Fears

Fear.  We all have things we're afraid of.  Most of us probably suffer from the same handful of fears like: fear of finding yourself naked in front of an audience; fear of being stranded with a flat in some remote location without a spare tire (and no cell service); fear of being eaten by a ________ (shark, bear, spider, snake, killer white rabbit). Then we have our own "personal" fears.  Mine include fear of crowds (probably because I'm short), malls, falling (not heights, just the falling part), and fire.  [I won't make fun of your fears, so don't make fun of mine!]

I want to address the last one - fire.  Now, I'm not afraid of hanging out around a campfire or BBQ or anything like that.  My fear is in the lighting of said fire.  As a Girl Scout many years ago, one of the last badges I earned was my fire starting badge - NOT because I couldn't build a fire (that was easy), but I couldn't light the darn match.  With much time and moral support from my friend and neighbor (also a Girl Scout), I finally managed to do it and got my badge.  Today I can light a match and start a fire. . . I just couldn't light the stove in my tearbaby.  Yes - I am a wuss!  I had been afraid to light my stove since I got the tearbaby - something about blowing the trailer & myself up when I put match to stove.  I hate lighting gas stoves - they always make that exploding sound when they light and it scares the bejeebas out of me every time!  I think my fear lies in exposing explosive gas to flame.  Now, I'm not Einstein, but WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??????   Explosive gas and fire to me is like worms and Tequila - just because we put them together doesn't mean they should go together.  (Then again, my one and only experience with Tequila proved that after drinking Tequila you just don't give a damn about the worm - "Worm?  What worm?").  But we are talking about my fear of lighting my stove not my night with Tequila.

So, I knew I had to get over this fear or live on PB &J sandwiches and cold showers for the next several years - not what I envisioned for my new life.  While camping with the Tear Jerker's group back in July, someone reminded me that my little stove was removable from the counter-top and could be set-up on top of a table.  Oh boy, a safe way to light the stove and NOT blow up the tearbaby!  Finally a solution.  So I decided that when I got home, I would take the stove out and set it up far away from the trailer and practice lighting it before my next camping trip. 

Stove in it's place in the counter

Stove removed for use on a table top

Jump ahead to this past weekend - I'm off on my next camping trip - has the stove been lit?  NOT!  But with much thanks to my camping neighbors for their moral support and the wife's volunteering her husband's assistance should I need it, I DID IT!  I LIT MY STOVE!!!  It wasn't scary at all - didn't even make a noise when I lit it!  No little explosion burst or anything!  What a perfect stove.  I LOVE IT!  I really like the versatility of it - that I can take it out of the counter-top and use on a picnic table if I want or leave it as is.  I'm going to have my dad make me a little cover for the hole for when I take the burner out - so I don't lose things down in the cupboard.  

Now the story doesn't end there.  You know how you often get yourself all worried into a tizzy the longer you put something off - and come to find out that you made it so much worse than it actually was? (mountain / mole hill scenario)  Well, I am an expert at that, so much so that I fail to see anything else.  All this time I was so afraid of lighting the stove for fear of it malfunctioning and blowing up the tearbaby that I hadn't thought about any other potential problems in regards to lighting it.  So here I am, stove all set up on the picnic table, stove instructions laid out in front of me (read over several times just to be sure!), and I reach for my lighter thingy to light the stove.

I pull on the trigger and nothing happens.  I try again and it doesn't move.  I go to the camper and pull out the package it came in and read the instructions - "Depress safety mechanism.  Depress trigger. Adjust flame". O.K. easy enough.  I depress safety mechanism (darn that is hard to depress and hold while depressing trigger), trigger is depressed - Look Flame!  Oh, flame goes out.  Couple more tries, realize must keep safety mechanism depressed to keep flame lit.  Hmmm.  One hand to hold down safety mechanism, one hand to depress trigger.  Oh look, I'm out of hands.  Now how the heck am I supposed to turn the knob on the stove?

By the way, dinner was delicious!

Need Your 2 Cents Worth

I would love to get some input and feedback from you on a couple of things I'm trying to decide on.  Please let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

1)  To have ads or not to have ads?  That is my question.  How do you feel about ads on blogs you visit?  I love the way my blog looks (took me long enough to get it just right) and I don't really want a bunch of ads flashing and ruining the effect.  I also have strong feelings about advertising for things I personally don't agree with (from what I can tell with Google Ads, I can block some types of ads, but I don't think to the extent I want). There might be a way to have only ads I choose (instead of Google Ads), but I don't know how to do that.  Now on the other hand, having ads would help generate a little extra income for me.  Easy extra income is good!  I know it might not be much, but every little bit helps.  So, ads or no ads?  What do you think?

2)  I have to buy a cooler for my refrig.  I have narrowed it down to 2 Coleman Extreme coolers:  Coleman 52 Qt. Extreme cooler and the Coleman 58 Qt. Marine Ultimate Extreme cooler.

Coleman Extreme 52 Qt.

Coleman Marine Ultimate Extreme 58 Qt.

