Tweaking the Trailer

Today we're busy moving our furniture to storage, which means we'll be sitting on the floor and sleeping on air mattresses for the next week or so. Meal planning has been interesting since our food stores are dwindling (on purpose). I just realized that next week will be our last blog post before we hit the road. Yikes!

Since we've had so much time to prepare, I've been having fun getting our trailer organized and comfortable for the trip. Pinterest has been a huge help in this area. Check out some of the hacks I've added:

This is a PVC fishing rod holder. I screwed it in next to the fire extinguisher. It makes a fantastic flashlight holder. I've also added glow-in-the-dark tape so it's easy to see in the dark. 

Glow-in-the-dark-tape is also on our outside step to keep everyone safe in case we need to go out at night.

The trailer originally came with a tiny shower head. I replaced it with this one. It distributes the water more evenly and aerates it so you don't use as much. That little switch in the center opens and closes the water flow so you can lather up and not have to keep turning the water on and off completely. The temperature stays constant and you don't waste water!

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself because the bathroom didn't have a toilet paper dispenser (I mean really, what were they thinking?!), so I installed one myself! It was so secure that I decided to put up a towel rack too. This one is actually a lightweight wine rack. The walls in trailers aren't very thick or sturdy, so we'll have to be careful when taking the towels out so we don't accidentally rip it out of the wall. So far, so good!

We're using a great idea from a friend (Hi, N!!) and doing something creative with both the towels and the dishes. They're color coded! Now each person has an assigned color (the same for both their dishes and their towel) so we know immediately who hasn't cleaned up. There will be no confusion or fighting about who used what item.

Things can move around in a trailer when you're traveling, so you want to keep everything as secure and compact as you can. This is especially true in the shower, so we bought this great mesh pocket holder for the shampoo, conditioner, and soap. It attaches to the rings that hold the shower curtain and dries quickly.

I'm loving Command Strips more and more these days. You really can't screw a lot of holes into the trailer and these little beauties keep everything in place with the option of removing them at any time. Brooms are a necessity in such a small space and these little Command Strip holders keep ours nice and secure, not to mention handy. Do you see that curtain my son added to his bunk for privacy? Comand Strip hooks are holding up the rod!

This Oh-Snap Pocket from Thirty-One Gifts is right next to our door and is a great place to keep our smaller first aid kit and hand sanitizer. The chalkboard panel is easy to see so we can write down the location information of our camp site. That way we'll know where we are in case of an emergency.

This little towel holder hooks over the cupboard door to keep the towel handy and out of the way.  The Command Strip Hook on the wall keeps our scrub brush from rolling everywhere. When you need space to prep your food, it's nice to have access to these items without them being in the way.

These tiny bead containers (the containers are almost the size of a Tic-Tac box) are going to hold various spices. A label maker will tell us what's what and we'll save space and weight but still be able to spice our food.

Hopefully in the next week or so we'll make it to Ikea and get some of their Pluggis containers to mount next to the kids bunks for books.

14 days to go!

- Jen

The Innerworkings of "Away"

Thanks to you, our blog has now reached over 2,100 hits and we haven't even left yet! That's amazing! Thank you all!

Things are winding down for the school year here. I've just scheduled the end of the year testing for our youngest. This is our first year homeschooling, so we're still figuring things out. Which test is best? Which tests are approved for our state? How are they administered? Fortunately we have a bunch of experienced families who are happy to give advice and point us in the right direction.

This past week, our youngest and I took a tour of one of the larger wastewater treatment facilities in the area, the South Treatment Plant in Renton, WA.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/About/System/South.aspx

It didn't smell half as bad as I thought it might and they have a garden next door called "Waterworks Garden". It features trails, native plants, wildlife, and public art. I love the idea of something unpleasant working to make something beautiful.

Here's a picture of our youngest by a pond at the treatment facility. He really liked the art pieces.

My husband and I saw "The Blue Man Group" once in Las Vegas. In part of their slideshow they said that all trash, sewage, and everything else unpleasant, goes to the same place once it leaves our sight- "Away".... which is all too true in most peoples minds. Sad. Well, my son and I were able explore part of "Away" and it was really cool. The tour guide started with a presentation of how our sewage system works and how different countries around the world handle their sanitation. The kids were given different kinds of "trash" and they sorted it according to how it would be disposed of. Did you know that we (North America) have a pretty good handle on how to treat our human waste, but all the chemicals and misc. items that go down the gutters in the street just flow directly out to the oceans? It's scary how much pollution we really create. It's time to find a solution for our pollution!

