Pictures..Brother Rob and Family

More Pictures of Christmas Celebration..Brother Tim and Family

It's a Merry Christmas at our Home

My Dad was discharged from the hospital on Friday. He is doing very well in his latest recovery effort. Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers.






























Yesterday, my family celebrated Christmas together with food and fellowship. All of my Mom and Dad's children and grandchildren (and 1 great-granddaughter) were present. Even though it rained for much of the afternoon I think everyone enjoyed the visit.

Mom and I prepared vegetables, 2 cakes and 2 pies. Other deserts were prepared by my sister in laws and niece. Teresa and David stopped at Bojangles to get chicken and Jenn and Mark went to Smithfield's for BBQ. Everything was excellent. We were blessed with an abundance of food. Thank you Lord.

After eating, we exchanged gifts. In our family we all draw a name at Thanksgiving and give that person a gift. We usually gather on Christmas Eve, but this year several of us had to work on Christmas Eve, so it was just better to meet today.
We all try to find just the right gift. My brother Rob searched at a half a dozen stores trying to find the right shirt for Gary. Short sleeves, no knit with a pocket (for Gary's glasses). No luck ...so he gave Gary a Wal-Mart gift card. Always a good fit. My name was drawn by my sister-in-law Cheryl. She gave me a Headband scarf and some beautiful gold earrings. We appreciate our gifts very much. I wore my headband and earrings for the rest of the day.
The best gift of all was that we were all together. My Dad is recovering. Everyone seems to be reasonably healthy today. What a blessing and joy.

Gary and I also gave tours our new home. :)
It was exciting to show her off to all who were interested.

Home for the Holidays

We arrived back in NC yesterday. Gary had to trim some of Mom and Dad's trees in order to get the Cameo in place. I took their van and went on to Dunn to Betsy Johnson Hospital to see my Dad. He is doing better after having his gallbladder removed today. We appreciate your prayers. They are working.

Last night Greg Barnes from ABC Eyewitness news went by and interviewed my sister Teresa and her husband David. Their camera man took videos of their lights and the interview. It was televised on their 10pm and 11pm news. Way Cool!!! Way to go..the lights sure are beautiful. http://www.christmassheuring.com/


Gary spent the day running some errands and catching up on our laundry. Keep your fingers crossed that Dad will be ready to come home from the hospital tomorrow or Friday.
Love to you all..good night. Deb

Last Night and Today

Yesterday afternoon Gary and I stopped to have lunch at a small pizza stop in Delano. As we sat talking we were discussing that Gary would like to have another laptop computer. Just a basic one that he can use to surf the Internet or work with his music. We decided to call his cousin Tonya who along with David run a computer store. We wanted to see if she had a recommendation of how to proceed. She was surprised to hear from us, thinking we were still in NC. She invited us to a Christmas party being held at their home that evening. Talk about good timing. So, after we had a sandwich for dinner, we drove over to Port Orange. They have a beautiful home. A pool in the back with a great patio area. They are in the process of building a very large (over 14') tall garage for their boat and travel trailer. We spent several hours visiting with them and their friends. Gary's cousins Bubba and wife Anna and Cricket and her husband Carey were there too. It was great to see them.

Today, we went to the Daytona Beach Flea Market. That place is big. More stuff we don't need in one place than anywhere else I've seen. It was fun to watch the people and I did buy a few used paperbacks. So, it wasn't a total waste of time.

Afterwards, we went over to Gary's brother Bob and Bev's house. They have decorated their yard and home for Christmas in a big way. We had dinner at the Port Orange Steakhouse.
They make the best pork ribs around. Yum!! Yum!! It was dark when we got back so the lights really looked great. The picture is Bob and Bev along with Tasha and LuLu.

Dec. 15th

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. She turned 75. Whoops!! She won't be happy that I told that. But, I sure do think it is something to celebrate. Don't you?

Sad to say she didn't do much celebrating. She spent the day with my Dad at the hospital. Dad was admitted to Betsy Johnson with a flare up of his gallbladder. You might remember that is what started all of his health problems back in September. Looks like this time he'll get it removed. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. So..please say a prayer for them if you will. Thanks.

Busy Days..

