’s top bunk into Jewel’s new bunk, and I cannot wait to finish it. But I have to wait because my Mom (whom I’ve recruited to sew curtains) is having sewing machine issues, which have spread into my sewing machine also having issues. Now we wait a week to get them back. In the meantime I’ve been lacquering my flat black cabinets, that I’ve never been completely happy with, with a shiny gloss. Now I’m LOVING it! It’s a lot more work, and my body is aching over it, but it’s worth it. I’ve also recruited my Dad to build a desk in the bus, and he’s already cut me three new cabinet doors to replace cheap broken ones. We built a headboard for our bed, too. Almost everything I’ve been able to do for free or almost free. All the wood is leftover scraps or recycled from the original closet tear down. 

The worst part has been scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush and going through each and every single last item, down to paper clips and battleship bullets. I have yet to finish scrubbing (but I have to in order to finish painting the baseboards).

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Our chicken’s eggs never developed, which was a good thing because two weeks ago the feed store called and the SIXTEEN chicks my Dad ordered SIX MONTHS AGO were in. Luckily they didn’t make us take them all and then some died before they even made it to the store, so we only had to bring ten home. Then we had more of the Sultan’s (fluffy white ones) die, along with a couple other chicks and one of the two turkeys. Right now we have six chicks total, with one turkey, and we’re thinking that’s plenty. Although Jewel and I are trying to talk Papa into a couple baby ducks. But my Mom had to ruin it and remind my Dad that we will be leaving someday and then “they’ll be stuck with all these animals that Vicki’s ever wanted”. Hmpfh.

We’re getting the urge to get to the beach. Before we can go to the beach though we have to get beach cruisers. Remember last year when our bicycles froze and it made a funny picture?

It ruined each and every bike.

So yesterday Joey cruised Craiglist and found me a cruiser. Only when we got there to pick it up I refused it, then Joey promised he would make it shiny, and if I didn’t like it then, he would keep it for himself. Then we went to Wal-Mart and spent twice as much on tires and tubes than we paid for the bike. But I love it.

You can’t tell in the picture but there’s a red “pearl” over flat black. We spent the evening tearing it apart, sanding it, degreasing it, and painting it. He always amazes me.

Then today my Dad unveiled his latest creation:

Stilts. They’re beyond hard.

But a great way to get kids of all ages to come together.

Sunday’s are the best days here at Green Acres.

“This isn’t going to be some big romantic trip”

Now why would I think that? This was the first time we would be childless and we could take as much time as we needed. I must have missed the part where I would be driving the entire time. That’s all we did, drive, eat, sleep. Eat, drive, eat, drive, eat, sleep. Repeat three more times now.

Since our electric plug adaptor adaptors were stolen, and they’re a rare Canadian breed, we went without electricity the whole time. Also since I didn’t winterize before we left, we didn’t even want to find out if there was anything wrong with our water system until we got down to Texas, so we also went without water. And then, since I forgot to shut off the propane when we left in October, we were also out of propane. As if this all wasn’t joyful enough, our shit tank is still FULL. Five days of this, and no showers, ummm..yeah, not so romantic.

On the final day, our last two hundred miles, out of eleven hundred, I spotted diesel for only $1.99 and since Joey didn’t have his radio on I decided to pull up on his right (where he was making a right turn) and alert him to tell him to turn his radio on, and look..Cheap Gas! Only he didn’t see me and continued on with his right turn, right into me. Because of my brilliance and desperation to save a dime, we now need a new corner panel and lights for the truck, and the bus was seriously scraped between the front tires and the front door. I’m actually trying to forget the whole ordeal, so moving on…..

The kids did great with my parents, and really didn’t even miss us. I cried when we left thinking our plane might go down, and Joey had a talk with Jacob that if anything were to happen to us, they’d be living right there with Grama and Papa, and they DIDN’T have to go to school unless they wanted to. We like to cover our bases. :) My parents are really great for watching them and more surprisingly, respecting our wishes. I know it’s not always easy for them, especially when the kids stay up until four or five in the morning, or want mac and cheese at eleven at night, but they were super. Thank You, Mom and Dad!

