That Happy Squirrel - Part Two

Here's part two of the camper! Sorry, I had the best of intentions of posting it sooner. Been so busy around the yard. Flower beds almost done, but the veggie garden is still too wet.

Here is the Squirrel in the winter. I put lights on it, and a wreath. Glenco thinks it should be tarped and stored for the winter, which would be very smart....BUT, I couldn't use it then! We had a couple of dinners in this over the winter, and we also have school in it, just to break up the monotony of the house.

Here is what you see as you are leaving the camper. Please note the squirrel stuffed animal and the acorn embellished pillow. It's an addiction. Everything I see Squirrel related usually comes home with me. The walls are still a bit plain. I want to tastefully decorate them with kitschy squirrel stuff.

Here's a pic of the 'kitchen area' (Thank you Paula for the cool old coffee pot!) Notice the acorn cookie jar..see what I mean? I got the little toaster oven at a yard sale for $5. We camp with electricity, and lots of it. Microwave, fridge and toaster oven. Between that and my propane stove, I can churn out some pretty decent meals!

Here is what you see when you first walk in. See that picture of the Squirrel? That is the Happy Squirrel. I saw that pic on a coffee making website. Coffeegeek.com I think. Now, for those of you that don't know me too well, I love me some coffee. When I saw this squirrel with a big smile on it's face, clutching a cup of coffee, I was in love. Somehow or another he became the official mascot of the camper.

Here is the little dining area that folds down to sleep two. You have to be in the fetal position to sleep. The mirror section that you see, that is a closet that I've converted with a microwave and then all the food stays in there.

So there you have it. Our little camper. I've a love affair with it. I have it set in the yard as decoration. We still have school in it. We sit in it on rainy days and play Scrabble and Dominoes. I want to plant a garden all around so it looks like it belongs. I had the idea of getting a bunch of these little trailers and making a 'bed and breakfast'. What a hoot!

The Happy Squirrel

Here she is. My home away from home. My stress free, 'should' free zone. You know...should do the laundry, should answer the emails, should mop the floor. I am free in here. I am done. I do what I want, when I want. I introduce to you....The Happy Squirrel. In the next post, I'll tell you why we call it The Happy Squirrel.

It's a great story, this one is. It's a 1971 Sprite Caravan camper. Can you believe this is supposed to sleep SIX? SIX! We sleep three in it ok.

It belonged to farmers Tom and Holly. They owned it for over 20 years, toured the entire country in it with their family. They are a GREAT couple, those two. About 20 years ago, our friends Steve and Jo borrowed it, and we all went camping in Southern Indiana to the Covered Bridge Festival. Steve and Jo stayed in it, and we (me and Glenco) tent camped. We called it Minnie Mouse's trailer. It's SO tiny. Glenco and I visited a old car museum a few years ago, and they had a vintage camper from the 1940's set up and I instantly fell in love. I just HAD to have one!

Lo and behold, Tom came into the BMV where I work, and I asked him, 'Do you still have that little old camper?'. 'Yep' he answered. 'Wanna sell it?' I asked. 'Sure! It's been sitting in the barn the last 20 years'. It was mine. Mine! All mine! We bought it and set about to fix it up. We have the inside done now, but we are still working on the outside. I want to paint it. I am making an awning for it. Now, we just don't go 'camping'. We go 'glamping' as Mary Jane Butters would say. Glamour + Camping. We eat off of real dishes, I have candles and flowers in the camper, and we eat better when we are camping, than we do at home! It's all part of the fun. We are rolling out again over Labor Day weekend. Just a little quick trip to Tippecanoe State Park.

Tomorrow I'll post the 'after' pics, and explain why we call it the Happy Squirrel.

:-)

Now dad gum it, I had this photo turned, and look at it now! This is the dining area. It folds down to sleep two.

Here you can see the top of the counter (to the left), with the old propane stove, and the 'couch' that flips up to bunk beds. You'd have to sleep like a pencil in order to stay in it!

Holy moley, another pic turned on it's side! This is the fridge and some of the cabinets. Not an easy place to take pics with a little point and shoot digital. It's SO small in there.

Here is the color palette I chose for the camper. Very fallish. I love warm colors. My home is all in warm fall tones as well, seemed natural to go this way. Friends wanted me to do it all 'retro', aqua and pink and all, but it's just not me. I did my own spin on 'retro' which you'll see tomorrow.

