And we're off! ...like a herd of turtles

Dumping

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:25:48 +0000

Sean had a big job to do this weekend and while we couldn’t really help him, we wanted to lend him some moral support. We decided to make a family day out of it. Packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the bus (which is largely empty inside since Sean stripped away all of the bathroom and most of the kitchen), and headed to the local KOA.

Forced Smile

I sent the kids off to the picnic table with their lunches. Daddy got to work…the very dirty work of emptying the black tank. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a black tank is, let me explain. The bus has a white tank (fresh water), a grey tank (used dish and shower water), and a black tank (holds whatever gets flushed down the toilet). Currently the bus has 40 gallon tanks. We are changing them out for 100 gallon tanks and have to empty the old ones before removing them.

Yes, it was that bad

Now, you never saw the poop coming out of the tank. It went from the tank, into a hose, then into the ground. So I can’t understand why the entire 50 foot radius around the bus reeked. The kids (who I had stationed about 75 feet away from the bus to eat at the quaint little picnic bench in the woods) quickly came running back with their noses pinched saying them couldn’t eat over there because of the smell. So I put them back on the bus. They went in and herded themselves right back out saying it was even worse inside! So I found a place down-wind for them to wait out the ordeal.

Hopefully it won’t be this bad when we’re actually living on the bus. I haven’t heard any horror stories about it. I’m thinking it was just this bad because Sean had something unhooked or whatever. Anyhow, it made for a memorable family day! (hee-hee)

A Trip to Ikea

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:44:35 +0000

Where else would you go when you’re contemplating living in a 320 square foot space? While in Orlando we hit our favorite tiny-living store…and had some Swedish meatballs of course. Oh, how I wanted to pack our van full of fun new stuff for the bus, but Sean reigned me in–reminding me that we still need to empty our house first before we bring anything else into it. Here are some treasures we took pictures of and made notes about for when the time is right:

Hanging storage--KNIT! Lightweight and can hold lots of toiletries.

Possible tiny sink for bathroom

Funky mirrors for our bedroom door

LOVE this rug! We think 2 of them for the narrow walkway going all the way down the length of the bus

I really like the orange/grey combo.

We will put these everywhere to hang everything--curtains, photos, washcloths, whatever.

To hold the fridge closed--the one thing he let me buy that day

Shoe boxes that velcro shut--good for storing all manner of things. You can see what's inside and open from the front so stacking isnt a problem.

Ooops! New old friends for real this time…

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:27:02 +0000

Meet Scott and Heather

So sorry for those of you who subscribe to this blog! I was trying to post from my I-phone since we’ve been away for a couple weeks and it just didn’t turn out right for me. It posted before I was finished and I had to pull it and start over. Take two:

Ok, so we’ve been in Florida for two weeks, tagging along while Sean worked on a big show. Before we left, Sean set up a time for us to meet a couple who lives in a bus down there. We made our get-away plan ahead of time just in case it ended up being awkward or something–you just never know what you’re going to get. (What if they don’t like kids?!) We needn’t have worried about a thing. As soon as we all poured out of the van, it was as if we were old friends. They showed us their bus–got so many great ideas!

They completely made this bus over--top to bottom, inside and out. They even cut the top off and raised the roof!

Check out the loft! (That's what you can do when your roof is raised)

When you have a bus, things like tubes that carry away your intestinal waste become quite a thing of interest.

Really like the wood paneling--makes it feel like a log cabin inside. Too bad we can't do it ourselves--weighs too much.

Scott is explaining how they filter USED MOTOR OIL to use for fuel instead of diesel. FREE!

After the comprehensive tour, many children needing to use the toilet (something about a toilet you flush with your foot makes a kid really have to go), and some organic lollipops, we stayed the rest of the afternoon just chatting and getting to know this sweet couple better. They tour around the states ministering with their music via concerts that they put on–Scott singing and playing various instruments and Heather working hard behind the scenes. Here is their website: http://www.scottmichaelbennett.com/ We got one of his cd’s–he’s got an amazing voice! This day was a definite highlight of our trip. Can’t wait to meet up with them again!

Wool

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:54:19 +0000

For the past couple weeks for school we’ve been focusing on sheep. Lessons from a Sheepdog by Phillip Keller was our favorite read–and Lass (the children’s version) was excellent. Of course, being of the knitting/crocheting persuasion, we really wanted to get our hands on some raw wool to take all the way through the process from sheep to scarf (or whatever else took our fancy). A sweet friend (I consider her my fiber art mentor) was kind enough to send us some raw wool she had received from a local farmer in her area. Oh, happy day when that box arrived! We opened it right up and recoiled immediately. That stuff stinks. And it wasn’t pretty. I don’t know what we expected, really. Just never gave much thought to how dirty a sheep gets. Well, we were all in at any rate. Here’s what it looked like to start with:

First we had to remove all the debris and cut off any parts that were just too nasty to think about:

Then we filled the washing machine up with hot water and lots of Dawn dish soap. The wool went into a mesh bag and in it went. We lifted it up out of the water and it looked like someone poured a Yoo-Hoo in the machine. Disgusting.

After three sessions of filling the machine up with hot soapy water and draining it, the stuff finally came clean. We dried it in the sun on our fancy drying rack:

It smelled so clean and felt so nice! After it was dry we carded it. Instead of spending about $75 for “real” carders, I went to Walmart and got some dog brushes. They do the job just fine.

