monday.

Well I don't have too much for my Not Me Monday today...

The only thing I could think of quick was that last night as I was setting the table, Nathan says "How come we aren't using paper plates?"

Okay...so I've been using paper plates for supper (and maybe lunch!) for the most part to limit my dishes in the evening when my energy is pretty well spent!

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On a more sober note....

We thought we'd be moving in the next few days to a farm that had about a half an acre all fenced in, trees, just a perfect setting...but it fell through and won't happen. It's been a hard afternoon for me as I was so excited to move there to have a place for my boys to run, a place for us to plant a garden, a place to just enjoy the outdoors. We just have to trust that that is not where the Lord wants us at the moment and hopefully another door will be opened soon.

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Here is the snow we have left.



Not too much given that last month it looked like this!

today.

Today was "one of those days".....again.




But don't worry...I had it all picked up (and vacuumed!) by the time Nathan got home. And the boys were even sitting quietly on the couch when he walked in the door. If he only knew...

mini me.

Okay, so I couldn't resist making a skirt for Ariella that matches mine! (See post below if you haven't already!) I whipped it together just now within a few minutes.

I had a pair of pants that I put in the wash this morning to go into the Goodwill bag because they were getting short on her...perfect for making the skirt! I pulled them from the dryer (still wet!) in order to cut them and sew on the skirt pieces. (No, I couldn't wait for them to dry...I was too excited and motivated so I needed to do it then!)

Isn't it adorable?! I'm sure it will look WAY cuter on but since it is still wet...I'll hafta show you a picture of her in it another time :) I set the remote by it so you'd get an idea of how big it was.

What else can I make?!

broom skirt.

When we were back in Nebraska, I had gotten a skirt at the thrift store for $2.00 and a bunch (4 yards!) of fabric for $3.00 total, both of which I thought would work great to make a broom skirt with.

Since I'm (fairly) new at sewing and usually have no idea what I'm doing (remember how I could never be a quilter??), I searched the web for some directions in making a nice flowy broom skirt. I've made a couple skirts before, one from a pair of jeans and another from sewing 2 dresses together, but I hadn't made this kind of skirt yet.

Since I love the fabric, I have been excited to make it but since moving into the rv, I haven't really had the time or ambition to take out my sewing machine and start it. Well, yesterday I did it!!

I started in the afternoon and then put it away and finished after the kids went to bed. It was fairly simple and I followed these steps:

1) Measured my hips at the widest part and added 8 inches. That would be my first strip. Then added 12" to that and that was my 2nd, then 20" to the second and that would be my 3rd. (all 11" wide)

2)Cut the fabric into 3 long strips and sew them into tubes.

3)Then I cut the jean skirt about 10 inches from the top.



4)I gathered the fabric on the first tube and sewed it to the jean skirt. Now I had my first layer.


5)Then I repeated step #4 for the 2nd and 3rd tube.

6)Then I hemmed the bottom and....taadaa....a super cute skirt!

rv water tip.

To those followers of mine out there who are becoming full time rvers soon or who just have a camper that they use during the summer months, here is a water tip...

A while ago we noticed that our hot water starting to smell. At first it wasn't that bad, but then it got worse. It smelled like perm solution or as Tiernan thought "eggs". Yeah, not something you want to smell everytime you do the dishes or take a shower! The shower was the worst because you were breathing it in too, it was disgusting!

We kept putting it off though to figure out what it was because, well frankly, we had no idea what to do or where to start. Maybe if we just ignored it, it would go away?? Well, it didn't and it only got worse.

Sulfer smell...and bad. After finding some stuff out online and talking with Nathan's friend, we thought we had a pretty good idea of where to start.

Before leaving for church, we shut off the water and the water heater to let the water cool off a bit. (Remember that little switch that needs to be flipped...yeah, that one. Just needed to be turned off.) Then when we got back, Nathan pulled the plug outside and let all the water from the hot water tank drain out. Once it was out, we pulled out the anode rod out and rinsed it off. (The anode rod is a little tube-like thing that the 'icky' stuff in the water will 'eat' instead of the lining of your tank...yeah, it's a good thing!) There was still almost the whole rod left, so we knew that we didn't need to replace that.

Nathan did notice some chucks of stuff draining out of the tank, so once he turned the water back on, he left the plug out, letting the tank rinse out a bit. We also changed the filter we have outside on our hose since this water is nasty out here...bright brown, nice huh?! Then he put the plug back in, filled up the tank, turned the water heater back on, turned on the faucets to let the air in the tank release and after a minute or two, we had hot water that didn't smell!!!!

Whoo hoo!! Problem solved!!

