A Very Cold Tow!

Today started out pretty good. Was a little tired. With my hunny working out of state it makes it hard to sleep for me, so mornings are a little tough to get up and moving. But me and baby girl did finally get ready to go run some errands and get ready for the cold front that is coming at us. So we bundled up and headed out. Made our way to the gym first, then over to our mechanics to check on getting a new water reservoir for our truck. It had sprung a leak last year coming over one of the 10,000+ high mountains when we were leaving Oregon last year. We had been patching it, but the patches we not sticking anymore and figured it was time to hunt down a new one.

After we left our mechanics shop we headed over to Tyler to visit our Chiropractor and do a little shopping before heading home to settle in. We got about half-way when I noticed my truck was starting to sputter and felt like I was losing power. I was pushing on the gas, but all I was getting was sputtering and slowing down. I had no warning lights, nothing to indicate something was going wrong. I made my way over to the shoulder thinking I’d let the people behind me pass, then I could turn around and head back. Didn’t happen that way! No sooner than I got pulled over my truck died! And would not restart. So I called my mechanic to let him know we would be headed back to his shop as soon as I could get a tow.

Stormy didn’t like the waiting at all. She was very restless, and hungry! As it was lunch time and we had planned on getting something from the health food store next to our chiropractor. Thankfully we had some freeze-dried snacks in the truck and water bottles, so hunger emergency avoided! lol Then it started to snow! Oh Boy! We do not get much snow here in East Texas so when it does happen its a BIG Event! (I heard some news stations were doing “Breaking News” segments to report that it was snowing, 🙂 I am thankful we had put on our heavy coats before leaving the house though, otherwise that hour long wait with it sleeting and snowing outside would have been very cold! I did go over in my head to remind myself that I need to make sure to repack my Vehicle Emergency Kit and make sure I have cold weather supplies stocked up on when I get my truck back. You don’t really think about those things until you may need them, and then you can be in a lot of trouble if you are not prepared!

We ended up waiting over an hour for a truck, they were all at other accidents when I called, then had to wait for someone to drive the 20 minutes from town to come and get me from the side of the road. But Stormy thought it was fun to get to ride up in the front of a big tow truck! She jabbered the ear off the poor tow truck driver 🙂 By the time we got back to our mechanics shop in Kilgore there were some really BIG snowflakes falling, and it was getting very cold! I tried to focus on staying warm, rather than the $200 tow bill I had to pay, ugh! But we got our truck safely unloaded and right after the tow truck driver left I went to lock the truck up and there was no key! Uh-oh! I keep a copy of my truck key on my wallet in case I lock my keys inside I usually have my purse with me, or in cases like this when I need to leave my truck with the mechanic and I just want them to have only the truck key. So I had to call the towing company back and get in touch with the driver to bring the key back. He was so apologetic. It was no biggie! 🙂 I got to see some really nice snowflakes while waiting! Once we got the truck squared away with the mechanic and locked up, he drove my daughter and I home since we didn’t have a ride.

Once home, we got something to eat and Stormy was able to finally sit down and do her schoolwork for the day. But she was so worn out from our exciting adventure by 7:30 she was begging to go to bed! Oh my! My night owl was done for the day. So here I sit, wrapping a few things up and hoping that it won’t be anything major for our truck. Seems like a good night to head off a little early! Night all!

Till next time!

Rachele

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Taken care of the “Doo-dee”

As a Full-Time RVer there are just some things that have to be taken care of on a regular basis that most people don’t really give a second thought too. One of those things is taking care of human waste. Yes, there’s more to it than go and flush when you live in an RV. Even when you have a full-hook up there are still extra steps to be taken to ensure things are hygienic and properly done.

Since being in our RV this has become a weekly “doo-dee” (LOL, pardon the pun) for me mostly, to make sure that the tank is properly cleaned & flushed and ready for another week. Unfortunately, it’s not something that can just be left open and drain on its own for several reasons that I won’t go into details on, yuck!

I do have to find some humor with it though and each week I get a picture in my head of Cousin Eddie from the movie Christmas Vacation standing out on the curb in his bathrobe exclaiming “Shitter was full!” And I have to chuckle to myself as I get through with this most unpleasant, but necessary task.

Along with emptying the tank there is also maintenance that has to be done to it after each cleaning to ensure that any “unpleasant” smells will not waft into our small and enclosed home. First there is the “special” very expensive paper that has to be used, then there is the many different commercial treatments, powders, drop-ins, colored chemicals, and funky thick liquids to add that are supposed to make sure things are “pleasant” and will help things to flush out properly without getting clogged.

