Donald Trump for President

A poem written by my sister, Nelda Maze Butler.  It made my day. Maybe someone else will get a chuckle out of it and even agree with the sentiment behind it.

Here's to You Mr. Trump

He's a total enigma, or some such thing.
Perhaps a magician or even a King,
Cause he rules and he reigns and makes the GOP sweat
And the other candidates have never seen such a threat!

He dominates the scene with his masculine swagger
And his words take the form of a really sharp dagger.
He calls a spade a spade or perhaps an f***ing shovel
And his tone is proof that he's not afraid of trouble.

He's been called lots of names because of attitude and spunk
And this summer is referred to as "The Summer of Trump,"
"The Donalds not boring," the media will say,
"He's gonna build a wall and make Mexico pay."

Skyrocketing to the top of the polls again,
With his double digit lead, he just might win.
Not easily embarrased, he's certainly not shy,
No filter on his mouth, he's a pretty cool guy.

Other's talk about his hair, his awesome "do,"
It dances in the wind and it waves at you.
It glows like a halo on his billionaire head,
He can wear it like he wants, "it's mine" he said.

So what is he, this puzzle called "Trump"?
He's a writer, a star, a producer, a hunk.
He's a winner that wins in a very big way,
And here hoping Mr Trump . . . you'll be President one day!

Nelda Maze

Kitchen Evolution

Who says that evolution isn't still occurring? It's going strong in this human and in my RV kitchen!  I just love blogs about this kind of information because it was the kind of information that I craved when I first got my RV. It's the kind of information that I could never seem to get enough of. I'm going to tell you about the evolution of how this inexperienced RV owner has progressed in her thoughts on what an RV kitchen should be into one that has a little more experience in her cabinets.  

When my RV was new. Well, new-to-me, at any rate. I had no idea what it was like to pack to get ready to travel in an RV, and as a result, I had the most unrealistic expectations about what I planned to include in my RV kitchen. I actually envisioned my ceramic canister set, that would match my china service for 12, sitting pretty on the counter as we traveled down the highway. Now, looking back, I see that I was clearly insane!  

Since then, I have become so much more realistic, frugal, and organized. Now, I question every purchase that I make for the RV. How much space will it take up? Where will I store it for travel? How will I use this? How often will I use it? Is there another tool that I already own that could work just as well if re-purposed? Can this tool perform double duty? Is it a good value? I also question aesthetic value. Just because it's built for function doesn't mean it can't be pretty too. For example, when I was looking for a serving tray to carry drinks or food in and out of the RV, I found one at the $1 store in the shape of a flip-flop, and it is perfect for all my needs, and it still looks cute after 2 season's worth of use. See what I mean? It's realistic to require the use of a serving tray. It definitely qualified as frugal with it's $1 price tag. If it gets damaged, stolen, or meets with some unfortunate fate, I'm only out $1, and it greatly helps to me to organize and avoid multiple trips back inside or outside. For instance, it makes a great build your own burger tray with plenty of room for lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, and all the fixins for a yummy burger straight off the grill! It also works great for h'orderves and drinks while watching the sunset, or for a tray of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolates for makings'mores around the campfire. 

One of the first things I learned was that I really needed to invest in the non-skid cabinet liner to help keep things from sliding around. I have lined all of my cabinets and drawers with it. I also use squares of this same liner in between my dishes. I have Corelle dishes that consist of 4 large oval platters, 4 large pasta bowls, and 4 deep cereal bowls. I don't line between each dish, but each type of dish. We put the 4 platters on the bottom, then a square of cabinet liner, then 4 pasta bowls, then more cabinet liner, then 4 cereal bowls. We also pack the cabinets very tightly so that there is very little room for items to shift while we're moving. Smaller items are stored inside the cabinets in baskets. Extra rolls of paper towels and toilet paper take up space somewhere in your RV. You might as well stick them in among the pots and pans to keep them still and silent. Since our RV is a class C, we don't want to hear the rattles and clanks of loose items in the cabinets. That's why my bakewares (muffin pan, cookie sheet, loaf pan, brownie pan, and cake pans) are made of silicone. It's because of its quiet travelling capability, and its ability to be folded and stuffed into one small cabinet above my microwave along with my serving trays and placemats. 

I learned that many things can do double duty, that some things are necessities even if they take up some extra space and don't have multiple uses, and I have learned to embrace paper products! My Corelle bowls are actually 1 quart serving bowls. Those bowls are fantastic for pasta, large entree salads, chili and soups, mixing bowls, a handy receptacle for blackberries, muscadines, pecans, and peaches, and of course their originally intended purpose as a serving bowl. My silicone muffin "tin" makes a great set of bowls to hold salsa, jalepenos, lettuce, onion, and cheese for easily accessible taco assembly. Then, there are those things that aren't quite so versatile. I know, now, that I can't live without a toaster oven. I fought putting one in the RV for a year because it just took up too much space. In the end, I caved in because sometimes you just have to make room for the things you love. I also learned that paper plates, paper towels, red solo cups, and coffee filters are an RVer's best friend. You will quickly grow tired of washing dishes in the small RV sinks, and when you just have to have that bowl of potato chips, you can always grab a Corelle bowl that you'll have to wash, or you can grab a coffee filter that costs less than a penny and you can toss in the campfire later that night.

