Spring in the Northeast

I am amazed at how fast time has gone by. I just happened to think it has been awhile since I posted here and could not believe that it has been a month since my last post.

I managed to get into a late winter funk and just let time pass by. Now the weather is warming and the snow is fast disappearing from my yard it is time to start thinking flowers, gardening and just sitting on my deck soaking up the sun. We still have a couple of months to go before we are well into warm weather, but it is nice to enjoy this month before the May flies start hatching and make it impossible to be outside without a smoke screen around you to drive them away. I had told my husband it would be labor day before we would be able to enjoy the deck, but each day brings the snow mounds down more and more. I now have hope that we may enjoy it by Memorial Day.

As I mentioned we have 4 shelties that live in our home trying their best to rule over us. From left to right Duncan 4 1/2 y.o., Tinkerbelle 7 1/2 y.o., Miss Ripley 10 3/4 y.o. and Fidget 8 y.o. They are a well organized pack and really can not do anything without knowing just where everyone is. Mr. Fidget developed an infection or a form of cancer in one of his toes on a rear foot over the past month. No matter how often I bandaged it he managed to pull it off so yesterday we visited the Dr. Today he is having the toe amputated. It amazes me that we love and feed them and make sure they are all up to date with shots, then bam, out of the blue something as small as a little sore turns into something like this. I have two that are within 6 months of each other. They are both agility competitors and have many titles. Tinkerbelle has a big fatty tumor which the Dr says can come out or stay in. It has increased double the size from when we found it a year ago, but does not seem to bother her in the least. Just another worry on my list. My 10 3/4 y.o. Miss Ripley is almost completely deaf and I hate to even contemplate what life without her will be like. And the Duncan the youngest is so people shy that I feel like a failure with him because he misses out on so much attention, because he won't go near anyone other than my husband and I. We are a family of dog lovers and he will not have anything to with any of my children or grandchildren. He gets so upset that he just shakes all over when I put him in someones lap. I feel so guilty for making him do it that I try to limit the amount of time he is forced against his will. They all go camping with us and people are amazed that we travel with 4 dogs and that they are so well behaved. Most people do not even know we have them until we go out for walks. We put up a fence around our canopy and they just lay there for the most part and behave. I do not like other dogs barking a lot and so do not let mine do it. Fidget has come through the surgery just fine and will be ready to go home when I get off work. I can relax now. I always worry when they have to go under anesthesia.

I have been thinking about where this country is going.

Good morning. Since the primaries the other day I have been reading everything I can find pertaining to the results and then comes along the comment that Russ Linbaum wanted Republicans to get out and vote for Hillary Clinton. Yup he wanted them to vote for her so McCain will be up against her in November. I don't want her in the Oval Office, but I certainly do not want another 8 years of Bush business as usual. I also, don't think it is right that the people in Florida and Michigan get another chance at a primary. They did what they wanted knowing what the consequences were at the time so why should it be done again other than so Miss Hillary can get more delegates. I DON'T THINK SO!!!!! At least Senator Obama has gone by the rules set forth by the Democratic Party.

I was poking around at my usual haunts this morning and came across The Smirking Chimp
I must say that Dave Lindorff is one of the most dead on writers I have seen in ages. I feel everyone could get a lot out of what he has to say. You need to read the comments from his readers as well. It is amazing that those of us who would love to string two sentences together and can't, can find people like Dave who can make sense. Take a look and see what I mean. He is amazing.

We can change the way of doing business in Washington!!!

See latest stories on Yahoo! News

Winter Wonderland

Again, we were hit with another storm yesterday. I was not happy driving home in it last night and I was certainly not happy at 5:30 this morning when I had to go out and clean off my car so I could get into work.

BUT! I have to tell you that when I left the house it was almost daylight and this storm above all the others reminded me just how beautiful winter can be in New England. It is a heavy wet snow that will tell this old back all about it tonight when I have to get out and clean up around the walkways and what the plow guy leaves behind, but for that few minutes this morning I was able to just enjoy the picture postcard that is New England in winter.

