We bought a motorhome!

This post marks a big change for our family.  A time when dreams of RV living start to have a solid foundation of becoming a reality.  We are now actual owners of a motorhome.  This post is dedicated to the "Why now", the "How", and the "Why this one?" But first, a video tour, because videos are so much cooler than text, and let's be honest, that's what the majority of my readers want to see anyway.

Sweet.  So...  Why now?

Well, ultimately it boils down to our family wondering if this home is a safe place for our kids.  Now granted, Norco is an awesome place, and having a house that is hidden in a back yard that's not visible from the street, as well as having a closed yard with no access to the street has been a big plus.  Our landlady is really awesome and her son is sweet.  And the price of rent is right.  It's just that, well, the previous tenant smoked in this home, and it's just so-o-o hard for a home to recover.  We've got fans running full-time to circulate the air, we did a lot to fix the place up, scraping the ceiling, painting, replacing the carpet, etc.  I love the layout of this home, and I certainly don't mind the size.  Well, we left for a week and the air just sat.  When we came back, it smelled like someone had just smoked in the room.  We realized that no matter what we do, that smell is never going to really go away, and we worry about what the air will do for us and our kids.  Certainly we are in no imminent danger, but because of this situation, we started talking about an exit strategy.  We know we were really, REALLY lucky to find a place so affordable in Norco (we don't believe in coincidences, and we truly feel we were SUPPOSED to move here, even though we knew about the smoke issue before we moved in).  We know we would be hard pressed to find something better in a stick and bricks home.  There's also the elephant in the room, being the fact that I WANT TO LIVE IN AN RV.  This is a dream I have been chasing for some time now.  So what does a girl like that do when she wants to change her living environment?  She gets on Craigslist.  And it just so happens that I found a nice motorhome that fit the parameters I thought would be ideal for our family.  And it was a good price.  So I showed Michael, we contacted the seller, and a week later after taking care of financial arrangements, we brought it home.  We need to fix it up a bit, so we won't be moving in right away, but it's there in the driveway, clean but a bit dusty, waiting for us to make it uniquely ours.

HOW?

This one is a bit personal, but so many people have asked, I might as well be public about it, since that's what bloggers do and it's not a secret really.  So, Michael's first solar gig didn't work out so well for us, and we are transitioning into a new job.  Money has really never, ever been so tight for us.  Those in our close circles who know about this have been rather shocked that we would be capable of paying for a giant rig.  Someone even asked us if we are independently wealthy.   Ha!  No, but wouldn't that be nice?  The reason we were able to pay for it is actually very simple.  We drew money out of our Whole Life Insurance policy.  It's as simple as that.  We borrowed money from ourselves, from our future retirement fund to pay cash for a house.  And now we own our own home.  How cool is that?  Yes, we are taking a risk here because that life insurance policy has been our safety net financially, and now it's worth much less.  And we are in debt.  But on the other hand, owning a roof to put over our head is also a safety net.  We paid less for this motorhome than it is worth, so we are confident that if we needed to sell it, we would be able to get our money back.  Anyway, it's a risk we were willing to take.  People say that whole life insurance policies are a dumb investment, but we don't see it that way.  It has given us the freedom to be our own banker more than once, and that's a cool feeling.  This isn't the first time we have borrowed from our policy only to pay it back later.  We will pay ourselves back, and we will have that safety net to fall back on again when the time comes.  Newlyweds take note.

WHY THIS ONE?

 That's an interesting question.  When I first started my research into the RV world, I noticed that a large portion of full-time FAMILIES lived in 5th-wheels.  The benefits of this route is that they have the best lay-outs for multiple people, especially the toy haulers.  If the engine needs fixing, you can still have your home while the truck goes to the shop.  So we wanted one, and almost bought one earlier this Spring.  Ultimately we didn't go this route, simply because we would also have to buy a truck to pull it.

We also thought about doing a schoolie (converted school bus).  They are very durable, and were MADE to withstand roll-overs.  School buses are great for their structural integrity.  If you make your own, you can make it just how you want it.  It can be insulated like a real house.  There are some great conversions out there and we dreamed a bit.  However, they take SO MUCH WORK, and we don't have the time right now.  People who have made them tell us they love their rig, it is indeed exactly what they needed, but they would never do it again.  Just taking out the old seats is a real pain, then you're left with all of the wiring, plumbing, and building you would have in a regular house, only your margin of error when it comes to design is much smaller.

