Happenings

Last night I was all set to curl up on the couch with a good book... I've been having some low key days, fighting off the crud.  But then my InBox dinged, and it was Zach, my website project manager, checking on the status of my website content that I need to write.  Just the nudge I needed.

I put my book away, and pulled out my laptop instead.  I have to write content for 25 pages.  I have all the data in my brain, but putting it into a cohesive form is a different animal.  It's kind of fun, though, dreaming about what it's going to look like when it's done.  I'm starting out by just emptying my brain by topic, and getting something on each page, and then I'll go back and refine.  But first, must. empty. brain.

And, as I typed, my graphic design for the sight popped into my head.  It's FABULOUS!  I don't know why it took me so long to recognize it as the obvious choice.  I can't wait for you to see it when the site launches!

I also am lining up my first refresher course in towing and parking a trailer.  I'm hoping to make that happen this weekend.  If I really do end up going to Boulder the weekend of July 13th to pick up my house, I am seriously running out of weekends to refresh my skills!

My window order is slightly postponed now that the windows are not going to be installed during the week of Camp.  Instead of ordering in CA, I will order them here in Dallas, and have them installed here.  So that is off the immediate list.  I'm still gathering quotes, but ordering is not as urgent.  I really do need to order the loft window, though, so David can start crafting the stained glass for me.

I should get my materials list for what we will use at Camp any day now.  We are going to have them delivered to the work site very early Monday morning, rather than having them delivered the Friday before so that we don't have to worry about theft.  Don't make me sleep on top of a pile of 2x4s on a trailer, because if that's what it takes, I will... : )

I'm busy confirming details with Laurie, my Camp host about grocery stores, and internet connections, and bedding... coordinating with T-Homie (my Chico friend/Tiny Angel who is driving in for the week) about which of us is bringing what, and getting my little gifts ready for the girls coming to the Camp... and making piles of things to pack... I know I'll still end up packing at 2 a.m. the night before I fly - that's just my M.O., but hopefully at least I won't forget anything super critical like my favorite safety glasses, my framing hammer and my Wonder Woman knee-highs!  Ahhh ha ha  Yes, my packing list is different than most.  I'm sure the luggage scanners will be perplexed...

I recently ordered and received the book, Tiny House Design & Construction Guide by Dan Louche and immediately read it cover to cover.  It was a good read, filled with practical, useful information.  I'm going to have a great collection of books about tiny on a shelf in my new house!  Maybe it will become a lending library.

So that's the Thursday news from little me in Dallas.  I am so grateful for the life I lead.  Have a great day!

Ordering Materials and What's Ahead!

In the next day or two I will be placing my first big materials order!  This order will be for the shell:  framing the floor, walls, roof.  Insulating the floor.  Sheathing the house.  Wrapping the house with house wrap, and installing exterior trim.  All of those materials are for my June 24th build week.  EXCITING.

Last week I sat in on the MAGIC Camp's Board meeting via Skype.  It's still sort of an out of body experience to hear construction professionals discuss construction of MY HOUSE.  And at the end of the meeting, Laurie was kind enough to take her phone outside and give me a video walking tour around my trailer.  ::::: beaming::::::  It's gorgeous.  

Along with ordering windows, and ordering construction materials - but for some reason not so much with ordering the trailer - is a sense of being on yet another precipice.   I've been here before: selling my possessions.  Selling my beloved house.  Moving.  And now...

Laying out hard earned cash for materials is another "okay, no turning back now" step.  I did take a bit of time to reflect, assess my plan, and observe my feelings about my adventure to confirm that yes, this is what I want to do.  Yes, I feel like it is a solid plan.  Yes, I feel like it is going to make just a mind blowing difference in my life.  YES.

I'm in a midst of a bit of a re-work of the construction plan.  A few weeks ago I'd been advised of the possibility that the school build with Thousand Oaks may not be happening.  (That's the Fall construction class - not the June MAGIC Camp.)   Despite my offer to sign any waiver the school puts in front of me, the risk management folks at the school are dug in with fear of liability.   That's something I cannot change - their fear based thinking - but it's okay. Thursday last week I pretty much got the 100% "no.".  So now, I'm looking at a 5 day build in June, and then I am working with Daniel on figuring out a new plan of getting my house to Dallas. It won't be the same trip I had envisioned in December - my house complete, pulling over along the way from CA to TX to sleep in it when the travel day was over... but I don't see the change as a negative; it's just a change.

In the beginning, before I had struck the arrangement with Thousand Oaks, I had been determined to drive every nail myself.  Then the win/win partnership came up, and although I was sort of bummed that I wasn't driving every nail myself, and able to scavenger Craig's List and sales for deals, I was excited to know that my house was contributing to learning for students, and that it would definitely be ready for a December move in.

Now I am settling somewhere in the middle:  The MAGIC Camp will build my shell.  And then (in July?) I'll go get it from CA or Santa Fe or Boulder, or somewhere in between and tow it back to Dallas, and finish it up here.  I can do it - I'm not worried about that - I just have to figure out some new logistics:  Where to park it for the actual construction (I already have 2 offers) and finding enough time to do it while working full time.  But it also allows me to have my house here for show and tell which will be amazing!  (Note: Look into truck rentals for local towing...) I believe it will be a marketing tool - for folks to be able to stand in it, and spin around and see color photos of the finish out - and to help me dream.  And to want to be a part of it - and to share their ideas and their dreams with me.  Fantastic.  I am brainstorming about a local partnership for the finish out build - and have some ideas to follow up on.  Dallas is my base - I have connections here - I'm much more able to network here than anywhere else, and so I'm optimistic.  There is a reason for this schedule change - there's a bigger plan that I don't know about yet - but in time I'll figure it out.  Amy and Kelley and I are already scheming on amazing design ideas we want to try... it's so fun to collaborate!

I've had this feeling weighing on me for a couple of weeks now that I need to put together the equivalent of a media/press kit to hand out or email that tells my story and offers a way for people to get involved.  When I say that aloud, it sounds wild even to me - that I am doing something, anything with my life that would require an informational kit of some kind -- !  But it's been a niggle in my brain for a while now, and I need to start assembling it.  I have already had a handful of opportunities when I wished I had something like that to hand over - and there will just be more coming.  

I'm working on my website, too.  Doing the content writing, and coming up with some design ideas.  I'll say for a 7th or 8th time that I am so grateful to have professionals on that task!  A huge thank you to my bestie Kelly at Beyond Indigo and her staff.  A special shout out to Zach...  : )

So onward.  It's all feeling very REAL now.  But it still feels really RIGHT.