First Snow Day & No Power

Oh man, we had our first snow day in the RV.  Boy were we ready! We had the trailer skirted, the heated water hose hooked up, the propane tanks full and the new porch up and ready to block our doorway from the storm.  We were looking forward to waking up all cozy and warm and looking out the windows at a beautiful blanket of white.  That is not how it went.  At 5 AM I heard Brian whisper, "Oh No!"  I sat up and asked what was wrong.  The electricity was out.  In the whole neighborhood.  That's right, no power in 20 degree weather and dropping.  No problem when you are in an RV because you have batteries that will still run your furnace.  Only problem is, our batteries didn't work and we never replaced them. Yep, we are really smart people. 

We actually fell back asleep and stayed warm with our pile of blankets.  Surprisingly the kids didn't start piling in until about 7:00.  We all snuggled in bed for another hour and then everyone started getting hungry. 

It was cold climbing out of bed and we all bundled up and turned on the stove for a little bit of warmth. We turned on the faucets to a trickle so the pipes wouldn't freeze.

Knowing this was not going to cut it, we headed out for a breakfast at IHOP and some Grinch pancakes.  Charlie had been begging for weeks to go, so he was over the moon. 

Oh wait, back up, remember how we worked so hard to get the porch up to protect our entry way.  Well this is what it looked like when we opened our door. 

So, there is a small opening up by the awning, but I don't think that would let this much snow in.  My thought is that the roof is so high that if the snow doesn't fall directly down, which of course it doesn't, then it blows right onto the porch.  Looks like we may need to put some plastic sides up.  Anyway, after everyone was fed we headed off to Costco and got some batteries.  We won't be caught off guard next time. 

The kids did get to play in the snow for a while, but it was pretty cold out so they didn't last very long. 

We decided to head to a movie.  My kids hate movies, but we bribed them with treats and we all went to see Smallfoot.  It wasn't exactly how we envisioned the day to go, but a little spontaneity is a good thing.  It goes to show that it's always the one thing you don't think to plan for that you end up needing.  We haven't given those batteries a second thought since being hooked up to power. I guess you can never really be truly prepared.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

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Parent Talk: Technology

I don't know how many of you out there struggle with the technology balance but we certainly do.  First, I am part of the problem.  I love technology.  I love games, news feeds and mostly weather apps. I check my phone constantly so why do I expect my kids to be any different.  My kids love YouTube.  I mean it is a true obsession for them. They talk about it constantly, they act it out and they even have their own channels.  When we lived in our larger home it wasn't quite as bad.  We aren't even big TV watchers.  My kids refuse to watch movies and the only TV they watch is PBS kids.  So I never really thought we had much of a problem. 

Then we moved into a tiny home.  While we were moving, all rules and time limits on electronics faded away and then while we got settled in I found myself letting all of that continue to slide.  It's terrible.  Here is the thing, electronics really effect my kids behavior.  I mean really bad.  They are more angry, they fight with each other more, they are more defiant and they don't want to do anything else.  So a little over a week ago we started an electronic detox.  I was really good for the first half of the week.  I wasn't letting them have any time at all.  We do a little bit of schoolwork on the computer so I did let them do that, but I sat next to them and did a lot of the interacting with the device.  I really wanted to minimize their interaction with electronics.  Of course though as the days went on I started to give in more.  I am still restricting them greatly, but the last few days I have let them earn a little time.  

I admit whole heartily that I am a major part of the problem.  I home school my kids so I get absolutely no alone time.  It's so hard not to give in just so I can get the dishes done or sit down and eat lunch by myself.  When my kids have zero screen time they are either making huge messes or want my complete attention.  We are trying really hard though to not fall into turning to our deices.  It is definitely harder now that it gets dark shortly after 5:00 and the temperatures have turned colder.  I have found that TV watching has less of an effect on them than the interactive devices.  So we are trying to find shows to watch as a family and that does help.  Another impact too much screen time has caused is that no one can entertain themselves.  My kids complain all the time they are bored and then can not come up with anything to do.  What's strange about that is I have always had a no screens in the car policy.  Unless of course we are road tripping.  However, lately they get in the car for more than five minutes and they think they are dying from boredom.  That has been the biggest red flag that we have fallen into a terrible screen time habit.  

