Every time I look at this picture, I become homesick for the Caribbean, my home of 22 years.
I call it "The Color of Blue". (You can click to enlarge it)
I have been trying to do a super long list of things towards my immediate future. All I can figure out is that I am staying very busy, with a fraction of the list getting done each day. Well anytime I go forward, even just a little bit, it's still progress, for me.
I think.
No, I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it!
My workamping situation is going to change again. I can't take the brutal winters of northeast Georgia in the South.
Go ahead and laugh at me...
But neither I, my dog nor the motorhome are built for chronic cold weather. The biggest problem of staying anywhere that it might drop below freezing, is my plumbing arrangement in the motorhome was set up for vacationing in temperate climates and winterizing with anti-freeze when in storage. I am living in it, so I can't winterize the plumbing unless I want to live without water.
The sheer cost of trying to keep the motorhome heated is more than the cost of moving further south. So that's why I call it my Wheel Estate. It moves.
I once stayed 2 months in an RV Park that had many folks living fulltime in their RV's but not going anywhere. They had put down roots, added outside storage units, built on porches, bought two cars. Yet many were sad and angry. I pray often that I don't end up stuck like that.
I'm not sure they realized it was a choice they made.
I try to make happy choices in my life. It's not easy, but it sure beats being miserable. Since I've been living off a shoestring far longer than I thought possible, I've learned all about priorities and trade-offs when it comes to trying to stretch a budget 9 different ways.
A close friend who knows intimate details about my erratic income, said "You take being poor to a new art form."
Funny, as I don't really think of myself as poor at all! I feel very blessed and happy.
The new census figures came out. The US government has determined that I live far below the poverty line. Isn't that amazing? Well, somehow, I am making it happen and having fun too!
I can make two lists. The need list and the wish list. If one is brutally honest about these two lists, then the need list will be very tiny and the wish list could be anywhere from small to humongous. The need list is basically the bare bear basics: Food, shelter, clothing, companionship.
I fight with the budget to meet the tiny needs list. Sometimes, I get to cross over and snatch something off the wish list. In that case I have to study the wish list diligently trying to make sense of the costs and consequences. Lately anything that got snatched off the wish list was basically maintenance and repairs to the motorhome.
It's old, if I don't try to maintain it to the best of my ability, it could fail me. I have no idea how long it will be my home. Probably forever if I am lucky.
Someone else once made the comment that I was fortunate to be able to travel. They had to slave away at their jobs 10 more years to pay for their homes, cars, RV and so on before they could travel. Yep, that's what they said.
Did they miss the part, that I don't own all that stuff they are working so hard to own? I don't even own a car. I've figured out how to live without one. It's not easy, but I make it work for me.
Lots of folks tell me I need a car. But it's another trade-off. If I tried in my wildest dreams, to afford a car, I might risk losing my wheel estate, then end up living in the car. So I just avoid the car and do all I can to keep my wheel estate in one piece.
Others like to point out my gas mileage is not near as good as their compact car. Well, I realize that, believe me, but I am so lucky not to be living out of a compact car.
I like to be outdoors in order to escape the small motorhome and its confines. I love how cute and cozy it is, but too much time inside working, living, cooking, recuperating can make one kind of batty.
My interior manse is about 160 square feet. Some of my friends have bathrooms bigger than that! 400 square feet is considered pure luxury in a motorhome.
I look around my place and wonder what if it was 2.5 times larger? Would I get lost in all that space?
I honestly think housekeeping is easier in larger motorhomes or fixed homes, you know the kind that come with a permanent address. That is because you have space to put things away plus more room when daily debris is scattered about in use.
So much of my motorhome areas provide 2-3 different uses. My dining table doubles as my desk when I'm not at my outdoor table. I also clear it off for dining, for projects, for repairs. It has to be cleared off again, before I drive anywhere. I've even converted it to a bed once for a friend to sleep on because they didn't like the ladder to the guest loft.
My outdoor desk is a folding card table I bought for a great bargain at Big Lots, ditto for the folding director's type chair. It was a super deal, I am just so sad that at the time I could only afford one chair. I had already bought 2 very inexpensive folding camping chairs, from Dollar General, then discovered I couldn't sit in them for typing unless I stacked up a big pile of pillows.
So for awhile, I sat on stacks of pillows in order to type outdoors. Then I spied the director's chair in Big Lots one day. I unfolded it and sat down. Unintentionally I daydreamed about sitting in that chair in some marvelously beautiful campground. I guess I sat there a long time, staring into space, because a stock clerk came by to see if I was OK. Embarrassed that it appeared I had moved into the store for a spell, I decided at the time, I could afford one chair.
I enjoy having friends visit, but it's much roomier outside. So I now have a small collection of odd camping and folding chairs scattered around the outdoor card table. I keep a colorful tablecloth on the table, it makes it look like home to me. The tablecloths are my old sarongs from the Caribbean.
