status of honda odyssey

i looked at the honda odyssey yesterday and discovered i have the 7-seater, not the 6-seater,  so the middle row bucket seats don't have tabs that allow you to easily remove them.

below are some generic pictures showing the layout.

the middle row seats collapse and fold up against the front seats. the seat back can also recline until it's flush with the rear seat.

the rear seat can fold flush with the floor by dropping into the trunk area, the seat back can recline until it's parallel with the floor, and the seat back can fold forward onto the seat.

this is the trunk area behind the rear seat.

the picture above shows the the middle row seats collapsed against the front seats and the rear seat folded flush with the floor. if i was a little shorter than my awesome 5'8", this would be perfect but i'm not so it's about 4 or 5 inches to short for me to lie straight. i would have to lie at an angle with the middle seats taking up space and limiting what i could put on side of my bed. the spare tire is already imposing into the interior space. i don't want to lose even more space to the seats.  (on another note, i remember reading on a vandwelling blog where someone else moved their spare tire from the inside to either to the top or bottom of their vehicle. i'll try to find that posting later.)

another option i have is to recline one of the middle row seats until it's flush with the rear seat and then recline the rear seat until it hits the back of the rear door. that would give me enough room to lie flat and i could just put a futon chair mattress on the bed to even out the dips. i could use the the other side of the rear seat as a chair to knit, read, etc and i would be able to use some of the trunk for storage. to get to it, i would just have to fold the back of the rear seat forward.

the problem with that is the unused middle row seat would still take up much needed space, i wouldn't be able to store anything under my bed, and i wouldn't be able to use all the vertical space in the trunk because i have to recline back.

my last option, and the one i'm going with i think, is just to have someone remove the middle row seats and keep the rear seat. that way i could use storage bins as the foundation of my bed which would give me storage. i could use the right side of the rear seat for sitting, and i would have some of the trunk for additional storage. plus i would have space on the right side of my bed (assuming i place it behind the driver's seat) for maku's litter box, which is an entirely different set of concerns.

that being decided, it's off to my local mechanic to see if he can remove the seats and find out how much he's going to charge me. i'm thinking, guessing, hoping removing the seats won't be a big deal but who knows. life is seldom as simple as i want it to be.

take care and be blessed.

ugghhh!!!!!

i'm on edge. i don't like being on edge. i'm trying to ignore the edginess by being ocd with the internet but it's not helping. the hum is humming right below the surface. thus i've decided to blog to possibly get it off my spirit and into the physical world where i can deal - hopefully.

ok. so what's going on? first, my mv (minivan). today was the first time i've driven him - yes, it's a he - since i bought in last month and something's off. the brakes are squeaking a little and they pulsate when i press them. anything out of the norm with vehicles is generally not good. then i went to get his side and back windows tinted and my friend had some issues with the curve of the back window. it has tint but it's not very pretty tint. he said he'll try again later which is cool with me. i just wanted tint so the curtains or reflectix or whatever won't be identifiable from outside. but then the hatch lock broke and now it won't close fully and it won't open. that's a problem. finally, i can't figure out how to remove the middle row bucket seats and rear bench seat. from the description of the vehicle, i know they're suppose to be removable so it's just one more thing to figure out - along with the hatchback and the brakes and possibly the tint.  none of this is major, i know it but to be honest, i'm pretty lazy. i like things to go the way they're suppose to go and if they don't, i like other people to fix them. mechanical tasks, or any physical tasks for that matter, are not my strong point. i want that to change before i take off for good next year but hopefully it's a process cause right now, it hasn't changed one iota.

then tomorrow i have to leave my house to drive 45 minutes to hang out with my sons and my best friend. i love my sons. i love my best friends. i still don't want to leave my house!!!! i'm sitting here pouting and it's ridiculous but i feel what i feel and that's what i feel. interacting with people for longer than 15 minutes, 20 minutes top, is just draining. i know it's my $hit but it still affects me and it's human nature to not do the things i don't want to do. it's my nature anyway. but i'm going to go anyway because boys need their mother and friends need friends. if my home wasn't such a pig sty they could come here - which would ease my anxiety tremendously - but it is so they can't. i'm thinking i should have it cleaned up definitely by the new year. if not, i'll just haul off and take everything on the floor and not in my room to the dumpster. either way, it'll be clean.