The reason for my post today is not to gross you out, maybe get a chuckle on my behalf and be thankful you don’t have my weekly “job”. But I wanted to share a few things I have learned that have helped in this area without the use of expensive, toxic chemicals. Maybe you have a weekend trailer or live full-time in your RV also. I discovered this all-natural method that works better than the chemicals when I ran out of our normal treatment and didn’t have the money to go buy any more of these costly add ins. So I used what I had in my cupboard. I have perfected my recipe over the last few months and even in our Texas 100+ degree heat I have found this to work far better than anything I have bought yet. It has worked better than the commercial treatments to eliminate the odors, and I have had no problems with clogs or undissolved paper stopping up the exits. Unfortunately, we still have to buy the expensive paper, but I found the Scott Rapid Dissolve Bath Tissue has the best value for the money and works very well with this recipe.

My All-Natural RV tank treatment.
Add this to your tank after each cleaning along with enough water to just cover the bottom of your tank, maybe 2 quarts or so. These measurements are approximate as I’m more of just dump it in and eyeball it. 🙂

1/2 -1 cup Baking Soda
1/2 cup Epsom Salt
1 cup BORAX
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 Cap-full of essential Oil (I like to use Pine Needle Essential Oil)
1 cup White Distilled Vinegar

I pour each of the dry ingredients into the bowl first. Then I add the essential oil to the powder ingredients. I use the cheaper brand oils for household tasks like this, but I use my Young Living Essential Oils for medicinal, aromatherapy, and/or topical uses. Then I add the white vinegar and add water into the bowl and using the bowl scrubber I stir it around to dissolve the powder ingredients. Once its all dissolved I flush the bowl, then refill it will water again to rinse the scrubber brush, then flush again. I then clean the seat, lid & bowl with my Thieves Essential Oil Household Cleaner. (Please contact me if you would like some more information about it.)

To freshen things up during the week, I keep a spray bottle under the bathroom sink with a 4:1 ratio of white vinegar to water, 1/2 cup baking soda, and a cap full of the Pine Needle Essential Oil. I use this mixture to clean the bowl with during the week. You just want to avoid any bleach products or any other commercial product with bleach. **WARNING*** Bleach mixing with the ammonia in urine can cause very toxic and deadly fumes. So NEVER mix bleach with ammonia products!

I hope that this recipe will be of help to others, and if you have found a method or all natural remedy you use to keep your RV tank clean, fresh, and flowing good, share with us in the comments below. I would love to hear what others have been successful using so that we all may benefit by helping to share our knowledge and personal experiences with each other.

Till next time,

Rachele T.

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

How to Make Your Own All Natural No Poo Shampoo Alternative

Have you considered switching from the chemical laden commercial shampoos but also don’t want to spend four times as much to buy those “alternative” and supposed “all-natural” hair products you find on the store shelves? I have. I’ve tried switching to some of the “no-poo” methods of just baking soda and apple cider vinegar, but wasn’t very pleased with how dry my hair was after a short time. I came across this great article today on Sara’s blog, with some great recipes for some more alternatives to making your own healthier all-natural no-poo shampoo alternatives. There are several recipes for adding the moisture back into your hair and some better ways to transition your hair into your new hair regime.

Visit Sara’s Blog Here to learn how to make your own Homemade All Natural No Poo Shampoo Alternatives for healthier Hair!

March 26, 2013June 2, 2013

What a day!

Oh boy! What a day so far! Hubby has been working nights this week and Sunday the transmission went out in his company truck. Yesterday we took it into the shop and the company is getting it fixed, no biggie. But, he is having to run our personal truck while the company truck is in the shop. So the last two days have been crazy for me trying to get everything I need to get done in the 4 hour window before its time to fix his dinner & food for work & him leave again.

So we had a freeze last night, no biggie all our hoses are wrapped (well it shouldn’t have been anyway). We woke to no water this morning, didn’t think much about it, I figured it would thaw out in a bit. I had to run a few errands in town first thing this morning. I came back from town to find a note on my door from the neighbor explains that he had shut our water off because there were 2 huge leaks. Ugh! Yep! The hose splitter had split & the water filter had busted. So I made another run into town to get the parts to fix it and finally got our water back on.

March 17, 2013March 17, 2013

Time to Rescue Holly!

As I posted a few days ago, our daughter’s, that we just moved 3-1/2 hours away to Dallas, car broke down. We had a feeling it was the battery and we had planned on coming up this weekend to fix it, but Harold’s work told him that even though it was his only weekend off for the whole month, he couldn’t take it. So as soon as we got paid we sent Holly the money to buy a new battery. She got some of her friends to help her go get a new in and get it in and she reported that everything was fine.

