Origami Snowman Advent Calendar

This was a fun Christmas project I made for two of the children in our family.

It's a fourteen day snowman advent calendar made of paper and yarn. It's very simple and adorable.

Each bag has a couple of pieces of candy and an inexpensive stocking stuffer type toy. I used things like stickers, small handheld games, puzzles & christmas stencils. I braided the yard into a rope. I punched a hole in each snowman and tied him to the braid with ribbon.

I started at the bottom with day 14 and day one at the very top was a little biger than the rest with a little better surprise. The boys had fun with it

I didn't actually print each snowman. I printed one to use for a template. I made my own eyes, hats, noses and ties with craft paper. The mouths and buttons were drawn on with marker.

It was fun.

This idea came from Kiddley.com.

Origami Snowman Advent Calendar

To Realize........

To realize
The value of a sister
Ask someone who doesn't have one.

To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly divorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.

To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a personWho has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one-second:
Ask a person who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have.

You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special.

To realize the value of a friend or family member:

LOSE ONE.

Remember...Hold on tight to the ones you love!
.............................................................

Don, my husband---Thank you for shring this with me and the rest of the family. It's so true. I love you so much.

In Loving Memory..............

Terri 

Jan. 19th. 1957 - August 16th. 2009

A loving wife, devoted mother, daughter, sister and a wonderful friend.

You have been my closest friend for eighteen years.

I love and miss you.

Please know we will do well with your boys. We will raise them to be the fine young men you would have raised them to be. We will guide them as you would want us to and do everything in our power to keep them safe.

We will make you proud.

You and I will meet again

When we're least expecting it

One day in a far off place

I will recognize your face

I won't say good-bye my friend

For you & I will meet again.

- Tom Petty -

Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire 2009

We had a blast !!

Don & me at Ren. Faire.

Don & I go to the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire almost every year. We even camped there for a weekend three years ago. This year was more fun than ever. It was held at Maris Farms in Buckley, Wa. We camped with a group of our good friends from Friday night until Monday afternoon. The place has a great spot for RV or tent camping. Lots of room and friendly people.

This year Don & I volunteered to help, too. My friend, Terri & I took a shift each day at the information booth. Don helped with fire watch, parking and bus driving.


Our bodices & skirts were handmade by Theresa Maddock of Olalla, Wa. She adds beautiful detail to everything she makes.

Theresa cinching my bodice.

Terri's beads were hand strung.

Little brother Ryan in his costume.

There were some really outstanding costumes.

The Ale House is always a hit.

Cavallo Equestrian Arts
Beautiful, well trained horses.

The costumes were beautiful, the food was great and the people were wonderfully friendly.

And....we spent our weekend with some really special people.

Baydo's RV in Fife, Wa. - An unhappy Customer Review, Part 2

I finally called Tommy on his cell phone on the afternoon of July 4th. He said they had all left work early to celebrate the holiday. He did not have any information for us yet, but would have it on Monday. He said he would give us a call first thing Monday morning. Once again, he said he appreciated our patience. We even joked around about planning a group camping trip when this was all taken care of. I wished him a Happy 4th. and we hung up.

Monday morning, July 6th. I waited anxiously for Tommy's call. Knowing his poor history with returning my calls, I only waited through the morning. When He didn't call, I called him. He said he had just been getting ready to call Baydo's service department. He told me to hang on and he put me on hold. After a couple of minutes he returned to the phone. He said the service department had completely finished with the inspection of the exterior and were getting ready to start the interior. He said they believed the leak was from the emergency exit window above the damaged floor. I again mentioned my concern about mold in the wall. He told me that had  all been inspected and the wall was dry. He told me they had opened the nose cone and there was no damage. He said they would inspect the interior and have an estimate the following day. I called my husband to give him the good news about the wall.

We knew there would be no further work done on it on Tuesday, July 7th., because Monday afternoon the service department realized they did not have a key that would open main door. They could go no further until my husband dropped off the key after work on Tuesday evening . We had been told the locks were generic and they had keys that opened them. Evidently, the former owner had changed the locks at some point, so as it turned out, Baydo's did not have a key that would open the main door. The key was delivered to one of the Baydo's salesman on Tuesday night.

