A Wonderful Memorial Day

The weather here in Tucson was absolutely fabulous yesterday. We never rose above the 70s. It was warm and sunny and so very pleasant. We just stayed around the homestead yesterday minus Brenda taking a quick trip to the grocery store. Brenda bought a delicious steak that she marinaded. We fired up the grill and ate outside. After our delicious feast, I put a log on the fire pit and we sat out and enjoyed life for several hours. I love when we just sit and talk about everything and anything. Last night we spent a lot of time talking about our mobile future.

This is a picture of our current "rig." It is nice, but very difficult to tow anywhere. I will say, however, the site is great. It has full hookups and great scenery. We have really nice neighbors and easy access to many beautiful areas and fun things to do.

Now that I am getting better at this whole blog thing, I hope to add more pictures in my future posts.

The Good Keeps Coming

Things are going so well around here. I truly believe it is because I have been focusing on being thankful and making sure I let the universe know how thankful I am.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from my brother. He was asking about our itinerary for our big trip in July. One of our stops was going to be in the Salt Lake City area and that was the only night we do not have solid plans. We figured we would just drive as far as we felt and stop at a cheap motel. He told me he had a lot of credits from his vacation rental plan that he could not use. One of the places he can use is in Park City, Utah. He checked to make sure they had availability and they did. We are now staying one night free on our big road trip. That is huge because we are trying to keep our budget down on this trip. Score one for us!

He went on to say he had a week's worth of stay he had to use or lose this summer. His options were out Phoenix, Vegas or Palm Springs. If we wanted that week, he would set it up. Are you kidding me? A week's worth of lodging? Oh yeah, we were all over that! We have been to Vegas and Phoenix several times. We love both those places but we are looking at going in August. Very hot!  I had been to Palm Springs eons ago. Brenda has never been there. We looked at all the great stuff to do there and decided that's where we want to go. So, it looks like we are going on another vacation the end of August. All we have to pay for is gas, food and whatever activities we decide to do. How sweet!

For the first time in a long while, we are doing better financially. With our work schedules of only working weekends, we have the time to travel. The only thing that has been stopping us is finding care for our dogs while we are gone. Here comes my next big thankful. Our next door neighbors! We have a mother and daughter who live next door to us. Before we even got moved in, we met them and instantly enjoyed their company. They have two dogs also and are big animal lovers. The daughter is 20 years old and going to school. She is a HUGE HUGE animal lover and she will be watching our dogs for us in July. With it being so convenient, I think they will be more than willing to watch the dogs for us occasionally so we can take a few trips.

As if that wasn't enough for me to be thankful for, I got one more! Yesterday, woot.com had a deal on the Kindle. They had the 4G Kindle for $85.00. That's the one that normally sells for $189.00. I have been earning Amazon bucks and have been saving them towards the cheaper $114.00 version. It is taking me forever to earn the bucks and I figured it would be months before I could afford it. I had more than enough money left over from bills and whatnot this month, so I snatched that bad boy up! I am so excited to finally be getting a Kindle!

So much good is happening in my life right now, I feel like I could burst. It is such an awesome feeling to be so full of pure joy. I am so happy with my life. I am learning that the less I want in life, the more I am given. Thank you!

So Many Choices

I read yesterday that one of the local RV dealers was going to be having an RV show at the mall close to our apartment. I mentioned it to Brenda but she wasn't too keen on going. She said that we had looked at them before and they all start looking the same. Today while we were running errands, I convinced her to go.

In the past, they have had brand new models only. Way too expensive and fancy for us. Today, however, they had quite a few used models. Even I was amazed at how different some of these were compared to the ones we had seen in the past.

We have pretty much decided that when the time comes, we are going to go with a truck and 5th wheel. Just for fun, I still like looking at the other types of RVs out there. I will say, though, we saw a pull behind that absolutely floored. us. It was really nice and had lots of storage, a big must have on our list. If we were in the market today, this model would have been at the top of our list.

I love going through all the RVs and picturing us in one when we start our adventure. I can see so many of them working for us. Its fun dreaming and wondering what we end of getting. I know that whatever we do get, it will be perfect for us, and based on our history, totally not what we had pictured for us.

Something else was different about today. In the past, I would get so excited and impatient I would try to force things to happen NOW. Today, as excited as I was, I was able to remain focused and not get frustrated knowing the time is not right yet. I am OK with that. Everything will happen at the right time. In the meantime, I will stay focused on today and enjoy our life now. We really do have it good.

