Friday, Jan. 8, 2010...............Snow at John Tanner State Park. It is still very cold and isn't suppose to warm up until Wednesday and beyond.

Buddy's favorite spot during our mealtimes. He wants to keep tabs on what we are consuming!

After lunch, watching a little TV.

Thurs., Jan. 7th

Stayed under the electric blanket til almost 9:00 this morning. Cloudy and overcast again. Cereal for breakfast. I had a list of to-do’s: file coupons, look for recipes, make chicken salad, clean out cabinets and magazines.

I made the chicken salad, cleaned out the cabinets, threw out some magazines, and watched All My Children. I can’t believe Ryan is gonna be with Erica. She must be 30 years older than him………..gross!

The snow started about 2:00 and ended about 3:00. It was pretty while it lasted. Then…it started sometime after dark and came down for about an hour. Everything is totally covered. Probably just ½ inch. We’ll check it out for sure in the morning. The grandkids will love playing in it. Buddy’s never seen snow….he probably won’t even go out in the morning.

I was pretty lazy so we had chicken salad for dinner. I’ll cook tomorrow.

Sam didn’t feel too good (allergies?) so he went to bed early. I’m watching Alabama beat Texas. Too bad Texas’ star quarterback got injured early on. It would have been a better/fairer game for the National Championship if he were playing. I only want Alabama to win ‘cause they represent the SEC. And I do love the state of Alabama. It’s a beautiful place with mountains and lakes in the north and gulf beaches and Mobile in the south.

There were 2 campers tonight, both from New York.

Catching up...........

Monday, the 4th, was so cold and overcast, we just sat around watching TV and reading. I don’t think it ever got above freezing. Sam worked with the maintenance man in between keeping warm in the ‘shop’.

Tuesday, the 5th, was better because the sun was shining. It’s very nice shining in the picture window at the back of the camper. We just had honey nut cheerios for breakfast and PB & J sandwiches with chips for lunch.

After lunch, and All My Children, I decided to get out and do some goofing around. I went to Target to see if they had any leftover Christmas markdowns. Not much there. I went to the library and got a book to read, then stopped by the movie kiosk at Walgreens, Redbox, to pick up a movie to watch later that night since there is NOTHING on TV - not even on 200-plus channels. By now it is after 5:00 and I didn’t want to go back and cook anything so I picked up Burger King (free whoppers) and headed back to the camper.

We ate dinner, made some cookies, and watched the movie, “Julie and Julia.” It was pretty good and well worth the $1 rental fee.

Wednesday, today, we woke up to find the propane had run out. With the electric heater, the furnace only kicks on a few times in the night so it wasn’t that cold without it. I stayed under the electric blanket while Sam walked Buddy and then went and had one of the propane tanks filled. It was about 9:00 when he returned. He also returned the movie to the kiosk while he was out.
The eye doctor’s office called about 10:00 to let us know that our glasses were ready and since they close at noon on Wednesdays, I had to hustle to get ready. We left about 11:00 and had plenty of time. (I don’t like to rush in the mornings!) : )

Nice Publix Deal………..
After getting our new glasses, we went to Publix to get the flyer for the new sale (their sale starts on Wednesdays here in Carroll County). Nothing very exciting in their sale. The penny item this week is a bag of Publix Tortilla Chips (reg. $2.59) but now you have to buy the Wednesday paper to get the coupon for the penny item. I’ll need to work it out so that it is worth the cost of the paper ($.70) to get the coupon.

I managed to get two pounds of ground beef, a bunch of celery (for chicken salad and to eat with cream cheese), OnCor frozen entrée (Salisbury steaks and gravy), a jar of mustard (for Sam‘s ham sandwiches), the newspaper (for the coupon), the $.01 tortilla chips, 4 packs of Yakisoba chicken noodle soup, and 6 bottles of Sundown Vitamins (Vitamin D). Total was $36.93 and after senior discount and coupons, I paid $.58! ; )

Since we were out around lunch time, we had fish and fries at Captain D’s for lunch (free with coupons). : )

When we returned to the camper, Sam went outside to dump the black tank only to find that the poop was frozen in there. LOL! No dumping til the spring thaw! Hopefully, that won’t be long. The tank’s not full so we will use the bathroom sparingly and go to the bathhouse when possible. The grey tank is fine….not frozen. (the shower water, sink water, etc.)

