SewMona – Page 29 – A slice of my Florida life

Camper Curtains

On our Shakedown Cruise, one of the things I had to do was hang the curtains. Don’t ask why I didn’t do it before we left. It isn’t like I didn’t have time! However, for some strange reason, I left the curtains in the bag they came in until we arrived at the campground. By the time we got set up and had dinner, it was getting dark and we wanted to close the curtains. Well, they were pretty easy to hang, but the ones over the big window had these funny white tabs hanging from them. We were mystified as to what they were for. They obviously were meant to hook into something, but we couldn’t see anything that they fit into. So, for our first few camping trips, they just hung there.

Then, one day, John happened to notice behind the galley kitchen was a track that looked like the mystery tab was supposed to slide into. I read through the owners manual again (I obviously missed a few things the first time through!) and sure enough in the section about “Inside Galley Stove Use”, is a note labeled “Important” and part of it says: “Do not use stove unless the drapes are secured to the galley back with the Velcro tabs or to the plastic drape track behind the upper galley assembly.”

Our curtains are now properly secured.

Memo to self: Always read the whole instruction manual!

One Year Later

Just over a year ago, we arrived in Florida to a home that my hubby picked out for us (I had only seen pictures). We had no income, just some savings that seemed to be disappearing way too quickly! We knew that a job would be hard to find. We knew finding a new church might be hard too.

A year later, hubby has two jobs (and crazy hours, but hopefully that will be changing in the fall) and our kids are involved in a homeschool group. We tried a few different churches before we found one that we really liked (and quickly became active members!).

We started out spending a lot of time at the beach, the community pool, checking out playgrounds, more time at the beach. Slowly though, life crept in – hubby’s hours increased (he started out with just a part time job), I started getting some orders on my Etsy shop, we started another year of homeschooling. The beach and playgrounds slowly took a back seat. We didn’t notice it at first, but then the kids commented that we hadn’t been going to the pool as much. So, I made it a point to get to the pool each morning as soon as we were done with school. It was a great motivator! We started planning when we would go to the beach instead of just figuring it would happen. When we knew we would be near a playground, I tried to make sure there would be time to stop and check it out (I’m amazed at how many playgrounds there are near us!).

Even living a simpler life takes planning. We can’t just assume that we’ll do something as a family – we have to plan it. If we don’t, chances are we’ll just sit at home.

What about you? Do you have to plan or are you better at being spontaneous?

How Does Your Table Fit?

Our camper dining room table didn’t really fit too well. It stuck out from the wall and blocked the walkway (which isn’t very wide to begin with). The legs on the inside are in a lot farther from the edge of the table so it looks like it should sit back in there nicely and not bump the wheel cover. It doesn’t. It also looks like it should fit back in beside the wheel cover, but the legs are just a hair too wide. So, we fixed it.

Pop the white cap off the end of the leg that goes in back next to the wheel cover. We measured and determined that we needed to take off 5/8″ – that was taking into account the thickness of the white cap.

Making sure it’s only 5/8″ – it looked like a lot more to me, but we were good.

A pipe cutter is perfect for the job. Measure carefully and be sure you’re cutting the correct leg!

Push the white cap back on and slide the table into place. Perfect fit!

Now the table doesn’t stick out so much…

and it sits back against the camper wall.

Saying Goodbye To A Pet

Last week we had one of our cats put to sleep. Spindle had been sick for over a year. We had hoped it was IBS, but in reality the vet thinks it was lymphoma. We tried a lot of different treatments (steroids, special food, vitamin B shots), but in the end nothing helped. She was loosing weight and fur, her tail was matted with feces, and we were pretty sure she was in some pain. It was so hard to make that final decision and even though I knew it needed to be done, I couldn’t make the call – my wonderful hubby called the vet to make the appointment and then went with me.

Spindle (facing camera) and her littermate Bobbin. We got them at a 2-fur-1 sale at our then local humane society.

When I was looking for pictures to show the kids, I was amazed at just how bad she had gotten. I knew her fur wasn’t nearly as sleek as it once was and that she had lost quite a bit of weight (she weighed 3.9 lbs at her final vet visit – she used to weight around 7 lbs).

She was the first pet we had to put to sleep…the first pet my kids lost. I thought I would be fine – I knew it was for the best. Even so, I cried as they gave her the sedatives and I watched her relax for the first time in probably weeks! All three kids were sad, but my middle child, who is eight, was most affected. Spindle was his buddy. She tended to be scared of her own shadow, but at night she would curl up next to him and no matter how much he moved around, she didn’t run. He understood that it was time and we talked about it a lot (every time I took her to the vet, I warned them that it could be her final trip). My youngest is only five and I don’t think he understands as much. My oldest is ten and while she is sad, she also knew that it was time. She’s also hoping that she can finally get a kitten (I’m not sure I’m ready for that!).

Have you ever lost a pet? Was it easier or harder than you expected? How did your kids handle it?

Grand Hotel-El Jobean Fishing Lodge

Old abandoned (off-limits) places fascinate me. Even as a kid, I was curious about the old buildings near a friend’s house. Hearing stories of what they used to be made me wish I could go back in time and see them before they became dilapidated and mostly abandoned. We went in some of them (shh, don’t tell my parents) and explored. I could never understand why someone would let their property go until the building was worthless.

My husband was looking up waymarking and came across this old hotel that’s near us. From what I can find on the internet, the current owners bought it with the intent to fix it up. However, it currently looks like this.

It wasn’t a small place either. This is the roof line that you can see over the trees. I looked around online, but wasn’t able to find any pictures of what it looked like in it’s heyday. I did find some where someone was able to get inside and take pictures as it is now (or as it was several years ago).

Personally, I think it would still make a great fishing lodge. There’s a fishing pier nearb y. You could rent basic rooms out to fishermen (or fisherwomen) and have a place for people to clean their fish and maybe even cook them up for dinner.

What about you – do you imagine what old buildings were or what they could be? Have you snuck into an abandoned building?