Hi there one and all! Hope you had a happy and relaxing 4^th. We were very productive over the holiday weekend. It is amazing that we are still around because it was sooooooooooo muggy and sticky outside I thought for sure we’d melt away! I know, I know that is what I’m moving to, BUT there will be an OCEAN close by for me to take a dip and cool off. I had to keep reminding myself that it will all be over soon. :D

James worked a lot harder than I did, but what else is new? LOL He finished putting up the trim around floors, walls, stairs, and pretty much everywhere that needed it.

Then we had a duh moment. We have that HUGE roll of carpet (the kind used for headliners in cars) that he’s used on the storage cabinet and also to wrap around the bed frame. James suggested using it to finish off the wall where my desk is instead of going out and buying more of the bead. I was not all that excited about it, but he made a good point that it would add a little extra insulation AND it would save us about $50, so I reluctantly agreed.

Now I must apologize to my husband for not believing that it would look nice. Sorry honey! I love you so much and appreciate your talent!

Here is the project during its various stages.

Don’t worry there was painting involved…I know you are jealous…I had to paint the little trim pieces. UGH!

The neighbors are becoming more and more curious about our project and a few even approached James this weekend asking if were ever going to “finish that thing and take it camping”. They were very surprised to learn it was going to be our home and super excited to go on a grand tour of our home on wheels.

In addition to painting and finishing up trim and finishing the desk project, we had to finish the last two windows. As you may recall, this project requires removing all the screws, removing the entire window, cleaning the window frame AND all the goop from it as well as where it rested on the coach, then caulking and replacing the window and screws.

Here is a little word of advice. If you are going to do said project, it is best NOT to have the BLACK window frame directly in the sun on one of the hottest days of the summer. It is also best NOT to clean the goop off the side of the coach in the peak sun times on one of the hottest days of summer, (sunscreen was used…at least by me, but it still was *H* O* T*!!!) and finally it is best NOT to re caulk the window frame that has been sitting in the sun as the stuff tends to set a lot faster, AND the window is a tad bit on the SCALDING side when you go to put it back in place.

We learned our lesson on Sunday, so Monday we finished the very last window and had that project completed by 11:00 a.m. No burnt fingers, no fast drying caulk and no unnecessary sun exposure. I’d say it was a good day!

We also spent part of the day buffing the coach and removed all the metal stuff from the top of the coach.

Here are the projects we have left:

• Tiles for the kitchen wall
• Faucet for the kitchen sink
• Range hood for the kitchen
• Purchase fridge
• Track lights for over the desk
• Faucet for the bathroom sink
• Carpet for the bedroom
• Finish up the bed frame
• New Tires
• New Power Steering Pump
• Possibly some new batteries
• Get the heck outta here!!!!!

Speaking of getting out of here, Jorden will be going down and registering on July 22 for his classes and then July 27^th I’m hoping to be heading off to my scrapbook weekend with my girls (including Kara and Eva this year), then spend a few days with my bff from high school then off to NC. I will be back in OH in Sept. to drop Jorden off at school and to help hubby tie up any loose ends and get on our way. Oh ya, and I guess sometime in there we need to have an open house so people can see what awesome work the hubby and I do. J

Hope you enjoyed visiting the blog today. As always, feel free to share your thoughts or pop on by for your own private tour. Have a wonderful day!

Slow and steady wins the race

Hi folks! Hope this post finds you happy and healthy. We are happy to report some more of our To Do tasks have been checked off the list.

James finished up the step in to the RV with some scrap pieces of flooring. We painted trim...I know it is hard to believe we are STILL painting, but the finished product it is totally worth it. We replaced bolts, screws and clips for the awning, installed face plates for light switches and outlets, and we frosted the bathroom window.

Let me tell you about this bathroom window project. We decided we did not want to mess with curtains or blinds in the bathroom because they are just so bulky and the window is so small it was going to be a pain.

We tossed around a few ideas and then James came up with the idea of frosting the window but didn't know how to achieve the look. Being the crafty person that, I am I told him about glass etching cream and also window frost that you can buy in the can. He was very impressed by my crafty knowledge. We ended up selecting the glass frost. Our next big task was choosing a design for the window.

I have this wonderful little gadget called a cricut . This thing is amazing! I purchased it for scrapbooking and card making, but it can be used for pretty much anything. So we fiddled around with that until we found just what we wanted for the window. We ended up picking out a lighthouse and a compass rose. For our first attempt at frosting a window we did a pretty good job!

Here is the final product of all our hard work!

