Soooooo….this is what I do when I am bored LOL. I come up with life hacks in my south Louisiana/Mississippi accent. Rolling Pumpkin?? No problem! LOL ENJOY!
Our first 3 workamping videos on the Pumpkin Patch This Year!
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How-To
Check out our How-To category on different sustainability projects!
Composting Toilet Life Hack!
Living with a compost toilet for 2 years and we have a few tricks that work for our budget, lifestyle, and overall peace of mind! Here are just a couple of many tips on using a compost toilet, the media to use, and how to keep it dry while traveling! Now….I gotta go clean the shitter….. 🙂
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Bus Life: Water Leak, & Another, & Another…
After getting to our workamping gig a little over a week ago, we found lots of leaks through our water system….Bus life is not Always Glamorous!! LOL
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Where to Park Your Skoolie/Tinyhouse and How to Research
This video will cover how we, as a family 4 (plus an English mastiff and a cat) research places to find a place to park our diy converted tinyhouse/skoolie/rv because there are some restrictions we discovered with rv parks and such. We were also unsure anywhere to park when traveling…well rest assured, plenty of people worry the same things and I am here to tell you how we did it, what worked, what we did and didn’t try, and where we ended up parking and How we made connections to get some great spots! I mention apps and procedures as well. What to look for on the websites and what has worked for us!
Websites/apps mentioned:
Freecampsites.net
Truckerspath
Park advisor
Workamping
https://www.work-for-rvers-and-campers.com
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How to Set Up at an Rv Spot in your DIY Skoolie/TinyHouse
Here is a video on how we decided on where to put our connections (water, sewage, and power), some tips on being prepared, what will help your Set up time to be much faster, more. Below are some links to my other videos I bring up in this video. ENJOY!
POWER:
WATER:
Stabilizer Jacks (end of video):
Amazon links to products:
50amp female to 30 Amp male- https://amzn.to/2ITcFEk
30 Amp female to 15 Amp male- https://amzn.to/2JfOGyE
Water hose 25′ (we have 2)- https://amzn.to/2LBMkbv
Backup 50′ water hose- https://amzn.to/2IWXZzQ
Septic kit- https://amzn.to/2L4nYpL
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DIY Didgeridoo
Crab and I have been wanting to make some didgeridoos for a while now. Memories of “Rocko’s Modern Life” filled my head…as well as my dreams of visiting Australia 🙂 Either way, it seems like a pretty simple instrument, and the history behind them are really cool. They are one of the oldest wind instruments in human history! Usually made from certain tree branches or bamboo, we found a modern twist on this ancient instrument and discovered we could easily make one (or several) with PVC pipe and for only a few dollars! Below are the only items I had to buy from Home Depot because we had the tools required.
The Materials for PVC Digeridoo Making.
The top piece will be the mouthpiece and was only $1.80 or so, and the PVC pipe underneath it was $5.47 for 10′. With that, we were able to make two out of one pipe and just had to pick up the extra mouth piece. So, I bought 3 pipes, lol.
What You Need:
-Heat Gun ($20 from amazon)
-Various wine bottles for making the Bell (flare) at the end
-5′-6′ of 1 1/2 inch PVC
-Mouthpiece- 1 1/2″ to 1 1/4″ PVC Piece (see pic above for description)
-Bucket of Water
-Ventilation Mask (heating plastics can cause toxins)
-Spray paint, if you want to get a base coat.
The Work Station
Different Angle of the Work Station
The Didgeridoo’s and the Didgeridont’s of Didgeridooing:
*Slowly rotate the PVC (keep heat gun a few inches away) in the same spot until you feel it give.
*If it is too close to the heat gun, it will turn brown and eventually crack 😦
Crab starting to heat the first (practice piece) PVC pipe. He slowly turned it in front of the heat gun (blowing on high) to ensure there was a consistent heat on all sides. Once this is flimsy enough, you can slowly twist it. BE CAREFUL NOT TO DO IT TOO HARD! It will cause a hole.
Getting flimsier! Be careful not to sit on one spot too long and keep a constant rotation. It may cause the pipe to turn brown, and that will lead to holes.
