Xmas in February?

I thought it was over. I thought it was safe to go in the stores and NOT see discounted xmas items. WRONG. Dollar General had a 10 cent sale on xmas items.

Sure, things were picked through but that didn’t stop me from hauling out a cart load of stuff.

What was amazing, I wasn’t the only one finding this sale to be the happiest day on earth. One lady was buying stuff by the ton for a charity she volunteers for. Another lady, was buying a cart full of stuff for her home to decorate next year. She told me that each year, she hits the sales and then when xmas rolls around, does a complete redo of her home’s decoration. Never decorated the same two years in a row and never uses all the decorations that she has stored in her xmas shed.

 

Hmmm.. xmas shed. I have a xmas closet. Closet is small. Shed is big. I see where this is leadiing.

I keep reading all these ebooks about decluttering, simplifying my life as well as my home…….and have come to the conclusion that people who do crafts or decorate for xmas, need not even try. But that’s ok.. I have lots of crap I can get rid of and declutter without even touching the crafts or xmas stuff.

The xmas sales have to end sometime. Hopefully soon as the xmas closet is rather full.

Shuttle Bike Finally Launched

The xmas decorating frenzy is now over and it is with sadness all things that glitter (and shed glitter) are now packed in now what is called the Christmas Closet. At the rate I’m collecting xmas stuff (love those after xmas sales) will need a xmas storage HOUSE.

When my new camera comes via the nice brown UPS truck, I’ll take a pic of the closet but don’t let the neighbors see it, ok? We are both still planning to out do the other next year and are gearing up on the off season.

I already have purchased and stored the one item that I am sure to put our decorating skills at a whole new level. Can’t mention it here.. just in case the neighbor stumbles on to my blog.

I am starting to understand those that have homes that you see from other galaxies when lit up. That in itself.. the understanding.. is scary. LED lights make decorating these days easier on the electric bill.. thank goodness. This year I decorated for ME… not for guests, not for family.. but for ME… and boy was it FUN. I am soooooooooooooo in touch with my inner Elf.

Ok.. back to the camera issue… and just why is my camera not working you ask?

 

It went for a swim while at Wekiwa State Park, Apopka, Florida. It was dropped during the long awaited launch of the shuttle bike. Ironically, I had just mention the desire for a new camera before the big splash.

Thanks to a very kind, resourceful, wonderful friend (Pete, a retired engineer), the shuttle bike was put together and my ever widening butt was shoved out into the alligator filled river. Actually there were just a ton of catfish but those suckers were alligator sized. I didn’t pedal out to the more creature of the deep dark lagoon inhabited areas.

Pete’s comments can be heard on this you tube video of the launch. Cracks me up.

Next shuttle bike adventure probably won’t be until next month when I take the rv to Texas. Its not that I don’t want to play on water.. its just that I have a ton of stuff to do in the meantime.

Xmas Fun Continues

Xmas decor sales are rather slim here this year. The shelves are so wiped out, there is nothing to put ON sale. But lo and behold, the minute I have limited resources to haul the crap out of the store – I find the sale. Fantastic sale.. 75 percent off. My frugal little heart beat wildly at such bargains. Frugal little heart also thought it was stroke time pedaling all this stuff home on my bicycle.

Lighted angels.. lighted gift boxes. How could I resist? Ok.. would of greatly preferred lighted reindeers over the angels but hey.. a sale is a sale and you have to work with what’s available.

I’m just kidding about the difficulty pedaling the stuff home. That part was easy. It was the loading the cart that was touch and go. I now have a larger cargo net on order. One size fits all apparently in cargo net world doesn’t mean the same as the real world.

There is a decor that I really like but its very pricey…at least by my standards.  I decided what the heck and just ordered it for NEXT year. It should prove to be a holiday heirloom that brings joy to not only me but all that drive by. What greater gift could I ask Santa for, eh?

Happy holidays everyone!

Holiday Decorating Wars

The neighbors and I are at war – holiday decorating war – on a budget. Anyone can win with a big wallet but it takes real skill to do this on a tight budget with local dollar stores as your main source of holiday decor.

It has been years since I have had this much holiday fun.

Caught the neighbors doing night op’s… adding stuff while they thought I was sleeping. My dog ratted them out.

Tonight, while they sleep, I hope to add flood lamps..and maybe a string of rv led rope lights. I only have 16 feet of the led lights for my rv’s awning, but that should be enough to do a balcony rail of the house.

Holiday camouflage wear is a tad different. It consists of red xmas pj’s and a santa hat. I should blend with the decor easily. A few doggie treats should take care of their night patrol. One milk bone and my dog will defect and I don’t think their pups are any different.

Broken Toys

Usually its my rv or other toys in the shop. This time it was me. Possible food poisoning or something foul, resulted in severe dehydration – which landed me in the shop, er hospital, for a week. I don’t remember the first few days. Anyway, now I’m trying to get my strength back so I can ride my bicycle and get back to enjoying life. Fortunately, I got home from my rv trip before my health went totally downhill.

