good news bad news

well, we have somegood news bad news over at the homestead. backin -----_- we met a couple that worked with us on adopting a miniature horse. the process at first seemed like a blessing. the stars literally alleigned in order for us to meet.
i had found piglets that i ws going to go look at to get baby Z one. this was a second attempt at geeting a pig, the first one was so disappointing because although they were adorable we werent allowed to play with them or adopt them. it was just a big misunderstanding.
now, on to the story of our horse. i met the couple on april 14, this year. many reschedules later they came for a house visit on april 22. we them got to meet the horse on may 1, after many resuchudels ...again. this should have been a sign and in fact we did begin to question if this was right for our family because itseemed we were being met with hurdles, but they were just the couple being unorganized and not prompt, we hadnt had a real problem.
we felt a sense of unease after we met the horse, whose name was Fire and then we renamed her Marron. when Bobbi, the lady with whom i communicated, had told us about Marron she didnt mention her size and the ponies we had seen her with were very small, like two feet tall. marron was nearly four feeet tall. we asked for training because we had zero experience with horses, being a caretaker to a horse, or training a horse. i asked that we have at least four training sessions with her before we took her in, but we were contacted may 23 to receive her immediately. the onther horses in the pasture with her had pink eye and Bobbi, wanted marron out of that pasture and out of contact with the pink eye.
we immediately realized that she was very food aggressive. she even kicked my husband over food. she would try knocking with her head, she had her ears pined back, she would stomp her front legs. it was a slightly unnerving situation to bring her her grain. horses main diet is hay and foraging for other grasses. after doing research i took away breakfast gain, and only gave her lunch. thisdid help and she started calming down when it came to grain time. life continued with her mostly problem free. no more kicking and her grain aggression had calmed way down.
fast forward to july 30, when Marron ate one of our newly hatched chicks. i will say that again, a horse ate a baby chicken.

sud shack, the AFTER

So, from the before pictures, you can tell I did some decluttering and paint. Basically, I painted everything black. The exposed pipes, the walls, the washer and dryer, even the floor. 

pop up project

so, we got a pop up camper! ! ! ! i really should add way way more exclaimation marks because i am so excited about it.
if you have read any of my previouse posts then you know that i am cheap, um i mean thrifty, you know, frugal. i had been on a search for a pop up camper aka tent trailer for a while but after our last camping trip left my phone in a puddle, inside of our tent, i knew i needed to find one asap.
i had seen an ad for a 1999 viking for $1500 and it looked like it was in good condition. of course, "good" is subjective to the fact that it is nearly 20 years old. two decades of camping trips, milies and miles of road bumps and jostiling around. so to say it needed some work would have been an accuracte statement. the process of buying the camper was just truly blessed. the lady that had posted it was beyond nice.
ok. long story short i ended up getting the camper for $500 dollars!!!!! this is definitly another just cause for way more exclamanation marks. i mean $500 thats what my dad would call a deal that cant be beat ... unless you have got a stick. sorry, had to drop some dad humor on yall.
alright alright, i hear yall groaning. here is what you really came here for. pictures

that would be baby Z, my brother, Mr., and my dad opening the camper for the first time. 

i  literally bought the camper without having popped it up. i saw a few pictures online so i knew what the general condition was and knew i could work with it. it was a decently long drive there and then back home so we just said "we want it, we are gonna take it no matter what" 

here is the interior

Sud Shack the before

So, this is a combination laundry and bathroom. it was, in the beginning, our only bathroom. yes, it is outdoors and disconnected from our home. there were the occasional nights when it was cold and people probably thought we were crazy but we loved...well, we made it work haha. 

now, it mainly serves as our laundry only since we built our larger home...larger in comparison, but still small. anyway, it was ugly and i hate laundry anyway so i was unmotivated. these pictures are semi-before

i say semi before because i had already put up a chandelier and a support frame for the shower curtain.

obviously, we don't normally have the tools laying on the floor but otherwise everything is as it normally was, a complete mess.

junk everywhere, no organization

the black in that photo is part of the after.

ok, now it is that pipe and all the others that really motivated me to finally tackle the laundry room a.k.a. our Sud Shack.

after pics and story coming soon, as in i just finished it and need to load photos....so, we will just see how quickly i get to that