Daddy's Ok!! Thanks Ya'll :)

Hey Ya'll,

We finally heard that my Dad's procedure is done and he is doing great!  I'm not sure why the Procedure took so long, but at least it is done.  And it appears that he will not need the full on Bypass Surgery again.  :)  However, I found out that (and I am not sure if I am saying this correctly, as we got this information second, second hand), but we were told that the Valve was leaking fluid into the Heart, instead of out of the Heart.  So I am interpreting (guessing really) that one of the Valves is not closing properly, and is allowing fluid to enter back into the Heart.  For all of you out there that is in the Medical field, or has some experience in this, does this make sense to you??? 

But other than that, he appears to be doing great.  He said that he is able to breath again, and feels much better already.  So I am guessing that this was a godsend that he only had a "Minor" Heart Attack, instead of another "Major" one, or another Stroke!!!  And he should be released in a couple of days!  So I want to send a huge thank you, to all of you that read my blog, and have kept him in your thoughts and prayers.  I may not be a religious person, but I do believe in a Higher Being.  And every good thought counts.  And I know that we can always count on our fellow blogger s to be here for each other!!!

As for our day today, well, I haven't been "stuck" since yesterday, so I am guessing that the stress definitely played a huge part in my sudden tightness!  Today we went into the Nevada DMV, and we were impressed at how quickly we were processed.  We were only in there for about 2 hours total, and that was for both of us, and that included the time for Walt to take his written test!!  At our local DMV in California, it would have taken at least half the day!!

So I now have a temporary Nevada DL, as does Walt, but he still has to take a Driving Skill test to complete his DL, as he has to have a J Endorsement for his DL, to be able to tow an RV over 10,000 lbs, and ours is about 24,000-25,000 lbs!!  We also now have a Permanent Address for Nevada, a Storage Bldg space for what we don't want to get rid of right away, but can't fit in our RV, and the space that we want already on hold for us at the RV Resort.  So we feel like we got a lot accomplished today!!  So now we will be driving home tomorrow.

So again, I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and response to my question regarding my sudden tightness!!  Till next time.....

Aloha My Friends  :)

Pray For My Dad Please & What The??????

Hey Ya'll,

Well, first off I want to tell you about my Dad.  He is one of the most important people to me.  He is not my Biological Father.  However, he is so much more to me.  My parents were in the midst of a Divorce when my Mom found out she was pregnant with me.  They decided not to reconcile just because she was pregnant.  My mom had already been friends with my Dad (Step Dad) for years (just so you know, from hereon out, when ever I talk about my Dad (Daddy) in my Blog, it is my Step Dad, not my Biological Dad I am talking about, I will say mu BD if that is who I am discussing).  So, my Mom and Dad started dating, fell in love, and married when I was 8 months old!  I have never stayed one single night with my BD, and I have lived with my DADDY my entire life!

Now that you know how important he is to me, now I can tell you why I am asking for your thoughts and prayers.  He had another Heart Attack yesterday.  When we were at the Hospital visiting him, we were told that he hadn't had a Heart Attack, but that they were keeping him over night for precaution and would be giving him a Stress Test today.

We had to drive up to Reno this morning to begin our transformation from California Residents to Nevada Residents.  We really need to get this done, as we can't finalize the purchase of our RV and Register it in Nevada, until we get our DL's and Current Vehicles Registration changed over to show we are Nevada Residents.  So we are stuck up in Reno for a couple of days and can't be there for my Daddy.

After we arrived here, we called my Mom to see how he is doing (we assumed he would be home already), and found out that they didn't give him the Stress Test, as they had determined that he actually had had another Heart Attack!  So they had planned on doing Angioplasty to determine if he needed Bypass Surgery again!  He had to undergo a Quintuple Bypass about 15 years ago, and we had started to notice some of the warning signs again, and was hoping that he would not have another Heart Attack, but.......

