Laundry On The Road

If you've been following me for a bit then you know how much I enjoy doing laundry and that hanging the laundry on the line or drying rack outside is my favorite part of the whole process.

To me, laundry is also the one chore where you can actually do something else while the laundry is being washed or dried.

Let's face it, doing laundry in these modern times is SO much easier than back in the day where you literally had to DO the laundry... washing it by hand and then hanging each piece on the line to dry, ironing it and then folding it and putting it away.  Sheesh, can you imagine having to do all that?!

Yep, we have it easy today.  Sort it, throw it in the washing machine and walk away until it beeps, then you put it in the dryer and walk away until it beeps.  Meanwhile, you can be doing something else; another chore or perhaps something you enjoy doing.

When we purchased our 5th wheel it did not have a washer/dryer unit in it.  I felt that having one would be important if we were going to live in it full time while CountryBoy was traveling from job to job since not every RV or mobile home park has an onsite laundromat.

I found a space in our bathroom (some drawers that I could live without) that would possibly accommodate a washer/dryer unit and asked if one could be installed.

We were told yes, so the work began.  Drawers taken out, water lines and dryer vent installed and then the unit put in place.  (We kept the drawers and CountryBoy made a cabinet and put the drawers in the corner of our closet so we didn't lose any drawer space after all!)

Doing laundry on the road is a bit different than doing it back home but I'm thrilled with being able to do it from the comforts of my own 'home on the road' even though it takes twice as long to do one load of laundry.

Yep, twice as long.  Literally.

Up to three hours or more to wash and dry one load depending on how dirty or how heavy the load is.

And, it's small.  A 15 pound load capacity so sometimes I have to do two loads of darks rather than just the one load I could do at the laundromat.

But, that's OK.  Because I enjoy laundry.  And I can get a lot done in those three hours that it takes to finish one load!

Unfortunately, we can't have a clothesline here and it's been too windy to use my small drying rack so I have to use the dryer.  Maybe some day I'll be able to use the rack.

Since I've been running errands every day this week I plan on enjoying my time at home, while doing the laundry, and spending it crocheting, polishing drawers, reading and maybe I'll even install our new toilet.  (Post and pics to follow if I do!)

Till next time,

Spray Paint vs. Handles

First of all, I just want to say that, for once, it would be nice to have more comments in my Inbox than the number of Spam I receive.  120+ followers and only a couple of comments while the Spam box has tons of 'comments'.

Any other bloggers out there getting inundated with Spam mail?  They always seem to 'attack' one particular post.  Any ideas on how to remedy this situation other than enabling the dreaded Captcha?  Should I delete that post or will they just find another to 'attack'?

OK, back to my regularly scheduled post...

We bought an older 5th wheel in the summer of 2011.  It's a 1997 Dreamer made in Washington state.  An older couple had it and took very good care of it so other than a good scrub down (just because that's what I do when I get anything that's been used by someone else) it needed very little TLC from us when we got it.

Even though the 5th wheel's decor was really not my colors nor style it would do.  The price was right and the kitchen had counter space!  Both very important details.  I could live with it.

What I couldn't live with were the many gold-tone fixtures throughout this thing.  Don't get me wrong, I like  gold!  I like wearing it.  But I don't want to see it on my walls or cabinets.   Not that there's anything wrong with gold-tone fixtures it's just not me.

So, we immediately set out to fix that.

CountryBoy took all the light fixtures down and I painted them with a brushed nickel spray paint.  We also replaced the bathroom towel rods and toilet paper holder with new brushed nickel ones.

Much better.

That's all we did at the time but all the drawer and cabinet handles in here were gold-tone with ivory as well. Sigh!

38 handles all together.  Big sigh!  And many of them were looking pretty rough.

Well, after being in here day in and day out, I could no longer take all those gold-tone handles staring at me.

They were everywhere.  The kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom.

It was time to remedy this situation and since the price of replacing all of them would've been outrageous it was time for my trusty ol' spray paint.

So, earlier in the week when I went to Walmart, I picked up two cans of brushed nickel spray paint, some Old English and some rags.

Time to get to work.

I'm starting with the drawer handles since they are the easiest.

