A Powwow and Raspberry Jelly

July 29, 2016July 29, 2016 SewtropolisLeave a comment

Hello! What a week I’ve had -so far. As you know I’ve been staying at the KOA for the past few weeks. The good news is I love it… the bad news is, they are SO PACKED this time of year that I had to leave for 11 days! Long story, but when I went to extend my stay they had already booked up and had no room at the inn until Aug 10th. So I will be staying with family and friends for the next 2 weeks. Yay for family and friends!

First stop: Spokane! I dropped my trailer off at the Spokane Airstream dealer to have them figure out why there is water leakage under the trailer when I hookup to city water. Hopefully it will be as simple as tightening a few hoses and won’t cost an arm or leg.

I stayed with my sister for the weekend and while there she, her friend Shirley and I went to a Powwow in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho – which was so much fun!! All I can say was WOW at all the color!! There were so many people that I could not get close enough to take pictures of all the dancers in main arena. This is the best I could do – sorry – it does nothing to show off how beautiful and elaborate all the outfits were!

But I managed to put my brave pants on (pun intended) and ask a couple of dancers if I could take my picture with them. The one on the left looks all mean without a smile, but he was super nice and was all smiles before and after the picture. Same with the hottie on the right.

My sister and Shirley were giving me a hard time about missing my chance to grab a husband. So to get back at them, I asked another dancer, who was dressed up in a gorgeous outfit if he would take a picture with my sister. We nicknamed this guy “Chief I’m Single” because his friend was trying to set him up! So many missed opportunities! LOL

Now onto the creative stuff – In my last post I teased that I would show you how I make Raspberry jam – well, here it goes:

Step 1: go for a long walk along the Green River trail where raspberries grow wild along the river!!

step 2: Pick about a gallon of berries! You will need the extra for your yogurt parfait or smoothies.

Step 3: enjoy how beautiful the trail is!

Step4: get down to jam making business! I used about 1/2 gallon of berries and the juice of one lemon. I love experimenting with different flavors and since I am planning on giving these jars of jelly away I though lemon would be a safe and refreshing option. I washed the berries off real good – (I was more concerned with critters than chemicals spray). I then put them in a pot over medium heat with about 2.5 cups of sugar and let it boil for about 10 min stirring constantly!

I did not use pectin in my jelly – instead I boiled the mixture until it had the consistency of a thick syrup and then boiled a few minutes more. Then I laddeled it into sterilized canning jars, covered with a lid and canning ring then boiled in a canning pot for about 10 min. I found with Jellies you don’t have to boil very long before you hear the lid seal. Sometimes it will seal even before I put it in the pot! All good signs!

I did all of this in the comfort of my own trailer! It makes me happy that so far I haven’t had to give up anything but debt by downsizing to a 27′ trailer.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Napkins

July 22, 2016July 22, 2016 Sewtropolis4 Comments

I’ve been living at the KOA for about a week now and still really enjoy it. Every morning I take my dogs to the dog run to do their “biz” and thanks to living in the apartment for a year they know to hold it till they get there – which means I’m not pissing off my neighbors by having my dogs crap next to their RVs.

I’ve had to make a few ‘adjustments’ since living here the first is purchasing a Jetpack so I can get internet!! There is WiFi here at the KOA, but there may as well not be once everyone starts jumping on it to watch movies. So last weekend I bought a JetPack from Verizon, my new plan includes 24 GB – which I can already tell won’t be enough with all the Netflix binging I do. I figure now that I don’t have a cable bill I can probably afford to up the GB a little bit and still come out ahead cash-wise.

I’ve also been going to the library to check out DVD’s of programs that are on my list of things to watch… This week I watched the original “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”. I had just finished watching the remake before I moved out of the apartment. (actually I only watched it because it had Benedict Cumberbatch in it and then was pleasantly surprised to see that Tom Hardy was also in it!! (those lips!!)

Anyway – where was I??? Oh yes…

This past week I also made some cloth napkins to put between my pyrex nesting bowls. I’m heading to my sisters in Spokane this weekend and I don’t want them to get scratched in transit. I purchased these bowls about 5-6 years ago at a vintage store in Minnesota. I used them only on special occasions because I didn’t want the boys to break them. If they were to get damaged or broken now my boys would never let me hear the end of it!

Anyway, to make the napkins I cut two pieces of fabric about 18″ x 18″, sewed them wrong sides together (leaving a 6″ opening) and then turned right side out. I then pressed and edged stitched around the edges – sewing the opening close. Easy, peasy and no scratched bowls. Hopefully!

Next week, I’ll share how I made Athena Jelly!

Athena

The RV Living is Good!

July 17, 2016July 17, 2016 Sewtropolis6 Comments

This past week I moved out of my apartment. I spent a year there and even though it had a great view of downtown Seattle, was close to the sound and had all the amenities one could hope for … it just wasn’t for me – and it was expensive to boot.

I came to Seattle without a job, so I wanted to live someplace centrally located – and West Seattle seemed to fit the bill. I landed a job in a suburb south of the city which is about a 30 minute drive from West Seattle on a good day. Over the winter I did try to commute more – but having to catch two busses and a light rail ride added 2 hours commute each day. When I started attracting prisoners on work release – no joke – I pulled the plug on commuting). I also didn’t like leaving the dogs in the apartment for 10 hours each day.

After I decided to move out of my apartment I started looking for a house to rent closer to work that would have a yard for my dogs. But, even though some places accepted dogs, finding one that would accept 2 big dogs proved to be next to impossible. Housing here is tight… and when it started to look like I wasn’t going to find a place in my price range, before my lease was up, I started to think about living in my trailer – at least till the end of the summer – give the housing frenzie time to simmer down and take my time in finding the right place. But then the more I thought about it – the more advantages I started seeing for living in my trailer long term.

You see, I once owned this business, Sewtropolis, and even though I loved, loved, loved it…. it seriously wreaked havoc on my finances. I am now in the process of paying off that debt so when I ‘ran the numbers’ I saw that there is some serious financial advantages of living in my trailer for as long as I can.

So, here I am …. at the KOA and you know what …. I f*king LOVE it! I love that my dogs get to sun themselves in the GRASS outside my door. I love that I live within steps of a river with a trail that runs for miles along it! I love that when I walk around the campground people say “Hi”!!! Can you believe it!?!!? People f*cking say ‘Hi ‘here!! NOBODY says ‘Hi’ in West Seattle!!! I love that people stop by and ask me about my big a$$ potted tomato plant! (seriously it’s huge) I love that there is the laughter of kids playing (I didn’t realize I missed hearing kids laughing) I love that there are no sirens 3-4 times a night – every – f*cking- night!!! Ugh! And I especially love that my commute to work is only 10 minutes and I don’t even have to get on the freeway!

When I posted on FB that I had moved into my trailer people couldn’t believe it! I guess I had been living with the idea for so long that I no longer thought it was a big deal. I also saw that the advantages FAR outweighed staying where I was at. So, people can think what they want – I’ve never been one to live a boring life and now I can now get serious about digging myself out of debt and that to me, is all that matters.