Twisting the hot PVC Section.
*As soon as you have twisted it how you want it, hold it there and have another person pour cold water on it continuously for a few seconds until it is cool to touch.
*Do as many twists as you want!! Every twist and bend provides a different pitch and sound! Make it yours!
I made mine with some cool bends and twists. As we added each bend/twist we tested it to see how the pitches and tones changed. Really awesome learning experience of a modern twist on such an ancient instrument.
I had a tiny hole in one of my twists, so I used some polyurethane (2 in 1 Premium LocTite Polyurethane) I had laying around and sealed the hole.
My Digeridoo with a few twists front and back.
*Don’t forget to add the flare at the bottom to make it really boom! Use a Moscato bottle for this! We tried red wine and a vodka bottle, but the moscato just did better. Heat the bottom like you did for the twists, then place it over the top of the bottle and push down. Then dip it in a bucket of cool water.
The flared bottom. I used a Moscato Wine bottle for this flare. Crab helped me press it down and he ended up giving it a bigger flare on one side, which really helps with the projection of sound!
The Mouthpiece attached. It just slips on and off. We added some bees wax to the top of it to make it fit more snug around our mouths. Just heat it up until its tacky, then mold it on the top rim.
*Do be creative! Color it, make it look like a wooden one if you want!
*Do have some beeswax on hand if you find the mouthpiece too uncomfortable. We melted a small amount and each person either left their mouth piece on and put some beeswax on the edge to make it softer on their face, or they did not even use the mouth piece and just put beeswax on the pipe. It really is whatever is most comfortable for you.
*Don’t get frustrated with trying to figure out how to do circular breathing! I suck at it. BUt practive makes perfect! And you can find some awesome videos on YouTube on how to circular breathe and how to get the awesome sounds of the didgeridoo we all have heard.
*Don’t be embarrassed how it sounds! We all decided we sounded better screaming in them and sounding like jungle animals, lol. They really do make excellent elephant calls. HAHA!
Me blowing my digeridoo…or trying to. I need a lot of practice!
My oldest Crab daughter looking all aboriginal! She had two twists on her hers, each in a different direction. We painted the girls’ black so they can get all artsy on them later.
All of the digeridoos we made that day.
I hope this encouraged you to try your own didgeridoo project! It was fun for sure! Happy Didgeridoo’ing!!
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How To: DIY New Years Eve Party Decor On A Budget
All the Decor Party Ready!
A little late, but I wanted to share my collective DIY NEW YEARS EVE PARTY DECOR Ideas that I found via email subscriptions, pinterest, and online in general. Some of these are spin offs from ones I have seen, and some are original 🙂 I do not normally decorate crazy for NYE but since this is the last one in our beautiful home, and I wasn’t ready to look at bare, show ready walls again, I went a little DIY wild. But it came together and was super beautiful, I thought so anyway :).
I could not decide what colors to go with, so I went with Black,White, and Gold. I don’t care much for complete fluidity and party do’s and dont’s when it comes to decorations. I like shiny stuff, hanging stuff, and fun personal decor!
Here is the low down on my supplies:
- The garland and lights came from left over Christmas decoration too, so that came at $0 cost.
- I highly suggest you buy a $25 laminator and thermal laminating sheets (10-50 packs range from $5-$18), if you do not own one already. I use it for so many home school projects and decorations, it is unreal.
- Stay stocked with photo paper and ink for your printer. I use it for everything and all kinds of cool gifts.
- I found some super cheap tissue paper on a after Christmas Sale, 78 sheets for $1, and I always need it for birthday gifts anyway.
- Balloons are inexpensive, whether you blow them up yourself and hang them or get them inflated. I just did not have time to get inflated helium balloons.
- Wooden dowels for the photo props were only $.20 each and I could cut those into threes. Checkout the craft section.
- We always have fishing line, glue, scissors, glitter, and tape laying around too.
- Wine bottle corks, we like wine
- I found some gold “costume fabric” for $4 in a clearance bin and used it as my bar table cloth. It definitely gave that extra special touch:) And can be re used for other holidays/bdays. Or a costume cape! Recycle reuse!!
