Painted Windows

I painted the 2 back windows yesterday with acrylic paints. I liked the look so I painted the one side window in our room. We liked it so much I'm going to paint all the windows!

I like how this turned out! I normally can't draw all!

The other window says TO BVJ. BVJ is a huge country music festival that our family attends every year!

Having a Good Time

We`re currently parked near Athabasca and we`re having fun here! Not much work is being done on the bus. TheMan and his brother are working on totally redoing his brother`s 5th wheel holiday trailer.Once his trailer is done then we will work on finishing the bus!
We did manage to salvage a furnace from a holiday trailer, a sink, and a bunch of other things that will work in the bus. So it was to our advantage to do this!
We went swimming in Athabasca yesterday. I think the pool is allowing the Slave Lake evacuees to swim for free because they asked if we were from Slave Lake when we went yesterday. It is really sad to listen to people talk in town. Alot of them didn`t have insurance and they lost everything. One woman was saying if their cat lived he would be very hungry when they got back there. I almost cried hearing the anguish in her voice.
I`m heading to Edmonton tomorrow to get the baby his passport! I`m hoping to be there first thing in the morning to get it done with early! I have a couple other things to do in the city as well. We leave for a week in a month! I can`t wait! I`m going alone with him but I think it will be great anyway!

The Bus Being Built Inside!

Here are some pictures from the building of the bus! It still needs some finishing touches! 

It's livable tho!

Building the back walls for our bedroom. You can see one part of the couch! I love the couch so much!

The couch (the part that pulls out into a bed is where my daughter is sitting). The counters. TheMan has since built me drawers on the near right side!

The couch before it was installed securely!

The couch pulled out into a bed. There is storage underneath which I love!

Almost done. We have tons of storage under our bed in the back. TheMan is building me cupboards under the counter as we speak. Once everything is built I have white paint to paint it all. `We still have to install the furnace that we got! It`s good for now tho!

Sub Floor is DONE!!!

Yesterday my Dad and TheMan put in the sub floor for the bus. We decided what to do for a floor plan. We chalked it out on the floor. It is going to look so great!

On Monday I have to go pick up the couch for the bus. We have some cabinetry that my Dad had here. We have decided to make the bunk beds so that the bottom is stationary and the top bunk flips down to make another sofa. It is going to work out great!

Pictures in a day or so. My MS is getting the best of me right now! I have really bad vertigo and can't do alot at the moment. Meds are my friend right now!

All Ready To Go!

We're all ready to go for tomorrow morning! We just have to stop at the office and get an in transit sticker for the van. We're getting it insured in Alberta because we need to get an out of province inspection to get it done here and it will cost alot to get this $400 van on the road. TheMan's Dad is going to be nice enough to insure the van for us for 6 months. After that one stop we are off and flying! We will be on the road for 9 hours to start with to make it to my Dad's place to work on the bus!

This is the packed and ready to go bus. The view towards the back of the bus. The only thing left to do is to put another big blue bin like the one in the picture filled with dog food. 

 This is the view toward the front of the bus. There isn't much in the front of the bus there is a little! The hose that you see in the picture is going to be removed once we get there. It is a heater hose that we are taking out of the bus permanantly.

I had a great post with tons of pictures of the animals and everything but it is lost in cyber space. So I'm only adding these two pictures now. Hopefully tomorrow morning we can get a shot with everyone including the 3 kids, 3 dogs, cat, TheMan and I. At the very least everone except me in the shot! Just before we leave on the road! I can't wait to start posting pictures of the renovations as they are being done! I think my camera might need to be replaced after this adventure!

What a Mess!

My house looks like such a mess. We are trying to pack and clean at the same time...didn't work out so well. Didn't help that the baby was super clingy yesterday and didn't want to be put down for nothing! We got alot done it just doesn't LOOK like we did! The living room is currently heaped with stuff to go out to the bus.

TheMan didn't get home until 7pm last night. We were both tired because the night before neither one of us got much sleep. So we ate supper and went to bed early! Although we did go out to the bus and organize all the stuff that was already out there. We also loaded the stuff from the garage that had to. His tile working tools have to come with us if I want a tile floor in the bus!

I was giggling last night because TheMan came in the house and wanted to know what the pile of stuff was. I told him it was all stuff that we needed on the bus. He made a comment that I was going to fill the bus to the top with crap. Then we went into the garage and he is saying "we need this, I need that" It was funny because my stuff from the house is crap but his stuff from the garage isn't! I just laughed!

