The other day I visited Sidney's local Chamber of Commerce. I went in to see if they had any brochures about Cheyenne, WY, or anything else that might spark my interest. When the lady who was working there asked if I was new in town, I told her I was. She then said, "Let me get a newcomers packet for you". I just said OK and didn't really think anything about it. I wandered around some and when she handed the packet to me she explained what some of the items were and pointed out that there were some coupons in there to help me get acquainted with some of the local businesses. I waited until I got home before I "dove in" to check everything out. Let me tell ya...newcomers packets are awesome! There were so many cool coupons in there! Everything else just faded into the background as I poured over all the savings! Here are my top favorite coupons:
* 1/4 lb of free fudge at the local pharmacy (Of course I already used it, and of course we already ate it. I'm forcing myself not to walk back into that store.)
*$4 off admission at the movie theatre! (We watched Land of the Lost, which was pretty dumb, but the popcorn was amazing! Please note, this is why dieting is not easy for me...I'm so easily tempted by things like popcorn and fudge).
*10% off at the book store. I can already hear the cracking of the binding as I open my 7th Harry Potter book. (I'm almost finished with the sixth book! Wow, that means the 6th Harry Potter movie will be the the first one I watch in which I've actually read the book first!)
*$4 off a pedicure at the community college's school of cosmetology. Aren't school pedicures cheap enough as it is??? Which reminds me, I should really be booking that appointment instead of blogging.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
It only took 15 months
Although I tell everyone that I meet that I "travel" with my husband, he tends to get stuck at whichever location he goes to work at. For example, when he first began this job his first location was in Sweetwater, TX. They said he would be there for a couple of months. That turned into one year. Then, when we moved to Lamar, CO they said we would only be there for three weeks. Fifteen months later, we were still in Lamar. So I didn't necessarily believe it when hubby told me that we would be moving this week. But, miracles do happen, and on Sunday we moved! Our new location is Sidney, NE. Today is my hubby's first day of work so he'll get a better feel of how long we will be here. He was told we'd be here anywhere from two weeks to two months. Which I guess translates into almost a year according to our prior track record!
So far, here is what I like better about Sidney than Lamar:
*There is a Taco Bell!
*There are two coffee shops!
*There is a two screen movie theatre (hey, it beats a one screen movie theatre!)
*There is a Hallmark! (Because I do care enough to send the very best.)
*There is a book store!
*The town doesn't smell like cow crap!
*A major city (Cheyenne, WY) is only an hour and a half away!
*There are more restaurants in general!
*So far I haven't noticed an area of town that I affectionately refer to as "the ghetto". All the houses are nice, even the small ones!
*There is grass everywhere! (I know that I was in Lamar way too long when I think seeing grass is unusual)
Things I don't like about Sidney:
*Our RV park. (no wifi, no cable, and we can't get our darn satellite signal to come in)
*More stickers than the last RV park. Yes, it is possible.
And, in case they don't offer yoga or water aerobics here, then we can add that to the list as well!
With that said, I'm off to go explore and test out the walking trail!
So far, here is what I like better about Sidney than Lamar:
*There is a Taco Bell!
*There are two coffee shops!
*There is a two screen movie theatre (hey, it beats a one screen movie theatre!)
*There is a Hallmark! (Because I do care enough to send the very best.)
*There is a book store!
*The town doesn't smell like cow crap!
*A major city (Cheyenne, WY) is only an hour and a half away!
*There are more restaurants in general!
*So far I haven't noticed an area of town that I affectionately refer to as "the ghetto". All the houses are nice, even the small ones!
*There is grass everywhere! (I know that I was in Lamar way too long when I think seeing grass is unusual)
Things I don't like about Sidney:
*Our RV park. (no wifi, no cable, and we can't get our darn satellite signal to come in)
*More stickers than the last RV park. Yes, it is possible.
And, in case they don't offer yoga or water aerobics here, then we can add that to the list as well!
With that said, I'm off to go explore and test out the walking trail!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Relay for Life
I walked in my first Relay for Life event this past Saturday night. Well, technically it was the first charity walk event I have ever been in! And let me tell ya, it was so much fun! I was asked to be on my friend Bri's family's team way back on Easter. I wasn't really sure if we would still be in Lamar by the time it rolled around, but luckily we were!
For those of you who are not familiar with Relay for Life, it is a charity walk for the American Cancer Society. This year marks the 25th Anniversary for Relay for Life. Bri's family has walked in Relay for Life for the past several years. Her dad, Tim, was diagnosed with prostate cancer I believe back in 2001. He had surgery that same year and is now a cancer survivor. They have walked in Relay for Life ever since. I was so honored that they asked me to be a part of their family team!