I won't go into the gritty details of what we saw and how the sewage is separated and treated, but it is really interesting. I'll just give you a few main points:
- City water is only in your house for seconds before moving on.

- Because there is so much water, sewage is diluted and doesn't even remotely resemble what you see in your toilet when it arrives at the treatment plant.

- The sewage is filtered and then goes through three or four stages before it reaches the point where it is treated and then flows out into the ocean to be naturally recycled (evaporation, rain, etc.)

The infrastructure of a system like this is a marvel. Really!  There are a ton of jobs that make this facility run effectively.

Our youngest was especially impressed with the control room and the lab.

After the tour, we visited the local big brand store for trailer organization items. I've spent several days planning the most efficient way to pack our trailer. I'd like to bring everything we need without the worry of tripping over obstacles or the fear of items being thrown everywhere while in transit. Once I get everything in place, I'll show you some of the tricks I've employed.

Our daughter was considering writing this weeks post, but life got in the way. You'll hear from her soon, I promise.  In the meantime, 35 days to go....

- Jen 

The Fun in Functional

Do you remember my shameless plug for my online Thirty-One Gifts party? Well, I'm thrilled to say that it went even better than I anticipated. Because of the enthusiasm of my friends, I was able to check off quite a few items from my wish list- FOR FREE!! Hooray!! In case you aren't familiar with this company, they sell products that include storage solutions, bags, and fashion accessories. I absolutely love their mission statement, ethics, and quality. You can find their site here: http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/catalog/ I'd be happy to put you in touch with a few consultants I know if you're interested in something.

Well, the fact is that I'm quite addicted. A friend hosted a party a few years ago and I didn't want to buy anything because I didn't like the fabric pattern choices at the time. I'm a quilter so design is a serious thing for me. Plus the products seemed too pricey. After all, I've never been one to care about expensive purses and bags. BUT my friends' consultant (Hi Kate! ;-)) wouldn't let me off that easy and convinced me to buy the hostess gift that my friend didn't want. It was a pink gym tote that had a handy zipper compartment for shoes at the bottom. I felt a little guilty shelling out $35 (normally $80-ish) for a bag when I could have bought something at the local big brand store for less. Let me tell you, that bag changed my whole perspective! The quality was so good that I ended up using it for EVERYTHING- airport carry-on, overnights, the beach, paperwork, and much more. It's still going strong, whereas anything I would have bought at the big brand store would have been long gone by now. So the price has meant spending less and wasting less in the long run and I still love my tote. That's how the addiction started. Recently, my sister-in-law became a consultant. Even though I'm pretty loyal to my original consultant I still want to support my sister, so I hosted the aforementioned online party.

Here are a few of the items I was able to get for free. These products will be helpful for just about every aspect of our upcoming trip. The trailer will need to be carefully organized and we'll have to be mindful of what and how we pack clothes-wise. After all, we'll be participating in a wide range of activities over the course of the year. Since we'll be visiting local scout troops, my son's and daughter will need to keep their uniforms handy. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, in particular, have several small, easy-to-lose items. For example, my boys are forever searching for their neckerchief slides and books. To solve this problem, Thirty-One offers this little gem called the "Hang-It-Up Pocket."

It's a zipper pocket that goes over your hanger. I had ours personalized and like the neutrality of the gray striped fabric, but they have other options too. As you can see, the pocket is pretty big, so it holds all the accessories for each uniform. It also has that little loop at the bottom in case you need to hang pants or something. On the back are two large loops that could hold ties, scarves, or anything, really. I normally hang the boys' shirts directly over the pocket, but displayed it like this for the picture so you could see how it works. Here's how it will look during the trip. Handy, no?

Another item that will come in handy are these "Your Way Cubes". They fold down flat and have chalkboard fabric on the front. This is perfect for us because we can take them with us wherever we go and change the writing as needed. At the moment, they are being used in our pantry. A LONG overdue addition. I was about to go insane because of the snack food avalanche that attacked me every time I went to get out a box of cereal. Now we can remove whatever we want without trying to catch something else. I've discovered a few added bonuses, too. Because we can't see everything, we aren't "boredom eating" as much. Also, we are eating a larger variety of items because when we want something, we have access to everything- not just whatever's on top. Win-Win!