A few swipes in the dog brush gets it like angel hair fluff:

For those of us who don’t own a spinning wheel, a drop spindle works quite well. This is a small, hand-held tool that will spin the carded wool into yarn. We don’t happen to have one of these, either. No worries–we made one out of old cd’s, a dowel and a screw hook. Of course we did. And they spun like champs:

We thought it appropriate to card and spin while watching a few episodes of Shaun the Sheep.

Bertle has been spinning in all of her spare time.

Here is the hank of yarn she produced:

Living the dream, baby. Can you just picture us at the KOA with our wool drying on the hood of the car outside the laundromat? Drop spindles by the camp fire…knitting daddy a steering wheel cover for the bus…

Some highlights from our week

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:46:54 +0000

Been up to quite a bit here lately…

Said goodbye to a dear friend who is moving to Boone, NC to plant a church with her husband.

Visited Poplar Grove Plantation. They have a farmer’s market every week and a variety of animals for the kids to feed and observe. We also took a hike on their extensive trail system.

We visited Dunkin at his new home. The new owner graciously allowed us to come bring him some birthday gifts and get one last squeeze in. I will say that it was pretty awkward. He had a new name, a new family, all of his claws (front and back!) had been removed…but going and seeing him there did the job of putting the whole thing to bed for the kids. They didn’t even cry. They took turns holding him, we took some pictures, and then we left.

We saw fireworks at the riverfront. They have them every year for the Azalea Fest.

We had the BEST Korean food. Good friends invited us over for an amazing spread of Korean BBQ, shrimp lo mien, dumplings and more. Restaurant worthy, for sure. Oh, how we enjoyed their company and hospitality!

Quirtle sure was sad to leave.

Happily Ever After

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:54:04 +0000

On the road again…this time to Mt.Dora, FL to be a part of Kallye and Stuart’s big day. Kallye is the daughter of one of my dearest friends on the planet…Julie (aka Mama Juju)

sigh...so beautiful...

Clurtle and Quirtle were the the flower girl and “ring bear” (to hear him say it). The theme was eclectic–a kind of vintage/romantic/birdie thing that really worked well together.

Precious. Like from another era. Ok, so the instagram photo effects add to it, but the outfits really were adorable. Inspired by another blog, I decided to make the bow tie. Super easy. Then out of frustration I ended up making the suspenders too. They were easier than I thought they’d be. I looked at EVERY store in my town to find suspenders, which you’d think would not be a tall order at this time of year, but apparently they’re not in style.

Her first wedding without her sisters on either side. She did a great job!

He did a good job standing for so long….climbed the tree as soon as it was over.

Then it was off to the food.

And dancing.

Bertle and I needle-felted these little cuties for the wedding cake.

Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day, Mr. and Mrs. Brannon!

Kentucky Derby

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:47:41 +0000

Run for the Roses!

We may not be in the bus yet, but we’re still getting to go to some pretty fun places! The Kentucky Derby, for example. What? Did you not know it happened this past week? Perhaps you missed it in the papers. They actually moved it this year to my friend’s neighborhood in honor of her little girl’s 4th birthday. All the big names were there.

Clurtle held in there til the end...long after the other jockeys fell of their horses

All the big hats were there…

Only the finest Bluegrass Band around…

complete with washtub bass

At the end of the day the happy little jockeys rode off into the sunset…

New Life

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:55:36 +0000

A friend from church had asked me a several months ago to be her doula (be with her during labor and delivery, offering encouragement and support to her and her husband in order to increase the likelihood of her having a natural birth without pain medication or epidural). The day finally arrived and I had the privilege of being with her through it all–ending with the arrival of this little guy:

My husband asked me if being there made me want to have another one. No, it really didn’t. But it did make me want to do this again every day of my life! Seriously, such a thrill to be present when a baby comes into the world and takes that first breath. Then to witness the sheer joy of the mother as she gets to hold him for the first time…no better way to spend a morning. I was on a high for the rest of the day–much like I felt after jumping out of a plane. I think I’m gonna be a midwife when I grow up and catch all of my grand-kids.

Encouragement Cookie

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:15:18 +0000

My husband loves him some Chinese food. A ginormous super buffet opened up in town and we tried it out, of course. It held such promise. Alas, we won’t be going again. Pretty gross when your fried scallop is actually a ball of fried imitation crab meat. However, there was a sliver of redemption at the end of the meal. This was in our dessert:

Since we don’t believe in luck or fortune (sold out to God’s sovereignty), we are calling it our encouragement cookie.

Stuck in the Mud

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:34:44 +0000

Well, the bank giveth and it taketh away. They approved us for a short sale–even gave us an amount they would accept from a potential buyer–and then after we submitted our offer, they said, “Oh, you can’t do a short sale…you haven’t missed any payments.” At what point did you miss that when we supplied you everything short of our first-born child in the application process? No rewards for good behavior these days–I guess we’re playing by a different rule book. Anybody have any experience with this kind of thing? It really goes against everything in us to skip a mortgage payment, but we’ve heard from several sources that if we do, the bank will allow us to do the short sale. We’ve even been counseled that that’s just the way it works. It’s just a box that needs to be checked off on their form before they will proceed. At any rate, that’s what we’ve done. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten a request from my mom, who wants to see more pictures of the grandkids. So I added my Instagram feed to the side of the webpage. Check it often, Mom–I take pictures every day! For now I will just be posting about stationary turtle life. Not as exciting as mobile turtle life but we do still sneak out of the pond regularly.

Sean continues to work on the bus when he’s not out of town working. A friend from church came and tore out the bathroom for us! He’s also made plans to fly some nice man in from California to give me driving lessons in May. Oh, THAT is gonna be a fun post. ;)