WHO KNEW?!?!? :)

(Just a reminder that this blog will be moving to its new home at the end of this year.)

Who knew that someone could to this sort of thing?? Not that I would want to, but just knowing that it is possible...although I suppose of one is able to build a house-on-wheels from the ground up - like a tiny house (such as the one pictured here, an idea that I have loved for years, and would do in a heartbeat if I didn't have to climb a ladder to go to bed - lol!) - then one can do major modifications to a metal version!

With living in a motorhome will come some repair and replace challenges along the way, that is certain. I am thankful to be married to a man who can fix anything, one way or another. He is brilliant at that sort of thing, and I'm sure this gift from God will save us some big bucks along the way. I also realize that there are some components and systems that he won't want to - or shouldn't - mess with, and will need to be handled by a professional, of course...but if they can do something this major, there's no reason we couldn't, if the need arose!

Disclaimer: I have NO plans to start tearing apart our future motorhome! And theirs is much different than ours would be. Just thought it was interesting, is all :).

Life...Simplified...

Giving up our home and living in a motorhome is going to simplify our lives. Ridding ourselves of 95% of our belongings is simplifying our lives. Streamlining everything from finances to subscriptions to online activity will simplify our lives. And so will the major undertaking and move that I'm already working on. And it should be complete by the end of the year.

Rather than have my activity spread out all over the internet, I have gotten a single account at Weebly. As our physical life is changing, so will my virtual life. And since the next chapter of our lives is all about VitaInVia, that is the umbrella under which everything else will reside.

I have started vlogging, and my vlogs will be posted there; my blogs will live and grow there; the information that I gather in order to share will be kept there; my photos and slideshows will be viewable there.

Yes, I already have a domain and a domain host, with tools that are easy to use. But again, I'm simplifying. I want someone else to do the legwork, so that I can drag and drop and point and click and publish. I don't want to have to read a manual to learn any complicated sites. I want easy - I want simple.

Weebly doesn't have an import tool for blogger posts, but this blog is young enough that I can copy/paste from here to there, and plan to have it done by the end of the year.

Ahhh, simplicity...

FINALLY! Momentum Returns!

Well, several things have given me renewed hope. I mean, face it, when nothing seems to be happening for months at a time, it is discouraging. On and off I've felt disheartened, but have also had periods of hope and excitement.

I've known for a while that I need to put up a web page about our plans and some information about our house as well. And finally, today I put everything else aside and did it!

What do I plan to do with the page (such as it is - nothing fancy, just information and a couple of links, including links to photos, for the moment) now? Well, I guess once it's completely done I will post it here, and to other places I post online - RV-related forums, for example. I can print up some cards with the URL to hand out or even mail, and can include the URL when replying to ads. I WILL fancy it up a bit, add a background, fonts, some design elements...now that the information is up there the rest will be more fun!

If you want to see what I've got so far, the URL is http://vitainvia.owly.net/.

Something else that has me excited is that someone wrote to me about posting on a barter site. I didn't even realize that there were barter sites out there! So now that I have a place for people to get information, I will start doing that. And also RV classified ad sites, and places like Oodle - not sure I want to do Craigslist, I've not had good experiences with posting there, the jerks seem to come out of the woodwork.

I've spoken with a realtor and also a title company, and it shouldn't be a very difficult thing to sign this house over to another owner...and of course transferring the title on an RV isn't difficult or expensive either. I'm sure things will come up that we'll have to deal with along the way - but at least I feel like we're moving forward toward our goal again, and the discouragement has once again ebbed.

Better Luck Next Time! :)

The barter didn't pan out, and I'm ok with that :). I am super-anxious to be out on the road but the Lord apparently doesn't have us ready yet, but He'll get us there in His timing - which is the only timing that matters to us!

Meanwhile, we continue to pare down. We have gone through boxes - DOZENS of boxes - of stuff that has been packed and never unpacked for the last 2 moves! We now have all of the cardboard boxes unpacked and have a bunch of empty totes as well.

Something that worked out really well for us - and is but a small evidence of God's big plan - is that a woman at our church wanted to fulfill her dream of having a second-hand store. And God was paving the way, opening doors, leading her directly into His plan/her dream (which, when we seek God's will He fills our hearts with His desires - and then gives us the desires of our hearts!) at the same time He's been working with us...long story short, she has helped us to clear out our home and we've helped her fill her store! Yes, God IS that good!

So we're not letting the grass grow under our feet. Pete starts receiving SS in January but will continue to work at his current job part time until the time comes. My seasonal job will end in the next few weeks, and I'm seriously praying about seeking my first out-of-the-house job since 1997, just for the winter. (I had my own business plus my seasonal at-home job for most of those years.) So please pray with me if you are so inclined...

We were driving downstate last week and stopped in Birch Run for gas. There, across the street from the gas station, was the expo center - and on the sign out front was flashing an RV show THAT VERY DAY! So we did what we needed to do downstate and then hustled back up to the show. It was wonderful! They had lots of Class C's and Class A's, but not only new ones they had quite a few used ones as well! AND we talked to lots of people and discussed my bartering idea - lots of interest in the idea, in general, enough that I have some new ideas:

It may not happen until my job is done for this year, but I plan to make a website with a few photos of my house, and some details, along with a description of what I'm looking for. Then I can make up some cards - like business cards - to hand out during such discussions, and also make some post cards to mail out to used RV brokers and in answer to ads, etc. AND, if nothing happens by spring, and as I'm led, I could even put a sign right in front of the house with my URL right on it!