TheMan should be home early this afternoon. The kids and I are going to finish packing stuff up and the load it into the bus. Once everything is loaded into the bus then we can finish cleaning up the house.

I'm so worried about the mice getting at our mattress! I'm not sure what to do about it. I was thinking of putting moth balls all over it but then I worry that our bed will smell bad when we get back! I am going to be putting out mouse/rat poison all over the house while we're gone. I HATE mice and I don't want them in my house!

I am loving the idea that the van won't be full to the nuts this time! Usually anytime we go somewhere the van is SO FULL we can barely move in there! This time the dogs and Kat will be in the bus and so will everything else! We will only have Peanut in the van with us who is my daughter's little Cavalier puppy!

When we organized the bus, we put the mattresses on the floor and then put everything else on top of that. We did that because I wanted to make the mattresses unaccessable to the dogs! I don't want the mattresses covered in dog hair!

Tomorrow is the big day! I will take pictures later of the fully ready to go bus!

Working around the baby!!!

Working around a 6 month old baby is proving to be work!! I have had to stop what I was doing to get him down for his nap! The break is nice don't get me wrong!! The older kids are helping to knock off jobs from our list of things to do!

The pile of things to go out to the bus is getting bigger all the time.It looks like alot of stuff in the bus because it is just big and empty right now. Once we have cabinets and storage spaces built in the bus it won't look like so much stuff!!!

We're taking school work and art supplies. We may not use them that much but at least we have them!

I will be taking lots of photos of the building process over the next few weeks. We found out yesterday that we have a fresh water and grey water tank waiting for us at a friend's place. They're gutting their truck top camper. TheMan will have to help gut it but that's ok! This means that I can have a working sink this summer!!

Stay tuned for more photos of the bus becoming our home!! Especially stay tuned for when we get our ball pit for the kids!!! They are super excited about the loft and ball pit!!

The Finished Eyes!!!

Thought I would add a picture of the bus with the finished eyes! TheMan did them himself and I think he did a great job of them! I LOVE them!

As I'm typing this we are finishing up cleaning the house top to bottom and getting everything ready for loading the bus. We are taking some loads out to the bus. We're leaving the big stuff for the man since he is gone today! I am putting some stuff into rubbermaid totes with lids. We can store these under the bus when we need more space. I would like to stop at Kindersley before we leave tomorrow so I can grab the bag of balls that they have at the clothing exchange there but I'm not sure TheMan will agree to that! If not I will put an ad on kijiji for some!

Photo update!

The eyes for the bus are finally finished! He did an AMAZING job on them! I can't wait to see them on the bus on Monday! Since she is a party bus, he made her eyes blood shot! lol I love the way they turned out!

We put the queen bed in the bus and changed our minds a little about the layout. I like the new layout alot better. Let's just say that I don't want the job of designing layouts for campers for a living!

Here are also a few pictures of the bus as it is right now with nothing in it. Although TheMan did take the metal box along the one wall that held the water hoses for the heater for the bus. We are taking that out of the bus.

Taking out the lights where the eyes will be soon!

 The inside of the bus. We took out the metal strips that go down either side of the centre runner to make it level for putting down plywood before we tile the floor.

The driver's compartment. I don't know what to do to spruce it up a bit. I think we might change the seat to one that is a little nicer looking and alot more comfy. I think we're keeping the traditional school bus door on the front. I do want to make cup holders and a compartment on the little area that beside the panel of dials beside the steering wheel. This will make a nice place for TheMan's Tim Horton's coffee! 

The Bus Has Eyes!!!

TheMan and the daughter painted eyes on the bus where the top lights are! We are planning to put a smile on the front of the bus.

I emailed a couple people on kijiji about campers for the top loft this evening. I'm hoping to hear back from them! One add had  camper for $100 it said it needed work. As long as it is water tight that is all that we need! Here's hoping that we can get it! I never in a million years thought I would be all giddy over a camper that is going to be bolted to the roof of a school bus!

It would be totally amazing if we can have our loft for the kids this year! We told the kids that we wouldn't get the loft done until next year. So if it was done this year would be amazing!

Cleaning Out the Bus!

We took the load of garbage that was in the bus to the dump and cleaned out the garage with the bus. We put 5 months insurance on the bus and it cost us $130 in total.

