December is almost gone....

Where did the month go? For that matter, where did the YEAR go???

Here's a quick catchup post for the month....we already told you about our visit to Dollywood and our purchase of a new-to-us car (JJ).

We made peanut butter (me) & chocolate chip (Stu) cookies for our mailman, the Fedex and UPS drivers, our boarding/grooming folks and the folks at our vet office. I had picked up nice holiday tins, tags, ribbon, paper, bows, etc. at the Dollar Store a couple weeks ago. They turned out nice and are now all delivered.

I shopped for groceries and a couple of little girl Christmas gifts for our new to the area friends who are experiencing a HORRIBLE move to this area. I've continued to help them via Facebook connections, getting them connected with a local group with holiday food boxes as well as finding a great free local Christmas holiday show to attend.

After we bought Jeremiah the Jeep (JJ), Stu immediately started to work on the wear & tear items that needed addressing (brakes, hoses, belts) as well as rotating the tires. He still plans on replacing the ball joints and by the time winter is over, we will need new tires. He enjoys this type of work - this was a photo I snapped on HIS BIRTHDAY (17th). LOL!

Yes, we are still loving the car! 

I continued watching Hallmark Christmas movies while Stu worked on cleaning up and reorganizing the garage. In the midst of all that, he found all our missing Christmas decorations! Too late to bother putting them up, but now I can work on sorting them into what will stay in the house and what will go in the RV.

I also found my Christmas (and Halloween) shirts, and wore a couple of them (a couple more are put away for one more year, just in case I lose weight...LOL). Here are two of my favorites, gotta love T-rex!

We don't really DO Christmas, never being all the close (distance-wise) to family and this year will be no different. We have gotten a couple of Christmas cards this year, one from family, one from friends, and one hand signed by all the staff at our vet with handwritten thank you notes for the cookies.

Gifts? We tend to order things when we need them and don't exchange gifts on birthdays or Christmas. Here are a couple of things we bought ourselves recently (okay, I bought...LOL!)

With colder weather, we have been stocking up on sweatshirts that were on sale at Kohl's. We love these! We got both zip-front and pullover. The zip-front is still on sale for $24.99 (not at quite as low a price as we managed to get but still a great deal). The pullovers are only $11.99 without any extra discounts (that are available through tomorrow). They are SO SOFT, don't shrink and are great quality.

From Amazon, I got myself a nice pair of slippers, a new fitness tracker, and got Stu two Fire Department beanies (much needed #1 & #2). I also found this great little travel charger for USB devices and this amazing add-a-shelf for one of our bathroom outlets.

The last item is still on order but should arrive next week. I know Gennita from Facebook and have followed her Brazilian Sticky man tales for some time now. Hilarious!!

ZEN AND THE ART OF BRAZILIAN STICKY & Other Roofing Tales is a compilation of hilarious stories from the real life roofer and best-selling author, Gennita Low. She has been posting the tales of conversations with her Brazilian cement worker, all told with great humor and tongue in cheek. It's now available in both ebook and paperback.

Here's wishing all our family and friends a 

Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Holiday Season!

Ciao for now!

Klondike Mysteries - Order Signed Book Copies Now!

Available NOW!

CLICK to Order Yours!

Ciao for now!

On the road & sharing a little fun

Just a quick note to say we are heading out in the next hour or so. Not sure if we will have WiFi tonight or not, same for tomorrow night. We should arrive in Maryland on Sunday afternoon - hope the good weather holds!

Also wanted to pass along a new blog I started, one just for fun. I keep seeing cute, fun, interesting, helpful and quirky things being sold on Amazon. Heck, I've been known to buy a few. So I started a shopping blog where I will feature a new item every week on Monday through Friday. I hope you will subscribe to it and follow along in the fun. Oh, and tell your friends!!

Go Fun Shopping!

Ciao for now!

A few recent purchases....

We've picked up a few new things in the last week or two and I thought I'd share a couple with you.

