Coming Out On the Other Side

Been in a fog, I am coming out on the other side of eight days of having pneumonia.  Finally kicking it's butt.  Got a pile of things undone and absolutely no energy to get anything done. ARRGGGHH

Dad is doing okay, and at his home on hospice and still calling me numerous times a day.  Brothers have been there fixing stuff and checking on him, and I hope to get up there soon too. Nurses have been great keeping in touch and a retired CNA is available now all hours of the day or night for him who only lives a few miles away.

StepDad in Ohio is doing okay, had a long talk with Mom on phone. He is resting well, and they are looking into pain management and probably Hospice to help out soon too.  His daughter, son and soninlaw are all there nearby to help too.  He has a goal of wanting to make it to Christmas, so we wish him the strength and power to get there.

So that's my update.

Going to back to bed.

Night night.

Motorhome Maintenance - Getting Rid of Ceiling Stains

It's an icky yucky day while I have cold, congestion, fever and all around "ewwww"  or as my sister would say, "I feel ICKA"  So it's a good time to write a blog on a motorhome project.


Did you know many of the goofy dumbfounded nitwitted motorhome manufacturers made their interior ceiling material of CARPETING????  Yes, carpeting!   On our Safari motorcoaches (as well as the Beaver and some other luxury rigs made in that era)  the danged ceilings are carpeting.... CREAMY WHITE carpeting never the less!

Any roof leak, or campfire smoke, or cigarette smoke will discolor the creamy white carpeted surface.  Of course, being overhead, it's very awkward to clean if you did happen to have the energy, tools, supplies and cleaning solution on hand.

Well, there are recipes abound on our vintage Safari groups with items like peroxide, bleach, vinegar, dishwasher soap, etc.  None of them worked for me.  Nor for my friends...

But I did stumble on something that DID work, but alas and alack, it's been discontined as of May 2015.  From the Johnson Wax company, it's their blend of Fantastik with Scrubbing Bubbles and Oxy Power.  It's the blue bottle with the white sprayer.  (not the new stuff out there now)  It looks like this:

The company canned reply to our queries is this:

We’re sorry to tell you that Oxy Power® Scrubbing Bubbles® Grease & Stain Remover with fantastik® was discontinued in May of this year. While the product had some great fans, there just wasn’t enough demand to continue producing it. We’re sorry if that’s disappointing news.

Perhaps looking in small mom and pop hardware stores, grocery shops or places where the inventory doesn't turn over too fast, you might still find some.  Let me know if you do!  

Last week I helped someone with a project-----

I have some friends who needed their entire motorhome ceiling scrubbed, and due to a long-ago back/neck injury, she was unable to do it herself.  After too many years of looking at those stains, and nicotine smoke discoloration, we decided to tackle it and use up 2 bottles of the precious cleaner. 

Here are some of the "before" pics of the stains
(this is an old stain, the leak has been fixed long ago)

Cold air coming out of the sheet metal lined chute on the roof air

leaves awful black streaks on the carpeted ceiling near the outlet vents.

Gathering our supplies, we went to work on a cold fall day. 

We covered all the furniture, dash, and woodwork with drop cloths....   plastic or old sheets work well. 

We used fresh white terry cloth rags and a spray bottle of hot water.  First we spritzed the Fantastik onto the ceiling in small sections, about 2ft x 2 ft.  I held a rag horizontally underneath with one hand as I spray to keep the mist from falling down to the floor below.  Using that same now-damp rag, I scrub a little bit to work in the cleaning solution into the nap of the carpeting.  

This is the hard part.... letting it SIT!    

Seriously, leave it alone a while. 

Let it work itself. 

Take a break, 10-15 minutes.  

Suddenly it's getting lighter!  Now take a bottle of hot water, spritz onto the ceiling and it magically dissolves the bad stains!  Using a stiff bristle brush, I would scrub back and forth a few times and you can see IMMEDIATE progress!  It's like night and day as each section that is completed. 

It sure gives a sense of satisfaction as you get each part done.  We would have one part soaking while spritzing water and brushing the previous section.  

We did take a break for some lunch, but it really only took us about 3 hours... amidst our giggling, laughing, goofing off. We also had to chase off the captain of the ship who kept coming out to inspect our progress!!!

This is that bad stain next to the light fixture from that first picture

Yup, this was the worst spot right over the driver's seat.

We were kinda proud of the job we did...
because the entire ceiling needed to be scrubbed.
(looking from back to the front)

We had a nice breezy wind so we were able to open the windows up and let the
air help to dry the carpeting... and give us fresh air to work with.