ON THE OTHER HAND!
I am beginning to make lists of things to start the downsize process in the hopes that we will be ready to start our full time RV lifestyle in the next 4 years. I would love it if I could start it sooner than later, but I am looking at the 4 year time line. We have stuff to get rid of and work to do on our house which has been under constant renovation for the past 13 years. We were getting so much accomplished that it seemed there would be an end to the process when my DH became disabled in 2000 after surgery on his cervical spine. Now when things get done they come between what I need and my sons activities. He is great about helping me and I really try not to expect him to be there all the time. But now I need to step up the pace and get it finished.

I have pretty much narrowed my wish list for a Class A Motor Home down to the Newmar models and will be looking at one approximately 4-5 years old when the time comes. I hope to find a dealer somewhere nearby so I can actually see one in person. I really like the floor plans of the Mountain Aire so am hoping to find one of those in a price range I can live with. I know I need to wait to purchase, but at least we can look at the MH we have in the surrounding areas.

I have been watching a lot of shows on things and places to visit here in the US along with many RVing groups I belong to here on the web and I have quite a list of places I want to visit once I can hit the road. I have seen a lot of the country from the cab of a TT, but due to schedules and time constraints, not to mention the size of the rig, it was not always possible to visit many of the things I would have liked. I want to see the sights of the US that are not on the sides of interstates.

I am off to lunch and errands so everyone have a great day.
Debs

The Sun is shining!!!!!

After two days of rain, sleet and snow the sun has finally come out again. Unfortunately we are in a freeze right now with temps in the mid 20's. I have a flat roof on my house and over the weekend, with news of roof after roof collapsing every day, I had one of my fellow coworkers come and take the ice and snow off. That is the second time this year and it is getting expensive to have this done. I have never had to have it done before and the roof has been on about 5 years. I have PVC roofing on 75% of my roof and the snow usually slides right off without a problem. It is a good thing we have a wood pellet stove to heat our home with as it would be really a hardship to pay for oil heat and get the roof cleaned off as well. Can you believe the price gouging we are getting from these oil companies?

I woke to another light covering of snow on my car this morning. I am so done with the winter. I want green grass and flowers. I want to be able to go outside without bundling into multiple layers to stay warm. My family wonders why I want to RV full time. I so want to head out when fall is on the wane and not come back until the last snow drift is gone.

Hey! Did you see the results of the Wisconsin primary. Obama has another one under his belt. I was listening to an interview of a voter last night and when asked who she voted for and why she said Hillary Clinton - because it is time to have a woman in the White House. Now I ask you is that a stupid reason to vote for someone or what? One other lady said she voted for Obama because Clinton was more involved with special interest groups. At least she had a reason for her vote.

I got an email from a very dear friend who moved to Mississippi almost a year ago telling me that the new house she just built is on the market and she will be coming home as soon as it sells. I am so looking forward to seeing her again. I was so surprised when she announced that she was moving south last year. She is thoroughly New England and having lived in Alabama myself, I wasn't sure she would be happy down there. There is nothing wrong with southerners, I made dear friends when I was there. The life style is so slow that it is difficult for us from the northeast, where everything moves at the speed of sound sometimes, to acclimate and slow ourselves down.

Have a great day!
Debs

Another Snowy Wet Day in New England

We awoke to the storm that has swept across the country these past few days. I am thinking that we had about 7-8 inches at 5 AM. By the time we left for work a hour later it was changing over to sleet and as we drove the 11 miles into work it changed to rain. The city was and still is, from reports coming in, a mess. I will carefully make my daily foray to the park at lunch time to get away from ringing phones and just have some quiet time. That is my time and I do not stay inside the building.

