Five Appliances that Make Life in an RV.......doable

I'm going to give it to you straight. Cooking meals in an RV sucks. I hate it. My prep space is a 14x14" collapsible counter on the side of my sink. Laura Ingalls Wilder had more space to cook her meals.

I'd use the oven but Graham uses the door as a step to crawl up onto the counter to get into things and has bent the door hinges to where it doesn't close all the way. When I bake something, like pizza (priorities) I have to sit in front of the door and prop it shut.

Also, using the stove and oven uses up propane and we've run out of that enough times in the middle of the night in below-zero weather to try to save it for heating purposes only. We once went through $80 or TWO bottles of propane in 50 hours during a cold snap last December. No Bueno.

And so, I have decided to compile a small list of the five  appliances that I can not live (or cook) without while living in an RV. Or ever, ONCE we move into a bigger house with a bigger kitchen. Also, this is a good list for college students or bachelors or people who just don't like to cook.

#1

The Egg Cooker:

This little cooker packs a BIG punch. I can make hardboiled, softboiled, scrambled or over easy eggs. It makes it easy to make breakfast sandwiches or a quick and healthy snack for the kids. My kids love eggs! And it makes eating a healthy breakfast easy for me in the morning. I'll crack the eggs into the little tray and add a few slices of chicken and apple sausage to them and my breakfast is done in seven minutes using steam to cook it.  And the best thing? Easiest clean up ever. Any residual egg will dry and just fall out of the tray. No more scrubbing scorched egg off of pans.

#2

The Magic bullet

(Don't mind the post work-out hair, face, whatever in that last picture) I make a lot of shakes. Kyle enjoys ice cream shakes, my kids enjoy nutritous breakfast shakes or fruit smoothies and I enjoy all of the above. I love how easy it is to store, pull out, whip something up, clean and put away. It's also good for making Pico de Gallo or guacamole. Or strawberry cream cheese. Mmmmmm....

#3

The George Foreman Grill:

I just bought this but it has become a daily-use appliance. In my effort to be able to cook healthy I grill up chicken breasts on this and add it to a salad. Ive done grilled sandwiches on this, too. I love it and am excited to see what else I can use it for. It also cleans up easily with a wipe.

#4

The Keurig 2.0

I almost did not put this in the camper because it takes up so much space. Kyle loves hot apple cider and the kids love hot chocolate so I have been informed that I need to get my priorities straight. Also, it heats water to make instant oatmeal which my kids love in the mornings. Not the healthiest but whatever. I also love being able to make a quick cup of coffee! Or two....

#5

The Electric Pressure Cooker:

This. The piece de resistance. The machine that lets me cook spaghetti in one pot. I can cook soup in 8 minutes. A roast in less that an hour. Lasagna. The electric pressure cooker. It has replaced my crockpot. I love being able to throw stuff in and have it all be cooked in the time it takes for me to shove everything off of the table and set it. This means I don't have to wait several hours until dinner is done. The dinner options are endless. It's my best fwend.............that lives in my closet because it doesn't fit anywhere else in the limited storage space of a camper. 

Well, there you have it. Short and sweet. The appliances that keep me sane and my family well-fed. Even if you don't live in a camper, but just need something to help make your life easier and maybe healthier. 

Just a few meals I've whipped up in the pressure cooker....

A Case For Torn Jeans

Boys Kids are hard on everything. Toys, cars, beds, furniture, the house, clothes, moms.

Graham is 2/2 on cracking the screens on both of my brothers' TV's. Both boys were successful in smashing holes into a wall and a door with a plane in a rental that we had. That was fun. Ever find apple juice covering the floor of the juice aisle and no one in sight? My kids were there. Where was I? Comparing prices on the selection of five million different juices when they decided they wanted the glass jug on the top shelf and the only way to get to it was to climb up the shelves like eight hundred pound gorillas.

And the clothes; we are very fortunate to receive high-quality hand-me-downs. But the one thing that I have to buy new at some point are jeans. Because my kids wear out the knees in those things faster than you can yell "don't lick the electrical socket!!" I swear every time they go outside they come back in with a new rip. Caedmon got mad at me when I turned one unfortunate-looking pair of ripped jeans into shorts. Sorry, kid. You were beginning to look like a hipster.

I'm not used to boys and their antics. I used to always think, "Why couldn't I just have girls that stay clean and wear dresses and play with dolls?" Which honestly makes me dumb because I was always out catching toads and running around partially nekked in the forest by my house growing up. Even Quinn has a bit of a tomboy streak in her and stains up her clothes enough for me to feel the need to apologize to the person I hand them down to.

