Camper Clean OUT!!

It has been a job that has loomed over our heads for months! YEARS, actually!

He lived in this camper for 4 years after his beloved Ellen died in 2000.

In the nearly 7 years we've been married it has served as his 'storage place.'

Now with Amber expecting quadruplets - we need to use it as a home away from home so we can go down and help her and Mike. But to USE it - we had to clean it OUT!!!

And that's were I come in!!! It was such a Hodge podge MESS!! LD would go in and start to work on it but couldn't figure where or what to do!

EXIT Louis Dean! ENTER Linda!!

If there is one thing I know how to do - it is cleaning and organizing.

Bless his heart!! He had thrown all manner of stuff in here!

I bought the beige fabric pieces at Garden Ridge Pottery recently and put them on the sofa so I would have a 'clean' place to sit!

I first took all the flimsy little curtains down and raised the blinds so I could see what I am dealing with. I found all sorts of interesting things in there!

Slowly but surely I got it ALL cleared out in one day!

I made this my command post keeping my phone at hand and my book and tea for when I needed a break! It WAS a bit overwhelming!

Meanwhile Louis Dean took care of preparing the meals that day.

He can make a mean ham and cheese with fresh veggies!

Along about this time - as if we didn't have ENOUGH to do!!!

The big honeysuckle bush fell over. It had become so heavy that one new little leaf must have sent it over the edge! The trellis we had it on simply snapped off at the concrete where LD THOUGHT it would hold forever!!

So after lifting it back UP and propping it from the other side, LD dug a bigger better hole and set 2 landscaping timbers bolted together in it and filled it with super rich concrete! I always think of how good God is when I look at this honeysuckle bush. I had tried to plant one and they died every time......until God sent a little bird who planted this one! It shelters a TON of birds as they flit around the feeder these spring days!

NOW! It's back up where it belongs!!

Instead of laying down across the flower bed and stone walk!

Then LD was able to go BACK to work on the camper.

There was a leak - of COURSE!! - but he can fix just about anything in this whole wide world!

Bedroom - ALL clear!

I'm thinking of hanging a four seasons quilt on the wall there.

There is still some very serious CLEANING to do!

We have to take up the carpet and put down new tile. I may use carpet rugs and cut to fit where the carpet is now.

It's really pretty spacious.

Now he is sorting and storing stuff!

He is perched up in the storage area he built........and YES!

He DID sort and store the whole shebang!!

I'll close this with some of the mementos I discovered.

His granddaughter playing the auto harp brings good memories of happier times.

And his beloved first wife, Ellen.

There was also an American flag that had been given to him when his dad died and a pair of earrings that had been Ellen's as well as a pair of her glasses. All these things have been added to the collection in the doll cases.

There was even a Jenny Lindy doll! 'Eleanor' - still in the box!

I suppose this has closed out a chapter in the life of this camper and it is now ready for new ventures! Kids love campers and I bet my little grand kids would love to crawl back in those deep bunks. I can see Levi and Sam, Faith and Raynie now!!! I am hoping we will have lots of fun and happy family times once we get the camper road ready! That has to be SOON! Those baby quads will be here before you know it!

So Phase #1 has been accomplished!

The camper is cleaned OUT!

Now comes Phase #2.........

I need to CLEAN it out!

And I will! But not today. I am tired.