So we are desperately trying to get back on track.  It does take some strategic planning on my part and I have to realize that my time is now basically nonexistent.  So here is what we are doing to get back on track. We tag team parent now more than ever.  We switch off who does bedtime, because yes we still lay with our kids at night.  Brian takes the kids out for daddy time more often.  We do more field trips.  I have a list of ideas for the kids to choose from when they can't think of their own.  

Here are a few ideas I have come up with to help entertain the kids so they don't beg for electronics.  
-We have play dough at the ready at all times
-I bought them each a sketch book and they can color and write in that
-I print out mazes or coloring pages for them to work on
-Lots of library books.
-When I can tell we are breaking down, we all go for a walk or to the park
-I read chapter books to them
-We play trivia games on Google Home
-Games, Games and more Games (Charlie could play board games all day)

Please comment if you have any tips or ideas for this.  We don't have gaming systems and only have one TV.  Our biggest problems are tablets and YouTube watching.  I feel like we used to have a good balance for this, so we just need a little reprogramming to get ourselves out of the habit and hopefully we will be back on track.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

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5 things that make RV life hard

When people ask us how things are going in the trailer we always talk about how much we love it, because we really do.  We have been pleasantly surprised about how much we are enjoying it.  But like everything in life there are things that are hard.  I thought I would share 5 of the things we have found more difficult in a trailer than when we lived in a larger home.  

5 reasons RV living is hard:

1: Everything takes a little longer to do.

    So you want to grab that cute sweater right as you go to walk out the door.  Wait.  You need to lift up the bed to get to where you store those bulky clothes.  And if you are like me you're too weak to lift the bed on your own if it has all the pillows and blankets on it.  So first, unmake the bed and then grab that sweater and then remake the bed and now you are on your way.  This is how getting simple items is just a little harder than before.  I find everything has an extra step or two than it used to.  If we want to play a game, we have to get up from the table, take off the cushions and get the game out, then put back the couch so we can play. 

                                        This is what it looks like when we get a game out

This is life when your storage is in places like under the dining table or under a bed that has to be lifted or even on the outside of your house.  As we go, I am finding more and more how to place things a little more strategically so things are simpler.  However, this is just a part of it.  I noticed it right away.  Everything is a little harder to do in a small space.  However as the days go on I notice it less and less.

2: Cooking is more difficult.
    Meal time has taken some adjustments since the move.  The oven is super tiny and doesn't cook very evenly so we almost never use it.  We have an insta pot that I use for most meals.  I also have one skillet and one pot, so big meals are out of the questions and no meals that require cooking two things in a pot.  I knew this would be an issue before we moved so I was prepared and had already put a lot of thought into the meal planning.  It has worked out fine for us and for the most part I have been able to adjust.  The other thing that makes cooking difficult is the dish washing.  I have to hand wash the dishes, so I am careful with how much I use.  I also only have one small drying rack with very limited counter space so drying too many dishes becomes a problem.  So overall, cooking can be difficult without thinking and planning.

Our counter space is limited so the stove doubles as a drying rack.  Everything takes a little bit of choreography to make it all run smoothly.

3: Long showers are a thing of the past.
    We are lucky to have a tank-less water heater.  A true luxury when living in an RV.  However this still uses up propane and that can get expensive.  So showers are quick and to the point.  We live where it gets cold.  So of course there is nothing like a hot shower when you wake up on a cold morning.  However standing in the water for very long can get pricey so we tend to take quick showers.  The kids really struggle with this concept.  You know kids and how they think money grows on trees.  Sheesh. 

