Mentality

wp-1455741013873.png

There are a lot of pros and cons to living small… and that probably goes without saying.

I’m finding that when some people hear about tiny living, or that I am living tiny currently, they oftentimes laugh, scoffs and give me all of the reasons why I will hate it. Some will just let me know how they could never do it themselves but have the “more power to you” attitude, some are SO excited and want to hear everything (I love them) and some go as far to let me know that it will most likely ruin my relationship within a year. *I know*

The bottom line is, if you don’t have the mentality set for it, it won’t work for you. If you live tiny and expect to have space to move around, or space from others who share it with you, your expectations may be let down. If you like space to yourself to be able to have time alone, then it might not be the best for you.

But it perplexes me how some think because they cannot do it, you couldn’t either.

Some people prefer peanut butter, some people do not.

Just got to keep smiling and let the negative Nellie’s have their say. 🙂

If you want to go tiny, expect to minimize. But it’s not just minimization, it’s letting go of the emotional attachments we oftentimes put on material things. It is all mentality. So much in life and society these days revolves around consummation of goods; more, newer, shiny, latest model… It’s a game we get caught up in and don’t even realize that we are a part of it. Sometimes we do realize and slow down if we want to, sometimes it’s nice and more power to ya! There is also the sentimental attachments to material things, hand me downs, family heirlooms etc. That is harder to let go of, but usually its the people we attach to the items and the memories they may have then the item itself… and those attachments never leave because they always stay with us. Once you can accept that (if you want to) its easier to let go and downsize.

Humans are pretty basic with pretty basic needs, but we make it so complicated by letting so many other factors dictate and run our lives. We mistake wants for needs, and sometimes needs for wants. The mentality of living small (for me so far) is about letting all of that go, and realize what my priorities actually are. Remember being young and playing outside without all of the latest technology at your fingertips? It was so fun, so many dreams and inventions came up while playing out whatever the imagination had come up with.

I’m finding that again. It almost feels like being a kid and starting over from fresh. As I am living small, without all of my material goods at my fingertips, it’s left me to really think about my dreams, ideas, and inventions my imagination always comes up with, but are ignored or pushed aside by the pressures of keeping up with the game.

I am also finding that I really DO like living tiny. Not 64 square feet tiny forever, but for now it works for us. Down the road, I have a better idea of where I would like to be, and 64 square feet gives me the ability to work towards making that happen and making my dreams come true! 🙂

Also, I made some spinach and artichoke dip from scratch for Super Bowl Sunday and it was AMAZING. Recipe here 🙂

wp-1455739914440.jpeg

Material things.

We’ve been plugging along these winter days 🙂 Some of us have gotten sick, and SOME of us (me) are hoping that we don’t catch the bug. Here’s hoping! And hoping you and yours don’t get sick either!

Recently, we attended a Tiny Home meet up here locally and had the opportunity to listen to the President of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company talk all about the tininess. 🙂 They also brought along a house on wheels that showed the different stages of building one. It was really cool to get together with a bunch of like minded enthusiasts and see how else others are doing it.

Overall, the meeting really just gave me some more inspiration and energy to keep this momentum going, and let it evolve into whatever it may. Once this “micro home” is done, it’ll be the perfect getaway trailer for camping or guests even, and hopefully we will be able to move one to something just a bit bigger. All the same, I’m fired up to finish this one!

I went to Ikea the other day (for the very first time) with my cousin to just look at different set up options for cabinetry, storage, and shelving to get a better idea how I would like the inside designed for our micro kitchen! Way to many cool ideas —  and I had taken pictures of what I liked …. then my phone was ran over by a car… soooo… not anymore 😉 That’s just an excuse to go back and get more Swedish meatballs!

— oh, and the phone I’m using as a back up doesn’t have a fully working camera (only front facing) so we may lack pictures until that gets fixed. And geeze I didn’t realize how much I took pictures until I can’t.

Something I am learning….

To let go of the material things.

I have downsized what I own enormously… but I still have some sentimental items I like to keep. Not too long ago we were moving the trailer over a few feet from where it was located at… We have our things on shelves / cabinets that aren’t nailed down. — I underestimated the amount the trailer would shift during movement and I didn’t brace the shelves .. and everything crashed down. If it was breakable.. it broke. Everything.

I didn’t care about most of it breaking.. its just things. But I did have a few pieces I really wished didn’t. But that’ll just remind you that nothing is permanent.

Nothing lasts. BUT while it did… they were beautiful pieces to have!

shout out!

EVERY time I go to the grocery store as of late, I am complimented on my basket that I tote around with me.