- Internet search skills for pictures of clocks, numbers, new years eve signs, and cute clip art for signs I created.
Here are the decoration ideas and mini How-To’s!
Before it was party ready, view from the kitchen.
From the dining room to kitchen
Lights Off photo
Floating Balloons & Pics
If you don’t want to use helium, use fishing line to hang balloons and a few pictures of family and friends throughout the year! Floating auld lang syne!
Use Fishing line and tie your air blown balloons to it. You can add glitter to clear or white balloons by using a funnel before inflating and dumping it in. While you blow in the balloon, the glitter will fly and stick to the insides. Or, if you are like me and forget to do that on some, you can use modge podge (maybe other glue, but I used modge poge) and put the glitter on the balloons in different shapes. It gets messy so try not to forget!
I used our 2014 New Years photo, one from the 4th of July, and a recent 2015 Xmas photo on my family’s balloon. I was able to use facebook to find photos of my guests from through out the year and attach them to their balloons.
Punch holes in the top and bottom of each picture (only make a top hole on the last pic), use tape to stick string to the back of the pictures so they do not slide. Tie the last one with a knot for best security.
Cork Countdown Centerpieces
By searching online images of numbers, I found some cool 10-1 number designs, laminated them, cut them out, cut a slit in the top of a cork (we save our from our wine bottles…we drink a lot of wine lol), and slide the number in. Arrange on your table or bar as a centerpiece!
Countdown Balloons, Clocks, & Quotes
Hanging balloons from fishing line, sticking the 10-1 countdown on them form left to right, mini clocks were stuck over the end pf the taped string from the balloons, and I found some cute new years eve quotes online and laminated them. This was in the kitchen 🙂
*This wall actually turned into our photo prop wall! If I thought ahead for that, I probably would have put some garland around the top to look like a frame, and maybe hang our NEW YEARS RESOLUTION Paper Sign at the bottom. I forgot to take a picture of that, but it was just a big piece of paper from those big rolls (you can use a poster board) and I wrote “NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS” at the top and had everyone who attended write down their goals for the year. Cute Idea!
Photo Props, Centerpieces, & Kisses!
Cute NYE photo booth props I found online, some I made. Laminate, cut out, tape a wooden dowel to one side for easy holding, and get ready for your close up! Also, a bowl of “midnight kisses” for the kiddos! This made a cute centerpiece too after I stuffed a jar with some leftover tissue paper and the photo props.
Some Props I Made:
*I can not remember where I found my props, but I just searched DIY New Years Eve Photo Props and found some*
Tissue Paper Pom Poms
Tissue Paper Pom Poms hanging in random spots really helped pull the decorations together. these were the cheapest decoration too! The big ones are 10 pieces, and I made some 6-8 piece ones too. Use fishing line to hang from the ceiling.
*Resource for how to make pom poms:
http://onelittleproject.com/how-to-make-tissue-paper-pom-poms/
Cute Printable Garnished with Pom Pom
Saw a sign with the wording on pinterest and decided to use MS word to make my own! Found the cute pic online. I added a tissue paper flower so it did not look so lonely.
DOWNLOAD THE PRINTABLE HERE:
Mantel Idea
Pardon the wires! I used some gold beads for the top of the mantel, my wooden garland sparkly 15 numbers, and chalkboard gave this part of the house a little shout out. People congregate in the kitchen and dining area, so I left this area simple.
Using some pieces of gold garland and modge podge, I simply glued some sparkle on my “15” NYE decor.
Let the Fun Begin!!
Crab & I Striking a Pose NYE 2015
Great Sites For Printables & Ideas, Plus Some I Made!