After getting rid of the garbage in the bus, we swept and mopped it out. I got the lovely job of sweeping and mopping out the bus (with a baby on my back). Someone told the kids to take bags of dog poop and put them inside the bus. Which was fine in the winter but after the crap thawed that made for a smelly nasty mess! This was what I got to mop up...UGH!!! But the floor is clean now!

We marked out the floor with spray paint. Now we can see what the floor plan is going to look like and we can imagine how much space we're going to have.

We are leaving on Tuesday for my Dad's place. While we're there we're going to be building the interior of the bus and painting the exterior of the bus. Getting it ready for camping and all our other adventures with the bus this summer!

So I am busily packing up what we will need for the summer. Each child gets a plastic 3 drawer unit to put their everyday clothes into. They will pack their camping gear in a backpack that will get stored out of the way until we go camping. I made a list of what we need to bring with us...but I'm almost certain that something will get forgotten at home!

We're all pretty excited about the start of our big adventure! I called and had all the utilities suspended until September. This means that we won't have any utility bills to pay while we are gone with the exception of our satelite internet. Because we're on a contract with them we are commited to paying the minimum of $24/month for that, but everything else is covered!

I've been jotting down info about different places that we plan on stopping at during the summer. Prices for attractions, addresses, hours of opperation etc. Nothing is set in stone as to dates with the exception of a few music concerts and our music festival and other festivals that we want to take in. Those are because they run on someone else's schedule!

Getting Ready to Work!!!

We priced out primer and paint for the bus at Home Depot the other day!

Last night TheMan figured out how much wood and other building materials we need to do our floor plan. I have to go to the flea market and get tile for the floor of the bus. We are going to get a box of plain white tiles from Home Depot and the kids are going to decorate them with these paints that I found at the art store in Edmonton. You have to cook them in the oven at 150 for a while to set them. Then they are totally waterproof and wear proof after that. That is ALOT cheaper than $20 per tile at the ceramics place on Whyte Ave!!! I want to make a little "Carpet" with GNOMADIC GIPSY in the middle. A kind of mosaic carpet for when you first come in the door!

I'm currently collecting maps of all kinds of different places to mod podge on the walls! I want to wall paper the walls in the bus with maps. I think it will look great! We are making the interior walls out of plywood lapped together. So the walls will be painted white before I wall paper over them.

We aren't hooking up the sink but it will be installed into the counter right away. I'm hoping that we can find an old truck top camper at the dump that we can use for parts! I will also check on kijiji for a cheap one as well.

The Collecting Begins

I have begun collecting things for the bus now. I have a plastic tote that I am putting stuff into. Old towels, dish clothes, tea towels, cutlery, utensils and other things that we will need for the bus. I was going through things today to see what I could add. I am going to buy some plastic dishes from the dollar store before too long that we can put in the bus as well. I also want to stock up on disposable dishes and cutlery as well for places like Big Valley where we don't want to be doing dishes all the time!

I also have a collection of pillows and bedding for the beds ready to go as well.

It is so exciting knowing that this summer we will be spending our time in our new baby! It is going to be exactly how we want it to be!

Here She Is!

Here she is in all her glory! The people that we bought her from were absolutely fabulous! She came with black painted over everything that identifies her as a school bus. We just need to prime her with metal primer and paint her with metal paint. I am thinking of doing a light bright green with purple lettering. I want to put on the back of her that she is powered with all natural biodiesel. As well as put the Gnomadic Gipsy on the sides and front of her!

I can't wait to start getting work on her!

Getting Started

We are looking forward to spring! It looks as though it will never get here though :( It is depressing when we have so many ideas for the Gnomadic Gipsy!

She is currently sitting in the yard waiting for us to get out there to do some work on her! She is filled with stuff to take to the dump at the moment! Once we get the stuff out of her, we can start working on her!

I have ideas for the paint job on the inside. TheMan has the inside walls worked out. I am currently collecting maps of all kinds to mod podge onto the walls and then clear coat over top of. We have the floor plan worked out.

We have decided to attempt the loft next year. For this year we just want the main floor done. We have come to realize that this is going to be an ongoing project for us. If we can get the main floor mostly done this year that would be great! I want to get the paint job on the outside of the bus done as soon as possible!

I will be posting pictures each step of the way!