After cleaning (and degreasing the kitchen handles) I taped the ivory center and started spraying.

Two, sometimes three, light coats did the trick.

Before putting the handles back on, I wiped the drawer fronts down with the Old English.

I'm really pleased with the way they're turning out.

I have a few more drawer handles to finish today provided the weather cooperates.  It has to be warm enough for the paint to set AND not windy.  That combination has been rare around here so far!

Once those few are finished then I will have 14 out of 38 handles done!

The cabinets will take me longer as I plan to completely remove the cabinet doors a few at a time so that I can spray the hinges as well, polish the doors and rehang them.

It's a project that will take me a while but that's OK because I love projects of any sort!  (They tend to keep me out of trouble, ha!)

How' bout you?  Do you have any projects you're working on right now?

Till next time,

Cloudy Days

We've had several days of gray, cloudy skies here with some rain.  Some much needed rain I might add.  The dust level in the 5th wheel has dropped significantly since the rain, yay!

I've really enjoyed watching the skies these past few days.  The clouds are so intense and yet all that resulted from them was a bit of rain.

If we saw clouds like that developing in Florida, we knew we were probably in for a doozy of a storm with lots of rain, thunder and lightning.

Here, not so much.

Another difference is the harshness of the sun here.  It's been a challenge to shoot photos on a sunny day.  The subject tends to get washed out and the true colors are lost.

To help combat that, I purchased a Hoya ND400 filter. 

The filter is almost black but it allows me to take a longer exposure.

I tested it out with the clouds over the mountains the other day...

I'm pleased with the filter.  I think it helped to capture the medium tones that sometimes get lost as well as the highlights and shadows.

I hope to test it out on a sunny day and see what it does.

What is your favorite piece of camera 'extras'?

Till next time,

A New, Rather Large, Visitor

Yesterday the singing and chirping of the birds at the feeder suddenly ceased.

CountryBoy looked outside and saw the reason why...

A hawk wanting some dinner of its own.

I believe this is a Cooper's Hawk.

Later in the day, my sister-in-law (who lives next door) called to let me know that he was there again.

We knew every time the birds were quiet outside that the hawk was back, sitting in the tree just above the feeder.

These are the birds Mr. Cooper Hawk was wanting to feast on...

House Finches.

Incoming...

I don't know if the hawk went away full or hungry.

I don't want to even think about it even though I know that it's the way of nature and the circle of life.

I mean, surely there is plenty on the buffet a few yards away in the desert that the hawk could eat.  Like snakes and spiders?  Right?!  

Till next time,

Low Flying Clouds

Yesterday evening the clouds were so low you could barely see the tip of the mountains...

I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Till next time,

Saturday Scenery

It's cloudy and gray today.

It's drizzling off and on.

These are the mountains across the street from us.

The clouds are low.

It's nice to have this kind of day every once in a while in the desert.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Till next time,

Feeling Human Again

I woke up this morning feeling human again, yay!

I spent yesterday fighting a headache.

I didn't do much other than some reading, a bit of crocheting, helped a friend figure out what to do with some new yarn she bought and I made some homemade tomato soup for dinner (which was delicious except that next time I will cut back on the amount of black pepper it calls for.  Mercy, it was spicy!)

But, for most of the day, I felt out of sorts and unable to get motivated.

This was the weather yesterday...

gray skies with little bits of drizzly rain.

Even the birds spent some time chilling yesterday!

It's good to chill out every now and then.  We all need it.

Maybe that's why we have days that we feel puny and not 100% so that we can slow down and just chill.  Because when we feel good there's usually too much to do or too much we want to do and we don't take the time to chill.

I definitely chilled yesterday but am happy that I'm feeling better today!

I have to show y'all some of what happens in the 5th wheel with the animals.

Hunter and LizzieBelle are both the jealous type when it comes to me.

If Hunter is on my lap or getting attention from me poor LizzieBelle can't stand it and vice versa.

The other evening I was sitting on the couch and LizzieBelle was on my lap while I was crocheting.  Hunter sees this so he jumps on the couch, as well, and proceeds to get in LizzieBelle's bed and lays down.  Too funny!

Hunter obviously doesn't care that he's in a pink bed with a pink and white polka dotted blanket over him. It's the fact that he's in that pesky dog's bed and that's that!

