HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Yes, it's that time again -- I had a birthday, but please hold on a minute...


I love it when new followers find their way to our blog.  Today I am happy to report we have two new followers:  "Adventures of a 50 Year Old," whose blog is here.  He and his wife are not fulltimers -- but you never know what the future holds.  They live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and he just recently started their blog, so check it out. 


Welcome Michael -- his blog, "RV0777," is here.  Michael is in the process of preparing for his life as a fulltimer.  Be sure and check out his blog as well.  A great big welcome to both of them. Hopefully, you will find something interesting from our adventures.  I have to admit the last few months have been pretty boring with not much happening but my health issues.  HOWEVER, we are putting all that in our rearview mirror when we leave this area on Thursday for Charlotte!


...now, back to the birthday.  Why does it seem the older you get, the faster time flies?  I am blessed and thankful to celebrate yet another year!  Cannot believe I am 64 -- YIKES, I said it -- out loud.  Next year I will hit the big 65...Medicare, if it's still around, here I come!

My birthday was Thursday, the 22nd.  Alan took me to lunch at...

We shared fajitas...OH MY WORD!

I ate some of the chicken, the veggies and most of the beans, rice, guacamole.  We never eat fajitas the traditional way -- rolling it up in a flour tortilla -- we just eat right off the plate with no tortillas.  Needless to say, there was plenty to take home.

Yesterday my daughter Alissa and granddaughter Sarah came to take me to lunch and to shop.  

Sarah, Alissa and Moi 

We had lunch at...

The Twisted Fork is a family-friendly restaurant that celebrates "playing with food"...not literally.  They want you to think about the possibilities on the menu to get the exact gourmet meal you want.  They perfect each plate from their self-proclaimed "scratch kitchen," where everything on the menu is made fresh.  So what did we order?  Alissa ordered a lamb burger with seasoned fries; Sarah ordered Tilapia with asparagus; and I ordered the black bean burger with sweet potato fries...

Why do restaurants serve such humongous helpings??  My mouth is big, but it won't fit around that sandwich...thank goodness!

After that meal, we decided to wait on dessert -- for now.

After lunch, we were off in search of a dress for Sarah.  She will be participating in an art show at her school in April and is required to wear a dress.

Accessories are important...

...but shouldn't we buy the dress first?

So on to the mall we go...

After trying on what seemed like a ga-zillion dresses, Sarah settled on these two...

Playful...

...or Sophistication?

She decided to check out a few more stores before making a decision, so we put the dresses on hold and continued our search.  She also stole my camera to keep me from taking more pics...LOL!

When all was said and done, we went back to Macy's and purchased this one...

Since she is no longer a teeny-bopper -- but a college student and a beautiful young lady almost ready for the "real" world -- sophistication won out.

We did go back to the Twisted Fork for dessert and shared a piece -- one piece -- of...

We had a great day, but I have to admit -- I was WORN OUT last night, I assume from all the walking we did.  I had a GREAT birthday and am looking forward to the future.  

As I mentioned, we will be leaving the area on Thursday for Charlotte.  We are excited about being on the move once again.  

Even with all the food I've eaten in the last couple of days, I managed not to gain weight -- didn't lose any but at least I didn't gain.  

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.  Until next time, may God continue to bless our family, friends, fellow-bloggers and those we meet along the way!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know?

First, I misspoke when I welcomed Jeff and Sherry on my last blog entry.  It's not Sherry but SHERYL -- Jeff and Sheryl, so Sheryl, I apologize for not paying closer attention and getting your name wrong -- I am so sorry.  You can find Jeff and Sheryl's blog here.


A warm welcome is extended to Sharon and Bill of The Odd Essay here.


Both of these blogs provide interesting information and great pics and we are happy to have them as followers.


Since my last rad two weeks ago, we haven't done much -- not even writing on my blog.  Guess we needed a break from everything.  We started a new way of eating -- watching our sugar, carbs, fiber.  I have managed to lose a whopping 4 lbs, but Alan has lost 10.  Why is it so much easier for men to lose weight than women?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Another question I have concerns cooking.  Since we only have a convection/microwave oven, there are occasions when I really miss a real oven.  But, even if we had one, I'm not sure I would want to use it because of the gas.  Today we saw an infomercial on the Nuwave Oven and I was wondering if anyone has one and if so, if you like it?  Finding a place to put it would be the problem, but if it's worth the money, I would consider purchasing one.