I have been searching on the internet for RV information, used units for sale, places to go and things to do while traveling. It is a great way to pass an evening especially with dial-up service and encouraging to think that winter is not that far from its end. While temperatures are hovering around 30 degrees F and I look out the window to see the camper covered and surrounded by snow I so long for the summer and green grass. It is much easier to mow that to shovel. I am looking forward to being on the road and not having to deal with either one.

I have been watching the travel channel on TV lately with many shows on things to see and do right here in the US. I have spent little time in the west and next to none in the southwest so it is one area of the country I really want to visit. One of my co-workers travels to Arizona once a year to spend time with her father. She comes back with tales of many places they visit and it makes me want to go sooner rather than later to see all these wonderful places. I am thinking it would be fun to start planning my first trip here on my blog and try to get pictures and a map to chart the planned route.

I have been comparing Class A motor homes and trying to decide which make and model I would prefer. I am leaning toward a Newmar Mountain Aire approx 3-5 years old with low miles. I really like the amount of storage and the floor plans available. I would like a diesel pusher, but that would depend on price. Many people have told me that the Newmar products are good quality so even though I hear good things about Tiffin MH I am not in love with the floor plans and storage available. I have time to look and find exactly what I will be happy with. Right now we have a 26' Rockwood which is OK for a weekend or vacation, but definitely not to live in.

I am off to find a map and get started on my virtual cross country adventure.

Have a great day!!
Debs

Farm Bill 2008

As I was wandering around the web this morning I noticed a headline that read that our illustrious president has threatened to veto the new farm bill. That got my curiosity aroused so I went looking for the current bill online to see if I could find out what it said. What I found was a list of items that went through the last bill just changing the dates from 2007 to 2012. Well that told me a lot of nothing. Why are we not given the whole of what they are changing so we can see for ourselves what it is that President Bush is talking about?

That got me to thinking about the biofuels. With all of the subsidies that we pay the farmers not to plant crops wouldn't it be better to pay them a decent price to raise corn or peanuts to be used as fuel. The price of oil is outrageous and no one is benefiting from it but the stock holders of the oil companies while our farmers are going bankrupt everyday because they can not make a living farming. The president wants a $200,000 gross income limit put on what farmers can earn to get the subsidies which sounds to me like a reasonable limit, but how much of the income is expenses and how much is the net income that they have to survive on. I have watched dairy farmers here in the northeast stop producing and end up turning the farmland into housing developments or just lay fallow because they can not afford to pay for grain to feed the cows. Yet the price of milk is going out of sight in the grocery stores. It may sound naive to say it appears that we need to rethink the whole process and come up with maybe a subside to pay for the corn or peanut seeds for the farmers to grow a totally renewable source to generate a fuel that would be cleaner to use and possibly help with all the greenhouse gases that are produced each day. I personally hate the fact that I can not drive to work each day without adding to the problem. I am hoping to travel full time within 4 years in a RV and would love to be able to use biodiesel to run it. If farm equipment can run on it then why not a recreational vehicle?

There is a lot of information on the web about biofuels and if we can produce enough grains or what ever crop can be used to make a difference. The consensus is no, there is not enough land with which to do this. I am thinking that even if we can produce 25 to 50% of what we use then it would be better than what we are doing to the earth right now.

There was a movie made in 2004, titled The Day After Tomorrow. If you have not seen it then maybe you should. We have had some of the strangest weather this year that I have seen or been aware of in my lifetime. I think about this movie and wonder just what could happen if we keep adding to the global warming process.

If anyone has anything to add, please feel free to comment.

Have a great day!
Debs

Super Tuesday Followup

Well another hurtle crossed. It seems that I am not the only one who believes that Barack Obama is a good choice for our next president. As I was watching the news last evening one of the newscasters was saying that there are many Democratic households who are split between our top candidates. In this instance mine is one of them in the sense that we differed in our choices. My DH would have preferred to see John Edwards as one of the top candidates, but alas that was not to be. I am not sure where he will lean at this point.

It will definitely be interesting to see where this will all play out by convention time.