I LOVE to camp. For what it cost us to buy this camper, and redo it (about $1000 all together), we now have a traveling hotel room. I don't mind having to pee and shower elsewhere. I find camping a blast. Except when I freeze. Or get eaten alive by mosquitos. Or get soaked by rain. Or don't sleep. Or have to pee in the middle of the night. Sounds like a typical camping trip!

Thrifty Thursday! Garage Sale Booty!

Thought it might be fun to share my garage sale finds with you today! My husband and I got out of debt just this past year. House is paid off, all credit cards (the worst thing in the world in my opinion), all paid off. The crazy thing is...I don't really feel any different! I remember paying the house off at the bank and truly expecting SOMETHING. A feeling. The bank president to come out and shake our hand! Balloons! Something! But there was nothing. Just a little piece of paper handed over showing what we'd just paid. I still like being as frugal as can be.

So this is what today brought:

• Cool old fashioned looking swing. $20 (He was originally asking $40!)
• Super cute vintage plates. Notice the flower on one, and the apple on another. Got a set of 8 for $3.00. They are going to be perfect in our little vintage camper. I'll be introducing you to that soon! These plates look as if they'd never been used.
• A chicken towel that made my stomach hurt, I loved it so much. It was $1.25. Sometimes you just HAVE to splurge!
• A perfectly new smallish sized Scrabble Game in a cool wooden box. 50 cents! Great for camping when we get rained out.
• Two awesome stainless steel pots for camping. $1 each.
• Two mint condition 8" cake pans for $1.50. JUST yesterday I realized I needed these! I only have 9" cake pans. A pox upon me!
• Not shown - Cause I can't keep them off my nephew's feet...a pair NEVER WORN Converse All-star, bright red gym shoes. 25 cents! TWENTY FIVE CENTS!

Here's a better look at the swing.

And here's a better look at the fantabulous chicken towel. I'm going to try to fashion an apron out of it. Because it REALLY doesn't get any better than chickens and aprons. Really.

Just a Few More....

Wanted to share a couple of pics from the garden today. If the earth laughs in flowers, then my garden is about to have a good belly laugh! I'm beginning to really enjoy the garden, and notice the flowers more than the weeds. That is a good thing my friend.

There is so much hope in the world, if we'd only open our eyes to see it.

Can't tell you how much fun this blog has been for me. Thanks SO much for your comments. I'm so new to this, and I appreciate your patience with me! I'm trying to get the blog to have the 'look' I want...so you'll notice alot of changing for now.

Thanks again!

Why Lookie What I Did Today!

Woke up to rain this morning, and I can't say I was TOO disappointed as things in the house have been falling behind. It's still raining, and beginning to weather up a bit with lightning and thunder. Good sleeping weather! This is pretty indicative of what I look like on my days off. Hair smashed under a hat, and wearing whatever I pull out of the drawer first. I always tell myself I'm going to get up and make myself presentable.......but, I don't.

What am I doing here? Well, homeschooling! Sorry about the pic quality. Aaron blindfolded me and plugged my nose. I got to eat fun things. Raw potatoes and apples with pepper on them. Didn't taste a thing. We laughed til we cried.

Made a ham, broccoli and cheese quiche with the leftover Mother's Day ham. Oh yum. Made Aaron hold it outside cause the lighting in the kitchen was so horrible. I'm surprised he was able to see where he was going, with his eyes all rolled up in his head. He says I'm obsessed with blogging now. Me? Obsessed with ANYTHING? Preposterous! I also made deep fried pickles. They didn't last long enough for me to photograph. Seriously. Made a strawberry shortcake too, but dang it if the light was just gone, and I decided not to photograph it.

And...as planned...we went to the Garden Center first today! The rain put a damper on the trip, but it was fun nonetheless. Look at my booty! My garden booty silly! Basil, chives (I'm not sure what happened to mine, I had some, and now all I have left is Garlic Chives. There's some dill in there, some flat leaf parsley, and would ya look at that lovely rhubarb on the left hand side? Makes me weak in the knees. I've tried rhubarb a few times, starts from friends, but it always died. I'm a bit scared about this one, but I'll never give up on it. I tend to get scared a lot with gardening. It makes no sense. I finally planted corn this year. Been afraid to grow it. Afraid to grow corn? Isn't that weird? I'm afraid I'll do it wrong, the coons will get it, the deer will get it, the corn smut will be all over it, ugh, and those stinking worms that get all over the tips. I took Bill's advice at Maple Grove Greenhouse and planted them in little circle hills. We'll see what happens. I planted popcorn too!

