Monday Update

Today's post is a round up of things that are going on - none of which merit their own entry...

I'm continuing to draft up the content for my website - it's a lot of writing!   I'm excited to see what it will look like when it's designed and assembled...

Last week I received a "draft" YouTube video of the presentation I gave a few weeks ago at Career Design Associates.  Have you ever watched yourself on video?  Oy.  It's uncomfortable.  And, I had no idea that it was going to be videotaped - I thought it was just an informal thing with members of my work group - so I had let my hair air dry on a dog walk, and I didn't put any make up on!  As I watched the video I realized that I was doing a lot of weird contortions with my lips (?!) while others were talking and that I looked fat.  LOL  Sigh.   The flip side is, my presentation content was decent, and in review I'm sort of surprised at how much I have learned along the way, and my breadth of knowledge about tiny living.  I'll try to focus on the positive...  I'm going to work with the videographer to edit the tape, and then I'll see if it seems beneficial to others or not.  CDA wants to publish it on YouTube... ohhh I don't know.

I did a little bit of online shopping for a trailer in the Thousand Oaks (CA) area over the weekend, without huge success.  Mostly my shortcoming was due to my learning curve.  Certainly there are trailers out there - but it took me a while to begin to ascertain what my search parameters should be to get the results I needed, and then to figure out what geographical area makes sense for purchasing.  I need to make that a priority this week!

I did another pass through my apartment for Goodwill this weekend, and did drop offs on both Saturday and Sunday.  I have two categories of items that seem daunting:  my music CDs and my photos.  Do I even care about the CDs?  I really never listen to music except at the gym.  My options seem to be doing the online Apple music storage - but I think there is an annual fee - or purchasing an external drive and copying them down.  I'm not wild about either of those options.  I'm also not wild about the 6 shoe boxes of CDs on the floor behind my couch.  As for the photos - what to do with those?  I feel as though I should scan them and save them.  But I haven't looked at them in  y e a r s  and why do I think I would ever look at them on some type of storage media?  But throwing them out seems sad.  What do you think?  The same goes for things like report cards - I have my actual report cards from kindergarten through .. high school?  I don't have kids.  Who is ever going to want to see those?  I'm pretty sure the answer is ... nobody.  Do I want them.?  That seems unlikely.  Sigh.  I need to go read a few chapters from one of my downsizing books, and then chunk all of those aforementioned items into the dumpster and not look back.

I got an email from one of the students in Thousand Oaks!  Super excited about that dialogue opening up.  I've been telling friends and acquaintances here about my partnership with Thousand Oaks and the general reaction is, "Wow!  That is sooo cool!  What a great thing!"  I think so, too.

I was out with friends on Thursday evening and I saw some former neighbors - it was old home week - fun!  One of them said he's been reading my blog - I think I was beaming.   That made me happy.  I also saw two other neighbors out, and was talking about my tiny house, and they offered that they know someone in Stephenville with a 500 acre ranch, and that they often are looking for people to stay out there to help supervise their land.  She was going to see them the next day, and was going to tell them about me.  There is a water hookup and electricity I could plug into.  It sounds dreamy.  Do you know how happy my dog would be?!  LOL  Run free! 

I realized something this weekend - I had just been talking with someone about my adventures, and then I went on a dog walk afterwards.  As I walked, I identified that I was giddy-happy.  I was practically floating down the sidewalk.  And I realized - talking about my new life is like an elixir - a potion that makes me feel so good!  I had so much energy, and I was just grinning from ear to ear....  If could bottle that I would really be on my way...

While sorting through possessions this weekend, I found a few things that I will probably want to use in my tiny house.  It's fun to be getting to the stage where I can think about the little things.

The first one is a door knocker.  I had originally purchased this a couple of years ago at Old Home Supply in Fort Worth to put on my garden gate at my house, but then had trouble figuring out exactly where I could mount it.  I think he's so cute!

I had the second item on the outside of the bathroom door at my house.  I bought this at Renaissance Festival in Minneapolis many years ago.  My friend Cole bought a matching one - I love that connection!  I don't know why, but I love this lady!  I hardly think people will have a hard time locating the bathroom in my tiny house, but she is going to go on the outside of the door anyway!

These are towel hooks for the bathroom - another thing that I took with me from my house.  I think I got them at Anthropologie.  I rarely can wear their clothing but the home side of their store is filled with enticing little things.
 

That's all I've got today - have a great Monday!

Finishing and Beginning

Soooooooooooooooooo the inspection went really well - so pleased.  The dog behaved, and the buyers are reportedly happy with the house, and I agreed to do just a few minor repairs.  The inspector provided the report same day, but I wasn't able to discuss it with Bryan until this morning to be clear on what the buyer was requesting.  Then Amanda sent the contract amendment over already today, and I signed it, and we are good to go!  I can exhale on that piece of the process.

I plan to sign a lease - somewhere - on Saturday.... I will really exhale then.  I haven't been sleeping well - I think it's the unknowns that are getting me...  But so far, things that I have been stewing over have not come to pass.  I may need to tattoo that on my palm to remind myself.  At least I've managed to stay fairly faithful to the gym, and I know that is helping immensely in keeping me balanced.

I've been thinking about my next meeting with the City.  One thing that I need to do is organize news bits from different cities across the country that have come out about tiny houses and tiny house communities and zoning changes; I could have have done a better job with that in my first meeting, but - no harm done.  It's a learning curve...  I think there is an app for the iPad, too, for business presentations.  I need to check that out.

And James is asking me about floor plans for my house - he's chomping to start working on my trailer.  And trust me, I am dying for him to get started on it!  I'm just not quite ready is all.  It's um, sort of a critical component, lol, and I can't rush it.   I am thinking about ordering The Lusby plans from Tumbleweed as a jumping off point, but I need to review options again first.  It would be fun to have them to take with me to Minnesota over Christmas to show my dad.  He loves to build things.  I have two architect friends that I'll contact too, and see about input from them.  That will be fun.

I plan to get some boxes this week/weekend, and also to tackle my workshop for the move.  I need to sort tools, and assess what type of container(s) I need to move and store things.  There is a new Harbor Freight open, and I'm going to look there for some hard sided boxes on wheels with a pull handle like luggage, or something similar...  In my mind most of what is taking up the most space out there is lumber and lumber scraps - I don't think my actual tools are terribly voluminous.  But there are probably more than I am envisioning.  Par for the course...  I have this weekend, next weekend, and then I want to move the following weekend.  It should totally be doable.

What is becoming urgent, however is my consignment furniture. I do not want to have to move that.   My regular consignment place referred me to another consignment place that I need to call -- they come and pick up furniture for a nominal fee. I need to call them and find out what their protocol is for determining what items they will accept.  That is on my list for TODAY.

I'm already looking ahead to 2013 -- Exhibit 1 - there is a Tumbleweed workshop in Austin in March... [giddy laughter]