Another Year Has Flown By!

The years seem to go much faster as we get older!  When we were kids time went so slowly waiting for birthdays, vacations, special events, Christmas, etc.  These days they all seem to run together and before we can catch our breath another year has been marked off the calendar.  

2014 has been a good year for us.  We spent Jan and Feb here in Santee, March traveling to Pensacola, April visiting with Andy and family with a short visit by Cheri and Grant, and then we headed home the first of May using up two weeks on the road.  Almost half the year gone already!  From then til mid-November, when we left again for here, we spent our time, energy, and money having a tree removed, a new driveway poured (thanks to the tree that got cut down), and some landscaping done in the front and back of the house. The last of it was completed just a few days before we left.  We kept busy making Christmas gifts - Roger in his woodshop, me in my chair with the yarn and embroidery thread.  We went to the gym, I had book club and lunches with friends, and I enrolled in some senior learning groups at the university.  We spent two weeks in Las Vegas before coming here and, since we have been here, we haven't really done anything worth writing about but the time has gone quickly.  All of the family who had surgery this month are recovering nicely and Roger, Maggie and I have been in good health.  We still have two loved ones who are having some major health issues   and we hope that the New Year brings healing and recovery to both of them.  Our thoughts are with them every day.  

The big storm that has hit the west and southwest brought lots of hard rain to Santee and very cold temperatures.  It's unusual for it to freeze at night, but it has been doing so and will be for a couple more nights. This hardly-insulated-with-lots-of-single-paned-windows tin can we call an RV is hard to keep heated.  We have a furnace and a space heater but can't run both at the same time.  So when one of us is in the shower with the space heater in the bathroom, the other is curled up in a recliner wrapped in an afghan.  Maggie didn't like the cold much this morning and stayed under her afghan for a very long time!  

I've mentioned dealing with small spaces - here's an example - our bedroom.   In the bedroom, the bed is on a "slider" which extends about 18 inches from the side of the RV.  The headboard area is in that slider, so it is much lower than the ceiling of the RV - by a foot or so.   Now, the RV came with a small RV sized mattress which we immediately got rid of and replaced with a normal mattress.  In addition, we have added a two inch memory foam topper.  The frame that the bed sits on is about knee high as there is storage under the bed.  So, start adding up the height of the bed - if I tiptoe around my side, it comes right to butt level.  So, picture how much room between the mattress and the top of the slider!  We maybe have two feet of space for our heads.  It's a lot  like sleeping in a bunk bed.  Roger says it's like being in a bunk aboard ship and when it rains it's like being under the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.  Anyway, there's not a lot of room and we bump our heads constantly getting in and out, but when it rains......   well, it sounds as if the rain is right there on top of you!  The rain last night was so loud that I thought a couple of times that we were having hail!  

This  is my side of the bed.  Notice the distance between the bed and the mirrored (oh, joy) closet.  I can't walk straight to the head of the bed.  I have to go in sideways on tippy toes - facing the mirror so my backside has room over the edge of the bed to get through.  The good thing about the mirrors being so close - they are always cold and when I wake up with my feet burning up, I just plant them on the mirror to coofl off.  No getting up and finding a cold tile floor like at home!   On Roger's side of the bed there is just enough room to put some plastic stackable drawers for "stuff."  He has a bit more room than I do, but making the bed is still a real challenge.  

With the slider out we have a couple of feet or so at the end of the bed to the dresser and access to a closet with shelves.  When the slider is pulled in for travel the bed touches the dresser.  This closet is configured to have a washer/dryer combo but we opted for shelving for clothing because there is no way the closet would hold our clothes.  When I get up and come around the corner next to Maggie's bed, I again, have to scootch by because there isn't enough space to walk.

Our solution for hats and shoes.  The shoes are hidden behind the door, which is nice.  Again, no room in the closet where we have put shelving on one side for linens and the other side holds outerwear, a vacuum, and a collapsible dolly for hauling the laundry basket to the laundry room.  (The laundry basket resides in the shower when the shower isn't in use.)  

OK, here's what I was talking about - the headroom is almost non existent.  We like to read for a while in bed before turning out the lights.  It is impossible to sit up - we are at a 45 degree angle.  Note the beige strip across the edge of the molding over the bed. That is a rubber bumper  made to put on the edge of tables when kids are learning to walk.  We weren't in this RV but a few nights when Rog sat up without thinking and took a deep chunk of skin about the size of a half dollar out of the top of his head from the sharp edge that is on it.  The bumpers help soften the blow when he bonks his melon now.  

You have to be adaptable and things need to always be put away or the place is cluttered, but, hey, it's works and it's home for the winter.  Rog loves San Diego and if we didn't have the RV we couldn't spend the winter here - home/condo prices in this area are sky high so that wouldn't be an option.  The RV works and inspite of the "smallness" of the living space, we really enjoy the life style.

We wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2015!