I live here now.

Morning views.  I love it here.  

Our first sleep in the Falcon went well. We got up today and managed through a new morning routine and had a lovely breakfast.  Onto the relaxing portion of this weekend.  My goal is literally to stay in my couch as much as possible and take in the view!

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

It was a gong show of packing. Laundry, house chores, Isabel care and cleanup, keeping everyone fed and keeping the normal schedule.  We definitely haven't relaxed in the last week.

A few weeks ago crazy man bought a gromet making kit at the thrift store.  Today he made carpets to wrap around the trailer stairs.  These are expensive in the rv shop,only a couple bucks to make his own.  He's quite pleased.

I gave up trying to work with the paper lanterns today and just pulled out the old ones from the last couple years.  

Eric wanted to show me what the Wrangler would look like with the trailer behind.  Not as striking as behind the white and black van.

We dropped the trailer before picking up the boys from school.  It's so gorgeous here at Osborn Bay.  Cold but pretty.  We're just so grateful it's stopped raining.

We were a small group this year.  We had lots of laughs, the moon was fabulous and it's fun to be camping.

Credit to Eric for this photo.  

Now we're in the new trailer for the first time. It's pretty cozy. Boys were asleep hours ago.  Eric crashed as soon as he layed down.  Jia is munching popcorn and I'm shockingly still awake.

Car Tv

Eric watches a lot of car shows.  The most boring tv in the history of time.  Haha.  Honestly, people monkey wrenching on camera.  Last night he recorded one for me.  And...I'm watching it with him.  Who am I?!

A 1979 CJ7 Renegade. The model before the Wrangler.  It's actually interesting.  

Cervix

Ah, an update.  The Dr. found my cervix. Things are seriously tipped, likely from the colectomy. Yay.  Exploratory surgery didn't sound fun. No additional biopsies required at this point.  I don't have to go back until January.  The cervical cancer was cut out 10 years ago.  

I had an appointment with the Endocrinologist today.  She actually asked me what I credited my improvements to.  Ah.  The meds?  Haha.  She is confused by me. It's weird not fitting type 1 or type 2.  I don't fit the norms.  She is still pushing for insulin versus the meds I'm on.  For now, another 3 month reprieve of keeping everything the same.  And she'd prefer I wore my alert bracelet.  I tend to forget it most of the time.

How Dare You.

I left the house.  The crew did not appreciate it.

Beds!!!!!

This is sooo amazing.  Eric is amazing.  Looks like we're definitely taking the Falcon camping this weekend.

Jia's bed.

Luk's bed.

Kai's bed.

This was a total surprise.  It took a fair amount of time but Eric built a cubby/ headboard the same as Jia and Luk's.  It's in the same material as the linen walls versus the dark wood but it's the same!  He even found a hardware handle that is extremely similar.  What a good Dad.  

I do realize it will NEVER look this neat again.  Unless I make their beds.  

Our bed looks pretty great too.  Eric cut the hole in the paneling under our bed so the two baskets can be pulled out like drawers for our clothing.  

Chihuahua ramp is still in the talking stage.  

I started moving Cheese gear over and wiping out cupboards as I go.  This is definitely the super fun part!  

An Isabel Chute

Fingers crossed.  She slides on the carpet.  She can only fall forward now versus the sideways flop off when she tries to leap down on an angle.  Seriously, no one told Izzy she is old and should stop the acrobatic moves. Now it needs wooden cross bars like on a chicken ramp.  

The moho is home.  We got a new rug for the porch. So we won't slide.  I picked up pizza for dinner.  Kai is still ugly coughing so he will be home another day.  Not sure about Luk yet.  Eric is rewiring and plumbing in the trailer.  Lots of things had to be moved and changed to turn two bunks into three.  It's looking pretty good.  I can't wait to make their beds and show them their new digs.  

Tomorrow I have an appointment with the gynecologist.  My cervix was missing three months ago (she couldn't find it).  So tomorrow is a second attempt.  As you can imagine I'm totally looking forward to the day.  

Busy Days and a Miracle Reprieve

Destruction before the build.  Not my favorite part.  He has everything out and prepped. The plan is in place.  Things are measured.  There were two fancy charging/power stations and cubby headboards.  Jia and Luk will have those back in place.  Kai will get a toy bin and a 12 volt button to charge his phone or use a portable dvd player. 

