Sunday, July 26, 2015

Kitchen moving, etc

I have to say I kindof like this kind of kitchen moving...fill up the laundry basket, take it out to the tiny house and put the stuff away.  Repeat.  No wrapping stuff, no sealing boxes and hoping nothing breaks, no forgetting what was in this box or that box.  AND if it doesn't fit, it goes in the donate box. The end. 
Here are my empty big house kitchen cabinets.

I was going to take a pic of my tiny house kitchen with full cabinets, but I didn't do it when I first thought about it. Then the packing frenzy began and the Bungalow filled up with stuff, so we'll all have to wait for that pic. Of course when it comes time to move the Bungalow on Wednesday everything will go in a box or tote and sit on the floor so that nothing gets broken.  Just wanted to make sure I had room for everything.

So the packing and chucking frenzy began and ended. Interspersed with extreme stress about getting out of the big house on time. Rental truck lights not working.  Getting a new truck.  New truck lights not working properly.  Audry and Lori coming to my rescue. Meeting the wonderful new owners of the big house.  Moving Ticklebelly Bungalow to my Dad's only to find out that I should have measured the pad and not eyeballed it.  Wrecking my Dad's lawn.  Moving Ticklebelly Bungalow to RV storage instead.  (I really need some backing practice. Although since TB isn't a constant road-going vehicle, I'll practice with Little Chicken.)  Two truckloads to the dump totalling about 600 lbs (talk about taking a load off).  A few rounds of exhausted tears and an exhaustion bellyache.  Kindness from all of my neighbors.  Little Chicken's lights working perfectly with the Jeep. A gigantic Lime Rickey and fries.  And a Blue Moon to top it all off so I didn't need to find my flashlight.  Glad it is finished.  There will be more serious downsizing when Ticklebelly Bungalow finds her next resting place, but for now the roadtrip is the focus!  Whew!  Feels really good to be finished with the mortgage and utilities.     

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Galley Hatch (YAY!!)

After puzzling quite a bit about my galley hatch design, I went back to my old saying, "The best way to finish something is to begin."  So I began, but found that my design seemed to be too weak.  Back to the drawing board and looking at other designs to see how other people have put together their galley hatches...even in the 1930's and 40's (thanks for the designs Uncle Jeff!) The new design is much stronger and I think will work.  The big reveal!  Hehe
Ooohh, wasn't that exciting!  This pic actually is the galley hatch frame connected to Little Chicken's body by the hurricane hinge.  The roofing is being held up by a piece of scrap wood, so the roof looks funny.  
Got the center supports and the first piece of insulation put in. 

The rest of the insulation went in...then the rain came...again.

Thursday was the day for coverings...the first layer.

And the roofing...

And the inside covering, just waiting for a bit of trim and the galley counter and shelf. 

It was getting dark, but I also got the front and back painted blue.

My dance workshop finishes tomorrow :( so I'll have more time to finish things up.  YAY!  Little Chicken will be ready to go!  

A note on downsizing (which is still going on).  I sold my kitchen chairs, and my living room chair went to the neighbor, so I'm getting a lot of practice sitting on my exercise ball.  I kind of like it.  Next on the list to downsize is the kitchen, preceeded by cleaning out the Bungalow, so I can move my kitchen stuff out there.  I made another donation run on Monday evening.  I've also determined that whatever doesn't sell (minus Mom's china) is being donated.  I don't want to store it, and I'm not handing it off for someone else to do.  We're in the homestretch!! Six days and counting.






Friday, July 17, 2015

Little Chicken, Little Chicken...

Friday July 17: Finished the port side door and got it hung.  Then decided to put a drip edge above the doors.  Don't know how much water will be diverted from the doors, but I like it because it makes the doors look like they have eyebrows. Still have more finishing to do on the doors.

Here is a picture of the roof from yesterday.  Note the big gap between the vent and roofing.  I've decided to go with a plastic skirt from the vent and sealed to the roofing.  We'll see how that turns out.  
Also, began the galley hatch, but got stumped because the floor needed to actually be finished first so I can measure the clearances correctly.  So I moved on to the floor.  Now the Bungalow and Little Chicken are twinners.

I put an aluminum corner on the back edge and it looks nice and finished now.  


Confession:  (if you are a guy you might want to skip this next paragraph, or not).  So I needed to cut the aluminum corner and I seem to have misplaced my earplugs.  I'm guessing they were still in the pocket of my really-gross-shouldn't-be-wearing-in-public work shorts that I threw away.  I can handle a moment of sawing wood, but not sawing metal.  So I opened my bathroom drawer to get a bit of cotton to use as earplugs, but noticed another item that would work splendidly well.  Yes, ladies I used 2 OB tampons as earplugs, and if you ever tell anybody I hope they laugh their guts out.  I was very surprised at how well they worked!  Better than my previously purchased meant-to-be-earplugs earplugs.  So next time you happen to take a peek in my toolbox you'll know what the tampons are for. :D  PS. Thought of taking a selfie, but decided against it. 

Then I got stumped again because my galley hatch design was extremely flawed. Starting over with a new design. That will be the next post (I hope).  