I posted before about pdanet having connection issues. It was my cable. I learned the hard way, that not all phone cables are the same. The OEM cable for my htc evo connects via pdanet with no problem. Its the brand x suckers that have trouble. Brand x will charge the phone, do all the other things… but when it come to internet access, OEM is the way to go.

While on the road with the rv, I used the wifi feature of the htc evo. I was pleasantly surprised that Sprint prorated my use by actual days and not for the full month. If I had stayed connected any longer,  I would of exceeded the 5 gig cap though.

Next trip out is in December. I’m taking the camper van instead of the rv as I will be leaving the campground often to do some holiday type visiting with some cross stitch buddies. I still don’t have a toad for the rv.

I love the holidays! Wish it was xmas six months a year. Others complain how early the decorations and all the other commercial things start appearing in stores. I LOVE IT. Xmas is only as commercial as you want it to be. I like the music, the sights, the sounds, the candle scents, etc. The things I mostly buy are ingredients for bake good gifts. I am trying to make my own xmas ornaments but that’s not going too well. Too many cross stitch projects started.. few completed.

Speaking of which, I’m currently stitching Xmas on the Beach, a Dimensions Gold Kit. I don’t normally care for “kits” but purchased this one so I could get the chart.

I hope to complete by xmas but like all my cross stitch projects, just completing it regardless of WHEN is a challenge. When completed, I plan to frame and keep on the wall all year round. May every day be a Happy Holiday.

HTC Evo Sprint Tethering

On October 2, 2011, Sprint announced their cap on mobile broadband of 5 gigs. Boo Hiss.

On October 10, 2011, I discovered that PDAnet was no longer tethering due to no longer seeing my htc evo. I have reinstalled new drivers, etc.. and windows control panel says my drivers are crap. So I tried klink. Crap again. Both programs are paid for. Both not working. Same problem on two different laptops.

5 gigs isn’t much by today’s standards of net use especially if you stream netflix and hulu. I am doomed.

I finally get the rv out of the shop and my net access while on the road goes to crap. I don’t mind paying sprint.. just give me something I really can live with.

Time to start shopping. Just not sure there is anything better out there at this time. In the meantime, relooking at this driver issue. Maybe its minor.

Walk on Water

A new toy has caught my eye, the Shuttle Bike Kit. It allows you to ride your bike on water. Yes, there are other aqua/hydro bikes but the beauty of this, is its portability. Everything you need is in a back back to take where ever you ride your bike. At least that is what is advertised. No need to tow or get a rack on your car or rv.  No need to have to drive to a launch ramp. Wherever you can get your bike, you can  go.

I live near salt water. I’m fighting rust as is without pedaling my bikes in brackish waters. Therefore, best to sacrifice something with two wheels from Wal-mart. Not sure if we even have any real fresh water in the state of Florida. Speaking of which, the alligator factor has me concerned. Those suckers are everywhere. They have adjusted nicely to the various degrees of salt in the water and are thriving.

Haven’t updated the blog recently as I just have too many toys, too little time, or so it seems. I discovered dailycheapreads.com and my kindle runneth over with freebies. The more I read, the less I cross stitch or use the computer.

During the day, still on the auto free exercise plan and just trying to stay active. Seems to be THE BEST medicine for rheumatoid arthritis. I have monthly infusions of actemra and have now started weaning from steroids. Steroid weaning is not going as well as hoped. So staying active is even MORE important. I just hope I can stay motivated in the cooler weather to remain auto free as much as possible.

Living in a resort area, its easy to forget all the wonderful things here. So once a week, I try to go to the beach for an hour… an hour of appreciation of how lucky I am to live here. Course, everyone’s idea of paradise differs… this just happens to be mine.

The rv is still in the shop.

Plastic Treasure

Today I went to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, Florida in search of hidden treasure. Also known as geocaching.

Someone takes a plastic container and hides it in the middle of nowhere with useless stuff in it – posts gps coordinates on the net.. and count me in… I’m going after it.

I found it and put more useless crap in it for the next person. Personally, I feel my useless crap is better than the useless crap that was already in it, but that’s strictly a personal opinion thing. Its all crap for sure.

I use to use cacheberry now know as cachesense for geocaching with my blackberry phone but I now have an android phone. I’m hoping to get in on the beta testing for the android version as I really REALLY missed it while out searching for plastic treasure today. Today I used c:geo which is a free android geocaching app. I’m just use to cachesense.

I almost gave up in my search at the park. I had convinced myself that the treasure had become alligator snack. At last minute.. I got out my hiking stick to shuffle some leaves that looked slightly out of place. Bingo. The discovery was mine….and as a bonus, no poisonous snakes.