*Used scattered on the table, Tape a toothpick to the back and you have cute cake toppers or finger food grabbers, Paste to balloons, etc.*
http://lollyjane.com/new-years-free-printables/
Lollyjane.com had some great free printables I found via pinterest!
http://ciaonewportbeach.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-new-years-eve-dinner.html
Love the place setting idea, but since we did appetizer only, I made clocks smaller and used them everywhere.
http://catchmyparty.com/photos/925479
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DIY Long Term Food Storage Using Food Grade Buckets, Mylar Bags, & Oxygen Absorbers
I have been needing to put my bags of rice, beans, flour, sugar, and other grains into my buckets for a while now. I would say about 2 months….SHAME! SO…what is Long Term Food Storage (LTFS) and why do I believe my family and I need it? Why do I need car, homeowner, or life insurance? Well, coming from a woman who was rear ended twice in one year, then lost her home and 99.9% of her belongings in an “act of God” house fire (No kidding. That is what was concluded in all the reports. Nice closure huh? lol) the next year, and then being fired from her corporate job the next (yeah the hits just kept on coming for a few years! haha)…I would say, “Just in case something happens outside of my control and I don’t have the means to fix it/replace it/or make it better as close to INSTANTLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. For the Double Time Car Damage, it took 2-4 weeks; my home, nearly 9 months (Thanks so much Wells Fargo Property Loss Department!!); my confidence in our economy and that I will get paid what I am worth, about a year after I lost my job I decided I have to be my own boss and not a slave to the dollar; my trust in others to look out for me and my family….ummmm…yeah. SO! LTFS is for those moments we don’t suspect anything will happen. When I lost my job, I was happy we had some reserve flour, sugar, rice, pasta, and spices. That really can add to a grocery bill when your budget is tight. Number One: I am dipping into my food insurance. Number Two: I live so far away from the grocery store, it would cost more in gas for me to get whatever it was that I needed. So, Here is my DIY on how to store those 25-50 pound bags of sugar, flour, beans, whatever you can buy at any big superstore for 10-30 years!!
Materials:
Supplies for DIY LTFS
-Food Grade Buckets (I have 6 gallon ones)
-Bucket Lids
-Oxygen Absorbers (I Used 1-2000cc for the compacted stuff, 2- 2000cc for beans and loos stuff.)
-Mylar Bags
-Your Food
-Scissors
-Flat iron (I used my old one, or get a cheap one from the store)
-Sharpie (If you want to write on your buckets)
-Tape (If you don’t want to write on your buckets)
-Rubber Mallet*
If you don’t have a rubber mallet, make your own (instructions further down):
-Hammer
-Tennis Ball
– Knife
I bought most of my bulk food at Wal-Mart or Sams Club, but here are some links to the site I got my buckets and all from, and a link to which kind and how many O2 absorbers you need:
Buckets: http://beprepared.com/5-gallon-bucket-with-lid.html
Mylar Bags: http://beprepared.com/metallized-liner-for-buckets.html
Oxygen Absorbers: http://beprepared.com/oxygen-absorbers-2000-cc.html
O2 Chart: https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/emergency_supplies/oxygen_absorber_recommended_amounts.htm
How To Do It
Insert the Mylar Bag into the Food Grade Bucket
- Empty Your Food from it’s original packaging into the Mylar Bag.
-Gather the bag together at the top and pick up and set down the bucket to shake all of the contents to a level surface. This allows max space consumption so you can fit all of your goodies in there. 🙂
I found that in my 5 Gallon Bucket, a 25 lb. bag of food fits nice inside, and a 50 lb. bag had a little too much. I was only able to fit about 40 lbs. of it in there. So, do the math and get extra bags to fill up another bucket or two, or use leftover containers/jars for the excess and use in the next few months.
-Add your Oxygen Absorbers-
1-2000 cc Oxygen Absorber in a 5 Gal. Bucket of Sugar
2-2000 cc Oxygen Absorbers in a 5 Gallon Bucket of Pinto Beans.
Make sure all of the air is out of the bag. Seal The Mylar Bag with The Flat Iron. After you seal it, push down on the bag to make sure you don’t hear any air coming out. (I ran across a website where a guy used an iron to seal the bags)
Word of Advice: Do not have the heat setting on high and do not leave the iron on longer than a second or this will happen. I had melted holes in my bag, then had to cut and reseal it, until I mastered it. My first one was jacked up. LOL. You may have to pull the flat iron apart from the bag as it will melt a bit on the iron.
Stuff the bag inside the bucket, and Put The Lid On!