 

It was a gift for our wedding from Ben’s sister and I am in LOVE with it 🙂

You can reshape the basket by soaking it in warm water, then you are set to mold it whichever way you want! It was handmade, and I know I have the tag around somewhere that says where it is from… and I can let you know!

In other news, we installed a handle and deadbolt to our door so we are now able to lock it up tight from the inside. We are in a secure location so our bungee chord method was doing okay… but with the cold weather, it was nice to be able to get it to close tight and keep the chilly air out!

I will have a better picture of it, it’s still pretty ugly to look at currently because we will need to put a fresh “face” on the inside of the door.

img_20151229_190647529.jpg

 

Fresh Beginnings :)

COLD cold COLD here in Colorado! It doesn’t seem to get warm, and everyone is saying that this weather is unusual for this time of year here.

I really don’t mind at all. I Bitch and complain enough about it probably, but I still don’t mind that much. So many memories of cold winters in Illinois come to the forefront on my mind and attached is just fun in the cold with friends and family. Can’t beat that! 🙂

The Midwest didn’t have a whole lot where winter sports were concerned due to all of the flatness, but there was a little hill in town we would always go sledding at. If you didn’t get there right with the fresh snow, you would be dealing with mud/ice because the ENTIRE town would come out to enjoy the same small man made hill. But it was still just as fun!

I’ve never tried downhill skiing before, and I’ve only dabbed with a snowboard in the flat lands once, so …. doesn’t count for much. Probably would try it one day, but, then again…

I’d rather go camping.

So WEIRD to think it’s New Years eve, but it is. 2016 comes in and its a fresh start, fresh page, whatever corny metaphor you would like to slip in here 😉  This year was a up and down one for me.. I lost 2 of my grandparents, turned 25, had my wedding ceremony, moved twice, and so much in between.

I wouldn’t change a thing!

For myself, I just wish for more/continued peace, love, joy, and happiness in my life in the new year, and for you and yours, too.

OH! and patience. 🙂 Always could use more of that.

Snow Days *

We’ve had a very nice string of snow days and cold weather here, which has been the perfect excuse to work away on the trailer! FINALLY! I am so excited to show the progress we have made, and it totaled 4 days of work! (More like 3 1/2)

First thing we had to do was finish up the drywall and muding process. If I never see drywall again I will be a happy camper!

 

While we waited for the mud to dry and Ben ran off on errands, I got to work with sanding the floors down once and for all.

There was this patch in the floor that was coming up and could cause some major splinters, so we tore it up and patched it with the original trim we ripped out of the trailer.

fb_img_1450145258016.jpg

Seemed to do the job just fine, and it was seriously the perfect fit! So far, we’ve gotten away with working with a lot of recycled materials and its been able to keep the costs low.

One thing we may have an issue with, and this has just come to mind recently, is that the drywall may have a hard time staying put if the trailer is going to be mobile often. Once we have more structures built into it, such as the kitchen etc, it may not be an issue. I guess time will tell and much like most I do in life, this too is just going to be trial and error . 🙂

Okay, so drywall and floors completed! Next thing I went to work on was priming and painting! Even tho my arms usually want to fall off by the time I am through, I kind of enjoy painting. Its relaxing. And no, this does NOT mean I will help paint your house for you 😉 okay I might.

 

All of these small details started to come into play, and they needed to be dealt with. SO. If you look back up to the first picture, you can see in the corner is a big silver piece of foam board. — We cut it to sizes, skinny long strips, and used it to insulate the gap where the wall and ceiling meet. That area will be covered by some ceiling trim and may also put up LED lighting there too… Time will tell.

I then went thru and spray painted the area black… The small spot at the top where the yellow foam is showing is kind of an eye sore, so I made it match the black metal for now, until we decide how that will be covered.

 

Next order of business was staining the floors! YAY! And cleaning up some more areas. Behind the pulley bar for the back door, is a lot of messy over spray, and it’ll be built in (one day) but we took the time to clean it up, and I also spray painted it black to make a cleaner look for now.

 

All of that took 3 days.

All was fine and dandy, until about 2 days ago I mentioned to Ben while trying to get to world 7 on Super Mario, that it would be nice if this bed had a frame, even if temporarily built on some 2×2’s, but it would be better than mattress on the ground.

Being the doer he is, he ran off to get the lumber needed and we spent the afternoon making the bed frame, sizing the storage that will go underneath, and even made cubby holes to access by lifting the mattress.