The event began at 6:30 Saturday night and lasted until 7:00 Sunday morning. The idea is that at least one person from each team needs to be walking at all times. I got there a little before 6:00 and discovered that Bri was walking around selling tickets for a fifty/fifty drawing. However much money they raised, half of the money went to the winning raffle ticket, the other half our team donated to the American Cancer Society. What was really neat to see was that a lot of the other "campsites" that we approached were also doing their own type of fundraiser. Of course not having been to an event like this, I had no cash on me.
Around 6:30 they made the announcement for everyone to literally cram into the stadium bleachers so a group picture could be taken. Then they had an opening ceremony. Once that was over, they had all of the cancer survivors go down to the track and make the first lap. After that, everyone else was asked to go down to the track as well so everyone could make their first lap as a large group. This is a picture of everyone walking:
After that Bri and I volunteered to walk for our team, while the rest of the team went back to camp to prepare our dinner. Here's a picture of us on our first lap!
Needless to say, by the time we were relieved we were famished! Once we ate, we relaxed for awhile before relieving other team members. We did this off and on, walking then taking a break. Throughout the night there were all kinds of activities planned such as a dance performance, water balloon volleyball, a scavenger hunt, etc. We didn't participate in any of those activities but they were fun to watch when we had the chance.
Once midnight rolled around, Bri's mom made a list of thirty minute intervals that different people in our team would walk so people would have time to relax and take a quick nap if they wanted too. I volunteered to take the first time slot because unfortunately I was not going to be staying all night because Greg had planned a bike ride for us the next day. (Falling asleep on the back seat of the Harley does not sound appealing to me!) I left around 1:00 and had walked I think a little over 5 miles!
I found out that $72,508.11 was raised from the Lamar Relay for Life. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much money was raised by our team. I do know that Bri's mom alone raised over $2,000.00! Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me: my parents, Uncle John and Aunt Liz, Grandma C., Corey and Christina, Steve, and Ron! I had so much fun and it felt great to support such a great cause!
For those of you who are not familiar with Relay for Life, it is a charity walk for the American Cancer Society. This year marks the 25th Anniversary for Relay for Life. Bri's family has walked in Relay for Life for the past several years. Her dad, Tim, was diagnosed with prostate cancer I believe back in 2001. He had surgery that same year and is now a cancer survivor. They have walked in Relay for Life ever since. I was so honored that they asked me to be a part of their family team!
The event began at 6:30 Saturday night and lasted until 7:00 Sunday morning. The idea is that at least one person from each team needs to be walking at all times. I got there a little before 6:00 and discovered that Bri was walking around selling tickets for a fifty/fifty drawing. However much money they raised, half of the money went to the winning raffle ticket, the other half our team donated to the American Cancer Society. What was really neat to see was that a lot of the other "campsites" that we approached were also doing their own type of fundraiser. Of course not having been to an event like this, I had no cash on me.
Around 6:30 they made the announcement for everyone to literally cram into the stadium bleachers so a group picture could be taken. Then they had an opening ceremony. Once that was over, they had all of the cancer survivors go down to the track and make the first lap. After that, everyone else was asked to go down to the track as well so everyone could make their first lap as a large group. This is a picture of everyone walking:
After that Bri and I volunteered to walk for our team, while the rest of the team went back to camp to prepare our dinner. Here's a picture of us on our first lap!
Needless to say, by the time we were relieved we were famished! Once we ate, we relaxed for awhile before relieving other team members. We did this off and on, walking then taking a break. Throughout the night there were all kinds of activities planned such as a dance performance, water balloon volleyball, a scavenger hunt, etc. We didn't participate in any of those activities but they were fun to watch when we had the chance.
Once midnight rolled around, Bri's mom made a list of thirty minute intervals that different people in our team would walk so people would have time to relax and take a quick nap if they wanted too. I volunteered to take the first time slot because unfortunately I was not going to be staying all night because Greg had planned a bike ride for us the next day. (Falling asleep on the back seat of the Harley does not sound appealing to me!) I left around 1:00 and had walked I think a little over 5 miles!
I found out that $72,508.11 was raised from the Lamar Relay for Life. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much money was raised by our team. I do know that Bri's mom alone raised over $2,000.00! Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me: my parents, Uncle John and Aunt Liz, Grandma C., Corey and Christina, Steve, and Ron! I had so much fun and it felt great to support such a great cause!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
why I hate TicketMaster
If someone had asked me a month ago what I would be doing at this very instant I would tell them that I would be in Denver, primping for the No Doubt concert. The same would have been said two days ago. So, why am I not going to the concert? Because TicketMaster is the devil.
