Ya'll Come Back Now...

Goodbye Nashville Country RV Park. Good riddance pet release area and doggy poo bags. Won't miss you shower that gives 5 minutes of warm water. Don't follow us evil squirrel! It is time again to move. Tonight is our final night sleeping in the camper. We just did the final walk through on the house, now we only have to fork over a chunk of change, sign a bunch of papers and we will be home owners again!

Which means, the end of the blog. We didn't quite make it to 20 days. And I have to say, we are just a little bit glad to be moving out of the camper early. Just a quick thanks to everyone who has helped us out with this whole episode. Camper owners and people who are currently storing out belongings in their garages, thank you, thank you, thank you!! Also thanks to all the readers and feedback who made this fun. :) Hey, maybe I'll find something else to blog about someday.

The End

Forts, Books & Generators

It seems like we build up more laundry while camping! We did laundry for the third, and final, time today at the RV park. While we were letting the loads run we gave Echo one of her zillion walks. The last few days, she has become increasingly restless. But I can't blame her. Even the cat has had a few episodes of crazy, darting around the camper. All four of us are ready to be in a larger space. It really showed today how antsy Echo has been. Typically she is the biggest scaredy cat! She'll barely jump into the car without a little whining and pacing to check the situation out. Today, Sam climbed up on the children's play fort and yelled "up". Neither of us imagined she would even attempt the jump. It's about 4 feet off the ground! Without a seconds hesitation she leapt up and grabbed the floor of the fort with her two front paws to pull herself up. With a little push from behind by me, she was standing quite proudly up there with Sam. :) she even ran straight down the slide to get down.

Today, I finally finished a book I've been reading for months! Every time I would attempt to read I would instantly fall asleep. But I was determined to finish it. A robot murder mystery - I know what you all are thinking.... You'll have to get in line to borrow it. ;) next on the reading list is Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter.

While I was finishing my book, Sam went next door to the Shell station to get a Sprite. While there, a local citizen was asking everyone in the store if they had a large generator for sale. Apparently he needs a generator to run his dryer. I'm not sure, but is that the most convenient way to run a dryer? And if you need a generator, is the best place to acquire one at the local Shell gas station? Maybe it is. Maybe it's the local shop for black market generators.

Pizza Alone

We decided to order some Papa John's for dinner tonight. I remembered seeing coupons in the camp office, so Sam ran over to get them and asked the office girl for the local number. He got back and we started placing our order online. I gave Sam the coupon code to enter and that's when we realized our coupon expired in August, 2012. I'm starting to wonder if anything in the camp office didn't expire in 2012.

We have had the same neighbors right next to us since day one of being here. I think it became an unspoken competition to see who could stay the longest. They gave up and left today. I think we won... Didn't we?

We thought we were about to get some new neighbors early this afternoon. Someone was looking at the site right next to us...where Sam had just parked my car. When Echo started barking I told Sam he might need to move the car. So we went out and talked to the potential neighbor, who started asking Sam if he was here alone, and other questions. For some reason, Sam decided to speak to him in a pirate voice. Every other word was arg or aye matey. Next thing ya know, guy is driving out of the campground. Oh well, we didn't want new neighbors anyway.

We also drove by the new house today, sellers were moving out!

Hoo Who Owl?

We heard something last night after we went to bed. No, not wrestling music. Sounded kind of like a hoot owl. Sorta creepy.

So I went to work today as usual. Sam actually had today off - so got to spend a long, boring day in the camper. With Coach, who must think she is filthy, because all she does is clean herself. The noise drives Sam bonkers!!

Anywho, about 11:00 Sam sends me this picture of an owl!! He is just chilling in the tree on the spot next to us. I couldn't believe it. Sam goes on to tell me he saw the owl fight one of the stray cats for a mouse this morning. He heard the ruckus, but by he time he got his camera out the owl had won and flown off with the mouse. The owl, which we have named Frederick, also delivered at least 6 letters to neighbor campers. I guess that's how you get mail here. He's such a great neighbor to have. Killing off the rodents and delivering mail - all in a days work.

p.s. we aren't going crazy, yes, we know he's plastic. But what the heck is it doing up here!?

Good News Today!