Wednesday evening, Tommy called Don's cell phone. I was home from work for my lunch break. Tommy said he was ready with a rough estimate for us. He said the service area was planning to replace the floor under the bedroom and in the storage compartment. . He said the estimate was for $2100.00. We were shocked. We were not expecting anything like that. Don questioned Tommy as to why the cost was so high if there would be no labor charged. Tommy's response was that because it was a three day repair job, they were going to need to charge us for labor afterall. Needless to say, we got upset. Tommy said he was planning to talk with his boss first thing Thursday morning to see if he would split this cost with us.

After Tommy's call, Don called my Brother-in-law who has experience with this type of RV repair. My BIL assured us the repair could be done in a couple of weekends and cost would be nothing like what Baydo's was trying to charge us. He also offered his help and guidence. He said that unless Baydos was treating us fairly we could consider bringing our travel trailer home and after this camping season was over, we could buy the materials and start our repairs. My BIL does meticulous work and with his experienced guidance we were comfortable taking on this endeavor. We decided we would make our decision after we heard back from Tommy. If Tommy's boss agreed to split the cost with us we planned to have Baydo's service department do the repairs. If we were going to pay the whole amount, we would bring it home to repair ourselves.

Thursday morning, July 9th. Don spoke with Tommy on the phone and was told Tommy's boss, Paul, had agreed to split the cost with us for the repairs. Tommy said the service area did not feel there would be any problem having the trailer done in time for our trip. He said he would instruct them not to start the repairs unless they could guarantee that. He said he would make certain we had the trailer for our trip.

Our trip was planned for July 17th. only eight days away. I decided I would call and talk directly to the repair person. We were really concerned the Travel trailer would not be ready in time.

Later that same Thursday morning, I called and spoke with the gal in Baydo's service department. I believe her name was Sandy. I asked if it would be possible for me to talk with the person who would be working on our trailer and explained our concern about the trip. I said I understood they were busy and would be happy to wait for a call back as long as he would please call that day. She said he would and then asked me to hang on the line for a minute. When she returned to the phone, she told me there was no workman yet. No one had been assigned to our travel trailer. I told her what Tommy had told me about the complete inspection, the water chamber test to find the leak and the opening of the nose cone to look for mold. She told me nothing like that has been done to our travel trailer. I asked if there was any chance she was mistaken. I told her if what she was telling me is correct, then Tommy has been far, far less than honest with Don & me.

At that point, Sandy asked if she could call me back. She said she wanted to double check her information with their service manager. She said he wasn't in yet but was due very shortly. She said the only day she was not absolutely certain about was the day before on Wednesday. She would find out about Wednesday and call me back.

When Sandy called back, she said the service department confirmed what she had already told us.  Nothing had been done with our travel trailer other than a visual inspection and feeling the soft spots in the floor.

After receiving this disappointing news, we decided we did not want to rely on Baydo's RV to have the RV ready for our upcoming trips.  Both trips were very important to us.  Because time was an issue for us, Tommy suggested we take the RV home for the summer and return it to Baydo's RV Repair Center at the end of summer for the needed repairs.  I repeated Tommy's suggestion to Sandy and asked if there was any reason why this would be a problem.  She assured us it was perfectly fine and offered to have the travel trailer ready for pick up the following morning.  I also asked if it would be possible to have a work order written up committing Baydo's RV to the 50% they had agreed to cover for our RV repairs costs.  She said she would send the work order to Paul, Tommy's boss, for approval.  

On the morning of July 10th, 2009, my husband Don, picked up our RV so we could prepare for our trips.  I tried repeatedly to reach Sandy to ask about the work order.  She never returned my calls.


