General

Do y’all remember a while back, when I wrote about how I needed a new mattress? Well, I wrote that for a contest I was entering to win an iComfort Serta Mattress from Sears. And today, Fabgrandpa and I went to Sears in Douglasville to pick out my new bed because I WON! I am so happy that we were able to get this bed!

We chose an iComfort Savant Plush Queen size mattress with the adjustable foundation. The bed comes with a remote control to lift the head or foot of the bed up. When I had the bed frame raised up, I was able to get out of the bed by myself without help for the first time since my surgery!

Can you see how happy I was to be laying on that bed? I look so calm and serene here. But this is what I was really feeling inside:

I was so excited I could barely contain myself! I wanted to rush up and hug all the people who worked at Sears, to thank them for letting me win this contest! But then, I figured they probable didn’t know about the contest and they would have thought I was some crazy lady.

So, I just laid back down on the bed, and pretended I was being attended by a young Zeus:

Fabgrandpa loves this bed too. He told me after we left the store, that when I told him we won an adjustable bed, he wasn’t excited about it because all he could picture in his head was a hospital bed: a noisy contraption that rattled and banged as the head or foot adjusted. But this bed is so quite when it raises and lowers it probably wouldn’t even wake you if your spouse raised it in the middle of the night.

Here is what Sears website says about this mattress:

• Serta’s Cool Action™ Gel Memory Foam:is designed to feel like traditional memory foam…only better! What makes our Cool Action material different is the MicroSupport gel, which is infused into premium memory foam to create an extremely comfortable, more supportive and cooler sleep surface.
• Sleep CoolerHeat build up during the night can cause uncomfortable and restless sleep. While ordinary memory foam can trap heat against the body, Serta’s Cool Action material combines an open cell structure and our MicroSupport gel to dramatically increase airflow and actually whisk heat away from the body. In fact, it is up to 12 times more breathable than ordinary memory foam for a cooler and more comfortable sleep.
• Two Layers of Serta® Firming Comfort Foam to provide a firm yet comfortable feel.
• Comfortlast Foam Core with Ultimate Edge® SupportThis advanced foam support system is designed to help support your body throughout the night, promoting a more restful night’s sleep. The Comfortlast Foam Core is built to be extremely durable, so you get the support you need night after night. Plus, Ultimate Edge Support strengthens the mattress edges, reducing that annoying edge “roll-off” so you have more room to stretch.
• Warranty: 25 Year Limited
• 120 Day Risk Free Trial

I know Fabgrandpa and I can not wait for this bed to be delivered and be able to sleep on it. It was really hard to leave it in the store today.

The movie Safe Haven sounds like just the kind of movie I like–a romantic thriller! Safe Haven stars Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough and will be in theaters February 8, 2013. Take a look at this trailer:

When a mysterious young woman arrives in a small North Carolina town, her reluctance to join the tight knit community raises questions about her past. Slowly, she begins putting down roots, and gains the courage to start a relationship with Alex, a widowed store owner with two young children. But dark secrets intrude on her new life with such terror that she is forced to rediscover the meaning of sacrifice and rely on the power of love in this deeply moving romantic thriller.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.

An affirming and suspenseful story about a young woman’s struggle to love again, Safe Haven is based on the novel from Nicholas Sparks, the best-selling author behind the hit films The Notebook and Dear John.

I can’t wait for this one to come out! I’ll be looking for a theater “date” to go with me. Who’s in?

If you’d like to win a copy of the book “Safe Haven” by Nicholas Sparks, and a $25 Visa Gift Card for a day at the movies, just enter using the Rafflecoper form:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you like to win, then you should check out Win Your Way at Shop Your Way . Sears has many ongoing sweepstakes there that you can enter. You have to join ShopYourWay, but it is free to join. Once you get on the website, you’ll find lots of interesting things to do there. You can shop the catalogs, add to them, and of course, enter the giveaways. What do you want to win? There is probably a giveaway for it there.