This is the view from the inside.



This is what it looks like from the outside.



Pretty cool, eh?! It gives us plenty of privacy yet still allows in light.

This process was quite time consuming. After we picked out the design I had to cut a template out to make certain the sizes worked well together.



Then I cut the design out in vinyl and stuck it on the window.



The trickiest and most tedious part of the project was peeling the vinyl off without disturbing the frost. There were a few little rough spots, but I don't think you can really tell since the window is in place. And like everything that is not perfect in the RV....if you point it out you will be cordially invited to leave our space. :D

Oh, I forgot to mention we also picked up and installed the last three handles for the cabinets from Hobby Lobby. If you look close you can see the trim that James painted and installed under the cabinet. It really gives it a finished look and the floor is AMAZING!



Here is a shot of the entry.



The excitement is mounting and the finish line is not far off! We are hoping the pendulum is swinging back in our favor and that the universe is done messing with us for now.

I have 4 days of work left, but my July is quite busy. I need to take Jorden to Hocking College to get registered. Then the end of July I'm headed to PA to visit my dearest friend from high school for a few days and then I leave her to visit with some of my crafty pals from all over the USA...ok mainly from the Midwest, but you get the idea.

In the meantime, I need to decided if I heading out to NC before I go to PA (which I'm guessing is the wish of my NC family) or do I head out there after all my visiting. Decisions, decisions. Whatever I decide I need to figure it out soon so that I can start packing up all my goods to get them ready for the big move.

Well, I think it is time to wrap this up. I hope you enjoyed your visit and that you are as excited about our slow and steady movement.

Until next time, have a wonderful day!

We have movement!

Hi all! I am excited to report we have movement. No, I am not secretly pregnant and feeling a baby moving around (thank heavens!), nor is the RV completed and rolling on down the road to our new adventures. The movement I'm talking about has to do with actually accomplishing some projects in the RV.

Things have been rather quiet since the money coming in is enough to keep us afloat, but not enough to fund the RV project. That has been quite difficult to deal with because we really need to get out of here before another winter is upon us.

Enough of that chit chat, I am sure you are just DYING to know what has been going on in the RV. Well, a couple of weeks ago James started putting in the wood flooring and let me tell you it looks GREAT! Only down side was we ran out of flooring so we had to wait for the funds to roll in before we could buy ONE last box.

In the meantime James capped off all the gas lines that were no longer going to be used, and also finished up the plumbing for all the bathroom fixtures. Now all we need are a couple of faucets and the bathroom will be DONE and the kitchen will be 80% complete.

We still have the kitchen tile to purchase and wouldn't you know it, the stuff is on sale at Lowe's for 5.95 a sheet! Grrrrrrrrrrrr My biggest fear is it going to be discontinued before I can get what I need, which is only about 10 or 12 sheets. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays around a bit longer.

In addition to the tile for the kitchen we need to get the fridge and a hood for over the stove. Those are 2 large purchases, but they will happen sooner or later.

Speaking of sooner or later, as I mentioned earlier James had installed all the flooring that we had and then on Saturday we headed to Lowe's and purchased another box of flooring to finish up the job. It looks so beautiful! Oh, what is that? You want to see some pictures? Well, I guess I can share, seeing as it has been so quiet around here lately. Did you know good things come to those who wait? I'm sorry I guess I should quit stalling and share. :D

So here are the much anticipated pictures. The flooring FINALLY installed, no more tripping over the boxes or attempting to move the heavy buggers around in our limited space. Feel free to share your comments about the flooring. I promise we can handle the truth!

Here is a picture as you enter the coach.




This is a shot from the back of the coach (in the bathroom) You can see my desk lying off to the left.






I hope these pictures were worth the wait. One step closer to getting the baby done and ready to roll! Thanks for stopping by!

Jack Squat

According to the hubby we have accomplished Jack Squat today. However, I feel that baby steps make a difference, so we'll leave up to you to decide who is right. :D

Today's projects consisted of painting trim, fixing the sewer pipe and staining the desk. M&M was in the house today, and no I'm not talking about the award winning rapper or the candy coated chocolates. M&M is the nickname I've given my hubby because he is so good and Micro Managing me.

I was supposed to stain the desk, but some how he ended up with the bucket, the stain and the brush and started the task before he had everything ready. How annoying! So, I just sat back and watched the show, because I can't rebuild a drain pipe or do any of the engine work because I know nothing about those things.

Here is a shot of me, I mean M&M, working hard on staining the desk.