Oh, another cool feature is he made it to fit a queen bed, but also made it easily adjustable to fit a double, in case we decided to downsize on mattress size. (Its a tight squeeze with a queen)

img_20151220_175934908.jpg

Finished (?) product 🙂

I lifted the lace I have to show you how its lifted, it raised the mattress 14 inches off the ground and it makes a WORLD of a difference. The other half is still a cluster of stuff, but its looking better now that I can store under the bed! And it is all VERY organized and neat!  🙂

It is difficult to get used to the new temperatures at our new elevation 😉 but in all seriousness, it makes a world of a difference and we are struggling to find a new happy medium on the radiator!

img_20151222_181052608_hdr.jpg

Our little holiday shrine 🙂

Happy Holidays everyone! Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year!

 

Peace and Love ❤

Homemade Toothpaste

I’ve been trying to be less wasteful, more natural, and be more open minded to trying new things, and making my own products at home rather than buying them.

Our friends we stayed with in Iowa for Thanksgiving make a lot of their own products as well, and they have gifted us their homemade soap and I am in LOVE with it. While we were staying with them, I had the opportunity to try out their homemade toothpaste, and I decided I would have a go at making my own.

Now I pulled THIS RECIPE from google and tried it, and I also added Dr. Bronner’s peppermint Magic Soap to the mix. JUST A TINY BIT, like… 1/2 of a teaspoon. The oils I used were peppermint and eucalyptus.

Here is where I went wrong.

And I ALWAYS go wrong.

When I started making it I decided to half the recipe to start, to have a tester bottle. When I half a recipe I forget I am doing so at SOME point in the process of adding ingredients, and I did that this time too.

I halved the portions and then decided to use the same amount of drops of oil as if I didn’t half it. *facepalm*

I noticed when I brushed my teeth to see how it tasted.

SO. I went BACK to the drawing board to finish the full recipe to make up for the STRONG taste.

Its been about 3 days now. I don’t mind it at all. Ben on the other hand….

Well it just doesn’t seem to agree with him, and it just sets his gag reflexes going. He thinks it may be the coconut oil (I used unrefined) but I think it may be the baking soda? It tends to have such a salty strong presence that it can easily overpower the senses.

I may try looking up some other recipes and try them out, and pay attention when I make a small portion this time! 🙂 But it doesn’t seem all that bad to me.

If you have any suggestions or make your own and you like it, let me know your secrets! 🙂

Cold. ish.

The weather in Colorado fluctuates on a DAILY basis. I’ve never lived somewhere where the weather is so dramatic. I like it.

So we are so very lucky to be staying on the property of someone we know, and oftentimes in the morning we will go into the house and share breakfast and coffee. One of the homeowners is a dog named Katie. I love her.

Anywho, in the mornings she likes to stand on the table, and wait for us (me) to come out of the trailer and come inside. The other morning Ben sent me this picture of her waiting for me when I was just a little behind him.

 

wpid-img_20151109_092635.jpg
Katie is a hairless terrier (I think) and she has SO much personality AND she adores me. Us girls have to stick together 😉 She REALLY makes me want to go rescue a dog, but that will all come in due time. There is an order to the plans for the trailer and a reason for it. BUT I DON’T LIKE WAITING.

That’s what’s wrong with everything. The need for instant gratification. Okay at least I struggle with that if no one else.

 

— In other news, I was actually able to go to work with Ben the other day. This time not on the trailer but rather thru his actual employer. They needed extra hands and mine were free 🙂  It was a lot of fun, VERY tiring, and very educating.

I’ve worked with Ben a lot, have learned a lot about foam, even worked for a company that also uses spray polyurethane foam, but actually working hands on gave me a much better understanding for it.

I have a picture but not handy SO I will post a picture of my new meditation stool I found at the thrift store the other day! I included a grande coffee from Starbucks for size. Pretty excited about this find!

 

wpid-img_20151109_152302.jpg

Sorry I have been MIA as of late, just a lot going on and looking for a minute to grab!

Working day – 2 & 3

We’ve started on the drywall and the floors now. I would love to say the drywall was a beautiful experience but holy crap was I ever frustrated with that drill. No issues now, I’ve moved on, and I don’t expect this is the last project that I will be working on so we will meet again.

wpid-img_20150920_191016810_hdr.jpgwpid-img_20150920_191405540.jpg

Each time we do work on the interior we have to unload the trailer, do the work, then load everything back in… needless to say each time it gets more organized, practical, and it honestly starts to feel bigger. It might be without trim for a while on the inside but painting and staining day is coming! This is the first time either of us have ventured into something like this, so the work is definitely what I would call “homemade”, but I promise my vision is coming to a reality and it’s looking good! 
wpid-img_20150920_190230454.jpgwpid-img_20150920_195820642.jpg

I was trying to decide what to do for the floor. As construction continued I decided that I (which ended up being Ben) was going to just sand off the ick on the floor and ramp door and I will work on staining them so I have a “hard wood floor” look. I saw a fellow “micro-liver” do this on a YouTube video and thought it may work, look good, and save money in the long run. Fingers crossed!