Have a great day.
Debs

Super Tuesday

At no time in my adult life have I ever paid as much attention to an election or the candidates who were running. It appears that I have finally grown up at least in this sense of the word.

What makes us want to take part in the process while others seem to feel that their vote never counts. I have a stepson who feels we waste our time voting as it never counts. I tell him all the time he needs to grow up. One of our inalienable rights while we are on earth is the right to vote. I am also glad to see that many of the younger generations are exercising this right. I tend to get rather defensive when I hear someone complaining about this or that public figure, but yet they have never bothered to even register to vote.

I am rather looking forward to the outcome of this super Tuesday at least where the Democrats are concerned. As previously stated I do support Senator Obama and sincerely hope he does get the nomination this year. We need so desperately a whole new perspective in the White House.

Enough of my soap box for today. Will continue after the counts are in tomorrow.

Debs

Another Week Almost Gone!!

I swear the older I get the faster time flies. It seems only yesterday we were getting ready for the holidays and now a whole month as passed into the new year.

I have been watching with interest as the presidential candidates pull out of the race this week. In my demented brain I am finding it interesting that they did this before super Tuesday. I do not have a political background so I am sure that there were reasons behind it. What I do not know. I am not sure that we are ready for our former first lady to take the reins of the country and being an independent myself I don't think we need another military mind in the White House. I am of the opinion that Barack Obama would make a great president. He is young, has fresh ideas that make sense and I feel that many more heads of state throughout the world would work better with him than his rival. We need all the help we can get to improve our image with the rest of the world.

We need to get our troops out of Iraq as soon as reasonably possible. My feeling is that we never should have gone in there in the first place. I am sure that most Americans feel that we should have had more of a reason to attack Iraq before we just barged in. But, I also feel that Sadam Hussein was justly tried for his crimes against humanity and had we not invaded the country he would probably not have been brought to justice.

I am also concerned about the billions of dollars that are sent to other countries around the world. We have thousands if not millions of people here in the United States who are at or very near the poverty level and struggle to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. I am not talking about those who spend their lives living on the system I am talking about those who go to work everyday and try to survive without government help or survive in spite of the lack of it. The government puts a price on what they perceive as poverty level. How much money do those who set that figure make a year. Bet it is a heck of a lot more. Has that increased with the price of oil, gas, groceries, etc. Housing has gone out of sight and it takes an act of congress just to be able to get a place to live. I have watched rent around here in my area jump beyond what I could afford if I didn't have my own home. I can see me living in my camper at my parents old house paying my nephew rent to park it there. As it is I live in a 1962 mobile home that I am trying hard to renovate.

I am seeing a lot of housing prices knocked around on TV these days and it is no wonder that the foreclosure rates in California are so high. Here in the northeastern part of New England median salaries are under 15 dollars an hour for most people. By the time we pay our high health and disabilities insurance costs and pay what Uncle Sam wants from us we have lost 1/4 or more of our pay check. Try to save some through the 401K plans and you have taken another 10% away. Our housing costs are probably on average 1/3 the costs in California. How much do those people make out there?

Is there an answer to how to cut government spending and bring down taxes? Is there a way to make health care more affordable? Do we, as supposedly the richest nation on earth (next tot he UAE), need to support the world when we can not even take care of our own first? Why after working all our lives and then trying to get those final debts paid do we have to have social security income taxable. I could go on with all kinds of questions, but what or who would listen? I have never played the system nor tried to live off it and I hope that I never have to, but would love to know why people are allowed too.

When our Senators and Members of Congress leave office with their full salary for the rest of their lives, which by the way is not part of the social security system, do they have to pay taxes on that retirement? If I had to live on what they make I don't think I would complain, but then the more we make the more we want to make. I remember my first job in high school was working in a toy factory making just over a dollar an hour. What do we do now. Cost of living is out of sight for the regular guy.

Someone please enlighten me! I would love some answers to my questions that make sense.