My last question involves roadside assistance coverage.  Do you have one and if so, with whom?  We have had Coach Net for the past two years, but haven't had to use it so we cannot say it's good or bad.  We are contemplating switching to Good Sam.  Since they have partnered up with Camping World, their roadside assistance program offers an unlimited free 22-point inspection at Camping World and there is no limit on the miles tow'd if there is a need to tow your RV.  However, I have also heard derogatory things about various Camping Worlds.


So, I'm turning to my fellow bloggers for valuable input to my questions.  What say you?

Every day as we drove to and from Duke, we passed a walking/biking trail.  So, we decided to check it out.

Only .8 mi to Merritt's Pasture (whatever that is)

A nice paved trail

Doesn't look like spring has sprung here.

We assume this is the old trail, altho there is nothing to tell us that.

Nice bridge -- can you see how close the trail is to the highway?

A place to rest -- if your knees will allow you to get up and down...lol.

We arrive at the pasture and the trail ends.

Also, in our every day travels to and from Duke, we passed University Lake.  We finally were able to stop and get a picture of this...

Since Chapel Hill is home to UNC and this is "University Lake," we assume they are part of UNC's sculling team.

My rad bed

           Technicians                                                                                            Doctors

     My rad team

We will be in the RDU area until the 29th.  We then will head to Charlotte, where we will man a booth for the American Military Retiree Ass'n (AMRA) at the North Carolina's Veterans Welcome Home Celebration on Saturday, the 31st.  When we were asked if we would be willing to volunteer set up and man a table, we felt it was a good way to give back to our veterans.  The celebration will be held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Charlie Daniel Band will be the main entertainment on Saturday afternoon.  Since we have never been to Charlotte, we are looking forward to it.

We are blessed and thankful my radiation treatment is over.  I feel good and the redness and discoloration of my skin are subsiding and I'm getting back to normal.  We are looking forward to what comes next in our voyage.  


Thanks for stopping by and may God bless each of you and keep you safe in your everyday life and your travels.

Hangin' Out

We are tickled to have four new followers.  First, "Encourage One Another."  Be sure and check out this site here for a special treat.  Second is Jeff and Sherry Bright.  Jeff and Sherry, I did not see a blog for you.  If you have one, please let me know and I will check it out.  Third is Sue and Doug -- you can check out their blog here. They have a great blog with wonderful pics and thoughts...check it out.  And last but not least is Page.  Page, please let me know if you have a blog -- I would love to check it out!  Thanks to you all for following us!

Our daughter Alissa and family came yesterday.  The boys all went to the Dixie Deer Classic at the fairgrounds -- such a red-neck event -- just kidding, guys...LOL!

Since we absolutely had no desire to attend such a thing, Alissa and I went shopping and had a nice lunch at Panera Bread.

Last night we watched UNC whip Duke 88-70.  

Tomorrow is my LAST rad treatment -- Hip-hip-hooray!!  I will miss seeing the good people at Duke every day, but I will NOT miss having to go and be radiated.  Can't wait to get on with living!

I've had several ask where we will be going next.  We are going to stay put for the remainder of March.  I have an appointment with the medical oncologist on the 21st to discuss estrogen-blocker drugs, which I am told I will need to take for five years.  I have learned a lot through this ordeal and have seen and met a lot of wonderful people.  My particular breast cancer is driven by estrogen by 97%.  I thought once you stop producing estrogen, that was it, but I have since learned that estrogen is produced and stored in fat cells...YIKES!!  So, we will be starting a low-carb, low-sugar diet this week.  We both absolutely have to lose weight, but we do love to eat and sugar is in EVERYTHING, so it will not be easy.  Hopefully, we are motivated enough to be successful!  

In mid-May, we will head out to Cherokee, North Carolina, to workamp at "Yogi in the Smokies."  If you are anywhere near, we would love to see you.  We will be there through Labor Day.  Following that, we plan on workamping at Pecosin Wildlife Refuge near Columbia, North Carolina, and will be there until sometime in December.  In between those two assignments, I will have follow-up appointments at Duke.  In January 2013, we hope we will finally travel to Florida for a couple of months.  We have been trying to get to Florida since we started fulltiming at the end of 2009.  

One day last week as we were driving to Duke, we saw this bumper sticker...

As you will see, Napoleon is credited with this particular quote.  I read that Napoleon had a strong belief in God, but that he voiced many criticisms of organized religion.  Whatever his beliefs, I don't think this is anything I would want plastered on my car!  

I hope everyone has had a great weekend!  The weather is changing again -- hopefully, we will not get the snow the weatherman says we "may" get.  Even if we do, it won't last long with a high in the 50s tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by -- may God continue to bless our voyage, as well as our family, friends, followers and fellow-bloggers.