I know you must be wondering where the heck I’ve been. This old GrandMa has been in the hospital. I’m still in there as a matter of fact.
I think the official diagnosis is colitis. The good doctors at Flagstaff Medical Center are taking good care of me. I really hope to be out of here soon and will update you with a few more details when I get home.
I have lived in many campgrounds, while working at them, during the last 12 years. Some had an activity director on the payroll (I have actually been an activity director!), and some did not. Would you rather plan your own activities for your family while at camp, or would you rather join in the planned activities on the campground calendar?
Tomorrow, May 3, is my youngest daughter’s birthday. She was born in 1975, when I was 22 years old. While I love my daughter dearly, I wasn’t happy to find out I was pregnant again. My second child was only six months old when I got that news, and I cried for more than three months. Every day. Sobs, not just tears.
On my birthday that year, when Emily was three weeks old, I cried all night long. I remember at the time feeling like all I would ever do was be pregnant and have babies. I had been married less than 4 years and I had three children. I had my tubes tied while I was still in the hospital after she was born, but it was a struggle to get my husband to agree to let me have it done. He wanted me to have one more child, and I had no desire for more. I told him I wouldn’t go home from the hospital with him if I didn’t have it done.
Yes, back in 1975, you had to have your husband’s permission to have a tubal ligation. In 1969, you had to have your husband’s permission to take birth control pills. We as women have come a long long way.
I can remember when I was in elementary school, junior high, and high school, girls were not allowed to wear pants to school. If you got pregnant while you were still in high school, you had to quit school. You were no longer allowed to go to school. You also couldn’t continue to go to high school if you got married before graduation.
When I started working at Southern Bell, in 1970, women were required to wear dresses to work. I remember the day one of my co-workers showed up to work in pant suit, to challenge the dress code set up by the company. All eyes were on her as she was escorted out of the office by two managers. She was sent home without pay because she wore pants to work. One of our co-workers, who was an adult but was not married, got pregnant. She was fired, and told that her health insurance wouldn’t pay for the birth of her child. That was in 1971. If you were married and got pregnant, lots of companies did not have to let you come back to your job.
Once when I was looking for a job in 1977, I was interviewed by a man. I had been looking for work for two years. I started looking when Emily was three months old, and she was well over two years old at the time. Oneof my very good friends had been babysitting for free while I looked for work, because she knew I would start paying her as soon as I started getting a paycheck.
On this particular interview, the guy asked me who was going to take care of my children if they were sick. I asked him “Do you ask men who you interview that question?” He replied “No, because men don’t have the primary responsibility of taking care of their children.” I was qualified in every way for that job, but I didn’t get it because I had children.
When I try to tell my own daughters what it was like being female while I was growing up and as a young adult, they find it hard to believe. I definitely feel that my daughters have a better world than we did back then, but things could still be better for women. If you are older, like me, what were some of the things you faced as a woman over the years that are different now? If you are a younger woman, what changes for women’s rights would you like to see in your lifetime?
This has been a rather hectic week. We arrived at the North Rim, ready for another season, and Fabgrandpa worked one day and had to take his second day off to go to the doctor. Going to the doctor around here is not easy–it is an 85 mile drive, and you have to get out twice to unlock gates because the road isn’t open to the public yet. I have been having nosebleeds that gush four times now in less than a week, and I am sure it is due to the dry air and altitude.
I’ve also been trying to catch up on some internet obligations, and my Mi-Fi card just died. Not to work ever again. I had to figure out a work around, and tethered my smart phone to my computer so I can get online until the DSL service is installed and working. It is just one thing after another! But, just when I needed a piece of good news, The Fairy Hobmother visited me!
The Fairy Hobmother visits bloggers like me, spreading joy in the form of Amazon Gift Codes. I was so tickled to be chose for this visit, and I really appreciate that gift code, Fairy Hobmother!
Just to let you know, The Fairy Hobmother works for his Fairy Overlords at AppliancesOnline. He visits blogs of those who comment on posts about him, so if you want him to visit you, leave a comment! You could be the next one on his list!
This giveaway is now closed. The winners have been notified via email. Thank you to everyone who entered.
I was asked to review the ZeroWater® 10 Cup Filter Pitcher, and I was so excited that I was going to get to try it out. Unfortunately, the review item did not arrive before we left on our road trip to our summer job in Arizona. I KNOW this pitcher would have come in very handy for us because when we travel west the water always tastes so bad to us. We have bought so much bottled water, and that adds up to a small fortune over time.
The ZeroWater® 10 cup Water Pitcher would fit in my RV refrigerator, and has a pull and pour button spout that would make it o easy to fill any glass or bottle.
From the Zerowater® website:
The ZeroWater® filtration system combines FIVE sophisticated technologies that work together to remove virtually all dissolved solids from your tap water, delivering you great tasting water. This 10-cup system comes with, our patented Ion Exchange filter, a laboratory-grade water testing meter and a guarantee to remove virtually all dissolved solids from your tap water.
ZeroWater’s® first layer of filtration, activated carbon and oxidation reduction alloy removes the chlorine taste you are accustom to with tap water. The Ion Exchange stage removes virtually all dissolved solids that may be left over from public water systems or even leached into your water from piping such as Aluminum, Lead, Zinc, Nitrate and more. Three additional stages are included to remove other impurities and to ensure your water receives the appropriate amount of treatment time to deliver a “000” reading on your laboratory-grade Total Dissolved Solids meter included. ZeroWater®: Advanced water filtration.