Have a great Day!!
Debs

Income Taxes - On my soap box!!!

On a much heavier note I did my taxes this weekend. Quick simple and highly depressing. We do not have major deductions and so just do a simple form. To keep me from going out of my mind with the nagging that I was getting every night when I got home from work while my DH was recuperating from cervical spine surgery. I hounded him until he went to work, first as a dishwasher and then as a greeter at Walmart. He needed to get out and be around people and that was the only way I could find to get him out of his recliner. He was always a social person until he didn't work any longer and then he became a recluse with only me and our children on occasion to talk to.

Well with that said, his income took us over the limit for social security to be taxable we now have to pay in income tax this year. One wonderful thing about our government - they never want anyone to keep their head above the poverty level. We work all our lives paying into this so called retirement system and then when we get to the point that we can retire we have to keep ourselves at the poverty line to prevent being taxed all over again. Isn't this a wonderful world we live in. It costs more to get to work, to heat our homes, put food in the cupboards and in general just live day to day, but our paychecks do not go up all that much and then we get hit with taxes for trying to survive. So now we are being penalized because we want to be out of debt by the time I want to retire and to have everything ready to hit the road as full time RVers.

It is no wonder that there is rampant depression and suicide in our elder population. One saying that comes to mind. You are Damned if you do and Damned if you don't. What is there to look forward to in the so called golden years.

Have a great day,
Debs

Monday & Miniatures

Well it is Monday again. For us in the working world that means back to work and the grind for another 5 days.



I spent the weekend working on the dog intended for a birthday present for a coworker and as you can see I completed it. I was happy with the finished project although I learned I need to make things a little on the skinny side so when they are furred they look natural and not to chunky. In the picture is also a picture of my model Miss Pippen who is a gorgeous long haired German Shepard with a wonderful temperament. She doesn't seem to have a mean bone in her body.










I also got pictures taken of my parrot. I was also pleased with the way it came out. Compared to the one pictured in the previous post I have a long way to go for perfection, but for my first try I am happy. It is amazing what we can learn to do in a small scale. The only problem I have is trying to make everything I see rather than focusing on one medium. I quickly get bored and do not like to mass produce things so I could never make enough to satisfy the demand it would take to do a show.

TGIF everyone!!!

This week seems to have been so long with the cold weather we have been having. I have been working on my parrot and finished it late last night. I will take pictures of it this weekend and get it posted. I can tell you that it is not as spectacular as the one pictured in a previous post this week, but for my first try I am excited with the results. This weekend I am going to try for a German Shepard using the same techniques that Kerri Pajutee uses on her website. I have done needle felted dogs which turn out well, but want to try this method to see how it works. Will also post the resulting critter no matter what it looks like. Only by laughing at my own creations will I work to improve the pieces as I go along.

This week was meeting week for my miniature group on Wed night. We are working on gardens like the one previously posted. It is amazing how 4 people can come up with totally different ideas to fill a 6 inch cardboard circle. I so enjoy teaching others to challenge themselves in new ways they never thought of. I love learning new things, but more than that I love watching people who say they can not do something, blossom as they learn new things. I would rather do an intense project with many different techniques than to do simple things that only take an hour or two to finish, but have no place to go when they are done. Starting with the garden base we could add fish ponds, fountains, plants of all kinds, benches, little critters hiding in the corners or any number of things and still not make it to crowded on the small base.

My mother always tried to instill in us that we could do anything if we wanted to badly enough. I, in turn, tried to teach the same thing to my children. Having the desire to strive for more in our lives is what makes us grow as life goes on. I hope never to have a day I do not learn something new. My mom passed away a year ago and I miss her still. I still want to pick up the phone and call her on occasion when I need someone to talk to or some advice on some issue or other. She lived to be 83 so I was lucky to have her with a healthy mind, even though her body was failing her for as long as I did. One day I will write about her life, but I am not ready to do that just yet.

