On the move!

We are all packed up and on the move!

Books to take...

Okay this is the reading material I had decided on this afternoon. Now though after visiting Liz, over at Rose Vignettes, I may also take Persuasion by Jane Austin.

I have had all these books for awhile but have been so busy I have not had much time to read. We have our Old and New Testaments combined bible in the front along with the New Testament only on top. The new Tea Companion I started but got distracted along the way and did not finish it. I'll start over. Then a couple of little pocket books for fun.

This also gave me the opportunity to play with my camera. Copy mode, black and white.

Copy zoom, how cool is this!

Food mode. Can turn it more blue or more red, hehe.

All this, the tea, plus the previously mentioned items, pretty much fills up my carry on. I'll have the psaltery and my purse and then everything else gets checked or if necessary shipped later.

We're getting there!

New camera

Felt the need to update cameras before we take off for northern climes. My little Kodak was years old and not as reliable as it used to be. I am hoping to able to capture some of the beauty that is Alaska.

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Having said that, felt the need to get some practice in with my new Nikon.

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Little Companion.

One of the stunning pictures she brought home in her art portfolio today, free hand. Pretty impressive, huh.

Up close and personal with the flowers...

So far I'm loving the new camera. Would have like to have practiced more but, face it, no one is really interested in seeing a bunch of moving boxes!

More important stuff

So in the quest for the all important can't-do-without stuff to take on our journey into the frozen arctic, we (meaning me) decided we needed one of these little devices.

This little device is a recorder/player. It will record live and you can then upload it to your computer or play back through headphones or computer. You can also download music or other audio from your computer.

Can use it for your easy listening pleasure or tape preacher's sermon (to check all those scriptures later). Then you never know when the song lyrics to the next #1 might just pop into your mind and you might need to belt out a song right then and there and where would you be without your teeny, tiny recorder!

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Now what's amazing about this all so far is that everything (Go Bible, teeny-tiny recorder) fits into my noise-cancelling headphones case nice and tidy as you please!

The next must-have item for our journey is this notebook computer. It is a lot smaller than a lap top. I have been using this for the past couple of weeks for blogging, email, etc., and it has worked just fine so far.

We got this at Wal-Mart and daughter and I will share this while in Alaska. So here's my story on this...

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I told daughter dear I would like to buy this little treasure since I was not too confident in its ability to perform the tasks we wanted and if it didn't work I didn't want her to be out any money.

You want to hear what she said?

She said she wanted to buy it because if it didn't work SHE WOULD RETURN IT!

Hum, well ... she won.

Ain't she a sweety!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Beautiful flowers courtesy of Big Kahuna. Thank you big Kahuna!

Out and about

So, today being the day before Valentine's day,

almost a week before we load the truck to take off,

weather is a bit chilly and very windy here in the Tampa Bay area... what should we do?

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What would you do?

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We... headed west for Clearwater beach!

You know what's nice about the beach when it's blustery outside?

You get a really close parking space,

and the water is churned up a bit,

and the only things that really give you a second look are the birds.

We did have to wear our coats and even hoods to keep the wind from blowing clean through our heads, but it sure was beautiful,

and I am so thankful to have been able to experience it again

in all of it's glory with very little humanity to interrupt.

Amazing!

Daily life...

So amidst the turmoil of packing and planning, daily life must go on.

As we know, soon it will be Valentine's Day and in the life of a 6-year-old that means a Valentines Day party with all the trimmings. The project was to work together to make a holder for your cards. Name had to be clearly visible and it had to be able to stand independently. Most of our gear is packed but we were able to come up with this.

Front side...

We cut the tissue paper into little squares, rolled it onto pencils, and then glued it in place. Not a hard project but somewhat time consuming.

Back...

other side...

Inside was a little plain with the cardboard, so a little wrapping paper glued inside...

She went over her name in pink marker and is extremely happy with the end result.

We enjoyed working on this project together!

Bad doggie...

This is our pocket poochie, Flynnie, 8 pounds of yorkie-bichon mix. Smart, playful, loyal, lovable, non-shedding, hypoallergenic designer poochie (he also sits, walks, dances, jumps and sings).

He, however, does not like being left alone.


Oh pocket poochie, you've been bad!


He eventually hurt himself jumping and clawing at the door, so for his safety he is now crated when I have to leave the house. Meanwhile, this was one of my projects to fix before we vacate our McMansion fondly called Mammoth.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Lowe's we go...



Arming myself with wood filler, a putty knife, sandpaper, and paint I began the project. Two coats of wood filler, sanding, sanding...


Okay one thing that I learned was when they say "base paint - must be tinted" they mean it. Base pain that must be tinted is kind of what you would think white wash was and as optimistic as you may be it does not change even after 2 coats and your own stubborn self must then admit you must take a second trip to Lowe's.

Hi ho, hi ho, its off to Lowe's we go (again)...

Two coats of real paint later..

Ta Da



all done


And there you have it, all better!

Things we must take on our journey...

Okay, so we have established that we will be traveling from Florida to Alaska and staying there for approx 3-4 months.

We will be storing most of our gear in the house in Oklahoma and basically taking a couple of suitcases each and carry-ons.

Now the big question is what would we have trouble living without during this 3-month journey, and I don't mean things like clothes, boots, etc., I mean the really important things like a musical instrument you can fit in a carry-on, like a psaltery,



and..

A Go Bible, how cool is this!

This is basically a dedicated MP3-type player with the Bible loaded and you can scroll through by old and new testament, chapter, and verse. It also has favorite stories. I chose the King James Version read by Alexander Scourby. Now, I have the CD set but it is much larger than this little thing and we are trying to think small. It came with ear buds but I will be using a headset that sits on the ears and not in the ears. I love hearing the bible read as I follow along.


I also added the accessory pack so the little thing can be attached to the speakers or play through an FM radio, for instance in your car. I don't think I'll take the speakers or the FM radio thing but they will be nice to have later on down the road.


So there you have it, the first two things I will be taking on my journey.

I have been very busy trying to copy the thousands of glossary entries I had into another glossary since I have quit my job and may want this information later. It is very time consuming and BORING! I am hoping to be through sometime Saturday. That will be such a relief!!

Happy Saturday!!!!!!

A little news to share...

Okay, so here's the 411.

We will be going to Alaska for a few months, leaving toward the end of February, with daughter's work (daughter, little companion, and I). We are very excited about it. Northern lights, ice sculptures, etc.

So, I quit my job to be able to freely travel around for the next 6 months or so.

I also learned I had hypothyroidism, which explained a whole lot. I have started medication to help with my energy level, etc. My level was pretty high so it may take awhile.

So now you have... the rest of the story! Hahahahah