Friday, July 10, 2015

Teardrop closer to finished!

Friday July 10: Busy day...the assessor came this morning while Nellie and I were out for a walk.  The deadline for the buyer to request things to be fixed after the inspection passed today at 5, and no requests, so nothing got added to the to-do list.  YAY!  Nellie had a follow-up visit about her fat toe.  It is getting better. Whew!  She finishes meds this weekend and then we'll see what happens.  Back in a couple of more weeks for one more set of x-rays just to make sure all is well.  Mowed the lawn.  I only mow about every 10 days, it sure looks nice.  Got out to the teardrop in the evening and got the vent put in.  The supposed "universal" installation kit was short 4 screws, but I had some that worked just fine.
  

Also got started on putting the doors together.  I was going to use 2x3's, but the weight was getting worrisome, so I tried out a 1x3 and the doorknobs will fit just fine and the windows will fit better than with 2x's.  The doors will seal differently, but I think it will work out just fine.  I really want to get the doors on because that is what I've been worried about with the rain.  The doorways are quite large. 
Gluing the layers of a door below.


 Anyway, the goal for this weekend (and I'm hoping by the end of this post) I can report that the doors are attached! Then for the galley hatch!  Oh, and the galley hinge finally arrived...only 10 days after I expected it.  Hmm.

So here we are at Thursday July 16 and I have been continuing the downsizing activities.  Sold some more items, got the kitchen sink fixed, cleaned out the loft space (some of which is still in the living room, donated a large load to charity.  The difficult item for the week was cleaning out Mom's cedar chest.  Glad that is a once in a lifetime activity.  And the unexpected item for this week was having two large branches from my front tree spontaneously fall.  Luckily no one was underneath when the first one fell.  I heard it break, but with all the fireworks still going on I thought it was just a funky sounding firework.  That is until one of the neighbor kids knocked on my door and told me a branch just fell from my tree.  Not even a breeze was blowing, just fell right down.  Later that evening we had a bit of a wind/lightning/thunder storm and another one broke and was holding on by a piece of bark so I pulled it down.  Spent Wednesday with the chipper roaring along making some lovely mulch for the garden.  Still have the main parts of the branches to cut up, but that isn't too big of a deal.

The to-do lists have mainly been about the big house until yesterday when the tree decided it was time for me to get back outside.  Worked on the starboard side door yesterday and today.  Actually got it hung, but there are still things to do before it is finished.
The window is super funky.  I guess that is what I get for buying surplus windows.  The window isn't flat so it sits strangely in the door.  I used a ton of putty tape so it won't leak, so there will be NO close-ups of the window.  It is pretty ugly up close.

I also got my little glass block windows put in.  Still need to finish the inside, but I think I'm going to really like having a little extra light.  They need a little clean-up.

Then tonight I finished the roof.  No pics because it was too dark when I finished.  Now for the new dilemma.  I chose a roofing solution that has quite a high profile, which I didn't take into account with the roof vent.  So as I see it I have a couple of options.  Choose a different roof covering, or make some kind of a skirt for my vent that would allow water to run on top of the roofing instead of underneath, but not flap in the wind as I'm rolling down the road.  Put on your creative thinking caps please.  

So the galley hatch and the port side door are on the list for tomorrow. I'm just a little bit excited for that.  Not sure how long the galley hatch is going to take.  I'm hoping just a day or two.  I'm also excited to get started on the inside.  I have some laminate flooring left from the Bungalow that I'm going to use as the floor covering.  And the trim is just waiting to go in.  Wahooo!



Thursday, July 9, 2015

Furniture is selling and the teardrop is coming along

More downsizing this week...items that have found new homes: sleeper loveseat, overstuffed loveseat, square bookshelf, ladder bookshelf, antique buffet, sideboard, 26"TV, piano keyboard, and I know I'm forgetting something else.  Anyway, as you can see the big house is feeling more empty by the day, which is a good thing...only I'm running out of furniture to sit on.  When the kitchen chairs go...  

I'm still working on the letters and pictures project and making good progress I think.

The teardrop is also coming along.  I haven't worked on it for a couple of days because we've been getting some crazy rainstorms, including today.  In fact, if not for the lightning/thunder/downpour I'd still be out there working.  This morning I had a feeling that I'd find a soaked teardrop (kind of like the Jeep which had the windows left open last night during our 2nd downpour of the day about 11pm).  And yes I did, although it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I ended up taking the insulation out and letting the roof dry out while I cut the siding for the front and back, as well as the hole for the vent in the roof.  Then I proceded to replace the insulation and put the front panel on. 

...and put the roof cover on...nice box of screws on the roof!

Then I cut out the hole in the roof cover for the vent...will the vent fit?
Sure did!  Hallelujah!  Didn't even have to do any re-cutting, it just slid right in!

I decided to give the roof and front panel a coat of white exterior paint just for a little extra weather protection.  I'll paint the front panel blue to match the rest when I'm finished.  I was expecting afternoon rain today, so I wanted to get as far as I could on the roof before the daily downpour. While the paint was drying, figured I'd get started on the doors.  I clamped the layers all back together and drilled the hole for the door handles.

