The book that I just read...

Before leaving Quebec City, I mentioned to Bidou that I wanted to read a book a week. Now that our journey has begun and since I am a very slow reader.. I am realizing that it’s pretty hard to read a book a week. I am the kind of reader that must read every word… and I would never dare to jump over lines or paragraphs. I would feel like I would be cheating the author or maybe yet be missing out on a very important detail of the story. So my new objective is to read a book every other week.

With this said… I will be blogging everytime I finish reading a book. Last night I finish reading “The Shop on Blossom Street” by Debbie Macomber. This is my first book by this author and it will not be my last. I remember picking up this book at Walmart while we lived in Morristown, New Jersey. I was attracted by the cover and a one liner sub-title that read “Four lives knit together”. I am really not a knitter but more a crocheter but the book completely screamed buy me!!

This book should definetly be brought to the small screen by Hallmark. It was a very cute story about 4 very different women that became fast friends by attending a Friday afternoon knitting class and made unexpected discoveries about themselves and each other.

On the last page of the book, the author writes about a sequel. So I’ve just added “A Good Yarn” to my “Must Read List”.

We now have Wireless Internet !!!!

Hopefully, I will now be able to “Blog” on a daily basis… but for now here is a small recap since last Wednesday.

Wednesday, July 22 - We drove from Québec City to Gatineau to visit with Mom and Dad for a couple of days. We arrived in Gatineau late evening. Since we haven’t bought a trailer yet to tow our car, I had to follow Bidou and Camille while they enjoyed a luxurious ride in CCTop.

During our stay in Gatineau, many visitors came to see CCTop…. Thomas, Caroline, Jean-Francois, Milène, Jean-Luc… oupss… Luc, Michelle, Dr. Phil, Luc (le bo-frère), Rick, Kevin, Mommy’s neighbors and of course Mom and Dad.

Here is a picture of our set-up at my parents house for a couple of days.

Friday, July 24 I wouldn’t be George’s daughter without having a priest bless CCTop before hitting the road. George invited Father Guan to perform the blessing ceremony. Present were Josée, Claude, Michelle, George, Doris, Camille, Bidou and myself. Fr. Guan did a great job blessing our motor home. Father was flush with the Holy Water… almost every square inch of CCTop was soaked. Thanks Father Guan!

Picture to be posted soon.. I am having a hard time uploading pictures with the wireless internet!

Saturday, July 25

We were on the road by 10:00 am Saturday. Once again, I followed Bidou and Camille while they drove CCTop and I drove the Aveo. We arrived in Chazel, QC at around 6:00 pm. My in-law’s were there to great us. We only spent a night parked in their very large driveway. Now that I think about it, we should have stayed longer… the electricity and water supplies were very cheap.

picture to be posted soon...

Sunday, July 26

We brought CCTop to our new location. We will be camping at “Camping Du Bon Vent” in Dupaquet, QC on Lot #93 until early Fall…

Monday, July 27

Our furniture and boxes arrived… Bidou and the bo-père met the moving truck in LaSarre, QC. It is there our belongings will be in stored for the next 2 years.

Bye Bye Québec City!!!

A lot has happen since last Thursday...

Our telephone, internet and cable services were cut off last Friday plus life has been very chaotic in preparation of the move so I haven't been able to update the blog as frequently as I've wanted. Also Bidou has been going crazy without internet. In this day and age and without realizing it internet takes a big part in our lifestyle and staying in touch with reality.

Thursday was my last day of school at the CFP of Limoilou. Je vais m'ennuyer de toutes mes petites filles adorables. Je n'avais pas réaliser que j'avais autant de belles jeunes et vieilles filles... Ce fût vraiment un grand plaisir d'avoir rencontré vous toutes!!! Je vous garde dans mon coeur, dans mes souvenirs et dans mes pensées... Mom vous aimes beaucoup!!!

Friday was Mom's b-day... Wow... 62 years old !!!! She ain't a young cookie anymore but is still going strong fighting her battle with pancreatic cancer!! You wouldn't want to encouter her in a boxing ring - she is definitely a fighter.

By Saturday CCTop was 95% filled. But there was still some fine tuning to do!! We were still finding stuff in the house and saying "got to bring this"... so in it went regardless of the space restriction.

Sunday CCTop was 100% ready to launch!

Monday we were awaken by our very non aggressive, nerdy looking neighbor pronouncing the "F" word non-stop after realizing a burglar had just broken into his garage and stole 3 expensive bicycles and some sporting equipment. And to say that we were sleeping with all the windows wide open with Camille our guard dog only 20 feet away from the garage door. And Bidou is now saying that he "thinks" that he heard some strange noise during the night.

Also Monday, the packers were at our h0use bright and early. Even though we packed our most essential, mission critical, must-have, cannot-live-without possessions in CCTop, the packers still managed to fill 92 boxes and 25 of those boxes are Bidou's books that he swears that he read and must keep for future reference. Ya right!

Tuesday was a beautiful and sunny day in Quebec City but the movers were hard at work loading all the boxes and our furniture in the moving truck. I am dearly enjoying my last all-inclusive door-to-door move at the Army's expense. We also celebrated our last dinner in Quebec City at the Vieux Duluth with a great bottle of "rosé" that was left in our fridge from last month's out-of-town visitor (Thanks Rick but next time please buy a better tasting wine...).

