Wandering Thoughts of a Writer: #RVrenovation

Showing posts with label #RVrenovation. Show all posts

As you guys know, we’ve been renovating our RV. We’d be totally done by now if the weather wasn’t so miserably hot and humid last summer.

Those of you who have been following me know that Kevin and I were going to start a YouTube Channel to document our journey.

. . . Well, Kevin started it, posted up some content, and today we filmed an About Us episode. We’re totally newbies, but hey, every pro was once a newbie.

Growth begins and magic happens when you step out of your comfort zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLqF4ixPdDU&t=2s

#adventure, #books, #daretolive, #digitalnomads, #etsy, #exploring, #nomads, #ownyourlife, #RV, #RVrenovation, #website, #youtube, 0 Comments

You should always have a backup plan—a plan B.

We have a furnace in our RV (Aesop), however, we still need to get it fixed, which we decided not to do until spring.

Btw, we’re not completely done with the renovation, but we’re getting close. I’ll get to that in a minute.

. . . Anyway, even when our furnace does work, we’re still going to want a backup heating system.

(This page contains an affiliate link which means I may earn a commission if you use it, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I love.)

You guys, I found the perfect backup heating system for us.

Mr. Buddy.

I’m sure some of you have heard of Mr. Buddy, but I haven’t until I got involved in the RV/nomad community.

Mr. Buddy is perfect for warming up RVs, fish houses, garages, shops, etc.

Here’s the link if you wanna check it out. https://amzn.to/2OXum4x

Last night when we got back from our date, the temp. was 38 degrees, which was perfect for us to test out Mr. Buddy.

Kevin grabbed a one-pound propane cylinder, hooked it onto Mr. Buddy, and set Mr. B near the cockpit area.

A half hour later, our RV was nice and toasty.

Seriously.

We were amazed because even our bedroom in the back was warm.

-So, we hung out in our RV, listened to some music (powered by solar), drank some wine and brandy, and had a good time without being cold. It was great.

We did discover, though, that a one-pound cylinder only last for 3 hours if we have the setting on high. We might end up purchasing a propane adapter and hose that we can attach to a twenty-pound cylinder.

I don’t know.

Mr. Buddy is for backup heating, and so far, we love it.

Now, back to the renovation part. We’re not done yet, but we’re close.

Honestly, if we wouldn't have had a shitty summer (hot, humid, and mosquitoes), Aesop would be done.

-So, now winter is coming, we need to winterize our house-on-wheels, and once again, wait until spring to finish what’s left of the renovation.

It seems like this reno is taking forevvver.

. . . But, things are how they should be.

We’re not the only blade of grass in the prairie.

This winter, we’ll get our house ready to sell, and then put it on the market. In the meantime, I’ll finish the rewrites and edits to my Legends of Deceit book #2 as well as work on other writing/creative projects I’ve been toying with.

Oh, btw, since it’s October, I’m thinking about writing posts about my books and Halloween stuff. I think it’s fitting and will be fun for all of us.

Have a wonderful week!

#books, #edits, #furnace, #Halloween, #heat, #houseonwheels, #mrbuddy, #nomad #writing, #projects, #RV, #RVrenovation, #spring, #winter, 0 Comments

A month ago we purchased this wood flooring, and I told Kevin to be prepared for it to be a pain in the ass to install.

I’m generally a positive person, however, when he had decided to replace the front seats, he thought it would be a piece of cake to install.

It wasn't.

It was a freaking nightmare!

-So, I didn’t want him to get his hopes up because it seems like every time we think something is going to be easy with the RV it never is.

. . . Well, guess what. I was wrong, and I’m glad I was.

We were totally surprised.

The flooring is easy to install, but he’s not finished yet. Almost.

Hopefully, next weekend he’ll be done. All that is left to do is the bathroom and cutting pieces to fit in awkward places.
(This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission if you use it, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I love.)

Here’s a before and after picture.

