01 Dec 2006 08:11 PM

Sitting on the Floor to Type

1 December 2006 - yes, that is today! All other dates will be current!

It is almost ten and I am sitting on the floor in the bathroom, typing in my journal here. One thing I didn't anticipate was the slimming down of my time on the computer when we moved into the motorhome. Yes, I anticipated less personal time, but I guess I didn't translate that into less time online, which is odd. Part of it is because the space is so small during the day; it is hard for me to focus on writing anything - even just a journal - in cramped corners. I think it will make blogging for families.com interesting. Part of it is the whole GPS. We have GPS and Maps & Streets installed on the laptop for Michael's work, and so since he is frequently driving to buildings he has never been to before, he needs the computer. The laptop is thus not here, which puts a real crimp in my working style. I'm going to have to play with things and find a way to do it; it was suggested that I write in bed after the kids are asleep, which is not comfortable, but is a distinct possibility. Add to the mix the fact that the laptop battery does not work, which means the laptop has to be shutdown to be moved - say, from the front of the motorhome to the back - and you wind up deeply inconvenienced. Furthermore, if one of the kids hits the cord....bye bye to anything I was working on.

It's hard to believe it has been two weeks since my last entry, two weeks since we moved out of our house and onto the road. We spent nearly a week around Thanksgiving with my dad in Virginia, which strictly limited computer time; I did more visiting than playing. We left there on Monday morning, and today is Friday. The time before that didn't feel like 'really' living in the RV, so it seems more like we're only on a permanent basis for the past week. And last night, we spent the night in a hotel; that was weird. Per priceline, we got a nice sized room at the Holiday Inn for $55/night plus whatever taxes come with the sucker. Now that made for one great shower!

The reason for the motel was simple...sort of. It was all mathmatics, per dh. We have all of these jobs here around Philadelphia, and then we had one job over in Pittsburgh that had to be done yesterday, before we returned to this area today. In case you don't know - I sure didn't - that is nearly a six hour drive. Michael looked at the costs of 6 miles per gallon in the motorhome versus 20 in the van and figured staying in the hotel (especially at $60/night) was less than the difference in gas, which is around $2.30/gallon right now <choke>. I wasn't particularly excited about 'abandoning' our motorhome for the night (we left it at a site that we paid for, locked up, of course), but we were back in less than 24 hours. The job, by the way, took less than an hour.

We left Pittsburgh ahead of a storm that was supposed to drop some snow. We are getting the wetter effects of the storm now. The rain has cooled off, but we've got wind gusts around 60 mph, which make for an interesting feeling; the motorhome is sort of rocking. I didn't anticipate that one, either. It's not bad, certainly no worse (and probably better than) driving, but it is rather odd.

A couple of neat things from the kids to wrap things up. We were reading Alma 26 tonight for scripture study, just the first nine verses. We talked about how the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, who so obviously loved the Lord, would never have felt that without the missionaries who served. Then we extended that to today - the missionaries who taught me (Sisters Schneider and Nuttall, lest you think I forgot; I had to struggle over their last names, but strangely, not their first names) and the unknown missionaries who taught my father-in-law and my husband's family. Michael's family are descended from pioneers, but we decided to ask Peepaw (Michael's grandfather) and Poppa (Michael's father) about the missionaries who made it possible for the kids to be members of the church today. Then, during our prayers, Dawn asked Heavenly Father to bless "every missionary who ever was."

Also, interestingly enough, Dawn came into our room tonight after bedtime, crying because she missed her dance teacher. She has not been in dance lessons since maybe February or March, so that was interesting. We decided on a couple things: tomorrow, we would call Grandmommy and see if she could locate an address for said teacher, then we would draw a picture and write a letter, and finally we would try to visit her work when we go to Georgia over Christmas. We also discussed taking dance lessons when we move back to a 'real' house, and Dawn asked, "Will that be when the credit cards are all paid off?"

Last note. The kids wanted a bedtime story tonight, one about me when I was little. Of course I couldn't think of any, but I told them about Mr. Kelly. Not a story, per se, but just about his regular garden and his butterfly garden with the waterfall, and his house built into the ground. We discussed going to visit Mrs. Kelly when we have the chance. They seemed excited. I would like for her to meet Jimmy, who was, after all, named in part after her husband. And, of course, the other kids. The kids want to see the fort I told them that my sister and I built in 1993 or so. I told them the fort was probably gone. I didn't mention that the butterfly garden and the vegetable garden may both be gone, as well. That is a lot to keep up with. Then again, perhaps Mrs. Kelly managed to do so. It would be nice.

Alright, time to sign off. I need to go ahead and get to bed. One nice thing about the motorhome - the close quarters mean I wind up going to sleep earlier most nights. Occasionally I stay up too late reading, but I finished my novel already tonight and only have time left for scripture study and prayer. I stole some time to type this, as well. What can I say, it's been awhile.

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