In my last post I wrote so nonchalantly about First Class. I don’t know why I do that. It was actually kind of a big thing for me. I’ve always wanted to get bumped up to First, I hear about it all the time, but I’ve always been too chicken to ask. Since we were completely alone with this agent and there weren’t people waiting in line I felt brave. This is exactly how it went down: “Ummmm…uhhhh….I hear about people getting bumped up to First Class all the time…ummm…uhhhhh…..how could we do it?” I finally worked up the nerve, and then showed my ignorance by being on an airline that doesn’t even offer it. I just felt a need to clear that up.

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My Mom said Jewel told her she missed Dad the most.

Because he’s funnier.

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I discovered Windows Live Writer before I left, and I just knew it was the answer to my blogging dilemma. Then I decided it wasn’t because I didn’t always have an internet connection to blog while I’m traveling (with Live Writer I can be offline), I really just needed something interesting to blog about.…THEN I invented Mind Writer. When I’m driving I come up with the BEST blog posts, now if someone could just figure out the mechanics of Windows Mind Writer, I’ll be all set. In the meantime, for some real family adventure involving poop icicles you should check out Bluebird Family while they make their way up to Alaska. One storm at a time.

Happy Travels!

Frontier Airlines

Never heard of them before, but now I’m a fan. I’m also a fan of flying on a Saturday. We got to DFW early and walked straight up to the ticket counter. I asked about getting bumped up to First Class, since that’s how I like to think I roll, and she said all their seats are First Class. Then we noticed she seated us in the first row, so clearly she was teasing us. I was envisioning smoked salmon and champagne once we got on the plane.

We then walked straight up to the security checkpoint, which didn’t leave us any time to read the fifty two rules, so of course we’re up there hurrying to take off our shoes, remove laptop, and hunt down any metal we have on us. Joey also had to undo his two foot high combat boots. We made it through without having to have a body cavity search and then our Gate was the very first one after the checkpoint. Now we allowed plenty of time in case of lines, traffic, and far away gates, but everything was falling in line perfectly to give us a two hour wait to board.

They called for families with children and disabilities, and rows one and two, to board first. We decided against boarding first so we didn’t have to sit there and watch the entire plane load while trying to squeeze together to stay out of everyone’s way. When we finally get on the AirBus we learned the ticket agent wasn’t joking, there was no First Class, just First Row, and every seat had their own TV screens which you could pay $6 to use. We didn’t. What this flight did have was an all male flight crew, that flirted with my husband the whole way! The bald one asked Joey if I was his wife, and congratulated him on a job well done and then asked if I had a sister.( We almost told him I had a brother. :0 ) They were fun, and really made the flight enjoyable.

We had what I thought was a long layover in Denver but it ended up barely being enough time to get to the clear opposite end of the terminal to catch our little puddle jumper to take us over the Rockies to Grand Junction.

This flight was only about forty five minutes and it seems we were practically hugging the mountains. It was pretty cool. We were trying to make out all the ski resorts and mountains, and I was holding on to the barf bag.

Joey’s welder buddy that was supposed to pick us up was in a four wheeler accident earlier in the day and broke his arm so we had to get a shuttle to take us the forty five miles to our campground. Then we were HOME!

Words cannot describe how good it felt to be home, and then sleeping in our own bed. I slept so good I was up at SEVEN in the morning. Last night I prepped the inside for travel so I could have today to visit with my friend Lisa, while Joey takes care of all the outside stuff, including un-attaching our broken awning, loading BBQ grills, toy box & shoe box, checking oils and fluids on the bus and truck, and now it seems, charging up the batteries.

If all goes well we’ll be leaving today, taking the southern route through Moab, UT. It adds a couple hundred miles but it’s less stressful than the Rockies in a thirty four year old bus. Can’t wait to get back on the road again. (Yes, I will be singing it).

We’re Leeeaving…On A Jet Plane……

Don’t know when we’ll be back again.

(Seriously, I don’t know when we’ll be back).

After the accident we decided it’d be better, more comfortable, easier, and plain more fun to come down to Texas and stay with my parents while he recuperates. We made the decision to leave the bus parked in our RV spot not just because I couldn’t drive it but primarily because we didn’t want to lose our spot. They were extremely hard to come by, and we knew we were coming back in a couple months, so it was a good, practical decision. Up until three days ago that was still the plan.

