Stuck in Frump, Striving for Fab

While cleaning out our Jamboree the day after we got 'er home, I found these:

The ones pictured at top are dated April of '09, the ones below were of unknown factory origin.



The hot dog buns were hard as a rock, but still looked exactly the same as the day they were bagged up.

I was thinking that the old 'sliced apple in the bread bag' trick might just bring those babies back to life.

Totally kidding.

But it just goes to show what a person is putting into their systems when eating starchy white, over-processed bread. Still not broken down after a year! It might as well be wallpaper paste. Ugh.

The hamburger buns...well, they, too, were hard as a rock, but covered in a greenish-black powdery mold. Yum.

Hamburgers, anyone?

:: :: :: ::

Oh, and while speaking of the Jamboree...see the lovely dent?



See the fallen roof tiles?



See the corner of our roof?



Oh, yes...I did.

However, upon inspecting the roof from a ladder, I found that no real damage had been done. Nothing to file an insurance claim over or anything. Just a small split in the facia board.

Plus I found a dead baby bird up under the roof tiles that simply must be disposed of.

So see? We wouldn't have known about the decomposing baby bird had the little snafu with the Jamboree not occurred, and we simply can't live with a decomposing animal up under our roof tiles, so I'm pretty sure it was destiny.

At least that's how I have chosen to look at the whole incident.

Well, that and reviewing some the First rule of camper ownership: NEVER back up a camper without first pulling back all curtains so that one can see where one is going.

Second rule: NEVER back up without first adjusting all mirrors for best view.

Third rule: NEVER rely on taking your (four-year-old) son's word for it (while he watches out the back window of the Jamboree) to be sure you didn't take out the heavily fruited plum tree nearby.

Yes, my bloggy peeps, whilst backing up the camper for the very first time, I took off a couple of corner tiles in our roof...and didn't feel a thing! Seriously...no bump and no scraping metal sounds or anything.

In my periphery I just suddenly saw something fall and thought, "Hmm...what was that?" and stopped to look.

My heart pretty much plummeted to the bottom of my stomach when I realized it was roof tiles.
It didn't help matters that when Judah heard my exclamation, he came running from the back to the cab of the camper to look out the nearest window and said, "You broke da house, Mama!"

**cringes**

I'm still not entirely sure what happened exactly, because I'm really a very excellent driver.

:: :: :: ::

Some of our Awana and youth group kids were showing livestock in our county fair's livestock auction this year.

We hadn't ever been to an auction before, rounded up the fam and headed down to watch.









It was a lot of fun.

Judah was thrilled to see so many people he knew there.







And of course the animals.







When it got to the poultry portion of the auction, I got a real kick out of how this farmer was holding the turkey to hand him over to his daughter who was trying to keep her pristine 4H uniform nice and clean until just before it was time to make the sale.



Later, when some friends from church showed up in the back of the arena so that their children could get a feel for what belonging to 4H or FFA was like, Jeff tossed a wave their direction.

Their son was making a goofy face at us which was why I took the following photo.



The father (seated on the straw bale in white) waved back.

And suddenly, the auctioneer shouted, "300! Do I hear 3 and a quarter? Three twenty-five? Anyone for $3.25?" along with a bunch of that whole stuttering kind of mumbo-jumbo they do in between.

My mouth dropped. Did I just see what I thought I saw happen?

Our friends eyes went wide.

There was a sudden moment of panic and confusion in which he shook his head and did a frantic (low) shake of his hands as if to say, "No, no...there's been a mistake!" His wife, too.

When I glanced at Jeff I saw that his hand had covered his own mouth in a big giant, "Oh, NO!" kind of a motion...and I knew...it was all true.

Yes, my friends, and if that wasn't bad enough, the amounts they were calling out were the price per pound one would have to pay for the animal being shown...currently a 300+ pound hog!

Um, can we say, "Ooopsie"?

Fortunately for them, just then from further back in the arena, someone held up an actual paddle and the auctioneer said, ""3.25! Do I hear 3 and a half? Three fifty? Anyone for $3.50?"

Immediately our friends rushed over to where we were standing and we all laughed in relief as he said, "You very nearly cost me a $1,000!"

Yes, we newbies learned a very important lesson at that livestock auction this year...NEVER ever wave (or even raise your hand) during an auction!

