Grumpy!

BAVARIA, GERMANY

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RV LIFE:

Huh? I'm in Bavaria, Germany? Yes, in my mind I am. In Arkansas, it is only 9am, and not socially proper to be drinking, but in Germany it's 4pm and that's the perfect time for "Happy Hour". Since I've just had a double shot of Rumple Minze, it's 4pm in my mind.Yes, I'm grumpy, depressed, blah! 

This freezing weather is getting to me. 

Cabin fever, mice invading the RV for warmth, Devin going nuts trying to get to the mice. 

Devin looking for mice behind my sewing machine

What damage will they do? Have to crate Devin at night because he keeps us up scratching the walls and our new floors trying to get to the mice.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Devin has cabin fever too! He's too much too handle on our walks now, even with his no pull (yea, right) harness. Back to the prong collar for a bit.

I want to go out!!!

Yes, I'm grumpy.

It's not only cold outside, but grey also. Looking out at the Mississippi is just depressing with the all grey, dank, cloud covered scene.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Nothing to do in this area. Been to Graceland already.

Yes, I'm grumpy.

Can't quite get warm enough in the RV unless I'm in the bedroom.

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GRACELAND: Memphis, TN

Our rating 3 out of 5

We are right across the river from Graceland. We "have" to visit it. We'll never make a special trip just for that. So we drive over to the Graceland Tourist Trap entrance, well try. We had to wait for red lights on the main highway and also wait for the tour shuttle buses.  That was enough to let Scott know that it would be ok if we didn't go. I hate being ripped off by tourist stuff. Scott was the voice of reason? and said we're here, we might as well go in. So onward we went with our $4.00 off coupon for the $37.00 Platinum tour. The Platinum tour included Graceland, the Lisa Marie airplane and the car museum.

I always had this image in my mind of the entrance of Graceland being a huge high, difficult to climb over gateway.

In today's world, the rich seem to have to over do it with their huge McMansions, huge master baths, their SS appliances, immaculately landscaped yards, etc. So Elvis being so famous, I pictured these 15-20 foot high towering gates. Nope. They are about 8' high. Nice personal touch with the musical notes, but it could fit into almost anyone's piece of property.

Included in the tour were mp3 type players with the tour guide info recorded on it, which were well thought out. You pressed a key pad to coincide with what part of the tour you are at. Much better than a live tour guide with everybody trying to crowd in to see & hear at once. I was able to wait for the crowd to move on and then view and hear the tour at my own pace. Of course you return them at the end of the tour.

By today's standards, Graceland is a joke. There are a lot of rooms, but they are fairly small. Funny to see how a celebrity lived then compared to now. But he was still a country boy at heart, so Graceland was a big deal compared to what he came from.

He liked TV. He saw the President watching 3 TV's at once,
so he wanted to do the same.

Jungle room. Not a big room at all. Very cozy though.
I like it.

Billiards room

This room's walls & ceilings are covered with fabric. Very cool look. But again, not a big room. Barely large enough for your cue sticks to swing.

His performance suits

This was the most interesting part. Seeing clothing items that he actually wore. Other celebrities and want to be celebrities clothing were displayed also.

Dean Martin's Suit

He certainly did have a lot of gold records! Since visiting Graceland, I've been listening to some Elvis. I think he really was a great singer. He had that "it" factor. I remember watching Elvis on TV at his Hawaii concert. We had 3 generations of women watching and loving it. My Nana, my Mom and me.

We also visited the car museum which was interesting. But I personally do not understand the need to have a car collection. And lastly, we toured the Lisa Marie Convair 880.

Lisa Marie Jet Media Room

Lisa Marie Jet Bathroom

Overall, if you are a big Elvis fan, it's worth going. But really, if I had skipped Graceland, that would have been fine.  I was disappointed to not see any fans yelling that they felt him here, or maybe an Elvis sighting or flinging themselves on his grave wailing.

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BROWSING THE WWW://

Product review:

YTD Video Downloader  This is a free (for basic) program that lets you save videos from YouTube and some other sites. I've used this many times. There are so many craft instructions on YouTube. I've been able to download and save forever onto my own computer. Very easy to use. They don't bother you with junk mail. I highly recommend the program.

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PRODUCT REVIEWS:

Now that we have no carpeting in our RV, we have to adjust to a whole other way of cleaning the floor. We gave away our nice Orek vacuum to Four Paws Campground, since we really have no need for the rotating brush that is essential when you have carpet and pets.

With our fiberglass flooring, we can feel every little grain of sand/dirt. Not too much of a problem for me, since I rarely go barefoot. I either have shoes, socks or slippers on. Scott tends to walk around bare assed, oops, I meant barefooted, so he feels it all. 

The dogs really bring in a lot of dirt. We humans can scrape our shoes on the outdoor rug, or take them off before entering, but the dogs have all that hair on their paws to collect all that outside dirt and bring it in. 

Our little Orek hand rechargeable vacuum has not been holding a charge. Plus, I don't think I want to crawl on my hands & knees vacuuming the whole RV.

So for $20. we purchased

BISSELL Featherweight Stick Vacuum, 3106Q

The online reviews were good. I like that it was only $20. 

Bagless

Convertible, meaning it changes from a full length handle & floor nozzle vacuum to a short hand held "dustbuster" type. 

It also has a crevice device for the tight corners and cracks.

So far, we think it does a great job, is easy to use and easy to empty. Well worth the $20.

To finish off our cleaning we also purchased

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O Cedar Pro Mist Wet/Dry Mop

I used something similar while workamping at Four Paws Kingdom.

This is a dust mop. It has a spray bottle attached to the handle and I just squeeze a lever at the top of the handle and it spritzes water or whatever solution you choose ahead of the mop on the floor. Just enough to help pick up the remaining dirt and wipe away the dirt marks.

I like this particular Wet/Dry mop because the head comes with one washable cloth, a semi-washable cloth, and has pinch holes which allows me to use my own cloths, or swiffer type cloths also.

I'm happy with this product also.

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