LizzieBelle looked at him but didn't care that he was in her bed since she was on Momma's lap!

Silly animals!

Do your pets have any silly antics?

Till next time,

A Beautiful Productive Day

CountryBoy and I are up at 4:00 in the morning five, some times six, days a week.

A couple of hours later, the sun makes its way up over the mountain behind our 5th wheel.

As I was writing yesterday's blog post I noticed an orange glow coming through the window in our door.

I peeked outside, grabbed my coat and camera and went outside to capture this beautiful moment...

It remained cloudy all day and the temps were in the upper 60's.  Very comfortable outside.  In fact, I almost sat outside to watch the birds flock the feeder and takes photos but I had a project that needed my attention indoors...

I had been wanting to do some sewing yesterday but I couldn't decide what I wanted to work on.

After getting in our closet for something I saw what needed to be done...

A quilt-lined shirt that got CountryBoy through the cold winter of Idaho earlier last year was in dire need of repair.

I wasn't quite sure how to go about fixing it so I started out by taking the sleeve off.

From there, I trimmed all the loose threads and surged (I think that's what it's called) the edges of the sleeve together as well as the shirt sleeve opening.

Then, I attached the sleeve back onto the shirt.  I did a straight stitch first then went back over it with a zigzag stitch for more reinforcement.

All done and looking much better...

I was quite pleased with myself for figuring this out (since I really don't know that much about sewing) and being able to salvage a very warm shirt for hubby!

I also whipped up a couple of gluten-free Gingerbread Mini Loaves and Cinnamon Maple Frosting...

and made some Chicken Veggie 'Lo Mein' for dinner...

MMMMmmm!  So good!

Today, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. with an awful headache.  I took some Advil and went back to bed.

CountryBoy got up at 4:00 to get ready for work.  I usually get out of bed around 4:30 (once he's out of my way, ha!) but this morning I fell back asleep and never heard a thing until he came in to kiss me goodbye.

I stayed in bed and finally got up around 6:30.  That is so unlike me but I guess I needed the extra sleep.  Thankfully, the headache was gone.  I'm moving a bit slow this morning but that's OK.  I don't have much on the agenda today.

When I woke up at 3:30 it was raining.  That is the first rain since I've been here!  It didn't rain much but it's very cloudy and overcast today so maybe we'll get some more.

Looks like a good day to drink some hot tea, curl up on the couch with a good book and maybe do some more sewing (if I can figure out what I want to sew!).

What have you got going on today?

Till next time,

Steady Visitors & A Thrift Shop Find

When I came to visit CountryBoy for our anniversary and Thanksgiving last November we bought a bird feeder and hung it in one of the trees that can be seen from our living room (and now from my sewing table as well).

Although we had quite a few visitors those first few months a full feeder would last a couple of days.

Now, I'm lucky if a full feeder lasts for two hours.

I kid you not.

Steady visitors until it's gone.

I've added a small bird bath which these desert birds have thoroughly enjoyed.

The weather is getting nicer outside so maybe I can get some shots of them in the bird bath.

~~~~~

Last Saturday, CountryBoy and I stopped to check out the Goodwill store in town.

I really like the way they organized the clothes by color.

I don't know about you but I tend to gravitate toward the same colors when shopping and having my favorite colors all in one area just seems to make it easier to shop.

But, I wasn't shopping for clothes.  (There's only so much closet space in a 5th wheel!)  We were just browsing.

As of late, whenever I'm in a thrift store, I've been finding myself in the craft and fabric section of the store.  (Imagine that!)  I've found some deals on yarn, knitting needles and fabric.  (Speaking of, I still need to make use of those needles and learn how to knit.)

While CountryBoy was looking for anything that might could even possibly be used as a pan for panning gold (yes, working at the mine, and not the one we just visited, has given him the gold rush fever, ha!) I was checking out the linens.

Look what I found...

 

Two beautiful napkins!  These napkins are so me... I love the colors, the pattern, the texture and the leaves on them!

And the best part?  I paid .49 cents for both of them.  That's right... I said BOTH of them, woohoo!

Do you have a thrift store find that you've been thrilled with?

Till next time,