Living Big in a VW Campervan Bus

On a road trip to Key West, we stopped for some primitive off grid camping at Kisatchie National Forest, just off Hwy. 84. Traveling big and living small, we invite you to journey with us to the simple side of life.

Love & .V.. (Peace),

GVR

Writing & Wanderlust

— Living Big…and Traveling Small —

Key West Road Trip in a VW Westfalia:  In our second stretch of the journey to Florida, we stopped at beautiful Kisatchie National Forest in central Lousiana.  We hope our adventures inspire you and your family to live on the simple side of life.

Love & .V.. (Peace) to You and Yours!

GVR

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T-Shirt Dress Project — DIY Fashion

El Dia De Los Muertos T Shirt Turned Into a Halter Dress —

This past Halloween night, while out trick or treating in the Strand Historic District of Galveston Island, we visited the museum store at Pirates! Legends of the Gulf Coast and the haunted house.  I was pleased to find a black T (size large) for five dollars, that had a vibrant print of last year’s El Dia De Los Muertos celebration.  I knew I wanted to turn it into a halter dress; since T-Shirts aren’t really my style.

I am pleased to share the outcome with you-all!  I hope it inspires you to re-use, recycle, and re-purpose your old T-Shirts into something new and stylish.  Here is the Before & After.

Size Large T Shirt

El Dia De Los Muertos print

1,2,3, zip-zap, and a stitch or two!

Et Voila…! A Halter Dress from a T-Shirt

 

 

 

Home School Arts & Crafts — Making Musical Instruments

Making Musical Instruments from Recycled Trash

Forty Something Parents

~~ Shaker Drum from plastic Folger’s Coffee Canister ~~

I’m always looking for fun creative projects for my Nixi; always hoping to re-use, re-purpose, recycle in the process.  Well, our last homeschool art project has touched on all levels of creativity, as far as I’m concerned anyway.  Putting together Nixi’s newest musical instrument was both fun and rewarding!  –Not to mention very useful to our band Gypsy Vin Rose.

Here’s what we used to make our shaker drum, and a brief run-down on the process (though it’s rather self-explanatory).  It’s SO easy to make, you can probably do it with your eyes closed.  :  )

*Make a joyful noise by re-purposing, re-using, and recycling!*

Items We Used —

-Folger’s Plastic Coffee Canister (pop-top kind)

-Variety of beans (small handful)

-Large handful of birdseed

-Masking Tape (to tape lid securely shut)

-Crayola Kids Paint (washable)

-Paint brushes, etc

*Child’s Art/Paint…

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Featured Article on My Children’s Book

Read the featured article about my new children’s book in this month’s issue of Galveston Monthly. Super excited over here! : )

Writing & Wanderlust

I’m so excited about the article about my debut children’s book ‘Monday… Super-Fun Day’; which was featured in the August issue of Galveston Monthly.  This just made my day…week…year!  : )

Read all about it here — http://www.galvestonmonthly.com/Aug2016/#/78/

#NeverGiveUpOnYourDreams @PennyEspinoza @GypsyVinRose #GalvestonMonthly

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Video — Installing New Canvas on VW Bus with the Top On

Antique Dixie Stove in Glamper RV

Vintage RV Kitchen Remod — Restoring Antique Dixie Stoves

Caravan & Travel Trailer Remodeling

My oldest daughter just stood there laughing at me, as I jumped for joy…clapping and bubbling-over with joy that my old Dixie Stove had fired right up.  It had been a constant worry that the day my husband finally got all the parts together and hooked it up, we’d go to light it and there would be nothing.  I even worried about a fire…or worse — that my old relic would go ‘ka-BOOM‘ and we’d go right along with it.

Yes, I’ve often been told I have a very wild imagination.  No wonder I turned out to be a writer of fiction, songs, and…this blog here.  :  )  But alas…my old Dixie didn’t let me down.  That old girl was whistling just as perfectly as she did, I’d like to think, the first time she fired up…back in the 1940’s (I’m guessing) when she was new.

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DIY RV Camper Screen Door Project

The $30.00 Do It Yourself RV Screen Door

Caravan & Travel Trailer Remodeling

It had to be done — there was just no way around it.  I couldn’t have been happier to see my old ‘recycled’ screen door fall apart, because I knew it would mean a new…custom-built-for-Mermaid-Mansion screen door would have to follow.  That was two days ago, and already…I have my brand new, perfectly put together by Hubby Nico, screen door…gracing the front of our beloved ‘tiny-home-on-wheels’ Mermaid Mansion.

All it took was a trip to Home Depot, a quick trip to the hardware store (for replacement parts), a day off from work (for Nico), less than $30.00…and our lovely new door is swinging.  Here are a few pics of the process and the supplies we used.  I hope it inspires you to build your own (perfect-for-your-glamper-camper-or-RV) custom Do It Yourself screen door.

*Easy projects are just our cup-of-tea!*  #DIYCamperScreenDoor

Our old screen door.  Nothing could save it at this point.

Laying…

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Home School Art Project – Family Tree From Hand & Foot Print

Making a Family Tree from your child’s hand and foot prints

Forty Something Parents

I’m always trying to come up with new ways to exercise my daughter’s creativity.  Being that she is six years old, she has a lot of input when it comes to our zany creations.  One thing’s for sure — we always have fun coming up with new ideas.

I had been trying to think of a fun art project we could create from my Nixi’s hand and foot prints, but ‘the light bulb’ had continued to elude me.  Finally, last week, the ‘light’ lit-up brightly above my head, and this Hand & Foot Print Family Tree was the result.

Using Nixi’s foot print as the trunk of the tree (which had to be painted, since we had no brown construction paper), we traced and cut enough of her hand prints from green construction/art paper, and labeled each hand (or, should I say ‘leafy tree branch’) with members of our immediate…

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Home School ‘Class Pets’

Home School ‘Class Pets’ — Fun in Learning from nature

Forty Something Parents

The other day…during outside playtime, my daughter Nixi and I discovered a baby snail stranded in the middle of our sandbox lid.  It must’ve felt like no ‘mans’ land to the little critter– I’m sure he was almost bird feed.

It was a very daring snail rescue!  –Nixi and I swooped-up our new class pet, created his habitat-in-a-jar, and named him Inch.  –Though we’re calling him a ‘he’, we really don’t know for sure.  Snails are difficult that way.  :  )

All in all…It was a fun day of learning to be kind to creatures more vulnerable than ourselves.  Nixi and I came inside and examined Inch with our magnifying glass, while referencing her book about shells; which identifies the parts of creatures living in shells…including snails.

I thought it might be fun to share our little adventure in nature, with you-all out there in this great big world of wonder.  Whether…

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A Day In the Life of a Homeschooling Mom

Forty Something Parents

Learning from Play-dates & Playground Mayhem —

It never fails, right when you think you’re onto something good–someone has to come along and throw a chink in your chain of play-date fun!  And, at the end of the day, if you’re lucky, you can take a learning experience away from a bad situation on the playground.

A little while back, a few of us moms got together for what I thought was a very enjoyable play-date.  That was two months ago, and already, such gatherings have already left a bad taste in my mouth (figuratively speaking, of course).  But, even still, I feel I’ve gotten to know my little one better for-having suffered through a recent ‘play-date gone awry’.

For some reason, my little’n did not seem to ‘take’ to a few of the kids on the playground that day.  And, for reasons I can gather as immaturity, another one…

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