Welcome to A Tinker + A Tailor = A Pop Up Redecorator

On the off chance that someone other than family and close friends happens upon this blog, I thought I'd open with an introduction. As you may have seen in my profile I am Zan.  I am married to Mr. Creature Comforts who was born and raised in County Kerry, Ireland and is quite vocal that his "roughing it days" ended when he emigrated to the US in the early 1970's. Mr.CC is now retired and as he likes to say he "acts as the main livestock handler" in our home, which means he takes care of our two dogs. We have two teenage daughters. Sweet Pea is the older daughter. She is 18yo and her nickname refers to her true princess qualities...as in she would have felt that pea under all those mattresses!! In one short month she graduates from high school and has big dreams of living in New York someday as a writer. At 15yo, Shutterfly, is all about art and esthetics and being unique at all costs. She is also our resident taste tester/chef and she too hopes to live in New York someday. As for me, I spent 30 years designing and embroidering celtic art and Irish dance dresses, painted furniture with knotwork designs inspired by the Book of Kells, sewed all sorts of costumes and clothing all while studying up for my dentist day job.

The thing about the day job and parenting is it sucks the life out of you sometimes!! The past two years, heck the past seven years have been particularly stressful around here and lately it is beginning to feel like we are coming into calmer waters. So naturally it is time for me to begin to long for treasured things that got dropped on the journey to become a family. Things that I have missed mightily like art and camping. Say what you think as you read that last sentence?!?!? If you recall from the introductions above, my husband and children have an affinity for creature comforts and big cities. On the whole I am not adverse to those things but I grew up in a camping family and camped right into my 20's when dental school consumed my every waking minute and I have missed camping, a LOT! Art made occasional appearances over the years. Like during a particularly dark chapter in our family I turned our stained and worn kitchen table into this...

The hours spent painting this brought solace and kept me afloat when the events of the period were working hard to sink and drown me. I took on a lot of water but I did not sink and while intense effort was required the family pulled through.

If you've been doing the math along the way you can guess that I am no spring chicken. As a matter of fact my therapist informed me I am twenty years late in hitting this time we all call The Midlife Crisis. Not ashamed to admit I have a therapist and am absolutely aware I am two feet firmly planted in that phase when one looks over their should and says "WHOA!!! What the heck happened to ME??" To remedy the situation I cast about for something that could fill the art and camping voids and wouldn't you know it happens to be something that is all the rage these days! I have joined the ranks of women who are rehabbing or remodeling a vintage camper into a GLAMPER! Okay, okay I know that a pop up is hardly the usual "vintage camper" one sees at Girls on the Fly and other glamping events BUT one works with what one can afford....and I can afford $0!! Which is exactly what this 1976 Bethany Compact 560 pop up camper cost me, yay me!!! Thank you Facebook and friends who have friends!! See I have been scouring Craigslists up to a 6 hour radius of my home and the price tags were just too much for this married to a retiree with two teenage daughters so I put a shout out on Facebook. Twenty four hours later and I had a lead right in my price sweet spot. As in "if you have it out of my driveway by Thursday then it is yours for nothing" kind of free. Which happens to mean $450 to get a hitch installed on my car kind of free but heck, way less than the thousands I was seeing for old beat up campers on Craigslist!!

Tomorrow this sweet little PUP [pop up trailer abbreviation as I learned from my crash course on Pinterest searches for inspiration] will be rolling behind me on our maiden voyage from her old home to my home!! This blog will chronicle my journey to turn Zan's Can[her temporary call name...yes that was a lame dog show reference] into my own personal glamper!!