last but not least, my bff just got down to a size 6 and my little sister, who's taking me to cancun next year for my birthday, is a size 4/6. they make me sick. one of the things i want to do before i start vandwelling is get healthy - diet, cardio, strength training, flexibility, spirituality, and emotional and mental stability. well, that's easier said than done. did i mention that i was lazy? cause it's true. i don't like to cook, so i eat out almost every meal except for having popcorn and diet soda before bed. my latest obsession has been waffles at this like shack of a dinner. i don't know what's in them but they are so freaking good with extra butter and hot syrup. i've had them almost every night for the last month. even thinking about them now is killing me. so, as a result of not cooking and eating too much sugar and starches, i've gotten to be quite a bit more substantial than i was 5 or 6 years ago. normally, this wouldn't bother me at all but my cholesterol isn't as good as it could be and the pants i bought in january can't exactly get past my thighs. plus my loved ones are losing weight and are all to happy to tell me alllll about the new clothes they just have to buy since their old things are too, too small. yeah. whatever.

so while i refuse to diet, i am determined to eat healthier. which is probably one of the reasons i'm on edge. i. want. waffles!!! but i had a protein shake and popcorn instead. yay for me.  and it's no big deal that life is going to shine just a little less bright going forward. being healthy is worth it. so i've been told.

as for the physical stuff, i have a membership at the ymca but i hate the place. it's old as methuselah. there's no facility radio. the weights are in the dark, dank basement. only the treadmills have connections to the television. and on and on and on with the complaints.  i'm going to check out the gym about 10 minutes from me to see if i like it. it's $15 more but it's definitely worth it if i don't dread going there. plus, there are cuter guys at that gym. i love the y but most of the guys that frequent it are not single and are rarely under the age of 50. not that i have anything against the elderly. many of my best friends are elderly. lol. that sounds so lame. i'm changing the subject.

as for my mental health, my psych and i are on top of that and it's going unusually well. due to some horrendous events in my past, i have a psych. enough said.

emotionally, i'm going very well. i finally ended a very draining, negative, drama-filled relationship with someone i desperately wanted to save but who had no desire to be saved. it took a little while to figure out we weren't on the same team. i hate it had to end the way it did but i'm thankful to God and the universe that it ended. other than that, my life is pretty awesome - great family, great friends, a wonderful cat, satisfying hobbies, good health. definitely nothing to complain about.

spiritually, i'm reading some things. while i feel very connected to the Universal Energy and i believe 100% in the fundamental goodness and purpose of the universe, i desire more. what more is the question.

hmm...i do feel much better. life is great and i just needed to be reminded of it. to remind myself of it. take care and be blessed. hugs.

hi. new beginnings? maybe.

hi. this blog is going to be the ramblings of a gypsy child. why? cause i need to remember. cause i forget any and every and only my words remain to evidence my existence, thoughts, actions. the fluctuations and inconstancy of permanence that is I and me.

next year i'm going van dwelling across the country. seriously. not because there's going to be some dire mishandling of my finances - knock on wood AND throw salt behind me - but because i want to. because i want to leave where i'm at to get where i'm suppose to be with the smallest outsourcing of resources possible. thus, vandwelling. my family and friends think i'm nuts and bull$hitting but whatever. i'm use to it and so are they. =D i bought a 1997 honda odyssey last month. i took the greyhound all the way to Lake something, IL and drove it back. riding on the greyhound from SC to chicago was interesting for real, for real. i came from some interesting times but living in suburbia all these years has softened me up like a just baked marshmallow.  i was not ready for atlanta and atlanta was definitely not ready for me. lol. luckily street smarts are ingrained cause the bus was overbooked and people had been waiting 24 hours or more for the very bus i needed by the time we arrived. yeah. i'm not the one to wait. so a little of this, a little of that, gc is on the next bus and there are a lot of pissed off souls still waiting. definitely not something i want to relive but if i have to, it's nice to know i can handle my own.

anyway, so i've had the mv for a month. tomorrow i'm getting the mid and back side windows and back window tinted to 20%. then i'm having the middle row seats removed. i might go ahead and remove the back row bench seat also but not sure. it's not as easy as removing the middle row seats. i found a video online that explains it but i'm hoping i don't have to actually do it. i do have some awesome male friends that would be keen to help me out but i really don't want to ask. no other reason than pride cause my friends are pretty kick a$$. i'm also installing window and rain deflectors, purchasing a chair futon cushion from wally world, and building a frame for the bed to be completed by next sunday. then it's off for a test sleep. not sure where. maybe savannah, ga or asheville, nc. both places i love.

in addition to prepping the van i've also come up with a list of things that i must complete and hobbies i must be "fluent" in before i set sail. i'm not going into all of them right now but suffice it to say, it's going to take FOREVER to complete.  seeing as i am who i am, i might end of saying whatever and head out prior to the completion of my to do list but hopefully not. i can never tell with me but i'm pretty sure completing the list would be better than leaving half mast. i think. either way, i'm pretty stoked about the take off. =D i've been on lock down in sc since 1998. it's gotten old. i've gotten old. it's time to move on and move out. that's it for now. back to watching angel on hulu plus. hugs.