My Brother just called me and advised that he just left the Hospital after visiting my Dad.  He said that my Dad's Angioplasty went well.  They replaced one of the Stints that they had placed a few years ago, and will go in again tomorrow to replace another one (why they didn't do both today, I don't know).  But they are fairly confident that he will not have to have another Bypass.  But tomorrow will tell.  So please send out your thoughts and prayers for him!  We have all our family and friends here thinking of him, but I know that the hundreds of ya'll out there keeping good thoughts for him will help as well!!!  And our little blogging community is the best at helping each other!  Ya'll are the best!!

Now as for the, What The????? in my Blog title.  Well, as you know, I had to go have an unfill about a month back, and have been fairly loose since then!  But for some reason, yesterday and today, I have been super tight!!!  I have been Stuck and had to PB every meal since!  What goes??  Is it because of the change in weather?  Or could it be that today's problem, even though I ate something that should not have bothered me for lunch today, that I am still ubber tight because of the increase in elevation??  We live at about 100 ft and are now at about 4400 ft.  Has anyone else had this problem??  To be so loose, then for no apparent reason, tight all of a sudden??  I would really like to know if this is a fluke or if others have had this happen as well.

Well, gotta go, will post more as I hear what is happening.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Ours was great.

Till Next Time.....

Aloha My Friends  :) 

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!!!

Ummmm, what else needs to be said???


I just LOVE Ham!


My favorite cake in the whole world!  Sweet German Chocolate Cake (only from scratch is acceptable), not that regular Chocolate Cake with Pecan Frosting thrown on top like some Restaurants try to pass off as German Chocolate Cake!


And another view of the cake, this is what my version looks like.  I prefer to make it with 2 layers instead of the traditional 3.  Otherwise, the same.


And of course, I couldn't possibly leave out the Coconut Cream Pie!!  My FAVORITE!!


Then of course, another of my favorite pies...the Banana Cream Pie!

And this is one I have yet to taste, but our friend may be bringing one of these to Dinner.  It is the Banana Cream Cheesecake, from The Cheesecake Factory.  Yum!!!  I am trying not to think about the calories right now!

Hey Ya'll,

Well like before, so little time, so much to do!!!  Well folks, we are moving right along, and assuming Walt gets his Nevada Driver's License with the allowance to tow a Trailer weighting more than 10,000 lbs, we will be picking up our RV sooner than originally planned.  Possibly a week or two sooner, so that means that I have been in hyper drive trying to go through our belongings for the move.  Starting Friday or Saturday, we will begin taking most of the rest of our belongings, that we are not keeping to their new homes...... :( :( :(  But!  At least we know that they will be appreciated by those we are giving them to.  Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho!!

So we are driving up to the Reno/Carson City area this Sunday, to begin our transformation from California Residents to Nevada Residents by applying for our new Driver's License's and getting the Vehicles Registered as well.  Then, once we start that process and pick up the RV, we will move it on up!!

So, since I have so little time.....I am leaving you with photos of some of my all time favorite Holiday Foods!!  And I want to make sure that ya'll know that these are not my photos.  I borrowed them from the good ole Internet!!  Isn't the Internet great???  And yes, some of my photos are floating out there in cyberspace as well!  So feel free to copy them if you find them for your own purposes.

I hope that ya'll have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Aloha My Friends  :)

Woo Hoo!! My Faves Won In NHRA!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I haven't posted in a few days again.  Like before, so much to do, so little time....We are edging closer to our move with each day.  We have decided to make our "Home State" Nevada.  We were going to make it South Dakota, but determined Nevada would be fine, at least for now.  So by next month, we should have setup our Permanent Residency there.

We have set a date for when we will be driving down to pick up our RV.  My next Fill appointment is set for December 15th.  So we will be driving up to Reno for the Fill, then driving down to Las Vegas for the night (don't worry, we never gamble,we just hate throwing our money away), plus we will be tired from all the driving, so we will just want to eat, settle down and go to sleep.  The next morning, we will continue on to Mesa to pick up the RV!!  We have never towed an RV before, so we will need all the advise and hopefully some lessons on the proper way to back up with it, etc that we can get from the Dealer. 

