Day 24 & 25 - Completed another trip around the sun!

Recently Alanna discovered Musubi. I believe I mentioned it in an earlier post, but this time she made it! I know, I know, SPAM isn't the most desired food, but this stuff is delicious. It was a fun activity for her to make, with the help of Brandon, that didn't involve screens to entertain her. I have noticed since we started this journey that there is less and less screen time. At dinner we are talking to each other, even though we spend our days within 44 feet of each other. There is more laughing, more communication, and less attitude. Believe me, it still sneaks in, it's just a lot less often.

For months I have been preparing myself for when things go wrong, because things will go wrong. I followed other full time RV families on social media, researched, and things go wrong for everyone. Not catastrophically wrong, but things break in RVs, or travel days don't go as planned. So far some of our pain points have been related to the truck, which seems to be all fixed. This last move when I was putting the kitchen slide out there was a dust buster attachment and an acrylic paint stuck under the island. There was a crunch when the slide started going out, then I stopped, and we figured out that stuff was under there. Then once we had the whole slide out, I realized the island was not very stable. The back of the cabinet had fallen off. Seems like an easy fix, and it wasn't the worst, but there were many moving parts to get this cabinet out to expose the backside. Brandon did it though! He had to remove some molding around it, and then screw the backside back in. Now, it is better than before. We are finding the decorative pieces of RVs are essentially stapled in and come off quite easily. That may be by design, so if they get stuck, they come off instead of doing major damage. I can speculate all I want on why, but the important thing is that we can fix little things like that. 

Now that we have been settled in for a while, I am looking forward to getting other decorating done. We plan to use peel and stick wallpaper to brighten the place up with some color! Peel and stick wallpaper is a great way to decorate without making it completely permanent. Painting the walls seems like a pain with having to sand them down, tape, and paint. So, we are going to start with wallpaper. I also don't want to do renovations that will reduce trade in value. Ideally, we will have this unit for about two years, then trade it in for a newer one. Or not! Either way, I have seen people completely renovate their RV and customize it and then you are pretty much obligated to keep it for longer. We will start with baby steps.

Tuesday was my birthday. The big 3-7. We didn't do anything spectacular, which was just how I wanted it. I worked during the day and then we went across the street to a little farmers market and supported local farmers. After that we went into the actual Oklahoma City to walk around and grab dinner. The city has some really cool architecture and a ton of restaurants. We looked into things happening this weekend and on Friday night at the Myriad Botanical Gardens there is a free Stevie Wonder tribute concert that we might check out. I also found out that the zoo does have elephants, and in January there was a baby born. We will probably go this weekend, and I am so excited! 

It seems like we have changed the concept of time. The workday is going by faster, and everything else has slowed down. There is more time in our evenings. Brandon and I started working out together, something we haven't been able to do for years. Dinners are together, we are spending time playing cards or just being together. It's been a nice change of pace.

Things we learned:

• Stuff can be fixed
• OKC is a cool area, and we are looking forward to exploring it more - but we do love being secluded in our area away from the city. It's only an 8-minute drive into the city, so it's the best of both worlds.
• Staples are for paper, not cabinets
• You can find good food and great restaurants everywhere

Much Love,

The Blackshire's