That is it for today. Have a great weekend.

Debs

Happy Tuesday!

We are in a deep freeze here in New Hampshire, but the sun was out this morning giving us the illusion of a beautiful day as long as you just looked out the window. It was 0 degrees F when I left the house this morning and is now up to 32 degrees F so it has improved quite a bit.

Last night when I let the 4 legged kids out for the last time before bed I could not believe how bright it was with the moonlight reflecting off the snow. If the wind had not been blowing it would have been a wonderful night for a walk. I had noticed on my way home that the moon was already up at 4:30 PM so knew it would be lovely to look out at the snow later on, but it seemed so much brighter than usual and the moon was huge. I was amazed that the kids did not go crazy when I let them out as they often do when we have a full moon.

I am watching the weather bug program that is a necessity when you work for a roofing company. We have a weather event coming at us from the west which is supposed to drop about an inch of snow on us this afternoon and evening. It is to be just enough to cover up the dirty snow and make everything pretty again.

I was able to get my parrot painted last night and hope to be able to get some feathers on it tonight. Hope to have it ready for reveal tomorrow. If you would like to see some of my other projects you can go to my photo site and take a look around. I have many of the projects I have completed and miniatures I have made there.

Way to go Patriots!!!

Happy Monday everyone! I am not a huge fan of football unless my grandson is on the field, but how can anyone live in New England and not be proud of our sports teams. I watched sporadically throughout the games yesterday and was happy to see the Patriots win. I had hoped to see Green Bay win as one of my brothers is a huge fan of that team. It would have been so great to see them on the field with the Patriots, but was not meant to be. Just two more weeks and the season will be over for another year.

I did spend some time over the weekend working on my little parrot and I have the body ready for painting. Want to try to get that done tonight and then feather him tomorrow evening. Sculpting him was not the easiest thing I have done, nor was it the hardest. I think he is presentable and will be able to tell how well I did once he is feathered.

I had rather a quiet weekend as I tend to hole up at home when the temp. goes down. A hold over from childhood and being poor. I HATE TO BE COLD!! I spent the weekend doing the usual weekend chores, laundry, etc. All those things we are to tired to do when we get home from work during the week.

I am one of the millions of people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis so I conserve my energy for the important things during the week. Fatigue is the one thing I hate about having this disease. I have always taken care of things around the house and now I have to ask for help and it is driving me crazy. I am not one who likes to wait for a time that is convenient. I want to do it then and there or as soon as possible so I find it hard to wait.

I read a story of how someone explained RA to a friend and it really made a lot of sense to me. When you have the disease you only have so much energy to get you through the day. Using a dozen spoons as your allotment for the day you take away one or two spoons for each activity you need or want to do. The more strenuous the activity the more spoons it uses. When the spoons are used up then the energy is also gone and you are done for the day.

One ironic thing about having RA is you do not need a weather man to tell you a storm is coming. When the barometer starts changing then the joints tell really quick that there is a storm or weather pattern of some kind on it's way. The joy of getting old.

You gotta see this!

There is a wonderful group on the web called Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures that I have been a member of for a couple of years or more. They have online classes most every weekend and this past two weeks one of the members, who is an IGMA Fellow, Kerri Pajutee taught a class on sculpting and feathering a parrot. It is two hard for me to follow along with a class on my slow dial up at home so I wait until it is over and check it out. Well let me tell you I will be doing it this weekend or at least attempting to do it. My sculpting skills are not professional at all, but I really want to try this one. The picture is one completed by Kerri. Notice the comparison of her finger to the size of the parrot. It is just over 1 inch in length and about 3/8 inch wide. I was totally amazed at the realism she achieves. You can see other things she has created on her website: http://kerripajutee.com/ . After my attempts at making one of my own I will post a picture of the results. Anyone who is interested in miniatures needs to check out the CDHM site: http://www.cdhm.org/ . There are amazing artists there creating some of the best in miniatures I have seen.