Bought some more cement reinforcing wire for the tomatoes. This makes my favorite cage. Nice and roomy, and you can pull a nice big Brandywine right through the fencing. It's four feet tall, and doesn't topple over like the little cages. I'm not the neatest gardener. I wish I would tend things better, but my tomatoes tend to sprawl all over. Just not enough time in the day to prune them and tie them up.

Here's a lame shot of a couple of the cages made and in the garden.

Well friends. I'm toast. Been up and at them since 6, and it's 11pm now. It's storming. I'm sleepy.

Night night.

It All Started With A Bird Turd

It started with a bird turd, and ended with a 10 hour long workday. About 15 years ago, I'd planted English Ivy on the house. What could be sweeter? More charming? The Devil himself could! That's who! This ivy has been a pin in my ass for years, but I put up with cause I loved the look of it. It was SO charming as it finally circled the windows, framed the door.....pushed it's way inside the attic, warped the windows....

Every spring, I'd get out our biggest ladder and climb it to tame the ivy, pulling it out of the windows, away from the sashes, where the wood meets the brick. Wheelbarrows full of ivy would go to the burn pile. Every year, trim trim, wheel wheel. I didn't mind it too much. This year, I noticed bird turds all over my back porch. I began to worry that company would be 'shat on upon arrival'. Something had to give. Birds had made a nest in the top, and would sit and poop all day long.

Up the ladder went Glenco, and down came the ivy. We decided that we'd better get rid of it all while we were still able. I couldn't imagine trimming that ivy in my 70's, but I could imagine being a prisoner of the house, covered in ivy, being cut out by a rescue team, too late, only to be found dead in my housecoat, clutching a dead cat and a shriveled up English Muffin.

This picture really doesn't do it justice. That main stem was as big around as my ankle. MY ankle! That's big.

These pictures also do not do justice to the amount of work it was. I have a feeling I'll be pulling ivy til I'm pushing daises. The back of the entire house is now covered in root hair fuzz. I really have no idea how it's going to come off. I don't think a power washer will do it. It's going to need sanding, priming and painting. NOT what I had planned on doing this year.

I should also note here that the ivy looked especially crappy this spring. Usually by this time of the year, the new growth is all flushed out. It really was practically evergreen. I still like the look of ivy on the house, and I MIGHT try to find an ivy that isn't from hell. Does anyone know if Boston Ivy would be so aggressive? I have it on the garage, and so far, it doesn't seem to be too evil, but it's only a few years old.

Having an old house is wonderful. It's charming. It's small. There are no closets. There are lots of windows. There are lots of projects. NEVER ENDING. Call me crazy, but I like it.

I Almost Can't Take It...

This could be one of my all time favorite photos, of all time, favorite photos. Ever. This is Aaron. (Doesn't he look like Lennie Kravitz?) He's planting a garden. I feel like I've died and gone to Heaven. Let me just inject here that I do believe in Heaven, and I do believe I will go there. I do believe there will be a lot of dirt there. No weeds. Beautiful dirt, beautiful plants, and nice sharp gardening tools. You'll never get a callus...ok, wait...I'm getting off track here.

Aaron. His garden.

I'm not sure what prompted him, but he told me he wanted a garden of his own. 'You got it' was my response. We went out yesterday to the garden center, and I let him pick out some flowers and herbs he liked. He got one Jalapeno pepper, and that was all he was interested in for veggies. For all ya'll that know me, I'm a bit of a control freak (understatement). You'd have been proud, I let HIM pick them out, let HIM plant them where HE wanted. I'm enjoying this so much! He's SO proud of the garden! It's so much fun having a gardening buddy now. He can't wait to get to the garden center again. In fact...we might just have to go first thing in the morning instead of school.........:-)

I Should Be Flogged.....Really. No, Seriously.

I bought a cake. I BOUGHT A CAKE. Not just an 'oh, I'm gonna get this cake', but I BOUGHT A BIRTHDAY CAKE. FOR MY HUSBAND! I'm not sure if it was some passive aggressive manuever (like, well, I'll show him!), but I was awfully busy that day. The weather is finally turning and every waking moment I'm either in the garden, thinking about the garden, or at the garden center. (I will use this excuse until the first frost.) I'd PLANNED on making a birthday cake. His favorite, Boston Cream Pie, which is a cake, that they call a pie. *shrugs*. The cake pictured above is NOT the cake I bought. I made that cake the week prior for my cooking club. This was a fabulous cake. Double layer mocha chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate marscapone frosting. Yum. Almost pornographic for a food addict like me. In fact, as I was taking a picture of this marvelous cake, I was thinking to myself 'Oh ya, just like that' 'Work with me, work it'.