My favorite is my new mug. Traveling in warm weather and buying a lot of bananas, we get fruit flies. We also get gnats, those tiny swarming, annoying little flying insects. I keep a small bowl of apple cider vinegar with a tiny dash of Dawn dish detergent on the counter, but invariably, they still find time to swim in my coffee. Tired of setting a piece of paper or a coaster on top of my mug, I went in search of a mug with a lid. I saw this and loved it, and I love it more now that I've received it. The silicone lid is perfect, creates a nice seal, and the decorations are adorable!

Cute Totoro Mug (choice of colors)

The next was a must have replacement. Twice, after traveling all day, Stu's office chair was found pressing against the run button on our shredder. Well, twice was too much and it burned out the motor. We had talked about replacing it with a smaller one or maybe just one that sits on the of a wastebasket while using it. This is what we decided on...much smaller but does the same work.

Aurora AS420C Desktop-Style Cross-Cut Paper Shredder

The last item was a spur of the moment purchase. Stu has been talking about wanting a cast iron pan to make cornbread. The one's we have seen at places like Cracker Barrel have been pretty pricey. While at Tractor Supply yesterday, we found this three piece set for $30. He inspected it quite closely and like what we saw. We couldn't say no. Check it out at your local Tractor Supply or order online. Great holiday gift!

Red Shed 3-Piece Cast Iron Fry Pan Set

We are still in prep mode for our month's vacation...slowly getting things done. I still need a haircut, maybe tomorrow or this weekend. LOL! Mon/Tues we will be packing - oh yeah, we fly out at 6 am so we will be leaving the RV around 3 am. Eeep!

Ciao for now!

Some Amazon Prime News!

We have been Amazon Prime members almost since its inception. Why? As full-time RVers, it's wonderful to know we can get things quickly when traveling. We might be in an area where stores are sparse or prices are high. Amazon levels that playing field. NOTE: We do shop local when it makes sense for us.

I recently got an email from Amazon letting me know they were having...well, I'll let them tell you.

On Tuesday July 12th, Amazon is celebrating Prime members by having its second annual Prime Day deals event. As you know, Prime is our premium program that gives members fast delivery, access to thousands of Prime Video titles, music, secure photo storage, and more!

This year promises to be even bigger. From the 5th to 11th of July leading up to Prime Day (July 12, 2016), Amazon will offer a selection of unique Prime exclusive deals, video and music content. Beginning July 5th, we will email daily updates sharing the biggest promotions, so get excited!

Why are we telling you this? Well, if you aren't a Prime member, you can get a FREE 30 day trial. If you get it NOW, you can get in on all the specials they are offering between today and Prime Day, the 12th. What do you have to lose?

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Ciao for now!

My PERFECT shirt!

Back in 2012, someone mentioned a term that I found interesting. I researched it and adopted it for my own. I even found a great t-shirt, emblazoned with the saying. It has been worn during many writing sprints but it is slowly fading away.

So I started searching for a replacement. Not to be found anywhere! So I decided to give TeeSpring.com a chance. We have bought several shirts from them (scuba, firefighter, etc) and I figured I had nothing to lose.

So, if you have a friend who writes, this would be the perfect gift for them. If you write, buy one for yourself! I'm ordering mine tonight - can't wait.

Oh, the saying?

BIC HOK TAM
Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard, Typing Away Madly

Here is the link to order! teespring.com/bic-hok-tam-writer-shirt

Ciao for now!

Karma! (but not the Buddhist doctrine)

As full-time RVers, we needed a way to connect to the Internet while traveling. Since 2006, I had a Verizon Aircard with unlimited use. It was wonderful but for $70 a month, we opted to drop it when we moved to Ecuador.

We have DSL when we are on our property in Tennessee and we hop on to our stepdaughter's WiFi when parked in her driveway in Maryland. But last year we realized we were going to have an issue when parked in Stu's oldest daughter's yard in Delaware. She is a on a pay-as-you-go Internet plan and it was inconvenient for her and us to constantly have to add use.

So we've been watching for a good WiFi pay-as-you-go for us, not wanting to sign up for a contract. When we read about Karma, it sounded like a good plan for us.

