Views

This is the view from my bed in the camper. We set it up this past weekend.  Grim wanted to flush the water system. Good thing he did as the hot water heater didn't make it through the winter. Once the whole system was filled, the pump was turned on. We ended up with water all over the inside of the camper. So I won't have running water this summer. I'm alright with this.

I was able to get a lot of it organized. I still have more I can do but that can wait. I did get dry goods into canning jars. Pasta, sugar, puddings,  jello, Kool aid, tea & coffee.

Can't wait to take her out!

Soon I should have pictures of the new camper that has recently fallen into my life.

Yart

1st Time for everything!

Grim and I have been camping since we first started dating. It was a cheap, fun getaway. I remember taking UN monster when she was just a couple months old and having the playpen set up in the tent. We continued to tent until Picky was a couple years old and we got caught on Memorial day weekend in a rainstorm that flooded the tent and damn near froze us to death… LOL! We just didn’t think to go camping again for a long while. Then about 4 years ago we decided to try it again… This was great fun as Mouthy monster had never been camping. After a couple trips, we even upgraded to one of the giant tents that had 2 rooms and even closets. That was the tent that only got used 1 night before it was killed by the weather…. See the evidence photo below…… In this shot you can even see the other two tents that were destroyed.

So as you can see we have done lots of this camping thing…. The one thing that Grim and I had never thought to do was Fall camping… You know once the pool is down and the monsters are back in school…. Who camps?!? Especially here in the NORTH! Well, I actually got the idea from Kristina over at Pioneer Woman at Heart And what a great idea it was…. I had to find a campground… Which I thought should have been no problem at all…. Boy was I wrong. Come to find out Fall camping is huge… To the point that most of the campgrounds are booked 6 months ahead of time just for this prime time!

I was lucky enough to get a canceled spot at one of the State Parks. On the website, they explained that it was a Halloween weekend… But we had no idea what to expect…. I made sure Mouthy had a costume. We had a couple small things and some lights!

I’ll tell you what, even though it rained both nights we were there…. We had the best time… There was a ton of activities for the monsters…. Each site passed out candy… Each site was decorated…. They even had a dance for everyone Saturday night. The monsters had a better time there then they have ever had here in the neighborhood. Now I know why these sites are booked 6 months in advance… I know I will have our site reserved by May 31st next year!

Yart

Finished Projects

Here are two of the afghans I made... The striped one is the first one I made for the other trailer. Back up.... The 1968 Frolic was suppose to be my rainbow trailer. Since it took to long to finish and we needed to get another trailer the new one has become the rainbow trailer... LOL! So the theme for the frolic will be cowboy. Yep, already got started on the blankets for that one too!

So the ripple is the first one. The square one is actually a scrap-ghan. I love, love, love them! They are both so warm and comfy! And I love how they add so much color to a grey area. Since these were origianlly going to be used as the blankets for the dining area of the other trailer that's why they are on the small side. They are about the size of a twin bed. 

There are actually 3 sleeping areas in the camper. So this one has these two blankets. The next one has the quilt ( remember the quilt I was making, I finished it, pictures soon ) of many colors. I was finally able to get the backing sewed on. I probably should do some type of tying, but I didn't use any batting so I don't know if I need to. I will know more once it's in use in the trailer. So I just need to work on the last area. I don't know if I will do something in yarn or material or both! I have seen some really cute patterns on pintrest so of course I have no idea now what I want to do... LOL! Leave it to pintrest to give me more ideas than I have time to complete. I guess winter is coming so?!?!?

Yart

Camping Disaster

Or as some would like to call it family bonding time! I'm ready to talk about our trip. We got off to a late start last Monday because of some paperwork that needed to be notarized and mailed. So that put our start time about 2 hours later then it should have. We were fine and everyone was happy till we saw these clouds. 

This is what we drove though to get to our paradise for the week. It was dry when we finally got to the campground. As we were putting up the tents it started to rain. Not enough to be bad, just to make things difficult. So once the tents were up we went to our favorite restaurant for dinner. On the way back it really came down in buckets so we went to the camp store to hide out since we didn't want to be stuck in the tents. Of course once the rain let up and we could get back to the tents we realized that the rain had pooled up on the roof and leaked into our tents. So here I am in the dark mopping up water with a towel. Trying to save everything I could. Even though we have an air mattress the sleeping bags got wet. In the process of drying up the water every mosquito in the area made its way into the tent. Mouthy monster got completely eaten up. Poor thing looked like a plague victim in the morning.

In the morning we had planned on taking the ferry to the island to see all the attractions there. When we got back we were going to go to the laundry mat and dry everything. Well, on the island we watched a storm roll through. Luckily, I was smart enough to see it coming and got the family into one of the bars on the strip to have lunch. Once inside the sirens went off like crazy. The whole time I'm praying that the tents would be fine, since they were like 10 miles away from our location.

This was not to be the case. We came back to find this!

