Camping with the Casita!

Well I finally got to go camping in my lil Casita last month!  Went to Custer State Park in South Dakota for a great week ... beautiful scenery, great company and a ton of fun! 

Then onto the Nebraska Junk Jaunt for even more fun ... and shopping ... and junk!  Not sure why I bought half of what I did but that's the fun of the JJ ... you never know what you'll find.

My best friend for life finally named my camper (yes again, this poor little thing has gone through so many name changes).  Her new and permanent name is Aqua Polka.  Yes, it's a weird name but it has meaning!  The inside is done in an aqua color AND polka dots plus I'm half Polish so it fits. 

Here she is all glamped up ... isn't she adorable? 

Sadly it's now time to get ready for winterizing.  :(  I'm not ready for cold weather but luckily for me (well not really lucky but making lemonade out of lemons here) hubby inadvertently crashed into the garage door necessitating a replacement.  So in a moment of brilliance, I decided we are going to make an 8-foot garage door so we can winter the camper inside.  Yay!

Until next time, stay warm and happy trails!

Stuff and Nonsense and Cushing's

I've been slacking off with the blogging, the camper and the crafting although I did finally name the Casita ... she's now "Storybook Cottage" which incorporates my love of reading, my love of all things cottage, the tiny little space and the fact that whenever I look at the flower wall pops I put in there, I think of Storybook Land at Disney.  So ... it fits.

On the crafting front, I finally finished the afghan for my daughter that took me nearly a year to do.  So I'm project-less which is wonderful.

I'm also being tested for Cushing's syndrome which kind of sucks.  For those of you who have never heard of this, it's an ugly little disease that takes over your life and screws up everything.  It causes excess cortisol (the stress hormone) and can cause all kinds of nasty side effects like a round face, fat neck, fat trunk, fatigue, mood swings, osteoporosis, facial rashes, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, elevated glucose, etc.

I have every single symptom of this disease but my lab tests are crazy.  Some are off the charts high, some are normal.  After going to 2 endocrinologists, I finally have found one that believes me (a rarity since so many doctors write off symptoms as this, that or the other).  She thinks I may have cyclic Cushing's which is even harder to diagnose because I could have elevated levels one day and normal ones the next.  So I'm in for a roller coaster ride of testing until they can determine exactly what is causing this.  If/when I'm diagnosed, I'll likely have to have a tumor removed from my adrenal gland or my pituitary gland ... what fun.  But the good thing is, at least I'll know why I've felt like crap for so many years.

The main thing I just want to scream to everyone is "THIS ISN'T ME!"  I'm not the person this potential disease has turned me into ... I don't want attention, I don't want to be sick, I just want my life back.

For those of you who have suffered with this disease OR know anyone who has, feel free to drop me a line.  I'd love to share experiences.

Until then, onward and upward!

Fun Stuff with the Casita

Boy I'm having a ball decorating the Casita.  This is fun to me and I'm so thankful I don't have to worry about rebuilding and all that "guy" stuff.

I've been busy this past couple weeks ... sewed curtains with some great aqua-green material I got at Walmart of all places.  Seems they have a featured quilt pattern called "pink lemonade" and some of the fabrics were pink, aqua and yellow with little white polka dots.  I put my melmac next to all 3 and it was a near perfect match.  Thirty minutes later (and after asking 3-4 people their opinion) I decided to go with the aqua.  When I got it home, hubby said "Of course you did, it's green!  The color also coordinates with a quilt I'm going to use so that was a nice bonus!

So I made lined curtains, vacuumed the whole thing, cleaned the interior (not that it needed much of anything), made a bunting out of coordinating fabric since that's all the rage in the glampers group and then when at Menard's I found Wall Pops!  They had a package of the mini pops for $9.99 and they were in my colors!  These were called "cutsie blooms" and I just had to grab them.  These are removable wall stickers so they won't hurt anything in the camper and they add just a nice little touch.  I actually had to run back and get another package.  The only thing I'd change is I'd put a few more smaller flowers in the package and a few more stems ... but oh well.