This morning we took the moho in for hydraulic leveling help.  It's not going great but a second guy is on it.  Fingers crossed.  We'd prefer to sell it with everthing working.

Next was to Walmart to get cleaning supplies.  We weren't prepared for Isabel size messes.  Think lake size puddles.  Ew.  It's not been glamorous around here.

I drove Eric home then took myself to the eye specialist for a field test.  My eye pressure was 11 and 14.  Yay me!!  Then I went to meet Eric at the vet with Isabel.

Isabel has rallied once again.  She is walking and went outside this morning.  She's not eating much but still pretends to be interested.  The vet said she isn't in any pain.  She doesn't have arthritis.  She has neurological issues causing myopothy (sp?) in her hind feet.  She's been dragging her toes for two years.  She basically isn't getting the message in her brain about where her feet are.  Which is causing her to fall and slide non stop.  The biggest concern now is her doing secondary damage during a fall.  She has been cleared for euthanasia at any time we're ready.  We were given a pain killer/sedative to give her just in case there is neuro pain and for when we want her to rest more.  Izzy doesn't know she should rest.  She didn't get the memo.  She does have a lump in her belly.  We chose not to investigate further.  She has been cleared for eating all and any food now.  She also was given a pill to try and increase her appetite.  They also sent home a chart that we can show the kids when the days are getting worse and are out numbering the good days.  With some advice about prepping the kids for what the end might look like for our girl. She wants us to stress repeatedly that her window of time left is anywhere between a few hours to a few months.  We've already had two years of borrowed time.  NONE of us are ready to say good bye.  This is hard stuff. I've cried buckets over the last few days.

Baby Izzy at 5 weeks.  How will we live without her?!  

Eric built a ramp for the side yard for Isabel.  The front mat had holes from the Chihuahuas digging near the gate when they get excited so Eric cut it up for Izzy's ramp.  Now I need a new runner.  So gross. The list of chores is always sooo long.  Izzy is afraid of the ramp, so now it needs to move closer to the house and have walls like a chute so she can't jump to the side.  

We have Thelonious and Teddy here.  They're doing great settling in.  Our crew all seem happy to have them here.  Funny stuff...Eric and I were outside saying goodbye to Dm and Al and when I went inside there was a whole lot of fuss and guilty faces.  Isabel had pooped and had diareah and it was plopped through 4 rooms as she had obviousy walked it out.  Thelonious, Teddy, Sassy and Coco were all trying to alert me to the poop piles.  They were quite hysterical.  I mean it's horrible but you have to laugh.  Eric came in and found me a bit dismayed at the enormity of the job.  He just said what do you need?  Then helped.  Then we settled Kai with snacks, did Finn's medication and finally had a hot soak.  It was pouring rain so it was magical out there listening.  

I just ordered some flannel pillow cases for our new bed in the Falcon.  I did a dollar store run for some hooks, storage boxes for the kids beds and a couple little shelves.  We found a cool wooden wall hanging at Walmart that we're going to use as a table/shelf in the bathroom so Luk can do his flushes.  It's all coming together nicely.  

That's been my day so far.  Yesterday I didn't feed the boys lunch until 3.  They hadn't even noticed they missed a meal.  Today they were fed on time ;)  

I'm absolutely confused about how we ever functioned with me leaving the house to go to work.  There isn't time for a job.  

The auto place just called, they fixed the moho!!  Yay.  We needed good news.

The rest of the week isn't much better.  

Operation Triple Bunk

Without a plan, he's just diving in.  I told him the priority was beds if we want to take this camping on Friday.  He had time to kill before the rv place opens to exchange the propane lines so he started the tear down.  

I of course had to go supervise. Throw my wishes out there and ask lots of questions.  He tolerates so much.  Haha.  

The trailer is ultra lite. The bathroom door is like a cheap thin shower door. I get the why they used these materials but why clear?!  We're going to live with it for now but it will definitely need an alteration at some point.  Also, no clue why it's up so far but the beauty is the Chihuahuas should be able to walk under and use their pee pad in the shower stall.  Which will definitely help keep Kai from walking through messes before we get to them.  

We're behind on all chores.  I'm planning to stick close to home today.  Jia works but she was sick last night so getting her going today will be daunting. Her throat was sore yesterday but I think the real problem was eating too much deep fried seafood from work yesterday.  Kai is still coughing.  Luk seems better.  Eric, and I are still ok.  Fei already had the cold and is over it.  Kai is on 2nd round.  