But, I realize my need for perfection is a societal pressure that I bow down to. Even within my own family I can see the looks of disdain when my children look borderline homeless in their torn and stained clothes, dirt-smudged faces and unkempt hair. I feel apologetic that I'm such an inattentive or lazy mom. But wait a minute........

Let us examine this further. Instead of focusing on appearances (unlike moi), my kids are outdoors. They are racing bikes on the dirt track. One falls off their bike (oh, hello hole #1 in the new pair of jeans) and instead of looking for Mother Hen to swoop in and flutter around them in a tizzy, they get up, wipe the sweat off their face with an arm (so THAT'S how the dirt got there!) and get back on the bike and go.

Climbing trees is irresistable to my kids. They can spot the perfect climbing tree a mile away. Branches are too high? CHALLENGE FLIPPIN' ACCEPTED!!! And while navigating down said tree their clothes get caught on all sorts of branches. Well there is another rip and a tear. Nevermind the fact that Mom bought this outfit for Easter.

Trucks. Oh my-lanta this is how we wear out our jeans. Playing with trucks in the grass, the gravel, the sand, the mud. Wait minute, we need to do a turning, burn-out thinger and spin around several times using our knees as pivot points.

Or the classic, "Hey let's race from here, over all of those sharp and jagged rocks, to that hill. In our flip flops. Seems stable, enough. Ow, I tripped on a rock and fell and gashed my knee, let's make this tear in my jeans bigger so we can see the blood!! K, if Mom asks, I was attacked by a bear. And now he's dead."

I guess what I'm getting at here is that instead of sitting with their faces in front of a screen most days, my ferral children are outside moving their bodies and using their imagination. How they appear isn't even a concept to them until the first thing Butthead ME says to them when they come in the door is, "Look at your clothes! Look at your faces! Dont come in my house with those shoes." When really, my first response to them should be, "I'm so glad you killed the bear. You are so brave. Let's get a bandaid. Here, have a snack before you go hunt down pirates. And I love you."

Because soon enough appearances will matter to them. They too will become aware of society's expectations for how they should look. At some point they will trade their adventures outside for (God-forbid and over-my-dead-body) more screen time. And after all, the clothes that they wear out wont matter. Material items can be replaced. But, PEOPLE are more important than THINGS.

Spring, soccer and peeing in the grass

It is finally SPRING! And we are enjoying our tiny-home living. I don't like the term "rv living" because I feel it sounds a little "Cousin Eddie"........

Forgive the language, but this scene runs through my head every time we dump the tanks. So, "tiny home" it is!!

So, it has been 6 months since we embarked on this journey of living in our camper. Many people's reactions to me are, "I don't know how you do it. I never could." Thank you for your encouragement. Did you note the sarcasm? Laying it on pretty thick.

Actually, I'm surprised by my lack of losing my mind. Now, there are days where kids are just hard in general and it has nothing to do with the size of your home or how minimalistic your living space is. But, our kids are forced to get along and resolve their issues because they don't have their own room to run away to. So, in a strange way, my sanity is pretty intact.

Soccer has started and both Caed and Quinn are participating.

I'm already tired and it's only been one week. And it's peewee soccer. I'm a pansy. But the kids enjoy it so I deal. Until I forget to bring the after-game snacks and then I will eternally be remembered as "THAT mom." Can I just get a couple t-shirts with "I'm THAT mom" printed on them?

On the nicer days we try to make an attempt at getting outside to ride bikes or play more. This also has provided some challenges as my two-year, whom I have unashamedly taught to pee on a tree when playing outside at grandma and grandpa's, had started peeing outside here at Hart Ranch when I'm not looking.

Now, I'm aware of social taboos and where peeing publicly fits in that. So I do correct him when I catch him. But, apparently, in our pretentious RV park, people feel the need to call the manager every time Graham decides to water the lawn. If it were Caedmon, that's another issue. But it's the two-year-old. Ever have to evacuate the toilet mid-stream when your toddler decides to throw open the front door, drop his pants clear to his ankles and pee off the front steps? I darn near ruined a good pair of jeans trying to get them up fast enough so as not to further scandalize nosy neighbors with a view of my be-thonged backside. (TMI? Don't care....)

"What's your name? He'll write it for ya. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!"
Anyhoo, homeschool is going very well. We are working on staying consistent and Caedmon is now starting to recognize sight-words and is sounding out words in sentences. He is gaining more self-esteem the better he does and we have more good days than bad. Praise Jesus! I'm considering starting Kindergarten with Quinn this coming Fall and see where she's at. The beauty is we can dial it back if it's too much for her. I'm also currently open to ideas of how to keep a three year-old busy.

So far the kids are enjoying tiny-home living, as are Kyle and I. We enjoy the freedom, flexibility and sense of adventure it provides. I think these are things that our souls need, right now.

