Well crap...

SIL called from somewhere in Texas. They had a blowout on the fifth wheel (big new Montana) and will be delayed as OTHER tires are bad and they're waiting on replacements. She said they're discouraged enough now to sell the whole rig and get a used Class C. Seems they just got their fifth wheel back after a lengthy stay in the shop for electrical repairs, and the result was unsatisfactory. Now this.

Yes, an RV can nickel and dime you to death. I know people that live in Class Cs, really close quarters for fulltimers. (Hah! Nickel, dime, quarter all in the same sentence!) And my recommendation IS: you park it til the funds are there to go on. (Unless your SIL is waiting for you to relieve her so she can go to Mexico.) I seem to remember a time or two I felt like going back to a sticks-n-bricks, but it passes. We were parked in a friend's driveway in California for a month once after the wind knocked over our satellite dishes and broke'em. Fixed incomes make it hard to finesse spendy repairs. I feel so bad for my SIL, I know how much they love their lifestyle and their beautiful rig.

Raining again. Got Windows 7 and everything's alien-looking. I made tacos last night and have heartburn today.  Have begun churning out felted Amulet/Stash bags for my Etsy Shop: they're VERY cool.

Actually, having uneasy worried feelings about a lot of people: an ex-BIL having kidney problems, ex-SIL with liver problems, DH's brother driving a big rig OTR again at 60 years old and with heart problems, my MIL quit progressing in her rehab, my ex-spouse can barely walk but smiles through it for his grandbabies, my DIL wears her heart on her Facebook page and gets slammed for it, my son has the weight of the world on his shoulders, trying to get through grad school without imploding.

GLOSSARY (from the RV.Net forum)

DH:  Dear Husband
BIL:  Brother-in-law
SIL:  Sister-in-law
MIL:  Mother-in-law
DIL:  Daughter-in-law
Sticks-n-bricks:  Regular house, yard, etc.
Class C:

One more week!

SIL has left California and will be here next week. Will begin the pack-up and stock-up Monday. Mood much lighter. Went to see Ron White at the Monroe Civic Center last night: VERY funny man. Unruly crowd, though, he had one woman escorted out. I was overdressed. Forgot it was Monroe. Ate at Waffle House after. Definitely overdressed for Waffle House, and a hooker told me she liked my heels. Our booth had a clear view of the cook: he was amazing! All these orders just shouted at him, no tickets, and his hands were a blur.

Didn't rain today.

Gigantic water bug in my toiletry bag today. Went to reach for the toothpaste and HEARD A NOISE IN THERE. Yes, it's so big it makes noise when it walks. It stayed there until Ron got home from doing errands.

Louisiana's so CREEPY, I just shudder all day long. Waterbugs, crawdads, armadillos. There's a really cool spider, though, builds this humongous orb web every night, same spot, absolutely symmetrical and gorgeous, takes 2 hours. Then it sits in the exact center and waits. Tears it down in the morning. Garden Spider.

Picture of a crawdad chimney. There are many dozens of these to avoid between our RV and MIL's house.

Dylan would probably like it here. I just now shuddered again.

Steaks tomorrow night, BIL came home from his OTR driver job, so everyone's coming over to see him.

Nuff. Night!

Well, isn't that special...

4 AM, raining again, heartburn, Folger's in my cup, PallMalls. I'm a 56 year old woman sitting at my computer in Eeyore capri PJs (with rhinestones yet). The RV is parked next to my mother-in-law's (MIL) mobile home in West Monroe, Louisiana. We've been here for 6 weeks, and it's rained all but maybe 3 days. My assignment, Jim,  is rehabbing MIL after SIL sprung her from the nursing home because MIL hated it there. Then SIL and BIL (also fulltime RVers) absconded, leaving US to take over in this godforsaken climate. There are crawdads in the lawn, armadillo parts all over the road, and my glasses fog up when I step outside. Plus it stinks from the paper mill up the road. I'm supposed to be on a beach in Mexico, sipping a Mojito. This is not what I signed up for.

MIL has all of her mental faculties, every one, at 83, but is missing one or two bodily functions, hence my duties mostly involve fetching, carrying, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Lots of laundry. DH (dear husband) mows, walks dogs, fixes stuff, and chauffeurs MIL and I to appointments. SIL is supposed to return by November 1st, and we get to continue on to Mexico for the rest of the winter.

We didn't get to go to Mexico last winter, either (well, 2 weeks in February). We spent 15 months in Minnesota, including the worst winter in my memory, providing a loving, stable home environment for my grandbabies while their dad went to grad school. I miss them wretchedly. We can "See" them anytime, though, through Windows Live Video Chat. It's almost like being there, but not.

There is some down time here, between laundry loads, so I crochet and felt. I've always crocheted, but am brand-new to felting and am delighted every time I pull a project out of the hot water to see the transformation. They're for sale on Etsy Barbiloulou's Shop. Yes, there's a second "lou" on Barbilou. Etsy already had someone using Barbilou when I first signed up as a buyer, so I added lou. Unbeknownst to me I'd be stuck with it when I opened my shop later. And the avatar is Catwoman, Matured, bought on Ebay.