I should have known today was going have a nice surprise when I saw that amazing sky on my way into work today.

We heard today we get to close on our house 2 days early!! Hope you all aren't too disappointed, but this means the blog just might end a wee bit earlier than planned.

I am pretty excited. I probably look on Zillow at the pictures of our house at least 5 times a day. Sam and I have been discussing colors and new furniture options for days. Fun!!

This isn't going to come soon enough. I drove up to the camper today and reached over for my garage door opener. Just in case you are wondering, no, our camper does not have a garage door, and I currently don't have a garage door opener. I have just gotten that comfortable driving home to the RV park. Yikes!

It's so cold, let me count the ways..

When I told my mom we were going to be living in a camper until we could move into our new house, one of her first comments was “It’s February, it’s going to be cold”. Mom lives in northern Indiana. She owns a snow blower. I think, but not sure, but I have heard rumors they don’t even close schools when it snows up there! So, I can see why she would be concerned. When she expressed her worry to me, I just laughed, “Mom,” I said, “we live in Tennessee! It doesn’t get cold here like it does there.” Well, the jokes on me (and Sam) I keep wondering if it got this cold last year. I don’t quite remember it like this. Although, I did have a garage to park in, and a nice insulated home. I didn’t have to walk a dog a zillion times a day because we had a fence. I’m vaguely remembering those days, they feel so long ago.

I absolutely DREAD the morning time when I have to get up and start getting ready for work. It never really gets warm enough in the bathroom. You can’t leave the hot water running to warm up the room – because, let me tell ya, there just isn’t enough hot water for that. Sam uses Dr. Bronner’s shampoo. It’s this huge, clear plastic bottle that lasts forever. Well, I’ve noticed the last few days his shampoo is a different color. I started to wonder if it had gone bad (can shampoo go bad?). But in the afternoon it looks normal. So, it’s not exactly frozen, but there is some form of chemical reaction happening. Does that tell you how chilly it is in the morning? Brrr - 8 more mornings… I can do it.

Ugh, I can’t wait to be parked in a garage again. I have been so spoiled! I don’t even know where my ice scraper is…or if I ever had one. I just go out and sit in my car in the morning until the windows are defrosted. Maybe my alarm won't go off tomorrow. ;)

Some of you may have been wondering how our house plants have been fairing in these lovely temperatures. The two who had to attempt life outside, gave up about a week ago. Maybe they go dormant, they could come back, right? My only plant left, is a spider plant that I am keeping at my desk at work. He is doing just fine.

Needless to say, Mom, you were right. It is COLD!!

Photos of Nothing

Sorry to disappoint everyone today, but nothing crazy or wacky happened! Can you believe it? Maybe we are getting way too comfortable and good at this. Well, so as not to bore you all with rambling, I thought I could just share a few random pictures I've taken.

Enjoy!

War With Squirrels

There was a squirrel at our previous house (you remember, the house that wasn't on wheels) well, this squirrel terrorized Echo mercilessly. He would stand on the top of the fence just so Echo could see him from the house. I'd let her out the door, where she would run as fast as she could down the length of the fence, while the little bugger would just hop along the top and at some point jump off. He would sit about a foot from the fence, just staring Echo down. (I swear he waved and would wink at Echo just to rub it in)

I think it's possible this squirrel must have hitched a ride and followed us to the RV park. I noticed a chubby little guy hanging out in the trees above the pet walk area today. And yes, he is teasing Echo yet again. But, he took it a step further today - he wiggled a 6 foot stick out of the highest reaches of the trees. It hit the ground like a spear not 3 feet from where we were standing! It's on squirrel! I might "accidentally" drop Echo's leash next time we see you.

By the way - there are tons of these lovely green stations strategically placed throughout the entire park. I think, not sure, but it's possible the park wants us to put something in these containers. They have little bags, kind of like at the grocery store in the produce section. Hmmm, I'll need to investigate this further.

Subway - Not so Fresh

Sam + Millersville Subway = Night in the bathroom

We thought last night was going to be bad due to the cold. That wasn't the issue, turned out Subway is serving up some questionable sandwiches. Poor Sam. Apparently he can stomach expired pickled eggs, but not bad turkey. He is doing much better today, thank goodness. One of the few things he even spoke this morning was, "how much longer are we going to be here". I counted: 11 more nights. I hope we can make it!!

