Trash to Treasure??

Hi everyone! Later on today, I will be posting a new tag, but I had to throw an extra one in here to tell you a little bit about my new project. And this will be a long post, as I feel that you need a little background information to truly appreciate this story! Many bloggers post pictures of things that they found in thrift stores, and make them over to be cute as heck. Well....My Aunt stopped by yesterday morning all excited. Her exact words were, "Wait 'til I tell you about the stupid thing that I have done"! Translation: "I bought something that I don't need...yes another thing, that could potentially be alot of fun, but I will need your help with it....ALOT of help with it, and we will probably never use it". It's been a while since I've heard these words.

The last time, it ended up being a peddle boat (paddle boat, I'm not sure which one it's called). She agreed to buy it from a guy (man child) through an email based on a picture that she saw on Craig's List. The guy lived in the boondocks of Missouri, and we had to go NOW to snag it before someone else got it. We headed out in one of her 3 vehicles (the one that we might possibly be able to squeeze a boat into the back of), to what ended up being a scene right out of the movie Deliverance. To top it off, she had Obama stickers all over her vehicle (that she had put on), AND Confederate Flag stickers, that the PREVIOUS owner had put on, that she had never taken off. We got alot of confused and sometimes nasty looks. After stopping and asking for directions from a young couple and their 3 kids (none of which were wearing shoes, walking along side the road), we wound our way deeper into the woods passing shanty after shanty, while keeping to the main road as we were instructed to do. I'm not judging...any one of these folks could have been related to me, I'm just sayin'! We finally came to a lake and found the house.

The guy came out to greet us, and his Mother yelled from inside their home "Don't you bring those people in here"! Uh yeah, no problem at all with that lady! We walked down the hill to what they called a dock and there was the boat. Of course my Aunt wanted to take it for a spin in the freezing cold weather. I declined and suggested the owner go out with her. He admitted that he couldn't swim, and kept standing up and almost falling out of the boat. Fiinally, they finished their business, money was handed over, and the boat was all hers! We left without it, and she had to go pick it up with a vehicle more suited to stow a boat in the back. We've used it once since she's had it.

Why did she need a peddle boat in the first place you ask....You see, my family are boaters. Not ski boaters, but live onboard boaters. My Brother has a houseboat (we call it the floating camper, as it's one of the smallest boats at the yacht club where it is docked). My Aunt has a sailboat (a pretty respectable one), and it's docked at the same place. There is about 1/2 a football fields length by water between them. When we head down for the weekend, we need a boat to go back and forth, because it is too long of a walk to take the road back and forth. Now, we had went to the bowels of Missouri the year before the peddle boat era, and picked up a dinghy for this very purpose, but it still has never made it to the yacht club. Neither has the peddle boat. We use the peddle boat at the small lake here in town (once), that also is home to the 2 other smaller sailboats that she owns, which we have each been out on the lake only once. My brother took it to his lake lot (once) and let the kids use it, so he wouldn't have to take them for rides in his fishing boat.

When she got the larger sailboat (it's large enough to have comfortable living quarters), she wanted to sell the pop-up camper that she owned, after all, it had been years since she had used it. I told her not to sell it, I would probably use it. All I needed to do was have the zipper repaired, get it painted, and it would be good to go. It's mine, but I haven't seen it yet, because she hasn't hauled it up here from Missouri. So, technically it is still hers, since it is not in my possesion and it was coming to me free of charge.

So that brings us back to her visit yesterday. And all I will say is...do you remember these famous lines from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation...."Shi##ers Full"!


Yep. She bought another camper. AND....the seller threw the truck in! Yep, they both came with the deal, and she found them on Craig's List! She has a truck already that she bought off of Craig's List, last year. This latest one is a late 1990's model, and honestly isn't that bad. The interior is practically brand new looking. The camper is a 1970's model. My whole family likes to camp, and stay the weekend on the boats, but ANOTHER camper? Don't get me wrong, it could be fixed up inside and be alot of fun, but I would bet my bottom dollar that it won't get used anymore than the boats or the lake lot or the cabin. So anyway, it's my job to get it cleaned up and decorated. It has a kitchen, 3 sleeping areas (including the table/sitting area that lays out into a bed), a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower, a furnace, and an air conditioner. Here is what I have to work with...

This is the couch that lays out into a good sized bed, and it has a bunk bed over it. The bathroom is on the left here, but you can't really see the door in this picture.

The kitchen and dining area, that lays out into a good sized bed.

A very blurry shot of the kitchen.

So these are the before pictures. My brother is assessing the condition of the flooring, walls, counter top, furnace and various holding tanks today. And after he gets that all squared away, I will be put in charge of cleaning it, making curtains and bedding, and decorating it. I'll keep you updated on my progress, but I know that it will be slow going. As soon as the ice on the Mighty Miss cracks up a little, we'll all be back into boating, and this will go forgotten!