The House: Ceilings

The house Meric and I bought was built in the 80s. There are a few 80s features that Meric and I are planning on updated as part of our remodel. One update that is needed throughout the entire house is the ceilings. Ceiling are one of those things you don't pay much attention to unless they look bad. Lets just say you would pay attention to ours. Right now the ceilings have the lovely popcorn texture that is a dingy white and falling off in some parts.

Popcorn ceiling

The first room we tackled was the downstairs bathroom. It is the smallest room and therefore we figured the easiest. (Not at all the case and those details are coming soon in another blog) Not only is this bathroom downstairs it is under the stairs. The ceiling is lower in this room and with the thick popcorn texture the ceiling felt even lower. For this room we decided to take all of the texture off the ceiling. Once we scrapped it all off we cleaned and patched the ceiling. It is hard to make the ceiling completely smooth and perfect so we decided to add a little sand texture to the ceiling paint. The results were a nice subtle texture and a ceiling that didn't feel like it was coming down on you.

Sandy ceiling

The next ceiling I de-popcorned was in Mel's room. Her ceiling was completely popcorn intact and didn't have any spots to patch or repair. For her ceiling I decided to gently knock down/scrape off a layer of popcorn. This was a very messy process but left a nice flatter texture to the ceiling. After painting the ceiling white I was very happy with the results. The subtle texture was very nice.

Knockdown popcorn ceiling

I am planning on doing the same thing to the rest of the ceilings in the house. It is a little crazy to do this work to make something you don't really notice. I do love the results though and hope it is worth all the effort.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Ever since I was a kid I was a huge baseball fan. I especially love going to the games. There is just something about cheering on you favorite team with hundreds of other people doing the same thing. The sights, sounds and smells of the stadium just add to the action on the field.

In the past several years I haven't followed baseball as much as I use to. I still am a fan and remain a loyal fan to the teams I picked as a kid, the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves. Yes I follow baseball enough to know that those two teams are among the worst in baseball right now but I am not a "fair weather" fan. I picked them and I am sticking with them through thick and thin. Being from WA I have had several opportunities to watch the Mariners play on their home field. I even got to see them play the Braves. But I had never gotten to see the Braves play at home... until now. For my birthday Meric got me a couple of tickets to see the Braves play the evil Yankees. (I have always been a Mariners and Braves fan and I will always hate the Yankees and Phillies. I may like some of the players on their teams but I stick with who I hate just as much as who I like.)

So Meric, Mel and I headed to Mel and Meric's first professional baseball game. There was a special promotion/theme for this particular game: Superheroes. Before the game we recieved Braves' superhero capes and got to walk around the baseball field. It was so much fun. Mel loved being all dressed up and parading around. 

After parading around the field we found our seats above the first base line and settled in to watch the game. It was so fun to watch the game and cheer with the fans. I was so excited to do the tomahawk chop all with the other Braves fans. Of course playing the Yankees there were just as many of their fans there too. Mel actually started plugging her ears with her fingers for the first time while at the game,

It was every time the Yankee fans cheered. Unfortunately they cheered a lot but the Braves fans were hardcore and kept up the cheering and chopping. I loved watching with other Braves fans. Mel had a lot of fun too but started getting restless by the 5th inning and so we let her run around and explore the stadium some more.

After sharing some ice cream in the 7th inning we decided it was time to head home. Getting to the stadium early and having a 2 hour drive ahead of us we decided the day had been long enough. Plus Mel we definitely due for a nap and I didn't want to get stuck in post game traffic with a cranky baby.

I loved going to the stadium, walking on the baseball field, and watching the Braves play on their home turf. Even though they lost 20-6 (yeah they are pretty bad this year) I still had a lot of fun. It was even more fun to share the day with my little family.

Glow Run

This past weekend Fort Gordon hosted a Glow Run. A Glow Run is kind of like a Color Run where they have stations of color being thrown at you along the way but at night and the color glows under black lights at the end.

Meric, Mel and I got to the race about 30 minutes before it was to start. Usually that is plenty of time to get signed in and pick up or numbers and t-shirts. Unfortunately that was not the case with this run. Apparently there were several (500 is what I heard) walk up/same day registrants. That made for a very long line and a delayed start time. It also meant that all of the glow sticks and glow bracelets they were handing out were gone. I felt a little bad because I knew Mel would like to play with them.

Meric and I decided to do the shorter 3K instead of the 5K since the race didn't start until after 8:30 pm. We figured it was best since it was so close to Mel's bed time. Right before we started running a lady noticed that Mel didn't have anything that glowed. She gave her two bracelets. Along the course I would find and pick up bracelets and glow sitcks that people had dropped. Turns out I didn't need to feel bad because Mel had plenty of swag by the end of the race.

She loved the glowing swag!

Now you see the glow!