Out of the four of us, the beast pictured below seems to be the least effected by camper living. Today, she squeezed herself behind Sam's computer, on our only table, to take advantage of a tiny sun square she spotted. It's amazing to me how quickly cats can adapt to a situation. There are a couple stray cats living in the park. We spied one drinking from our neighbors water facet, where they had the hose hooked up. She must have found a drip.

I have also included a funny image Coach left in her food dish for us. She is pesky sometimes, but still can make you smile. :)

Chilly Saturday

One cold night down another to go.

I mistakenly packed all my winter hats. I've been wrapping my head in scarves, as Sam calls it: Jackie O style. During an episode of some old school 90210 I crocheted myself a lovely hat. I even added a flower. Now, at least, my head will be nice and toasty while we walk Echo. I may have to work on some mittens next.

To Sam's dismay, I discovered the Soap channel. 90210, Veronica Mars & Gilmore Girls. The perfect line up. I couldn't believe it when Sam started doing some editing work during Gilmore Girls.

I was able to drag him away for a quick trip to Dollar General where we stocked up on some groceries. We also checked out the work out room in the camp. We have been so inactive! It also doesn't help when you are pretty much sitting in the kitchen and the cookies are just looking at you! I could tell Sam was even feeling the frustration of inactivity when he ran on the treadmill for at least 5 minutes. I've never seen that before. :)

They have a video selection in the camp office that I browsed after exercising. I'm not sure how much they are to rent. We might have to check on that later. Sam did notice they have 2 copies of Ice Age, must be a popular pick. Also, one movie was labeled with a post-it "skips around". I guess if you are short on time or don't care what order you watch a movie in, then that would be the pick for you.

Finally, last but not least, it appears someone allowed their dog to relieve itself on the tire of my car. Come on people, that is just rude. I'll be on the lookout for the culprit.

SAW!!

Let me preface this with, I have never watched nor been to a wrestling match before. :) here's how it went down..

What does one wear to Southern Allstar Wrestling (pronounced wrastling). I was a little worried we would stand out, so I went with just a black shirt and jeans. I needn't have worried, it wouldn't matter what we wore - we would have stood out.

We drove to the place, since it was about 30 degree outside. When we arrived, the parking lot was almost full and about 50% of the fans were standing out front smoking or working on their 1994 model Chevys. We pulled up in the scion and were immediately stared at. We walked right in like we knew what we were doing, when we obviously didn't. The door guy didn't say a word to us. So Sam asked, "is this, I'm assuming the wrestling place?" Dude was like "yeah". So, then Sam asked him if we had to pay, so he proceeded to tell us it was $10 to get in! Sam quoted him the website said first timers get in for free. He tried to tell us that stopped 2 months ago, but let us in for free anyway.

So we get in and find a seat next to a nice looking couple, the woman was wearing a sparkly hat and white men's shirt and no pants. That's right, no pants. The gentleman asked us if it was our first time at the place. I said yes. He then asked if we were rascal fans. I didn't even know what that meant. So just said , who is that? He also asked if we were on our honeymoon. Yeah, because we would go to a wrestling match on our honeymoon.

So, they played the national anthem and the match started. It was ok I guess. Some guys in spandex pretended to hit each other. One guy had a white sword painted on his pants. One guy brought his own chair to the ring to hit his opponent with. That was pretty awesome. His girl had on a neck brace. But my all time favorite guy looked just like the long haired bad guy from Twin Peaks. The Fire Walk With Me guy. If you know who I'm talking about, then you know why I was really creeped out by this wrestler. Oh, and apparently they were taping this for the CW. So it's possible we'll actually be on TV at some point. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

I suppose if we lived up here permanently we would probably come to wrestling every Friday, like these people. It's Millersville, not much else to do.

p.s. does anyone know what a toliet is?

V-Day

The first thing I gave Sam for Valentines Day was a cold camper. I have to turn the heat off in the morning when I blow dry my hair. I forgot to turn it back on before I left today. Oops.

