Travel Blog

Sue:

After a week sitting on the couch, eating bon bons, I'm back in the land of the employed. And not only was I offered a job - I was offered so many jobs I had to turn some away. Now we're talking. So we're happy now that money is rolling in again. And we've started work on Phil's mom's yard, so we'll be really busy for awhile. But the weather is great, and it's nice to be outside doing manual labor. It's a good workout for us. We'll post some before and after pictures of the landscaping as we get projects done. And the bonus is we'll get to put lanscaping on our resumes. That can't hurt.

What else, what else? We finally got our butts out to walk around the volcanos last Saturday. We're hoping to go again this weekend. It's a nice walk. There's a trail that takes you all around five or so cones. We only walked around two of them last weekend.


Volcano view II:


Volcano view III:


Volcano view IV:


There's really not much else to talk about right now. We're keeping busy and looking forward to Super Bowl Sunday. Go STEELERS! I'll leave you with some radom shots.
Our once-a-year Albuquerque Italian (chain) eatery:


Our one temp agency's building:


Pat and Paula's new doggy addition:

Sue:

How 'bout them Steelers?! My tummy hurts after that one though. I thought we were gonna blow it there for a second. And I'm sure some of you Ravens fans out there (if there are any) are saying we won because of a questionable call or two, but stuff that down your beaks. What about all those gifts the refs gave the Ravens tonight? It was enough to make me wanna hork.I wish the Eagles would have won though. I've been waiting for a PA Superbowl. Maybe next year. I can't come back to PA for this Bowl, though, like I did in 2006. I just don't have the extra dough. Again, maybe next year.

Not much else is going on around here. Still no jobs, but we're going to be starting on the moms' yard soon, and it's going to be a lot of work, so that's good. And I'm glad I'm not working on Tuesday so I can watch the inauguration. Phil's mad because he does have to work that day. They should have had Obama inaugurated on MLK Day. I'm just glad we're in a town that we see other cars with Obama stickers on them. We were the only ones in Kansas, it seemed like.

Go Steelers!

Sue:

Back again. Suzy's back. Tell a friend. Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back...(That was my homage to Eminem, in case ya'll aren't fans.Gabe, did I use homage correctly?) DId you miss me? You may have been wondering where I've been. Quite frankly, when we lost all our old blogs, I got a tad depressed and just didn't feel like writing anything. But Phil took Gabe's advice about the Internet Way-Back Machine and has recovered all but about two of our old blogs. I'm so excited. He's been working really hard at getting them all back online. When we get our new site online, it will be really easy to read any old blog you may be interested in because he's going to set it up  by location. That will be cool. Whenever you feel like reading about our near-death experience in the bog of Yellowstone, you'll be able to do that. And speaking of new site, and being back, I need my regular posters to go ahead and try to send us comments, please. Gina, Mac Lady, please try again and let me know if you're still having problems. Lou, what about you? Dave Novak, where you at? Come on, folks, let's hear from you.

So, we came back to Albuquerque because we have a history with the temp agencies here, and they were glad to hear we'd be back. It seemed like we were off to a good start, too. Both Phil and I were called out for jobs last Monday. And while Phil's been working steady since, I've got nothing. I feel so rejected. Now one fellow at one of the temp agencices teased me last week saying that the folks I worked for last year wanted me back. But that was last Thursday, and I haven't heard from him since. I'm a bit bummed. I mean, we came here because we thought we'd be able to work. I'm glad Phil is, but his job is only around 29 hours a week. And if I'm not working, I don't know if we're going to stay here. It's nice to be around Phil's moms and all, but...So we'll see. I'm going to look for jobs elsewhere today online while I wait for my phone to hopefully ring. But times are tough here. Since the economy is so bad, the temp agencies have gotten a lot of applicants, and whereas they can't possibly be as good as I am, they're probably adequate enough. (No, being unemployed has not affected my modesty.)

We really haven't been up to much else lately. It's been cold, so we've stayed indoors. We did paint the entire RV. You saw the bedroom and bathroom area, but now we have the living room area done too. We didn't know if we had the energy, but painting was better than sitting around doing nothing. And it looks really good. I'll take pictures as soon as I clean the place. I still have to put everything back where it belongs. The good news is that if you're an RV'er who has always wished your decor was different, the walls took the paint really well. So go for it.

We're going to go out for a hike around the volcanic area near here someday soon, so stay tuned for that. Other than that, we may help Pat and Paula fix up their yard. I forget what they call what they have in mind, but it's basically paving over the yard, because really, in New Mexico, you can't grow grass so you may as well brick it over. They said they need some help rototilling and stuff like that, so we let Xander get a head start.
Xander the canine aerator:


The dogs like it over at Pat and Paula's house, but I don't know how often they're going to be over there because then it would be five dogs in one house. And since my girl is such a jerk sometimes, I don't know. Why push it. But while Pat and Paula were away, we went over a couple of times to do laundry and feed their cat, and Willoughby and Xander had some fun.
Running around:


And all the while they were being watched (and barked at):


I'm glad that dude doesn't realize he could jump his fence.

Last weekend we did the unthinkable....we painted our RV. No, no, not the outside.  We've grown tired of looking at the factory walls, so we painted the inside of the rig.  Since this was a new undertaking for us we decided to start small with the bedroom and bath.
Before we started:


Maybe it is the southwest influence of being back in Albuquerque, but the pallet we chose was very New Mexican, deep purple for the bedroom and sage-y green for the bathroom.  The biggest problem was finding the right shades of the colors.  We went to Lowe's after work one day and picked up a ton of color swatches.  That night we went through them all and picked out the perfect colors, including a warm cream color for the living room.
When we went back to Lowe's the next day we picked out the only mold and mildew resistant paint they had.  Being New Mexico I guess mildew is not a problem, but up in Skagway it is a constant battle against the damp.  To make matters worse they would not mix the colors with that paint because it was not the same brand.  Two more trips to the store and we finally got colors and paints we were happy with.  On with the painting!
Durring view:


The whole process took just about two days, with the taking down blinds, pictures, and the TV, taping off windows and outlets, drying, touchups, and putting everything back. In fact we think it took longer to paint those rooms than it did to paint bigger rooms in our old house because, unlike a normal house, in a RV all you are dealing with is edges and corners and narrow strips of empty wallspace.  But we think the end result was worth it.
All Finished:


Bathroom Sink area:


Like I said we have a color picked out for the living room, but we are putting that off because neither of us are ready to tackle all the nooks and crannies that await.  Meanwhile we are keeping ourselves busy in the old ABQ.  But more about that later.