No Doubt has been one of my favorite bands since I first heard Gwen Stefani belt out the lyrics to "Just a Girl". That was well over ten years ago. So you can imagine how excited I was to hear that the band had just re-united and were going to be touring the US beginning in May. I was even more excited to see that they were going to be in Denver! I learned that the $10 general admission tickets were going on sale the day of the concert. I tried to pre-order the tickets just to be on the safe side, but everytime I was visited TicketMaster I was told that there were "none available". Weird. Then I read on the amphitheatre where the concert was taking place that tickets were available on the day of the show. So, I figured I had all of my ducks in a row; I had two other girl friends going with me. I had my perfect concert outfit. I had a free place to stay. I even had a cute little mini bottle of Crown so I could enjoy a tasty Crown and Coke during the concert.
My husband and I made a quick trip to Oklahoma for Memorial Day weekend, but I could have cared less. I was just ready for today to get here. Then, yesterday afternoon, I got the phone call that ruined my week. My friend Jen called and said that she was on TicketMaster and suddenly the General Admission tickets were $85. I figured she was wrong (denial is the first stage, right?) so I called the amphitheatre just hoping that an actual person would answer. To my surprise, they did! I asked about the No Doubt concert and she said it was Sold Out. WHAT?!?!
Now, this is the part where I really start to beat myself up. Since we were driving back from Oklahoma my husband overheard all of this. After I finished throwing a hissy fit he asked, "why didn't you order your tickets from the amphitheatre to begin with?" *sigh* "Well," I replied "because the No Doubt website kept directing me to TicketMaster. They kept showing tickets were not available. When I visited the amphitheatre website it said that tickets would be available the day of the show." He then broke it down to me that TicketMaster will buy a whole bulk of tickets from whatever venue a band is playing a concert at. Then, they hold on to those tickets until the venue's box office has sold out. Then they release their tickets for sale at a higher price.
After I soaked all this in, I was even more angry. My best friend and I had plans to go watch Britney Spears in Dallas back in March. And I had the same problem. Every time TicketMaster would show that the tickets we wanted were not available. Yet, the concert itself had not sold out yet. I realize now that if I had just called the stadium and the amphitheatre where both of these concerts were taking place I probably could have experienced two amazing concerts this year.
As the saying go, I have learned from my mistake. From now on I will always call the location of where a concert is being held, and hopefully everyone reading will, too. Stupid TicketMaster.
No Doubt has been one of my favorite bands since I first heard Gwen Stefani belt out the lyrics to "Just a Girl". That was well over ten years ago. So you can imagine how excited I was to hear that the band had just re-united and were going to be touring the US beginning in May. I was even more excited to see that they were going to be in Denver! I learned that the $10 general admission tickets were going on sale the day of the concert. I tried to pre-order the tickets just to be on the safe side, but everytime I was visited TicketMaster I was told that there were "none available". Weird. Then I read on the amphitheatre where the concert was taking place that tickets were available on the day of the show. So, I figured I had all of my ducks in a row; I had two other girl friends going with me. I had my perfect concert outfit. I had a free place to stay. I even had a cute little mini bottle of Crown so I could enjoy a tasty Crown and Coke during the concert.
My husband and I made a quick trip to Oklahoma for Memorial Day weekend, but I could have cared less. I was just ready for today to get here. Then, yesterday afternoon, I got the phone call that ruined my week. My friend Jen called and said that she was on TicketMaster and suddenly the General Admission tickets were $85. I figured she was wrong (denial is the first stage, right?) so I called the amphitheatre just hoping that an actual person would answer. To my surprise, they did! I asked about the No Doubt concert and she said it was Sold Out. WHAT?!?!
Now, this is the part where I really start to beat myself up. Since we were driving back from Oklahoma my husband overheard all of this. After I finished throwing a hissy fit he asked, "why didn't you order your tickets from the amphitheatre to begin with?" *sigh* "Well," I replied "because the No Doubt website kept directing me to TicketMaster. They kept showing tickets were not available. When I visited the amphitheatre website it said that tickets would be available the day of the show." He then broke it down to me that TicketMaster will buy a whole bulk of tickets from whatever venue a band is playing a concert at. Then, they hold on to those tickets until the venue's box office has sold out. Then they release their tickets for sale at a higher price.
