It smells like burning!

Today I am re-seasoning my cast iron skillets and Dutch oven. I love cooking with them! They make food taste so much  better and plus I feel all rustic and womanly while using them. Also way non-stickier than my "non-stick" Wolfgang Puck set(false advertising) Since we are taking them on our trailer journey I thought I would give them a good seasoning because look..

You guys-this is after I scrubbed 1/2 inch of burnt gravy off the bottom

 that had been hanging out since thanksgiving. (I know) 

These aren't too bad but didn't want them to feel left out. There are lots of different ways you can season, this is how I do it.

First clean your pans with hot water, scrubbing out any gross chunks. Preheat oven to 200•

Then take a globual of shortening and smear it all over the insides with a paper towel. 

You know you did it right if all your nail polish is chipped and your hand looks like it has been mining for coal. Place a cookie sheet on the bottom shelf of your oven(if you're smarter and less lazy than me line it with foil) and then place the pans upside down on the top shelf. Bake for 15 minutes then turn it up to 400• and bake for about an hour. 

As soon as you turn up the heat get ready to open all the windows and turn on the fans before the fire alarm goes off! It's a fun game I like to play. It's gonna get smokey! To make time go faster take turns saying "It smells like burning!"in a nasally voice. Or see how long you can go without blinking as the smoke "seasons" your eyeballs a bit. When the hour is up turn the oven off and let the pans cool inside the oven. Now they are shiny and beautiful! 

My dutch oven was bad so I repeated the strategy a few times. Still could probably go in another time, but looks much better. Have a blessed day buddies!

Yes, it's happening..

Our future home site

In three weeks we will be moving into our tiny trailer. Are we mental? Maybe..and if not we might be in the end, but we are excited. Why are we doing this you might ask? For a couple different reasons... For the adventure! We only have a few more months left here in Alabama before Stu finishes flight school(around 14 weeks give or take) and we want to make the most of it. We will be moving out to the campground here on post. To simplify. Do I really need 500 articles of clothing? Do my kids need multiple buckets of toys? Do I need 20 million different cooking utensils and pots and pans? Pretty sure no. I don't have to move into a tiny trailer to know this, but sadly I feel like I need an excuse to simplify. Because if we have the space, we might as well use it right? Mind you we are not getting rid of all our stuff, because eventually we will be back in a house(a much smaller one I'm sure) so we are putting the majority into storage. But we have gotten rid of a lot. For the $$.  Guess how much money we can save? A lot. Its like we will be getting paid to go camping! (this is what I plan on reminding myself while I'm out there being a struggle) To make memories. Our kids are pretty good at adjusting by now. I'm sure there will be plenty of struggles, but we will laugh at them eventually(or during). We have already had so many good times in our trailer. The kids are excited. I hope they will look back and remember these days fondly. I feel like time is going to fast, and we get distracted so easily, but every time we have camped in our trailer we have the best time. It seems like time slows down and we love each other more purposefully. It feels like we shut out the negativity because theres no room for it. Squishy family bonding. We will be going from a 1,900 sq. ft home to about 160 sq.ft of indoor living space. We will have our covered outdoor living area(table, kitchen and large sink-that I may or may not make my kids bathe in) Plus the large expanse of the great outdoors! There also is directly across from our spot bathrooms, showers, laundry room, and a large rec room/game room with a t.v, human size fridge and other modern day conveniences. So really, it's not like we will be roughing it. Our kids will continue to go to their same schools. Only a ten minute drive. I decided to make this new blog to post about our adventures (and misfortunes) and to update the two people that will read this on how we are living our tiny trailer life. Have a blessed day!!!(my favorite thing southerners say)

Checkin out his new front yard