On another note, here is another stunning Colorado sunset…

wpid-img_20150920_184808862_hdr.jpg

What I am also in the middle of trying to figure out is how we are going to have the bed set up in trailer. The mattress we have in there currently is your standard queen size, and it takes up way. to. much. space. SO. I’ve been looking into some space saver beds/couches and I’ve had luck, but haven’t quite found the “one” that clicks. I’m mostly doing online searches, and planning on having to possibly save up for a better quality one, but I want to make sure that we like it and its going to work for us! Since both of us are rather tall, the length matters a lot… I think we can get away with the width only being about the size of a double, but we cannot really skimp on the length.

I’ve ALSO been pouring over Pinterest looking for shower/bath/sink/kitchen combos and seeing how others have done it, or even if they have done it. Some trailers just skip the shower/bathroom idea because of the lack of space, however, with enough time to think and plan, I believe we can come up with some clever options. It’s really nice that in the mean time we are parked in an area that gives us a place to take care of all of that, and also work on the construction without worry of any issues arising.

I want everything to look good, put together, and still be homey and stylish, so I am okay with taking as much time as I need to perfect it all. We have the time, so we may as well use it.

wpid-img_20150920_191035187_hdr.jpg

Happy Monday! 🙂 

The move.

It took us 4 days to make it from Washington to Colorado. Day 1 and day 4 consisted of about 3 1/2 hours each, the middle two days were a healthy day of driving. Everything we owned managed to fit into my Honda Crosstour, his eighty something Nissan Pickup truck, and the trailer that we had packed with only the things we were keeping in it. (I still feel like it’s entirely to much stuff but I’ll give myself some time and an adjustment period.)

The truck made it. Took the weight of the load like a champ —  We were prepared to rent a truck halfway down but we were pleasantly surprised! 🙂 I would say average speed for us was about 60 mph… Low as 35 uphill/over a mountain pass.

Really tho — Ben was the real MVP. He drove 4 days in that thing with vinyl seating, no A/C, heat on so it wouldn’t overheat, and it was 90 degrees the whole way. I don’t think I would’ve volunteered to drive it, but I don’t really have a manual down to a smooth process, so I didn’t have to put that question to the test!

So day one (a Thursday), we drove to my in-laws and stayed the night there. We slept for the first time in the thing and let me tell you, it was not too shabby my friends… If you look at face value it seems very shabby, but look at the potential and it’s a whole new ball game. It’s like a grown up fort.

What I discovered immediately was it wasn’t stuffy without a window like I thought it would be. The vent on the top almost serves as a cool fan. (Almost) The wind funnels down the vent and the trailer is constantly fed with new fresh air. Not to say that it doesn’t get pretty warm in here cause it sure does! We purchased a fan to help with that issue and are trying this one out. We plan to get a little A/C unit, but since summer is coming to a close we can give that decision more time and thought… and now with insulation it might do just fine. 🙂 We also found a little floor heater fan from a yard sale that will do the job on the colder nights, of course paired with some insulation — I digress. So it’s okay to sleep in and be in without a window… For now, but there will be windows put in… I’ll get into that more later.

The one thing I’m not liking so much anymore is the rush, and the need to be somewhere right away etc. So Friday morning we took our time getting up (as we did each morning) saying goodbye, and just left as the time came. We didn’t really pull out of Spokane until 1 PM PT.  We had some last ends to tie up (break lights) and cool gadgets to buy for the adventure 🙂 We drove until about Butte, MT. and stopped at an OHV recreation area out in the middle of nowhere and tested out night number two in the trailer. (We are still in the process of naming it).

wpid-img_20150912_092658203.jpg

Where we stayed night 2.

It was so silent and in the middle of what seemed nowhere, probably was, and the stars were beyond stunning. I feel like I’ve never seen the Milky Way so big and bright before… or at least it’s been a VERY long time. We have a converter plug, and an extension cord so we were able to run the lights and electric in the trailer, so it really was quite the set up.