This is from the front to the rear, yes, all the stains are pretty much gone....

Why do manufacturers discontinue something when it's a good working product? I have tried their new green bottle stuff, and white bottle stuff, from Fantastik, but it does not work the same.  Sigh. 

Well, time to douse myself with some night time cold medicine and see if I can kick this thing that has me down. I wanted to get up to my dad's today, but no sense being sick and bringing my germs to a very ill man.  Tomorrow is a Packer Game so I plan to stay right on this couch and soak up some chicken veggie soup and watch the Packers win.... 

Double Family Whammy and Living Room Floor is Done

Yes, it's now confirmed as we feared.  My step-father Lowell has pancreatic cancer.

My step dad is temporarily in Ohio with Mom in an apartment... they are close to the docs of his choice and his daughter and son.  Mom is trying to keep it all together, but we will probably head down there sometime soon to see if we can help and use up some vacation time.  They live in Florida, but chose docs in Ohio that my stepsister knows and works with and easier to get into than the VA in Florida. I don't know how my mom is going to get through this. This is gonna be rough for the holidays on all of us.

This news is on top of my father having lung/kidney/bladder cancer.  My father's name is Steve. Yes I am daughter of a Steve, sister to a Steve and also wife of a Steve.

We are helping Dad as best we can. My Steve is working Mon-Fri so we are still bound to staying by home during the week.  Running up to my dads is 250 miles round trip each time. I try to go up once a week during the week to help out.  I do all I can to set up things and handle stuff over the phone, or mailing up packages.  "You Fit It Ships" boxes are handy....  He is on Hospice, has visiting nurses, has Meals on Wheels now, and he is no longer driving or even walking outside to the mailbox.  My brother Steve was there on Wednesday and got him up to a doc appointment, and picked up things he needed.  We are so thankful that sibings can help out and take turns.  It is tough when we all live so far away.


Please keep us in your prayers and send kind thoughts our way as our family gets through this.  We are doing what we can to help, but the reality is that both father figures in my life are struggling with this horrible disease. Prayers and kind thoughts are most appreciated.



Trying to keep my mind busy and keep me from going crazy, I need to be "doing something"... ya know?  

Since Steve ripped out the wall-to-wall carpeting in the foyer, livingroom and diningroom, I have been slowly sanding, staining and sealing sections of the floors with coats of polyurethane.  Last week I finished the diningroom.  This week is the livingroom.

When Steve removed the carpeting, the floors were in great shape structurally.  No holes or warpage.  We cleaned them up and dampmopped them.  There are some water rings that left marks in the varnish around the fireplace.  The previous owner's daughter said that was probably from the Christmas tree stand.

 The varnish finish is "dimpled" with marks from the texture of the carpet padding.  
There are deep splotches of something near the pocket doors.

Although we already had put a large wool oriental rug in here, we really wanted to redo the wooden borders around the room.  The doorway into the foyer area was the worst, with some blotches of something that could not scrub off, it was through the varnish and into the wood.  

Some folks might wonder why don't we just bring in a big floor sander and start from scratch and redo the entire floor from raw wood on up?  Well, we could.   But.... (there is always a but)  you could never get that same golden/reddish hue of the old wood. There is a shine to the woodgrain that looks like that tigereye jewel stone.  Like you can look into the wood and see glints of gold down deep. 

You could never replicate the lights and darks of the 101 years of yellowing or gaining that patina that only old wood has.  If we sanded it all and stained with new, it would look like ... well... a new floor!    Call me crazy, but I wanted to do it this way. My way. 

Out came my little sander with the "finger" attachment that lets me sand just on the bad spots.  It lets me pick and choose and get in between the lines of the hardwood. This area between the livingroom and diningroom is the worst for wear and spots... some paint spots too from over the years were able to be sanded out as well as the blotches and scratches.  

You can see the definite line from an area rug that laid here for many years, 

with the outer edges of the room exposed to UV but the center protected.  

That isn't a problem because we are putting the big wool oriental rug back in here. 

I sanded some of the paint spots that were in the light areas too...

Even though I had done the foyer in the spring, there were two bad spots that I never really ground down on or restained. (I was too scared to mess with it back then)  but now that I know what I am doing, I also got those two areas completely redone too. 

Once I had all the sanding done, then I shop vacced it good, and tack cloth / damp mopped with a swifter pad too.  Now it was time for my "magic" of blending some Valspar red oak stain, and then some Olde Maple Minwax Polyshades... I am able to get close to the same color as the existing wood.  On some of the water mark rings I had to go a bit darker, but it covered them quite well.  

