Time is just flying by......it seems all I get down these days is helping Sam get his life in order. I think I'm finally on the back side of that---once school starts we can get into a routine and I'm hoping things will settle down. His room is a total mess. It looked so nice when he came home, but he has boxes to sort, clothes to go through----eeeek!

We finally got started on the "den" yesterday. I have the room completely emptied out and hubby started on the can lights. Unfortunately we had to "regroup" on the lights. I wanted to center them on each wall, but the ceiling joist are in the way. So, we just decided to nix the whole can light thing and buy a nice light kit for the ceiling fan. Bill is up in the attic today wiring so we have separate switches---one for the light and one for the fan. At least it is a little cooler for him today. I turned my attention to the closet. It is so overwhelming. So many of my "treasures" are lurking there. It is hard to part with them, but I know I must!! Into the garage sale they go. Some days I begin to wonder if we will ever get this done. We had done a major purge before we left for Florida last winter. I really thought we would not have that much "stuff" to sort through at this time. I was wrong!! I must have "hid" it all in the closet........woe is me!

Been a few days since I posted, we have just been so very busy. Sam came home last Friday. He has been gone for almost 3 years and it was very emotional for all of us. We have been shopping and visiting friends---we have so much to do before he starts Purdue in the Fall. His room came out fantastic and he really seems to like it. We have a few "finishing touches" to apply, but nothing major. Next, we start on what will be the den. It needs a total re-do. It is also one of the last "junk" hold outs. In other words, I have lots of sorting and throwing away to do before we can even start the paint. Hubby will be installing can lights in the ceiling in this room as well. Our goal is to get the "den" and the main bath done before my surgery Aug 7th. I will have about a 6 to 8 week recovery period after the surgery so we really need to get moving. Today I will start the "grand purge" of the den. We will set up tables in the garage, I want to go ahead and place and price items as I go---hopefully that will save us some time later. Sam will be sorting his clothes. He has out grown most of his shirts and some of his pants, so they will be added to the garage sale tables.

A note about my surgery---I have gotten emails and calls from many of you expressing your concern and good thoughts. For those of you that are wondering, I will be have a hysterectomy. I have rather large fibroids, which means I have to have a full incision for removal--no band aid surgery for me. That is why my recovery time will be longer. It seems at "50" many of my "body parts" are "opting out". First it was my gall bladder, now this. The good news is, so far anyway, all of these "deserters" have long since stopped being useful so I say "good riddens"! Thank you all for your kind words and concern and I will keep you posted. Now, it is back to work........

Ok, here is the photo of the dining set I promised. Not to shaggy and the chairs are very comfortable.






This is a photo of the new paint color in Sam's room. I know it looks baby blue, but it does have a touch of green to it. You can see the can lighting my husband installed and the pretty freshly painting white ceiling.

Today I worked on the trim---it is going be an off white. It is all coming together nicely and I think the room is very soothing. Hubby and my Mom worked on priming some furniture for me to paint. It is an armoire and two nightstands for Sam's room. They used to be a knotty pine look and I'm going to paint them a chocolate brown. Once again, we are both so very tired. I think we must be too old for this "home improvement" stuff.

Friday the 11th found hubby in the attic for most of the day. He was installing the "can" lights. He was very tired and wet when he was done, but it sure made a huge difference in the room. I was out having lunch with a friend. Best not to be home when hubby is doing attic work. I had a very nice visit. Then I stopped by the mall and found Macy's was having a big sale. A really good sale--signs of the times I guess. Many items had already been reduced by 50% and you could than take an additional 50% off the discounted price. I managed to find some bargains for my son. A few nice washable silk shirts and some organic cotton ones. Oh, they feel so soft to the skin. After the mall, I went by Kittles to play "show and tell" with my selections for my Mom (she is the receptionist there). Mom has purchased a new dining set for Sam---it was at the store---so we loaded that up and I headed home. I was surprised hubby had any energy left, but he did get the dining set unloaded and put together.

Saturday the 12th found us both painting away. It took most of the day to get the room ready, drop cloths in place, and start the process. We did the ceiling first and that took two coats. Next, we started on the walls. I trimmed and Billy rolled. We make such a great team! We are using Behr Paint from Home Depot. I am not impressed and if there is one thing I know it is paint. We were both surprised because the paint is highly rated, but we found it to be very thin and it took forever to dry. You also had to be very quick with the roller or you would actually start lifting paint off. Very frustrating and I would never recommend this paint to anyone. It was a long day and we were both "pooped" and ready for bed! Tomorrow we will apply coat number two to the walls and hopefully it will be easier than the first. One thing, I do love the color. I promise to post some photos tomorrow!