We’re loving it, and last night I ordered a couple of throw rugs to make our home on wheels even more homey. Here’s what I ordered if you wanna check it out.

https://amzn.to/2OPWS8k

https://amzn.to/2xAUqvw

Yesterday, we took a trip to South Dakota and went to Menards. I wanted a backsplash for behind the stove. I saw this retro style one and grabbed it.

What do you think?

I’m not sure what to think about it yet. I mean, I totally love the copper look, but the thing is it’s not real copper.

Will the heat from the stove melt it?

Kevin thinks it's going to be fine.

. . . Anyway, last night, Kevin and I had a couple of drinks in the RV. We hung out and listened to some 80s rock—powered by our solar.

I'm so excited! Solar rocks!

We had fun and are looking forward to living a nomadic lifestyle.

Our home on wheels is already feeling like home. The more we make it our own, the more we want to take off and live in it full-time.

. . . But we have to wait until everything falls into place and the time is right.

We know this, so in the meantime, we’ll continue with this renovation, minimizing our lives, getting our house ready to sell, and me working on my books and freelance writing.

In the end . . . it’s all good.

#floor, #homeonwheels, #lifestyle, #nightmare #rugs, #nomads, #RV, #RV #renovation #installation, #RVrenovation, #solar, #surprise, 0 Comments

I have a confession.

We’re curtain challenged and always have been.

In fact, in our spare bedroom we have a blanket over one window and a faded towel over the other one.

It’s so ghetto, but it is what it is. It wasn’t like we haven’t tried to find curtains to go on those windows.

. . . But, we failed to find the right ones and gave up on it because to be honest, it wasn’t that important to us to continue hunting for the right curtains. Besides, we’re the only ones who goes into that room—us and Church that is.

(This page contains an affiliate link which means I may earn a commission if you use it, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I love.)

-So, last month I bought two of these boho patchwork curtains, and I love them.

However, as you can see, they were way too big for our RV windows.

Epic fail?

Not quite.

Kevin took one and bunched it up above our kitchen window, and it worked!

Don’t they look adorable?

Here’s the link if you want to check out these cute bohemian patchwork curtains. https://amzn.to/2xgHB9I

Now, what the hell do we do with the other one?

Thankfully, I have a creative husband who can think outside the box and has an imagination.

I’ll show you what he did with it in a minute.

. . . Anyway, we finished painting the inside of our RV yesterday.

Since we’re both visual and creative people, we started decorating the inside to fuel our excitement on what our house on wheels is going to look like after we’re done renovating it.

Here's what the inside looked like right after we were done painting and before we did a little decorating.

Here's a picture of what Kevin did with the other curtain.

Here's another picture to give you an idea of what our house on wheels is going to look like once we're done renovating the inside.

We still need to install the wood flooring, and we can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like after it’s done.

-So, yesterday, we accomplished another goal. The painting is finally done, and it looks good, even though painting isn’t our favorite thing to do.

So far, this journey has taught us patience, endurance, knowledge, and wisdom.

We’re being molded and rewarded in ways we never considered or thought about.

A whole new world has opened up to us in ways a year ago we couldn’t even fathom.

It goes deeper than becoming a minimalist, renovating our RV, and eventually traveling the US full-time, living a nomadic lifestyle as a digital nomad.

Maybe one day I’ll write a post about it, but for now I’ll leave you with this as a hint of what I’m talking about.

#accomplish, #accomplishment, #boho, #curtains, #decorating, #endurance, #goals, #houseonwheels, #knowledge, #painting, #patience, #renovation, #RV, #RVrenovation, 1 Comments

We made a lot of progress today on our RV renovation. I’ll write a post on it soon.

Right now, it’s late, and I don’t have time to write the post.

-So, I thought I’d share my own personal quotes that I live by.

Feel free to share them.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

#happiness, #happy, #life, #lifestyle, #post, #quotes, #RV, #RVrenovation, #society, #write, #writing, 0 Comments

Hey, you guys. We didn’t do anything on the RV this weekend because of how hot and humid it was outside.