4: Privacy is non existent.
    Being a mom, this hasn't existed for me for some time now.  But I can imagine if you are used to privacy this can be a big problem.  It seems like the second you get in the shower there is a line of people who need to use the bathroom.  If you want to watch something or read a book, everyone sees you doing that and wants to know what you are doing.  I have little kids so this might be worse for us than if you had teenagers who would just go hide in the bunkhouse.  Just today I had a friend take the kids for a play date.  I was alone for about 30 minutes and I didn't know what to do first.  Should I clean, watch TV, read a book, talk on the phone, take a nap.  There were so many options, the excitement was overwhelming.  To be honest though, I felt this way when I was alone in our bigger house also.  True mom life.  Still, if you like to be able to go in room and close the door and watch tv or read or just think, that is not a possibility here. 

This happened this morning when I went in my room. These three followed me in and commandeered the TV.  Mom problems or RV problems?  I'd say both. We even had Kya's friend join us. No one is immune to invading your privacy in a small space.

5: Space, Space and Space.
    This is the thing most people comment about and think is crazy.  To be living with little personal space is definitely a challenge.  Each person in our family has about 25 square feet of personal space that they get to call their own.  The rest (about 150) is all shared space.  The challenge isn't just about privacy, but also about having a place to call your own. A place to put your stuff and to decorate your own.  I tried to give each person a special place and it does work but a little more room per person wouldn't be a bad thing. 

Each child has a bunk decorated just for them and they each have a little storage container to keep a few items in their space.  

Trying to cook, eat, play games, build with legos, play barbies, and lots of other activities we do requires space.  This means that everyone else has to walk over anything you are doing. 

                                                   The bunk house during play time.

This can be a challenge for sure.  We are getting the hang of it though and try to be careful where we spread out our activities.  Space is the biggest thing we sacrificed and also the thing that is changing our family for the better.  It's a funny thing.

There are definitely challenges to the RV lifestyle.  However, once we made the leap we don't really feel any of these things are that big of a deal.  That does not mean we don't enjoy the space when we play at friends houses or a nice long shower when we visit family. It's just things that we have to adjust to. At the end of the day, we are still happy about the move and look forward to what might come next in our life.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

Surprise Gone Wrong

On Tuesdays the older kids go to school.  Lily and I usually head to the laundromat.  It's nice because we talk and get a treat and just spend one on one time, which she rarely gets.  We also have some electronic time.  I get to do some work and she gets to watch videos.  It's a win win. So that's where we are today.

I've been feeling a little off today.  I guess you could say I have the blues a little.  I don't know why, no reason really.  I am lucky, I have a very even tempered personality and I really don't have a lot of up and down emotions for the most part, but like everyone, I sometimes feel down and sluggish for no reason.  

This mood had me reflecting on our move and everything going on.  I was thinking about how crazy that last week was and what an emotional roller coaster it was.  I thought I would share a funny story from that week though.  Well, funny now, it was not funny at the time.  

It was the day before we closed and I had taken the kids over to a friends.  Brian was coming home early to help with the finishing items.  I wanted to run our last load of donation items before he got home.  I was so excited to get that done, thinking he was going to be so surprised and happy I took care of it.  One less thing on his list.  And he was so thankful and happy it was done.  Our garage was almost empty after I took all the stuff.  About five minutes after I got back home he started work on some baseboards.  He called upstairs to me to know if I had seen the staple gun.  Immediately I remembered taking the silver case to the donation center.  It was sitting at the front of the pile and I even questioned it being there but was in such a hurry I moved along.  Without a word, Brian was in the truck, wheels screeching, heading to the donation center.  I laugh now about how dramatic everything was and how we were both so stressed about it.  At the time however, I burst into tears.  I knew Brian was upset, after all it wasn't even our nail gun.  He had borrowed it from his brother in law.  The wonderful surprise had turned sour.  I was so sad and felt terrible.  Luckily the people at the center were helpful and kind and Brian located the nail gun quickly.  We laugh at this story now, but at the time it felt like the worst thing ever.  Brian was fine by the time he made it home and never said one harsh word to me about it.  I'm so glad that even when he is probably super angry at me, he looks at the big picture and never takes his anger out on me.  We moved on with our day and finished cleaning up the house.  Later on we realized that I also took some stabilizing jacks for the trailer to the donation center.  Oops.  I constantly wonder what else I accidentally took that we haven't even noticed.  