I learned to shy away from a lot of the RV gadgets that caught my newbie eye, and were designed to empty my wallet in my desire to stock up the RV, but I did buy a few things that really were designed specifically for small spaces. I have 2 collapsible mixing/storage/serving bowls, that are also made of silicone, for when I need extra large bowls for anything. I have a collapsible dish drainer that fits perfectly in my second sink. I also have a collapsible colander that fits across the sink. They all store away neatly beneath the sink with the paper towel holder and utensil crock when we are under way. 

I would give you a list of everything in my kitchen, but everyone's list would be different based on their family's lifestyle. I can say that, so far, I haven't run into anything that I really needed that I haven't had in my RV kitchen, and I still have empty drawers! You do need to remember that whatever you pull out is going to have to go back up when you get ready to roll, so keep that in mind as you're on your RV adventure. It's much easier if everyone will do their part in putting away the items they use immediately. It will help you keep your sanity by keeping the RV as clutter free as possible and makes the space feel more inviting. It also saves time when you're breaking camp to move on to your next adventure. When Brett helps me to accomplish this, I can have the slide pulled in and the inside ready to move in 15 minutes or less while he is disconnecting hoses and cords and lowering the satellite dish and antenna. 

I hope you've enjoyed my thoughts and pictures of the inside of my RV cabinets! I may have given you more of an inside look than you wanted, but in case you have any questions that I haven't covered, please free to send me a note with your questions!

Howdy!

It's about to be an adventure!

For almost 6 years, all I have thought about is RV's. I dream of the full-time RVing life that will provide a life where I will be freed from debt and worries about maintaining this house, free from the boxes and boxes of junk that had taken over my house, and from all the other materialistic things that have been restraining me. A life where the simple things are the most beautiful and where having "just enough" is just what I need. This blog is going to be a chronicle of my quest to find that life. I'm going to share my thoughts about this dream of mine and take you on this adventure with me.

             Hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

 

 

Six years ago, I was freshly divorced. I had, and still have, the huge house that my ex-husband saddled me with. At nearly 4000 sq. ft., it is entirely too big for just two people, and for several months after he moved out, it was just me here in this great big money pit that craves constant attention. I knew long ago that I was not cut out for housework. However, now, I spend almost every spare minute cleaning this monstrous house, a prisoner and slave to the objects that clutter my house and my life, and my energy levels just aren't sufficient to clean any more of the house than the 4 rooms that I use.

Those 4 rooms make up the necessary creature comforts that I enjoy. I have a need for a place to prepare food. So, I have a kitchen. I need a place to sleep. So, I have a bed. I need a place to bathe and take care of other business (Dumping of waste tanks will be discussed in a future post...YIKES!). Finally, I need a place to relax. Those rooms that are basic to us all and something that most of us have in some shape, form, or fashion. Now that my list of needs have been defined, how can I mold my life to meet those needs, and just how important are my "wants"?

"Wants" and "needs" are vastly different. I "need" to drink water to survive, but I "want" it be served chilled. While a glass of room temperature water would satisfy my physical requirements, my palate, quite literally, prefers a tall glass of water poured over crushed ice. Could I get along without the icy cold water? Certainly, I could, but why would I "want" to if it were not a necessity? That was when the idea hit me. An RV would provide a comfortable solution to both my "wants" and "needs" and would require me to only make minimal sacrifices in the "want" category. I knew, then, that I both "needed" and "wanted" to sell my house and live in an RV for the foreseeable future.

Then, my research into RV's began in earnest. I was fortunate that my brother already owned an RV, and I was able to glean considerable knowledge about RV's from his experience. However, my brother's RV was a very high end, luxury, RV, and would never fit my budget and would place me back in exactly the kind of debt and materialism that I was trying to escape. So, I began my research. I looked at every class, every make, every model. I had the NADA guide memorized. I scoured every internet article concerning RV's. I joined multiple RV forums. I was only able to participate in the cooking section for a long time, but I learned so much about how an RV operates by reading the posts on those forums. And then, one day, it happened....my "wants" and my BUDGET met and fell in love with a  2002 Jayco 3100SS Class C motorhome.

Now that we have the motorhome, who we affectionately call "The Hilton", we are trying out this lifestyle by slowly dipping our toes in the water. Presently, I am trying to get the house presentable enough for a realtor to show to prospective buyers, and we are planning short weekend trips to see what we think of our next home. I am so very fortunate to have an adventuresome boyfriend that likes the idea of having a home on wheels. Bella, "The Beautiful Bulldog", wasn't such a fan at first, but it grew on her after she realized that the great big car took her to fantastic places!

You can visit those fantastic places along with us through the stories that I'll tell of our adventures, and I'll share the lessons we learn, both the easy and the hard way, while exploring our new life. We'd love to have you join us. Pull up a chair around the campfire, grab a stick and roast a marshmallow, or maybe you'd prefer something cool to drink after a hard day fishing for saltwater fish that just wouldn't stop biting? That's my idea of a little slice of heaven. What's yours?



Tracy, Brett, and Bella