'Til next time!

Winter in the RV!!

 I haven't updated, lately! (This post has been hanging out on my phone for about a month so I'm just going to cover from early November to early January.) We have been super busy getting set up since we have been back in South Dakota. The last few weeks have been kind of fraught with problems as we get adjusted to RV living. There are certain things that you take for granted living in an actual house. Like draining water or flushing a toilet and then not having to worry about dealing with it later. We have found that holding tanks have to be drained once a week. And when it gets super cold, running two space heaters (one under the camper and inside) overloads the fuse panel. Or in order to use the microwave, one must first turn off the space heater. I came home from my paper run one night to find that the fuse had blown and we had conveniently ran out of propane which then allowed the water pipes to freeze. The propane always runs out in the middle of the night. Always!! So, with temperatures being below zero, there was no hope of thawing until temps rose to 20 degrees. This meant using disposable dishes and filling water jugs outside to flush the toilet with. But hey, at least we have access to warm showers and laundry at my wonderful brother's house. I just take it day by day.

The kids are enjoying it though! I pile blankets on them at night and they never complain of being cold which is my main concern. I'm a little amused that when it gets really cold, frost forms inside their closets freezing their clothes to the walls. I've used my hair dryer several times to defrost the front door. We are staying sufficiently warm! Even when it gets to -23 at night we stay pretty cozy. Thank you, Lord, for electric blankets!

Homeschool: It happens, sometimes. I took a break during the holiday season because of a lack of a schedule. Its interesting doing this in a camper, but we have done some retrofitting to make room for my crates of homeschool stuff. (Pics to come)

Clean-up: Well, let's just say that things get cluttered and messy real fast with five people and two yellow labs occupying space. However, everything is straightened up even faster. Having minimal toys, clothes and dishes everything has a place. Vacuuming is a breeze. But I am ready for summer so we can get rid of all of the winter gear that takes up so much space and the melted snow and mud that is unavoidably tracked through the camper.

At this point, financially we are not making our goals. We started out this expensive endeavor by getting custom skirting made for our almost-forty-foot camper. And from there we had to winterize our water source, then re-winterize it again when the first time failed. I envy the people that can follow the warm weather in their RVs and not have to deal with this. Paying for our spot at the campground is more than what our payment is on the camper. We are trying to rectify this but it's the middle of winter and moving is hard. But we are in a beautiful, park-like location. So for now I am abiding.

Kyle's schedule just recently opened up in the work area so we have really been looking into him putting his teaching degree to use and substitute teaching in the area until the end of the school year and then work-camping this summer before heading back to Canada in the fall. If you are unfamiliar with this term it's basically living at a campground for free if you work there a few hours a week keeping things maintained and clean. Its a no-brainer. We are fortunate to live in some of the best camping territory in the country. We basically have our pick of where to go. Do we want to be lake bums for the summer? How about camping within easy access to awesome hiking trails? I'm wanting to get into geocaching with the kids.

At last we have decided to buy a membership for the local Hart Ranch campground and work-camp there all year-round. It has great amenities and is centrally located. It will be an hour away from our beloved Belle Fourche, but I think for the time-being it is for the best. Our plans are to get settled there perhaps by the beginning of February.

I think that is it for now! Thanks for reading! I am trying to get pictures posted. Sometime. Maybe.

Nostalgia and Guilt

It is this time of year that undoubtedly makes me nostalgic for my elementary school years. I think of the warm, inviting classrooms that were decorated with each season and holiday. My teachers were kind and patient, they made me feel special. I remember the smells: construction paper, glue, crayons, freshly sharpened pencils. The cafeteria.
Story time at the library. The innocence of childhood. Can I just live at the elementary school?

And here I am, homeschooling my own kiddos. My heart mourns that they aren't experiencing what I did. How can they make life-long friends and memories of shenanigans? But then my heart rejoices because I can shelter them a little longer from the bullies. From those girls who sought to make your life miserble when all you wanted was to fit in and be liked by a certain boy. (Some of those girls may be reading this now. Yes, I'm talking about you. You are forgiven.)
Or boys who made fun of you if you weren't athletic enough or were sensitive. Kyle and I bear many scars still today from elementary school.

There are days that I question our decisions in raising our kids. Sometimes I get impatient with Caed as we work on reading or impatient with Quinn because she doesn't even try to color in the lines when she's racing to get her work done. I feel incompetent when I don't incorporate enough art or activities into my Kindergartner's day. Or if I don't know the funny little songs to help remember the days of the week. I don't even have my degree.

