Daylight Savings Time...Grrr

Welcome StrawBoss, my latest follower.  It appears we have a Tucson connection and I love those connections.   The title of this post doesn't apply to you because you're in Arizona.  I'm no longer there so I have to put up with it.  

Question...did anyone else notice that the time on your cell phone and computer was adjusted automatically?  Does anyone else besides me find that somewhat disconcerting?  Right now it's 11:21AM.  Yesterday at this time it was 12:21PM.  Which is the "right" time?  Does it even matter? Probably not, I just find it irritating.  

OK, something really positive I forgot to mention about the external hard drive.  I don't know if this applies to all of them but I found out that if I delete something by mistake and notice it a day later (or longer), I can go back into the external hard drive and reset my computer to a time before I deleted whatever and get it back.  I think that's great.  

I'm already redoing the motorhome I haven't located or bought yet.  I learned from a couple other bloggers that the interior can be repainted.  I don't know why I didn't think of that myself, but why not?  Want different furniture? Why not?  See the two chairs on the right in the motorhome picture?  I don't want them.  Gone.

I want to replace them with this chair and fountain.  The chair will be reupholstered first, though.  I'm hoping the fountain won't be too large.  It isn't too heavy so I don't think that will be a problem.  And maybe when I find the motorhome I'll find out this isn't a good idea.  But right now I like it.

The sun is out and yet I want...

More sunshine please,

Jeana

Book Packing

Welcome Patti C. as my latest follower.  I can't tell if you have a blog or not for me to plug, so I'll just say welcome.

I haven't scanned any pictures yet today because I had appointment at the Apple Store to help me with my new external hard drive.  My one hour appointment turned into a two hour appointment and Brian, the young man who helped me, was the best helper I've ever worked with.  We've scheduled another get together for next week.  I've had my Mac for two years and I know I haven't been using it to its full potential, but I haven't enjoyed the previous helpers and kind of drifted away from the One to One sessions.  Unfortunately, the store is located in a mall and I usually avoid malls like the plague, especially on weekends.  It was hard to find a place to park, it was crowded and noisy, so I made sure to schedule our next appointment during the week.  

FYI to other external drive owners.  A couple of you made comments on previous blogs that you are also using external drives and I want to let you know what Brian, Apple Store, said about external drives.  He said that it's also a good idea to download pictures to a DVD-R.  Reason?  Because they can be stolen along with your computer (happened to a customer of his) and they can also go bad like hard drives on our computer.  So, DVD-Rs are on my shopping list.  Maybe that's the way I should have started, it would have been cheaper.   

So what did I do instead of scan pictures?  I sorted through books.  I went into this project telling myself that I can't hang onto all the books I have, they won't fit in the RV, and many of them haven't been opened in forever. That alone is a good reason to get rid of them.  Aaaaand, I'm retired now and the books that are job related are no longer necessary, which most of them are.  It's still a hard thing to do...get rid of books.  I also found quite a few more pictures to scan.  When I was in the garage looking for boxes to put the books in to take to the second hand store, I managed to locate the box with all the slides in.  

Speaking of books, I have a concern about books and RVing full time.  I'm always reading a book and I'm wondering what to do when I'm on the road. Now I get all my books from the library because it's so much cheaper. At home I read books and in the car I listen to books on tape.  I'd like to continue with the books on tape when I'm driving to my next destination and I go through withdrawal if I don't have a book.   Any ideas or suggestions?

I think I'm feeling brain dead from all the computer knowledge I packed into my brain today. So, I'm going to close for now.

More sun please,

Jeana

Blog Reading Day

Today has turned out to be a blog reading day for me.  Yucky gray weather contributed to the reading spree.  After working out first thing this morning I came home and decided to check up on the blogs of my two newest followers. Welcome to my blog Roxie and Annie from The Good Luck Duck and Loree and her dog, Luci, from Life with Luci and Loree.  Roxie and Annie are from the east coast and Loree and Luci are from the west coast.  We all have Bounders in common. Actually, Roxie and Annie and I have fifth wheels in common, too. Except our stories are in reverse...I started out with a Bounder and traded it in on a fifth wheel.  We picked the Bounder up four days after I turned 45 and started on a short mid-life retirement.  I had just completed twenty-five years at Boeing and was ready for something different.  

As I've mentioned before, my son and I lived in the fifth wheel for two years in Tucson before moving back into a stix and brix, also in Tucson.  It was great fun, but we weren't on the road for very long so I don't think that experience counts any longer.  Which means I'll be starting out as a newbie when I take off in April/May 2011.  