Saturday morning silently came without any issues or surprises and we slowly got going yet again.  We pulled up to this park in Wyoming called Natural Bridge, a public campground, that night when it was time to call it. We had been driving since about 9AM or so that day and it was about 7:30PM when we pulled in, and we picked the wrong night and time to come apparently. We had wanted to stay at this camp the last time we drove through, however it was booked full (there’s only about 5 campsites). It’s supposed to be a cool historic natural landmark and we wanted to check it out! When we got there this time there was no one there to hog the campsites — but there was quite the drama between the one other set of campers and the managers. “Sick of dealing with people” and not wanting to hear that we didn’t know the others (case of bad timing I guess) they rudely kicked us out of the campground. SO as exhausted and hungry as we were, we packed up again in the middle of nowhere headed to find SOMEWHERE to stay the night. THANKFULLY KOA has overnight check in so we were able to find a place and bed down for a few hours, and have a fresh shower.

wpid-img_20150912_161533908.jpg

Somewhere on the drive… 

Oh the 3rd night was in Douglas, WY… so we only had about 4 hours to drive on Sunday. So when morning came, we slid out of there like molasses and arrived Sunday afternoon and didn’t do a damn thing when we got to our destination.

And it never felt so good.

wpid-20150913_212104.jpg

Ben during one of our many stops along the way

Working day — 1.

One of the first major things that had to get done on the trailer was insulation, we just needed the time to do it. It worked out rather nicely that spray foam happens to be Ben’s profession so gaining access to it was rather easy and convenient, not to mention a major cost saver, and clearly the best option for the job.

So yesterday started with hauling everything out of the trailer, and we started with the ramp door. Screw by screw we took it apart and moved onto the walls and interior, we weren’t quite sure if we would end up spraying that day but were prepared to sleep in the trailer stripped if needed. This project will continue to progress as time and money allows, all the while having it for our permanent living quarters, so my standards have lowered drastically.

wpid-img_20150916_121258154.jpg

The ramp door came apart rather easily… I couldn’t imagine before we dove in how it would work etc when Ben would explain what we would need to do. But a few You Tube videos and 5 minutes in I had no problem working my way around that trailer.

wpid-img_20150916_134423017.jpg

This is really my first major project of anything construction related, so I’m asking Ben all the why’s, how’s, and why comes constantly. Once we got started everything just became common sense more or less and it flowed pretty easily. AND it was a lot quicker once he found the power drill for taking down the walls!

wpid-img_20150916_135201544_hdr.jpg

Here you can see the ceiling of the trailer, and in the process of the interior being stripped. I think I am going to leave the ceiling as is (meaning no drywall or ceiling cover). I like the strip of wood the way it is, so I think I am just going to get some darker stain for the wood, stain it and paint the metal, leaving the bars black. I have a few other things that I will plan to tie in with the ceiling wood strip, but I’ll save that for when the time comes.

wpid-img_20150916_145704741.jpg

Empty and ready for foam! 🙂

wpid-img_20150916_160428258.jpg

I did spray one tiny spot myself, but I didn’t want to make too big of a mess so I left it to Ben 🙂
wpid-img_20150916_175538628.jpg

Almost finished with the roof, just getting a coating on the foam. We decided to foam the roof and not the inside ceiling for a few reasons. One I just liked the look of the ceiling… Two, the black bars had a space between them and the sheet of metal above it, and its working out to be a great use for various gadgets, nets, and hooks. I want to make every space count in this small trailer so we thought this would be beneficial to keep.

wpid-img_20150916_163456181.jpg

I also want to reuse and recycle as many products and pieces as possible. (There is something we took off the trailer and I’m not sure WHAT I am going to do with it but it will be SOMETHING cool!) So anyways, above you see what the manufacturer used as a “trim” of sorts for the wooden interior. We ripped all of that out and some of it we cut up into small strips. We then put them above the beams and under the metal sheet that is the ceiling, between 2-3 pieces stacked for each spot. The reason we did this was so that when we foamed the roof it would still keep that space available for hooks etc.

wpid-img_20150916_162643024.jpgwpid-img_20150916_165137167.jpg

Figuring out how to insulate the underside of the trailer was looking to be the biggest struggle but it actually didn’t turn into that much of an issue. Not sure whether to use foam board or spray foam (the preferred choice) we saved that decision for last. It was really an issue of HOW we were going to get under the beast —  Ben managed to get a small fork lift to lift the trailer and create between 3-4 feet under it, foamed within a few minutes and presto! 😀

Next step is drywall! That might be a few days but I am a patient girl! My biggest struggle right now is deciding what to paint the interior…

PS. the insulation is making a WORLD of a difference.

Oh, and I am also exhausted from yesterdays work! BUT it feels amazing because I did it!