But what I can give my kids is my best. They have a fun-loving mom who would rather go play than clean house. Knowing that they are smart, and I can't mess them up too much. I was once talking with a friend whom I secretly looked up to as a mom and she was also homeschooled. I asked her about her thoughts on the "Your Baby Can Read" program. She just shrugged and said, "I just let my kids be kids." Meaning not forcing them to grow up too soon. They will get there eventually.

Also, my kids learn about life and work. For a couple years we had a morning paper route. On Sundays, the biggest day, we would take the kids with us. We called it family paper route day. They still talk about it. We would bundle them in their blankets early in the morning and set them up with a sippy cup of milk and cup of cereal and off we would go listening to worship music and watching the sun rise.

To this day I take them with me when I haul weekly ads to Rapid City. They enjoy helping me unload and we try to see how fast we can get done before the train comes. Kyle will take a kid with him to go feed cows or just to ride in the tractor. We teach them to work. Before we had kids we wanted jobs that allowed us maximum family time. That is why we both decided to be teachers. We didn't care about income. But God had other plans for us.

I am pretty active about getting together with my friends who have kids that my kids enjoy being around. And I can also get to know their kids. I often get asked, "So, you homeschool. What about socialization?"  Eye roll. My kids will go up to any child at a park, no matter the age, introduce themselves and start playing. Caed saw a kid that was about ten years old wearing black leather gloves pretending to be a ninja. He introduced himself, said he had a hunting dog named Tank and asked if the kid could show him how to do the monkey bars.
They love conversing with adults! All of our hunters that come up will be asked to play tag at some point or will get their toes tickled when dozing. A recent guest, a surgeon, commented on Caed's maturity, perceptiveness and memory being far above his chronological age.
 They are more socialized than I am! If I bump into a person, whom I am friends with on Facebook but rarely see in real life, I'm awkward. I don't know how to act. I don't want to say 'Hi.' I've been defriended, probably, because of this. Sorry if I have done this to you.

And finally, by homeschooling. I can give my kids a solid biblical foundation. Not the skewed morals and good intentionsof the world. That our Faith is in Jesus Christ, not mankind. That God knew us before we were born. He knit us in our Mother's womb. He gave us our quirks, passions, personality and looks for a reason. We are not a mistake. And He loves us. If I had had this character-building foundation in my home as a kid I may have faired better against enemies and hardships as an adult.

In the end, I love learning. And at the very least, I hope to pass that love on to my kids.

Home, home on the.....farm??

It has been about a month since we have been in Canada with a short trip home thrown in there. The first couple weeks went by fast. Our hunters so far have been pretty great and gracious. It is fun building relationships with people! One man even gave the kids a small tip for walking his dog, Winnie, every evening.
We are in our camper but are using a bunk house on a farm to house hunters and prepare meals. Its quite the juggle with homeschooling kids, cleaning the rooms and preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The kids absolutely love it up here. The farms are beautiful. All houses are surrounded by tree rows. This farm in particular even has an apple orchard. The kids love playing with the daughters of the farmer who are close in age. Kind of like built-in child care when I need time to cook dinner! Everyone here is so laid back and non-chalant. So far it has been pretty relaxed and sometimes I find myself quite bored. I had left a box of books in our storage unit because I didn't think I would have time to read. Booo.

The weather has been cold, rainy, and at some point we got a few inches of snow. We remain snug and cozy in the camper, however. So far, I love how fast it takes to pick up such a small space. Even the kids mentioned that it doesn't take as long. Which means less yelling from me. Imagine that.

Eventually I will add interior pictures but right now everyone is nappping and I am in desperate need of a shower. 'Til next time!

Home Sweet Home

"Okay. We are doing this. Breathe. Don't look at the loan papers. Or your bank account. Ignorance is bliss....except for the one time you ran out of birth control and thought everything would be okay."

My mind often has interesting trains of thought that I rarely speak out loud. I amuse myself if no one else. I'm at the bank wiring money to the guy in Canada that we are buying our 31 foot camper with 4 slides and an outdoor kitchen from. Because I am impractical, that's why.

The next day we leave for Calgary, Alberta to pick up this beauty.

It has the space that we need for the kids but most importantly it is built to be used in all four seasons. Because of this, it's rare. And the exchange rate in Canada is awesoooome. One of the many reasons I heart Canada.

The plan is to leave it at our base-camp in Saskatchewan for when we go up there to guide hunts in the fall and then haul it back to South Dakota when our season ends. We have our camp ground picked out and there is already a full-time rv-ing family staying there.

We are a little different that full- time rv-ers because we are not travelling. We still have our jobs in South Dakota to pay our regular bills. Maybe one day we can be tumble weeds and travel. Maybe. But for now, let's see if I survive a year.