Sooo, if you have stinky hot water, it might be as easy as draining your hot water tank!

We are just learning all the time around here!

Oh, and another thing we keep learning...yeah, it's taken us awhile...is that we have to remember to flip the switch (yeah, that one!) if the propane runs out during the middle of the night if we want to take a shower that has more than freezing cold water. I learned that the hard way (again!) the other day. I had to settle for washing my hair in the sink with cold water before leaving.

One of these times we won't forget!!

Hope that helps someone! :)

i lied.

I told you the next post in the "tour de rv" post was going to be the dining room. It's not. It's going to be a bedroom. And can you guess who's bedroom??

I'll give you a hint.....


Yes, it's sweet Ariella's!

Here is the view from the door....

..nice and wide, I know! When we first moved here, I had the hardest time trying to figure out where Ariella would sleep. For awhile she slept with me in our bed since she was pretty used to that anyway. But then she started moving at night...a lot...so I wanted to move her elsewhere. We tried putting the big pack n play out in the living room every night, that wasn't so fun. Then we tried putting it into the bedroom but it was too wide. Then I created a little 'fort' for her in the bunk bed with a blanket but it was too hard to get her in and out. Then I found the perfect solution!! A travel pack n play! It is 20% smaller than the normal size pack n play and is super light weight! It fits perfectly, as you can see, and the best part was that it was on clearance when I bought it and I saved $30!....and she's slept in it ever since!

I needed somewhere to put the coats...and in the closet there's not that much room so just about a week or so ago, I got a great idea! (To which Nathan said that it was my best idea yet!) I got a tension rod and hung it across Ariella's room above her bed...and that's where their coats go! Out of the way!

Since no one is sleeping the the bunk beds in her room, I use it for storage. I didn't want to have a bunch of stuff in them and not have them covered with something because I think that's such an eye sore...so I made curtains for them! I searched a bunch of places and had very limited selection for fabric so I decided to buy a queen sheet set, cut it, sew it, and make curtains! I just bought a couple long tension rods for this and I think it works like a charm. Now no one has to look at ugly totes. It makes it more clean looking.

On the top bunk, I keep the kids' books, egg cartons that need to go back to the farm, a tote with kids' sheets and pillow cases, and totes with all the kids' homeschool curriculm. On the bottom bunk, I keep some totes with toys, a tote with my creative memories albums in it, one with some bag activities for the kids, and some puzzles (I've since added a big tote with all the puzzles in it)


Under the bunks there are 6 drawers and in them is where I keep our video camera, plastic storage containers (for food, etc), paper plates and ziploc baggies, and some misc stuff like the bag that the pack n play goes in, etc.

This is the view of the closet (it's hard to get far enough away since the room is a whole 2 ft wide!)

On this side of the closet (it goes through into the boys' room) is where I keep the kids' shirts. Each child has their own stack. On the very bottom of the closet is where the rain boots go, as well as 2 baskets, one with hats, mittens, etc and one with shoes.


On the very top of the closet I keep diapers and wipes. Above the closet there is a storage space (see the door for it?) that also goes through to the boys' room and that is where I keep extra blankets!

There is a door that is next to her bed...you might have to scroll up and look at the first pic to see it...That is the 2nd bathroom. Maybe I'll clean it out in order to post pics, but for right now, it's full of empty boxes :)

And that's Ella Bella's room!

Not Me! Monday

Since I am used to my iphone and the screen going black after not being 'active' with the phone for a few seconds, I totally did not try to touch our tv screen when the screen went black while my husband was changing channels and I happened to be standing next to it. I mean, I definitely know the difference between a phone and a tv and would never be so silly to get them mixed up! Nope! Not me!

While out running errands the other day, I totally did not empty out my garbage can in the van, crawl into the back seat, and let my 2 and 3 yr old go potty in the empty garbage can! I would never be so lazy that I didn't want to take all 4 children out of the van and into the store so two of them could use the bathroom. Then, I did not empty out the garbage can onto the parking lot and rinse it with a bottle of water. Nope! Not me!

I was totally not nervous about working the 'do-it-yourself' car wash since I've never done it before. Then when I was almost done, I did not wonder what the little trigger was for. Then I did not realize that you had to pull the trigger for the 'power' rinse to come on. So I did not have to add more coins so I could go around my car again to get it clean. Nope! Not me!

And before leaving our friends house, I did not ask my husband if he needed to 'go potty' before we left, as if he needed me to remind him b/c couldn't take care of that on his own! Nope! Not me!

And we totally didn't almost burn our place down or flood it, all within the same day. Nope!

Not Me Monday is a blog carnival created by MckMama.