:: :: :: ::

While finishing up breakfast one morning recently, Judah called to me, "Mama...lookit! My toast looks like a animal!"



And by golly, it does! Move over Texas Toast...Buffalo Toast is in the house!

:: :: :: ::

We had our end-of-the-year Awana Carnival recently.

I was responsible for the face-painting booth. For boys, we did mostly snakes, lizards and spiders.



For girls, we did butterflies and flowers.





We also painted hands and arms, because some children opted to come back more than once.





At one point I had to put up my paintbrush for a time as I was locked into the jail.

As were several of our other Awana kids and leaders.



Jeff, too. For a very long portion of the day, I might add. Someone was totally gunning for him.

Judah, however, refused to go, cleanly evading the authorities.

He's been on the lam since, though on-site cameras did catch him at a watermelon eating contest around 1:25 that afternoon.





His brother, too, was said to have taken 2nd place in the contest with 7 large slices of watermelon.



:: :: :: ::

On his last day of school, Jeff always does some wild and crazy haircut.

He'd been growing his hair out since February, and this year decided to go with a mohawk.

He really wanted Liberty spikes, but his curly hair made that a bit of a stretch. Even with toothpaste as his styling medium.

We've since learned that Elmers glue works best.

On the teachers last day of school (the day after students are out for summer), the teachers children are allowed to come to work with them.

Judah couldn't have been more excited about going to school with daddy.

To do so, not only did we decide to cut Judah's hair to match daddy's, but he had to look all official and carry a backpack and everything.

But alas, it is hard to look appropriately tough and intimidating when one wears a "Lightneen MaKeen pack-ack".



Or later, while sitting in time-out for whining about not getting candy.



Really, if you ask me, neither one looks too terribly intimidating.





Somehow, I'm thinking that a guy who wears a GI Joe t-shirt doesn't pose a serious threat to anyone.

Did I mention that he also won Teacher-of-the-Year for his school?

AND that he's in the running for District-wide Teacher-of-the-Year.

You da man, Jeff!

**Ahem**

Now we're off for what I believe is the last thing on our list before our summer officially begins...a college graduation ceremony for our friend Lo.

Congratulations, girl! We're so proud of you!!

Oh, and lest I forget, I must give a congratulatory shoutout to her parents, our friends Steve & Chrissy as they have just celebrated their 25th Wedding Anniversary!

There she is...our new summer home camper.

A 1978 Dodge Jamboree.



All for the price of free!

Which fills our hearts with glee!

I am still in awe...it's something we've wanted for a long time, especially after we passed up a wonderful deal on a 5th wheel in favor of going to see my family in Washington and attend my class reunion last summer.

Then, about a week ago, after seeing a couple of blog postings about renovated older model RVs and Campers, it really made me itch to get one of our own.

Not even a week later, out of the blue, some friends called and asked if we'd like to take their old-school Camper off their hands. They'd decided taking on such a project was more than they were ready to commit to, and basically just wanted it off their property.

Of course we said, "YES!"

Our friends had begun some work inside (painting it white), which is exactly what I would have done anyway.



Oh, the plans I have for our Jamboree...just you wait and see!!



The only thing that I'm not exactly wild about is this ladder.

Which extends the full length of the back-end of the camper.

I fear it is just going to prove to be too-tempting for our Judah.

Who, if he's anything like his mom and grandma (with a penchant for climbing up onto house roofs from clothesline poles at a young age), will likely use it as a jumping off point to get up on the roof of the house. Lord, have mercy!



'Scuse me just a sec...I need to go out and move that camper far, far from the house.

**crickets**

Okay, I'm back.

And I am SO loving the fan on the dash.



For some odd reason, as a child of the 70's and 80's, I always wanted my parents to own a vehicle with a fan on the dash.

We never had one, but I can hardly complain because we did have the next best thing... a state-of-the-art yellow-gold grocery getter (station wagon).

It sported electric windows which my mom could control from her seat, including the rear window which, when we were seated in the one, oddball reverse-facing seat in the back of the car, would beg to have our mom roll down for us.

Come to think of it, this is probably why car exhaust is one of my biggest asthma attack triggers to this day, lol.

Yesirree Bob...we were living the high life in those day.

**ahem**

Getting back to our Jamboree...you can see that the radio has already been removed...in anticipation of a sleek new iPod port, no doubt.

Because what is a Jamboree without some source of music to tap your toes to?