This is my son and I in Germany in 2009.  He grew up and I grew out, the result of quitting smoking.  I have remedied that growing out problem and am now a fit ex-smoker and probably weigh less than in the Bounder picture. Hooray for wake up calls, i.e., high blood pressure (as discussed in a previous post).

To date, I have scanned two shoe boxes worth of pictures into my computer which amounts to 575 pictures.  Those 575 pictures are my parents pictures, I haven't even taken my boxes of pictures out of the garage yet.  And I won't do that until I scan in the boxes and boxes of slides from many,many years ago.  

That's it for today.

More sun please,

Jeana

Record Breaking Temperatures

We just never know what to expect weather wise in the Seattle area.  We had record breaking temperatures yesterday and I'm sure it happened today, too.  It felt warmer to me today and I was outside for most of the day.  I would much rather be outside than inside, which is probably why winter is not my favorite time of year.  

I think I mentioned before that I decided to stay here another winter instead of heading south.  I want to appreciate all the work I've done to the house for the last 1.5 years before I rent it and let someone else enjoy it.  I pulled up thirty year old carpet and exposed beautiful hard wood floors; I painted the whole interior; had someone else paint the outside.  I did a whole lot more, but I think you get the gist.  I've been busy!!  I documented it pictorially and I love looking at the progress I've made.   It took a long time and my mantra while I was painting was "two coats, two coats," because it took two coats of paint on each and every wall.  I inherited the house from my dad and he hadn't been able to keep it up while I was living in Arizona. When I came back I moved in with my parents to help them out, and also worked full-time and attended classes two nights a week.  It didn't leave me a lot of time for major renovations.  By the way, I had to be at work at 5AM and classes lasted until 9:30PM.  I was exhausted.

Now that I'm retired and I'm essentially finished with the house, except for downsizing into a motorhome, I need something to do.  Like that won't keep me busy...but I'm not ready to start on that yet.  I like to be creative and do artsy fartsy stuff but I didn't have any ideas.  Not too long ago I was visiting my next door neighbor and she had some balls in her yard similar to gazing balls, but totally different, too.  I asked her where she got them and found out she made them using bowling balls.  I was pretty excited because I thought they looked great in her yard and I couldn't wait to get started. However, it was impossible finding any bowling balls at first and that really slowed me down.  I eventually found some and started to create my own "yard art."  

I've tried to put my own spin/signature on them and the one in the front with the red and green is actually an attempt to show a picture, in this case a saguaro in a pot, but I don't think it's clear enough, so I doubt I'll try that again.

Then I tried to think of a different way to decorate the balls and decided to try and create a mosaic ball and here it is.  I was doing the grouting outside today and had the perfect weather for it, like I mentioned earlier.  I hadn't polished it when I took this picture, so now it looks cleaner.  I kind of like it and think I'll do more!

I need to take a moment here and mention how much I hate yard blowers!!! I have been listening to them all afternoon and I'm ready to scream.  What happened to brooms?  Ok, end of rant.

My son lives in Germany and on Sunday they aren't allowed to use anything outside that makes noise, i.e., yard blowers, lawn mowers, weed eaters, etc.  I think that would be wonderful.  

I need to remind myself that the picture scanning that I'm doing is helping in my downsizing.  It's a slow and gentle way of getting into it.

More sunshine please,

Jeana

Expensive Decision/Choice

While I'm not regretting the decision to scan all my pictures onto (into or onto?) my computer, I'm finding that it's been an expensive decision.  First, the scanner on my printer/copier/scanner didn't work so I bought a new scanner.  Second, it was suggested that I buy an external hard drive so I don't lose the pictures, should something go wrong with my computer, since I'm shredding them after I scan them. More $$$.  I went to the Apple store this morning and got a hard drive that's compatible with my Mac.  I rarely go to malls, but the Apple store is located in a mall three minutes from my house.  Apple offers a One to One program for learning the Mac and even though I've had mine for a couple years I don't think I'm using it to it's potential.  Since my One to One had expired I signed up again...more $$$.  I made it to the Apple store without taking any detours but on the way out...oh boy.  I made two stops and now I know why I don't go into malls.  It is hazardous to my wallet.  Where is my self-control when I need it?  

I went to a salsa dance class this morning for the first time and almost ended up in tears.  I just couldn't get the steps down and felt like I had two left feet.  It appeared to me that everyone else got it down right away, of course.  I never felt this bad when I was taking the hula hoop dance class. A couple people told me at the end to not give up, that it takes awhile to get the steps down and that one day it just clicks.  I got a whole new appreciation for the people on Dancing With the Stars today and I don't envy them what they're doing. I do understand the frustration and tears though. I'll probably go back because I know it will never be as bad as it was today, my first time.

