Glamping up the Family Camper

  We have a 1987 Dutchman that our family has loved for the last few years.  We were going back and forth about keeping it or selling it and finally decided she would stay.  I then decided a face lift was in order.  The upholstery is in great shape but the walls are scraped up some and from 1987.  Some of the blinds have broken and one of the beds only works for storage.  Step one is the paint.  I picked "creamy cottage."  It is a beige/ off white color that compliments the upholstery as well as the new drape fabric that is waiting to be sewn.  I am currently a little over halfway through painting and ironing and measuring fabric tonight to start on the curtains.  The new color is great.  It brightens up the place and makes it look a little fresher.

The Start of Summer Produce

About a month ago I started tomatoes and peppers in the house.  They are getting bigger everyday.  The grow lights are needing to be raised every few days and the plants are looking good.  Yesterday I started some cauliflower, melons, cucumbers, and restarted a few of the peppers that didn't seem to germinate from the last start.  This week I also planted onions and carrots out in the garden.

A Little Repurposing

Three sheets are getting a new life as rag rugs for our camper today.  After tearing them into one inch strips and attaching them to each other I started crocheting it into two rugs.  The first is a flower shaped rug for the bathroom in the camper and the second is an oval for the kitchen area of the camper.  The main fabric was white flannel sheets with blue snowflakes on them.  The Flower also got some blue from a jersey sheet.  They will make a fun addition to the camper decor.

Brent thought I was a little insane when he saw a ball torn up sheets but was quite impressed with how fast a rug or two were made with the strips.

Painting with the girls

Today we had a fun day of painting ceramics.  The girls and I took Popi to a shop where you can pick out a ceramic something and paint it.  We get to pick them up next week all glazed and ready for fun. Kirsten picked out a cupcake shaped box.  Melanie picked out a cat statue and a bear statue.  Popi picked out the same cupcake design as Kirsten and I picked out a wine glass.  We had such fun.  I painted my glass purple on top and pink on the bottom.  Then I painted daisy like flowers in all different colors around it and connected them with a vine that then trailed down the stem to the bottom of the glass.   The final touches were a ladybug on the bottom of the stem and my farmgirl number.  I plan on using my glass whenever I am in a farmgirl mood and of course to celebrate the Farmgirl Jubliee.

A birthday for Melanie

Today we are celebrating Melanie's 8th birthday!  She requested a flower cake with purple spirals and lasagna made by Dad.  I decided to try a few more techniques with the cake decorating kit.  I also used two cake mixes so that half the cake would be chocolate and the other half would be yellow cake with almond flavoring.  This will qualify for another farmgirl merit badge.  The weather is rather gray with intermittent showers and a fair bit of wind so outside time is at a low.  Hopefully the kids will have fun running around the house.  For fun I got them all paddleball games to have a little competition. 

Spring Cleaning

Last week the weather was great and cleaning out the gardens was the plan for the week.  The cold is back so the work has moved indoors.  I have cleaned and organized two thirds of the house now.  How nice it feels to have everything clean and put away.  I even found time to finish my scrapbook of my Egypt trip from 7 years ago.

My best new project was using the crockpot to cook the Easter ham.  It took around 6 hours for a 10 pound ham.  I put brown sugar, pineapple juice and pineapple tidbits in the crockpot with the ham and sat back and watched.  I did have to remove some of the liquid once in awhile but otherwise we had a wonderful ham that was very transportable.

I also made a new half apron for myself to help lug around garden tools and eggs when needed.

Back to Being Simple

Well, work go in the way then living simply got put on the back burner for awhile.  I haven't made any new advancements toward a simple life but I have managed to keep up with the old stuff.  The laundry still gets dried on the line, weather permitting.  The herbs are still getting dried and bottled.  The garden is planted and growing, with a few more weeds than I would like but hey it is growing.  I got my first canning of the season done last night and picked berries for more canning tonight.  I have started trying some sewing projects.  I made a trunk caddy out of chicken feed sacks and made an apron for my daughter and one for my sister.

I finally said no more call or weekends for work! That is family time and living simply time.  We spent the last three days on a very enjoyable camp out as a family.  We hiked and hiked and the girls learned new wildflowers and saw a wolf and three moose.  All in all a great trip.