I actually took a picture of the cake I bought, but I deleted it, I was so ashamed. That and the fact that it cost $15.99 for this cake. $15.99. Store bought cake. The fantastic cake above cost me only $6.00 to make, which even to the cheapsake that I am, seemed like a lot, but considered I used good quality chocolate, it wasn't too bad.

I'm vowing never to BUY a cake again.

Next Post: It All Started With a Bird Turd.

Long Time No Post!

I absolutely cannot believe it is already May 3rd. My gas tank philosophy of life seems to really be true. Like a tank of gas, the first half of your life seems to go on forever. Remember how long summer seemed when we were kids? How we couldn't WAIT til we were old enough to drive? Just like a tank of gas...seems that you are getting great mileage on that first half tank, then...you get to half a tank, and BAM, you are outta gas. That is how the last half of life seems to go. You blink and there goes another year.

Things have been pretty busy around here. I've taken a ton of photographs. I'm getting better with my little point and shoot! The close up food shots are the most frustrating of all. I'm realizing that I just flat out can't use a flash for them. I've been moving things out on the front porch for better light!

We got six hens. Please tune in soon for the saga of my baby chicken with a injured leg. I splinted it with toothpicks! I kid you not! Been working in the garden, doing a lot of cooking, and soul searching. I'm hoping to get back tonight to blog some, but I might not. This is a lot more time consuming than I'd thought!

The kitty in the pic above is Hobbes. It's with a heavy heart that I tell you that we lost dear Hobbes this week. She didn't show up for breakfast last Monday morning. When she wasn't around by 2pm, we went a lookin' for her. We found her up the road. A victim of the auto mobile. I'm just glad that she looked like she was just sleeping there. Aaron was inconsolable. It was the day I joined the Beekeeping Club. Oh ya, it just keeps getting better and better around here. Me and bees. Can you just imagine!?

'Dill'icious Dip!

I love veggies. I think they are sexy. *purrrr* I love eating them raw with dip, but truth be told, if you eat them with 'regular' dip, you might as well eat a cheeseburger! I make this dip all the time. The Players: 16 oz. 1% Cottage Cheese - small curd, 2 t dried dill (or 2 T fresh), 2 T chopped green onion. Buttloads of veggies, washed and cut up.

Put it all in the blender, and put it on puree. I normally blend the cottage cheese first, but you don't have to. Another variation of this is just adding a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix to the cottage cheese, but that has SO much sodium and other hard to pronounce ingredients, that I like to go a little more natural.

Now, for goodness sakes, put it in a pretty bowl and garnish it. Yes, even if company isn't coming. Chill it for a few hours for the best taste.

I'll be sharing stories about my body transformation. I've successfully maintained a loss of about 80lbs, but still have so far to go.....joy in the journey right?

PS Just a note. I'm pulling my hair out with the pictures. My lame point and shoot digital just doesn't cut it. I'm trying my best, but can't get the shots I want. Sigh.

Blah Blah Blog

Just letting you all know that I'm WORKING on getting this right.  The pictures don't post where I want them, the fonts don't do what I want.  ARGH.  But I'm having fun.

Tomorrow I'm making California Garlic Chicken Pizza.  So simple.  So delicious. Yournotgonnabelieveit.

Oh, what's up with the kitty?  Just an attention grabber.  That's Calvin.  One of my four cats.  Ya, I'm one of THOSE people.

Meet My Nephew

Meet Aaron. 13 year old genuine goofball. He is homeschooled now. Just thought I'd give you a glimpse as to an almost typical day of school for us. I work part-time, so it does make it a challenge, but we make the best of it. On my days off we do fun stuff like this.

I told him I'd interview him for the blog, to give people HIS perspective of homeschooling. So many people have so many opinions about it. It's not for everyone, I'm sure of that. It's harder than you think, and easier than you'd think. I know that makes no sense, but, well, if you are a homeschooler, it will.