Guess we’ll watch the comedy shows on CBS and have soup for dinner.

And we had 3 campers Tuesday night and 2 tonight.

Sun. Jan. 3

What a fast weekend. It is so cold….I don’t remember the temps being this low for so long and the forecast is no better through Friday (and beyond?). It’s 9:00 in the morning and the temp is 18. The five day forecast has lows from 15 (tomorrow), up to 23 then back down to 13 on Friday morning. And the highs barely go above freezing all week. Last year we were in Texas and the winter was very mild….only got down to freezing on two occasions and the highs were 50-60. In 2008, we were in Georgia for February and March but it never got this cold.

Next winter, if everything goes according to plan, we will be at Gulf State Park in LA (that’s Lower Alabama), located between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Looking at the weather for this week, it is over 20 degrees warmer there right now. We will be there Dec. 1st through March 31st - four months. It’s only 6 hours away so we be able to come ‘home’ for the holidays, etc., for a week or so at the time.

On Saturday, we went to Arbys/Burger King for lunch with Kyle. Then we goofed around at Publix, Kroger and Dollar Tree. Kyle brought his scooter but it was to cold for him to ride it very much. He did discover the creek at the back of our campsite and managed to get a few “river rocks” to play with. Homemade chili for dinner then we watched “RV” with Robin Williams. We have seen it several time but it is still funny!

Sunday we had Blueberry Muffins for breakfast then took Kyle home and stayed at his house for dinner. Samantha made a Mexican Lasagna that was very good. I need to get the recipe. Falcons won their last game and ended up 9-7 on the season. Looking forward to better record next year!

We got back to the camper in time for Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

Two campers Saturday and Sunday night.

Friday 1/1/2010 Happy New Year!

The boys were up bright and early this morning....about 7:30. Breakfast was cereal and blueberry muffins and chocolate milk.

We managed to entertain them inside until about 10:00 then they just had to go outside and swing and ride Kyle's scooter.

Samantha and Nathan came over about 11:00 and stayed for a couple hours. They left about 1:30 and took two boys with them. Kyle stayed and we will take him home on Sunday. He goes back to school on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Missed All My Children, if it was even on.

Today we had to move from the "Host" site as we were only scheduled as hosts for November and December. New hosts for January through March moved onto the host site and we moved down to another site in the park. We're now in site 30, a pull through that is very large and has everything except a black water (sewer) drain. There is a gray water drain so that is good. Sam will have to take the black water to the 'dump' in the blue tote tank...about once a week. Sam will assist the maintenance guys, completing various projects around the park.

This site is at the bottom of the hill at the back of the campground. We can see the entire campground, uphill, out our big windows. There is a creek (which Kyle loves) just behind us at the edge of the woods. I think I like this site best of all! : )

Thurs. 12/31 - New Year’s Eve

Here's the new heater

We will need it because the next 5 nights are lows in tbe teens/twenties! Yikes! : o

I was up at 7:00 to turn on the coffee and watch the news. Sam slept until 9:00! It was so foggy and dark he thought it was still night! Late breakfast of cereal then I sorted some coupons that expire today and went to Kroger and Publix to get any final deals. I didn’t leave until after 1:00 but All My Children was a rerun?? That was weird.

Sam had leftover chicken and rice for lunch but I had a dollar burger on the way to Publix.

