Jennifer's Junky Life ~

Restless

I'm convinced I was born with wanderlust in my veins.

We have moved countless times in our lifetime but we have lived in this house for six years and this place for seven now. And I'm restless.

{Alba the Argosy patiently waiting for spring and her renovations to continue.}

I've been restless other times over the years living here. It's the longest, by far, that we've ever lived in one place, in one house since we were married well over 11 years ago. So it stands to reason if I have wanderlust in me that I would get restless. But this winter it's really getting to me. It has off and on over the years and eventually it subsides for a time but I just feel more restless than usual this winter. And I can't seem to shake it.

{Source.}

I love moving. I love the thrill of living in a new area with new places to explore. A new house. New surroundings. But I hate the job of moving. We've always packed and moved everything ourselves and it's just way too much work to think about doing it again. And it won't happen again until we've majorly downsized. (Another one of my 'lifetime projects': purging.)

{Source.}

I feel like we're pretty 'settled' where we are on this land. In this house. And who knows maybe some day down the road we'll move again. But if we did, it probably wouldn't be far. We would stay in this area. We kind of like it up here in the north woods of Minnesota.

{Source.}

I've been doing a lot of thinking and contemplating about it all lately and I think the biggest solution to this problem is to start traveling. Here is hoping we'll get Alba the Argosy up and running this year... and a new (old) vehicle to pull her with so we can start exploring! I'm more than ready.

A new (old) blanket quilt for the Argosy

It's easier to justify keeping something that I bought with intentions of putting it in the junk shop when the edges are fraying...

I love this vintage blanket. It's super heavy and warm. I don't know what exactly it's lined with, but it feels like random heavy fabrics (maybe even pieces of clothing or old blankets, as I've seen done in another handmade quilt I have).

 

I love the satiny soft feel of the cotton floral top portion. And, I like how the bottom print clashes with the top. I can't tell if the bottom is made of barkcloth or something else. It feels kind of like it but maybe different, something similar... Maybe it's barkcloth but it almost feels more like a super heavy duty linen -- I'm not a fabric expert, so I'm not sure.

I'm hoping to work on some Christmas baking this weekend. On my list for baking in the coming days: sugar cookies, pumpkin seed brittle (a delicious peanut brittle alternative), prune tarts (my favorite!), pecan pie (new recipe), pumpkin pie, Sesame Candy (new recipe), shortbread cookies (store bought) drizzled in caramel and chocolate, brownies, pretzel kisses (the pretzels with a Hershey kiss and m&m's on them), and chocolate dipped Oreos. Now, to see if I accomplish even half of that before Christmas! (I also plan to gather ingredients for some cracker and chip dips for Christmas Eve.)

Have a great weekend!

Faithful Random

This day has just flown by. I've meant to post so many times. I'm doing our new annual tradition of the kids getting a weekly gift from Mark and me, and this week, I gave them time with mom. They get to pick a day where they get to do what they want during one-on-one time with me, and they get to pick what's for supper that night, too. I wasn't sure if they'd like it or not but they loved it -- and have even asked to do it again for next week's gift.

I've been loving it, too, because although we get time together when we're doing school, that's technically 'work'. The past few weeks have been busy with reloading the junk shop and we haven't spent a lot of time just doing fun stuff.

Carter doesn't know what he wants to do. Not too unusual for a little five year old. I'm thinking of baking cupcakes with him. He'd love frosting and decorating them. And, he has no idea what he wants for his supper (nevermind that he's asked for macaroni & cheese for the past three weeks. I don't have the ingredients right now, so I'm not reminding him). He told me tonight, "I'll just look on foodgawker and then I'll know what to make."

Abram chose baking for his day. He plans to make brownies. He wants to be a chef when he grows up, so I knew he'd choose that. And, he wanted Milk Chocolate Chip Pancakes with bacon for his supper. We had that Sunday afternoon for lunch. We plan to bake brownies Tuesday. (Nothing unusual about that either -- everything we do can be pretty random around here!)

And, Nikayda chose thrifting. We went to two thrift stores this afternoon. One of which is 'new' to Main Street and has been for two years but I'd only recently heard about it. It was a great little shop and I plan to go back. It was a nice afternoon and she really enjoyed it. Although, the only thing she found to purchase was a little gift for Carter. She wants Fruit Smoothies and hashbrowns for supper. We're planning to do that for lunch tomorrow (Tues.). (Protein Smoothies are often a quick summertime lunch around here and the kids have been missing them now that it's cold.)

I found a few shirts and pants for the boys at the thrift today and a really pretty handmade blanket that I had every intention of listing on Etsy. I really, really did. It was the only reason I could justify buying it right now with Mark off work...but I got it home and threw it in the wash and knew that it would be perfect for Alba. We need heavy blankets for the camper...so...all good intentions flew out the door, as they so often do when I'm thrifting! Pictures later this week.

(Photos: New items in the shop. A big Thank YOU to everyone who has made a purchase from Whimsical Junk! I hit 100 sales this week. I haven't been real consistent with updating my shop so I'm really happy to reach that little milestone! It's a good little kicker to rev me up so I keep adding stuff!)