Then I read this great post:  Honey I bought an RV.  I reflected on how there are indeed many rigs from the '80's in great shape, they are just cheaper because they are simply old.  It's crazy how the difference between a beat-up piece of junk '80's motorhome and a relatively nice one is only a couple thousand dollars.  No matter how nice it is, the sheer fact that it's old drives the price down.  People with these rigs often just want to get rid of them.  Maybe it's the cause of some marital conflict.  Or the owner died and the kids don't want to pay taxes on it.  Or a myriad of other things.  The point is, there are a lot of nice rigs out there combined with the relative junk, and if you're willing to watch the market and be patient, you might get lucky.  That's what we did.  We bought a 1989, 40' bounder with only 4200 original miles on it, 47 hours on the generator, and the price was right.  Now, we are sure there will be things come up that will need to happen.  It's got the original tires so we need to replace those soon.  As there are no cracks or flat spots, it's not an emergency, but it needs to happen.  I'm sure there are brittle pipes that will break, and more of the like.  These things happen in old rigs.  But they will happen over time and even all upfront, they will happen and be fixed and our overall cost for a complete rig/motor setup is the least.  I wanted a motorhome from the '80s with low miles, and I got the best of both features.  Lucky me.  But then again, I don't believe in luck.  I know someone was looking out for us and I'm very grateful.

Pictures courtesy of the seller.

Graduating debt free

I stumbled across an article from the Deseret News this morning about how to graduate from college debt free.  This is one thing my husband and I have in common- we both graduated from college with absolutely no debt from college.  What a blessing this has been for us in our marriage!  Perhaps a post on how we both did it would be of use to others, so I share our stories not to boast but to offer a testimonial that it can indeed be done.

Going Small

Update:  We did move into the 640 sq ft home


My husband and I have gone through quite the journey together in our marriage.  Our first apartment was a small attic with two bedrooms with slanted slopes.  It was a smart choice for us as it was only $350 a month and it was close to the university where I had one more year of school.  The only problem was that for the first time in our lives, we came face to face with the need to deal with all of our stuff.  In addition to the generous wedding gifts we received necessary to starting a new home, we each had our own stash of collectables from our childhood.  By the end of that first year, neither of our parents had any of our possessions left in their homes.  Furthermore, we knew we would up-size soon so we started buying furniture when we found stuff we liked on thrift. It was starting to get very cramped.

How do you do it all?

People often look at my with my little brood of children and ask me how I do it all.
Simple. I don't. Ha!

My friend told me something interesting when I was telling her about how my kids don't have clothing in dressers anymore, just totes that I can quickly sort their laundry in by child. No folding, and it's easier than digging through laundry baskets of EVERYONE'S clothes because I used to put off sorting laundry. Now I get it done in a snap!

How we do Christmas

The Christmas season is here again!  It's my favorite time of the year.  Many families have their own little holiday traditions that make the season special, and my family is no exception.  Starting a new family with my husband has brought a new perspective on the holiday season, and it was important to celebrate in a way that fits our personal family culture, and we have come up with a method that is a little different.  As always, take what you want and leave the rest.  Here is how we do Christmas in our home.

Happy Father's Day!

We have been playing around with "Go Animate" this weekend and it's been a lot of fun.  I like it more than xtranormal because it is easier to insert your own pictures and videos, although I haven't checked them out recently.  Anyway, these sites are very fun for kids because they can star as cartoon characters and get their feet in the door working with computers.  This was a bigger project than I anticipated, but we are pleased with the end result.  I recommend reading the words while you listen for better comprehension.  It's a lovely poem:

Fathers are wonderful people
Too little understood,
And we do not sing their praises
As often as we should...

For, somehow, Father seems to be
The man who pays the bills,
While Mother binds up little hurts
And nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily
To live up to "HIS IMAGE"
As protector and provider
And "hero or the scrimmage"...

And perhaps that is the reason
We sometimes get the notion,
That Fathers are not subject
To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,
Where no one else can see
You'll find he's sentimental
And as "soft" as he can be...

But he's so busy every day
In the grueling race of life,
He leaves the sentimental stuff
To his partner and his wife...

But Fathers are just WONDERFUL
In a million different ways,
And they merit loving compliments
And accolade of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires
To fortune and success
Is to make the family proud of him
And to bring them happiness...