At Publix, I got four bags of Chex Mix and their last bag of Cherry Cordial Kisses and when I checked out they paid ME .08 cents! I LOVE Publix, where shopping is always a pleasure. ; )

Found some free Glade candles at Kroger and a few other deals. Total was $30.94 and paid $8.50 after coupons and after checking the tape, they over charged me by 52 cents on one item! : (

When I returned to the camper, Sam took the laundry over to the motel (here in the park, where we are able to do laundry for free) and washed up a few things. : ) I stayed at the camper and watched 2 episodes of Reba! It got pretty windy and was still very foggy when I took Buddy for a walk.

About 7:00, Samantha and Nathan brought their 3 boys over to spend the night while they went to a party at someone’s house. We made pepperoni pizza and played games. They were very good and actually went to sleep before the Peach dropped. So did I! : )

2 Campers tonight!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

12/28

I decided to keep a more detailed blog so that I can look back and see what we did on a particular day. Some days there is really nothing to write about but the everyday things that everyone deals with. Some days there is a little more - nothing very exciting though!

Not much happening today. Got up at usual time of about 7:00. Sam always sleeps later…8 or 8:30. I go to bed before him so I am ready to get up earlier. We had ham and eggs for breakfast. Ham was from Mother and eggs were free when you buy Sargento cheese at Publix.

Just messed around this morning, took showers, washed dishes, etc. I am going to Samantha’s house this afternoon about 4:00 to stay with the boys while they go look for new cell phones. I watched All My Children and made a chicken and rice casserole for Sam to have for dinner while I’m gone. He just needs to put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. I’ll eat with the boys - Samantha will have spaghetti ready for me to feed them. She also wanted to borrow my camera so I won’t have it for a few days.

I’m back now….about 9:45 p.m. Had fun playing with the boys and all their new Christmas toys. Spaghetti was good and they all ate their dinner. I did manage to watch the Bulldogs beat Texas A&M 44-20! Go Dawgs! Nice game - it was fun watching them win by so much - no nail biting going on (after the first half anyway! : )

One camper tonight!

Tues. 12/29

Today we slept pretty late……8:30 or so. We had ham and eggs for breakfast. I need to get milk at the store in order to have our usual cereal! I’ll do that tomorrow when I can get it free at Kroger. (With Rx Rewards). By the way, the ham was from Mother, the eggs were free from Publix deal and the bread was free with coupon.

Around 10:00 we decided to go to Lowe’s to get a new electric heater for the camper. Our old heater just quit working and the propane is just to expensive to use the furnace exclusively. With temps in the 20/30’s at night and 40/50’s days, it takes one tank every 5 to 7 days. That is $26 a week or over $100 a month. Way too much……..especially when electricity is free for us! We found a really nice one for $49.00, and with $15.00 remaining on my Lowe’s gift card, it was only $30 plus tax. We had the sales associate hook up three different ones for us and this one seemed to fit our needs the best. It is 750 Low/1500 High BTU’s, with reflector and fan. It’s about 2 ½ feet tall and about 18” wide and very ORANGE when on high. It’s like sitting in front of a hot fire. We don’t sit that close, keeping it over by the dining table, about 15’ from our chairs. With the bedroom door shut, it keeps the entire living area very toasty. At night we turn it to face the bedroom and open the door, of course. If the temp is in the 20’s we would probably need the furnace on low in order to warm the bedroom at night. We’ll find out soon as the forecast is for lows in the 20’s starting Friday for 4 or 5 nights!

I am still scared of electric heaters after hearing all the horror stories every year. We will be very cautious with this one and we always turn it off and unplug it when we are gone. We probably won't even use it when the boys are here...we'll just use the furnace.

After Lowe’s, we stopped at Kroger to drop off a prescription and pick up some free bread (free with coupons doubled). Also found some Hershey Kisses (Cherry Cordial flavor - my fav) at ½ price, so got the last two! I will splurge and pay ½ price for chocolate! ;-)

By now it’s lunch time. I had a few coupons that expire 12/31 from McDonald’s to use up. Sam hates McDonald’s so we stopped at Checkers to get him the free Champ Burger (on back of receipt) and large drink and fries. Then on to McD’s for my free medium Meal deal. I got the Swiss & Mushroom Angus Burger, Medium Fries and Medium Diet Coke for free. (Free deal mailed to me from Panama City where I had called in a complaint). The Angus Burger is really good but I would never pay full price for it. I think my meal was regularly $5.75. Then we had free cones (coupons expire 12/31 - I have 3 or 4 left!).