I found a giveaway called Great Gadget Sweepstakes. The prize is 10,000 rewards points to spend at Shop Your Way. There is no purchase necessary to enter any of these sweepstakes at ShopYou Way. To enter this sweepstakes, just choose 10 of your favorite kitchen gadgets on ShopYourWay.com and “Like It”. That’s it.

Each sweepstakes that is listed tells you what you have to do to enter. You can enter as many of the sweepstakes as you want to. If you’re like me, you could wind up spending a lot of time on that site.

Win Your Way is an app that is part of the ShopYourWay social shopping platform.
Members will find a constant stream of new and unique sweepstakes with prizes
including: ShopYourWay Rewards points, trips to locations around the country, jewelry,
clothing, appliances, tools, and gadgets.

I entered so many of the giveaways because they are easy to enter. I hope you’ll be seeing me write here about what I won soon!  I especially liked the Bridal Bling Sweepstakes, because the prize is a Diamond Bridal ring! While I am already married, I am a girl who loves diamonds, and the more of them I can get the better!

This is a sponsored post with Brandfluential.com, I am a Win Your Way blogger, though all opinions are my own.

“No purchase necessary. See for details here.”

Fabgrandpa and I have lived in our travel trailer for thirteen years now. Back in the beginning, it was so exciting and fun. We looked forward to every trip down the road, every new campground, every new community, each new friend we made.

We thought we’d never get tired of it. And, if I hadn’t gotten sick in May, maybe we wouldn’t be tired of it now. And it’s not really that we are tired of traveling. It’s more that “I” am tired. I have been looking so forward to going “home” to Georgia ever since I came home to the RV from the hospital. Every day I have been counting down in my head how many weeks, days, hours, until I get there.

If you knew me in person, I mean really knew me well, you would know that I have always been the first person to say “let’s go”. Let’s go anywhere, I don’t care where, I have always loved to just go. So for me to be this person who just wants to go home is a different me to be. I have to get used to having less energy, to having a colostomy, to being tired and in pain most of the time. And none of those new traits fit into a “GO” lifestyle very well.

One of the first things I have planned to do when we get home is find a doctor. I need to go and get checked out, to find out if it is normal for me to still be in pain five months after the surgery I had. I am tired of being in pain, and just want to feel better. So, finding a doctor is top of the to do list.

After that, I plan to rest. A lot. Take it easy. I want to plant a vegetable garden, plant flowers and bulbs in my yard, remodel the kitchen and sewing room, put new floors in the bedrooms. But I don’t know if I have the energy or strength to do those things. Heck, I can’t even bend over to pick something up if I drop it. So, bear with me. I’m still learning to be me again.

Waking up to the beautifulness that is Shamrock, Texas is not a bad thing. But, while it is pretty to look at, it is hot as hades, so we were glad to be leaving. We had called an RV place in Oklahoma City and found an electric hitch jack. The only problem was, it meant we had to drive through Oklahoma City on those cracked up roads to get there. We were NOT looking forward to that at all.

We decided to look for RV dealers along the way so we could try to buy one before we got to Oklahoma City, so we could take the bypass through Mustang to avoid the interstate through town. The last time we went through Oklahoma City, the roads just about beat us and our trailer to death, and the rod in my wardrobe closet actually broke! Just thinking about doing that ride made me hurt.

We found one dealership somewhere in Oklahoma about halfway to Oklahoma City, but when we go there they were closed for lunch. That sandwich break cost them a sale. We didn’t want to wait around for 45 minutes for them to come back. So, we were on the road again.

Fabgrandpa asked me to get online and search for RV dealers on the west side of OKC so we could still avoid I-40 through town, and I found two. We went to both of them. One was the Camping World. It had NOTHING in the store part of it. They were selling RV’s in the showroom, but the part of the place that was supposed to be the Camping World store had nothing on the shelves. The other place that was supposed to be an RV dealership according to the internetz was closed. So, we had a little scenic tour of the west side of Oklahoma City for absolutely nothing. And, keep in mind we were dragging a 34 foot travel trailer through all that traffic. Blah!