Aaron LOVES it. My sister says that his mood at home has really improved. What prompted me to homeschool you ask? Well. I'd wanted to do it from the starting gate, but 'we' (my sis and I) thought he needed to go to school, being an only child and all, you know, the 'socialization'. He's really involved with his youth group at church, and he has a lot of friends from previous years schooling, so that seems covered now. He struggled in school, and just didn't seem to get the help he needed. He's flourishing now with homeschool, and his self confidence has sky rocketed.

Today we had school at the local library. We rode our bikes up there, it's about a 7 mile trip each way. School at the library proved tough for him. He was involved in everything going on in that place! I never knew the ho-dunk library in Crown Point Indiana was such a hub of activity at 10am on a weekday. I'm sure that he was aware of what everyone in the place was up to. He doesn't miss a thing and can hear like a dog. Two old ladies fighting over the copy machine. An apparent Alzheimer escapee reading the daily newspaper. A hippie with a baby. That one CRACKED me up. This guy's hair was down past his shoulders, and his little boy babies hair was the same. The nut didn't fall far from the tree.

For lunch we rode our bikes up to Starbucks for lunch. Not the GREATEST lunch food, but a nice atmosphere. We'd planned on finishing up Language Arts there, but it proved a bit too distracting for Aaron, the music, the customers, the frother, etc.

We pedaled on home and finished up the day.

Of course I worry alot homeschooling. Worry if I'm teaching him correctly. Worry if he's truly happy. I worry if he'll miss going to prom. I worry that he'll be a sheltered freak when he finally gets out in 'the real world'. Time will tell.

For now, for us. It's a good thing.

A Few of My Favorite Things.....

I'm just going to leave you with this tonight. Four of my favorite things are represented here. My nephew. My garden (soon my precious, soon), my scooter, and summer. It really will come this year. I just know it will.

My head is spinning with post ideas. Please do come back often! I'm planning on having cooking and gardening tutorials, lots of great photos, and a lot of gut spilling. Riveting I'm sure.

I Worry A Lot

I do. In fact, I'm worried now as I type this blog! I'm worried about the picture I'm posting. How weird DO I look? What is that on my lip? My face looks deformed! Why am I posting a picture of me smiling, and titling it 'I Worry A Lot'? I exhaust myself. I worry a lot about a lot. It's silliness. It produces nothing, but stress, which shortens something in my dna (according to Dr. Oz) which ages me, and then I worry about shortening those things, which causes stress, which causes those things to shorten. See where I'm going with this? I worry about all the people I love. Will Aaron, my nephew grow up and be nice? Will he be happy? Will he have good friends and a nice wife? Will my cousin Jimmy whom I adore be ok out there in the woods in Missouri all alone? What will become of my sisters? Was that a carpenter ant? Why do I have a pain in my ovary? Why did Kutner kill himself on House!? Should I really be taking Vitamin D3?

I posted a picture of myself smiling because you know what...that's all I can do. Any my smile isn't fake. It's real. I'm laughing at myself.

Peace out.

Ok, so this wasn't on the list today.....

Didn't PLAN on making bagels today. It just happened. Aaron mentioned the word, and the next thing...well, flour was everywhere. Hey, it's his Home Ec class right?

Laundry is done.

School is done. (thankyoujesus)

Dinner is cooking.

Taxes are at the accountant. What you thought "I" was doing them?

Workout done.

Second cup of coffee for the day. Check.

Still gotta call Aisha!

Monday, Monday - Can't Trust That Day

 It's raining.  No yardwork today, scratch that -- can't say that I'm too disappointed because my to do list today is long enough!  Sometimes I like it when Mother Nature reduces my options for the day.  The taxes are first and foremost on my list today.  What is it today?  The 13th?  I'll do the taxes right after I get the sheets in the wash.  And blog.  And homeschool.  Good Lord, I have to call Aisha!  My brain is as scrambled as the egg whites I had for breakfast.

Easter Sunday 2009

Spent the day with the Millers. It's always a good time with the Miller's. Walt and Bonnie were there, Chris was visiting from Purdue. We ate til we were stuffed.

I also made Hot Cross Buns for the first time today, making anything with yeast is so therapeutic. They turned out great! The Lemon Cornmeal cake was 'ok'. It needed a little bit more baking. The Key Lime Cupcakes, fabulous!

Today is my first day of blogging, so pardon my knuckleheadedness whilst I figure this out.

Today I realized I wouldn't be happy without chickens again. Must have chickens, must make a chicken home first. I don't want them running the yard and porch like they did before.