I have many more items that I was able to get for our trip, which would have cost a fortune if I hadn't hosted a party. There are still things I need to save up for but I can honestly say that they are worth the cost. I really do use Thirty-One products every. single. day. and they're all well made and useful. Plus, I love the fabrics and personalization choices that have come out in the past few years. No, I don't work for them. This is just a review of something I've come to love. :-)

In case you were wondering what our family has been up to this week, we've had a whirlwind of scouting activities. My daughters' Girl Scout troop participated in a service project with Mountains To Sound Greenway http://mtsgreenway.org/ where they planted trees at Lake Sammamish State Park. It was a muddy-wonderful mess! My youngest sons' Cub Scout pack put on a carnival for the younger scouts and did a great job. Tomorrow my oldest son and I will be volunteering at our local food bank as part of his Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge and then he has an igloo-building outing. It's an exciting time in our home and I'm so thankful I get to be a part of the lives of these kids. Who knows what amazing changes they may bring to the world we live in?

- Jen

Preserving the Past

What can I say? I'm a total sap. I'm sure if you looked up the word "sentimental" in the dictionary, my picture would be used as a reference. I've saved school pictures, letters, cards, origami-style notes and more because I like remembering people and meaningful events. Each item in my collection holds a memory. Some good, some bad, but all part of my life story. Every once in a while I'll go through this collection and throw away things that no longer have meaning- things that may have been important to me as a child, but I can no longer remember what they were for. It's good to clean house to keep the important things close and let go of the rest. This trip is giving us the opportunity to do just that.

Packing up our home for storage means sorting through these items. I have four different categories of mementos that were organized and boxed up this week- mine, my husbands, my kids, and our family history. I love family research and treasure those old black and white photos from days gone by. Documents like birth/marriage/death/baptism certificates give us clues we need to piece together the stories of our ancestors. It's so sad to run across old pictures of people at the antique store with no clue as to who they were or where they came from. Please make sure to write on the backs of your pictures if you are the keeper of these precious identities! Also, make sure to scan them so they can be enjoyed by the whole family for many years to come. There may be only one picture of "so-and-so" but with a database everyone can access, everyone gets to enjoy it and the original can remain safe.

Since these old pictures and documents are fragile, they must be handled and stored with care. The picture above is how I organized my genealogy research this week. I took advantage of some local sales on shoe boxes (specifically made to store photographs) and clear plastic bins . Then I got to work coating my floor with piles of paper and documents. Paper can get heavy quickly, so I made sure the bins were small enough to carry if full but big enough to keep everything together. Each bin contains one or two shoeboxes with labels on them for quick reference. There's also enough room in each bin for corresponding family history books and albums/pictures that are too large to fit in the shoeboxes.

Here's an example of the contents of one of the bins:

- Shoebox 1- Pictures of my fathers side of the family
- Shoebox 2- Pictures of my mothers side of the family
- Large photographs and documents
- 2 family history books that either mention or are about these families

After a lot of sorting, writing on the backs of pictures, and reorganizing, I can now find what I need quickly and efficiently. This system is perfect for storage because aside from being easily identifiable, the bins will keep everything dry and free of pests. It's also great because once we return I can take each bin and just place it back on the shelf for easy access. Functional AND sustainable. My favorite! :-)

Soap Box Note: While sorting through everything, sometimes you run across things that might mean more to someone else. Everyone has that family member who "inherits" everything and never wants to share. I implore you to not be that person. If you are blessed enough to be entrusted with these priceless heirlooms, then please make sure to keep what is precious to you and send the rest to the most relevant people. Space will be freed up for you, but more importantly, you are giving a gift to someone who will treasure it. You really don't need 5 copies of your great grandfathers photograph if you have siblings and cousins. You really don't need your uncles' report cards if you know his family would take care of them and appreciate them more.

My great aunt sent me my grandparents marriage certificate a while ago. I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me that she trusted me with it. It has now been scanned for our whole family to reference and enjoy while the original is safely stored. On that same note, I've spent this past week sending envelopes filled with pictures to other family members because those pictures rightfully belong in their hands. In sharing, everyone benefits. Also, you just never know if you might have the key to someone else's mystery. Something to think about.

- Jen

Construction, Landscaping, and The Ladies

My husband can do just about anything he puts his mind to. I'm immensely proud of him and how capable he is. This past week he began renovations on several aspects of our home. Our home was built in the 1980's and, in line with the trends of that time, we have hollow doors. Functional, but nothing to write home about. We want our house to appeal to renters who will most likely take care of it in our absence, and so, we are doing small upgrades like replacing the doors with better quality ones to make it stand out. We would have gotten around to this sooner or later but our trip has given us the push we needed to check this off the list. I can't even begin to tell you what a difference it's made in the feel of our home. Like I've said before, it's the little things that make a big difference!