What do you think?

Curtain Ideas

I really don't like the curtains that are in the Casita currently ... they're actually just neutral draperies that the previous owner cut down and they do match/coordinate with the cushions so I'll save them in case I ever decide to sell her (doubt it) but since she's going to be done in a cottage theme, I've decided to attempt something.

I'm going to use vintage pillowcases that I have tons of and see if that works.  I've got sets of them with detailed embellishments ... embroidery, crocheted/tatted edges and I've picked out the ones that have the most pink in them to kind of have them coordinate.  I'll use 2 on each of the 3 windows in the back by folding the bottom edge over and making a pocket.  The previous owner had a brilliant idea of screwing a little curtain rod into the frame of the mini-blinds so will use those.

I've sorted pillowcases, measured and ironed them and now all I have to do is sew a straight seam on one as a tester and put it up.  Hopefully this works and doesn't look goofy.  I've seen it done in another camper and it looked really cute so we'll see.

I'll post pictures as soon as I get the curtains up this weekend.  I'm also considering using a white eyelet comforter on the bed so will be scouting around looking for one although if I find a pastel polka dot or a nice non-gaudy plaid, I might be really tempted.  Hurry spring!

Pictures of the Casita

I finally got out and took pictures of my new little Casita ... this is pre-decoration of course.  She's going to be done in an English cottage theme (probably mentioned this before) and I can't wait for spring.  I have a ton of vintage pillowcases that have embroidery or fancy trim on them that I'm going to use for curtains.  Hopefully it will look cute ... they're all white with colored embellishments so hopefully that will tie it all in.  Will have to go out and test one out today I think before I start sewing seams for the rod pockets.

Anyway, here she is in all her glory ...

I Have a Camper!

Well as luck would have it, I now have a camper!  Completely gave up on the Forester ever being renovated as hubby hasn't done anything to it (well I take that back, he did a couple of little things but nothing major) and so decided to try to sell it.  I had just listed it on eBay when he decided he might want a second chance so asked me to cancel the auction.  Well since I had just listed it, I couldn't do that for 24 hours so stuck a reserve on it.  Nearly 4,000 views and 67 watchers, we got nothing.

So we took it to Sioux Falls, SD to a camper place to get an estimate on renovating it.  Also contacted a guy in Lincoln.  Both came in at roughly $6500.  Not worth it to me because I had bad karma with this thing anyway.

So we went to look at an Apache pop up a few weeks ago and it was super huge so passed.  Plus I honestly don't think I could manage the setup and take down every time I wanted to go out so nah.  Stopped by an RV place on the way home and looked at a 2010 Sportsman's Classic.  Very cute, very basic, no amenities, pretty much bare bones (no propane, no stove, no bathroom) for nearly $8000.  Thanks but no thanks.

As a last ditch, I decided to put an ad on craigslist looking for a late model camper 14' or less.  As luck would have it, within 24 hours I had a reply from a nice lady in Iowa who had a Casita.  I had to ask her what a Casita is because it wasn't anything I had heard of.  She sent pictures, we talked over the phone, we emailed and I'm proud to say I'm now the owner of a 2002 Casita Patriot Deluxe (the one with the bathroom/shower).  This is fully self contained, runs on propane, electric and 12V and is teeny tiny but adorable!

Now if it would just warm up so I can get to decorating ... hurry spring!


PS:  To further make my day better, we sold the Forester to a person in Sioux Falls saving us a trip back up there to get it.  Yay!

SOPA BLACKOUT

My Year of Simplicity 2012

I haven't decided if I'm going to make a new blog or just use this one but my lifelong BFF and I have decided that 2012 will be our year of simplicity.  I'm going to work to get all my debts paid off (or as close as I can come) while decluttering my life, organizing, simplifying and generally just reducing my overall impact on the environment that comes from "stuff."

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to all of a sudden go green ... the environmental comment was more from my friend Barbie who lives in California and is into the green movement but she does have a point ... I need to consider the impact of what I do.