Three days ago I got a call from the RV park saying someone stole our electrical adaptor that connects our bus to electricity, meaning our fridge/freezer is no longer working, and then just for icing on the cake….they’re shutting down the campground and we have fourteen days to get the bus moved. Only when I did the math ,we actually have only eight days! We threw around a handful of options, but by the next morning we had decided on one. Joey and I are now waiting to board a flight to Grand Junction and rescue the bus and truck (Joey’s old Ford) and bring everything down here. Turns out since we’ve been gone the drilling rigs have stacked up and left, the pipeline has stopped and basically it’s becoming a ghost town. It’s crazy to think just a few months ago it was booming, and now it’s dead.

So our plans have changed once again, we’ll stay in Texas until he’s officially released but we will be living in the bus. Joey now can take his time finishing up the flatbed build on his truck, the Dodge, and we can do all those little things we’ve been wanting to do to the bus that we can never do because it’s kinda hard to do when living in a campground things.

They’re boarding…gotta go!

Some Guys Have Harley’s

Observations by Jewel

Our little white hen lays little white/blue/green eggs.

Jewel: “She’s laying a new egg everyday. They must REALLY love each other.”

Chickens 101

*New Update Below*

When we got the chickens the day after we got here in Texas, I was hoping we'd be here to witness the first egg laying, but doubted we'd actually be here THAT LONG.
Ta-da:


That poor hen, too, she can't get away from that ruthless rooster. He grabs the back of her neck all day long, briefing squatting on her back, causing Jewel to say matter of factly, he's taking a baby.

We never planned on letting them raise their chickens but now there's no choice. The kids will not let us eat them!

Jewel's even numbering them. We're not quite sure why, even she doesn't know, but it's good she did because from now on the ones that aren't numbered are getting stolen before she knows they're laid. She's going to grow up thinking chickens only lay seven eggs, but until we can think of another way to not get run over by chicken poop, we have no choice!

We're not too sure how these chicks will turn out, really. She spends hardly any time during the day laying on them. Instead she roams the yard being pushed around by the rooster or RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM. If she could speak, she'd say: Polygamy!

UPDATE: I spoke with Jewel about gathering any and all new eggs for our consumption, and explained to her that we'd be buying them from the store anyway so why not use our own. She agreed and has now added Official Egg Collector along with her duties as Official MailGirl

Unschooling myself

I just can't grasp aperture and f stops and shutter speeds and which controls the light and what controls the depth of field. It's all too confusing when in the back of my mind I'm thinking, did I thaw anything out for supper? I usually give up trying completely for a while, and then beat myself up because there's something really wrong with me if I can't make myself get something that I really want to get. The other day I admitted out loud that I just don't think I'm ready for the DSLR. It's too much camera for me.

Later that day the kids were jumping on the trampoline so I figured I'd use their play for a little practice. (The sun was going down so I had to play with light, plus the fast movement.)

Jacob is my inspiration. He doesn't know how to give anything but a nice shot.

He doesn't know it but he's my silent encourager.

These speak Pure Joy.




We're having fun jumping and snapping, until Jonas realizes I'm taking pictures of him, too. Normally he runs off and I stop. Not this time.

He stares right into me and gives me a mean face.

At least what he thinks looks mean.
As he's scowling he's just getting closer to me. Could I ask for better??

It's tough trying to look mean when you're so damn cute!

Give him another ten minutes though and try to take his picture again...

He's pissed now!

He then said: "Delete them"
I cried: "But I can't!"
Him: "Delete them"
Me: "I'm sorry"
Him: "Delete them"
Me: "IT'S LIKE ASKING ME TO CUT OFF MY FINGER...."
He then stormed off and didn't speak to me for twenty four hours.

I'll always have Jacob.


As much as I really wanted to respect his wishes, I just couldn't do it! I may have failed him that day but I truly believe in the long run he, and if not him, his future partner and/or kids, will thank me for it. I cannot let him grow up without any photos of his childhood, that would be regrettable.