Here is a picture of ME dressed and ready for work.



I told ya'll it wasn't a pretty site. No, there are no pictures of me actually doing work because M&M is too busy to take pictures of me, sorry gang. :D

The desk looks really nice and since it was so sunny out today it helped it to dry quicker. We wrapped all the projects up by 3 because there a tornado warnings out and we all know how fast a storm can blow in around these parts.

If you are a pessimist the work completed today wasn't worth it, and if you are an optimist the work today gets us a teeny tiny bit closer to take off. In any event, I hope you enjoyed this brief blog posting and hope to have more for you soon.

Manic Monday

Ok, so it wasn't really a manic Monday, but it certainly was productive! We headed out to the RV around 11:30 and tried to keep James out of the sun, but it didn't really work out too well. At least he wasn't out in it ALL day...just an hour or two.

Today's projects consisted of putting flooring in the cubby where the fridge is going to go.


Installing cupboard doors and the drawer pulls (found at Hobby Lobby).






Cleaned and reinstalled the stove top.



Added more trim in spots and finished painting the trim around the microwave.



Oh, and speaking of painting.....we have to do some touch up in the bedroom. When we were working on the windows someone got their dirty finger prints all over the yellow walls. UGH! I will only claim ONE set of prints.






My most favorite project of the day was the desk!!!!!!!! Seeing it sitting in its respective spot really helps us feel like we are making progress and gets us just one step closer to the big day!

First, we had to figure out how to remove the top of the desk, but it wasn't long before James had it figured out and taken apart. We decided to forget about the drawers because we were cutting a significant amount off of the desk. Plus, the back side of the desk was in better shape than the front.



Once the top was off James, measured and cut off the part we weren't going to use.





We then took the bottom section out to the RV to make sure it looked good, even though I knew it would ;)



We decided it was a little too wide at 26 inches, so an additional 4 inches were cut off, making the base 22 inches and with the top on it made it 23 inches.



We did not bolt the desk in because we have to install the flooring and decided to add bead board around the area. We weren't going to do anything to the wall because we were going to have cabinets. I am just happy we don't have to paint!!!!!!!! Of course the top needs to be stained and finished, so maybe James will get to that tomorrow. It would be a good job for him because he would be out of the sun AND it would make him feel productive.

Hopefully soon we can get the remainder of the tools to get the flooring put down. Gosh its getting soooooooooo exciting!!!!

I guess that is enough sharing for one blog episode. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunny, Sudsy Sunday

Hello one and all! Happy to report we had another BEAUTIFUL day here in NW Ohio. We took full advantage of the beautiful day, by continuing with taking out, cleaning and caulking the windows. We only have two more left to do and that task will be over. Thank goodness because that is one messy task!

In addition to working on windows, James and the hired hand (one of Jorden's friends) climbed up on the roof and took care of the lichen. Let me tell you in sure did make a difference. Actually, I will show you as I took before and after shots of the roof.

Here are some of the before shots.










Here are the after shots.






We also scrubbed the coach down again and now its ready for some waxing and buffing.

All hubby's hard work came at a price though. Silly man didn't think he needed to put on any sunscreen and now he is paying big time for it!





Even his eyelids are red! I on the other hand put on sunscreen both days and I even wore a hat today since my face was a lil pink from yesterday. I will be beach ready soon enough with my tan, while he will be shedding his crispy, fried skin and MAYBE he'll think twice when I ask him if he wants some sunscreen.

That's all for tonight folks. I have a nice cold adult beverage calling me and I have earned it, so I don't want to let it get warm. Have a great one and thanks for stopping by!

Yay for Sunshine!

Happy weekend everyone! So excited to report we have SUNSHINE today! It is supposed to be with us for most of the day then showers head in tonight and early tomorrow, so we are going to work our fingers to the bone today.

Before I dive into all our tasks for today, I thought I'd share the link to Cabin Creek the RV park/campground that we will be staying. It looks like a really nice place and it has cabins and park models that can be rented when guests come to visit (hint, hint).

Ok now back to work. Today's tasks include, but are not limited to:
* Washing/scrubbing the lichen off the RV roof
* Taking out, resealing and replacing windows
* Cleaning out storage bins under the RV.
* Installing drawer pulls
* Sanding and staining the desk top
* Cutting the desk to fit
* All other projects deemed necessary :D

So I think you can see we will be a little busy today. As always, the invitation to come over and help out is always open...we might even purchase you a cool beverage or two to show our thanks.

Have a wonderful day and I'll try to post some pictures tonight.