For example, a trip to Hobby Lobby (now as everyone knows, I'm a Hobby Lobby addict so this is just a quick example but you could substitute Walmart or any other place you go regularly) would be broken down into the following:

• Paper/time to print out the 40% off coupon or figure out what's on sale that week (we do get a coupon in our Saturday newspaper but I never think to cut out the coupon and it's easier to print one out).
• Time to actually go there (15 miles 1 way).
• Gas to get there (15 miles 1 way).
• Time spent looking at all the stuff, finding what I want and then waiting to check out (our HL is quite slow and it usually takes more time to check out than it does to shop.)
• Emotional impact of having a bunch of craft stuff or decorative stuff that I really don't need.
• Money spent even with coupons on stuff to make more stuff.
• Time spent on pinterest to find more ideas and make the return trip to HL.

With a little creativity (and less pinterest), I probably could save a lot of time, money and frustration by just cutting out a trip or 2 to Hobby Lobby every week.  This of course would mean I'd have to actually PLAN my Christmas gifts next year which I've decided will be purchased at the Hy-Vee gift card kiosk and my entire Christmas shopping will take 5 minutes.

Looking forward to seeing how the year of simplifying goes ... who's with me?

Scrabble Art

So I caved into the lure of Scrabble tile art on pinterest and am making little framed sayings for stocking stuffer gifts.  I've done a love you, getting ready to do a best friend and might have to figure out something beer-related for my son who is getting big into home brewing.  There's a world of possibilities, I tell you!

I spent over an hour at Hobby Lobby with my little tiles trying to find the right frames, opening them up and making sure I could close them again with the tiles.  I found a 5 x 5 for the LOVE YOU, a 5 x 7 for the BEST FRIEND and lo and behold yesterday I found an 8 x 8 scrapbook frame that might work for the beer (or another one I'm trying to figure out).  A thrift store Scrabble game + 50% off scrapbook paper (not that I don't have enough around here anyway) + 50% frames = kind of a cool little extra gift.

Gotta love pinterest! 

PS:  Bella the Beagle was quite impressed!  :)

PSS:  On a roll here!  *lol*

Wreath Mania

Oooh I'm so addicted to pinterest.com it isn't funny!  I think I've spent the last week, every day, in Hobby Lobby! 

First I decided to make the Eddie Ross (eddieross.com) ornament wreath.  A couple years ago I attempted to make one using vintage glass ornaments (scored from the thrift stores) and used a fake pine wreath, ornaments and hot glue.  It was a disaster!  Half the ornaments broke, the branches wouldn't cooperate and it was horrible.  Sadly I sold all the remaining ornaments at a yard sale (got ripped off by a buyer too but that's another story) and gave up.  Then I found this one!  It looked way too easy but I decided to try anyway.  I don't normally like plastic but went with plastic because I'm going to hang this on the outside of my door and with the cold/ice/snow/wind we get here in Nebraska, I had visions of shattered glass ornaments everywhere.  I hit up Hobby Lobby and bought one of the big packages of shatterproof ornaments and then hit up Dollar Tree for more when I ran out.  The ones at DT are smaller and I bought too many (DT doesn't take returns so be aware of that!) but will give them to a friend for her to make one of these.

Instead of using a coat hanger, I went with a Dollar Tree 18" wreath.  I took all the greenery off it and was left with a simple round wire circle.  However, we did have a problem when we tried to connect it because it wouldn't solder and we ended up using duck tape (again, glad I used plastic ornaments).  The bow is some DT ribbon (2 spools) and I made it using my Bowdabra.  I was hoping that Salvation Army would still have the EZ Bowmaker they had for ages but it was gone.  Oh well.  I think it turned out pretty cool.

The fall wreath was another pinterest idea.  I didn't replicate it exactly but it's good enough for me.  The "F" is for my last name and I'm now officially on a 2-week (or more) Hobby Lobby diet. 

My front door loves me! 

Halloween Wreath of Craptastic Fantasticness ...

