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The money from selling the previous RV has arrived so it’s time to order my next one. I have never had any doubt about what brand this one would be: a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter cargo van (http://www.mbsprinterusa.com/shopping-tools/build-and-equip) converted by Sportsmobile (http://sportsmobile.com/) to my design.

That didn’t make ordering the van as easy as I expected it to be. I knew I wanted the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of 11,030 pounds but I thought I could get by with the regular 170″ wheelbase one. Nope. When I started playing with roof layouts I discovered I couldn’t get everything I wanted on the roof without having equipment shading my solar panels. That’s not a good thing. So I’m going with the tallest and longest one on the chart above. It’s also the one on the very right of the chart below.

My special order items list for the van is not a long list but it does include some very important items. Like an upgraded suspension package for vehicles that carry weight up high. A trailer hitch package. Cruise control. Upgraded seats for long driving day comfort that swivel so the driver/passenger seats (Mercedez-Benz calls the passenger seat a co-driver seat since these are cargo vans) can become part of my living space. And a few more details like that.

Most of these vans are Arctic White. I ordered Grey White, instead.

Because it looks like Arizona dirt so maybe I won’t feel compelled to wash it so often during my snowbirding seasons. And so I can pick mine out of the crowd at gatherings.

So that’s done. Now to work some more on the interior design. I only have three to five months to finalize it before the van arrives.

TTYL,

Linda

 

ps. Down another pound this week. I like this trend.

Other than an occasional comment that I believe we are in the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, I usually stay out of political discussions. But I just read something that helped me understand what is happening that I thought might interest you.

I’m currently reading on my iPad “The Story of Mankind” by Hendrik van Loon and I’m up to the part of the Roman Empire. Van Loon has been describing the different forms of government and how they developed. According to him Democracy exists when people take an active part in their government: voting for wise people to lead them. When the people stop taking an active part the Plutocrats can take over. The Plutocrats, which translates to rich men, then decide how the government should be run to make the best profit for themselves. The result is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Can anyone give me some examples of how this has been happening here? Anything like companies that default leaving their stockholders holding worthless paper but the owners walk away with golden parachutes? Banks that fail taking people’s savings with them while the top guys somehow have enough money to start over? Politicians with good pay and benefits while typical employees lose theirs? Or anything like that?

We appear to me to be living in a Plutocracy. What are we willing to do to try to get back to being a Democracy? Anything? Anyone?

TTYL,

Linda

ps. I forgot to put up a post yesterday to let you all know I am alive and well so here’s one from my files. I finally broke through that up and down weight bit so am now firmly on the right side of having lost 35 pounds. I had to add some exercise to my life to do it but I did it. So, I just keep on keeping on.

It is sunny and 65° here. A new record high for this date if they make it official. I’m outside. Why are you in here?

TTYL,

Linda

ps. I’ve been gaining and losing the same couple of pounds for four weeks now. Still trying to reach the elusive 35 pound total loss. My WW friend, Gloria, had the same problem at this stage. She got past it and so will I.

I remember many years ago our daughter calling to ask me how to make deviled eggs. I told her to mash the yolks with a fork then stir in Miracle Whip until the texture looked right and add mustard until the color looked right. She didn’t appreciate those instructions but it’s how I’ve been making deviled eggs all my life.

Until now. Now I need to know how many Weight Watchers PointsPlus are in those deviled eggs and Weight Watchers doesn’t have a measure that says “looks right.” So, I measured. Sort of. I was using large eggs instead of the mediums we used to buy but I mashed the egg yolks with a fork as usual. Nowadays, I use Miracle Whip Light so I actually measured out a couple of tablespoon’s worth and stirred it in to the yolks. Didn’t look right. So I added another tablespoon’s worth; then one more. OK, four tablespoons of Miracle Whip Light for my four eggs. That’s a proportion I could remember. Then I added mustard until the color looked right. No, I didn’t measure it. Mustard has no points so I felt no need to measure it but I would guess it was between an 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon. After filling the eggs I sprinkled then with paprika as I always have. No, I didn’t measure it either–no points, you see.

So, there you have it.

I had half the recipe of deviled eggs (5 points) with a chopped banana (zero points) and a half cup of unsweetened strawberries (zero points) stirred in with the banana for a total of five Weight Watchers PointPlus. A very satisfying breakfast which I will be able to repeat with the other half of the eggs. Yummy!

And now I know how much Miracle Whip I add to my deviled eggs. Probably should have measured the mustard, though, in case I need to teach someone else how to make deviled eggs. You never know when such an opportunity might arise.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. I gained weight this week after two weeks of losing a lot. So now I know for sure: a big bowl of micro popped popcorn drowned in butter is not a good supper for me. Guess I’ll need to find something else to snack on as we watch movies most evenings.

My MacBook Pro laptop computer is a hand-me-down from Dave.

In April it will be five years old. In computer years, that is ancient. Recently it started showing signs of senility.

Sometimes it would remember we have DSL and connect to it automatically. Sometimes it would remember we have DSL but need prompting to connect. Sometimes it would totally forget we have DSL. Frustrating.

Sometimes it would recognize my Bluetooth mouse. Sometimes it would turn off Bluetooth without prompting. When my mouse stopped working I changed its batteries before finding out out my computer decided to turn off Bluetooth. Twice. Irritating.

None of this is life threatening, of course, but I couldn’t help but wonder what would decide to stop working next. And what would happen to my data if it decided that was what it should mess with now? Yes, I do backups. Weekly and monthly ones. With my luck it would decide to corrupt my data the day before a backup so I would lose a week’s worth of work then have to guess what all I’d done that week. Or worse, corrupt my data just before a backup without me noticing so I would create a corrupt backup.

I decided to be proactive rather than reactive. Time to buy a new computer.

You faithful readers know I am planning to buy a very small RV soon. With its small space and weight capacity. That made this a good time to downsize my computer. Right?

But I didn’t want to downsize capacity in any way. Just weight and size.

Behold my new BackBook Air!

Smaller in every dimension.

   

But big enough to let me see what I need to see

and type what I need to type.

And it finds our DSL every single time.

I am happy again.

So, two computers. What to do with the old one? Nextworth.com offered me $32 for it. Well, it IS nearly five years old.

So I asked our daughter if she wants it. She doesn’t have internet at home so its failure to connect automatically would not bother her. She uses a trackpad instead of a mouse so the Bluetooth flakiness would not be an issue for her. Its at least as reliable as the one she’s using now but is an upgrade for her. She said sure. So for $20 shipping my old computer is on it’s way to belonging to a third member of our family. And we’re all happy. As long as we remember to do our backups. Our daughter should maybe start doing hers daily.

TTYL,

Linda

ps. Down 34.8 pounds now.