Last night, in a fit of pique, I finally remove the side valences in the study:

I can’t believe what a difference it makes!!!!!!

I can’t wait to remove the top portion, too, but another thing the mobile house taught me is that if I destroy something, I have to fix it. Seeing as the new valances won’t happen for a while now, I’m leaving the top part intact for now, even if that gold trim is blinding.

There is damage under the windows from the brackets and screw holes but that won’t be hard to fix satisfactorily. I’ll wipe down the walls to remove the grime, sand the holes smooth, and then cover them with wood filler. Such a repair is quite common throughout Miranda and is only obvious if you’re staring right at it.

Now, if I could just find some inexpensive blinds to replace the shades, this room will be almost perfect. 🙂

I have to say that the best invention since sliced bread is… the automatic bread maker.

I looooooove my breadmaker. It was received many years ago as a gift from my mother who felt that I’d kneaded enough dough. 🙂 I tend to use it in fits; going for months without without making a loaf, then eating nothing but homemade bread for a long stretch. This morning, I just had to make a fresh loaf! I started the bread around 9 and had a lovely loaf 70 minutes later! My machine has a setting for the ‘rapid bake’, which is what I made this morning, and for normal baking, which takes several hours. Both methods have their pros and cons. I like the rapid bake because a) it’s fast and b) it’s very yeasty, but, as you can see in the picture, it doesn’t always have time to properly bake all the way through. The longer method isn’t as flavourful since it relies on longer rising time rather than tons of yeast, but the crust is nicer.

Another really nice feature of this machine is that it has a timer. You can throw all the ingredients into the baking pan, set the timer, and have a fresh loaf ready for you first thing in the morning or when you get home at night! I love waking up to a fresh loaf in the morning AND fresh coffee thanks to the timer on the coffeemaker. Technology is lovely! Some people I know use the timer on their machine along with a crockpot to have a meal ready when they get home from work.

Nothing makes an RV smell homier than a loaf of fresh baked bread!

I have just one question: did I bring my wire grills for cooling the loaves or did I forget them???

The mobile house I lived in for four years and owned for three taught me two very important lessons:

1) The structure comes first;

2) Water is the enemy.

I just did my routine inspection of Miranda’s far flung corners to make sure that there are no leaks or anything against the walls turning to mould. All was fine until I got to the upstairs bedroom. Oh, things were as I expected, but expected was not good. The condensation on the windows up there is dire, with water pooling in grooves at the bottom of the panes. I also found some mould starting in one corner, but I was able to zap it with a bleach solution. I used a whole roll of paper towels to mop up the windows, but it wasn’t enough. I doubt that I have a leak anywhere, but I definitely need to inspect the exterior seams soon as the weather improves and cover them with Eternabond. The over cab area is a class C’s weakest point and mine was in perfect condition when I moved in, so I’d like to keep it that way! As for the windows, research has provided me with a solution that is really counter-intuitive, but I’m desperate at this point. Soon as things dry out, I’m going to apply a permanent plastic cover to the windows. There is apparently a black variety with a greater R value, so I’m going to look for that since I need to make that area darker anyway. This solution is counter-intuitive because plastic doesn’t breathe, so I’m envision water getting trapped between the window and the plastic. We’ll see how that works.

I’m not sure if gutters are a standard RV feature, but Miranda has some, which prevent water from reaching the end of the roof at the front, running down the over cab area, and pooling at the bottom, which is where damage to the area normally starts. So, more points go to the Royal Classic designers who are forgiven for other design flaws. 🙂 I did get some strange looks from a non-RVer one day when I was up on a ladder cleaning out my home’s gutters. Who says that RVing takes you away from some of the most fun home maintenance jobs? 😀

I’m otherwise snug as a bug and relieved that my propane consumption has gone down considerably. I discovered last time that I went to fill up the tank that I am charged for a full 30lbs even if my tank isn’t fully empty (!), so while my tank was ‘pretty close’ to being empty each time I went, I’m now waiting to run out of propane before I go fill up. I just hope this happens during the day or, at least, not while I’m cooking! I really should invest in a regulator at some point to give me an idea of how much propane I have left. The ‘lift the tank and guesstimate how full it is in proportion to how heavy it feels’ method is not working out. 🙂

All this time spent cooped up in Miranda is making me eager to get rid of those fur-collecting window treatments! But before I start investing in the third stage of the great big remodel (new valances, new blinds, new curtains), I need to improve on my organization in here! Everything has a home, but not a very neat one, so I need to work on making things more accessible. My wardrobe, especially, is proving to be a real challenge. I need a full-length closet!!! I’m actually so desperate for a full-length closet that I actually found one that would fit in the space by the shower, which means that I would have to get rid of the bathroom storage tower, which means that I need to rethink my bathroom storage to remove the need for that tower. I’ve got a lot of wall space in the toilet room and I really need to better utilize the upper portions.

I can see that I’m slowly beginning to make Miranda ‘mine’ with no consideration for how modifications could affect her resale value. The more I’m out here, in western Canada, the more I find RV parks where the RVs stay parked long term without ever being moved. I can just about visualize myself, in several years time when I’d be ready to settle down for a bit, setting Miranda on blocks in one of these parks instead of renting an apartment or buying a house.

The day I get out the paint brushes and get rid of these bland speckled wall coverings is the day I’ll know for sure just how long term I’m looking at being in here. 😀

I’m off to remind myself of what I stored in the dinette benches, throw it out (how important can it be if I forgot what it is?), move linens under there, and move winter gear to where the linens were. Eventually the winter gear will end up back in the basement and I’ll be able to breathe again. 🙂