We had a blast running and this race marked a milestone. Just before the finish line we took Mel out of her stroller. This is the first race that Mel ran across the finish line. My baby is growing up fast.

Enjoying a victory cookie.

Little Miss Mel: 18 Months

It is crazy how quickly my little baby is growing. Mel now has several teeth and loves to give you a toothy grin.

I did NOT tell her to show me her food

She is also running all over the place and is hard to keep up with. Mel enjoys running around bare foot but also loves her shoes and runs to get them when it is time to go outside. She is starting to talk and has several words in her vocabulary including all of her dogs' names.

Mel loves to cuddle with her woof woofs

She can say daddy but prefers to call both Meric and I "Mom". She doesn't just say mom once though. She likes to say "mom, mom, mom" whenever she wants something or to be picked up.

On the weekends she love to wake up early with daddy and spend special time together while mom sleeps in. Mel definitely has a mind of her own and we have a special place for all of her snacks so she can pick out what she feels like eating.

Peanut butter crackers are one of her favorite treats. She pulls the crackers apart and eats all the peanut butter and occasionally will eat the crackers too.

Mel is super smart too and is not to be under estimated. She loves tools.

Not toy tools though, she wants the real thing. She loves to help daddy fix things and knows the proper way to use an allen wrench.

One of Mel's favorite things right now is her belly button. She loves to show it to you.

She is so much fun and I love her smiling face and the way she laughs. Mel has always had a fun personality and I love just hanging out with her.

She loves driving the cart and goes vroom, vroom!

This kid definitely knows how to make herself comfy

She loves to put on her own sunglasses

On the Move

Life is always changing in one way or another. Meric and I have moved 5 times in the 11 years we have been married. Our first house was the one we bought in Spokane. We loved that house and it was our home for 3 1/2 years. Then Meric joined the Army and we moved to Texas. For 18 months we rented a house and made it our home. When we moved to North Carolina we rented another house and lived there for 2 more years. Just before moving way from NC Meric and I decided to start trailering. We wanted a home that would move with us. Our trailer was home to us for almost 2 months in NC before moving to Kentucky.

For 3 1/2 years we called the trailer home and thoroughly enjoyed our campground home in Kentucky. Next we moved the trailer to Georgia and looked for another campground to call home. For 5 months we lived in the trailer at a campground that was too far away from everything to be the right fit. After 5 months we took a 2 1/2 month break while Meric was in Texas for training and I took Mel on a country wide road trip. Once we got back to Georgia we moved the trailer to yet another campground. For over 4 years the trailer has been our home. No matter how our surroundings changed the trailer was our constant home. The trailer is the home we have lived in the longest during our marriage. But like I said life is always changing. Meric and I bought a house!

We got a great deal on a nice house and are hoping to flip it. We have moved out of our trailer and it is now parked on the side of our house. We intend to still use the trailer for camping and will more than likely move back into it when it comes time to move away from Georgia. But for now we are enjoying our new adventure and all of the projects that come with it.

Roughing It

When Meric, Mel and I moved back to Georgia we didn't go back to the campground we had been at before. The people were nice and all but it was so far away from EVERYTHING! We decided we would give the campground on Fort Gordon, Leitner Lake, a try.

The first trick was finding the campground. We had tried to find the campground by following the signs before but those had lead us into the training area and after a few miles we decided it couldn't be out that way. Now that we were planning to stay there we plugged the GPS coordinates into our Garmin and let that lead the way. Once again we were in training areas with signs that said things like "restricted access" and "live range ahead" but this time we just kept going. Sure enough nestled deep in the woods and training grounds of Fort Gordon we came across Leitner Lake campground. (We live on Fort Gordon and Meric works on Fort Gordon but it still takes him 25+ minutes to get to work. Crazy!)

Leitner Lake is a first come first serve type of place with only 22 campsites. Luckily there was one open and we were able to move right in. It is a nice campground right on a lake. The facilities are nice and they even offer 2 washers and 2 dryers to use for free. At only $350 a month for everything it is a great place to stay for a while. The only catch is that after you stay for 60 days you HAVE to move out of the campground for one week before you can move back. And once again it is first come first serve so you might not be able to get back on after your week if the campground is full.

Well our 60 days were up and we had to move. Across the lake is a rural camp area and for $5 a night you are welcome to stay there as long as you want. But rural means no water, no sewer and no electricity. Meric and I felt like we were up for the challenge and excited to try out dry camping a.k.a. boondocking in our trailer. 

Our 5th wheel is equipped with a 100 gallon fresh water tank. We filled the tank up and made sure our water pump was working well so that we wouldn't be completely without water. Also all of our sinks, shower and toilet drain into holding tanks under our trailer. As long as we didn't go crazy with the water we were good to go on water for at least a week.