Yesterday was my turn to see the doctor and I find myself now headed for surgery. It was not a big surprise and I won't bore you with the details, but I know once recovered I will feel so much better. The surgery will be August 7th. Between now and then, there is lots to do. My son is coming home next weekend so we started on his room today. I removed as much as I could from the room and hubby removed the "out of date" track lighting from the ceiling. We plan on replacing the track light with recessed can lighting. Once that is done--we paint ceiling, walls, and trim. The walls are going a soft blue-green and the trim will be an off white. It will be a fresh ,clean look when done. I'll snap some photos as it progresses......

After visiting with our son on the 4th of July, we headed back to our spot on the Tippi River. We arrived and got set up around 3pm. The weather was so nice and the river so peaceful. We were glad we had made the decision to spend the weekend here at the river. July 5th we each had some small jobs to accomplish. Bill went to the stick house--he decided he'd better mow the lawn. I stayed at the river. We have some scrape wood pills that need to be cleaned up so I spent the day sawing up wood and burning. Needless to say, we were both pretty tired by the end of the day. Sunday the 6th we packed up and headed in to the stick house. We plan on splitting our time between the stick house and our "real" home on the river. We will spend weekdays working on the stick house and weekends relaxing at the river. Anyway, that is the plan we will see how well it works.
Monday, the 7th, I spent the day at the hospital with my mother and stepfather. Stepfather is having surgery. It was a long day, but all went well. I got home around 10pm. Mom spent the night at the hospital. I go back today and hopefully will be bringing them both home. I was glad to be there for them both, but boy do I miss the road!

I know, second post for the day. I wanted to update you on a couple of things because I will not have Internet for the next couple of days. The first is a photo of the Michigan City Campground. You can see it is not bad. It is just that we are crammed in her like sardines and there is hardly any green space at the rv site.

The other photo is our new BAL stabilizers. We had a boo-boo with our old Lippert stabilizers. We forgot to put them up one day and when we raised the nose to hitch---CRUNCH! Anyway, hubby is very happy with the new ones. He feels they are much sturdier than the old ones. Now, no more boo-boos!

Yesterday was another long day. We were up early getting the fifth wheel ready for travel. It was supposed to go to Al-Ko today. Our repair shop had wanted to get prior approval before making the spring repair. Well, turns out a lot of the shops in Elkhart close for holiday in July---Al-Ko is one of those shops. So, our repair shop decided to just go ahead and take care of us and they will deal with Al-Ko later. As a result, we now have 4 new leaf springs and while they were there my husband had them go ahead and repack the barrings. The photos are the guys working on our rig at RV America and the guy hiding behind the phone book is Ron Green, owner of RV America. They are all very nice and do try very hard to take care of all your needs. We had everything on our list addressed to our satisfaction except for two items. The first, our microwave. When you try and boil water, after about 4 minutes it will shut itself down. It will start right back up, but it should not kick out like that in our opinion. Ron was afraid to replace it because he was afraid the factory would not be able to re-create the issue and then they would refuse to reimburse him for the replacement. It has happened to him before. So, we are going to call the factory directly and try to get this issue resolved. The second, our leaky air mattress. Apparently, we have to call these folks directly and ask that a replacement bladder be sent. Ron did give us some goop to affect a repair. Unfortunately, my husband found out last night that the repair did not hold. I'll keep you updated as things progress on those last two items. We currently are at a campground it Michigan City, IN called Michigan City Campground. We have stayed here before and it is OK, but a little pricey for the amenities in our opinion.

Today was a very long day. The guys at RV America (our repair shop) worked on our fifth wheel all day today. The pups and I hung out in our new screen room. As you can see it did a great job of keeping them contained and comfortable. I had mentioned we purchased this at Wal Mart in an earlier post. The brand name is "First Up".
As to our repairs, they got a lot accomplished today on our "minor" list. They replaced our sound system "control" center, replace the motor in our Shurflo fan, checked out our microwave (they will call the manufacturer tomorrow for solution), in process of replacing tubing for our propane system, and checked out our shower leak. The leak appears to have "healed" itself, but they did double check the connections and made sure all was secure. Tomorrow they are taking our unit over to the folks who installed our leaf springs and axles. Our repair shop wants to make sure that they agree to replace the leaf springs which are under warranty. I have to say we are a little nervous about this, apparently they have had problems getting them to agree to cover repairs in the past. One good thing, Russ Anderson (one of the owners of Americana RV) happens to be here on another project. Hopefully if there is a problem, he can be of assistance in straightening things out.
We finished our evening with a trip to Olive Garden for dinner. Tomorrow promises to be another long day. I let you know how it all turns out..........