Besides learning that I'm a selfish photographer, I learned that adjusting the aperture allows me to control the light. Yay me. Then the next day I tell my dad what I learned and he said "F-stop also controls the amount of light (AND THEY WON'T BE ALL BLURRY)".

I'm back at square one.

We do still live in a bus, after all

When we went up to Colorado and the bus, to get Joey's truck, I was secretly a little nervous about being in the bus again. I was afraid after spending all this time spread out in a stick house that I wouldn't be happy to see the inside of our little bus.

Luckily, I felt right at home and could imagine myself living here again, someday..when it's not winter.

Now....it's been another couple months since we were there, and Joey and I have since talked and learned that he shared the same fears, and had the same happy realization, that the bus is our comfy home. But what about the kids? How do they feel about it? Are they going to break out in little sad faces when we tell them that we're going back to the bus soon? Much to our surprise....They're actually looking forward to going back to the bus!

Jonas misses having the toilet two feet from his bed, and he's already looking forward to re familiarizing himself with all his sleeping animals (his words).

Both boys say what they miss the most are their beds. I made that bold because they were very loud in letting me know they miss their beds.

Jewel is just happy to be with us, wherever we are. AS LONG AS SHE'S WITH US, she says. I love that.

So....we should be leaving Texas soon, and getting back to our normal life of not knowing where we'll be tomorrow, and I, for one, can hardly wait.

what did we leave the house for again?

My last post made it sound like we actually never leave the house, but the truth is we haven't become complete hermits. Occasionally Joey finds something on Craigslist that he has to have for his truck, mostly toolboxes, so we venture out to pick those items up, so when on one such trip we heard over the radio that Kat Von D was going to be in downtown Dallas for a book signing, no one had to twist our arms! We arrived at the book signing only twenty minutes after it started and they were already almost out of books and wristbands that were required to see her. There were about a thousand people there! Luckily there wasn't a line we had to stand in the whole three hours, that's what the wristbands were for. There were six colors, with only one getting in line at a time, and we were the last color group. We read some books, bought the kids a Reptile & Snake field guide and a Star Wars comic book, then once we realized we still had a long wait we went across the street for some mexican food. Not long after we came back they called our color and we were finally in line to see Kat Von D!

We ended up getting in line right behind the most interesting sisters, which turned out to be the highlight of the night. Heather recently became an unschooler herself in order to pursue her dreams, she realized school wasn't helping her to get there. I immediatley congratulated her on that decision and I thought her mouth was gonna drop. She's not used to other people, especially adults, encouraging her to not go to school. The older sister, Johnny Appleseed, is in the process of opening up a vegan/raw foods cafe in Dallas, called Bliss Cafe.

The four of us talked non stop about unschooling, living on the road, following your dreams, surrounding yourself with positive people and discarding the naysayers, that before we knew it we were already at Kat's table.

Since we only bought one book, only one of us could go to the table, so we decided I would stand back and take pictures. Oh, she also wasn't posing for pictures. She was very nice though! Joey told her the book was for our daughter who loves sharpie tattooing anyone that will let her. She asked where she was and then signed her book with lots of XOXO's.


This was my leg for about a month. If I could take the pain I'd probably have them all permanently tattooed on. For christmas she got a kids tattoo gun, but in the end, the sharpies are the way to go.

This night was a perfect example proving that it's not about the destination, it's all about the journey. Veer off the path and you might just find something better. Hope you're enjoying your ride as much as we are ours!

Green Acres

First thing anyone tells you when they hear you're going to Fort Worth is, You gotta go to the Stockyards. My family has lived here three years now, and this is our third, maybe fourth visit, with each visit lasting from one week up to four months. We have yet to see the Stockyards. Some travelers we are. We can't help it though, my folks have this great pad that we really find no reason to leave it.


When my parent's were looking for a place here in Texas they knew they wanted to get something big enough for us to park our bus at, so they spent months trying to find the right place. Most places here barely have room to park on the street, so finding this place was like finding a needle in a haystack. They're even on a hill that overlooks Fort Worth, when anyone will tell you there are NO hills in DFW. Their ultimate plan though when they retired was to get a place near my brother and then travel, travel, travel. They also have not left their Green Acres, as they've lovingly named it. Instead my Dad has finally gotten his own John Deere tractor that he's always dreamed of, and have immersed themselves completely into transforming their place into a little something for everyone. They want us to feel completely at home here, and they've done almost too good a job of it.