I realized this morning that I haven't cuddled with Finn in two days!  A massive oversight that will be rectified today with an afternoon nap!  

Luk's 12th Birthday.

We started our food day with egg McMuffins.  Then to the Chemainus Bakery to pick up his dessert.  They were closed so he settled for donuts from Country Grocer.  Where he also picked out a fancy pop and bought Reeses Bunny cereal for Autumn Moon Festival next weekend.

To the Chemainus Market where we found candy machines.

We took the boys to a pin ball arcade to see pre-video games.

Kai couldn't see the balls so he just frantically, non stop pushed the paddle buttons.  His method worked better than ours ;)

Overall, they were not impressed with pin balls.

We bought fancy dog cookies for Isabel and headed to Walmart to pick up a couple things for dinner.  We dropped the groceries at home, checked on Isabel and dropped Kai off.  He's coughing and we didn't want to take him to a crowded little restaurant.  

We went to the Corner House for their Chinese lunch special.  It didn't disappoint.  

Then to a barber for a new style.  We had a few minutes to wait so we checked out the new Westfalia bakery.  It used to be German, now it's Korean.  Impressive changes.  It felt like we were in a different city.  It's a cafe now.  Eric and I will be checking that out again soon ;)  They had sour dough rye bread. A good choice for diabetes so we bought a loaf.  It's nice.  Luk was happy with his new cut.  We checked out the thrift store in town and Eric found a cool car box for the Jeep.  I need one to hold some supplies that can get wet and not be sliding around when the roof is off.  It was a $2 score.  

We went to Dollarama to force Luk to pick out candy. He picked a tube of mini m & m's.  

To the Rock Cod for snack on Jia's break.  Lili and Jia were accidentally twinning.  

His only request, clam chowder.  Looking handsome.

We showed the trailer off to Lili.  It's frightfully cold in there.  We can't turn the furnace on.  Eric took the connector hoses off as they were cracked but the replacement ones are the wrong size.  So we don't get to play or sleep in there tonight either.  Miss Sassy came out for a bit.  I hung out for a while trying out the bed.  Which is brand new.  The mattress in the moho and Cheese are great too.  Tough choice.  All three are comfy.  I'll likely leave the choice of which of the three to keep up to Eric.  1st world problems for sure.

We ate dinner by candle light as the power was out for a few hours.  A tree fell on a line at the bottom of Lakes and a transformer blew abd started a fire.  Tons of sirens tonight.  Just lucky timing here that we were dishing up when the power went.

After dinner Mom, Luk, Lili and Fei played Yatzee. Kai was crashed on the couch, I was shivering under my duvet and Eric picked up Jia from work. Finally getting to those donuts for night time snack.  

It was a good day.  

Oh....and Cheese sold.  It's incredibly sad but it just is what it is.  

The Falcon is home.

The day took longer than anticipated.  Of course.  The tow went well.  It's home.  We both like it a lot better now that it's here and we can play with it.

We hung out with Jia, Fei and Kang and there was enough room for all of us.  Jia loves her bunk. Lots of ideas about storage solutions being bandied about.

Fei says we should name it the Millenium Falcon. Bruh.  How did I not think of that?!  Haha.  

The day was marred with horrible sadness, despair and dread looking for emergency help for Isabel who took a turn for the worse last night and today.  We're home and she has rallied.  She's finally eaten, had water and made it outside.  She is happy and walking.  Shakily, but walking again.  Unfortunately I can feel a lump in her belly.  She has an appointment with our vet for Monday. I hate this part.

Back to distractions and compartmentalizations.  I dragged Eric to Jysk today and we got the three kids matching blue comforters for the Millenium Falcon.  

The Falcon

We have an accepted offer on this Falcon! The plan is to take a certified cheque over tomorrow to do the transfer and bring it home.  It feels right.  It's a relief to have the decision made.  Do we love it?  Not yet.  It has potential.  We haven't found anything that suits us better or that we can agree on.  It has some charming features.

It's considerably smaller then the moho and more than double the Cheese.  So definitely somewhere between the two.  Not luxory but will make for comfortable camping.  

Eric turned everything on and poked all over it.  He was satisfied with the overall condition of everything. 

Eric will be making a few adjustments.  It needs a solar system added. I need access doors to storage under our bed.  A shelf or five put in.  The bathroom needs a removable table for Luk supplies. The double bunks will be converted to a triple bunk and a Chihuahua ramp built for the pups to our bed.  All fun projects that are in Eric's wheelhouse.  Planning the changes will be another great distraction!  