-Use a Rubber Mallet to beat the lid’s outer edges onto the bucket. A few heavy hits around the lid and you have a great seal!-
My Make Shift Rubber Mallet! I simply put my hammer into a tennis ball my pitbull had popped that day (this happens a lot! lol) and voila’! You can also use your knife and cut a slit in the ball so your hammer will fit. Be careful!
Air Tight Seal!
This is where you can tape your old bag’s label (the on that the food came in) onto the bucket, or just write it on the bucket in sharpie.
If you ever need to get the sharpie off, just use hairspray or alcohol.
-Don’t forget to date your bucket with the month and year you packaged it! I wrote mine on the label, but it would probably last longer if you wrote on the bucket directly. I also initial it.-
Using our old Whey Protein Container to store extra beans that did not fit in my bucket from a 50 pound bag.
*If you have leftover food that did not fit into your bucket, this is where you can use your McGyver Skills and find things to put them in that are food grade (i.e. old spaghetti jars, pickle jars, etc). I have read that you can use the silica packets found in new purses, shoes, etc to put in these containers to help keep it fresher for a longer time. I have not done this yet. You can also use the O2 guide above and buy the size you would need for your containers.
Using Spaghetti jars to store rice, and an old container I received some cookies in once. Make sure your container is Food Grade and air tight.
I am not Mormon but they have some great ideas, LDS CANNING LOCATIONS, and great tips on Long Term Food Storage. Here is a link to their site that talks about LTFS and their recommendations:
https://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng#1
I hope this helped you! Please comment below with questions!
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Summer is Here! Office is Outside!
Sorry it has been a while! We have been busy at the homestead with our candle and melt business as well as creating some new products! And now that summer is here, field trips and field days are over, school taxi is closed, and bored kids are in bloom!! I still have a little bit more time now to make more posts though!
I have been scanning Pinterest for things to do this summer and have done a couple, with some fails and successes:) now we are to the point that when the kid crabs come to us looking for something to do…we find something for them to clean! Hahah! We make them go outside and use imaginations! Of course I am feeding them Popsicles, water, and other snacks…this year we did not get a pool so they have been using the hose on the trampoline and for a moment we had a tarp and sprinkler out for a redneck water slide, but they said it was a bit rough:/ so we put it up.
I have been finding many “to do’s” that are inexpensive or free from the thirsty couple.com site and some just plain old googling!! Next time you are online google your city, state or surrounding cities name with “movie in the park”. We have two near us that are free and they are showing “frozen” in June and one a month until October!
Also, after searching for hiking trails (an old combat buddy of Big Crab’s is hiking the Appalachian Trail right now and has been on it for 3 months! Will be done in August!! Holy cow! And he was in no shape at all but def is now..totally motivated us to get off of
our butts!) I found many near us that are short or can be very long with camping in between. Also found a few lakes for swimming, fishing, and just plain old exploring!
Google Regal Cinemas and Cinemarks movies sites and they are doing a $1 movie or $5 for 10 through the summer. The start times are 10 AM on like Wednesdays..but…a good way to get out of the house, smuggle some candy and water into the theatre, and enjoy a staycation! Our theaters are about 30-45 mins away but that is normal drive time so I’m doing it on a week I have to grocery shop or something else so it’s a dual trip to cut costs! Also most of the movies are newer (despicable me 2, surfs 2, etc) and most have seen these but we have yet to see mr Peabody and Sherman and that one is in August!!
There may also be local skating rinks that offer free skate times and $3 skate rentals. Google “free skate” and the city you skate in for more info. The times are usually in the day but one we have has one on a Friday 12-6pm for those that work. I’d rather hit the rink when it isn’t crowded though as my girls are young.
As I find stuff I will post more!! Have fun and enjoy your summer!!
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Duck Tractor 2.0- Video
Update on the Duck Tractor! We added a tarp to give the ducks some more shade and wind break. I widened their door to their little house inside, but did that after I made the video of course! But either way, just wanted to show what it looked like afterwards. We will see how the tarps do the next few months and determine if we will keep them or think of another shade/wind break method.