And like OUR HEAVENLY FATHER,
He's a guardian and a guide,
Someone that we can count on
To be ALWAYS ON OUR SIDE.

Helen Steiner Rice

http://www.fathersdaycelebration.com/fathers-day-poems.html#my-dad-and-i

Breastfeeding in Church

This is something that I’ve had on my mind a lot lately, especially with the recent birth of my fourth child, and I need to share my story.  But first, I’m going to blatantly rip content from other woman’s blog and look at a few pictures from ldsbreastfeedingart.blogspot.com.

On the left in front of the wagon wheel a mother is nursing her toddler.  (C.C.A. Christensen)

Full zoom:

In the Cardston, Alberta temple, there are three nursing mothers in this painting:

The Seagull Monument at Temple Square:

"Father Lehi Blesses His Posterity" by C.C.A. Christensen on display in Palmyra, NY:

Here is one I found when I was reading the Book of Mormon scripture reader to my kids, in the chapter about Enos:

 

The church does not frown on breastfeeding in public among mixed company.  This picture, so recently published in a children's book, confirms to me that children need not be shielded from watching the baby eat.

Now look at what the church has to say about breastfeeding:

From "A Parent's Guide":

The scriptures often refer respectfully but plainly to the body and its parts. There is no embarrassment and often there is sacred symbolism. It is the world that makes the divinely created body an object of carnal lust. For example, it makes the female breasts primarily into sexual enticements, while the truth is that they were intended to nourish and comfort children. It promotes male sexual aggression in contrast to Christ’s example of tenderness, long-suffering, kindness, and steadfastness in the home.

Shame about the human body, its parts and purposes, is justified only when a person uses it for carnal purposes. Teach your children that they will find joy in their bodies when they use them virtuously after the manner taught by Christ.

From "Nutrition for Mother and Baby" from The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part A

Our Heavenly Father made the mother’s body so it could produce milk. This milk is made especially for human babies to drink. It is better for babies than milk from animals. The first fluid that comes from the mother’s breasts after a new baby is born is also important. It contains substances that help protect the baby from diseases for the first few months.

Now, backing up, I share my breastfeeding story:

When my first child was born, I was excited to go back to church when he was two weeks old.  I was still learning how to breastfeed comfortably, I was breastfeeding on demand (which, for a newborn, means OFTEN), and it was my first time going out in public.  During sacrament meeting, my baby cried, so what do I do?  I take him to the mother’s lounge.  Like many LDS church buildings, this nice little room was adjacent to the women’s bathroom.  It had a nice cabinet with a sink, two comfy rockers, and a speaker so I could still hear what was going on in the meeting.  I fed my baby and decided I would stay and have him all ready to go by the time I went to Sunday school.  No problem.  Well, as my hungry baby would have it, I ended up missing half of Sunday school anyway, as well as Relief Society.  (grunt.)

The next week the same thing happened again during sacrament meeting, only this time another breastfeeding mother joined me.  I like to chat, and I have been as guilty as any other mom of chatting in the mother’s lounge, but this week it was frustrating to me because I wanted to hear the meeting but I also didn’t want to be rude.  In the end I asked my husband for the cliff notes after church.  In Sunday school, I looked around to see what other mothers were doing with their babies.  I saw a lot of bottles, and I thought to myself, “these mothers are lucky because they can feed their babies right here in class.”  (Yes, I really thought that, as I left for the mother’s lounge.  Again).

Then during relief society, I saw something that gave me a paradigm shift in the way I look at breastfeeding in public.  A mother that I highly admire, who had five children of whom the last was born about the same time as my first, was making a comment.  As she spoke, her baby started fussing, and she latched him on.  She was confident.  She was sitting in the first row.  The teacher simply acknowledged the comment and went on with her lesson.  Nobody seemed uncomfortable.  WOW!  You mean, I could feed my baby right here in class?

When I went home I thought about it, and realized that I had a choice to make.  Like this woman who set such a great breastfeeding example to me, I wanted to have a large family.  If I was only going to have one or two children, then maybe spending all of my nursing time (sometimes half of church) in the mother’s lounge wouldn’t be that big of a deal.  I didn’t want just one or two kids.  I could bring a bottle during church.  Breastfeeding is important to me, and I believe that it is important to feed my babies when they are hungry.  So, looking ahead for the next 15+ years of childbearing, I could either spend my church time in the mother’s lounge, or I could do my feedings right there in class.

