Shasta Sistas Travel to MO from TX

This blog post is way late, but I was waiting on my friends to send pics that they took during their visit. They never got around to it, and now they're sitting around without power, so I'm going to talk about them and post MY pics while they can't stop me. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! (Love ya, Lisa & GG!)

A few weeks ago, Lisa & GG from the Shasta Sistas came from Houston to visit the kids & I. They arrived about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, and stayed until the following Saturday morning. They stayed in the Prowler so that they had their own space, beds, coffee maker and potty/sinks. I haven't had guests in so long that I was nervous, and I was probably the worst hostess anyone could have imagined...but I think they had a nice time. Lots of things happened outside of my control..I had a horrible ear & bladder infection, as well as a persistent outbreak of poison ivy or sumac, the kids had a dentist appt that they wouldn't let me cancel, and then Madison became very ill and had to go to the ER, where we found out she had bronchitis and strep throat. We'd also had some 75mph winds and storms the days before, leaving our yard trashed, our tree fell on our swingset, and some orphaned baby squirrels to deal with. (How did I miss posting about THAT?) Poor Lisa & GG!

So..back to the story--we hit ALL of the resale and consignment & thrift stores, and GG bought me a sewing machine and taught me how to sew. GASP. I have to say that I am LOVING IT, and I'm making grocery bags as my first project. hehe They seemed to really enjoy our cooler MO weather, and I made them pose at the hitching post at our Walmart store for kicks & giggles.



They also stayed for my birthday, and boy did they spoil me...one of my fave gifts was the vintage train case they picked up for me. I cannot WAIT to get that thing altered...YAY! Gadget Girl introduced me to the wonderful world of wireless internet and laptops, and fixed about everything in the house that needed fixed. (When ya comin' back, GG??) She fixed our upstairs shower so no one has to shower in the basement shower anymore..which was always a contest to see if you could get showered and out of there before a run-in with a brown recluse spider. Lisa introduced me to the wonderful world of some very delicious spices...I've been using them on everything--steak, burgers, chicken. YUM!

They tried out one of our MO Mexican restaurants and said it was "pretty good & they were impressed," so I guess it passed their Tex-Mex tastebud test.

Here is Lisa trying to get our cat, Oliver, intoxicated..Shame on you, Lisa (okay, not really..but that's what it looked like..haha)!!


Actually I'm not sure what is up with that..Oliver doesn't like ANYONE, and he hisses more than any cat I've ever met in my life. Keep in mind that this is the sweet little baby kitten that we bottlefed and spend hundreds of dollars on for iv's, etc to save his life. He adored Lisa for some reason...of course trying to remove him from her lap would result in a loud HISS and scowl, but if you didn't know better, you'd think they were bonding:


And here's a picture that they took with my camera on my birthday..that is a bottle of Ralph that the kids gave me..Sadie had to get in on the action:


And here are Lisa & GG & all of us, minus Marley, Oliver & Mia, and the hamster:


And here are Lisa & GG leaving us...*sniff, sniff* Come back soon, TX girlies!! We love you & miss you, Shasta Sistas!

The new Croppin' Cabin!!

Wow..I am so behind here, and I apologize for being absent for so long. I've been very busy, but I'll spare you the boring details. However, I have made some MAJOR changes here on the homefront, and I'm excited to share them.

First, and by far the most highly-expected news I am sure, is that we have added a new camping trailer to our family. It replaces the Shasta, but doesn't really replace the Shasta. Does that make sense? What I mean is while this MORE than adequately fulfills our camping needs as a family, it leaves me feeling a bit void in the "I want a cute canned ham vintage trailer to read & scrap in..." need. But that's okay, because I am totally, completely, 100% okay with that. I know that someday when my babies are at college becoming doctors and lawyers (a mom can hope, right?)I'll have plenty of time to find a new vintage trailer to submerse myself in, but for right now I need to go camping with my family and make memories!

So...I was perusing Craigslist & Ebay and all the local papers pretty heavily after the sale of the Shasta, and just when I thought I needed to take a break from the search, I happened upon a small ad posted on the St. Louis, MO Craigslist RV thread. There were no pictures, but I emailed and asked for pictures. In the next few days, I had totally forgotten about the email, and I sat down to log off one night and lo & behold, there is an email with pictures attached. Robert was here, and we both took one look at the pictures, and my heart started racing. This was THE one..I knew it. I immediately called them, and we arranged to come look at it the following Monday.

The kids, Sadie & I made the 2 1/2 hour trip where the trailer was sitting at a private lake. It had been sitting for 5 years in this same location, as a permanent vacation trailer, so I took the digital camera so I could show Robert the tires, etc. (And hitch, and all those other "guy" things that I'm still learning about but that usually bore me to tears...hey, at least I'm honest.)The seller was super nice, and he took his shoes off before we entered the trailer. I took this as a VERY good sign..the outside & inside were both meticulously clean..you could tell he was proud of his trailer. He gave me a walk-through, and showed me all about the electric hot water heater that he'd replaced the old gas one with, and the water pump, and the toilet and etc..I paid him $200 down and we went back later on the weekend and picked it up.

So..here are the pictures..It is a 1986 Fleetwood Prowler, 28 feet long. It has double doors, a queen walk-around bed in back bedroom, full bath with toilet, tub and shower, stainless steel appliances, jackknife couch, dinette, OODLES of storage, and get this--everything works. No more porta potty, no more sawing and nailing and electric screwdrivers and putty and water lines and gas lines. YAY. No, really..DOUBLE yay! My favorite things are the toilet (hehe), the extra table with leaf by the sofa (can we say SCRAPBOOKING!!), the porch lights at both doors, and all the storage.

Meet the new baby: