Starting to panic....1 week to go.

I meant to post this yesterday, but it was my daughters 17th birthday, and well, I had better things to do, hahaha. Presents and dinner at the Keg were wonderful, and my mom was there as well, so it was a nice family moment. A bitter sweet one though, as we are leaving in a week, and Sam is staying behind.

Packing for something like this is so difficult! I have to think about so much, what we need, what we can store, what we can sell, and what to give away. There are so many details that I have to figure out, it's crazy. I just realized the other day that I hadn't even thought of what the heck I'm doing with our 60 gallon fish tank, complete with fish! I can't exactly take 300lb of water and fish into our RV. Luckily, I figured something out for them....it flushes. I'm KIDDING!!! Don't worry, they are going to a good home, *giggle*. I couldn't resist.

Now, normally when I move, I throw everything into boxes (yes I go through it), then we move, and whatever we haven't unpacked after a year (yes, I have that stuff), I go through again, and sell or donate. I don't have the room for that stuff this time. I have to make sure that we are only taking what we need because we don't have the room for all the extra stuff that I won't use for a year. I also have to think about our VERY limited storage capabilities, as well as weight limits. I'm so glad our 5th wheel has a large basement though.

I'm pretty sure this is the one that we will get.

Then there is the kitchen stuff. OH MY WORD. How to decide what to bring and what not to? I need it all I swear! I have to weed a well stocked kitchen down quite far. I need to find what is dual purpose and what I simply can't use in an RV...like our large pizza stone. That won't fit in an RV oven! I love our home made pizza though...sigh. I will have to figure out some other way. I'm thinking of getting a convection toaster oven. I should be able to bake bread and buns still, cookies, a cake maybe...and do small personal sized pizzas in one. Maybe small casseroles? There is only the three of us now. I will also save on propane that way if I use a toaster oven instead of the propane stove in the RV. I have never owned a toaster oven, but I'm thinking it will be a life saver in all of this. Besides, if it's hot out, I can take the oven outside and bake out there! Save on the A/C!

I also bought a silicone bakeware set from Canadian Tire. Reason? I can mash them up and shove them in a drawer if needed. I don't need all the room I would with regular muffin, bread, cake and bundt pan, or cookie sheet. It also says on the package that they can be folded and stored and won't lose their shape. I'm counting on it!

I also bought the above collapsable measuring spoon set, and the set below.

Those are some of my space saving ideas and solutions so far. I'm also bringing my crock pot. That's another amazing device that I think will save on propane as well as make life easier. I'm leaving in storage my Kitchenaide Classic countertop mixer and all of it's amazing attachments. I'll be sad to leave it behind, but my toaster oven and my crock pot are the only large kitchen items I'm allowing myself. I can make do with a hand blender. I did for years and years.

So, that's some of what we are going through right now. I'm trying to downsize and plan and organize, and in a few days we should have the RV. Then we will be moving into the RV, out of our house, and putting our stuff into storage. Then we need to fix a few things in the house and put it up for rent. Hopefully I will be able to post again next Monday, but if you don't hear from me in for a while, it will be because we are very busy. I will post as soon as I can.

Cowboys and Indians, 2 weeks and counting.

An awful picture of the three of us, but there aren't many, so I thought I would post it, haha.

On Friday morning, Willy and I got up bright and early and headed 3 hours north to see Allan. If you look closely in the above photo, on the left hand side, you can see our current RV. It's a little Springdale tow behind. That's where we stayed while visiting Allan. In case you haven't guessed, it's in the yard of his shop, you know, where all the big trucks are running and driving, and starting at 6am. It's great. (Yes, that was sarcasm) The shop is also wedged between Highway 16 (a major highway) and a railroad. The railroad isn't just a set of tracks either, it's the rail yard. Where the trains stop and load and unload cars. So...it's a nice spot if you don't like quiet. Ever.

Despite our less than ideal spot (it is free, and handy for Allan who had to work), we had an amazing time. Friday, we set up Willy's archery target and shot arrows in the shop's yard. The yard is quite large, so there's lots of room to shoot. We had a great time, even if Willy's bow is too small for either of us.

Once it got too dark to shoot, I went into the trailer and the boys...I wasn't sure what they were doing, until I heard a lot of noise, engines, beeping, gravel grinding, etc. I went out to look and saw this:

Allan and Willy playing in the skid steer.

Really, what more could a boy want in one day? Besides, the next day promised even more fun.

Saturday, we headed out to Hinton's Fish and Wildlife Shooting Range. It's about 45 minutes away from where we were 'camped', but they were hosting a shooting event that we didn't want to miss. It's called 'Funday'. They have it every year, and the public can go and try their hand at archery, rifles, trap shooting, and big game shooting. Not having parents who hunt, Allan and I have very little experience shooting anything. We both have shot gophers for farmers with a .22 at some point in our childhood, and that's about it for our firearms experience.

The view on the way to Hinton.

When we arrived, the members of the club were amazing. They came over and introduced themselves, and took Willy off to go shoot trap. If you are ignorant like we were...trap shooting is shooting clay pigeons that are fired from a 'house' buried in the ground. You then shoot the clay pigeons with a 20 or 12 gauge shotgun. (20 gauge is smaller)

Bob, from the club, showing Willy how to hold a 20 gauge shotgun. Willy found it to be quite heavy.

The cement 'house' on the left is where the clay pigeons are shot from. In the photo, Willy was shooting at a stationary target first, to get the feel of things. Willy hit the stationary target, but didn't hit any of the moving ones. I think it was because the gun was so heavy for him, he had problems moving it. My son isn't exactly muscular, to put it mildly. Lol. 

After Willy shot, it was my turn.

Long story short on me shooting...they created a monster. I LOVED it! Who would have thought shooting a chunk of clay flying through the air could be so exciting! I hit 4 of the 5 pigeons Bob sent out in the air. We were on a modified house, so the birds only went straight. Apparently 4/5 is pretty good for a beginner, so they took me to the 'real' area where the birds are shot in one of three directions...and you don't know which one. I hit 5/5 on that. 

Well...people were flocking to me. I heard things like, compete, try international, join, member, etc among the members. I wasn't sure what I had done, but everyone was very excited. Turns out...most beginners can't shoot that well, and I was a natural. Who'd of thought? So, I was invited to shoot with the members the next day, and get a couple of free rounds. It was exciting. 

After I peeled myself away from the trap shooters, we moved on to the rifles. Allan didn't try trap because his phone kept ringing, and he told me he really had no interest in shotguns. Fair enough. Compared to trap shooting, hitting a paper target with .22 was quite anticlimactic, but we still had fun, and Willy did very well. He hinted that he may like to have a .22 of his own one day. His groupings were wonderful, and one of the hunters offered to take him rabbit hunting some time.

Then we were off to do some archery. William was obviously quite excited, this is his thing now! He's always loved archery, and even though he likes the .22, I'm sure he would far rather rabbit hunt with his bow than with a rifle. 

Willy waiting for Allan to finish shooting so he can retrieve his arrows.

Allan and Willy had a great time shooting the bows. The club had compound bows available for the public, so Willy set aside his long bow and played with compounds. He had a lot of fun and hinted VERY strongly that he had perhaps outgrown his longbow and his next bow should maybe be a compound. <grin>

In the photo above, on the right hand side, you can see a man in a white shirt taking pictures of Allan shooting. He took pictures of William too. Was he a stalker? No. A reporter. Allan and Willy made it into the local newspaper! Willy thought that was quite awesome!

After a long day of shooting stuff, we said goodbye to all the wonderful people we had met and headed back to the trailer. Was our fun day over though? Not quite.

At 11pm, we headed out of town to a pipe yard Allan's company has. We parked the truck in the middle of the dark yard, laid blankets out in the box of his truck, and watched the Perseid meteor shower. What a cool ending to our day.

Photo was taken from here.

Why oh why, said the fly.

Why indeed?

Why would anyone, making good money, living in a nice house, sell their stuff and move to an RV full time? We have no financial issues, our only debt is our mortgage, and our RV. That's it. No student loans, no car payments, no...whatever else people dive into and regret. So, why are we doing this?

A little history:

Allan and I have been together for 13 years, married for 12. In that 13 years, Allan's worked his way up from being a shop hand, to managing a company, while I stayed at home raising our two children. The American dream, right? What people don't tell you about the american dream, is the in-between. The sacrifice it takes to get there.

People don't mention that while Allan was a shop hand, we were living pay check to pay check, living off of macaroni and other cheap food, buying our clothes and whatever else, from Value Village, and Salvation Army, when we had extra money we might get something from Wal-Mart. That was the first two years of our marriage with two kids.

Allan was then promoted to apprentice as a picker operator. This was a huge step! He was learning how to run this:

This is actually one of the trucks Allan has operated.

So now, YAY! We have some money for once, can shop regularly at Wal-Mart, but I no longer had a husband. Oh we were still married, and still loved each other very much, but he was only home 3 or 4 days a month, and that's it. This went on for 8 years. Allan worked for various companies as a boom truck operator, and as far as work goes, it was good. It paid the bills, and he was in high demand. He never wanted for work our entire marriage. He was laid off once, and had another job that afternoon. We truly have been blessed in that regard. BUT. He wasn't home for those 8 years.

Then he got a job for a new company in our town called DFI. They were opening a new branch and needed some pile drivers and a ticketed, experienced, boom truck operator. Allan had never done piles in his life, but he fit the bill on the rest, and they hired him. He was running this bad boy:

Again, this is Allan's truck, with the 'leads' set up for pounding piles.

It was the same old, same old for a year and a half. Better money (I didn't need to shop at Wal-Mart!), Allan was never home still and then...DFI promoted him to field supervisor. He was no longer running the truck, he had a company vehicle, and was gone for 3-4 weeks at a time, and home for a day or two. I thought he had been gone a lot before, but this was ridiculous! He supervised jobs for 6 months and then he was offered a promotion again, to branch manager.

This was our dream come true! Allan would work monday to friday and be home evenings and weekends. He still had a company truck, in fact a much nicer company truck, and he was still making good money...although it was substantially less than he made as a supervisor, but he won't be gone anymore!

The catch? There's always a catch...

We would have to move 300km north west of where we were living. From where our friends and family are, from where both of us, and our kids, have grown up. That's huge. So huge, our daughter, 16 years old, flat out refused. 

Now, our daughter, Samantha is not your typical teenaged girl. She's athletic, musical, artistic, and has always been that poster child for good children. For her to refuse anything asked of her, is huge. She is not a disrespectful or disobedient child in any way, so we listened when she said she was not, under any circumstances, moving. We did some hard thinking, a lot of praying, and consulted many people for advice, and we finally decided, she would stay with my mom and we would move. She only had one year of high school left, and to pull her out and make her change schools at this point would be detrimental. Besides, like I had said, she's a good kid. I'm not worried at all about leaving her with my mom.

Sam at the provincial track meet for javelin in June.

Allan accepted the position and moved up to an apartment that DFI owns in December of 2011. He comes home every other weekend, so we see him 4 days a month, unless we go and visit him, which we do. It's still not easy, and I still don't have my husband home all the time. 

In April of 2012 we put our house up for sale. We were warned it might be difficult to sell, but we didn't realize just how hard. We had bought our house just before...months before...the economy crashed. We are still within our 5 year amortization, so we are going to be penalized for early payout....so, long story short - to walk away with nothing...our house is still priced too high. I know ours isn't the only story like this, and we are blessed in that we can afford our house. There are so many people who did the same thing and then lost their jobs, and couldn't sell their homes. My heart truly breaks for them.

So...now what? Well, this is where it gets fun. We want to be with Allan, but we can't sell our house. We are left with two choices, stay in our house, or move and rent our house out. Well, we will move, but we can't afford two mortgages (who can really?), and I'm terrified of being in this same position of not being able to sell again. So..we rent?

Left: Gunner, 1 year old charcoal lab; Right: Manny, 6 year old mini dachshund.

We have two dogs though, and it is terribly hard to find anyone who will allow you to rent with pets. I don't want to lose my dogs, and looking at the rent in our new area...it's the same as having another mortgage, which we've already established that we can't afford. Now what?

This is actually the previous year's model. Ours will have a second door that leads to a washroom.

I stumbled across a site that had full-time RVers on it. People who lived all the time in an RV, by choice, and were happy. This is brilliant! Rent for a small 2 bedroom apartment is $1200/month. Payments on a nice RV...less than $500. That's the average car payment here!! Best of all...we own it, and we can take it with us when we come back to visit family. We don't have to stay with people or get hotels and worry about what to do with our dogs. If everyone decides we don't like where we are...we can leave. That same day if we want. 

So...that's what fuelled the decision. There are many other factors, and many more consultations, prayers, and figuring that went into it...but that's it in a nutshell. We found a four season campground with full hookups, and a coded gate to get in and out. It's small (only 12 stalls), has showers and laundry facilities, a common area with video games and foose-ball. It's close to town too..16km or roughly 8 miles from town. Not too shabby.

So...in theory we have it all figured out. In practice? I'm not sure. We are just going to trust in God, and do the best we can, same as we always have. So far, so good.

Good times with family...3 weeks and counting.

(Photo: Kheeta, a beautiful blue heeler, determined that I will play fetch with her. How can you say no to that face?)

August long weekend is wrapping up here in central Alberta, and I am more thankful for this weekend than usual. Every year, a wonderful lady named Jean hosts 40-50 people for the entire weekend and on Saturday we have a corn roast. She provides the corn, we provide everything else.

Photo was borrowed from HERE. I forgot to take photos of the corn. It's the exact same though.

For those of you who have never participated in a corn roast, you take cobs of corn and soak them in water without shucking them, and then grill them, still without shucking them. The silk and leaves are left on the ear and they hold in the water, so when you grill them, you are actually steaming the corn. Its delicious!

I have an old hippy uncle and an amazing aunt who live in BC and they drive the 9 hours every year, hauling their 5th wheel, for the corn roast. It's the one time a year we see them. Not that we can't drive to their house, but it's amazing how you can put something like that off, being 'too busy' until, surprise! it's the August long weekend again.

My boy William (plaid trunks) and his cousins. They lived in the water this weekend.

Cal and Pat (my aunt and uncle) set up their 5'er on the lawn of Jean's house (did I mention her home is lakefront property?), and my family flocks to it like homing pigeons. It's become the event of the summer, and a small family reunion. This year, as I said, was extra special, since we will be moving 300km (186miles) north in 3 weeks. It was part family reunion, part farewell party.

Everyone at the corn roast had questions about what we were doing, naturally, but my Uncle Cal had advice. It was well received, as we have no real idea what we are doing. Cal and Pat spent one winter living in their RV in southern BC, so they have some experience. Uncle Cal admits that a southern BC winter is balmy compared to what we will face, but his advice is helpful none the less:

1. Wrap your water hose with heat tape and then slide it through a tube of weeping tile. This will keep the lines from freezing....or at least it does in BC.

2. Don't let your black and grey waters trickle into the dump. Keep your levers closed until 3/4 full and then open them up. This creates a rush of fluids and forces everything out, otherwise some 'solids' may not get flushed through and you'll get a clog. Also, when it's -20ºC/0ºF (or -40ºC/-40ºF <gulp>) the trickle will freeze, where the rush of fluid won't. We can also try to wait for a warmer day to 'let'er fly' so to speak.

3. Find someone who has wintered up north in a RV and pick their brain. They will be able to tell you everything you need to know.

For the most part, people I've talked to about us living in the RV full time have two concerns, the size of the space we will occupy, and the weather. I'm not concerned about the space, but I am definitely concerned about the weather. Our 5'er arrives in less than 3 weeks now, but we ordered it with double paned windows, heated compartments, thicker walls, etc. It's the 'whiteout package' offered by Keystone. This should make all the difference in the world. I hope. If anyone wants to see what we will be living in, you can see the floor plans and photos on the dealers website HERE. Once we actually have the RV, I'll post a video or some photos of it and how we set everything up.