Our trailer also uses different sources of energy. We use a 12 volt D/C battery to; power our lights, run circuit boards in our furnace and fridge, move our sides in and out, and a few other things. 120V AC is used to power our microwave, air conditioners, the power inverter (which helps keep the battery charged) and anything else you want to plug in to use. Propane is used for the oven and we can also use it to run the fridge and water heater which we normally run from AC power. Being the redneck hippies we are, Meric and I decided to experiment with solar panels. We got a small one to charge our cell phones. We figure this solar panel will come in handy for when we go camping and backpacking too. We also got a slightly larger solar panel to help keep our trailer battery charged. 

Our trailer has a built in gasoline generator also. It is nice to have in case of emergency but we have never had a need to run it since we were always plugged in at a campground. With our solar panels we wanted to see if we could handle the week without having to use the generator.

With everything packed up, tanks filled and solar panels ready to go, we moved the trailer to the rural area to begin our week. With the exception of having no cell phone reception at all, the rural area is really quite nice. It is way less busy and we had a bigger area all to ourselves. We were able to have the dogs out and loose most of the time. (one family did come to tent camp while we were there but they came over to meet our dogs and the kids loved playing with the dogs.) With the weather being warm we spent most of the time outside in the shade and cool breeze. It was so quiet and relaxing without tv and phones to distract us. I had planned most of our meals to use the grill and dutch ovens outside. It felt like for the first time we were really camping in our trailer.

The first couple of days were sunny and bright and we were able to easily keep the solar panel in the sun and the battery stayed charged. The third day was much more cloudy and the battery started to die. To conserve energy we would use flashlights and not the lights but the battery was slowly dying and even though the fridge was being powered by propane the circuit panel needed the battery in order for it to work. By the fourth day we were barely able to keep enough energy going from the solar panel to the battery to keep the fridge working. (Really we needed more solar panels.) After needing the truck to help charge the battery and with the temperatures outside reaching over 90 degrees these redneck hippies were ready to give the generator a try,

I was a little nervous starting the generator. We had never used it but we have had a couple of problems with it. The transfer switch it came with had actually been recalled because it would catch fire. Living in the trailer we had never had the chance to take it in to be replaced. At one point I had smelt an electrical burning smell and even though we had never used it the burning smell was the transfer switch heating up and melting. Meric and his dad (during one of his visits) had rewired the trailer and taken out the transfer switch. Now there is an actual plug that you physically plug into the generator from the trailer when you want to switch to using the generator. I was pretty sure that if the generator turned on at all it would catch fire. But instead it started right up and ran great. We were able to get the battery charged up, run both our air conditioning units and other things with the generator running. I was pleasantly impressed with our generator.

With the help of water tanks, solar panels, the generator and a cool breeze we were able to survive "roughing it" for a week. When our week was up we were able to move back to the regular campground into a new empty spot. (The only available site was a tight fit for our 40ft trailer. Luckily after squeezing into that site for a night we were able to move to another, much longer site that had opened up the next day.)

It was definitely a learning experience to dry camp. After trying out a few options Meric and I are a lot more confident for when our 60 days are up again. 

Redneck Hippies: Homemade Sandals

I have often referred to Meric and myself as "redneck hippies". After all we live in a trailer in Georgia. We also like to wear "minimalist" shoes. They are shoes that have a thinner sole so that you can feel the ground better. Your foot hits the ground more naturally and in my case I don't trip over my feet nearly as much.

A few weeks ago Meric had a coworker that also is into the minimalist footwear. He was wear sandals that had a very thin sole that was held to his foot with a cord. The thing about these sandals is that he made them. Of course Meric wanted some.

They are called Xero Shoes. You order them online. They have custom sandals that you can order by tracing your foot and sending it to the company. After that they send you a finished pair of sandals. They also have DIY kits. You measure your foot and then select your size. Meric and I both ordered a DIY kit.

Our order arrived and the kit consisted of the soles, laces, a hole punch and a bobby pin. First step is to place your foot on the sole and mark were you will need to punch the holes.

Meric and I both chose to place a hole between our first and second toes. (Some of the lacing options require more holes.) After we marked the place for the hole Meric punch them with the enclosed tool.

It was very easy. Next came our first knot. You need to tie the knot, heat it with a lighter and then flatten it a little. The knot rests on the bottom of the sandal between your toes.

After that we were ready for lacing. (The bobby pin was to make it easy to get the lace through the holes.) The Xero Shoes website had several links available with different lacing styles. Meric and I both started with the basic lacing style.

Once laced we both had extra cord. Meric chose to do a knot in the middle and cut off the excess. I decided to braid the extra cord back through the lacing. They turned out very different from each other and both look great.

I was a little nervous when we started that they wouldn't turn out very well but I couldn't be happier with the results. They were so easy to make and they are so comfortable. I love my homemade sandals!