Lately I've been addicted to pinterest.com which is a total time sucking fantastic site that has billions of ideas for anything you could ever want.  Since I rarely decorate for any holidays other than Christmas, I decided I better do something for Halloween besides just sticking a pumpkin out front.  (Last year I didn't even do that, I found some gourds growing in a ditch ... yes I'm in a rural area ... and stuck them in a huge basket on the front porch but some guy mowed the ditch this year so I was stuck.)

Anyway, I debated on making a tulle wreath or a feather boa wreath and since the tulle was cheaper than the boas and I only had 1 40% off coupon for Hobby Lobby, I decided to make a tulle wreath. 

I bought a 14 inch styrofoam wreath (not in the floral section but back with the styrofoam stuff ... way cheaper than the green floral wreaths!!) ... bought 3 spools of black tulle, bought a package of small orange ornaments and a cute little "trick or treat" sign.  All bought at Hobby Lobby and everything was on sale but the styrofoam wreath so I used the coupon on that.  Woo hoo!

I cut the tulle into equal lengths (didn't measure with a measuring tape but I assume about 14 inches) and tied them onto the wreath form.  I used about 2-1/2 spools of tulle.  Then I attached the little hanging sign at the bottom, hot glued and tied 3 orange Christmas balls on the side and painted polka dots on them and then I attached a length of orangey fall ribbon to add some color.  I think I'm going back to Hobby Lobby tomorrow to get the polka dot ribbon they had since I think that will look better but for now, oh well.

This is going on my front door.  I still need a pumpkin though!  :)

Another Altered Train Case

I love making these for some reason ... it's just relaxing!  Found this poor little case at Salvation Army for $1.99.  It was a mess, the whole interior was ripped out so I decided to see what I could do to rescue it.

I used Mod Podge and scrapbook paper to cover the interior and exterior and then I painted the bottom and handle pink with acrylic paint.  I used sticky glue dots to attach the scrabble tile letters, K & Company flowers and then I attached squares cut out of The Paper Studio "Yarn & Thread Emporium" card stock pack that I got at Hobby Lobby. 

I then coated the whole thing with water based varathane to seal it and harden it ... I find this works better than Mod Podge over the top although I do use Mod Podge first, let that dry and then use the varathane. 

I'm probably going to use this to store my crafty stuff.  Still need to seal the "squares" since I just put those on today but wanted to shoot some quick pictures and put them up here while it's drying.  :)

For Barbie's Golden Jubilee (50th Birthday)

So my best friend in the entire world is turning 50 next month!  She's calling it her Golden Jubilee so I wanted to add some gold to her celebration and decided to make her a Hershey kiss rose bouquet, in gold of course. 

I searched all over and couldn't find gold cellophane and the only Hershey's kisses that were gold were almond so I settled on yellow cellophane and plain kisses.  I wrapped 50 of these using cellophane, bamboo skewers, floral tape and silk leaves.

I painted a bucket I got from Hobby Lobby metallic gold, put a circle of floral styrofoam inside and stuck the kisses in that.  Then I bought some metallic gold crinkle stuff to cover the skewers and used rectangles of gold glittered tulle as accents.  I wrapped a big tulle bow around it and needing something a little extra, I found a bow gold glittered Christmas ornament at Hobby Lobby which I stuck to the bow with a sticky glue dot.  I think it turned out fairly cool.

I prefer the mixed candy bouquets myself (like the one in a previous post that I made for my daughter's speech competition) but since I wanted this to be obviously gold, went with just the kisses.  She loves chocolate and yellow roses so it's a double yay.

I also picked up several glittered gold ornaments at Hobby Lobby (I should probably just get a job there, I'm at HL all the time) including a golden crown and golden carriage (like in Cinderella). 

I'm also knitting her a set of Halloween dishcloths that she requested and am adding a few extra goodies to her package like candles, etc.  Hopefully she likes it!

Goodbye to Vintage Camping & Some Advice

Well I've sold the Shasta and have given up on the Forester so am saying good bye to vintage camping. 