After I soaked all this in, I was even more angry. My best friend and I had plans to go watch Britney Spears in Dallas back in March. And I had the same problem. Every time TicketMaster would show that the tickets we wanted were not available. Yet, the concert itself had not sold out yet. I realize now that if I had just called the stadium and the amphitheatre where both of these concerts were taking place I probably could have experienced two amazing concerts this year.
As the saying go, I have learned from my mistake. From now on I will always call the location of where a concert is being held, and hopefully everyone reading will, too. Stupid TicketMaster.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
good things come in small packages
I have to share with everyone the awesome appliance we purchased a couple months ago. It's a Splendide Washer and Dryer! I meant to write this post a long time ago, but lazy me just never got around to taking a picture of it so I could put it up here for all to see. Better late than never though.....
The cool thing about this appliance is that it is made for RV's! And luckily, our trailer came complete with plumbing for a washer/dryer (our other trailer did not). Now for those of you who are not familiar with life in a recreational vehicle, let me tell ya: nothing is simple. And this little washer/dryer is no exception. Here is why: it washes your clothes, then dries them. Meaning: I put dirty clothes in and take clean dry clothes out. Kinda weird, huh? I know what you're thinking; that is actually less work since I don't have to transfer wet clothes into a dryer. WRONG!!! This sucker is tiny! The instructions came with sample load sizes, and for instance it recommends 2 bath towels and 1 washcloth. Or 1 pair of jeans and 2 shirts. I have recently taken a liking to the "express" mode, but that still takes about 2 1/2 hours for one load. (still pretty snazzy though, huh?)
In case you are wondering how the clothes get dry, this is how it works. The washer dumps water into some compartment inside the machine and then it gets heated, which cause the clothes inside the bin to be tumbling around in some pretty humid temperatures. It's so weird. The instruction manual even stated that the clothes will still be slightly damp when you take them out because of all the humidity.
I've become quite familiar with this awesome little purchase of ours, but I do have to tell everyone a funny story. The first day I used the machine, I sat down and read the instruction manual. I was pretty sure I read that I could not open the machine once a cycle has started and that there was no way to turn the dry cycle off. That kind of upset me because I have several shirts that I like to hang dry. But I reminded myself that I wasn't having to haul all the dirty laundry to the RV laundry mat and to get over it. By the third load that day I wasn't real impressed with how damp everything felt when I took the clothes out of the machine. So I decided to set it on the "Cotton Dry" setting. I did a load of a few of Greg's shirts and some socks and underwear. When I took that load out I thought to myself that nothing really smelt fresh and clean. By the end of the day I was a little ticked off about all the time I had spent doing laundry, the damp clothes, and the "non fresh" smell that our clothes now had.
I felt a little guilty when Greg came home and asked how I liked the washer since, like everything on an RV, it wasn't cheap. I told him the story and he said that I just hadn't figured out all the little tricks yet and that it would take some getting used to. The next day I decided to use the "Regular Wash" setting again and I set the dry time to 90 minutes rather than 75. That seemed to help the damp problem I was having and I noticed that the clothes actually smelt better, too!
About two weeks later I happened to be flipping through the instruction manual, again, when I read something that I had misinterpret ted the first read-through. Apparently, I could stop my washer before a dry cycle. In fact, my washer actually had dry only cycles. Which just happened to be called "Cotton Dry". No wonder those tee-shirts, socks, and underwear didn't smell fresh! And of course, since it had been weeks before, chances were pretty good that we wore what we thought were clean underwear and socks. EWWWWWW!!!!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Biker Blunder
Last Thursday Greg and I had plans to go out to dinner with two other couples who also own Harleys. The restaurant we were going to was in the town of Wiley, which is only about fifteen miles away from Lamar. I was looking forward to the trip, but I was also a little nervous. Why? Because I had yet to be on our bike on the highway. Which means the fastest speed I had endured on our bike was probably about 45 mph. Back when we had our Shadow, I was absolutely terrified to go 65 mph. Which meant that I preferred Greg to stay in the city if we were on a bike ride. Believe me, he was never really thrilled about that.
When Thursday finally rolled around, Greg got off work around 10:30 A.M. and the weather was perfect for riding. We cruised around town and ended up going on a highway for a short scenic drive. I kept looking over Greg's shoulder and I saw that we weren't going over 30 mph. That was fine with me, but I asked Greg why he was going so slow and he said it was so my hair wouldn't get too messed up. (No, I wasn't wearing a helmet or a bandana.)