It is lovely here today.  The sun is out and I heard it might reach 67 degrees.  I'm so much happier when the sun is out.  Sitting here working on my computer, the sun is shining on me and it feels so good.  

Let the sun shine on,

Jeana

Scanner

Well, the new scanner works!!  But only after I spent 25 minutes on a long distance call to Epson getting help.  I found and scanned this picture onto my computer yesterday and I just love it.  It's me and my twin sister.  I lost her four years ago to complications with MS.  

I found a shoebox full of pictures taken 50+ years ago and most of them were when we lived in Hawaii.  My dad was in the Air Force and we lived there for three years and, sadly, I don't remember any of it.  I haven't even gotten to the slides from when we lived in Casablanca or Saudi Arabia, also thanks to the Air Force.  The scanner I got can also scan slides, which was one of the reasons I got it. Most of the pictures mom took were made into slides and I'm anxious to get to them. 


I think one of the biggest finds was the picture of my paternal grandmother. She died when my father was six so I obviously never knew her. This is the first picture I've seen of her. That shoebox has turned out to be pretty special.

 

This is the fun part of cleaning up in order to become a full timer.  I'll be glad to have all the pictures downloaded so they'll be easy to look at any time I want.  It was suggested that I buy an external hard drive to back up my computer so I don't lose the pictures.  I'm not keeping the originals so I'm thinking that's a good idea.  I'll do that soon.

And with that, I think I'll go scan some more.


Jeana

Blog Types I Follow

Welcome to my blog Sharon.


I got interested in blogs after I lost 75 pounds and needed some maintenance support. Unfortunately, there aren't too many books out there on maintenance, just diets, diets, diets.  I didn't have any experience with blogs and kind of looked down my nose at them.  I guess ignorance will do that.  Then I came across a blog called Refuse to Regain which led to me buying the book with the same title.  That led me to other maintenance blogs and they've been an enormous help to me because we're all facing the same issue...maintaining our weight loss.  So, that's the first type of blog I follow. 

You folks know me as a future RVr and this is the second type of blog I follow.  Just the two, weight maintenance and RVing.  I don't have any desire to start a weight maintenance blog, I'm just mentioning it because it's so important to me.


I've gone from a 3X to a 10 and I feel wonderful, plus I have a brand new wardrobe!!  I went on a nutritional cleanse program that consists of supplements and two nutritional shakes a day.  I love it and it fits me so well because I don't like to cook.  My main meal is lunch and I look forward to it every day.  I usually go out so it's fun to decide which place I want to go to today.  It also enabled me to quit taking blood pressure meds. 


I started taking blood pressure meds in July, 2009 and started the nutritional cleanse program August 16, 2009.  It took a year to get off the meds and lose the weight but I'm off of them and I plan to stay off of them.  I also started working out with a personal trainer March, 2010 at 24 Hour Fitness. Watching Biggest Loser played a part in picking 24 Hour Fitness,  plus they're a mile from my house.  I work with the most fantastic trainer and I attribute a lot of my success to her.  I give myself credit too, because I'm doing the work, but Kim is so much fun to work with.  I just follow along behind her and do what she tells me to do.  She's also my biggest cheer leader and that helps.  I see her Monday and Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday, same place, I go to a program called Silver Sneakers.  The youngest participant is probably late 50s up to a spry gentleman who's 88. 

It's mostly cardio/dance and I enjoy the movement.  So, weight training Monday and Friday, cardio Tuesday and Thursday, Wednesday and Sunday I have a plan I follow at home, with Saturday a day of rest. Sounds exhausting but as long as I keep the weight off it's worth it.  While I was losing my weight I went to Weight Watchers meetings for support.  The leader stated over and over that the people most successful keeping their weight off, exercised.  That's also what got me to 24 Hour Fitness. 

 

As a future full-timer I have a concern about being able to continue on this weights/cardio regimen.  Kim and I have talked about it and I will probably become her first "virtual" client because I need to keep upping what I'm doing for continued success.  I suppose I could map my journey based on 24 Hour Fitness locations, or, instead of pulling my SUV I could buy weight equipment, a covered trailer and pull the equipment behind me.  Nah, I think that would be a bit overboard.

Enough on that.  I bought a new scanner and I'm anxious to try it out.  Wish me luck.

Talk to ya tomorrow,

Jeana