This day was a tough one for us but I am so happy that we both are able to laugh about these moments not long after they happen.  Oh man, these last few months have definitely needed some laughter to get through.  I am so glad we are settled and enjoying time as a family.  Now for the holiday season to start.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

The Bathroom Tour

I have the bathroom done!  This was the last room to be unpacked and it took awhile for me to decide what to do with all our stuff.  Finally it is all together.  I have been trying to decide if I should do an overall RV tour or show each section more in detail.  I think I will do the rooms and then maybe do an overall review.  So since the bathroom is looking so nice now, I will start there.  We have one very tiny bathroom for 5 people so that means getting creative.  First I am utilizing the place above the cabinet.  it is tiny but I found this drawer organizer that fits perfect. 

I really just put our back up supplies and band aids in there.  Stuff I don't need everyday.  I ordered a shelf that is made for the corner of  a shower.  It uses hooks that stick to the wall. This is perfect because we can't screw anything into the wall.  It works perfect for the little corner area of the wall.

I also got another shower shelf and stuck it up above.  The shower shelves work great because they are meant to be able to stand wet areas.  The stickers that hold them up aren't bothered by the humid bathroom. 

I also put up command hooks for everyone's towels. We each have one towel and I didn't have a place to store towels so this works out great.  Plus, they need to be hanging up to dry anyways so now they each have a place.

  Our shower has shelves already so that was helpful.  I only had to add cups for our razors.  Easy fix for those. 

My favorite thing is our new toothbrush holders.  We each have a cup and a place to put our toothbrush and toothpaste.  I love them.

Yes, I do buy my children all their own toothpaste.  They all like different things and it eliminates any fighting.  Plus I have one child who is super messy with their toothpaste and this would make my other child cringe and throw a fit if it was also their toothpaste.  So these little holders have been amazing.  We all love them.   The bathroom was probably my biggest concern coming into RV living but with just a few creative ideas, it seems to be working.  We all had to scale back and think carefully about what we truly use in the bathroom.  But like I've said before we don't even notice what we didn't bring. 

Miles of Love,

Stacey

One Month Review

Two days ago we hit the one month mark for full time RV living.  We started reflecting on what we thought so far and I decided to share it. 

First, we realize how quickly a place becomes a home.  I was worried that every time we walked in the door we would feel like we were camping or just have that feeling it was a trailer not a house.  We adjusted quickly to not even thinking about those things.  We feel comfortable and already have a rhythm to how we do things.  Home really is where your family is.  Cheesy I know, but I couldn't resist.

                                    

       I found this on my phone.  I love that she took a

 selfie with Millie the trailer.

Second, We can't believe that we don't miss our stuff.  When we were purging our belongings, it was so stressful.  Every item in hour home was picked up, looked at, thought about and then we made a decision about whether we should keep it or not.  It was one of the most exhausting things I've ever done.  I've moved a lot in my life time (around 20 times).  I understand how to get rid of clutter, but when you downsize from a 2500 square foot house to a 300 square foot house, it is on a whole other level.  However, now after it's all said and done, I don't even miss that stuff I was struggling to get rid of.  I can't even remember what it was.  It's truly surprising how little we actually need.  Even now I look at the stuff I kept and realize that some of that stuff will probably end up going too.

                       Our yard sale to start the purge. 

Third, We all really like each other!  We have always been a bit of a codependent family.  However, we still found ourselves all in our own rooms, sometimes on our own level of the house.  When you have the room to spread out, you do.  Now we are near each other no matter what.  I was worried that it would take us a while to adjust to this, but we actually all find that we like it a lot.  We play games, we cook together, we sit and talk, we only have one TV so we even have to compromise and watch TV together.  I feel like we are actually getting to know each other.  I have to admit, I was worried. When you tell people your plan to live in a trailer, most people respond with, wow your brave.  Some even asked if I was worried about ending up divorced.  While I assumed we would be fine, the comments still made me think about these things.  It turns out, we really like to be together.  I know, I know, you're thinking it's only the first month, give it time.  I am, and we'll see.  But I am going to enjoy all this togetherness for now, just in case the naysayers are right.

