From Cold Weather, A Move, The Flu, And Last Days With Family

Saturday 2/1 2014 to Tuesday 2/11/14

After I went to bed on 1/31/2014, I noticed a sore throat brewing. The next morning, we left the Gulf State Park Campground, in Gulf Shores, AL., and moved our Nest an hour north on I-10 to Styx River Resort, in Robertsdale, AL.. We bought into the Ocean Canyons Properties Membership RV Resorts two years ago, to help with our budget, for our travels to the west coast. We have not been happy with the company that runs the resort system, and would not recommend joining unless you get an awesome deal from someone who is selling there membership.  Since it is totally paid for and our invested money is re-cooped, from the many times staying in the system, we are now staying totally free.

On the drive to Styx River Resort I could feel myself feeling achy and wiped out. (In this picture, you can see the club house behind and to the right of our Nest). Joe spends every night going over there, playing cards while we have been here. He is ahead and even if he loses tonight he still will be ahead.)

Joe set up and did the vacuuming for me, which I generally do. By that evening I was running a fever of 102 degrees and feeling horrible. The next day we drove to the walk in clinic in Daphne, so I could be checked for strep throat. No strep throat but sent home being treated with the flu.

I pretty much spent the week on the couch recouping from the flu. The sore throat turned to coughing and an upper respiratory cold. Joe took this picture one day after I got up to use the restroom, because he thought it was cute how Mallery found a warm spot below where I was lying

She likes to be close to me all the time. Dogs are so loyal!

One day I drug out the turkey broth that I had frozen, which I made from our turkey bones from Thanksgiving. I made a chicken vegetable soup. Nothing feels better than a homemade soup on a sore throat, and flu sick person.I am on day 11 of this flu/cold and it is still hanging on. Joe started to show signs of a tickle cough and drainage, but I think he seems to be whipping it much better than I have. We are scheduled to leave on Thursday to Pensecola, Fl. for a few days, as we start our eastward crawl. We had planned to leave Feb. 1, but we couldn't get reservations at places we wanted to stay until the 13th. This seems to have work perfectly for myself and Joe has been so happy to pay $0 for sitting around while waiting for his wife to feel better. Unfortunately I have not been able to see the girls and Nana kids as much as I wanted during this stay, for fear of exposing them to the flu.

On one of our last days in the area we had to do some errands so we ran into Gulf Shores. Alisha took me to her small studio, which I had not seen yet. She set up for a kid's shoot that was scheduled later that day.

It is a very small studio, but set up so cute.

She only does baby and kid shoots in the studio. Her other shoots are done on location-  the beach, at weddings, and outside spots.

My last time to get to see my sweet little Hayleah, as she got ready to go to work.

She started a new job at Zaxby's, a fast food chain that is in the south. She had another job prior to working here, at an upscale restaurant in Gulf Shores. She was not getting very many hours, so she applied at Zaxby's. I am so proud of her, because so many youth would rather not work at all, than to work at a fast food chain. Hayleah didn't care, all she wanted was to work at a place that would give her more hours, so she could bring in more money to pay for her gas, car insurance, and have spending money.  After a couple days of training, our 4.0 student came home crying to her mom, wanting to quit. She said everyone thinks fast food is so easy, but it is much harder than everyone thinks. My daughter Alisha told her, "no daughter of mine is a quitter", and she was not going to quit. Hayleah said to her mom she could not make her work there. Alisha answered her back, "No I can't make you work there, but if you quit I can take your car away from you and you will be stuck at home. Hayleah went to work the next day, and found that she was smart enough to learn the menu, prices and what to say to the customers on the drive thru window. So proud of my daughter Alisha for standing against Hayleah's fears, and helping her see her true potential.

Before we left town to drive back to Styx Rivers RV Resort in Robertsdale, I had Joe take me through the drive thru so I could hear her take my order on the intercom. She took my order, rang it up and got my shake. So proud of my Hayleah for being such a hard little worker! We all knew she would overcome the over whelming feelings of learning a new job. I am also so proud that she is showing a true work ethic, of no job is beneath her. With this ethic, she can truly become independent no matter what life throws at her!