To part 1

To part 3

Baydo's RV in Fife, Wa. - An unhappy Customer Review Part. 1

My husband Don & I had been shopping off and on for a travel trailer for approximately six months. We were casually looking figuring when the right travel trailer and deal came along we would jump on it. On June 5th, 2009, we visited Baydo's RV Center in Fife, Wa. We were approached by a friendly salesman named Tommy.

We told him what we had in mind and he showed us several possibilities. One in particular stood out for us. It was a 2005 Salem made by Forest River. It was the perfect size for us at 22 feet and would pull great with our Tundra. We struck a deal for $11,500 with $2000 credit for our beautiful Coleman popup we used as a trade-in. We bought it "as is."

We were very excited. It was just what we had been looking for. We love it. This RV would be ideal for our camping and geocaching trips.

We had our first overnight stay on June 21, 2009. The following morning I walked across the floor barefooted for the first time and found a spot in the floor between the bed and the wall that felt odd to me. On further investigation, I realized it was a bad spot in the floor. It seemed to extend into the storage area under the bed. This storage area has an exterior door. I opened the storage compartment door and felt the floor and realized the floor had a large soft area. It had obvious water damage. Unfortunately, we had not examined that area as well as we should have before purchase..

I immediately called Tommy at Baydo's . He talked in a very supportive way assuring me everything would be fine. He said we should bring the trailer into their service area for a complete inspection of the damage and to find the leak. He said this inspection would be done at no cost to us and because we had purchased the trailer "as is", we would have to cover the costs of materials, but there would be no labor charged for the repairs. He said and I quote, "We will not make anymore money from you. He also said he would talk to his boss about splitting the cost of the materials. If the damage was too extensive, he said they would consider taking this one back and setting us up with another coach.


I explained to Tommy one of our biggest concerns was mold. I told him it was critically important to know if it was wet in the walls or ceiling. Tommy assured us that would all be inspected. We would know the exact extent of the damage and where the leak was. He said they would put the trailer into a type of water chamber that would simulate heavy, heavy rain. He said with the help of this chamber they should be able to find the leak. He even stated that this is why we bought from a dealership and not a private party. They would stand behind their sale. He also thanked us for our patience and for being so nice about this. He felt we had every reason to be angry and appreciated the fact that we were not. Tommy assured us he would stay on top of this situation and take care of us. He made us feel much better because we were in good hands. Or......so we thought.

Another concern was that our family had reserved an entire campground for a four day family reunion starting on July 17th. We also had a reservation for July 22nd - 25th. My husband & I were both extremely worried that our trips would be ruined by not having our travel trailer back in time. Tommy assured us there would be no problem. He said they had bumped us right to the front of their two month waiting list and we would have the results of their inspection and and estimate of cost and time within a few days. He said he would tell them not to start the repairs unless they could have it finished in time for our trip. If not, we would pick it up, use it for our trip, then return it to the Baydo's Service Department for repairs. Once again, we felt reassured by Tommy.

I spoke with the service department to let them know when our coach would be arriving. While speaking with the Baydo's service Center, I was asked if I could actually see any blackened wood. I explained the damage was under the vinyl flooring and asked if she thought it would be alright for us to carefully pull up the vinyl floor to see the damage rather than just feel it. She said to go right ahead. She said there was no reason not to.

Both pictures taken of the storage compartment floor after we pulled up the vinyl.

That evening my husband & I pulled back the vinyl in the storage compartment and found a great deal of rotted wood. In one spot my husband was able to put his fingers throught the flooring. I called Tommy and told him what we found. He again assured me all would be fine. On Monday, June 28th. we delivered our travel trailer to the Baydo's Dealership so they could transport it to the service department the following morning. Before we left Tommy assured us he would call us either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning with some information. He never called. I tried to reach him Thursday morning only to find he is off on Thursdays & Fridays.

We patiently waited to call him on Saturday, July 4th. At this time, he told me the service man had visually inspected the trailer but would not have any definate information until Monday, July 6th, when he actually started taking it apart to see the extent of damage. Tommy said he would call Monday afternoon with all the information we were waiting for.

His call never came.

To part 2
To part 3