Sunny New England

Oh, but wait a minute and it is apt to change. We have the craziest changes in weather here in the northeast. It is a common saying here, if you don't like the weather just wait a minute and it will change. Today we are windy and only 30 degrees, but the sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside. Tomorrow they are predicting snow changing over to rain. I hate the change over as there is just enough snow in my yard to turn it all to ice again and these old bones just don't bend as well they used to and it seems a lot further to the ground now. Will have to call and have it sanded when the rain stops.

Last night I was online looking for a tutorial for a flower I knew I saved and could not find. It made me realize that while I had spent a month organizing my craft room last summer I still need to organize all of my tutorials and patterns in note books or files of some kind. Many people share tutorials for miniatures on all the groups and forums I belong to so when I find one I think I might want to do I print it out and save it in a file cabinet or with my supplies for that type of project. I do this simply because the old brain does not always remember where it sees something online. Usually when I decide I am going to do something I do not want to waste time looking all over the web for it.

I, also, have huge files on my computer of flowers in different colors so when I start making them I can paint the paper in appropriate colors before punching them out. Nature does not make all flowers in one tone colors. Many flowers are in shades of a color so we need to paint them in variations of color if they are to look natural. I think what I need are more books on flowers, but then with the world wide web I can always find pictures of what I am looking for when I need them.

If anyone has any ideas on organizing them feel free to comment here.

Have a great day!
Debs

My world of Doll House Miniatures

Today I thought I would introduce you to my world of miniatures. I was given a doll house for Christmas 10 years ago. I had always wanted one and finally had one. Well I opened the box, looked at the directions and viewed the video that came with it. Intimidated is to mild a word for what I felt. I closed up the box and stored it away. It took me 7 years to get up the nerve to open the box and take the plunge into the world of doll house construction. Now three years later I am still working on the basic construction of the exterior. I am down to the detail painting and trying to make up my mind where I want to add that last bit of color to make it pop without being gaudy. It is a little further along than when this picture was taken, but still have much to do to finish the exterior.

Well it didn't take me long to learn that I would never be able to afford all the wonderful miniatures it would take to fill up the 6 rooms in the house. One visit to the doll house shop nearby and a wondrous world opened up to me, but alas my tastes run to the high end of the market. I knew then that I needed to find a way to make as many of the small things to fill it as I could or it would never get furnished. Just how does someone new to this little world find out where to go. Well a search on Yahoo groups brought up numerous groups dealing with the small world of miniatures. I was off and running. I joined everyone I could find and read everything I could about scales and any advice that anyone could impart. In the miniature world you can find the most supportive people willing to share knowledge that in other areas most people charge a small fortune for. Ask a question and you will receive an answer sometimes even before you ask. There are also many websites found when doing a search for dollhouse miniatures.

Many of the miniatures I have made can be viewed on webshots at http://community.webshots.com/user/mizdeb11?action=publicAlbums

I have so many projects in line to do that I doubt I will ever finish them all. I tend to think about what I want to do in terms of where will it go when I leave my stick house for life on the road.









I think my favorite thing to do is create gardens. You can see many of them in my webshots albums. I love flowers and creating them has become a passion for me. I usually give these little gardens away as they make others smile and often brighten a day that is dark and dismal.

One nice thing about miniatures as they will fit nicely into my RVing lifestyle when we take to the road. I just have to make sure I save storage space for the my supplies to keep making these wonderful things in miniature. I am rethinking my doll house as it is almost 4 feet high and on a base that is 3' square. How will that fit into a motor home?

More tomorrow!

Have a great day,
Debs

Winter in New England

January is a time for reflection of years past. I tend not to dwell on the past but look to the future with joy. Looking back only depresses me and shows me how fast time flies. Being closer to 60 than 50 only makes me want to live each day to it's fullest. I am seeing people younger than I pass of illnesses that are devastating and quick. Not me I intend to go out fighting every inch of the way.