Last night we rode around the campground looking at the Christmas decorations. Some pretty good ones I must say. If you want to see some awesome decorations and you're in the Lillington, NC area be sure to stop by my sister Teresa's home. She and her husband David with their kids, Joey and Amy have been working since October installing the lights. Check out their website at
http://www.christmassheuring.com/Home_Page.php

















I worked this morning and took a conference call for training by one of the UNC docs. Gary spent the morning crawling over and under the truck to check all of the bolts used in the 5th wheel hitch. He only found one that needed tightening. At noon we went over to the Thousand Trails office to meet with their sales person. He gave us the "Upgrade your membership" pitch. Anyone have a spare $2995.00??? That gives you unlimited free camping forever at their 56 campgrounds around the US and Canada. It also gives you access to 2 other camping programs with several hundred campgrounds at a reduced rate. It really isn't a bad deal at all if you're going to be using it. We declined to pay up at this time. We have 3 months of free membership that will allow us to try it out and see if it would be worth it for us.
We went and tried out a new Mexican restaurant nearby afterwards. It was really good. Gary got his usual petite steak. But this time he actually ate it with rice and beans. I'll get him to liking mexican yet. I also got a haircut at a Fantastic Sams. The same one Gary went to yesterday. The unnamed hair cutter did a pretty good job. We're staying in tonight so I can work some more. Tomorrow we are going to move over to Daytona Beach so we can visit with Gary's brother Bob and family. Love to all, Deb

Moving on...

We moved on Tuesday from the delivery site at Lazy Days to their Rally Park. We needed to attach to a sewer line to try out the new washer/dryer for the first time. The Splendide is a washer dryer combination unit. Learning to use it is a bit different from the units we'd used before. To start with it is small..it will only wash about 11 pounds and dries even less. This amounts to 1 pair of pants, 3 shirts and a few socks. Then you have to stop the unit in the middle between wash and dry to shake everything out to help prevent wrinkles. And then, you still may have wrinkles if you let it dry completely. We'd been warned about this...and it is correct. We've already re-wet and re-dryed several of Gary's shirts to remove the wrinkles. No ironing please. All this fun for $1000.oo ...and to avoid laundromats. Especially since Gary thought he should be "packing heat" at the last laundromat he visited. I still think it'll be worth it once we learn all the tricks. Only 1 tablespoon of detergent and fabric softener. I've never used a tablespoon to measure this before. That takes a bit of getting used too. I don't want to "over-foam" and end up with suds on the floor(carpet). Not my idea of fun. Just more of the adventure...
Yesterday we moved again to Thousand Trails Preserve outside Orlando. As part of LazyDay's benefits we have a membership for 3 months without further cost. This is a large (over 800 sites) off route 27N. It is pretty nice. Sites in the open and in the "woods"...
No swimming in the lakes though...alligators seem to be in all bodies of water down here. There is a very nice pool with hot tub that we are going to try out later today.
Gary went to Orlando today to get a part for our sewer connection. Carriage uses connections unlike any we've found before. So we needed a part in order to connect with our old pipes. Their hose is 25' long and this length won't always work out. We need to be able to connect to a shorter pipe too. So..Mr Fix-it to the rescue. I've been working and enjoying Christmas music while he was gone.
Hope everyone is doing well. Please send us a note and let us know how things are going. Love to all. Deb

We're in..

Yesterday we arrived at LazyDays about 11:30am to accept delivery of our new home. We checked in the Nash and followed Steven over to our delivery site. The Nash was pulled in right beside our new Cameo. Once un-hooked, we took a few minutes to look at the rig before going over to lunch at the Cafe. Afterwards, we went to Finances to finish the purchase. Then on to Insurance then Benefits and Membership. We were given a years extension to the Presidents Club for Camper World. Also got a Flying J Value Card that when used collects points that will help with future fuel purchases. We also got a 3 month trial membership in Thousand Trails Campground club. We were enrolled in the LazyDays and Carriage clubs. We have enough reading to keep us busy until the new year...or later. Lazy Days completed their cleaning and worked on a few items we had found on inspection. They also made and installed a shelf over the bed.
Then the fun started...moving ...moving..moving...Boy do we have a lot stuffed into the Nash. We've sorted and hauled it up the 4 steps into the Cameo.
I don't know why I thought I needed 4 frying pans.... We only use 2 at the most. We've cleaned out things that we haven't used since moving in. Tomorrow we'll be looking for a Goodwill or other charity to pass it on to someone that can it. The Nash is ready to be cleaned and sold to a new owner. I hope they enjoy her as much as we have. I sent some pictures of it to a salesman last night. He already has someone interested in buying it.
About 8:00pm we finally took a shower and went to the Flying J for their dinner buffet. Afterwards, we came back and finished putting things away.
We have to get up early tomorrow so the rig can be moved over to Camping World about 8:30am to have a Spendide washer/dryer installed. We're also having vent covers installed on the roof. These vents will allow us to have the fans open and running on rainy days. Also, the cabinet shop will also be finishing the cabinet repair in the kitchen along with some other small things we've found since Friday's inspection. We also decided we need to have the shelf in the bedroom moved down a couple of inches. It's a little bit too close to the ceiling. My BiPap machine won't fit on the shelf. If all of this is done, we're going to move into LazyDay's Rally Park for Monday and Tuesday nights. That way we can keep using the rig for a few more days before leaving here. We haven't turned on the furnace (it has been tooo hot!!). I'm off to bed now..I hope you all have a good night. Love ya, Deb

We found it!!!