There is a Total Dissolved Solids Meter you can use to find out how the water in your hometown by entering your zip code. I did this for my hometown of Buchanan, Georgia, and for each of the towns we stopped in for the night o our trip. Here is how they all stacked up:
Buchanan, Georgia 104
Corinth, Mississippi 95
Russellville, Arkansas 95
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 142
Shamrock, Texas 142
Tucumcari, New Mexico 18
Grants, New Mexico 129
Flagstaff, Arizona 148
As a reader of Fabgrandma, you can receive a 30% discount off of your purchase of a ZeroWater® 10 Cup Pitcher by using the discount code MC30
If you’d like to win one, just leave a comment telling me what your TDS score is for your water.
For extra entries, do any of the following, and leave a comment for each thing you do:
Follow Fabgrandma on Twitter
Tweet this giveaway, one time per day, ” ZeroWater Review & #Giveaway + #discountcode http://bit.ly/I3rMiV @fabgrandma”
This giveaway ends at midnight MDT on April 28, 2012. Two winners will each receive a Zerowater 10 Cup Filter Pitcher. The winners will be selected using And The Winner Is…plugin. Winners will be notified by email, so please make sure you use a valid email address when entering. Winners will have 48 hours to respond to the notification of winning. If the winner does not respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. You can enter once each day by tweeting about the giveaway one time each day per twitter account. Giveaway is open to residents of the United States only and must be 18 years old or over. Prize is the responsibility of and will be shipped to the winners by the sponsor. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery after the giveaway closes.
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of ZeroWater and received a water pitcher to facilitate my review, two pitchers to giveaway, and extra filters to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
Just wanted to share this infographic with you. What do you think?
Yesterday we woke up to really yucky weather in the Oklahoma City area. We were staying at the KOA located about where you see Midwest City on this map. We decided to wait until the rain stopped to start our travels since we were only going about 200 miles.
Kevin, one of the employees at the KOA gave us an alternate route to get around Oklahoma City. Last fall when we were on our way back to Georgia, going through Oklahoma City on I-40 was a torture for us and for our RV. The road was really bumpy and full of cracks and holes. I think Kevin said they are working on it now, so it is also under construction. The alternate route was a dream compared to that ride on I-40. To get a bigger picture of the route to print out, click here.
This is what I have been doing to keep myself busy on this trip. I love the feel of crocheted cotton washcloths, so I have been making them. I can make about one a day. I’ll be putting some for sale in my online store as soon as we get to Arizona.
The last couple of times we came this way, it was still cold and wintry looking. This year, though, warmer spring weather has us looking at wildflowers blooming along the side of the road and in the fields.
We’re seeing lots of cows in the fields, too. This was in western Oklahoma about five miles before the Texas state line.
We crossed over the Texas state line, and only had 13 more miles to go. We are staying two nights in Shamrock, Texas. We love Shamrock, even though it is just a tiny town. We stop here every time we travel from Arizona to Georgia and back, mosyly because we love Big Vern’s Steakhouse. Last night was no exception. As soon as we got ready for dinner, we headed over there. I had a filet mignon, and boy was it ever delicious!
Today we’ll go into town and buy some groceries, and see if we can find a thrift store or an antique store to look around in. Tomorrow we’re headed to New Mexico.
There was a threat of severe weather posted by the weather service, but it never rained here last night. What a relief that was. I will leave you with this: Fabgrandpa showing off his biscuits!
If you are a recycler, this is a very neat and handy idea. This Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler is easy to install and easy to use. I didn’t have to use any tools at all to install it in my kitchen.
Then you hang the hooks over the top of the cabinet door.
Attach the recycler bag to the frame by putting the tabs on the frame through the slots on the bag.
This is what shows on the outside of the cabinet door.
The handle on the bottom makes emptying the recycler bag so easy.
The Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler five gallon bag holds up to 36 12-ounce cans. You can fit a gallon milk jug in there! The bag has a leak proof liner and can be machine washed. It is soft sided so it can easily fit in most any cabinet. (Note: The top of it is too big to fit in my RV cabinet, but it works fine in the cabinets in my house kitchen.) The bag and all the packaging materials are recyclable, and the whole thing can be recycled.
If you would like to buy one of these Rubbermaid Hidden Recyclers, they are available at Rubbermaid.com for $17.59, or at Meijer Stores.
If you would like to win one of these, leave a comment below telling me why you think recycling is a good idea.
For extra entries, do any or all of the following: (don’t forget to leave a comment for each thing you do!)
Follow Rubbermaid on Twitter
Follow Fabgrandma on Twitter
Tweet this giveaway, one time per day, “Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler Giveaway http://bit.ly/H7cz4g #win @fabgrandma“.
This giveaway ends at midnight MDT on April 21, 2012. One winner will receive a a Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler valued at $15.99. The winner will be selected using And The Winner Is…plugin. Winner will be notified by email, so please make sure you use a valid email address when entering. Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the notification of winning. If the winner does not respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. You can enter once each day by tweeting about the giveaway one time each day per twitter account. Giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada and must be 18 years old or over. Prize is the responsibility of and will be shipped to the winner by the sponsor. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery after the giveaway closes.
I was provided with a Rubbermaid Hidden Recycler in order to review it and host this giveaway.