Yes, my friends, those forrest green drapes and the 1990's faded sunflower motif curtains throughout, along with the garish rust/gold/brown (vintage 1970's) upholstery will soon be a distant memory...switched out in favor of something bright and cheerful!



I must say, however, that the brown wall at the back wall of the upper bunk is a bit suspect.

It doesn't coincide with the shape of the outside of the over-cab compartment (see first photo).

I just hope there are no 'surprises' in there. You know...like a 'telltale heart' or a 'skeleton in the closet' or anything. **gulp**

Or critters. I simply can't abide critters.



All I know is that there is not a window up there.

Yet another of my childhood dreams was two-fold:

a.) for my family to own a camper

and

b.) for me to get to ride in the over-the-cab compartment during the entire vacation, peeking out of the front window in this pose.



Now our boys will be able to live the dream (minus the window) for me, lol.

Here is another view of the kitchen.

I happen to have a roll of a contact paper type product that mimics the look of stainless steel.

I plan to cover that faux wood grain on the refrigerator door, and bring that baby into the new millenium.



I SO looooove that the stove is black and not that ugly brown that was so common in the 1970's. It's going to make my renovation job sooo much easier.

I also love that everything still works...including the A/C.

And that there are only 56,000 miles on the engine.

Frankly, I feel like we just inherited a windfall!

I'm so excited to get out there and get to work!



Incredibly, we have tons of very useful supplies left over from our home renovation (which is still undone, but hey...who cares? We want to co camping! ), including trim, thin plywood, fabric and paint.

These items, along with the purchase of a very few space-saving things from IKEA and DIY materials from Lowes, we plan to get the job done for far, far less than we would have paid for a good used camper.

What a blessing!

The challenge?

Get it done by July 1st on a shoestring budget, using as much as possible of what we already have on hand.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we sent the boys to Grandma's while we went and picked up the camper yesterday afternoon.

When we all arrived home from church that evening to unveil the big 'surprise'...the boys were thrilled.

Okay, so Jericho was acting a bit goofy in this one, but it didn't stop him from climbing through every nook and cranny of the thing.



Judah exclaimed in his little sing-song excited voice, "I'm so proud we have a camper"...which is his way of saying, "I'm so excited we have a camper."

They climbed all through it, trying out every switch and button in sight.

I only hope the battery still works whenever we take it out on our inagural trip.



They climbed all over it.

And I do mean all over it.



"This is the perfect place to set up my [Nerf] sniper rifle."

I didn't take photos, but poor Raisin was doing the zig-zag formation as she ran through the yard trying to avoid the Nerf darts Jericho was raining down on her.

Poor girl.

She is a longsuffering devoted animal.

And Judah?

Judah's been very seriously talked to about the dangers of climbing the ladder without permission.

We let him climb around on the ladder this one time, and even to climb up on top of the roof just to get it all out of his system.



To satisfy his curiosity.

As my grandma would have said, "Oh, heavens!" As Judah was yelling (while jumping), "I'm the kind of the world!"

After this? Let's just say we're not above scaring the tar out of him by tossing around news of recent predatory pteradactyl sightings in the area in order to keep him off the roof of that camper.

We always tell him we're teasing, of course, but can we help that his overactive little pre-school imagination goes wild?

Yes, in our family we do what we must to keep our kids safe.

And so it begins...our Summer O' Fun.

And now, Judah and I are off to assess things for our preliminary checklist!

For Mother's Day this year, Jeff took note of what I'd mentioned that I would like to do and planned an outing to the beautiful Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley, California.

I'd asked to go early early, as I was wanting some sunrise photos and to catch the transformation as the poppies began opening to the sun.

This meant rising after just four hours of sleep.

While dashing around to get ready well before dawn, I kept hearing birds chirping outside and thought it was a bit early for birds, but didn't give it too much thought.

Until we'd dragged the boys out of bed, opened the front door and very nearly stepped on this:







Isn't he adorable?

It was chilly outside, and the parent birds we'd heard chirping earlier had apparently fled when the door opened, so the boys put a pile of weeds around the baby bird to keep it warm.

We surmised that the poor little guy must either have fallen from his nest under our roof tiles, or had simply not gotten the hang of learning to fly.

We told the boys that if he was still there when we got back home, they could find some worms for it's food and take care of him until he flew away.

After getting into the car, Jericho fell immediately back to sleep.