Thankful

Last Wednesday, we decided we were overdue for a nature day. We wanted to do some hiking so we decided to try one in Saguaro National Park West. While driving through the park, my phone rang. It was my boss. She had a death in the family and was wondering if I could work for her on Thursday, Friday and Monday. Of course I said yes.  I was already working extra hours for someone else on Saturday after my shift.

This was a nice surprise cash bonus for us. Due to budget cuts, my hours had been cut from 12 a week to 10 a week. Although we are just using the money to supplement our income, it still was disappointing to lose that money. We had been putting that money in our savings for our big trip in July. Basically, instead of working 10 hours this week, I ended up working 33 hours. That will be a nice chunk of change to put toward our trip.

Now, I probably have the easiest, least stressful job out there. I am a weekend activities assistant at an assisted living community. Basically, I play games with the residents and get to socialize with them. I love this job and the people I work with. It is so rewarding to interact with these people. The stories they have and lives they led are so amazing. I can't even describe how uplifting it is to be with these people and talk with them. They really love me and I love them. I feel so loved and accepted there. They keep a smile on my face and I would do anything for them.

Even though the job is so rewarding, it is physically demanding. I spend many hours on my feet and running around the facility. I do some lifting and moving furniture and assisting the residents in and out of their wheelchairs. By the end of the week, I was completely exhausted. I had a massage scheduled for yesterday afternoon. It was a good way to end the week. Today we are doing nothing but relaxing.

Several months ago, I started focusing on all the things in my life I am thankful for. There is a website, http://thankfulfor.com that I use several time a day. I make a point to post something every morning and evening and anytime else I sit at the computer. Since I started doing this, I have noticed a big change in my life. Instead of thinking about what I don't have or the things I want, I spend my time thinking of the things I do have.

There is a new found peace in my life. I am content and enjoy all that I have. The most amazing thing that has happened since doing this is how I am receiving more from the universe. I am no longer stressing about money. We are receiving all that we need and then some.

This opportunity for more hours at work is a great example of this. This windfall of extra cash will go a long way to help pay for this trip. In fact, this whole trip has fallen into place nicely. We have already paid for several nights worth of lodging and finding cheap ways to get across country. In addition, we will be seeing some awesome sights along the way.

All of this has shown that we will be able to make our dream of full time RVing a reality. In fact, if I continue to thank the universe for what I have received already, I can only imagine what else will fall into place if I just let it happen and be receptive.

Oh, and yes we did go hiking and had a wonderful day in the park. We also had a fun picnic lunch while there.

I Need Some Roses to Smell

"It's good to have an end to journey towards but it is the journey that matters in the end." -Ursula K. Le Guin


I have always had a serious problem. I am impatient. When I get an idea in my head, I go head first into it and just keep on plowing forward. Once I make up my mind about something, I get single minded and that's all I can think about. I push push push and want it to come to fruition immediately. 


When we decided to start preparing for our ultimate life journey of traveling, I was like, "Oh yeah! Let's go!" I was ready to leave that day. I spend every waking minute (and some dreams at night) thinking about it. I spend hours and hours looking at RVs that are for sale. I keep working in my mind how we can afford this and how we can make it happen as soon as possible. 


I need to stop and take a deep breathe. I can't force this to happen any sooner than it is supposed to happen. There are forces and situations that are out of my control. There are certain things that have to happen before we can start this adventure. If I try to make these things happen sooner than their time, it won't work out as well as it could if I just let it happen.


The life lesson I need to learn is to just let relax and let go. This is hard for me as I am a type A personality with control issues.( Brenda can attest to this!) I need to stop and smell the roses and just let life happen. You would think with all that has happened in my life that I would have learned this lesson by now. Oh no, not me! I am a little slow sometimes. 


I have been spending time recalling how things have worked out in our life in the past. No matter how much time I spend trying to make everything happen just right, it works out on its own. And, I must admit, always works out better than I had planned. Therefore, I am going to try to do some deep breathing exercises and start living in the moment. Instead of just looking forward all the time, I am going to try to live in the moment and enjoy the life we have here and now. 


We have a wonderful life here. We live in a place we absolutely love. As I read so many blogs of people who visit here, I keep telling myself we live here permanently. I love Tucson and all the beauty that surrounds us. I love the fact that we have so much to see and do around the area. I love our work schedules that allow us more time off than we work. This gives us time to go see everything around us. We try to take a day trip every week to sightsee. 


Since we live in a area that is a destination, we need to start our journey here. So for now, our apartment is our RV and we are parked here for a while checking out this area. When the time is right, we will get a different RV that will allow us to see other areas. Our adventure has begun!

Words to Travel By

‎"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." 
— Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)


I cannot wait until the time comes for us to go where we want when we want. This gives my motivation to do what it takes to make our goal happen.