So... Project end garbage gut is on track. Cabinets/pantry & fridge cleaned out. There is still plenty of food for the hubby & kids. Hopefully, my example will help them more easily change their habits. I had a moment of panic upon realizing that my yogurt ranch dressing was not whole 30! How does one eat a salad without croutons, cheese or DRESSING! I want to do my best. So i bought the ingredients for several different "legal" homemade dressings. I will post probly pics as soon as I learn how...

Well, what do ya know? I found my old blog. It was a short, unsuccessful blog attempt. Here I am again... I am going to try it again. The fact that I am terribly disorganized and not tech savy make blogging a real challenge for me. I really should be fairly good at it. Once upon a time, I was a good writer. Back in the stone ages (high school/college), I liked writing. I did not receive less than an A on any paper for any subject. Maybe I preferred the old pen & paper method, IDK. 

A brief summary of where we find ourselves at the end of 2014.. We are still living in our 35' travel trailer and we still like it (most of the time). We had tossed around the idea of staying put for awhile, but have since decided we still have nomadic hearts. If the travel jobs come around, we are likely to take them. The kids are doing well. My oldest has made me a proud gramma! My 12 year old is still amazing & wonderful (even with the onset of some teen moodiness). My 4 year old is growing too fast. She is a firecracker almost all the time. Lee & I are still soul mates and consider ourselves extremely lucky to have one another.

My reason for looking for this old blog is not motivated by our travels at the moment (we are currently stationary anyway), it is to give me an outlet as I attempt what I think will be one of the most difficult things I have done.... Change our eating habits. I know, it sounds boring and it probably will be for you, the reader (if I actually have any readers, lol). So, if you want to stop here it's ok with me. This is mostly for me anyway. I have spent pretty much all of my life making poor food choices, and now that I am in my 40's I am feeling it. I am a sugar/carb addict and veggie phobic. I would almost rather eat a chocolate covered insect then broccoli. Sad. The worst part is... I have raised one daughter with the same poor eating habits, and am raising 2 more the same way. :((. I have little influence over my grown daughter, but there is still time for the other two. But OMG this is going to be so hard! for all of us! I am going to start by making drastic changes to my diet while sneaking in smaller ones for the kids. The whole30 program is where I will start. I plan to start it in 8 days. I am reading the book and researching other folks blogs and reviews. I hope to have the pantry/fridge cleaned out and a grocery list ready by mid-week. By Sunday, a meal plan and shopping/prep should by done. I have read many good things about the whole30 program & personally know some folks that have completed it with very positive results. But can someone with such poor eating habits for so long suddenly change?? Idk. we will see. I will be taking pics and posting them up, not of me but pics of foods.. b4 & after pantry/fridge pics.etc. I MAY post b4 and after pics of me at the end of the 30 days. Lets see if we can teach an old dog new tricks. Or in this case, re-train old taste buds.

Pics of the new casa

 Our awesome bunkhouse! The kids love it, but i'm certain that we love it more! The bottom bunk has a huge storage area underneath. While this is most amazing, it is somewhat difficult to get to. The bunk is heavy, and there is nothing to hold it up. I worry about the kids fingers. It came with a double fold out couch/chair thingie. When folded out it creates a king size bed! We don't need that and wanted more floor space, so we put 1/2 of the couch thingy in storage.

The other side of the bunkhouse has a slide-out closet (on right). This was 1 of the selling points for me. B4 the girls clothes were in bags under my bed. Now ALL of them plus our jackets fit in the closet! and we have the cabinets and drawars you see at the end of the bunk. As awesome as this space is, there are some perplexing design "flaws". The cabinet door does not open all the way, due to the leather topper on the closet. The duct that goes to the heater vent is half the size of the rest of the camper, making it colder in the bunkhouse(y?).  And i'd like to know who's bright idea it was to put the emergency escape hatch on the

window on the bunk?! (which will most likely be occupied by a child). Y not use the other window on the far wall (not pictured)?

 

Here is our living/dining/kitchen area. It is much bigger with this slide-out, then our old 1. Lee has replaced the TV with a much larger 1 (of course), at least it doesn't overwhelm this space like it did in the other camper! It is pretty similar to most of the campers in this class. I like the decor better than most, although I find most camper decor to be a bit ugly. These neutral brown shades are better than most, and hide dirt quite well (a must with the lil ones).  Lee is going to add a counter extension topped with a cutting board. I love having doors instead of curtains separating the bedroom, but I'm confused as to why there is sooo much space at the bottom?

This booth type dining table is much bigger than the old 1 and has space underneath all the way around. We haven't even filled it all yet (give us time)! The table can be pulled out, removed, or put down for a large bed. The couch is way more comfortable than the other, and folds out to make a queen air bed. It's nice, but stretches all the way across, making it difficult to slide get by. It is possible though, and makes a comfy bed.

The master bedroom is pretty standard. The bed is bigger and thicker than our old one. I have already put my pretty comforter on the bed and moved the ugly 1 to storage. I really like that both cabinets next to the bed have mirrors. The bed has storage underneath. It lifts up easily and the compartment it much easier to get into. Lee has also mounted our tv. It came with a small flat screen that could be turned for the living room or bedroom. Neat idea, but you could see into the bedroom around the tv, not cool. I like my bedroom to be my oasis! Lee closed the hole with wood and added support. then he mounted the big tv on the living room side, and the smaller wi-fi tv on the bedroom side.

My cute little kitchen. It's small, but functional. We looked at models with really nice outdoor kitchens. But the outdoor kitchens made the bunkhouse sooo much smaller with alot less storage. I liked the outdoor kitchens, but honestly I don't think having 2 kitchens is gonna encourage me to cook more! :) Besides picnic table + BBQ = outdoor kitchen, right?



Luvin' the bunkhouse!

We have been in our new bunkhouse for about a month. We love it! It absolutely has some quirks, but still amazing! I will post the good, bad and the ugly asap!

Movin on up!!

Tonight is the LAST night to make the table into a bed! That's right! We pick up our brand new bunkhouse in the morning! It is a 2012 Keystone Laredo! It features an amazing bunkhouse with a slide out wardrobe, and TONS of storage both inside and out.  It has the glacier package and did I mention a bunkhouse?!?  There are many other awesome features, but I am still stuck on the bunkhouse and storage, LOL!  We hope this turns out to be an amazing TT, and look forward to giving honest feedback on its performance! I will post pics asap!  Woo hooooo!!! mama is happy!

MEG'S TREE!

Megan's girl scout troop took the girls to Dewberry Farms and each girl got to cut down there own Christmas tree. Meg was instructed to pick out the smallest tree.. Well, bcuz of the Texas drought they were keeping their small trees for next year. So, Meg came home with a crooked 4' tree! We set it up outside of our camper and it turned out beautiful!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This is our cute little Christmas tree in the camper!

I finally figured out how to hang the stockings, lol! Removable Command hooks on the ceiling! Worked great!

The kids did not seem to mind Christmas in small spaces... We had Christmas right here in our tiny camper. 8, yes 8 people! We picked up the paper as we went and discouraged opening any packages with small pieces until the final clean-up was complete!