The Fun of Home-Ownership

I come from a family of do-it-yourselfers. It keeps us busy on the weekends – every weekend, actually. My mom says my dad does better with projects, which probably explains why we’ve built a dock, a barn, a greenhouse, and countless other projects over the years.

Earlier this summer, we had a little issue pop up, as they do, as we were headed out the door to Wisconsin. I got home from work, we were packing up the car, and I decided to get a quick shower before we hit the road. As I turned off the water, I realized the tub was not draining. I did not want to leave standing water in the tub as we left for a week.

First I tried snaking the drain – no good. I tried plunging the drain – nothing. I called my dad. He said he and mom were out “checking the mail.” They check out mail when Jessie and I are out of town because they like being helpful and, more importantly, they have to pass a Sonic (their favorite dessert date spot) on the way to our house. Dad said to get on the road – he and mom would be over in a few minutes.

The bad news came when dad figured it was just time to replace some of the old pipes. Lucky for us, below our bathroom is another bathroom in bad need of renovation. This meant drywall could come out.

We replaced a section of drain pipe, and now we are back in (the showering) business. I’ll save you the gory details (mainly because it’s hard to type these things on a mobile device), but I will give you a few gory pictures below.

Next time, I’ll update you on my dad’s gardening skills and greenhouse project.

Old pipe that needed replacing
Clogged old pipe
Clogged old pipe
Clogged old pipe
Dad inspecting the newly installed drain pipe

Our New Tour (Camper) Bus!

Jessie and I have been talking about a pop up camper for a while. It would make it so easy to pack up and tour, save money that we would have spent on hotels, and we can take a little bit of home with us wherever we go! So several weeks ago, we bought a pop up.

We found one on Craigslist that was just right for us, and that was ready for some work. We have found a little website called ThePopUpPrincess.com that gave us the confidence that we can make a pop up our own. We have big dreams for this little thing, and I can't wait to get started.

The camper is in good condition, and I think we can do quite a bit with it. Some of the first things we would like to do are replace the floor with some faux-wood vinyl (or something similar) and paint or replace the cabinets. When we do this, I also want to carve out space to build-in our mini fridge. Eventually, we want to redo counter tops, upholstery, curtains, paint the exterior, and a laundry list of other things as well.

Shortly after we bought the camper (just days after), we headed off on our maiden voyage. We had a show at our favorite venue on the Gulf of Mexico – the Green Door Music Hall in Ft. Walton Beach. Jessie survived the heat and humidity in the camper for two nights, and we called the trip (and the show) a success! We had so much fun!

We love the quiet peacefulness of the camp sights we've found so far, and we can't wait for the adventures that await us. As I write this, we are currently on a week tour across Wisconsin in our camper, playing our music for the wonderful people in this state. We have yet to meet people that are better friends or love music like these cheese heads! I can't wait to update you with our latest adventures when we return. Until then, I'll enjoy the ride and reminisce about the awesome times we've had like lunch at the Back Porch a few weeks ago.

I'll do my best to log our adventures, both on the road and in remodeling the camper, right here.