In addition to the doors, our master bedroom closet needed to be refreshed. If you have a closet or other space where you feel like a purge is necessary but don't know how to go about starting, then let me help you. Trust me, it works! The rule is that you need to make a mess to restore order. Pull every single thing out of that closet/drawer/room/whatever (which we did) and then clean the space. In our case, my husband removed all the closet organizers, carpet, and light fixture. Then he and our youngest son painted it a light neutral and installed can lights. This brought a lot more light into the space. He was able to replace the carpet himself and the result made it feel brand new! Then he put the closet organizers back in, which gave us the usable space we needed for organization. This part is the most important. DO NOT PUT ANYTHING BACK THAT YOU DON'T ABSOLUTELY WANT OR NEED! Everything left over is either sold, donated, recycled or thrown away (or in our case, boxed up for storage). When you have a clean space to fill, it's a lot easier to decide what stays and what doesn't.

Also this week, we finally brought in the cavalry (landscaping company) to help us make our yard look as manicured and clean as it did when we moved in. Talk about a breath of fresh air!! Okay, I'm making it sound like we are messy and our home/yard are a wreck. That isn't the case. The reality is that when you have kids and live in your space, sometimes things get overgrown. Sometimes you hang on to things "until the kids are older". It's just a fact of life. Well, now our kids are older and it's time to reset. I love it! There's just something joyful about stopping to look at a well maintained yard and home. If I was a millionaire (or multi-millionaire in this economy), the first thing I would do is hire someone to keep our yard beautiful all the time. I have two black thumbs, so to me, this would be heaven.

Allow me to introduce you to our ladies. We have chickens. Have I ever mentioned that? Yep! Five, in fact. Alice is the sweetest. She follows me around like an adoring dog. They are so easy to care for and there is a marked difference in the quality of eggs they produce as opposed to the average grocery store egg. Sadly, I'm going to have to start buying grocery store eggs again or find a local flock because the time has come to say goodbye to our girls. Three are under a year old and are in their prime laying years. So instead of being processed, the whole flock will be going to live with a family who are in need of some hens. We'll miss them but are pretty excited to be sending them to their new home- which happens to be a castle. Really! With stone, a drawbridge, yaks, pigs, peacocks, and everything! It will be a grand adventure for them and will give us the freedom to plant some flowers and mulch without our curious girls coming along to dig everything up. One less thing to have to deal with as summer approaches. Farewell girls! I'll miss you following me around the yard and the way you congregate at our back door. You've been good to us and one day maybe I'll write a book about you.

- Jen

 

L-R: Count Cluckalah (Welsummer), Fanny Fluffbottom (Plymouth Barred Rock),  Pixie (Bantam Lavender Ameraucana), Carlos Jr. (Black Star and named by neighbor boys), and Alice (Speckled Sussex)

Lists, List and More Lists

Let's face it, I'm a list person. You know those people who have lists of lists? That's me. This trip has its own set of lists already- a list of things to do to our house, a list of national and international legalities to learn about, a list of accounts to set up and close, and the list goes on. I just don't like the feeling of forgetting something and so my way of maintaining some semblance of control is to create lists and check them off.

This week we are working on the 'House Needs" list. There are small fixes that stay on the to-do list for years on end because they really aren't important enough to make a priority. Things like changing out doors and pruning trees. That's the beauty of moving out. It forces you to address those little issues so your home will be more attractive to others. The bonus is that when we return, those things will be taken care of. Plus, moving out also forces us to finally purge the items we've been living with but don't necessarily need/want. We've started this process over the past week. Boxes carrying holiday decorations and other items we won't need for the next few years have been building up for the move to storage. It's a lot of work, but let me just say that it is SO freeing! We're not hoarders by any means, but it's still amazing how many things we unconsciously allow to remain in our living space.

This week we've also actively started looking at trailers. We'll be living in a home in each state, but the trailer will be perfect for the in-between times and also when we travel up the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska (or as close as we can get. Not many towns with lodging along that route!). Our family visited an RV show a few months ago to gauge the best sizes and layouts for our needs. My favorite model was the 2016 Spree Escape Bunkhouse but we'll see what we ultimately end up with. The goal is something that is 20ish feet with room for 5 people to sleep and move. Oh yeah...and at a reasonable price. We'll see what this weekends' search yields!

Here is a little art project that was made in our excitement for the trip. A little wishful thinking on my part (I love vintage). I wonder if we'll actually see buffalo? I guess we'll have to add it to the list!

- Jen