Some advice for anyone considering getting into this ... please please please, take the time to think about what you're getting into before you hand over your hard earned cash.  Check every inch of the camper and if there is any evidence of mice or major water damage (not just along the windows but on the floor of the potty closet, under the carpet, etc) WALK AWAY! 

Do NOT even consider buying something that needs work (even if your spouse says it will be fun) unless you (or your s/o or spouse) know this is something you can and will accomplish.  Set a timeline for getting the projects done and don't allow procrastination.  Find out how much it will cost to rebuild your camper and make sure you have a backup plan if your spouse drops the ball and 6 months after gutting your camper, you're still stuck with nothing but loose wires that go nowhere and a Menard's bill.

Don't be swayed by cute ... cute is irrelevant in the long run.  I was swayed by cute and a husband who said he could/would be able to fix up my camper and even though I knew I should have walked away ... even though I knew the camper was a piece of crap and I was handing over way too much money because it was a cute, tiny canned ham (what I was looking for), I ended up bringing it home and now it's just a costly piece of junk cluttering up whichever space it's parked in at the moment. 

I am out about $5000 because I thought Sisters on the Fly would be fun and vintage camping was just so darling ... I ended up taking a big loss when I sold camper #1, camper #2 collapsed on the drive home and is nothing but a chassis and camper #3, while still cute, is a gutted piece of aluminum. 

Be sure also that your state will allow you to title a camper if the seller doesn't have one.  Nebraska won't allow you to title a camper on just a bill of sale.  Fortunately for us camper #2 collapsed before we had put a bunch of work and money into it, we couldn't have gotten it titled/registered anyway.

I guess in hindsight, I'd suggest doing a lot of research and soul searching before you decide this is for you.  I should have realized it wasn't for me.  I'm not a rough & tumble cowgirl, I dislike horses, dirt, bugs and charity work (unless it's for one of the charities that is near and dear to my heart), I don't fly fish, I don't cook over a campfire (unless it's hot dogs and s'mores) and I like having a flush toilet, running water and a shower. 

I'm not saying don't do it ... it might be just your thing ... just please do your research beforehand.  There are a ton of great resources out there and you CAN walk away even if you've driven 4+ hours 1 way to see a camper that had been "stored inside, was pristine and in awesome condition and had never had mice or water damage."  Riiiiiiiiight.  There's a sucker born every minute and it was my time.

Thanks for following and reading my blog.  Sorry I don't have more to offer!

Grrr ... Blogger won't let me comment!

Not sure what's going on but I can't seem to comment on any blog posts ... I'm reading all of you, just can't say anything back.

I comment, choose google account, sign in, put in the weird little word and then it takes me back to log-in and we do this dance again and again and again.

Anyone else having this problem? 

Progress on the Forester

Today we replaced the window screws.  Didn't replace the butyl tape since the windows were tight against the skin and my philosophy is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Used some clear sealant, putting a drop in each screw hole before screwing in a new screw. 

Then we continued working on replacing the rotted framing, putting in new pine "studs" where there were rotted pieces and weak areas.  Lots of measure, measure and cut since hubby is of the mindset "measure twice, cut once."

It's slow going but he said once this nitpicky stuff is done, the rest should be easier.  It's just time consuming replacing little pieces of wood, especially where the roof curves are.

I need to order some window seal stuff from vintage trailer supply and go over to where we stored Compact parts and see if I have a window that will fit where the a/c currently is.  We're also looking at replacing a board on the underside near the skin and possibly just redoing the entire door.

Too soon to think about camper colors and color schemes for the outside but hopefully soon we can get to the "fun" stuff. 

Visits

Well we survived graduation and out of state visitors and I just might have hooked my sister on the vintage camper craze!  Company arrived last Friday and of course, after the house tour, they had to take a tour of the 2 campers.  They were more impressed with the LoFlyte naturally since it's intact and decorated and couldn't believe how tiny the Forester is ... they of course saw it in its gutted glory so it will look even tinier once it's rebuilt!  Such slow going on that since hubby has too many irons in the fire but one day!

