California Update

Have been in California for a little over a week and it has been so busy.  I am STILL unpacking from the painting last year and am making donations to charity.  I decided I no longer need most of the cook books and cooking magazines I have accumulated.  I never open them anymore and everything seems to be on line.  So, off to the used book store they go.

We also discovered that the RV will not fit in our driveway nor in the driveway that Robert had made up the hill.  It is too steep. (laughing uncontrollably).  Guess being in finance and not engineering is showing itself.  Right now the RV is parked in DIL's driveway up the hill, which is somewhat inconvenient, as I always seem to find something else that is in the RV.

I have also been working to consolidate my stitching stash.  What I brought from Texas and what was here in California.  It is overwhelming.  I have enough kits, enough fabric and enough patterns to last me until I am well over 200 years old at my current stitching rate.  And it took me an entire 8 hours to organize and log all the floss (just the DMC).   Crazy.

I am putting myself on a stitching stuff diet.  Well, sort of.  I am determined not to get any more patterns and/or kits until I get some finishes under my belt.  All this organizing and such has left me little stitching time so I have not made much progress for the past couple of weeks. 

I did start organizing the Books Reading Books HAED project and cannot wait to start it.  I am intimidated by the fabric, so I ordered some 18 count aida in case I cannot get the hang of the fabric that came with the kit.  Daunting!  I also had to order two new scrolls because my max length was 20 inches and I need at least 22.  And I put the first 16 colors on bobbins.   This will probably take me several years to finish.

I also kitted up the Welcome Friends in Celtic that I want to do for my nephew and his wife.  I decided to change the  colors over to DMC and some of them are not even close!  So, I may delay starting this project as I need to get some threads for it.  I will post a photo of it once I start it.

I made some progress on Woodland Enchantress.  This project has been my focus this week.  It is kind of slow going although I am liking how it is coming out.  I am using the System 44 stand (I think that is what it is called) to see how it is going to work for me.  Since I had to put the project side ways on the scroll frame, it is a little awkward to stitch.  The floor standing is helping some, but it is still not so comfortable.  Another reason I ordered the longer scroll bars.  This is the second project I have had to put sideways on the frame. It is about 1/4 done at this point. 

 

I put the Santa and Mouse HAED project I am doing on my American Dream lap frame that was here in California and it is going OK.  Still slow progress.  It has not dampened my enthusiasm for the large project from HAED that I will start soon.

 

And Bay Dunes was the project I worked on during the trip.  It is coming along nicely.  I did some of the back stitching while I was listening to Grandgirl nap the other day.  The babysitting is PERFECT as I can stitch without guilt.  Nothing else to do but listen to the little gal sleep!  Loving it.

I have found that my magnifying light that I love is just not working for me here.  It works like a charm in Texas, but the chair I use here in California is wider.  So, I ordered a new light.  Just what I need, right?   It came in yesterday and is still in the box so the jury is out on how well it is going to work.

That is it for now.  I will do another update in November (only 2 days away, yikes) sometime.  Hopefully I will have a finish or two before that.  I wanted to finish Bay Dunes by the end of October, but that isn't going to happen.

Am really enjoying time with the Grand Girls, but I miss the river more than I thought.  It seems there are many more demands on my time here in CA.  The pace if definitely faster and everyone is in a hurry.  We have a lot more going on so perhaps it is my imagination.

More as it happens

Thanks for visiting.

Last Day of Preparation

By now I am sure you are hopelessly hooked and thoroughly engrossed.

So here is what has happened today:

Final arranging and packing in the RV is almost complete.  If you travel in an RV you know that containers are a must, as are those rubber shelf liner things.  They are great to keep things from sliding around.  I have often wondered by manufacturers line all the cabinets with a felt like substance that acts like an ice flow on anything that you put in the cabinets.  I can't tell you how many times I have opened a cabinet and been showered with whatever was inside.  A story I am sure can be related by any RVer.

One thing I notice since we moved out of our first RV is that the cabinets above the table and couch areas are not as tall (in fact, won't even accommodate a cereal box, so I have had to change a lot of the ways I stored things in them. 

So, here are some shots of the storage:

 You can't seen the labels, but one holds spare shelf and drawer liners and one holds those plastic command hooks, as well as zip ties and electrical tape.   I find zip ties and command hooks (the removable ones) also an essential. 

 This jumbled mess is the "stuff" for the dogs.  Treats, medicine, first aide, flea and tick stuff, shampoo, collars, vaccination records, etc.  Traveling with and packing for two dogs is not nearly as difficult as traveling with children, so this one cabinet seems to be plenty (oh, except their raincoats are stored under the bed and their food which is in another area and their beds.....and......)

 These totes hold snacks and breakfast and protein shake ingredients.

 These are ready for lunch items; bread, chips, crackers, etc.

 Dishes.  Now if you know me you know I am not a big fan of eating my dinner from a paper plate every day.  I know a lot of RV folks use only paper products when they travel, but I like a dish.  After much consideration given to space and weight, I settled on Corelle.  I can pick it up for about 25 cents at almost any thrift store and it is lighter weight than most dishes and pretty durable.  My "serving" bowls, for salad and the like are plastic, however.

 This cabinet holds paper plates, throw-away cups and paper napkins.

 This is for fire starters, our giant insulated cups we use as well as flashlights, battery powered lanterns cozies for canned drinks.  I should mention that those insulated mugs that I like so well do not fit in any of the cup holders. 

 I even use the microwave for storage.  Since it is just above where I put the coffee pot, it is the perfect place for creamers.  In the basket are a microwave steamer that I just love and a single serving crock pot that I can't live without.  I find storing this stuff in here keep the glass plate from rattling around so badly while we are moving.  I used to store kitchen towels in the microwave that helped keep it quiet, but in the new rig this works better so far.

 Coffee cups and plastic drinking glasses grace this cabinet.  I think the tension things are essential.  If I have one that is too short for the cabinet (since this is RV number three) I use it vertically as you can see here.

I used to use the pink corning ware cooker thing all the time even on the stovetop.  Then my good friend Janeen told me about the wonder of an electric skillet.  Now I use that almost exclusively to prepare things.  It doesn't heat up the RV as bad as running the stove burner and it is easy as pie to use and to clean.  So, this may be the last trip for the old corning ware cooking pot.  We shall see.

I know that I have many things that I probably do not need, but most of what is here are things that I have wished I had during a previous trip.  And, as I said before, there is plenty of room (so far).  I know I thought that about our previous RVs, but the more we traveled in them, the most room I seemed to need.  One of the good things about changing RVs is that all the stuff gets cleaned out.

 

 

That pretty much covers the main cabin.  The drawers hold flatware, kitchen towels, utensils, etc.

 

Just to keep you coming back for more, I will save the fridge, pantry (yes I have a pantry can you believe it!) and bedroom for another time!  Clever of me, right.