A guy we know was supposed to come over and check out our furnace and water heater because we don’t know what’s wrong with them.

-Well, he never showed up.

. . . Anyway, I came across an article I wanted to share with you that I thought was interesting and you might think so as well. If anything, knowledge for yourself and to pass along.

It might save lives.

Here's how the article begins . . .

One of the most popular questions RVers ask each other is: can my RV propane system explode on the highway? A propane safety expert will probably say that it can and you should leave it off will driving.

You can read the rest hereà http://rvlife.com/rv-propane-system-explode/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

#explosion, #furnace, #hot, #humid, #propane, #RV, #RVrenovation, #weather, #weekend, 0 Comments

Last month I bought a video editing program so I could edit my videos and share them on our YouTube channel—when we get our channel—but I’m having problems figuring out how to edit part of the video without editing out the whole section.

It’s a pain in the ass, but I’m not giving up.

I will master this.

Every expert was once a beginner.

So, I will continue to practice with this program, because it’s not the program. It’s me.

I’m not a techy by any means. Therefore, I ask for help when I need it.

There’s no shame in asking for help.

Anyway, this morning, I wrote a blog post and tried to upload the video I was talking about to share it with you, but for some reason it wouldn’t load. I think the file is too big.

I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out later.

. . . So enough about the video upload fail. Let’s move on to the good news.

Remember what I told you last week about the disaster we had while working on our RV? If not, you can read the post here. http://themusingwriter.blogspot.com/2018/07/rv-renovation-huge-bleeping-mess.html

We had to buy another battery, which cost us $130.00. Kevin did that last Monday.

Yesterday, we decided it was too hot and humid—not to mention the mosquitoes were out—to work on the RV. Kevin also needed help to rewire everything again.

Around three in the afternoon, the dude (I’ll call him Sam) Kevin had hired last weekend, who accidentally drilled the hole in our battery which created a disaster, and they had to undo all of the work they’d done that day, showed up at our doorstep.

Yeah, we were totally surprised.

Long story short, Sam came through for us. He rewired everything.

We have SOLAR POWER!!!

Last night around 11:00 o’clock, Kevin and I had a nightcap in our RV.

We had tunes and light without being hooked up to the power grid.

It was all solar, baby!

All-natural energy from the sun.

That rocks!!!

We’re making progress.

Next is figuring out our furnace problem, the water heater, recharging the a/c, and getting a three-way refrigerator.

If anyone knows where we can get a three-way refrigerator for a good price, let me know.

Have a good week.

#batteries, #beginner, #editing, #expert, #fail, #help, #problem, #RV, #RVrenovation, #solarpanels, #sun, #video, 0 Comments

We made a mistake last weekend when we were sealing things up on the fiberglass frame of the RV that’s going to cost us more work and time.

We used latex caulk instead of silicone.

(LOL I couldn't resist. That my friend is a Beavis & Butthead moment.)

Latex caulk with silicone added is supposed to last 40 yrs.

Cool, right?

-Well, on the back of the tube, in tiny ass font it says it takes up to 7-14 days to dry.

If it rains within that time frame guess what?

You’re totally screwed.

Last Sunday evening we sealed all of the windows, seams, etc. on the outside of our RV.

And then this happened on Monday morning.

We had a major thunderstorm and it poured and poured and poured.

When I got home from the office Kevin told me he wanted to show me something.

We went outside, and he showed me this.

It was a gooey, yucky mess.

Lovely.

-So, we have to scrape all of the sealant off and reseal everything with silicone.

We decided to do it today.

But, we needed a scraper.

How do you walk into a hardware store and say, “I need a caulk scraper?”

That was Kevin’s question earlier.

He bought the scraper, and he scraped the latex off while I picked up the goobage and handed him a paper towel when he needed to wipe that shit off his fingers.