Window Box Complete!

dsc05314

Remember when Tim found those 3 pairs of shutters when he was out scrapping?

And he put them up and one set didn’t quite match?
dsc05375

Well, he went and built me the coolest little window box to offset the length of the shutters!

We considered cutting the shutters to size, but that would have been kinda dorky. They are just plastic and well, a bit rough, and cutting them would have really made them look, rougher.

So he built a slim box out of some leftover lumber and just screwed the thing to the side of the Moby.

dsc05414

You know, that is the brilliance of owning your own $800 mobile home. You can screw stuff on the side of it and not worry so much about how it might affect the value of it, or that you might be subjected to some neighborhood watch program for effecting property values. I mean, hey, just about ANYTHING you do to a $800 mobile home is a major improvement. Just keep it simple and plain and tasteful and people around you will be amazed everytime they visit!
dsc05376

I really like the look of the window box! And the longer shutters on that window. That window is my kitchen window and it’s teeny and drab. I’d love to replace it all together, but that just isn’t going to happen this moment. I have a few others things that have to happen in the next couple months, so I’m stuck with that window.
dsc05826

But look at it now! It’s delightful!

I got a couple fall flowers to pop in the box… simple, I think I might need two small ones inbetween, but right now, it’s pretty nice. And lovely to look upon every time I pass that window, or when I’m doing dishes. We actually look out that thing a good deal… we watch our bid station or the dog in the yard, that kind of thing.
dsc05349

Or the cat.

Through the window.

Up close. In the box.

Yeah… in the window box.
dsc05352

HAHA… as he was building and putting it up there, apparently Luna was ready to scope it out as a perfect spot to view her outside AND inside domain. She could keep an eye on everything from this perfect perch!
dsc05354
dsc05356

But considering that it was a good 7-8 feet up there to her perch, and I wasn’t planning on leaving the ladder up for her highness… she decided that it wasn’t quite the best spot and gave it up.

But all in all… I love it!

How can you not? I think I need more window boxes! Maybe next year I can consider it. Would a few dangling plants and all look just so so… European? Wow. A European Mobile Home. Right straight out of a little Bavarian town in the Alps. Yeah.

I can so see that. I wonder if you can grow litchen and moss and all on the top of a mobile home? That would be so cool.

Actually… I read the coolest article about some people that wrapped a moby in straw bale on the outside and then stucco-ed it in… like adobe plaster. That would be SO COOL…. Think about the insulation factor, it would so improve the value of heat and cooling in an old Moby! It would be very cost effective, and it would make it look more and more like a home, rather than a moby. Add a nice overhang roof and you’ve got yourself a really nice home for WAY cheaper than stick built.

Retrofitting a Moby with Strawbale….
strawbale-cabin

I wonder why you don’t see more of this. I mean, what a PERFECT solution… economical and just really cool.

Buy an old moby. Heck buy two. Same length. Pop them together on a piece of land. Cut some connection openings between the two. Like maybe open up the living rooms.

Then strawbale the entire outside perimeter and add a nice insulated metal peaked roof over the whole thing.
straw-bale-construction

Oh that is SO something I want to investigate further and really consider. I mean, it would be SO cool. I already know that to move my Moby within 50 miles or so would be about $5,000. And to make improvements (that’s what they call adding electricial hookups, a pad, and sewer/water to just a piece of land…) would be around $2,000. And of course, a nice acre or two lot in an area that allows mobies… thats another $5,000 – $20,000 depending on where and what you get and all that stuff.

Let’s consider a middle of the road lot…. $10 grand. And another $7 to move and connect to the grid. And let’s be generous… another $3 grand for say, making a little nicer driveway, bushhogging a bit of yard, and some garden space, and just some basic improvements other than just basic necessities… like a way cool little ranch style front fence gate or something…

Still. $20,000 for a home and land that you own? Free and clear? That’s really reachable for a lot of people. I know it’s reachable for me! May take me a while. So what. If it takes me 5 years! Still… a good goal. And I can always do it in baby steps. Buy the land, start to improve it. Maybe even put a temporary yurt on it or something fun like that. Do as MUCH as I can with the help of friends and bartering services, etc. And then finally move the moby over.

That’s a plan…. that’s a goal. Living rent free, mortgage free… with some woods and a big garden and of course… CHICKENS!!!!!

Ah…… that’s the big goal!

And of course, strawbale wrapping her would be even better!

Pin It

Toledo Rock and Gem Show!

OH BOY!!! ITS THE ROCK SHOW!!!!

We like rocks and minerals a lot. In fact we run a mail order company all about rocks and minerals and stuff for kids! Yes we do.

www.DragonMountainTreasures.com

You can see our three big websites there. Jessy is the owner and head meanie that puts us slave miners to work bagging and sorting her ores.

