Homemaking

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Decorating Regrets

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

novalences

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. 🙂

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Making Better Use of Enough Space

Miranda has only a teeny tiny pantry, definitely not big enough for a full-timer who cooks at home! I ended up commandeering the three shallow upper cabinets in the lounge as extra pantry space. It’s enough. I don’t have room to really ‘stock up’ on anything, but I can’t really carry all that much extra weight anyway! When I moved the food from the house into the RV, it was at the last minute. My friend and I just dumped stuff where there was room and I promised myself I’d sort it all out ‘one day.’

Well, that day has come. 🙂

BEFORE

pantry11pantry2pantry3The issues I needed to solve were:

1) Like items were scattered all over;

2) I had no room for the rolls of plastic wrap, wax paper, and aluminum foil;

3) Items I use frequently weren’t accessible.

First step was to clear out the cabinets so I could start with a blank slate:

pantry4

A mere ten minutes later, I got an overwhelming urge to cook.

AFTER

pantry7pantry5pantry6

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Homey Smells

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

bread

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???

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Priorities

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. 🙂

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Mysteries of the Bench

I was shocked by what I found in the dinette bench behind the driver’s seat: dozens of plastic hangers! I don’t know what I was thinking! Let’s just say I got rid of them quickly!

Here’s a shot of the drawer into that compartment that constitutes poor design:

The infamous dinette bench drawer

The infamous dinette bench drawer

I’ll let you in on a secret: that drawer is so hard to open that I store my most often used plasticware in… the fridge’s vegetable bin!

I was able to put two small totes in there. One holds the blender and the other linens. The blender will still be accessible here. I had it in a basket over the fridge, but it made the basket so heavy as to be dangerous to pull down. It’s still not the best use of space, but better.

The other bench holds a lifetime’s worth of journals, all carefully sealed against potential flooding. And I thought they were in an overhead compartment in the study. Which leads me to wonder what’s in the overhead compartment?

I think I need to make a map of what’s where!

(I love the expression on Neelix’s face in this picture!)