Till Friday afternoon. We get a call about 3pm and Holly was sitting in the side if the road about a mile from the house, car dead! Well, work or no work we couldn’t leave our baby girl stranded, so we had her call a friend and take her to work while we loaded up dad’s tools that he thought he night need and headed out.

We arrived late Friday night. Luckily I thought to call ahead to the hotel to book a room as we got the last room. Holly lives down the road from The Texas Motor Speedway and there was a classic car rally there this weekend

One of the cars at the hotel where we were staying.

Saturday I got up at 4:30am to go pick up Holly to get her to work. Then after daylight dad & I went to see what was wrong with her car. As soon as dad opened the hood the look on his face told me someone had screwed something up. Her friends meant well trying to help her, but it was very apparent none of them, including Holly, had a clue. First off she had the wrong size battery in. And because it was to big it was jammed up to the alternator fan. The cables were not attached to the posts and the battery cables, because of the wrong size battery, had gotten shoved up into the alternator fan and the blades of the fan had chewed through the protective coverings and into the bare wires. We were so lucking it died before it caught fire.

Dad was able to rig it back together temporarily so we could get it the mile back to her house and start making a list of parts we needed. Once we had our list together we made a run to the nearest O’Reilly Auto Parts store, which was about 20 miles away. We ended up going to 2 stores to finish getting all the parts and new battery, cables, terminals, etc. by the time we were done it was time to pick Holly up from work and have some lunch.

After lunch we headed back to Holly’s to get to work on her car. One of Holly’s friends was there and he got right outside with dad and helped him get everything fixed back up. They got all new cables and terminals put in. Secured the new battery & cables so it wouldn’t slide around or bump the alternator. Thank goodness it didn’t mess up the alternator as we just replaced that a month ago. (Of course I suggested to dad back when we replaced the alternator to go ahead and put in a new battery, cables & clamps & secure it as it looked like it needed to be done & I didn’t want her to get all the way to Dallas and get stuck :/ hmmm maybe someone should listen time a little more often).

After dad got her engine running good again he and Holly’s friend checked all her brakes and tires to make sure she was doing good. So she is up & rolling again.

After we got all cleaned up we were talking to Holly’s best friend and roommate and she confessed when we asked her how her car was doing, that her car had been acting funny & stalling out in her. It’s a good thing we planned on staying two nights, after breakfast this morning dad is going to check out her car and see if we can’t get her running good again.

So it has been a busy but productive weekend. And I’m just so thankful my husband knows enough to keep all our vehicles running.

I took this picture of The Texas Motor Speedway from Holly’s front yard. Yep she is that close.

Till next time,
Rachele T.

March 12, 2013March 12, 2013

Sugar is sick

Our poor fur baby has been so sick today 🙁 I haven’t had her this sick since she was a baby and had parvo when we adopted her from the local shelter.

She woke us up at 5 am with awful diarrhea (let’s just say I have to shampoo the carpet) Daddy took her outside while mommy cleaned up all the accidents. My poor baby. We all went back to sleep for a little bit. When we got back up I took my Sugar for a long walk, poor thing 🙁 it was just awful.

So I got online with some of my Young Living Oil friends to find out what I could do for her. What I was able to find out was that the Di-Gize oil blend is very good for doggie diarrhea, but I didn’t have any so instead I added 1-2 drops of Thieves oil, Peppermint oil & Lavender oil to about 1tsp of olive oil & rubbed on her front paws & gently massaged onto her belly.

Then my vet friend told me that there is a bad strain of parvo going around that is even taking down vaccinated adult dogs and that no medicine was working so she was trying some alternative treatments and she was having some luck with Slippery Elm. Well hopefully it’s not parvo again :@ oh that was a nightmare when she was a baby.

I couldn’t find just slippery elm bark tea, so I used Throat Coat organic tea instead as it has a high amount of slippery elm bark, which helps to coat & sooth her innards.

I started Sugar on about 1 cup of chicken broth an hour. Then after she kept the first 3 down I mixed a half cup herbal tea with a half cup chicken broth, which she lapped down quite well. After 2 more cups of the herbal tea mixture I added a tbs of D Earth and 2 tbs of her normal dog food into her cup of tea broth. She took that well and started to perk up.

I increased the amount of dog food mixed with the slippery elm tea & chicken broth a few more times before bedtime. I applied the herbal mixture I mentioned above one more time before her last walk.

She seems to be doing much better tonight, although not 100% yet. Hopefully she will do better tomorrow. Il’l continue her oil massages 2 times a day and her herbal tea until she is herself again, which will hopefully be soon.

Boy it’s been a week that’s for sure! Last week we got Holly moved to Dallas

A few days later she calls to tell us her car won’t start :/ hopefully it’s just the battery, but we’ve got to wait until the next payday to send her the money for one.