The only end table in my bedroom is at the foot of the bed. I can't switch around, because my pillows would always be falling in the floor. My bed in back doubles as a day bed sofa. If I'm sick, the dog and I retreat to the bed, piling up all the pillows in the corner to make it more like a recliner chair than a bed. Pillows in back for my spine and skull, pillows on the sides like arm rests. Sometimes I doze right off in this position. Other times I remember to lay down.
At night, I often pull open a drawer right next to the bed. Above those drawers is a small closet for hanging clothes, so no room for an end table. But I make my own for the night. I set a large thin chopping board on top of the open drawer. It makes a little temporary end table. In the morning, I clear it off, storing the board between the mattress and the wall. Then I close the drawer.
Every morning when I wake up, I tell myself, today I am getting well, working, doing lots of wonderful things. Every moment counts. I hate being sick. It's a waste of time. I want my body to straighten out and fly right.
Then I do odd things like, drop what I am doing, to go help a friend in need for a few days, while all my stuff falls way behind schedule including my housekeeping and laundry. It doesn't take much effort for my motorhome to look a wreck!
It seems to me, that living in a small mini motorhome full-time, working, living, playing, recuperating is a big tall order for such small space. If a dozen things are scattered around, out of place, it looks like a disaster.
Maybe it's my previous living on a boat mindset. On sailboats, everything has to be stowed for sailing. But sailboats typically have utilized every spare square inch of dead space for storage. Not true in motorhomes. If I were a carpenter, there are so many dead areas that I could convert to drawers or odd shaped lockers, like on a sailboat. But I'm not a carpenter, so that's not going to happen.
I blame much of the mess on Harley D. Most folks assume the D if for Davidson, but it's for dog.
He doesn't mind. He happily takes blame as he shreds a favorite toy.
He is a mixed breed of Chihuahua and Poodle. As of last week, he weighed an astonishing 5.5 pounds! That is 2.5 Kilos. I read that long haired Chihuahua's can have heavy ears or just one heavy ear. In that case it folds over, only standing up when the dog puts effort into it. I guess that explains his goofy looks of one ear up and one ear down. He has a heavy ear.
Well, I guess he's my little heavy-eared dog. He's so ugly, he's cute. If anything, I was blessed with a dog with a wonderful personality. He is enthusiastic, energetic, friendly, playful, outgoing and rather entertaining.
All the things I want to be too.
We can learn a lot from a dog.
Well, I've rambled on a bunch today. Time for work, laundry, cooking, housekeeping and prayer.
That's the super short list of today's goals.
I call it "The Color of Blue". (You can click to enlarge it)
I have been trying to do a super long list of things towards my immediate future. All I can figure out is that I am staying very busy, with a fraction of the list getting done each day. Well anytime I go forward, even just a little bit, it's still progress, for me.
I think.
No, I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it!
My workamping situation is going to change again. I can't take the brutal winters of northeast Georgia in the South.
Go ahead and laugh at me...
But neither I, my dog nor the motorhome are built for chronic cold weather. The biggest problem of staying anywhere that it might drop below freezing, is my plumbing arrangement in the motorhome was set up for vacationing in temperate climates and winterizing with anti-freeze when in storage. I am living in it, so I can't winterize the plumbing unless I want to live without water.
The sheer cost of trying to keep the motorhome heated is more than the cost of moving further south. So that's why I call it my Wheel Estate. It moves.
I once stayed 2 months in an RV Park that had many folks living fulltime in their RV's but not going anywhere. They had put down roots, added outside storage units, built on porches, bought two cars. Yet many were sad and angry. I pray often that I don't end up stuck like that.
I'm not sure they realized it was a choice they made.
I try to make happy choices in my life. It's not easy, but it sure beats being miserable. Since I've been living off a shoestring far longer than I thought possible, I've learned all about priorities and trade-offs when it comes to trying to stretch a budget 9 different ways.
A close friend who knows intimate details about my erratic income, said "You take being poor to a new art form."
Funny, as I don't really think of myself as poor at all! I feel very blessed and happy.
The new census figures came out. The US government has determined that I live far below the poverty line. Isn't that amazing? Well, somehow, I am making it happen and having fun too!
I can make two lists. The need list and the wish list. If one is brutally honest about these two lists, then the need list will be very tiny and the wish list could be anywhere from small to humongous. The need list is basically the bare bear basics: Food, shelter, clothing, companionship.
I fight with the budget to meet the tiny needs list. Sometimes, I get to cross over and snatch something off the wish list. In that case I have to study the wish list diligently trying to make sense of the costs and consequences. Lately anything that got snatched off the wish list was basically maintenance and repairs to the motorhome.
It's old, if I don't try to maintain it to the best of my ability, it could fail me. I have no idea how long it will be my home. Probably forever if I am lucky.
Someone else once made the comment that I was fortunate to be able to travel. They had to slave away at their jobs 10 more years to pay for their homes, cars, RV and so on before they could travel. Yep, that's what they said.
Did they miss the part, that I don't own all that stuff they are working so hard to own? I don't even own a car. I've figured out how to live without one. It's not easy, but I make it work for me.
