Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Are you still there?

If you are still there, all I can say is, Sorry I left you waiting in the cold. It has been a loooonnnnggg time since I posted and I will tell you all about it.

First. When we travel we use a WIFI Hotspot thingie bob from our cell phone company. We seem to use up our allotted 4G way to fast. If I post pictures I use up much of that 4G. What fun is a blog without pictures?

Second. I didn't get whole lot of sewing done. Why? When we travel in the RV during the winter I have to set everything up on the table, counter and wherever else. When it is time for lunch or dinner, I have to put it all away. Away is usually putting it all on the bed. Then after lunch, let's say, my husband will want to go somewhere. So we go and everything is still piled up on the bed. We usually end up eating dinner out somewhere and by the time we get back, it is late and now I have pack everything away so we can go to bed because we have palns for the next day that do not include sewing.

Sew, what is a girl to do?  Hand stitchin! I started an applique project. (no picture). I started an hexagon project. ( no picture) Boring isn't it?

While in Waco, TX., I discovered Texas was having a "One Stop Shop Hop" Located at the convention center in Waco! How cool is that? 30 shops set up, in one place. Five dollars to get in. (cheaper than gas to drive to them all.) I picked up some chram packs, some yardage, and a book.
Again, no pictures! I had pre-purchased my ticket from the LQS. When I gave my ticket at the door I got a lei. The hawaian type. LOL! On the lei was a ticket with a number on it. They called out numbers every 15 minutes. First I went around to each shop, took mental notes and then went back and bought my treasures. They had a Wine and Potato Bar set up. Wine? At 9:00 in the morning????? I guess they wanted us buy more. I passed on the wine and the potato bar. As I walking around I would check my number as they called them out. Just as I was about to leave they called my number! Mine! I doubled checked it. Yup, MINE!!!! I won!!!! Something!!! A won a thermo drink cup that says "Quilt Happy". It also has a star quilt pattern on it.  I about wet myself with joy! I skipped my way out to the lobby to wait for hubby to pick me up. We had arranged a time for him to come back and I had an hour to wait. So I settled into a comfy chair and checked out my loot. A lady asked if she could sit by me. Of course. She was from Georgetown, TX.. She came on a bus that was not leaving for another 3 hours and she was done shopping. We had a great conversation about quilting, living in Texas, (she just moved there 3 months ago from CA..) and what projects we aere working on. Before I knew it hubby guy pulled up and I left. What a wonderful time I had.

We left Waco on Feb1 to meet up with friends further south. This is where our plans got changed big time. When we arrived at the campground we were told they had an Argentine Ant infestation. OK. We were to spray around our tires, jacks and connections to the RV, or sprinkle Comet around all of them. OK. We had Comet so I sprinkled it around the tires, around the jacks and on and around our electric cord and water hose. On Saturday just before leaving to go get some groceries I noticed 2 ants on the counter. Killed them and alway we went. We came back, put our griceries away and we noticed a few more ants. So, back into town to get ant spray. We were gone about an hour and a half because we got a sandwich while in town. I entered the RV, turned on the kitchen light and the counter top was ALIVE!!!! I mean ALIVE! I could barley see the counter top, just ants. My husband grabbed the can of spray out of the bag and just started spraying the whole counter top. They died instantly. I looked under the sink and we had tons more. Spray more. We went outside and our water hose was totally black with ants. Opened up the basement compartments and ants.....EVERYWHERE! More Spray. Once we felt it comfortable that we had it under control we called our son. He looked them up on the computer and we found out they a warm climate ant. They have colonies over a million. The only way to really get rid of them was cold, cold tempuatures. Under 64 for the eggs to die and under freezing to kill the rest. Dang! So the decision was made right then and there that we would head for home in the morning. In the morning we found more ants in the kitchen spice cabinet, around the door and on the table. Afer taking care of them we packed up and  headed out. On our way home we stopped in MS at a campground for the night. We took everyting out of the basement compartments. Checked all the totes and sprayed the heck out of that area. We had not seen an ant since the day before inside the coach. Of course, winter storm Nemo was heading right for our path to home. On Thursday morning we watched weather and it said it would hit Chicago late afternoon and WI was cloudy but clear. So, we knew we would be through northern IL by noon soon we headed home. Never believe the weather. We hit rain just north of Bloomington, sleet in Rcokford and by the time we crossed into WI we had snow! It was a horrble driving day and the snow just kept getting worse. Don't even think of telling a man that maybe we should stop.  We made it home by 4:30 that afternoon. What a relief! We unhooked the tow car and as I was pulling it into the driveway, slowly, I completely spun around. Then we decided to get the car washed because it was a total mess from drive. I almost lost it on a curve but got cntrol. WHEW! Got the car washed and headed back home. Same curve, not so lucky. I did a 180 and ended up in the other lane going the right way. I think I need to sharpen my winter driving skills, ya think? It has been 11 years since I drove in the snow. I think I will let hubby do the driving.

Once home then the work began. Getting eceryting into the house without any ants. I wiped every food item down with Clorox wipes. Shook every piece of clothing  and cloth and washed it all. I think I did 24 loads of wash. I never saw an ant on anything. I checked the washer after each load and the lint filter after each load and no ants. Now we just have to let the coach sit and get COLD! BRRRRR!
Do you know I do not own a winter jacket and I live in Wisconsin! Haven't had a need for one for 11 years. Good thing... they are all on sale now.

Well I think I have bored you to death and I still have NO PICTURES! Makes for a dull post, doesn't it?

I will be bcak to show you the 2 things I did get done while snowbirding for short time we had. Till then...

Piece!
Paula