My sister was thrilled with how cute vintage campers are and so I gave her my Sisters on the Fly book for her trip home and now she's trying to get her friends involved and I predict within a year she'll have found a vintage camper of her own.  I did find a 1970 Frolic for sale in Norfolk but knew she wouldn't be able to take it on the plane ... it was just funny to find something right after she expressed an interest.

As many of you know, I belong to the Vintage Shasta Trailer Forum and one of the other members is in Nebraska on a road trip to pick up a Shasta Compact.  She's planning on driving up here so we can meet & greet ... what fun! 

It was so nice to be able to meet Mindy and see her darling little compact.  Even our dogs got along great ... camper folks are the neatest!
For those of you who are thinking about getting into vintage camping, watch out, you better get moving.  Oprah featured Sisters on the Fly in her new magazine so everyone will be snapping up these little gems .... be quick but be careful!

Advice for the Graduate Decoupage File Box

When my son graduated years ago, I ordered an "advice for the graduate" jar where guests at his reception would post messages on scraps of paper and put them in the jar.  Since my daughter is graduating, I wanted something similar but couldn't find anything I really liked.  I saw several altered Rolodexes and card files on Etsy but they all were for weddings and showers.  I actually asked a seller if she would be willing to sell just the cards with "graduate" instead of "bride and groom" but never heard back from her so decided to create my own.

I decided to go with a file box but finding the right one was a challenge.  Hobby Lobby didn't have anything that would fit 4 x 6 or 3 x 5 cards so I went over to Office Max.  They had the perfect little tins!  They hold 3 x 5 file cards and come in black or white and actually have a closure on them.  I bought 2 of them and some blank 3 x 5 cards and set out to create a cute little box.

I used scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby and using Mod Podge, decoupaged it to the box.  Then using Microsoft Word, I was able to recreate the advice cards only in 3 x 5 format.  Figuring out how to print them was also a challenge ... it took me a while to feed them into the manual feed of my HP Laserjet 3050 all-in-one but finally I located the manual feed and by printing 10 at a time (the max it will do), I got a bunch of cards printed up.

All in all, I'm pleased with the results.  I debated putting a bow and charms (grad hat and 2011) on top but decided to go with more of a minimalist approach.  I'm planning on doing another one for my Sisters on the Fly table for the sisters that go to the events I go to to leave their contact information.  Haven't found the perfect paper for that yet but I'm looking.

Pictures of the Gutted Forester

Here's what we're looking at as far as a blank canvas.  Not quite sure what we're going to do with the floor heater.  First off, we've disconnected the propane and I'm not overly comfortable using gas inside a small space anyway.  The floor is original tile but in the front, it's pretty cracked so we'll probably replace that with laminate or maybe vinyl, just not sticky back tile .. I hate that stuff.  As far as the rest, who knows.  First step will be replacing the rotted framing wood, checking for leaks and then using rigid insulation to insulate.  After that, the sky's the limit!  Now if only it would stop raining!

Gutting the Forester

Well the lil Forester canned ham is gutted ... we had a break in the weather today so decided to do some work and completely cleaned her out.  All the paneling is removed, all the "innards" are removed and I removed all the fiberglass insulation before quitting for the day.  She's down to windows, floor, framing studs and skin.  It's odd how roomy she looks without all the stuff inside. 

We did find some rotted framework which will have to be replaced but for the most part, the wood is intact.  There are some random nail/screw holes that will be sealed and unfortunately there are some places where we can see daylight on the edges through the floor.  Hubby says he has a plan to fix that so I'll just have to leave that up to him.

When I ripped out the insulation, 90% of it was dry and clean so that was a good sign, a lot less water rot than I was dreading.  I just can't wait to get the rotted wood cleaned out and replaced so we can start designing the interior and get on with the fun stuff.  Can you tell I'm impatient?

Word to the wise though ... if you're not patient, capable or interested in fixing, save your $$ to find a pristine already restored camper.  Some days I wish I had adhered to that advice myself!  It would have caused a lot less stress.  But this is fun, right?