We ended up cutting our ride short because it just got a little too hot outside and neither of us had sunscreen on. Once five o'clock rolled around, I was as physically and mentally prepared as I could be for my first "real" bike ride. I had my helmet on and was finally able to wear my awesome Harley shirt I won on ebay. I was honestly just ready to "get it over with". Sad, I know.
As we hit the road, Greg and I were in the middle of the pack of Harleys. We hit the highway and I thought it was awesome!!!! I literallly thought to myself, "Wow, I could ride at this pace all day long". Then, I looked over Greg's shoulder and saw that we were going a mere 35 mph. Why we were going so slow on the highway was beyond me. Once we finally got into Wiley and I could hear Greg, I asked why we were going so slow. He replied with, "I'm just following Jim". Well why was he going so slow I wondered. We pulled up to the restaurant and as I got off I kept saying that I was amazed by how fast we got there. (We had taken a route that I'd never been on before). Then, my eyes focused on the speedometer. Apparently everytime I had peeked over Greg's shoulder to see how fast we were going I had been looking at the RPM's! Wow! I felt like a huge idiot. So apparently we were going 65 mph and earlier that afternoon we had even got up to 75 mph.
Sometimes I can be such a blonde! But at least I know that I'm much more comfortable on this bike than I ever was on our Honda Shadow!
When Thursday finally rolled around, Greg got off work around 10:30 A.M. and the weather was perfect for riding. We cruised around town and ended up going on a highway for a short scenic drive. I kept looking over Greg's shoulder and I saw that we weren't going over 30 mph. That was fine with me, but I asked Greg why he was going so slow and he said it was so my hair wouldn't get too messed up. (No, I wasn't wearing a helmet or a bandana.)
We ended up cutting our ride short because it just got a little too hot outside and neither of us had sunscreen on. Once five o'clock rolled around, I was as physically and mentally prepared as I could be for my first "real" bike ride. I had my helmet on and was finally able to wear my awesome Harley shirt I won on ebay. I was honestly just ready to "get it over with". Sad, I know.
As we hit the road, Greg and I were in the middle of the pack of Harleys. We hit the highway and I thought it was awesome!!!! I literallly thought to myself, "Wow, I could ride at this pace all day long". Then, I looked over Greg's shoulder and saw that we were going a mere 35 mph. Why we were going so slow on the highway was beyond me. Once we finally got into Wiley and I could hear Greg, I asked why we were going so slow. He replied with, "I'm just following Jim". Well why was he going so slow I wondered. We pulled up to the restaurant and as I got off I kept saying that I was amazed by how fast we got there. (We had taken a route that I'd never been on before). Then, my eyes focused on the speedometer. Apparently everytime I had peeked over Greg's shoulder to see how fast we were going I had been looking at the RPM's! Wow! I felt like a huge idiot. So apparently we were going 65 mph and earlier that afternoon we had even got up to 75 mph.
Sometimes I can be such a blonde! But at least I know that I'm much more comfortable on this bike than I ever was on our Honda Shadow!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A Short One
This just in: I have officially lost 10 pounds!!! Woot! Woot!
I think this is a result of the fact that I started a new work out regime this week, which I think is really working, as well as my awesome breakfast smoothies.
However, as I type, I'm forcing myself to drink the worst smoothie yet. Remember how I mentioned that my mom sent me a blueberry smoothie recipe? Well, the ingredients said to use any type of fruit juice. The only fruit juice we keep on hand is Tang (back off, my husband is hypoglycemic) so I figured why not? Ummm...yeah. Don't ever try mixing blueberries and tang. And I don't necessarily think that Tang is what is making it so bad. The recipe called for 2 cups of blueberries, but I just used 1, and there is so much blueberry skin that I literally have to chew...it's just kind of weird. Thanks anyway, Mom!
OK, I vow that my next post will not be about smoothies!
I think this is a result of the fact that I started a new work out regime this week, which I think is really working, as well as my awesome breakfast smoothies.
However, as I type, I'm forcing myself to drink the worst smoothie yet. Remember how I mentioned that my mom sent me a blueberry smoothie recipe? Well, the ingredients said to use any type of fruit juice. The only fruit juice we keep on hand is Tang (back off, my husband is hypoglycemic) so I figured why not? Ummm...yeah. Don't ever try mixing blueberries and tang. And I don't necessarily think that Tang is what is making it so bad. The recipe called for 2 cups of blueberries, but I just used 1, and there is so much blueberry skin that I literally have to chew...it's just kind of weird. Thanks anyway, Mom!
OK, I vow that my next post will not be about smoothies!
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