I'm sure Walt believes that he can do it, but when you have never towed anything major before, and now you are towing a 40' RV!!  Well, lets just say that this will be a new experience for both of us!  The dealer will also need to go through the entire RV with us to explain all of it to us, how to hook it up properly, & how to Set it up & take it down, etc.  It has 3 Slides we will have to deal with.  And because of this, we have decided to get extra supports to place under the main Slide, since it is so long and will have some of the heavier furniture in it.

When we leave Mesa, we don't want to drive all the way up to Northern California in one day!!  Thank God!  So we will attempt to make it up to Barstow, Ca before stopping for the night.  If we do make it there, we plan on visiting Calico Ghost Town and be tourists for the day.  Then heading home the next day.  Once we are home, we will begin loading it up almost immediately.  So that we can move it up to Carson City.  So I may be a resident of Carson City before the end of the year after all!!

Other than this....we are getting ready for our family Thanksgiving Dinner, to be held at our house for the last time....But since we have given most of our furniture away already, we don't have much in the way to sit on!!  We have also given our Kitchen Table & Chairs to my parents.  So the only "Tables" we have, are the ones outside!  I sure hope it isn't too cold...As for seating, we really only have the 2 Love Seats and a Chair & Ottoman left. 

Then, like I said, we have the outdoor seating.  I really hope that some of the others coming, remembers to bring their camp chairs, other wise there will not be enough seating for everyone!  Oh, and did I mention that there will probably be a minimum of 20 and possibly 28 or so coming?  Luckily, there are always those that stand, just because!  And...did I mention that my Mother In Law is planning on coming down from East of Carson City to spend 4-5 days with us????  The only place that we have for her to sleep now, is an old Air Mattress that has a small leak.  We have not determined where it is as yet, so here's hoping that we do before we need it!  In the past, she always slept on our Red Sofa which was really comfortable.

Now, for my big news!  If you have been following my blog for long, you know that I am a HUGE NHRA DRAG RACING FAN!!  Well, tonight was the final race of the 2010 Racing Season, and my 2 favorite Racers WON!!!  Larry Dixon won in Top Fuel.  This was his 3rd Championship.  And John Force won in Funny's.  This was his amazing 15th Championship!!  And did I mention that John Force is 61 yrs old???  Here are some photos of them.





This is Larry Dixon (sigh), sorry Sweetheart, but...(sigh).



This is after a Burn Out prior to the start of the race.



During the race in the daytime.  Flames not easily visible.





And this is his Top Fuel Dragster with Flames! 
His top speed to 1000 Feet is "only" 324.36 MPH!!!!  Think of it,
0 mph - 324.36 mph in only 1000 Feet!!!!



This is John Force


And John doing a Burn Out before the race




And this shows the fantastic FLAMES you can see after dark!!


Well, I guess I better go for now, till next time.....


Aloha My Friends  :)

We Got One!!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, I haven't posted in a few days again, but it is because we were in negotiations on an RV, and I was terrified that I would jinx it if I said anything until the sale was completed!  They originally wanted a minimum of $27,900 for it, but Walt talked them down to $24,000!  And the Nada Low Retail (like Kelly Blue Book for RV's) with all of the options it has, has it listed as $37,165!  So we got it for $13,165 less than the Low Nada price!  It is a 2008 (barely used) 40' Forest River Cardinal 36-2BH LE.  So it has 2 Bedrooms and 1-1/2 Baths, and a King size Bed.

It also comes with a 32" LCD TV which we will move from the Living Room to the Bedroom, and place our 40" LCD TV in the Living Room, then buy another 25"-27" LCD TV for my Office/Studio.  Walt's computer system will go in the drop down Computer area of the Entertainment Center, so both of our Computers will have it's own place.  We are also hoping to fit my Digital Piano in the 2nd Bedroom against the back wall under the window.  If we can't fit it there, we will place it where the two Bar Stools are.  And we are going to place one of the small Refrigerators from our current Barbecue Island in the 2nd Bedroom next to the entry door (for extra Refrigerator space) and place the LCD TV there on top of it.  So that I could actually watch TV while working at my Desk!  The other setup would have it always behind me!!!  And this RV has tons of storage for clothing, by far more than most!