Today we are in the midst of a weather event which has slowed everything to a crawl and even though we had the snowiest December on record the local drivers have not figured out how to drive in the white stuff yet. Here in New England having 4-wheel drive is license to drive like a total idiot. My husband typically drives our 2006 Tundra 4-wheel drive while I poke along in my 1994 Corolla. I have worked out the nuances of my commute any time of the year and know just how to drive it. My little car has served me well for the past ll years and continues to get me to and from work most days. Today bowing to my husband, the worry wart, I rode in with him. Being a little fearful of doing any damage to the truck I tend to be white knuckled when driving it in this kind of weather. The snow is letting up now and should be done by the time we leave work this afternoon. Now we can start looking forward to another one on Friday this week.

I look out the window here at work and see the wonder of mother nature and how she knows just when it is time to perk up the look of winter. The beautiful snow of December had turned into the dirty ice mounds left after our January thaw last week and now we have a beautiful white covering again.

As I said in my first post I am looking forward to retiring and hoping to become a full time RVer living completely in a house with wheels. As much as I love the look after a fresh new fallen snow I will not miss it at all. Just knowing I will not have to go out in it will be reward enough. I look forward to the time when I can leave home before the first snow and not return north until long after it is gone. I kept looking at my camper before the first snow fall wishing I could hook up and hit the road, but it was not to be this year.

I spend much time on RV boards and groups getting myself prepared for the day that we can pick up and go. I read everything I can get my hands on or find on the web so if anyone has any good sites or information to pass on I would appreciate a comment.

I am also keeping a log of the places I would love to see so if you have any favorites feel free also to comment on those. I love anything in nature and have seen so little of this vast country I want to plan a route that will take in as much as possible. One of my favorite places to visit is Lancaster, PA. We have been going there usually once a year for a week or at least a long weekend.

Have a great day!!!
Debs

As a resident of New Hampshire and having participated in the First in the Nation presidential primary this past week I have a few after thoughts on the outcome. It is not without trepidation that I was not happy with the result, but then I would assume that the other people who did not vote for Hillary Clinton also were disappointed as well.

I am a member of the so called baby boomer generation and I look forward to retirement spending the rest of my life traveling in an RV full time. There are so many places and things to see in this big country of ours I want be able to do just that without thought of where I have to be tomorrow.

Can this be a reality or is it doomed along with our social security system. Can we trust Hillary Clinton to fix this program? In my humble opinion she can not and I don't think she really wants to in this point in time. I am wondering if we could trust any of the candidates to do a great job in the Presidential Chair. I am one of those independent undeclared voters that New Hampshire is so proud of, yet I tend to lean toward the democratic ticket more often than not. I want to leave the door open in the event that I feel that one of the republicans should as if by magic prove to be worthy of my vote. In this particular election I see no one on the republican ticket that will do anything toward bringing the United States back from the brink of social destruction in the world.

Another thought being can we ever hope to recuperate and overcome the ill made decisions of our current president?

Most importantly to me we need to get the illegal immigrants out of the country. I think getting the borders closed and getting rid of those who chose to come into the US by any other means but legal should be deported without trial or questions. We can not continue to be keepers of the world without regard to what it is doing to our own residents.

I totally lost all tolerance for any illegal that can not come into the US through legal channels and learn our language at the very least before trying to change our world. I came from immigrant stock who did come to the US through legal channels and I feel that it is only fair that anyone else wanting to enter the US should do so the same way.

I also feel that anyone wanting to change the language that our Star Spangle Banner is sung in should be tarred and feathered and run out of the country. You want to be part of the US then learn our language and our national customs.

We hear about others coming into the US and criticizing how things are done. WELL I AM SAYING TO YOU SIMPLY IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT THEN GET THE HELL OUT. WE DON’T NEED MORE ANTAGONISTS COMING INTO OUR COUNTRY AND TRYING TO CHANGE WHAT WE HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO MAKE A GOOD PLACE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.