I rode my bike to the park. The exercise was a good thing and its far cheaper to get in the state park via bicycle than car. I usually buy an annual state park pass but this year, I bought it and gave it to a friend as a xmas gift. It only cost $2.00 to bicycle in, so I’m not complaining. Also, the bicycle got me where I needed to be far easier than a car would of.

I’ve been riding my trike a lot since it can carry a ton of stuff but today it was nice breaking out the Trek Navigator 3.0 Its a lot faster and easier than riding the trike. I just wish it wasn’t such a heavy bike. However, while still on the auto free exercise plan, I am glad that I can pick from the trike, the trek navigator and my old very light weight schwinn traveler ten speed. I am debating to see if the bike shop would let me trade in my trek navigator on consignment or something, for a lighter weight trek.

The heat was brutal today and I’m dreading tomorrow’s outdoor activities already. Tomorrow, I need to bike ride about 12 miles  –and- do quite a bit of yard mowing.

This diet sucks.

Sprint HTC EVO 4g

Wow.. what fun. Upgraded the blackberry to the htc evo. New toys are always fun to play with. However, when upgrading to an android, be sure that you have deleted ALL VOICE MAILS from your current phone prior to transferring to the new android. Failure to do so, can result in a voice mail notification that is ridiculously hard to delete… and sometimes not even possible. One would think the employee at the store doing the transfers, would be aware of this and be kind enough to let customers know.

Nope.. you are on your own with this one and GOOD LUCK getting rid of that pesky little voice mail notification.. notifying you of the voice mail on your old phone that you can no longer access.

I did get rid of the vm notification but I tried so many different things, I can’t repeat the steps.

Most end up having the old phone reactivated so they can do a regular delete, then reactivate the new phone. When I first read “the cure”, I figured it was worse than the illness. After messing with it for awhile…. I was darn close to calling Sprint for reactivation of the old blackberry so I could get rid of the lost in space voice mail.

The way the HTC evo handles ringtones is interesting. I prefer the work around of just making a folder on the SD card called RINGTONES.  Whatever you slap in there, will show up as an available ringtone. Or.. do it the way they want you to. Go to music app or to your download folder.. play song, then have the menu option of applying it as a ringtone. On paper, sounds ok. In practice, too many steps. Just make the RINGTONES folder on the sd card and be done with it.

I do miss CacheSense  for the blackberry and look forward to when/if the android version comes out. There are android geocaching apps, but I just really liked CacheSense.

I tried Tango for video conferencing to take advantage of the Evo’s dual front and rear cameras. Tried it with a wifi connection and with 3g (no 4g here) and apparently I just don’t have the speed needed. So I’ll be on the look out for something that works more toward quantity with less quality.

Haven’t tried the mobile hot spot feature, for up to eight devices (plus 29.99 charge) yet. But the ability did result in me nuking a plan that I had for my net on the go while in the rv. I just hope I don’t regret it. The roku box in the rv depends on it. On order is the Freedom Pro bluetooth keyboard which apparently works with the Evo.

I have only had the Evo 4g for a day. I’m sure I’ll discover all sorts of cool things as use it more.

Naturally, in two weeks, the Evo 3D is coming out.

Porta Potty Predicament

Recently took the van out for my first van camping experience. Thankfully,  the site I had at the state park was very near the bath house. My original plan of the TravelJohn Foldable Commode Chair had a few drawbacks.

The space saving design when not in use was a real bonus in the van. It was surprisingly sturdy. However, I can not stress this enough – one needs to make sure the bag is attached securely at ALL times. When in use, it took more room up than anticipated… a lot more room. Downsizing from a 38 foot diesel pusher to a van for camping, made me appreciate the creature comforts of my rv even more (which is STILL in the shop). I think this product is best for outside use. I don’t like venturing out alone at night…..

So – on to plan B.

The Reliance Hassock Toilet , a smaller version of the 5 gallon bucket design type.

To me, the lack of handles is a design flaw. It does have inserts on each side to grab on to though. My initial “fix” to the handle problem is the use of a Home Depot shopping bag. It also provides a way to camouflage the toilet.

I plan on testing this product out with various amounts of water before attempting a camping test in the van. I learned the value of at home testing on my last trip. I have a feeling that perhaps the lack of a handle was not an oversight but a method to insure that the transport of the toilet would be level by the use of both hands, resulting in a reduction of spills by sloshing. The design of the toilet is nothing more than a bucket within a sturdy exterior container. The interior bucket can spill into the exterior container even though the toilet tissue holder doubles as an internal bucket cover.

It has been suggested that an interior disposable absorbent liner be used between the bucket and exterior container if not using bio bags with the product. Bio Bags can be costly.

The lack of a shower/bath in the van was indeed a down side to camping but not something that can’t be worked around. I do want to add an awning to the van. The current CareFree awning it has is a total piece of crap, in my opinion. The same goes for the add a room package that didn’t keep bugs out so you might as well not add the so called room.

It will be awhile before I go out in the rv or van, so back to cross stitching.