Then again...we may just seek a buyer in the spring, if we're still here (probably will be, although I don't know God's plan yet! but most RV's I'm guessing will be winterized and/or stored, and not ready to be bartered/sold in the wintertime), using traditional means. Besides God...who knows?

Thanks, once again, for listening :).

Step TWO!!

Just got off the phone with the guy who has the 96 Vectra for sale. On to the next step: he and his wife want to see the house, they have some houses that they've fixed up for rentals apparently. We talked about general condition of this house and his motorhome, he said the Vectra will need some tires but that everything mechanical is in good shape. We need to see if it will suit us...he needs to see if this house will suit him...we'll try to get together in the next few days so that we can each examine the others' units.

If we're unable to barter our house for a motorhome before spring we'll list it to sell...but you never know, God has a way of working things out for the benefit of everyone within His will! So we'll just keep doing our part putting the word out there.

Have I mentioned why we're not simply listing our house to sell, then purchasing a motorhome as our first choice? It is because houses take FOREVER to sell around here. There are houses still for sale that were for sale when we were looking in this area in 2005 and 2006! To barter makes so much more sense!

We will definitely NOT be just taking the first motorhome that comes along - unless it is right for us. We aren't desperate. We have time, if we want to take it. As I've mentioned ad nauseum, we need to have spaces for critter cages, first and foremost, and I like to cook so I need an adequate kitchen. Since it will be spending so much time here in northern Michigan, it has to be able to withstand the cold. I realize that 4-season MHs are few and far between, but we need to be able to take measures so our tanks and lines don't freeze, and that we can heat it adequately through the winter. There are other considerations as well, but these are foremost in my mind at the moment.

So. On to step 2 of our first bartering contact: the evaluations. I hope that you will join me in praying that God will speak clearly to us when we run across the right MH for us, and that He'll keep nudging us back onto the right path as we're walking in His will where this is concerned!

Stuck My Toe In The Water!

I actually answered an ad for someone who has a 1996 Winnebago Vectra that they want to sell or trade. The price for the unit is about what fixer-uppers are selling for in our very economically depressed neighborhood. While I hate thinking of my house as a fixer-upper, it DOES need new flooring and carpets, and a ceiling patch in the garage, so I suppose it would qualify? We're working on all of the above though, and if no trade materializes in the next few months we'll list it for sale in the spring...

I would think this would be a good time to seek out a motorhome barter, if people don't want to winterize and store it over the winter...but what do I know? :).

Anyway, big step to leave that voice mail message, not planning on anything coming of it (s/he wants to trade for 5th wheels or dirt bikes or something...but having a house in this area...I don't know, if it was me that would sound mighty attractive!) but I won't be planning on anything happening until it does!

Meanwhile, we continue to purge and organize and purge some more! It helps that a friend is in the process of opening a 2nd hand store, we are more than happy to help her out with donations of merchandise and she is more than happy to have it :).

Where The Heck Have I Been?!?!?

The first rule of blogging is, well, to BLOG. You lose readers when you don't. And I haven't. For almost 2 months. (I'd have thought it was just a month but the numbers don't lie!)

During this time I've been sick for over a week, I've spent a couple of weeks downstate when my sister had to have an unexpected, serious surgery, we've been working on things around the house to get it ready for barter (preferably) or sale (if we must), and just been busy!

What we've accomplished so far is cleaning the carpets (which we'll need to do again, why do old stains seem to reappear from nowhere after a couple of humid days?!?); we've had the deck power washed, then stained it. Hubby as done a lot of yard work. We've gone through accumulated stuff in the garage, my former shop, our bedroom, and the kitchen, and cleared out much of it. A full vanload and a truckload of stuff has been hauled away with LOTS more ready to go.

So we've hardly been sitting around waiting for things to happen :). Still a lot to do obviously, unless we want to promote the house as a "fixer-upper" - the roof over my old shop sprung a leak, it's a good roof, but apparently the garage shingles were laid by amateurs who made a couple of mistakes in placement, so we have to fix that as well as replace the drywall ceiling in that spot; replace the flooring in the utility room, bathroom, and kitchen (all very small, shouldn't take much); replace the toilet, probably the original, just wearing out like the floors. And the big thing - GET RID OF THE FLEAS!

This has been an awful year for fleas. I work for a pest control company - so I know. Whenever we have a really hot summer, there are lots and lots of fleas. This year we were hit hard! To make things worse, our minpin had a mild reaction to the flea stuff we use. Didn't bother him last year, didn't have a problem earlier this year, but last week he showed some neuro signs after it was applied (of course late at night when the vet's closed - thankfully by morning he was ok)...so no more stuff on him! But we'll have the house treated, continue treating the other dog and the cat, and make do with weekly flea baths for poor Pharaoh.

During this time, with so many other things going on, it has seemed pointless to go looking at motorhomes - online or in person - so I've just concentrated on getting ready. I will still keep putting feelers out there, maybe there is someone who has a motorhome they don't want to store yet again this winter, and will be ready to trade even before everything is done in the house, best case! We're working on being ready for God's timing, whenever it happens...or whenever He shows us how to MAKE it happen :).