Not really. Jessy is all sweeeeeeeetness and that kind of stuff. She’s really really nice.

dsc05782

So when the Rock and Mineral club has their annual big show… you KNOW we are gonna be there. Yes indeed. And so we loaded up and after we stopped at the Goodwill store, we hit the Stranahan Theater for some serious rock and mineral looking, shopping and visiting with some of our fellow rockhounds.

dsc05790

I will admit though… since we became full time dealers and such, about oh, 5 years ago? Some of the allure of shopping at a mineral show is gone because we just don’t pay full price anymore for stuff. And we walk around marveling at the prices that some of the dealers have stuff set at, when we know what it REALLY costs! HAHAHA… but still, it’s just such beautiful eye candy to walk around and look and oooooh and ahhhhh…. just fun.

And they have all these fun tables set up to do stuff with and lots of handouts and phamplets and other show flyers in the region… just all good stuff. And we always have to get a few things… I mean, some stuff is just too good, even at retail prices.

dsc05810

Like these two beautiful chunks of Iowa Keokuk geodes! Only $5. And they are BIG… 4 pounds of geode! About the size of a small cantalope! EACH! So that was sweet.

And Maggie got a beautiful picture jasper slab…. Really cool markings.

dsc05811

I think it looks like the shape of Arkansas!

She thinks it look like a cool mousepad.

I must agree. Way cool.

dsc05817

Pretty unique idea… I think a little polish and that would be the coolest rockhound gift around. Rocks and minerals are really really cool. We love them.

dsc05793

I loved this little sign. Sometimes people don’t realize just how much work goes into selling stuff like this. Sometimes we only make 10-25 cents profit on a piece. And after all the effort that goes in, you begin to wonder… is this really worth it? But it is… it’s fun and keeps us off the streets!

dsc05797

This is our buddy Ed. He runs a nice rock collectors business out of his garage on a piece of land near our Moby. We buy special collectors specimens from him. He’s super nice… and the girls love going over and spending money with him. He gives us wholesale prices when we buy flats of material from him… We’ll be going over there soon and getting some nice stuff. Of course, Jessy had to get a few special pieces from him today. She says she doesn’t mind buying retail from him, because his prices are the best around and he really likes working with kids and young people. He’s way cool.

Well… it was a great day! We had a good time, walked around, saw lots of beautiful specimens, and had a flush of excitement for our own business ideas and dreams. Gooood stuff!!!!

Pin It

Trip to the Goodwill

Well, we packed all the stuff for the Goodwill…. quite a nice little load actually. Clothes, books, kitchen stuff and you name it. Took the three of us, each two loads! I was very proud of us. Felt good. I know they will make use of it.

And then we had to go in and take a peek… you never know what you might find… like… our new horsey friend!!!

dsc05802

Meet Midnight the Evil Flying Pony from Toledo!!!

I’m really not sure why, but we just couldn’t leave him there. He was only $2 and is certainly a conversation piece. He’s almost 18 inches long and has a sort of Tibetan look to him. Pretty darn neato, let me tell you!

dsc05805

I just love all his fancy painting and all.

Any ideas what to do with him? We have enjoyed his presence in the Moby all evening long… and he has been attacking the dog and the kitties and flying around and all. And talking in a funny voice like all evil demon flying horses do when teenagers are having a good time with him.

I think he has to have a good spot… maybe even flying!!!

dsc05808

Also got a cute little teal blue glass lantern with a tea candle in it for 50 cents. I’m partial to candles and this will look cute in the yard I think. Simple and yet quaint. I’m trying to really look carefully for yard things. I don’t want to junk up the yard with like a thousand and one things, but yet, I do want a few little whimsy pieces here and there. Just tucked in this corner or that corner. I love those kinds of things. They are a delight to find.

dsc05819

And I have a new addiction. I’m not sure why but I really like these little tin and copper pails and buckets I’m seeing around. I have about 5 or 6 now. I wasn’t really sure what to do with them. But I think I am cooking up a master plan!!! Candles!!!

I tried and failed to run a candle company a year or so go… bought all the stuff and tried but there are SO many people making candles and such, it was just a bust. But, I still like making them, just making them EASY now and for my own enjoyment.

I watch and buy up those really ugly candles at yardsales for like a quarter. You know. Those candles that your spinster aunt gave you in the shape of a angel and a teddy bear, or in hideous colors so you never burned them? Well, I buy them, chop up the wax and heat it and then pour it into old jars or ….. ta-da! Little tin pails and add a bit of wick and a little (okay a lot) of essential oil to flavor them and Poof! CHEAP but lovely candles!!

I’ll post about it soon… because I only have like three candles left to burn and they are almost gone.

I’m on the lookout for a handful of colored glass wine bottles to make some really cool re-purposed candle holders to use over and over. But my wino friends haven’t been over for a long time, so, I think I might have to resort to snitching a few from a recycling bin!!! (Don’t tell okay? Isn’t it better to re-purpose than to use the energy to re-cycle???? I do believe so….)

Well… all in all… we gave them 6 big armloads full of stuff and came home with Evil Midnight the Demon Pony, a little tin pail, the little blue lantern… a small handmade pottery bowl for soap and another mismatched little pottery cup to hold our toothbrushes in… and spent a total of $5.

Not too bad….

Related Posts with ThumbnailsPin It