We are keeping it at the Dealer in Mesa, Arizona, where it will stay until mid December when we will drive down to pick it up.  We can't pick it up right now, because we still have to have the Fifth Wheel Tow Hitch installed, plus a few upgrades done to the Truck to make it safer to pull that kind of a load, so that it doesn't tear up the Engine or Transmission!! 

We are planning on establishing a Permanent Residency in a different State, "Out Of California".  But this takes a little time, plus we aren't 100% sure which State we want to be Residents of (but we are probably going to make it South Dakota).  So of course this means more researching!!  We will be considered Full-Timers, which means that we can be Permanent Residents of any State we want, but free to roam around the Country!!  And we are choosing to leave our home State of California.  Especially since California elected Jerry Brown to be the new Governor again!!!!  They apparently didn't learn what a terrible Governor he was years ago!!  Oh how I hate politics!!

For at least the first 6 mos to a year/year and a half, we will have the RV parked in Nevada.  This way it is close enough that Walt can commute to Sacramento each week to attend meetings.  He can work primarily out of our RV, and go into work for about 2-3 days a week.  So when he is in Sacramento, he will stay with either our Daughter Kat, or his Sister Susan.  Then drive back up to Nevada and me!! 

So here are a "few" LOL photos of OUR RV!!  The furniture that is in it will probably not stay though.  Walt wants to take out the Sofa that is in it and put in our Black Leather Love Seat, and also take out the Dining Table & Chairs, replacing them with our Black Leather Chair & Ottoman.  We will also remove the lower Full Size Bed in the 2nd Bedroom and replace it with my Desk (making it my Office and I can also paint there as well).

 

 

So, till next time.......

Aloha My Friends!  :)

It's Been Too Long!!

Hey Ya'll,

Well, first of all, I would like to apologize for not posting in a while.  I have been painting, researching, crocheting, running around town doing errands, etc, etc, etc.!!!  But I know that that is not a good excuse!  We are coming down to the wire, on when we will need to vacate our home. :(  We are expecting to have to be out of the house by the end of the year.

So far, we have not purchased an RV to move into, and with our now ruined credit, we cannot rent either.  So we have only a few weeks to find an RV that is in decent, livable condition, that we can afford until we can save up our money to purchase a new (hopefully) "custom made" RV!!  But that won't be for at least a year from now.

So we need to find a decent RV to live in for at least a year, and we need it in a VERY short period of time!!  To say that I am a bit stressed out is an understatement!!  Walt keeps telling me not to worry....that things will work out, and yet we keep letting perfectly good RV's go by without purchasing them, because it isn't what he wants, or too much money, or.....WHATEVER!!!  So of course I am stressed out!  I am concerned that because he is waiting for the perfect interim RV, that we will end up in a dump for a year or more just to have something to live in at the last minute!!!  And, did I mention that we still have to finish cleaning out the garage of 20 yrs worth of clutter??  We still haven't started to box up the house!!!!!!  Like I said, am I stressed or what???

Anyhoo, like I said earlier, I have started working on my next two paintings.  So here is the result of the first day of painting on each of them!  Please don't judge them too soon, I know that the sky in the Seascape is messed up, but clouds will cover most of the area that isn't too pleasing to the eye right now, thank God!  LOL  So, here are the two paintings, and until next time......

Aloha My Friends!  :)

This first painting is Walt's.  I have since painted on it again, and have lightened up the sky much more, since the photo shows the sky to be almost white in color!

And here is my first attempt at copying a one of my favorite Painters (Christian Lassen).  Like I said, it is definitely a work in progress!!  If nothing else, I can always paint over it and start again!!!  LOL