When we checked it out a couple of months ago, they were sold out and anticipating having more available in August. Visiting their page a couple days ago, we found that we could pre-order and it should arrive early on in our visit to the states this fall. Of course this is only good in the US and only where they have coverage - and they do have coverage where we need it in Delaware.

When you buy data (in GBs), it never expires. At $14 per gigabyte, its data prices are more expensive than some other alternatives , but less expensive than places like hotels and airports that sell WiFi access. We love its "buy it and forget it" model for data usage, which allows you to truly pay as you go for your data.

If you have a need for "sometime" data access and don't want a monthly contract, check out Karma. (And we will report in after using it this fall while traveling and parked in Delaware.)

Kindle Fire HD - Kids Edition!!

Wow! What a great idea for Christmas gifts for kids!

All-new Fire HD tablet just for kids—with 1 year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, Kid-Proof Case, and a 2-year worry-free guarantee—up to $95 in savings

Built for even the toughest kids—Enjoy the peace of mind with an unprecedented 2-year worry-free guarantee—if they break it, we'll replace it for free. No questions asked!

PS. Lots of great choices for us adults, too, including a Kindle Fire for $99! Prefer an e-ink reader? Check out the wide variety of Kindle Readers.

Kindles and Books and Reading, OH MY!

Give me a day off the motorcycle and I find all kinds of new things going on in the world.

First, my fellow RVing author, Nick Russell, has just come out with a new book, Dog's Run, and it's getting rave reviews. Check it out...I just bought it!

And while I was on the Amazon.com site, I discovered they have announced the new Kindle Fire tablets. Oh my! Here is what they had to say (straight from their website).

These are powerhouse tablets. We added the latest graphics engine, doubled the memory, and tripled the processing power with the most advanced 2.2 GHz quad-core processor. Our HDX displays bring together exceptional pixel density (up to 339 ppi), perfect 100% sRGB color accuracy, improved brightness, and dynamic image contrast. You also get up to 11 hours of battery life—17 hours when you're reading.

Even the largest new Kindle Fire—the 8.9"—is startlingly light. We re-imagined our design from scratch, with a new magnesium unibody and molded glass-nylon alloy. At just 13.2 ounces, it's 34% lighter than the previous generation.

Kindle Fire HDX is packed with hundreds of updates, including new email, calendar, and productivity apps, X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, and—in addition to streaming—you can now download Prime Instant Videos and watch them offline.

Kindle Fire HDX also introduces the revolutionary new "Mayday" button. With a single tap, an Amazon expert will appear on your Fire HDX and can co-pilot you through any feature by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you—whatever works best. Mayday is available 24x7, 365 days a year, and it's free.

Mayday is one of those things that really has to be seen—
check out our upcoming TV commercials.

In addition to all the above, we're taking another step forward in our mission to make it possible for anyone to afford a Kindle Fire. The all-new Kindle Fire HD has the same display quality and processing speed of last year's high-end models and comes in at the breakthrough price point of only $139.

Wow! I'm impressed, especially with the upgraded basic Kindle HD for $139. I paid much more for mine a year ago. Hmmm, time for an upgrade? ;)

Price cut on Kindle Fire HD 8.9 Tablet

Just wanted to pass this along for anyone that might be interested. Amazon has lowered the price on their Kindle Fire HD 8.9" Tablet. We have the smaller Kindle Fires and love them.

Amazon Deal on Kindle Touch

You can't buy a new Kindle Touch but for a limited time, you can get a great buy on a refurbished one. I love mine and we just bought one for Stu ($129).

Yes, we could have bought the new Kindle Paperwhite ($119) with Wi-Fi only, or the Kindle Paperwhite ($179) with 3G, but when weighing the advantage of storing up to 3000 books, 3G in addition to Wi-Fi against having to use a light to read at night, the Kindle Touch won out. Having the 3G access has been really great and keeping the special offers hasn't been intrusive. In fact some folks have found some good deals.

Anyway, check it out: Kindle Touch Refurbished 3G/Wi-Fi with one year warranty for only $119.

Gifts from Photographs

Just read a great article featuring different ways to turn your photographs into gifts for family and friends. I know we RVers take a LOT of photos, take a peek at the article HERE.