Yesterday we contracted to purchase our new home. We found it at LazyDays RV Center in Seffner, Florida. We have spent the past 2 days going over it and making sure it was the right choice. Finally, yesterday afternoon we signed on the "dotted line".
It is a 2008 Carriage Cameo F32SB2 fifth wheel trailer. Yes, we bought new. After looking and looking we just couldn't find the "right" used one. We even looked at a 2007 Cameo and it still had a couple of design features we didn't like. So..we decided to go for new. LazyDays is going over it today and tomorrow to fix a few things we found on inspection. They'll also clean it again. On Saturday morning, we'll pull the Nash to the dealership, have another pre-delivery inspection, complete the paperwork and spend Saturday night on site. We'll be able to move all of our stuff from the Nash, as well as use everything in the Cameo to be sure there aren't any other problems before we move other to the east coast for a week or so.
Today, Gary has gone up to Camper World to have the Reece 5th wheel hitch installed. We're going to take LazyDay's driving school tomorrow. We'll have a classroom session with a couple hours of driving instruction after. Oh Boy!!! I get to drive.... :)
Well..I'm going to take Ellie for a walk . Oh Joy!! The sun is shining and it is 74*. Have a great day all. Love ya, Deb

Hi Ya'll, we're headed to Florida.

We left North Carolina on Friday afternoon. After one last Wal-Mart trip..one last lunch at Brock's Restaurant in Spivey's Corner..we took off for Florida. Mom and Dad waved good-bye from their deck, just like they had in June.
We spent Friday night in a Pedro Truck stop in Georgia. On the way down to Bradenton, we stopped off in Ocala and looked at a Carriage 5th wheel. It was a couple of feet too long and looked like it had some water damage. We arrived at Lake Manatee State Park about 3pm. Unfortunately in a "run" on campsites, by that time there were not sites to be had. Some last minute drag race(down the road about a mile) goers...campers had moved in. The Ranger called over to Little Manatee Park and they had space. So..back up about 15 miles. Once checked in, we moved into Site 34 in the horse camping area. We were the only RV there. Quiet and peaceful. Great walking and horse trails.
I worked for an hour this morning, then we moved back to Lake Manatee. (Closer to Bradenton) The other campers in for the drag-racing were gone. On the way we stopped at a new Wal-Mart Super Center for a couple of things. After moving in to site 9, Gary watched a little foot ball on TV and I worked some more. Right before dark, we took a walk over to the lake. Can you say " Alligators???!!!" And the shore was covered with some odd plants that also floated on the water. Gary was disappointed we won't be able to swim. After dark, we took another walk over near the lake. The stars are pretty clear, even with some lights across the river. Gary said he saw a shooting star. I missed it. :(
Tomorrow is another rest day..we won't look at the 5th wheel until Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed..hoping this one will be our new home.
Sleep well all. Love, Deb

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope y'all had a great day. As usual we had most of my family at my Mom and Dad's home for lunch. 28 folks sat down and feasted on way too much food. Yum, yum, yum!!! We have a lot to be thankful for this year. New lifestyle, family health is getting better and good friends. Thank you God!!!

Mom and Dad are doing pretty good. Dad has about finished stroke rehab and will start cardiac rehab next week. I'm not sure yet how they are different, but we'll learn more when he goes for his cardiac rehab evaluation on Tuesday.

If all things continue to go well, Gary and I are going to head out on Wednesday for Florida. We've found a 5th wheel that meets most of our criteria. If it hasn't sold by then we're going to go check it out. Keep your fingers crossed.

We wish congratulations to Doug. Doug retired after years and years of service with Sears Automotive. His wife Sherry(Gary's sister) has a BIG honey-do list for him. Yipes..he may wish he was back at work soon. :)
This picture was taken when Sherry and Doug volunteered at the recent Heart Walk.

Happy Thanksgiving all and good night. Love, Deb