Month: April 2010

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Study Window Coverings

The study has been in dire need of new window coverings since day one. It has pull down opaque roller shades. Great for a bedroom, not so great for a room where you want privacy and light. The shades were getting to be very brittle and the two on the side windows ripped, with the one on the passenger side being too far gone to salvage.

I really want blinds for this room, but they would have to be custom sized and would therefore be much too expensive for my current budget. I decided that I’d have to go with curtains for the time being. I thought of securing them to the bottom half of the window and having the top part attached with snaps or similar fasteners so I could fold it down. Not a bad idea, just needed to find fabric that would work with my design plans well enough for me to be able to live with the curtains as long as possible, but also be very cheap.

Which is how I found myself hauling home a load of really cheap stiff polyester sheets from Zellers today:

Not the nicest material in the universe, but the colours definitely work with my paint choices and the design is also suitably ‘cottagey.’

I brought home three double sheets and one twin sheet, all flat, all costing $4 each. I may exchange one package for a twin fitted to cover the ‘sofa.’ It’s not the best material for a sofa cover, but it would at least make things look unified enough until I get around to the decorating portion of the makeover.

I may even have enough blackout material to cover the bottom third of each curtain; I’ll need to dig it out and do some measuring.

This will probably end up being a summer project, but the fabric was too good a deal to pass up!

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Still Sorting It Out

Today, I’m working at making the study travel ready and decided that I might as well make one pass through all my storage boxes in the overhead cabinets. While they were all very neat and well labeled, I had a feeling that the contents wouldn’t be that useful. I was right. For example, I found lots of neat things in the box marked ‘hardware’ that I really don’t need in a motorhome like solder and incandescent 120V light bulbs!

I also found a box marked ‘decor’ that is filled with small pictures I aimed to frame and put up. I need to go find some frames! One particularly special picture was already framed and I wanted to give myself a huge kick for leaving it in a box so long:

This is my dad circa the mid to late 1950’s. I’ve put him up on the pop out wall in the study so he can look down on me while I work.

I also had a large basket filled with music cds that I inherited from him and which I have ‘been meaning to go through.’ It’s been three years (!), for pete’s sake, and I’ve already transferred over the stuff I know I like. So, the basket was added to my pile slated for donation. Done and dealt with, whee!

My friend was promised a grand tour tomorrow, so I’d better get back to work!

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Securing the Cloth Dresser

I’m not enamoured with the cloth dresser, but I do believe it is a good solution for the space. Today’s project was to finish securing it for travel.

The Gorilla Glue I used on the dresser frame did the trick so the next step was to secure the frame to the wall. Since I don’t expect the cloth dresser to have a very long lifespan, I wanted to make as little damage to Miranda as possible. I therefore used eye-bolts and tie-wraps to keep the dresser from tipping over:

I used one eye-bolt each for the the bottom and top part of the frame.

Once the bottom dresser was secured to the wall it was time to insert the body portion. How it works is that the top has stiff cardboard that theoretically keeps the body from slipping through the top of the frame. Once you add any weight to the drawers, however, the body slips through most annoyingly. So, I decided to secure the body to the frame using tie-wraps after strengthening the holes with grommets:

I used one grommet and one tie-wrap in each corner.

Once the bottom dresser was installed, I secured the top one in the same way:

I’m not worried about the drawers shooting out since they do not slide easily, so I’m considering this project done pending a travel test. I may cave and secure the bottom to the floor with a couple of eye-bolts, but I’m optimistic that this will do.

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Thirty-Three Hours

I have four shifts left at the gas station, for a total of thirty-three hours. I am beyond excited to get out of there, but grateful that the job turned out much better than I would have thought.

While I am off the next four days, I aim to be just about ready to go by Thursday night. This means that I have a minimum amount of stuff left to pack and only exterior things, like flushing the fresh water system, left to do, and that the workshop and house are ready for Croft and Norma’s imminent return!

Friday, I am taking a road trip north Island with a friend from work. We’re not going to the northernmost community, Port Hardy, but almost since we will be going to the ferry terminal in Port McNeill. I’ll have managed to see a lot more of Vancouver Island this winter than I would have expected!

Departure is still slated for May 1st, next Saturday! I had thought it would be nice to sneak out a day earlier than that, but don’t want to get ensnared in Friday night Vancouver rush hour, even if Saturday afternoon probably won’t be much better. I’d like to catch the 10:30 ferry from Nanaimo, meaning that I will need to leave Campbell River no later than 7:30 after dumping. It’ll be an early morning! That would put me in Vancouver around 12:30 and in Chilliwack by mid-afternoon after running an errand for a friend in Coquitlam. By the time I take on gas and propane in Chilliwack, it’ll be a reasonable time to hunker down and crash at the Walmart!

Last night, I planned my trip to Dawson to see what is the minimum number of days I’d need to get there safely and enjoyably: nine. That would give me six days flex time in case of weather issues. I do plan to spend two days in Prince George but would otherwise be thrilled to get to Whitehorse on schedule since that would give me extra time to putter around the Yukon before shooting up to Dawson. It’ll really depend on the weather.

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RVing Movies

Mrs. H made me aware of a movie I had never heard of called ‘The Long, Long Trailer‘ staring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. I managed to get my hands on a copy and eagerly watched it. I was in tears by the end of it, it is so funny. It deals with almost every single RVing disaster or problem you can imagine, except for waste tank issues, including the compromises couples make when choosing to full-time. I was surprised to discover that there aren’t many differences in full-timing, or RVing in general, between the 1950’s and 2010!

The movie came out on DVD in 2006. I found it at Walmart and it is also on sale at some Camping Worlds.

Here’s the trailer:

Since I began RVing I’ve noticed RVs in movies more than I did in the past. Many movies have great scenes featuring RVs and these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

-‘About Schmidt‘ starring Jack Nicholson. His character goes on a cross-country RV journey and parks his 40’ class A like it’s a sub-compact.

-‘Two Weeks Notice‘ starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. Bullock’s character eats a chili dog that doesn’t agree with her. She needs a bathroom NOW. She is stuck in traffic. Grant’s character notices an RV parked a couple of cars away…

-‘2012‘ starring John Cusack. The highlight of the RV scenes is the one where his character takes a cue from me and barrels down a steep hill in an RV with no brakes. Only he does it on purpose.

-‘Camping Sauvage‘ (Happy Camper) starring Guy Lepage. A police informant hides out in an RV park where he has to stay in the most unlevel rig imaginable.

-‘RV‘ starring Robin Williams. A black tank thinks it’s Old Faithful, and that’s the least of his misadventures.

Do you have any other favourite movies or movie scenes featuring RVs?