These are the three main things that we noticed this past month.  Brian keeps telling me that he can't believe how much he likes it.  I can't explain why, but it feels so freeing.  It really was scary and stressful to give up a stationary home.  It was one of the hardest weeks of my life, but now I am so glad we did.  We feel like we have a lot of options and possibilities ahead.  I am a serious planner so not knowing what the future looks like is a little bit nerve racking for me, but also very exciting.

Miles of Love,
Stacey

Building a Deck

We need a deck.  I know you are thinking, why would you add a deck to a trailer?  Lot's of reasons actually.  We need some more storage for outside gear, We need a place to put our shoes on and off.  We need a better place to walk into our trailer instead of crowding on the stairs.  Plus this will give us a little spot to enter that is covered and we won't drag the snow in.  So this is going up.  It is a free standing deck with stairs and a small metal roof.  

Here are the details on building. 
 First we Put up 4x4 posts and made a platform.

Next we added support beams using 2x4's and support brackets.

 

This is all we finished on day one.  It rained for a few days so we were put on hold.  When the sun came out we finished up.  Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle that morning so Brian ended up finishing the rest by himself. The deck flooring was laid next. 

Doesn't it look nice?  We used 4x6's here. 

Then the roof was built.  He put support beams in and used a corrugated metal sheet for the roof.  I love the way it looks.

And lastly we built the stairs.  Brian had to build the stands for the stairs because the pre-made ones at the hardware store wouldn't work with our measurements.  Then he put 2x6's for the stairs.  He ended up making them the whole 8 feet across the front.  I think it looks so good that way. 

So that we can use it for storage we added doors on the ends that we can lock up.  I'm so happy for the extra storage.  

Here is what the completed deck looks like.

It took about 2 days to complete.  It was fun working together on a project to get our new house feeling like a home.  

The kids played outside most of the time we were working on it.  

       Of course they had to play right where we were working.

              This is what happens when they play inside alone.

We still need to paint and stain the deck but that will have to wait till we get a few dry days.  We are also hoping to find a deck box to set by the door to put our shoes in. 
The spot we are staying in has so many goat head stickers and this will help us not drag them into the trailer on the bottom of our shoes.  Next up?  Fix that dang water line on the toilet.

Miles of Love,

         Stacey

A weekend of Injury

Last Friday I received a text from my sister with a picture of my mom.  Her eye was swollen to the size of a golf ball and was black and blue.  She had been walking my sisters dog and fell on the sidewalk.  She was running and was so worried about keeping a hold of the dog she never put her hands out to catch herself so her head was the first thing to hit the ground.  Luckily, she had no other injury.  All tests came back fine and nothing was broken.  She turned out to be quite lucky.  However, her face continues to bruise darker everyday and spread all over the one half of her face.  The day after her fall, I was heading out to help Brian on the deck and walked right into a hole on the deck and sprained my ankle pretty badly.  I was put in a boot and given crutches.  Since it was my right foot, I was not going to be able to drive.  Luckily by Monday my moms swelling was down so she could come drive us around.  This week the kids had school, we had to hit the laundromat, It was Halloween (also Kya's birthday), the girls had doctor appointments and I needed to grocery shop.  So to say I was grateful she came to drive me around is an understatement.  However, when we ran our errands we looked like we were coming back from some sort of wrestling match or just walked away from a car accident.  People stared us down everywhere we went.  My mom tried to wear her sunglasses everywhere which also looked pretty funny.  Shopping with your sunglasses on also seems weird to people.  It was quite a week with the two of us.  

Poor Brian had to finish up the deck alone.  I sat outside and tried to cheer him on.  I don't know if he loved it or hated it though.  The girls had a nail and hair salon outside while he worked.  I think we ended up just being in his way more than anything.  He's too nice to tell us though.