Homemade

What if you long to hit the road, but your wallet has already been hit too hard to support travel expenses?

Well, then, make your own camper!

Get various pieces of material hard enough to make walls.

Hammer them together on your vehicle, adding what you need as you go, from a ladder to a milk crate to an air conditioner to a custom-width door.

Then hit the road, your style! 

I found this one-of-a-kind, do-it-yourself vehicle in a thrift store parking lot.

The thriftyness runs deep.

What about you? Are you thrifty enough to be okay with used items? Or do you like your things nice and new?

One Fancy Truck

When I was a mom of young boys, I went to a used car lot with Bob and told him I really wanted to buy an old white van that had been splatter painted with various colors. Bob had to explain that the van, with its marvelous roomy interior, wasn't really in very good shape, regardless of its party-time paint job.

(I admit, that was the main reason I liked it!)

I found another even fancier vehicle in a parking lot. Take a look at this truck that was backed up to a loading door at a home improvement store!

So, was she going to do the remodeling? 

Or did the guy borrow the girl's truck to pick up the supplies?

This is kind of like using all your nice linen and lacy-edged pillowcases instead of saving them for "best occasions." 

Make everyday your best occasion!

Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Or do you hire your home repair projects out to professionals?

Do-It-Your-Suffer Project

I have made a bit of a reputation for myself for making or altering things to suit my 'tude. (That's "attitude" for anyone not in the know.) I've combined patterns to make clothes, taken clothes that weren't quite right to unpicked and re-sewed in order to shape them to my will, and generally make things just how I want them.
So I felt confident in my ability to make a custom backpack. It was just the right color, had see-through pockets so I COULD FIND THINGS, and plenty of outside pockets so I wouldn't have to dig for stuff. 
It took HOURS to make, but I was happy with the end result. It was perfect for me.
That is, until I took it on its maiden voyage.
Then, like the Titanic, it fell apart. 
When one strap broke in the airport, I just slung the remaining one over my shoulder, thinking of the best way to re-attach the errant strap. 

But when the SECOND strap broke, holding on by a single thread, I gave up on thoughts of any future salvage attempts. I didn't want to suffer through any more zipper sewing and piece fitting and thinking through what would fit where and what had to be sewn first, second, third...100th! So I carried the bag in my arms to my nephew, Curtis's, wedding, determined that it would be its final voyage.

When I mentioned to my family that I'd like to go out and find myself a piece of luggage that would get me home, my 6'4" brother, Greg, offered me his suitcase, as he had another, newer one. I thought his old one looked kind of big, but he assured me that he'd used it as carry on luggage more than once, and never got stopped from taking into the airplane cabin with him.

Apparently if you're 6'4", any piece of rolling luggage looks smaller by comparison to your towering body.

Half an inch shy of six feet got me STOPPED and told I had to check the bag. That meant going to carousel after the flight and waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and finally getting home at 4:00 am.

(I still appreciate my brother's effort to help me out. He even sent me a horrified little face emoji when I texted him about my predicament.)

I admit, I was jealous of my little sister sleeping on the back seat of the car as I made the 2 1/2 hour drive home. I remember sleeping in the back of the car as a kid, the comforting motion of the car creating soothing sleep, even though most of the time we 8 Anderson kids were sleeping on each other's shoulders.

We had so much togetherness, we didn't even need our own chairs!

(That's me in the middle, brother DellRay on my right, sister Rebecca on my left.)

Did you ever sleep in the car as a child?

Do you still sleep in the car?