Wednesday, Bidou was up at 6:00 am patching the nail holes in the houses before the long expected "March out". The cleaning crew came and went - that was a fastest and most useless $100 spent - but still passed the inspector's high standards with flying colors! While I was yawning my way with the inspector, Bidou was turning CCTop around in our confined courtyard with help from Mark and Tim. In a matter of minutes, tons of stress was lifted off his shoulders by successfully not hurting CCTop a second time or without having the "Famous Canon Ball Tree" falling down... Our neighbors were outside waving good-bye while we hit Saint-Louis Street with tons of tourists and angry want-to-be big cars heading outside of Old Quebec City.

Our 2 year journey began at 16h00 on July 22, 2009... How exciting!!!

CCTop here he comes....

Meaning of "TOP" as in "CCTop"...

I had to ask Bidou that question since he was the one that came up with the name and I just approved. The answer is very simple - like I mentionned in a previous post, the "CC" means "Commander Camille" - and "TOP" as in "ZZTOP'... it rimes - we liked it - so that is the story!!! That was "easy"!!!

Bodies

Yesterday, Bidou and I started out our day by going to see the exposition "Bodies". One word describes it "WOW". I am usually not a museum/exposition kinda girl but this was very impressive. I highly recommend it to everyone.

We then had to exchange some stuff that we bought for the "CCTop". We now have a small little "carpette" for every space in the motorhome. Since CCTop will be our home for the next 2 years and I really wanted to protect the alredy existing carpet by placing small "carpettes" everywhere. Bidou thinks I am crazy... but I know that I am not.

I received a very nice compliment this morning from my friend Lise. She wrote to me saying that someone from her family (I don't want to name names but she is older than Lise and has 4 children and 3 grand-children) said that my "Blog" was funny and that I should write a book. Well... to this family member, if ever you find me a publisher that would pay me top $$$, it would be my pleasure to write a book.

If someone else than Lise is wondering what "TOP" means in "CCTop".... please come back tomorrow!

First BBQ in front of the motorhome!!!

As per this morning our motorhome is 65% ready to leave!! The bedroom and washroom are completly functional. However, we are still using the shower and toilet (only for number 2's) in the house.

This week, we will be getting the kitchen organized. Many decisions for the kitchen since we are so limited with cupboards. Do I bring the bread maker and/or the crockpot or not???

Bidou, the organizer of the cubbyholes, is doing a great job. Every tool, the ladder, the camping gear etc. have been separated and placed in it's proper place.

Also... Bidou took out picnic table, chairs and BBQ and we were able to enjoy a great dinner of hamburgers in front of our motorhome. It is starting to feel so much like home.

We slept in it last night for the first time !!!!

Since yesterday Bidou and I have been hard at work at getting the motorhome filled up and organized. We decided that it would be best to start by the bedroom. So we started by bringing in the clothes (and I am proud to say that almost all of my clothes fitted in the itsy bitsy closet - well with a bit of purging that is!!), then the cosmetics and toileteries. We will also be using our Kingsdown matress since it is so comfy...

Also, Bidou started to organize the camping stuff.... we will be bringing the Queen Size air-matress and a tent so to all of our family and friends : there will also be a place to sleep when you come and visit us in Arizona or better yet in California.

This week I am planning to get the kitchen organized. July 22nd is the day we leave... we can hardly wait.

...CCTOP...

There is a tradition that every boat that touches the water needs a name. So we have decided to name our motorhome CCTop - as for "Commander Camille Top" since Camille will be our guide, our captain, our leader, our officer and our spiritual leader of our 2 year journey!

So we thank you dear daughter Camille... we trust you and love you. Note that a picture of our "Captain" sitting in the driver seat is to come.

Things I will miss about living in Old Québec City

We arrived in Old Quebec City last July 17th... 3 days before the big Paul McCartney concert and in the heart of all the activities that surrounded the 400th annivesary of the city. We will have only lived here close to a year but we will miss this city dearly. We had many items on our "to visit" list... we did do some... but not all of them.

but here are the things that I will miss most about Quebec City.

• The feeling of always being on holidays the second we leave our home.
• Our courtyard... and our neighbors.
• The view of the Chateau Frontenac.
• Enjoying the dog-sled races from the front window of our home.
• Taking walks in the Plains of Abraham.
• Watching Camille run after the grounhound and the squirrels.
• Listening to every story about why the canon ball grew in the tree.
• "Bonhomme" and the winter Carnival.

Licence Plate FFC5166 is home safe and sound with just a small...

SCRATCH.... You heard me right... a scratch!

So with this said, our motorhome made it safely threw the Gates of Saint-Louis then was forced to make a very very sharp turn onto Place des Armes Street with a very very stressfull driver named Bidou and successfully did it without touching the famoust "Canon Ball growing in a tree"... Now for the scratch part... crossing the motorhome threw the gates that brings us to the courtyard... that was a bit snug and that is where the SCRATCH happened! Like they say, our motorhome has now officially been baptisted.

Now in the next week and a half, Bidou and I will need to decide what to bring to make our lives fun and enjoyable. Stay tuned.

The 2005 Triple E Commander is finally ours !!

Can you believe that we signed the contract to buy the motorhome on May 24th... and since this morning - July 7th, 2009 - the motorhome is officially ours.

Thanks to my dear husband, Bidou who spent many hours on the telephone and sending e-mail's to Rita, Doris, Monsieur Blais, Christian and Denise, the other Christian and my parents (Doris and George) to ensure that our dream motorhome would be ours one day. Thanks again Bidou - because of you... we have a new HOME.

Now for the next task... bringing the enormous - 38 feet motorhome in the courtyard of our home in Old Quebec City... and for the people that know exactly where we live - it will definetly be a very tight fit. Stay tune!