Besides the Organic Tribe visiting, we've also had Cliff and Heather from Iowa come over. It was good to see friends from Iowa again, and Joey really enjoyed talking to Cliff about his tour in Iraq.


The weather here is so sporadic, you never know what you're going to get from one day to the next. We've definitely learned to take advantage of the good days though!
Whether it be a redneck hayride for the kids

Listening to my nephew jam on the guitar, jump on the trampoline or pogo stick, swim in the jacuzzi, or just watch the kids ride their various wheels




or just surf the net or watch TV, there's never a boring day.
It's always fun to watch the chickens watching us, too.

The rooster doesn't always join the hen, but she can be found here almost the ENTIRE day.

He's usually wherever we are in the yard. It's funny to go through my pictures and find him in so many of them. Jewel and her cousin in the jacuzzi, there's Brownie. Joey working on his truck, there's Brownie again.

One day we had uninvited visitor's, though.

A herd of mini horses! They were rampaging the neighborhood and stayed to graze in the neighbor's backyard for a while.


Even the bad, as in bad I mean fricken COLD, days, aren't so bad here. We stay inside sipping cocoa by the fire, waiting for the sun to pop back out.

Special occasions we get dressed and go a couple miles to my brother's house where he's got the ultimate indoor entertainment pad. We had a Korean food night one night where my sister in law out did herself. It was my idea, but somehow she did all the work. We also had Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve there, as well as the Superbowl Party. I've also learned one thing by all these gatherings: I think I know why I like living in an RV so much....I'm never expected to entertain. I'm just there for the party!

Another bonus about Green Acres, the sunsets:


And since I never see a sunrise, my Mom grabbed my camera to show me what one looks like here.


So...besides physical therapy three days a week still, my constant texting with Angela and whining about my excessive weight gain, this is what we've been up to. I love my life.

Not Worthy

I feel like Wayne and Garth, and like I should be bowing down to all of you chanting, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy. Everyone is so nice, complimenting and even offering up a hand to help, and as much as you all bring tears to my eyes and make me want to reach through the screen and hug you over and over, I just don't quite know how to properly thank you. In person, I wear my heart on my sleeve and my face is a dead give away for how grateful I am, but a writer...I am not. Or a vocalist for that matter. That's the main reason I've been hiding away from blogging. I don't feel right without at least giving a proper thank you first.

From the deepest recesses of my being, I want to give each and every one of you a big THANK YOU! Thank you for your warm thoughts, your uplifting comments, your cyber hugs, your well wishes, your fondness of my photos, your concern and.....your offers of help.

My Families on the Road family gathered money so our kids could have a good Christmas. With their help our kids had a GREAT Christmas! We spent every dollar on them, by the way.

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I want to let everyone know that Joey is doing good, and is actually WALKING again! Something a month ago he seriously doubted would ever happen again. He's anxiously awaiting removal of the five screws in his leg, which hopefully will be done in the next month or two. He's going to physical therapy for his arm three times a week, and has already doubled his strength and made considerable improvement on mobility.

We (Joey, Jewel and I) made a quick trip up to Colorado last month to retrieve his welding truck with the thought of him being able to custom build bike racks, motorcycle racks and/or trailers, but instead he's emptied his truck bed of welder and tools, with plans to take off the bed and build himself a flat bed. That way he won't have to be getting up in his truck anymore and worry about hurting himself jumping out of it. If someone wanted him to build something I'm sure he could, he just hasn't per sued it yet.

He's anxious to get back to work, yet he doesn't want to force it. He goes back to the doctor in nine days and hopefully we'll have a better idea of what the very near future has in store for us. We're enjoying Texas on it's warm days, and not looking forward to going back to the bus that is currently covered in a couple feet of snow. I predict he still has at least two more months of healing before they'll release him, so it'll be interesting to see what the doc says.

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Completely unrelated, but funny at the time:

Jewel: "Did you know you have a tattoo on your neck?"