I stopped in the RV park store after work today, to pick up probably the best Valentine's Day gift ever - a hat for Sam and a card. I let the gal at the counter know I was picking out something for Sam. Good thing, because all the sudden she goes, "he's coming!" I looked out and saw Sam pulling up. I was able to give the excuse that we had to pay for our second week in the park. I think he was surprised with his hat.

We had planned to eat at one of the local meat and 3 restaurants (country style cooking) for Valentine's Day, but both are only open for breakfast and lunch. So we turned around and headed in the direction of Goodlettsville. We found the Star Cafe - which turned out to be some southern home cooking. This is always a dangerous choice for me, since I don't eat meat. Places like this put stuff like back fat and lard and other disgustingness in everything. :) anyway, we walk in and pick a seat. This very round older lady with red velour pants asked what we wanted to drink and if we knew what we wanted. Which seemed strange, since no one had given us menus. Finally, someone pointed to the chalkboard menu on the wall. Sam ordered the roast beef and some veggies. He really liked it. I got Mac n cheese, white beans and a squash casserole. I didn't really care for any of it. At least the chocolate brownie cake was really yummy. :)

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's day!!

Day 6

I have always picked out my clothes for work the night before. Of course, about 65% of the time I end up changing my outfit in the morning. Not anymore. Whatever I pick out I have to wear. It is way too dark and awkward to find anything in the morning. Half my clothes are hanging in the smallest closet I've ever seen, the other half are being kept in a suitcase. On top of that, the iron was packed in the storage pod. I may not be looking my normal amazing self lately. ;)

Although, there is no way I would know. I'm about 5'4" tall and can touch the ceiling of the camper. But for some reason the mirror above the bathroom sink was mounted at a height just perfect for a giant. I can only see from my nose and up. At least I can tell my bangs are looking super great.

Couple of occurrences I should mention from today. Somehow, someone turned off the hot water heater last night. I went to shower this morning and there was just enough warm water to trick me into actually getting in and start washing. I was able to wash out the shampoo and apply conditioner with some warmish water. I then attempted to rinse out conditioner with the coldest water you could possibly ever imagine. At that point I had no idea the water heater could even be turned off. Sam made sure to call later and interrogate me regarding the cutoff switch. He didn't even get a shower. Just a quick sink bath, something he likes to refer to as a "whore bath". Switch is back in the on position.

And finally, we either have mice or our cat must think she is underfed. Somebody helped themselves to the loaf of bread today.

Salsa, Eggs & Saw Dust

We took a walk around the RV park this afternoon and made a stop in the office. I noticed the shelf of locally grown, and canned treats. We decided to try the Hot Pickled Eggs and Cranberry Orange Salsa.

One of the other campers was talking to the gal at the check out desk. Sam tried to sneak a picture of him, but could not get a great shot. Camper guy was covered in saw dust. Maybe he's a lumberjack... Who knows. He did notice what we were purchasing and proceeded to tell us all about cranberries and the harm they can cause. In his case, kidney stones. He claims that the last kidney stone he ever had, in 1995, was caused from the cranberry sauce he ate at Thanksgiving. I won't give you all the details, lets just say its 20 minutes we can never get back.

Turns out the salsa we purchased was really good. I didn't brave the pickled eggs. Sam says they were "not his favorite". I cant say I'm surprised, they expired in September 2012.

Case of the "Mondays"

So four nights, and we still feel like newbies to this RV'ing thing. Well, today was our first day back to work and the attempt at starting the early morning routine again.

The first 5 minutes went pretty smoothly. I got up at 5:20 - my normal weekday wake up time to make it into work by 7:00 a.m. Of course, Echo and Coach thought they should get up with me. I promptly shut the bathroom door on Echo, but Coach made her way in. See, her litter box and food dish are also in the bathroom. (Echo has made it her mission to get in there and eat all the cat food.) I get into the shower, everything is fine, when all the sudden the bathroom door flys open and the laundry hamper falls across the bathroom, covering the 2 foot space that consists of the entire bathroom floor. At this point I try to open the shower to see what happened, but I can't even open the door because the hamper is blocking it. So I yell, quite loudly, "I can't get out!" Sam has already heard the ruckus, and was trying to come help. But, since he did not have on his glasses he couldn't see a thing. (He is quite blind you know) He eventually got the hamper moved and at that point must have decided to use the restroom. Let me warn you, flushing the toilet while someone is in the shower - not a good idea. Talk about scalding hot water! Oh my - I finally finished getting ready for work and even arrived early.