A few days later our hot water heater died & it’s going to be $700-$900+ to replace it! Geeze! I never would have thought it would be as much for a 6gal RV hot water tank as it was for the 50 gal one we had installed in our old home. So, since I don’t have that money just lying around I’ve had to boil water for dishes & baths. What fun :/

The next day while I was cleaning out our black water tank some tp I guess got jammed in the tube and water flowed back into the bathroom before I could get the water shut off 🙁 yuck! So I spent 2 days cleaning that mess up! And yea we need to replace the toilet too, it’s usable but broke. That’s $200+

With it starting to get warmer we are going to have to replace the a/c before it gets too hot as it died after last year. That’s about $1200-$1500+ for a new unit.

Then my Sugar gets sick 🙁 so it’s been one heck of a week! But that’s ok! Because God is good all the time and He will somehow help us get everything we need. I’m just thankful we are blessed enough to have this RV to live in. When I do get discouraged from so many thinks going wrong I think of Job from the Bible and what he went through.

So no matter what happens God is still awesome & amazing. And I’m still believing for a new 2 bedroom 5th wheel with slides so our Stormy will finally have a little space and not have to sleep in the living room and we will have a bit more room & storage. 🙂

Till next time,
Enjoy your Journey 🙂
God Bless

Rachele T

February 14, 2013

Sugar gets a bath!

Gave our dog, Sugar, a much needed bath this morning. She was a little on the smelly side :/ She did very well, I think she rather enjoyed it actually. I like to use dawn dish soap and Dr Bronners lavender soap on her. The Dawn is gentle on her skin and kills the fleas, the Dr Bronners makes her smell very nice. I noticed to that her skin eczema has almost completely cleared up since we switched to an all natural dog food with Salmon.

February 1, 2013

A busy February 1st!

Today has been a busy day! Finally got into my chiropractor & upgraded to the unlimited visits for the month of February. He is very reasonable, it is only $240 for our entire family for the whole month with unlimited visits each! Ahhhhh! I’m already feeling relief! I just can’t go so long without getting adjusted anymore. My back has been so damaged for so long, it’s just going to have to be a part of my health routine from now on, like going to the gym or exercising. Then after this month I should be able to go back to weekly visits.

Harold got to come home this morning too, it was an unsuspecting pleasant surprise. The out of town job he was on this week delayed. So we got to spend some time together today with Stormy running errands. We are thankful for the jobs, even though he is having to work out of town for 1-2 weeks at a time, it will help us finish getting ready for the move to Oregon in a few months. We are thankful to have been able to pay off a large bill today because of it, that we needed to get taken care of. Thank you Lord! Just a few more to go and we will be debt free (everything but student loans) before we leave.

Got my onions replaced today. The one on the left has been out for about a week. the one on the right is the fresh cut onion. For those that don’t know, we help stay cold & flu free by placing an unpeeled onion cut in half in glass dishes throughout the RV. It only takes one onion cut in half for us. The onions absorb the cold/flu germs. We’ve done this for two years now & it works quite well. I prefer the sweet onions as they do not have as bad of an “onion” smell. The cheap onions can sometimes have a very pungent oder. But it is worth a little onion smell for a day to not get sick.

I also got my cast iron pans cleaned & oiled. I don’t use any soap on them, but sometimes I do need to use a little hot water & my scrubber and rinse them out. I then put them on the burner to heat them up till all the water has cooked off then turn the burner off. While it is still hot I give it a good rubbing with olive oil. I’ve heard some say not to use olive oil because it makes your food stick, but I’ve had really good luck with it. I cook exclusively with extra virgin olive oil now and I can usually just wipe the pan out with a clean towel when I’m done. I’m loving cooking with my cast iron.

I even tried my hand at homemade mayonnaise & ranch dressing today. The mayonnaise didn’t work out though. I used my extra virgin olive oil & the flavor was just way too strong. I’ll need to see what other lighter flavor oils are on the health food shelves. I want to use an organic oil as we are trying to get away from commercially processed foods, GMO’s & chemicals. But, I got the blending good though as it was light & creamy, just tasted awful. Lol.

Now my ranch turned out really good. Stormy helped me mix it up & it is Stormy & Daddy approved. So at least we had that success today. Ill post the pics and recipes first of next week as the rest of this weekend will be very busy.

Tomorrow we start early as we head to a class to learn to process different animals and learn to tan hides the natural way using no chemicals. I plan on taking lots of pictures, videos & notes.

Then Sunday we are off to my sister’s to celebrate my niece’s first birthday. Holly is coming to visit & go to the party with us. So we will have an awesome, but very busy weekend. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend too!

Till next time,

Rachele T.