Tiny Turquoise Trailer

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Happiest Place on Earth



It has been a bit crazy around these parts.

Kolton finished his first year of college on May 2nd and we moved him home. 'Course, he forgot most of the kitchen utinsels and the George Foreman.  I wonder if he ever used them.  Or if he just ate beans.
 Probably just beans.

A few days later, we packed up and went to visit Mickey and Friends.
Ahhhh, Disneyland.  We love you.  You have been the scene of so many good memories. 


 Rick & Kolton in line for the Radiator Springs Racers.
I only had the patience to do that line once...it was crazy!

Cars Land...Disney sure knows how to do things right.
It was amazing!


Me with Elizabeth, who has recently realized that she is as tall as I am, and Kolton

We had an amazing time.  But, then again, we always do at Disneyland.
It is like our fall-back vacation, reserved for the times when we just want to not think too much 
and enjoy ourselves.  I love not thinking...

My sister, when her boy went on a mission, didn't go to Disneyland for two years-
She just didn't want to go without him.
 Two years without going to Disneyland?  Nope, can't do it...

Lookie what I found in Toon Town!  A turquoise trailer!  Well, actually, it's blue, but work with me here.

So, after frolicing for three days in the glorious So Cal weather, 
eating In-and-Out burger EVERY DAY,
and enjoying being together with our little family (minus Madisen&Vic)
we headed home.

All good things must come to an end, right?
Including our ever trusty Odyssey.

She has been there and back and there, again...
220,000 miles worth of traveling in luxury.
Seriously, those who scoff at a mini van?
You have obviously never traveled exensively in one.
I thought that we would just have one when the kids were small.
 And then they grew up - and no other vehicle could provide the leg room
and comfort of our Odyssey, especially with our tall kids.

Obviously, she felt that she needed a vacation as well.
So, just outside of Las Vegas, she threw up her hands and cried "uncle"

Ummm....
 but Kolton was leaving for Japan in less then four days.
The timing was less than stellar.
So, we patted her on her hood and told her to enjoy her spa week in Las Vegas
and would be back for her the next Saturday, walked across the road to the Enterprise rent-a-car and continued our journey home in "Paula" the Impala.
That is THE LAST TIME I am riding in a car with my kids.
It was like being trapped in a cage with wildcats.
Odyssey...we miss you already.





Sunday, May 19, 2013

I have a confession...I love to paint.

So, my brother (the one that I steal borrow all the stuff from) says that my house is shrinking.
  Because I constantly paint my walls.  He thinks that he is hilarious.

I do love paint, though.

I don't really love the prep, but, unfortunately,  I can't get anyone else to do it for me.  I'm going to hand roll my little trailer, mostly because I have a very steady hand and can cut-in like nobody's business.
Sooo...
Off I went to my favorite place - the paint store, and had a little chit-chat with the paint guy about painting on aluminum. " Latex paint", he said.  "Use a good primer", he also said,  which I already knew.  We talked about why no oil based paint.  He said that oil based was originally used because that's what they had in the 1950-60's.  Problem is that aluminum needs paint that can flex and move, which is latex.  So, I came home and researched the heck out of it and, sure enough, 9 out of 10 people said latex.  
I went to Home Depot and bought primer, a mess of foam rollers, and "Snow Fall" from Behr in a exterior satin enamel. I only had one person look at me like I was crazy when I said that I was painting a trailer.  
Painting was super easy, except I had to get my 6'6 hubby to roll the roof.  He was spreading mulch at the time and only sighed a little bit.  He really is a winner-winner-chicken dinner. 
And pretty tolerant - like I said before.
After the second coat of "Snow Fall"  Looking so clean!

I ran out of time, since the weekend is only so long.  I had to go back to Home Depot on Monday to get the bottom color.  It was between "Voyager" and "Tahoe Blue".  I stood there so long thinking that the paint person asked me 6 times if I was ready.  The lady next to me asked what I was doing with the paint and I had to tell her.  She told me that she was a decorator and to choose "Tahoe Blue".  I promptly chose "Voyager".  Now, I have nothing against decorator's because I work with them every day.  And I do my fair share of design work, as well.  The problem comes when they feel that they have to tell me that they are a decorator  (like I should give them a crown or something) in a condescending tone. Besides, unsolicited advice is one (only one?) of my pet peeves.  

I, however, LOVE solicited advice.

I lugged my paint home and crossed my fingers, hoping that my hatred of unsolicited advice hadn't made me choose something stupid.   The first swipe of paint made me laugh out loud. 
 Don't worry, my neighbors already think I'm nuts.  
Of course, one of my neighbor's is also my mom and she has had a lifetime of dealing with my randomness.  My other neighbor has turned a deaf ear to whatever I'm doing because I'm usually yelling at the dog.

Such a happy, vintagey color! And perfect.  I had previously picked out another color, but felt that it was too green.  And I also felt that "Tahoe Blue"  was too light. Love "Voyager"!
Do you love the Shasta stripe?  Me, too!
Adios Lucky Charm Green!
See the oil spots in our driveway?  They are from my hubby's truck.  It's named "Trouble"
  The truck, not my  husband.  Lucky for me, "Trouble" gets to pull the trailer until we get a new vehicle.


Monday, May 6, 2013

Assessing...

My lovely 1964 green trailer got a good once over.
Overall, she looked pretty dang good.  The front and rear bottom skins had a few dings and needed to be reattached.
Underneath looked good and she had pretty new tires.  Need to get some baby moons for those puppies, though.


The floor was in good shape.  The propane and water lines had been recently redone.
She didn't stink, which is a biggy.  I am super sensitive to smells and that would have been a deal breaker.
There was a fairly good sized dent by the front window.  I thought about fixing the dent, and then thought - naw.  I'm going to put up an awning and that would help hide it.  Besides, she's 50 years old and entitled to have a few dents.  I'm 46 and no amount of spackle is going to fix some of my dings.  I feel that we are kindred spirits and our dings show that we have lived!




Enough of that!
So, I resecured the skins and got ready for paint.
But, first comes the crappy part.  Prep work.  The first order of  business is to steal borrow my brothers sander.  He has good tools, since he is a custom home builder, and leaves them out in plain sight in his shop, which is, conveniently for me,  in my backyard. All of the really great stuff he has under lock and key in his trailer, which is a smart move on his part because I kinda have sticky fingers.  In my defense, I always return them, since I'm not a thief.  Just a covert borrower.

Putting up with him has to have some perks (just kidding?).

So, I sanded my little heart out.  And caulked...and caulked.  I know, the purists out there say not to caulk a vintage trailer.  Well, this is my philosophy  - the trailer was not leaking.  Except for the back window which I will get into later.  Shannon had caulked the hell out of her because she refurbished the trailer to take to California and didn't want to get the trailer there and mess with a bunch of leaks.  I figured that to take off the caulk would do more harm than good and possibly damage the seals.   If I do say so myself, I am a pretty dang good caulker and so I just wanted to clean up and smooth some of the joints.  I took off what I could and prettified the rest.



 just keep sanding...just keep sanding...

It took one whole day.  Mostly because I had to keep yelling at the dog to quit eating stuff that she shouldn't and to stop chasing the cat.  
And, then, I had to put on sunscreen because it is like the first warm day in Utah and I started to hear my arms sizzle.
I noticed my brother driving by and had to hide the sander.  

You know, I'm really not a very good sister.  I'll bake him some cookies after I finish borrowing all his stuff.