I started out only sitting in the back row of Relief Society (a class for women 18 and up).  Nobody judged me, and one older woman even pulled the blanket aside a little so she could see my little angel’s face and tell me how cute he was.  As bold as her action was, it empowered me as a mother.  There was nothing to be ashamed of.

Now, less than five years later as I nurse my fourth baby, I feel very confident nursing at church.  I have three small children that need me to be there during sacrament meeting to help them be reverent.  My husband has only two hands.  I NEED to be with them.  Only once has anyone at church shown their disapproval of my breastfeeding in class, but the overwhelming majority of members have been very supportive.

A note on the mother’s lounge

I am glad that there are mother’s lounges.  When I was learning how to breastfeed, it was invaluable to me. However, in the two wards that I have been in, you have to go through the bathroom to get to the mother’s lounge.  Not only that, it is also one of only two places set aside for mothers to change diapers.  (in my current ward, the other place is upstairs, and few know about it).  In both, there are two rockers.  I have been fortunate enough to be in wards with young families with more than two lactating mothers.  In fact, my little baby Ruth has two other babies that were born the same week as her.  Surely all of these young babies shouldn’t have to only eat in the smelly changing room.  Do people really expect that?  I once went in there to change a diaper, and there were three nursing mothers, two of whom had nursing covers on.  One baby pushed it off and the mother apologized for showing a little skin.  I immediately responded, “It’s okay.  Really.  If you can’t nurse in the mother’s lounge, where can you?  How many of us have done costume changes in a room full of other women without batting an eye.  You are with other breastfeeding moms, and feeding your baby is nothing to be ashamed of.”  Maybe I was a little too bold, but I did see a few thinking caps turned on.

The mother’s lounge is a great place to breastfeed, or bottle feed, for that matter.  It’s not the only place.  Nursing covers are great if they make the mother feel more comfortable.  You don’t have to use them, especially in the mother’s lounge.  I personally try to make my skin be discreet, but it’s no secret that I feed my baby during all of the meetings.  I wear my baby in a wrap, and that’s what I use to hide my skin when I feed my child.  That’s just what works for me.  Perhaps some members have seen some skin, but I'm okay with that.

The LDS church is a family friendly establishment.  Most churches are.  We believe that we should multiply and replenish the earth, and we believe that breast is best.  Feed your baby what the Christ-child ate.  It's okay to feed your soul at the same time.

Okay, I’m ready to get off my soap box now.

Further reading:

Modesty and breastfeeding (highly recommended!)

Breastfeeding history moment-lds

Maria lactans: Mary as a Nursing Mother (lots of art!)

Once more into the breach, dear friends

Lets flesh this out-Breastfeeding and the Bible 

Breastfeeding in Church

Breastfeeding in public- the beach

Laminating posters at home

A friend of mine recently showed me how to laminate at home without a laminating machine.  She uses a simple hot-iron, and it works beautifully for posters, lap-booking, small manipulatives, and anything else that you might want to laminate.  She buys a big roll of THERMAL laminate, like the one pictured here from amazon.com, and irons it, as shown in the video.

Another project I did with this laminate is to make magnets for the kids to play with.  I printed out a tangram and laminated one side with the hot iron.  Then I placed it on a sticker-magnet and cut it out, and the kids had magnetic tangrams to play with on a couple of cookie sheets that I bought at a second-hand store.  Unfortunately the printer did some automatic sizing that made the tangrams be too small for our tangram puzzles.

We also got a free phone-book the bay before our trip, which had a free magnet advertisement on it.  It was actually the perfect size for tangrams, and fits snug in our tangram puzzles.  The only problem is that I got too hasty and put the parallelogram on the wrong side.  :p

I also forgot to take a picture before our trip, and so a triangle is missing, and in the tangram I printed, my baby sucked on the red triangle at the bottom.  Well, now you know that we're human, but I'd still rather share the picture.  :o)

I also like to laminate with my laminating machine shown in the video.  I buy 200 8.5"-11" sheets for $20 at Sam's Club, sized perfectly for printouts.  The sheets are thicker and come out looking more professional than the homemade laminate does.  However, I usually don't need professional, I just need durable, and the hot iron does the job at a much lower cost.  I also LOVE not having to go to the craft store to do posters.  The last time I did that with three little kids there was a lot of chaos.  Never again!

Have fun laminating!  If you homeschool and have never laminated before, I HIGHLY recommend it!