To our amazement, there had been a LOT of roadwork on I-40 since the last time we went this was. The road was smooth, almost like a brand new road. So, all that running around looking for a different place to buy a jack was for nothing. We could have saved an hour and a half and just gone straight to Lewis RV on the east side of town. But we didn’t know. We just remembered how it used to be here.

We finally got to Lewis RV and bought the new hitch jack, and got back on the road out of town before rush hour. So, after all that dread of Oklahoma City, it turned out to be not so bad.

After much serious discussion on what to do about the broken hitch jack, we finally decided to go to Shamrock, Texas as planned. We were going to stay there two nights, take the trailer off the hitch, go to Big Vern’s for dinner, and then go back to the campground and rest a bit. The new plan was to go to Big Vern’s first, park in the big parking lot of C&H Supply and walk across Route 66 to the restaurant, then go to the campground. That plan worked our really well.

We got to Shamrock around 4:00 p.m. Big Vern’s wasn’t very crowded at that time of day, so we were seated right away. Sweet tea! Oh how I have missed you! Salad, corn muffins, and filet mignon cooked to perfection, with a side of carmelized onions and mushrooms. Divine!

When we got to Shamrock, it was 95 degrees. I sat in the truck with the AC on while Fabgrandpa got the trailer hooked up to the electricity and water. It didn’t take him long, because we weren’t getting the trailer off the hitch. When the hook ups were done, we both went inside and went to straight to bed for a nap.

One night in Shamrock, and this morning when we get on the road, we’ll be headed for Choctaw, Oklahoma, with a stop at Camping World in Oklahoma City to get a new electric hitch jack. We don’t want to be stuck on the hitch forever!

Ever since I have been able to remember, this Mr. Lemonhead salt shaker has lived on my mother’s windowsill.  And that is a very long time. I think the pepper shaker had an orange head, but alas, Mrs. Orangehead died a long long time ago in an ugly crash off the windowsill. He just couldn’t survive in a house where five children lived.  A few years ago, Mr. Lemonhead moved to my sister’s house to live.

Ever since then, I have searched every thrift shop and antique shop in every town that Fabgrandpa and I have stopped in, looking for another Lemonhead salt shaker. It is like an obsession with me, because I feel that I MUST have one of these for my home.

I know that the salt and pepper shakers that my mother owned could not be the only set ever made. So, I am asking all my readers, if you happen to go to an antique shop or a thrift shop, in your town or in your travels, would you please look to see if there is a Mr. Lemonhead there? And if there is, would you please buy it for me? I will be very happy to send the bail for Mr. Lemonhead, and, if by chance Mrs. Orangehead is with him, for her, too!

This post brought to you by Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of the things I am looking forward to when I get home to Georgia, is planting bulbs in my yard. I love bulbs! I can plant once and enjoy flowers for several years with them. It is hard to chose which are my favorite, because I love so many of them. Crocus, tulips, hyacynth, dahlias, gladiolas…I could go on and on.

I just saw the video of Ruth and her family, the winners of the Curbside Chaos yard makeover. If I won something like that, it would hard to decide what to do. I know for sure, I would have them repair the fence in front of my house, plant rambling roses on the bank by the road, and some day lillies too. I love the way those look on a country roadside.

Did you know that for every share on Twitter with hashtag #CurbsideChaos, "Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done." will donate $1.00 to Rebuilding Together – the nation’s leading nonprofit, working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities? I think that is a great idea! visit www.digdropdone.com to learn more.

While I do intend to plant lots of bulbs in my yard, I never knew that planting daffodils would help keep deer away. I also didn't know that dahlias would repel the squirrels. I learned that from watching Evelyn's video over at DigDropDone. Fabgrandpa and I have "planted" bulbs in bowls, and forced them to bloom in the winter inside the house. It is very easy to do, and provides color and a "burst of spring" on dark winter days.

One thing I loved about Curbside Chaos website is the planting guide. You choose your area of the country, the month you want your bulbs to bloom, and it shows you whic ones to plant!

What bulbs do you plant in your yard?