Operation down size by adding more is well underway.  Haha.  

Heat!

I woke up today to the sound of Eric bleeding the lines on radiators.  It's already so warm in here.  Ahhh.   They obviously don't bleed, the valve just releases air.  

In our week we're still dealing with selling stuff.  Kai potty issues.  Getting ready for winter and appointments. Everyone looking at the 5th wheel wants to live in it.  They want it but don't have places to put it or money to buy it.  It's been interesting, sad and frustrating.  Yesterday's shopper was a doozy.  Eric and I ranted for a few minutes after she left.  I'm hoping she isn't the one to come through.  That's petty of me.  She was a real nut.  

Kai has reverted a bit with pottying at school so out of desperation I imposed new rules yesterday.  Harsh ones and involving food so he knows I mean business.  For every day there is a note in the back and forth book about dirty or wet pants there will be no after school snack.  He cried hard at this.  12 years old.  Yeesh.  Next, for every time he poops at home there will be a small candy treat.  In an effort to encourage him to stop saving his pooping time for school. He likes the attention and hands on help in the bathroom at school.  He wants to be babied.  It's weird and definitely crazy making.

Part of my coping methods when things are a bit nuts around here is to take the focus off of the kids issues.  Quite frankly we've been trying to potty train Kai for 8 years. As well as teach Luk to be more responsible with his bathroom issues.  The trailer search has been really good for me, perfect timing. A fun distraction.

Our debate of downsizing to one rv rages on.  I'm losing the battle.  Eric wants a mid size trailer. So it's looking more like replacing the motorhome than replacing Cheese.  Back to needing bigger sites, sani dumps and more challenging drives and parking.  It's a weird fight because I can't deny that all the perks of a proper toilet, beds for everyone, a full size fridge with seperate freezer are all really appealing things.  We saw one a week ago that we compare all others to.  So today we're heading back for a second look.  We're bringing Mom for the sniff test.  We're bringing boys to see if either can get in an upper bunk.  Pulling out the awning and trying propane things.  It's getting serious.  

I'm overthinking and worrying trailer weights.  Eric went to Dodge today and confirmed a few things with both the van and the Jeep.  The trailer should be ok for both and the mechanic (35 year red seal with Dodge) gave Eric a bunch of ideas for increasing towing capabilities on both.  So today I'm cautiously hopeful that we can almost agree.

I love this kitchen!  

These are the Falcon we're zeroing in on.  Eric is totally intrigued by the tin cladding in three rows.  We've never seen one like this before.  Fingers crossed.

We also found out the Jeep has a couple recalls outstanding so she'll go in for those as soon as I make an appointment.  So many appointments.  

Eric has been struggling to find parts for the moho.  He lucked upon a guy by chance that has the same motor at home that he's parting out.  He picked up the replacement part today for $150.  We thought it would be $1000 plus if we could even find one to order. Update, the part didn't fit.  New one ordered for 700. Hopefully it arrives eventually. It's super sad to imagine selling the moho but as we look to retire and downsize spending we really don't need big engines to repair in the future.  If the future plans were to only camp on the island we would keep the moho.  

Lili and Lian are going to see Mackenzie Porter in Vancouver in November.  She enlisted me to get her tickets today when the venue opened as she's in class.  It was easy.  General seating.  

Eric is closing up the pool today.

Jia starts school on the 28th.  

It's Luk's Birthday on Saturday.  He wants nothing. His only request so far is clam chowder at the Rock Cod.  

Oh....and the biggest news of all...my a1c is below target!!  I just had blood work yesterday.  6.4 (goal is anything under 7) I was blown away when I checked.  It has never been that low.  I have an appointment with the Endocrinologist next week.  Curious to see if there will be med changes. Oh, and it finally happened, I went to Superstore yesterday and there is no Ozempic.  Update: they called it came in! I'm on a list.  I have one week to locate some.  My plan was to splurge on something with white flour and sugar after the fasting blood test.  Then I felt too guilty and just didn't bother and because I'd missed breakfast and ate a small brunch I was off schedule and ended up in a stupid low by dinner time.  They are scary and shocking how fast I plummet.  Eric gave me a bowl of fried rice and I felt human again after about 10 minutes.  Crazy.

It took all summer but I finished Gilmore Girls.  I miss them now.