And cut out the windows too.

About that time big black clouds started to show up over the mountains and they seemed to be headed our direction.  So I started cleaning up, but not before I got a layer of roof paper on the newly painted (and dried I hope) roof, then the tarp, then the roofing panels, which I'll be attaching soon, before it started raining.  As well as getting the Jeep under cover. :D  I'm glad for the rain.  It just means I don't have to remember to water my lawn.  I've only had my sprinklers on twice so far this summer.  Hoping the inside of the teardrop stayed dry.

I don't spend much time on this blog writing about deep thoughts/feelings, but today I think I will.  I've been feeling quite overwhelmed lately about how I'm going to get all of this stuff finished before the end of July when I close on the big house.  Then I realized that I still have three weeks and everything is moving along nicely.  I just need to remember to put one foot in front of the other every day. Pep talk...get up, dress up, show up!  So far, so good.  I suppose one of the most difficult things about this whole downsizing thing is that I'm not really downsizing my stuff, I'm downsizing my mom's stuff.  I've been really missing her a lot the last few weeks, and wondering if she would be ok with the disposition of all her belongings.  This morning I listed her china in the classified (not all of it, I'm keeping 4 place settings).  Next to listing her daybed, the china has been most difficult.  She loved it.  I love it, that's why I'm keeping some of it, but I don't need 12 place settings.  All of this to say, it is not easy!  I try to stay really positive on the blog and in my life...AND this is HARD!  One more thought.  I had a little breakdown last week about leaving my big house, and I realized that it was because it felt like I was leaving my mom.  How could I ever lock the door and drive away when so many memories of Mom's last two years reside in this house?  A few days later it occurred to me that I wouldn't be leaving her here.  She would be getting in the Jeep and going with me.  To quote my cute little 6-year old neighbor, Chloe, "Remember your mom is always in your heart."



Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Serious downsizing!

I posted earlier in the week that I had a plan for the final downsize push. Basically moving into the Bungalow and letting go of what is leftover.

Wednesday - clothes
I took every piece of clothing I own and put them all on my bed. I'm not a clothes horse so it isn't that much. Then I took each piece and decided if I loved it and it made me happy. Yes...and it went in the keep pile, no...and it went in the donate pile, and maybe also went in the donate pile. As you can see if I didn't love it, it went in the donate pile. Just need to say I'm now in need of new socks. Now to find some I LOVE!  Confession: I have a couple of fancy dresses that I'm torn about.  I love them and they make me very happy, but I haven't worn either one in MANY years.  They need a consignment shop I think.  Any advice on this point?

Two views of ALL my clothes.

I am happy to report that everything fits in the spaces I had designed for my clothes.  Socks and undies go in the drawers under the bathtub, and everything else goes in the trunk.  Anybody out there have a 3D printer that needs a project?  I need some additional hangers for the trunk but the design is not a common one.  Can't just run over to the dollar store and pick some up.  I have a few ideas I need to try out, but a 3D printer would be ideal...and fun.

Wed/Thurs  Also got through all the books in the house.  Two boxes to the library, two boxes to charity and the keepers all went in a tote.  The keepers are mainly books that I use when I teach, so they are for work.

Thurs/Fri  Then I started scanning letters.  My mom didn't keep a journal (at least one that she didn't burn). So the letters she wrote are all the personal history we've got.  When my Grams passed away, Mom got back all the letters she had written to Grams.  Grams had saved them all.  It is fun to read about the time when my younger brother and sister were born and very small.  My mom and dad were so excited to have them come to our family.   

I'm still selling furniture and it seems to be going quite well.  The big house is starting to feel more empty, which is probably a good thing.  This week I'm going to focus on finishing the teardrop so I can then clean out the Bungalow and begin the big (or tiny) move-in.  :)

The next, next step

I apologize for not posting my regular Sunday post.  I was a bit overwhelmed.  The reaction to the house being listed for sale was WAY bigger than I anticipated.  Seven showings on Saturday resulted in an offer first thing Monday morning, which was a good offer that I accepted.  If everything goes as planned we will be closing on July 29th.  WOW! That. is. all.

I'm thinking the road trip will need to be in August. :D  

So, the list of things to do has changed dramatically.  The thing that has risen to the top of the list is moving into the tiny house.  Today (Wednesday) I'm starting with clothes.  All the clothes that I own are going to be put into one place and I will go through each thing and make some decisions.  Then the keepers will be moved out to the closet in the Bungalow.  Tomorrow is books.  Every book in the big house will be gone through.  I've already listed most of the furniture on local classifieds and things are slowly selling.  I'm resisting having a yard sale, but you never know in the end.  Just have to see how it works out. 

I haven't worked on the teardrop much this week...too busy getting the big house in order.  I have finished all the ribs for the roof and started putting the interior cover on with the next step being the insulation.  Still waiting for my galley hinge that was supposed to be delivered the 22nd, but didn't even ship until the 23rd. And yes, I attempted to make contact with the company yesterday via email, waiting for a reply.

All the ribs are in :) You can see on the top the framing for the vent.

Not sure where May and June went.  July is looking to be the same kind of whirlwind.