Needless to say our day was ruined. But I was not going to let this completely destroy the week. So Grim and I set off to find somewhere else to stay that wasn't a hotel. We were lucky, in so much as we were still in off season. We found a nice little place that rented cottages. And they had one available. The cottage was 24x24. There was a table and chairs, a fridge, stove and a bathroom off the back. There were also 2 full sized beds. Mouthy took the floor. We were warm and not yet dry. That took hours at the laundry mat to make happen.

The week was salvaged and we did quite a bit of site seeing. But a major decision was made that this was the last time we ever go inside of a tent. We are done. The loss of all 3 tents was more then I can bare. So we have to get the trailer up and ready as soon as possible.

We can now get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Yart

Great Time Camping

We had a great time camping again. We brought up both of the tents. But the site was to rocky to get the second tent up. So the monsters were stuck with us. Good thing the new tent was big enough. We did a ton of site seeing. There was a haunted lighthouse and a haunted bar. No ghosts made themselves known to us. But the bar had great food, it wasn’t a total loss.

This is over lake Huron. The weather was hit and miss the first day.

Here is the haunted lighthouse. I only made it to the first landing. To much for me to walk. LOL!

This little guy is at a bear sanctuary. They are rescued from the wild. They have huge roaming areas and they come out to visit only if they want to. That part I think is awesome.

This is the bell from the Edmunds Fitzgerald

Gotta Love waterfalls…. Good thing I was very far away… Yep, water and heights scare the crap out of me.

Told ya the weather wasn’t all bad.

This is the mast from the coast guard cutter that patrolled the great lakes for over 50 years.

Yart

Preparations

Just to let you know I am starting this post at night and will finish up in the morning.

Tonight I used my steam juicer again. Really love the thing. This time it was for an over abundance of peaches and nectarines. We them in our weekly box. Since we are not huge fans they have just been multiplying in the fridge. So out came the juicer and I made jelly.

4 cups of juice

4.5 cups of sugar

1/4 cup of lemon juice

1 box of powdered pectin

I will let you know when I finish the post if it set. This is the first time I didn’t have a step by step recipe to follow. I looked through a couple different books and just kind of went for it. Now I’m fairly sure that this is a standard type but it felt good not to be step by step behind someone else.

I took 1 cup of juice and 1/2 cup sugar and made 6 popsicles for the monsters. Next time I may use less sugar or even use honey instead. Since it was the first time I just winged it… They are very excited to try them. I’m keeping fingers crossed that they turn out. That way when I want to make something else out of the ordinary they will be receptive.

There was another 2 cups of juice that I put in the fridge. I thought that I could make a simple syrup, add some juice and soda water to make a refreshing drink. Could even add a bit of white liquor. Then again I could add some white wine to the juice and make a spritzer. Hmmm, the possibilities are endless. But in all reality the monsters will probably have it gone before I’m up in the morning…

I had to go and get a planner for this year as mine expired in June. I got a nice purse sized one that wasn’t a lot of money. and I went to the school website to get all the practice and competition days. From this point to the first week in November we are tied up with band. My calendar is already filled and it is nothing for me but a dentist appointment.

We did manage to get the time off work for Grim and we are taking a few days and going up north for some very much need R&R. We will be camping and going to all of the living history museums. The monsters will get to go swimming and Grim will get to go look for ghosts… LOL! There are couple of places that have a history to them. It aught to be fun. I will have to face on of my fears…. a ferry! Yep, scared to death of water so in turn no boats. But where we want to go I have to buck up and just do it for the sake of my family.

Gotta Run,

Yart


PS... It set!!! Yeah!!

Back again

Well, we are back home again. We were gone for the past week, camping again. We went to the same area but saw lots of different things this time. The older monsters got their own tent for this trip and it worked out well. The littlest monster was in our tent with us. The weather was gorgeous. But unfortunately, the night before we left I ended up at urgent care. I have a sinus infection. The doc gave me a ton of antibiotics, claritin D, and flonase. It has been 5 days of meds and it still isn't gone. So I have been eating soft foods as it hurts to chew. It is doing wonders for my figure... LOL!

This week coming up I need to pull the potatoes and get them canned. Then I need to go to the old man with the farm and see if his roma's are ready to pick. If so I think I am going to get 2 bushels to start with. My tomatoes are producing but just not enough. I don't know what I am doing wrong with the garden. Or if it is just the weather that is causing chaos. Or it could be that I am jumping the gun, which might be the case. But I should be careful what I wish for. It is so hot here I really shouldn't be in the kitchen anyways.

My room is done we got that finished last weekend. I have to sew two buttons on the duvet cover. Once that is done I will take pictures. I still have some other things to do. Like paint the dresser and hang a few more shelves. But at least I have more space since I went through most of the clothes. We had gone to price a new bed frame. It would have cost us $89, but we went to Ikea and bought a new bed for $99. It sits of the floor way higher then our old bed. So now I have storage under the bed that I didn't have before.

It is steamy today, so I think that I will just be hanging out in the basement, not doing much of anything. But as usual the best laid plans of mice and men. I will probably end up doing something that will make for a sticky day.

Gotta Run,
Yart