After letting that dry, then I did up two coats of quick drying floor poly.  It is low-odor and fast drying. I use a wide pad on a long handle and spread it evenly without causing bubbles.  I did the first coat in the evening and spread a second coat right before bed... so it could dry overnight. 

The floor just GLEAMED in the worklights...
and we gated off the way into the diningroom just in case the doggers got through.
See that part that I had sanded previously? It is all stained to match now...

It's a good thing we live in a house with two staircases.  We could use the kitchen and laundry area, and spend the evening upstairs in the bedroom.  We were cozy with our laptops, tv and the doggers on the bed.  They didn't seem to mind, eh? 

We awoke to let the dogs down in the early morning darkness to see what we did....

they wanted to know where their furniture, toys and comfy sheepskin were????

They were perplexed. 

Steve helped me put most of the furniture back. I still had to finish the little 8x3 spot where the couch had been the night before. It didn't take long and was dry by the time Steve got home from work.  Now it was time to put the room "back together" .... Steve cut and nailed in the quarter round trim strips (but we are short two lengths and have to go buy some more and stain/varnish them to match) 

I know the rug takes up a large portion of the room, but it also covers that transition from the dark to the light wood, and seems to pull it all together.  It's not a very big room.  The diningroom is actually larger. But when we close the pocket doors and light the gas fireplace, it's pretty cozy. 

We decided to switch around the two corners... and put Steve's chair by the window.

Moving the tv to the other corner made more sense, but we had to run a new antenna coax. 

Steve had that done in about five minutes, what a guy! 

The foyer came out much nicer this time... and I was able to remove the worn spot near the front door. It was made from many years of people standing in the same spot, and grabbing the doorknob to go out to get the mail.  It think all those years of pivoting with a shoe on the wood wore it down... Now that its refinished, I think because we wear socks, it will stay nicer.  I hope. 

The dogs were VERY happy to find their sheepskin
restored to it's original spot...

I had a tickle in my throat last night before bed... and this morning woke up with a congested chest, coughing and sore throat.  I am going to slather myself with Vicks now and head up to bed to rest.  I simmered chicken veggie soup all day, and the house smells great.  Hope I can kick this out of my system.  Steve is coming down with the same thing too.  If we are sick, we can't be much help to the other family members who need us so much more! 

Double Nickles - Five Birthday Parties!

Yes, I turned 55 years old this Halloween.  It didn't bother me at all. The grandtots tease me and call me "Double Nickles Grandma" .... So silly.

But what was fun was that my family and friends had to kinda stretch out the celebration.  So I got FIVE parties for Fifty Five years old!  How lucky is that?

The first party was at our annual Halloween celebration at High Cliff State Park.  We were able to spend the weekend with our son Dan and his wife Heather, and the two grandtots, Allegra and Mason. The pulled out their camping trailer and we reserved them a site just a few sites away from us. Also, our nephew Matt and his son Matthew came to join in too!  This special Halloween Celebration is held the weekend before Halloween, and all 112 campsites are booked a year in advance and decorated for the festivities. It's a huge event and we get over 1,000 trick or treaters.. yes over 1,000!  The park attendance is between 3,000 and 4,000 to come through the main gate to participate just that day.

Here are some pics....  this first one is a bit fuzzy, but it's all our family.  Allegra and Mason's other grandma and auntie came to have fun too.  Steve had his little pellet campfire pit going to keep us warm as we handed out candy.

Our motorhome and campsite were decorated for the weekend, and we sure had a nice time in the park with everyone.  It's such a fun event and our fourth year doing this at High Cliff State Park.  All six of the campground roads get closed off to vehicle traffic and it is completely filled with people wandering up and down, gathering candy, looking at decorations, and just having clean safe fun!

Except for poor Steveio!  Someone dropped their RV sewer hose down in the hole at the dump station.  It was all blocked up. Ewwwwww!  He spent most of the afternoon cleaning that out and getting the clog below ground in the tank area cleared out. NOT fun!


Here are grandtots Mason as Optimus Prime (sp?) and Allegra as some gal from Monster High?    What do I know, eh?  Grand-nephew Matthew dressed as a ghoul handing out our candy.  My job was to keep refilling the cauldron!  We went through a LOT of candy, but it was worth it.  Matthew had such fun freaking people out, but being kind and gentle to the small children and he would remove his mask to show them he was friendly.

The grandtots gave me a present and we had a nice dinner together and a great night around the campfire after all the trick or treaters were gone.  It was such a good family time, and we were glad to have our son and his wife and kids camping just down the road a few sites. 

And here is my favorite pic of the weekend along one of the trails....