The marine cooler costs twice as much as the other one, but has some upgraded features.  Both have ratings of about 5 days, which I realize is totally dependent on how you use it and many other factors.  I take that rating with a grain of salt - and don't expect miracles, but if I can keep my food cold for 3 - 4 days on average, I'd be a happy camper.  I would love to know if any of you have used either of these coolers and what you thought? Also, I am NOT an experienced cooler user.  Other than maybe using a small one to carry my lunch to work, I really haven't used a big cooler very often (did learn the hard way to put even packaged food in plastic containers before going into the cooler!).  How do I pick a cooler size when  I don't know how much food I'll be keeping in it on a regulars basis?  I don't need room for drinks, just food.   Is there a ratio of ice to food I should maintain?  Guess I could always just camp in really cold places and not worry about a cooler, but then I'd be bothering you about recommendations for heaters.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and input.  

Got those Garage Sale Blues

It's been a little longer than I had hoped to get back to posting here.  I've got several different projects going on and was busy setting up for a garage sale on Saturday.  Speaking of garage sales, I think I'd rather have a root canal.  Going through all your stuff, organizing it, cleaning it, pricing it,  laying it out and making it look nice is challenging enough, but it's the people that drive me crazy.  This year has been the worst for obnoxious people!  Now as I see it, there are basically 3 reasons for someone to have a garage/yard sale.

1) They ENJOY having garage/yard sales.  I suppose there are a scant few out there that fit this one and as they say down south, "Bless their hearts" - (personally I think they need their heads examined) - but to each their own and I commend them for bravely going where most of people won't even go.

2) They just want to be rid of their excess stuff and either don't want to or can't haul it to a donation center [or the Misses plans to get rid of those old golf clubs that haven't been used in 10 yrs. (among other things) and can't alert her husband by asking to borrow the truck].  Those in this group may also be part of a larger neighborhood sale, making it a perfect opportunity to get rid of things without all the hassles of doing a sale solo.

3) They need money!  I fall under this one and #2.  I have to get rid of almost everything I own before I move into my mobile 50 sq. ft. tearbaby and I need to make all the money I can before then.

Now, people who come to garage/yard sales are looking for a deal - I understand that - but I have a real problem when they try to take advantage of you.  C'mon people!  If you don't like the price, then you are free to go to Wally World and pay a whole lot more!  If I wanted to give it away, I have a very long list of people I'd give it to long before I'd give it to these folks!  I'd rather donate it then sell it to some people.

If I may share a personal request - if you are a garage/yard sale shopper, please keep in mind that some of us are struggling and need to make all the money we can however we can.  Taking advantage of the person selling their stuff isn't cool.  If you think it is overpriced and you really want it, make a reasonable offer and see.  If they say no or counter back with something in between, then don't keep badgering them into going lower. Gracefully decline or say "WOW! Thanks, I'll take it!".  Remember, you are still saving money from buying it new, reusing something and potentially keeping it out of the landfill, and are paying it forward by helping someone who might really need it.

Now go Shop Considerately!  (And stay strong - keep walking past that gently used Elvis Soap on a Rope - even if it is only 25 cents)

Welcome to My Teardroppin' Life

After receiving an overwhelming response to a guest posting on the Tiny House Listings blog and the interest people had in what I was about to do with my life, I decided to start documenting My Teardroppin' Life now.  Though I haven't started my life on the road in my teardrop yet (that will be later this fall), I am however, doing a lot in preparation for the adventure and thought others who want to embark along a similar path might find this stage helpful.  So, after a couple of weeks trying to figure out how to create a blog, what I wanted to call it, and how to design it, I am finally getting it together and posted.  This has been my toughest challenge yet!

So, what have I done in preparation for this big change in my life you might ask?  Well, first off I had to grasp the concept that yes, I could live in a 5 x 10 ft. rolling home.  Then I had to figure out what this teeny house would need to look like.  I did entertain the thought of building a teardrop myself, but after about 2 minutes, realized that was insane!  Now, there are MANY designs for teardrops out there on the internet (many of which are free) and many people have built their own from simple to luxurious, so it's certainly not impossible.  The insanity of my idea was in what I wanted vs. my skill level (I can't cut a straight line to save my life!) and time alotted (within this decade).  I am very creative and can come up with unique ideas to solve problems, but executing those solutions is sometimes another story.  So, I went shopping for a teardrop that came as close to what I envisioned as I could find.  I did a lot of research and searching and finally found the teardrop of my dreams!  I truly believe we were meant to find each other.  The timing was perfect and within two months I was off to pick up my tearbaby and bring it home.  I will admit that those two months were bit terrifying - everything happened so fast - but I was sure of my decision that I needed to follow this path I chose for my life, and a teardrop was the way to make it happen.

Since then I have been trying to figure out what I will need (or think I will need), how to organize things in the teardrop and how I will survive financially while on the road - oh yeah, and how I'm going to make all this work with 2 geriatric cats riding shotgun!  So, stay tuned to find out how I plan to achieve My Teardroppin' Life.