Quotes....

Ran across a good one tonight, and while I don't always seem to subscribe to it, I think it's important to teach the girls...

Time and Money should be managed and spent the same way: always deliberately and always on things of value.

I got this from Tynan, a nomad, for lack of a better term, that is off travelling, and who I occasionally enjoy checking up on. I'd have liked having his free spirit at his age, but then I'd never have had my wonderful life - so.. I'll take what I have, thank you. Regardless, he comes up with some interesting stuff, and you can take a look at "Life Outside the Box, Tynan.net".

Bottom line is that what my Algebra II teacher tried to instill in us the first day of class is still true. You have 86,400 seconds today and if you don't spend them, you lose them... How are you spending your 'bank' account today?

'We lose ourselves in the fog of everyday life...'

So Michigan has an advertising campaign, and this line just spoke to me. Actually it screamed into my ear and has been in my head for the last 10 days... isn't it perfect tho? It says a lot about our current situation and about what we're trying to do. For me, the fog lifted this morning.

I've been so busy trying to get things done that I've forgotten to look around and just enjoy life. Today - this morning actually - I started to do that, and I can't get the smile off my face. I don't know when I stopped enjoying the simple stuff. I don't know why I've missed the smell of clean air, the simple pleasures, sitting and listening to the sounds of nature. Where did all that go? Why was I only thinking worrying about what the next thing to do, the next project, the next whatever? I walked around all day with a smile on my face... happy to see that come back :)

Last night was great. What a send-off poker game. I was so happy to see everyone, make memories of the group and I have to say I enjoyed almost every aspect of last night. I did my best to ignore/blow-off the drama (you know who you were ;) ) and just enjoy the evening. Winning was sweet, but in all honesty tho I could have been out first and enjoyed it even probably more. The 20-minute back-to-back F-bomb penalty at the final table probably saved me from losing. Funny how that works. To all of you reading this that attended the game - THANK YOU. I was so happy to see all of you, and it truly means a lot that you came to the game. I'll post pictures of the trophy once I finish it - because that was the plan... :)

The picture above is what we see out the window now. I'm looking forward to posting albums of our window every day. I think that will be a neat project. Window of the day - I have a lot of plans for RVfor5.com, and it'll be a nice thing to get excited about a personal web project again. Its been a long time since I jumped at something for fun...

It'll be nice to get back to posting again. I'm not sure if anyone cares about my thoughts - but it helps me to keep it all together. I'm looking forward to chronicaling this journey - both the physical aspect and the psychological. There is so much to this trip - I recommend letting go of the fog and taking one. :)

“Live the Life You’ve Imagined”

Jill's Journal: I came across the perfect quote (for us at this moment in our lives) by Henry David Thoreau, who is of course the master of perfect quotations.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”

Live the life you’ve imagined. I love that. We’ve been striving so hard to get there and we’re so close we can taste it. Six weeks to launch.

A recent, wonderful post on Unclutterer.com said essentially the same thing: Is the Life You’re Pursuing the Life You Want?

I can honestly say yes! And it’s not a foreign concept to me or to us. We’ve made drastic changes before to follow our dreams. We’re not afraid to jump. Yet, reading posts like this makes me think a lot of people are afraid to step outside of their known comfort zones. I don’t understand that. If you are unhappy with something, change it. Or change your attitude about it. We only live once. Make the most of it. Make it a beautiful life. Live the life you’ve imagined.

WINNER - That's a great pair of mods! ;)

Pretty cool I must say. There is a site that I've been following which gave me the idea for a few of my mods, and information as to why they were important to do. ModMyRV.com told me about the Trimetric Battery Monitor, and gave me information for others I want to do, and plan to in the future (wilson cellular amplifier, solar panels, macerator, etc.)

Anyhow - they ran a contest to give away a couple of fans, and it finally drove me to send some of the stuff in that I've done to our RV. The first I sent in on a whim, the Aluminum Plate I put on the door to fix that stopper problem. I rewrote it when I found out it was a good enough mod to post, and although the pics weren't great, the mod was creative enough to get posted and declared a contest winner! :) Pretty exciting.

Then, since I have a couple of other projects that I felt were pretty big and detailed, I thought about submitting another, but didn't want to overstep someone else. I did want that mod to get posted (the water heater lights), but hesitated to put it in for the contest because I didn't want to take away someone else's fan, and because I saw how important good photos were - I didn't have great photos. I went down there and retook the photos last night, then I submitted it last minute when nobody else had been awarded (and I mean like the last hour of submissions), and won another. Also - very cool!

As a winner, I get a Vornado fan (installed pic right) for both mods. An under-cabinet mount 120v fan that actually is a pretty nice idea. It runs fairly quiet, tucks up out of the way, has storage for the cord when you aren't using it, and rotates 360 degrees to push air into/out of the cabin to/from anywhere. I got my first one on Friday, and mounted it that very night next to where the desk will be, over the window in the kitchen (so I can get all the great breezes). :) I think I'll put the second one in the master bedroom over my nightstand. With the 360 movement, it'll work well for placement from the corner, and tuck up out of the way when off.

Overall, I'm excited that my mods were so well received. To me they've been very logical modifications, but maybe there are just so many different things to do, and so many different ways to do them, that they are cool. :)

I can't wait to submit my next couple of mods. Maybe I shouldn't tell them that the trailer hasn't even been out on an adventure yet?