Can't you just hear those leaves rustling and crunching as you walk through them? 

Done with party number one....

The next party was when daughter Erin and soninlaw Waylen called and asked to come to sleep over at our house on Friday night and spend some time with us!  Soooo they came with grandtots Chelsea and Clayton, and grandpuppy Biscuit.  We had a yummy dinner and they brought a cheesecake for my birthday cake! Clayton blew out the candles right away, and we had to relight them so we could ALL have a chance to blow them out. LOL 

After I gave the grandtots baths, I sent them off to bed with their story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Now the grownups had an evening to chat and share....  It was so good to spend time together, it seems like life is soooo busy that we never get that.  It sure made the evening special.  

The next morning was a great surprise!  

The parents helped the grandtots make me a birthday breakfast!!!

They took over my kitchen for making strawberry waffles! 

Clayton helped to set the table....    and Chelsea worked on the batter 

After breakfast, it was time to get dressed in their costumes, and dress up our doggers too.  We were headed to Critter Sitters Doggie Daycare for Doggie Trick-Or-Treating!   Lisa Martin who runs Stockbridge Critter Sitters Doggie Daycare and Grooming had a fun time planned for anyone who came in costume.  Lisa also runs the Wisconsin Sheltie Rescue and helped us adopt Finnegan and Binney.  What an energetic gal.

Waylen, Erin, Chelsea, Clayton and little Biscuit! 

You betcha we posed with the Critter Sitters Dalmatian! 

Sooo that was party number two, now on to number three! 

Our RVing friends Mel and Paula were supposed to camp with us at High Cliff, but they had a mechanical problem with their motorhome and were unable to make it to the Halloween celebration at High Cliff.  Instead, we said we would come to their house the following weekend.  Paula cooked up a great meal of Italian Manacotti and we had a nice time with visiting, fun and thoughtful quilting gifts! 

Steve was able to help Mel with some of their RV repairs,

 while Paula and I got in a few quick stops at some thrift shops! 

The weather was so unusually warm that the guys even hung out on the deck. 

We enjoy spending time with them.  Steve and Mel do motorhome stuff, 

while Paula is the one who taught me how to quilt.

We are never at a shortage of things to talk about! 

That was party number three... 

now on to number four! 

Our youngest daughter Heather had been feeling under the weather on the Halloween weekend, and was unable to attend the High Cliff Celebration.  Instead, she planned a dinner up at her and soninlaw Jesse's home in Oconto for us last weekend.  We were treated to a Lasagna dinner and a pumpkin pie birthday cake!!!  Our son Dan and grandtots Allegra and Mason came too, so I got in double celebrations with them!  (Dan's Heather had to work)

Grandson Jameson entertained his cousins up in his "game room" in the loft while the grownups were downstairs.  Pretty lucky kid to have this big room for his video games.  He sure shows his appreciation too....  look at that smile!  Allegra and little Mason played so good and they all got along with no fighting.  Good Kids! 

I got in a lot of snuggles with the smallest grandtot, Whitney,

our little Ninja Turtle Girl! 

Heather was a wonderful hostess who said this was kinda her first real dinner party since buying their home, a remodeled school house from the late 1800's.  It's really laid out nice for entertaining. She even had a "Kids Table" and made sure to buy them sparkling grape juice which they drank from grown up glasses!  (I always did that with my kids for celebrations and she is carrying on the tradition)

The guys gathered in the great room and solved all of the world's problems.  I made sure I got in a LOT of snuggles with all the grandtots and even got to help clean up PlayDoh which I have not done in a long time.  It was a fun evening and we sure enjoyed ourselves.

I know these pics are all fuzzy... I managed to "lose" my camera and was using my cell phone instead.   Since that time, I now had bought a new camera.  But lo and behold, I found my original camera!  It happened to be in the motorhome where Steve had knocked it into a drawer while looking for batteries!   Now I have two and the pictures will be more clear from here on again, I promise.

That was party number four ...

and now on to party number five! 

My darling Steveio knows I love snow crab legs.... so on Sunday night he hauled out the propane tank and steamer burner unit.  We cook them outside so the smell is out there while steaming.  Yummmmmm   

Yup, we ate over 3 pounds of snow crab legs between the two of us.  We did have a big salad and fresh bread too, not just crab legs.  What a rich succulent meal... yummmmmm

There were HUGE, that is a full size dinner plate..... 

As a final birthday present to me... my darling Steveio got all the quarter round trim cut to size and finish-nailed into place in the entire dining room!  What a guy!~

I am so blessed to have such loving family and friends. 

I get choked up even typing this, knowing that so many people care. 

Thank you.