Got back to the camper around 2:30. Missed All My Children. We played with the new heater for awhile, took a short nap, had leftovers for dinner, watched some shows on HGTV, read a few blogs and time for bed!

Two campers tonight!

Wed. 12/30

Today we had to get up early for Eye Dr. appointments at 8:40. No breakfast for me, just coffee. Sam had cereal (with free milk from McDonalds!) We both are going to get eye exams and new glasses one last time before the eye insurance ends on 12/31. We did not renew that portion of the insurance for 2010, just to save a few dollars on insurance premiums. Our exams went well, we picked out new glasses and they will call us in a week or 10 days to pick them up.

We made a stop at Kroger to pick up one of my prescriptions - the last one with a $25 gift card coupon. Those coupons expire 12/31, and I will miss the free groceries (until I find more deals!). Those came from K-Mart and were good for $25 gift card when you transfer a prescription. Kroger honors other competitor’s coupons so I used them at Kroger for October, switched to Target and/or CVS for November (using their own coupons) and transferred back to Kroger for December. Since I have 5 (now 6) prescriptions each month (all are $4, except one which is $15), I actually ended up with about $250 free groceries from Kroger since October. While there we picked up a few grocery deals. We wanted some Boboli pizza shells to make pizza using the free pepperoni from last week’s Publix deals. They don’t sell them anymore so we had to make one more stop at Publix just to get the Boboli. I had $1 off coupons that expired 12/31 and luckily, Publix still sells them. Guess we’ll have Pizza when the boys come next time!

By the time we got back to the camper it was 1:00 and time for lunch and All My Children. I had egg salad sandwich and chips and Sam had ham sandwich and chips.

After lunch, I put up the rest of the groceries and Sam had to make a run to the farm store down the road to get one of the propane tanks filled. Hopefully, we will be using less propane now that we have the new electric heater.

While he was gone, I took down the tree and the Christmas decorations and got them ready for Sam to pack away when he returned.

I did identify a White-breasted Nuthatch on the pine tree outside the back of the camper. No camera so no picture for now. I’ve also seen several Eastern Bluebirds being very active around the campground.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading books or blogs and contemplating dinner. We decided on Barber’s broccoli stuffed chicken breasts (regularly $4.99 for box of 2 but only $.50 with Publix deals last week) and Betty Crocker’s sour cream and chives potatoes (free with Publix deal) and a small side salad to get in the veggies! Dessert was Nestle toll house cookies (I think these were $.45 instead of $2.89, also Publix deal).

Nothing on TV except reruns!

We had one camper overnight who has been here for 3 days now. They are leaving Thursday morning.

Christmas Joys

In the camper, the stockings were hung by the TV, with care!

Our little tree in the camper. The lights are fiber optic (wow).

Christmas night at 'Great-Grandma's' house at the Lake.

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Ethen wasn't too happy to see Santa but Mackenzie tried to console him!

Santa's helpers...........

or Santa's Reindeer???

Logan at the Carousel at the Mall


And then meeting with Santa!

Kyle was in school (and he went last year) so Logan had a turn going with us to the Mall of Georgia this year. Next year will be Tyler's turn!

We moved to another site on Wednesday

Here we are set up on the Campground Host site. Internet service is much better up here.

Here's a view of the lake and beach from one of the picnic areas. Nice and quiet in the fall.

This little dog is the spittin' image of our 'Elvis.' I couldn't believe it when I saw them get out of their truck! They are from Carrollton and said they found him on their front porch 12 years ago. Wow...Elvis was 14 and we found him the same way. They camp here often so we'll see them again.

Leaves are changing, time has changed, and Thankgiving is coming soon!

Fall color at John Tanner State Park

Here we are set up on Site 15