I was feeling pretty good, until about 7:30 I get a call on my phone from a number I don't recognize. It's Sam. Apparently I only locked the door halfway - which means you can go out the door but not in, so you wouldn't notice the door is going to lock behind you when it closes. So he was locked out of the camper. The only spare set of keys - with me. 30 minutes away. He has nothing. No phone, no wallet, nothing - 30 degrees and pajamas. In fact, the office at the park isn't even open yet. No one in the park was awake. So he walked around awhile trying to figure out what to do, when he noticed this box on the side of the building that looked like it might be the size a phone could fit in. What do you know - there hung a phone. Sam called me so I could let his work know he was going to be late. I attempted to call the number back to see what Sam planned on doing, but turns out its the park's fax line - no calls can go through. The office finally opened and Sam got a phone number for a locksmith from the office woman. The guy quoted Sam it would be $100 to open the door. So he hung up on that guy. Ended up, the guy who works in the office has a special key that unlocks RV doors. Yeah - sounded fishy to me too. But hey, it worked! Sam was able to get in and get Echo to the new doggy day care place and off to work. Only a little late.

So, we are hoping this doesn't become our new routine. If these are going to be the daily happenings - I'm not sure if we'll survive this!

Rain, rain go away!

Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Honey I Blew Up the Baby, Stargate -The Ark of Truth, Star Trek III & V and finally The A-team. Our rainy day line-up. Cabin fever seriously set in - the only cure seemed to be a run through the puddles.

We consulted the weather station they have here in the park to determine when the rain might stop. We had a hard time reading what the 7 day forecast might be. But, we could deduce it was windy and rainy. We've been a little bit worried about the threat of tornados. We felt better when we saw this weather station. This should help us to accurately predict when one is coming. I even saw a sign for the storm shelter - which seems to also double as the laundry room.

I did squeeze in a minute to paint my nails before the rain started. I think this may have been during one of the Star Trek movies.

Where's that music coming from..?

Woke up today with the thermometer reading 30 degrees outside and a toasty 68 inside. Glad that our little heater is working so well!

We did some laundry today - $1.75 to wash one load! Seems like highway robbery. But I did notice a flyer in the laundry room for a local wrestling venue. Kind of made me chuckle.

Sam mentioned he heard some music last night after we had gone to bed. So we thought maybe there was a bar or some type of live music place on the other side of the fence. This afternoon, when we couldn't stand sitting in the camper any longer we loaded up the dog and went for a car ride to check out the local attractions and to see where that music was coming from. Low and behold, not 200 yards from our camper sits the wrestling venue. Wrestling ever Friday night at 8! We looked the place up online, all new comers get in for free their first night. We are seriously thinking about attending next Friday. What do you all think? Should we take in a wrestling match in the hills of TN? Who wants to join us?

p.s. Xbox live is a no go. Thankfully we are able to connect our phones to the tv to watch Netflix. Just finished House of Cards - VERY Good. :)

Homeless!

We are officially homeless! We dropped the pooch off at doggy daycare this morning and made our way to the realtor's office to close. When we told the office girls we were staying in an RV park, they said, "at least you don't live in Minnesota". :)

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity. Loading, cleaning, setting up camp and unloading. Sam met his dad at the RV park - who drove his camper over from Knoxville. Our cat has adapted pretty quickly. Although, she doesn't seem to appreciate the cooler temperature. The toughest decision this morning came when I realized you can not run the heater and coffee maker at the same time or the breaker will trip. I sacrificed a little bit of heat for a nice warm cup of coffee.

I've posted a couple pictures. You might notice the lovely patio furniture we brought. We would love to sit on them, but we packed the cushions. Oh, and yes, those are house plants we hope survive the outside in February.

The only other interesting tidbit from today-we ate lunch at Newks after we signed all the closing paperwork. All the sudden Sam's mouth fell open and he exclaimed, "that guy has a leather Member's Only jacket just like mine" yep, very exciting. ;)