Judah, on the other hand, stayed awake the entire way there, peppering us with questions like, "Will da birdie still be dere? Why are we driving in da darkness? Is it night time? When is it gonna be day time?" Why did we have ta get out of bed in da dark time? Where are we goeen? Are we goeen on fa-cation? Are we goeen to da zoo?"

Finally, we arrived at the reserve.

The sun was just peeking up over the hills.





It was super-windy. And cold. And for some dumb reason, I'd not worn sensible shoes. We had to hike the paths with me wearing some slip on heels. Doh!

Nevertheless, the scenery was spectacular and worth every bit of discomfort.





The brochure the Poppy Reserve provided said that Spanish Explorers used to be able to see these rivers of golden-orange flowers from their ships, and nicknamed them La Sabanilla de San Pasqual (the Altar-cloth of St. Pascal), in reference to their shepherd saint who tended his flock far from church and village and knelt in fields of wildflowers to commune with God.

Modern day Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre are all areas that at one time used to be filled with wild poppy fields, but today, the only large fields left are in the rural Antelope Valley region of Southern California.

We watched this little bird struggle in flight against the high winds. It finally stopped to rest here, and didn't seem at all afraid of us as we got close. I wondered if he was friends with the little bird-family we'd met earlier that morning.



The poppies were truly a sight to behold.







The brochure also mentioned several types of snakes known to live in the region.

I was very glad that we didn't see any of them. In all our 12 years of living and camping in the deserts of the Southwestern U.S. we've seen only one snake. Ever.

And I'm not complaining.





The boys were real troupers. It was 6:15 am in this particular photo.

Jericho still had that puffy-eyed, fresh out of bed look, but that cold wind and the brisk walk helped to get our blood pumping after the long drive.





I loved the backlighting in the following photo...the whitish curled over stalks are the pre-bloom stage of a weed called Fiddleneck.





While walking the pathways, Jeff took this photo of Judah tucking his little hand into mine. It was cold and he'd just told me, "I wuv you, mama." **heart melts into a puddle**



I always wonder if such moments will be the 'last' time my little guy does such things...he's growing up so fast.

For fun, we also took a shadow family portrait.



And later, just the boys and me...and the poppies.



Naturally no trip is complete without the boys pulling some goofy stunt or another.

My tripod became Judah's Tommy Gun.



Jericho found this rail to be great for sliding. Over and over and over again. It didn't hold the same appeal for Judah, who was stopped by every post because he was too little to slide down the top of the rail.



As we were leaving the Poppy Reserve, we'd driven a mile or two away and came to a bend in the road where we were surprised to see this



Here's the black sheep in this family.





Though minutes away there was a Poppy Reserve where you couldn't touch any of the flowers, here the sheep could graze to their hearts content.





Such a pastoral scene would be incomplete without the shepherd, watching over his flock with care.



His faithful sheepdog (at center) pricked up his ears and appeared ready to come racing after us when we pulled over on the side of the road to take these photos.



It was truly the icing on the cake to get to see such a sight after just viewing the poppies.

Back in the warmth of the car, the hilly roads finally lulled Judah to sleep.



We stopped off for breakfast as soon as we hit civilization, and then headed back home.

There was time for a long leisurely nap before having a little Mother's Day BBQ that evening for all the local moms in our family.

Our Nephew's son Baby B does "the Mowgli" over to Auntie K on the back porch. He can walk, just barely, but prefers this four-legged method above all.



Meanwhile, Cousin J and Judah ride around 'the outback' in Judah's jeep.

The one he got for Christmas which is already missing a headlight.

Need I explain that he was trick-riding when the accident occurred? Legs sprawled across the hood, hand on the gas pedal? MmmHmm. That's our Judah.

I'm already praying for that long-distant day when he begins to operate real vehicles. With horsepower. And torque. And peer pressure. Lord, have mercy!





I just love the little 'baby-bird' look of Baby B in this picture. He's such a cutie-pie, and seems to love our dog.

Oh, and speaking of baby birds...our little visitor from early that morning was nowhere to be found when we arrived back home.

The very next day, I saw a bird bearing a striking resemblance to him, fuzzy feathers and all, sneaking food out of our dog's dish.

Some moms are distinguished as the kool-aid moms of the neighborhood...but it appears I've am the dog-food mom to all the critters in our 'hood.