No word yet on whether or not it passed their inspection...

Luna and Bella followed their mommy into the camper this evening. And, they thoroughly checked the place out! (Below, the dinette has been removed for the time being.)

 

It is so much fun having little goats romping about with the chickens! I love it. I just wish these babies were more tame -- they run if you get near them.

Willow just wants to play with them but the mama won't let her near them (she headbutts her anytime she comes close, which is exactly what happened right after I took this picture, below) and the babies only run away when she goes by them.

Gwyn noticed Willow over by Luna and Bella. -- Here she comes!

And...there's the headbutt...!

Poor Chloe (below). Doesn't she look just miserable? You can see it in her eyes. She got struck by an ocean of porcupine quills sometime during the night. It took me less than an hour, after doing some brief internet research, to pull them all out. Mark came home early today and called me the pioneer woman when he saw me doing it. I guess it does help to squelch the city slicker in me. Bit by bit. But, have no fear, I wore gloves and used pliers to pull them out.

Honestly, when I first looked at her, I didn't think I'd have the stomach for it. My knees went weak.

And, even while doing it, I was flabbergasted at how deep some of them were. Two and three inches inside! If your dog ever gets them, and you're unfamiliar with the procedure, snip the end of each quill before trying to pull it straight out. It helps to release the air in them, thus loosening some of the pressure that holds them in place. And, try not to move the quills too much as that only works them deeper into the body. They actually come out very easily once you snip the ends. Only a couple were difficult to pull out.

She had them on her feet, legs, and all over on her underbelly, mostly near the back half of her body. I have no idea what she was doing, that they got in those areas! She had none on her face.

She was amazing while I pulled them out though. She didn't make a sound and lay there very nicely. I had leashed her up and tied a soft strip of t-shirt cotton around her snout area, as was recommended by some sites (so they don't try to bite you -- which she never did). She was doing great, I think she sensed I was helping somehow, but she visibly calmed down once Mark got home. (She adores him because he gives her a lot of attention.)

She's been resting all afternoon and I imagine she'll be sore for a few days!

The joys of country living! :)

Alba the Argosy -- The Beginning of the Renovation

We picked up our camper this past week and started monkeying around this weekend. She's a 1979 Argosy by Airstream that I've dubbed 'Alba'. I'm sooo super excited about having a camping trailer. I used to love camping but we haven't gone since Nikayda was about 8 months old. She's now 8 1/2 years old, so it's been awhile.

Mostly we haven't gone because being the city slicker I am, I've had zero interest in camping with kids in a tent. Zip, zilch, zero. I don't like 'roughing it' so much as just getting away.

We bought her from some friends from church. I happened to mention at the Sunday school picnic a while back that we're hoping to find a vintage trailer to gut out and remodel and lo and behold one of my friends had one they were looking to sell! Talk about luck.

Saturday, Mark pulled out the orange shag carpet and started ripping out the original 1970's panels inset in the storage doors (below -- what it looked like after the carpet and cupboard that was here were taken out). We're planning on putting twin beds on either side of the trailer here in the back or possibly convertible type bunk beds.

(Below -- today, with the panels torn out of the upper cupboards.)

He'll probably make new cupboards. For now, we might just paint them and fill in the centers with vintage wallpaper or lightweight beadboard. He also pulled out the cushions and disassembled a lot of other things in preparation for the renovation (below). I plan to make curtains and new cushions for the dinette. Now to figure out how to make them! I haven't sewn very much but I'm ready to learn as I go. We have the table (not pictured) and plan to paint it, as well. It has the same 'wood' look as everything else you see.

(Below -- today, with everything pulled out.) 

We're planning on doing a total overhaul: Paint (I plan to paint everything -- the cupboards, walls, seats etc.), wallpaper, and refurbishing everything. It didn't come with a fridge or the bathroom so we'll be adding those, too. (The main reason I wanted a camper was to have our own toilet and tub while we're camping. The second reason was to stay dry when it rains!) The fridge isn't a top priority right now, we can make do for a while on short trips.

We're hoping to take her for a little trip close to home sometime this fall once we get a bathroom installed. I love the walls in the bathroom (above)! As cool as they are, I'm actually wishing the colors weren't so muted but we're keeping 'em. Mark thought I'd want to paint them but I said, "No way!"

Someday we'll paint the exterior, too. Either a nice creamy white color or minty green or something down those lines. We need to get a new (meaning old) vehicle to tow it. For now, if we take quick little weekend trips close to home, Mark can tow it with his truck and I can drive the ol' bargain cruiser with the kids. (We don't all fit in his truck as it only seats three and the bargain cruiser can't tow it.)

The camper is considered a 24 footer. But technically it's only 20 feet from front to back. Apparently they count the hitch part, which seems a little odd to both Mark and me, as that isn't living space. Either way, I think it's just the right size for our first camper! It feels a little like we're playing house and I'm loving it!

P.S. The best part about Alba is she fits right in with the Thrift Challenge I'm partaking in this year. :)