Lots of folks tell me I need a car. But it's another trade-off. If I tried in my wildest dreams, to afford a car, I might risk losing my wheel estate, then end up living in the car. So I just avoid the car and do all I can to keep my wheel estate in one piece.
Others like to point out my gas mileage is not near as good as their compact car. Well, I realize that, believe me, but I am so lucky not to be living out of a compact car.
I like to be outdoors in order to escape the small motorhome and its confines. I love how cute and cozy it is, but too much time inside working, living, cooking, recuperating can make one kind of batty.
My interior manse is about 160 square feet. Some of my friends have bathrooms bigger than that! 400 square feet is considered pure luxury in a motorhome.
I look around my place and wonder what if it was 2.5 times larger? Would I get lost in all that space?
I honestly think housekeeping is easier in larger motorhomes or fixed homes, you know the kind that come with a permanent address. That is because you have space to put things away plus more room when daily debris is scattered about in use.
So much of my motorhome areas provide 2-3 different uses. My dining table doubles as my desk when I'm not at my outdoor table. I also clear it off for dining, for projects, for repairs. It has to be cleared off again, before I drive anywhere. I've even converted it to a bed once for a friend to sleep on because they didn't like the ladder to the guest loft.
My outdoor desk is a folding card table I bought for a great bargain at Big Lots, ditto for the folding director's type chair. It was a super deal, I am just so sad that at the time I could only afford one chair. I had already bought 2 very inexpensive folding camping chairs, from Dollar General, then discovered I couldn't sit in them for typing unless I stacked up a big pile of pillows.
So for awhile, I sat on stacks of pillows in order to type outdoors. Then I spied the director's chair in Big Lots one day. I unfolded it and sat down. Unintentionally I daydreamed about sitting in that chair in some marvelously beautiful campground. I guess I sat there a long time, staring into space, because a stock clerk came by to see if I was OK. Embarrassed that it appeared I had moved into the store for a spell, I decided at the time, I could afford one chair.
I enjoy having friends visit, but it's much roomier outside. So I now have a small collection of odd camping and folding chairs scattered around the outdoor card table. I keep a colorful tablecloth on the table, it makes it look like home to me. The tablecloths are my old sarongs from the Caribbean.
The only end table in my bedroom is at the foot of the bed. I can't switch around, because my pillows would always be falling in the floor. My bed in back doubles as a day bed sofa. If I'm sick, the dog and I retreat to the bed, piling up all the pillows in the corner to make it more like a recliner chair than a bed. Pillows in back for my spine and skull, pillows on the sides like arm rests. Sometimes I doze right off in this position. Other times I remember to lay down.
At night, I often pull open a drawer right next to the bed. Above those drawers is a small closet for hanging clothes, so no room for an end table. But I make my own for the night. I set a large thin chopping board on top of the open drawer. It makes a little temporary end table. In the morning, I clear it off, storing the board between the mattress and the wall. Then I close the drawer.
Every morning when I wake up, I tell myself, today I am getting well, working, doing lots of wonderful things. Every moment counts. I hate being sick. It's a waste of time. I want my body to straighten out and fly right.
Then I do odd things like, drop what I am doing, to go help a friend in need for a few days, while all my stuff falls way behind schedule including my housekeeping and laundry. It doesn't take much effort for my motorhome to look a wreck!
It seems to me, that living in a small mini motorhome full-time, working, living, playing, recuperating is a big tall order for such small space. If a dozen things are scattered around, out of place, it looks like a disaster.
Maybe it's my previous living on a boat mindset. On sailboats, everything has to be stowed for sailing. But sailboats typically have utilized every spare square inch of dead space for storage. Not true in motorhomes. If I were a carpenter, there are so many dead areas that I could convert to drawers or odd shaped lockers, like on a sailboat. But I'm not a carpenter, so that's not going to happen.
I blame much of the mess on Harley D. Most folks assume the D if for Davidson, but it's for dog.
He doesn't mind. He happily takes blame as he shreds a favorite toy.
He is a mixed breed of Chihuahua and Poodle. As of last week, he weighed an astonishing 5.5 pounds! That is 2.5 Kilos. I read that long haired Chihuahua's can have heavy ears or just one heavy ear. In that case it folds over, only standing up when the dog puts effort into it. I guess that explains his goofy looks of one ear up and one ear down. He has a heavy ear.
Well, I guess he's my little heavy-eared dog. He's so ugly, he's cute. If anything, I was blessed with a dog with a wonderful personality. He is enthusiastic, energetic, friendly, playful, outgoing and rather entertaining.
All the things I want to be too.
We can learn a lot from a dog.
Well, I've rambled on a bunch today. Time for work, laundry, cooking, housekeeping and prayer.
That's the super short list of today's goals.
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I would long to be in that picture too:)
ReplyDeleteLove the photo and LOVE the Caribbean. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteI just realized the layout on this blog post is awful, I am going to try to edit and fix it. Honestly, blogger needs to fix their program. On my end when I wrote it, the formatting was fine. When I posted it, blogger mangled it up!
ReplyDeleteOk, I have most of the formatting terrors fixed... I think... notice I said most...
ReplyDelete