The first wall is almost done!

Earlier this week, I took a look at the forecast and noticed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were shaping up nice. So, in my zeal to complete even this one wall, I took a vacation day Friday. We worked steadily through Friday, which turned out to be the PERFECT conditions. Slightly overcast, mid 60s, active breeze, gorgeous. We both worked comfortably in jeans that day....such was not the case Saturday. On Friday we put in a solid day, and stopped only as we approached the end of our "wall-ready" wood supply. We thought we had enough for the front, and we weren't off by much! A just under 2 foot strip across the top is all that remains. The going was slow too. We had a lot of funky cuts and objects to work around. 

We decided to extend the wire for the outside lamp. We used outdoor wire caps. Now the light will be in the top left corner versus right where the door opens, head level- effectively sucking the entire cloud of bugs that have accumulated right on in to the house with you! We stopped using the light it was so bad! Happy for the change!

Saturday we jumped back to. We didn't have wood to work with, so the choice was made. Dan had grabbed some pallets earlier in the week, so we had material to work with. He ripped apart and de-nailed while I ripped all the boards down to a consistent width. Then we worked together-through the hottest part of the day-planing every last one. 

We landed ourselves another batch of stunning eclectic wood. One particular piece is QUITE yellow. I thought for a moment it must be painted, but we planed it and out came a more vibrant yellow! The shavings stood in stark contrast to the rest of the pile. 



I stepped out to grab groceries and cook us some lunch, while Dan stayed on and ship lapped the boards. His Dad got him the proper blade as an early birthday gift! Now he doesn't have to do it the long way with the regular blade! He was able to finish all the wood by the time lunch was served! Much faster!

It was mid afternoon when we finished with the wood we had on hand. We ate our lunch and decided that was enough for one day. We had a birthday party to head to soon enough. So we cleaned up the yard and cleaned up ourselves, sauntered over, and had a great evening with family!

EOD Friday...WICKED.

Saturday: Hot out! More wood processing..

On Sunday we each had events to attend. Dan- a paintball outing because the gift certificate expired THAT day. Me, the bridal shower of a dear friend. It was quite lovely too! Very tasteful decor, super cute displays, and nice food choices- gluten free too! :D 

By the time we both got home, neither of us had any juice left, so the front of the house remains bald just on top. The good news is we have plenty to finish that now, and it shouldn't take more than 40 minutes. 



Also this past week I ordered the exterior stain and it just came in today! Quick! I did some research and chose AFM's Safecoat product. Here's a link to one of the articles I found helpful for explaining eco-friendly alternatives. 



We went with maple, it has warm golden tones to it. I think it will make a lot of different pieces really pop! Oh- and Mario stopped by with another gem- which I wish I had gotten just that morning. He explained that we should apply a coat of the stain and seal the wood before going in with the putty. As you putty, inevitably some remains outside the hole, this can soak into the pores, and when stained, will not hold the stain, so you will have those little light splotches everywhere you dragged a putty knife. I got about a third of the way up our wall before receiving this tip. We plan to do a decent sanding job which should take care of most of that. 

The more we think about it, the more likely we are to move the house before all the siding is up. It's going to take a while. Ha. Next up, after this first wall most likely, is building the solar panel racking. We want that in place and ready to rock when we move. Sure we could go a day or two without power, but why when it's perfectly doable?

Kitchen drawer hole...

Happy New Year, Everyone!!

Things are pretty slow going (progress wise) around The Pod right now. All work on the house came to a stop as the holidays approached. Now that the holidays have passed and we enter the new year, excuses for procrastinating have become sparse. Time to get back on the wagon! 

It can definitely be challenging to take a break from a project of this length and magnitude, then snap right back to worker-bee mode. I think the biggest reason is- we are happy and comfortable right now! All the major eye sores and heavy traffic areas of the house are taken care of-- so after working our tooshies off for a solid year- it's easy to ignore the small stuff.......for a while, anyways. 



 That little OCD person that lives in my head has started kicking up a fuss over the last week. The kitchen drawers, the cubby doors, and the counter all need to be addressed. I puttered around the house Saturday morning doing everything BUT work on those projects. Finally, begrudgingly, I put together a list of materials, bundled up, and headed out the door.  I realized getting started again was like ripping off a band-aid; just suck it up and do it NOW. You'll be happy you did. 

And I was! Dan was helping his Dad out for the day, so I was on my own with no excuses. I headed out to the big box store and grabbed the needed supplies to begin the kitchen drawers and work on the counter top. Dan had already cut the new lengths for the primary counter top, so I started by sanding the edges smooth, then I brought them inside to begin the paint wash. 


I made use of the brown color we still had from painting the rafters and the door partition in the kitchen. Much like I did for the kitchen counters with the green paint, I created a simple wash by mixing water with a small amount of paint. I was surprised to see it look like an inviting cup of cocoa!


I applied three coats of the wash and we both love the color that came out! We just need to add coats of poly now. Not only is it going to look great next to the other brown accents, but it will hide a whole lot more of the stains and crumbs that inevitably pile up each day. Also, having the poly coating will ensure that we can scrub the crap out of it if we need to. The tung oil wasn't quite cutting it for this area. Too much traffic! 


As for the kitchen drawers and cubby doors- we are part way there. We now have the wood cut to the sizes we need for both the cubby doors and the skeleton of the drawers. At first, we were going to use those fancy rolling tracks to install our drawers, but after quick inspection of the space- we found, surprise surprise, that it was not square, among other difficult details like the protrusion of the wheel well. It would have been a tedious nightmare if we went that route.

Saloon style door- you can see a little, but most of the clutter will be hidden.

Instead, we decided to knock it back another 60 years and go with the old school way. Make a shelf....now make a box that fits in there- hey look, now it's a drawer.  Sure they won't have that stealth mode drawer opening capability, but who cares? We certainly don't- and that's what matters. We want EASY. We want FUNCTIONAL. Let other people have the shiny, pretty, perfect. I will always love this house more than any other shelter I experience (unless we build more!), because Dan and I built it together...it is a reflection of us...showing our strengths and weaknesses, our commitment to one another, and this way of life....it is truly ours in every sense of the word.

In other news, Dan's sister came to visit and see the place for the first time. It was really nice to have her over for company- and it's always fun to see people's reactions. She has been following along the whole time, so we were excited for her to come see the place! She loved it, remarked at how the pictures don't quite do it justice (we agree), and marveled at how it all came together. Thanks for coming over, Julia! Your enthusiasm and encouragement mean more than you know! 

Family visit :)

I'm sure many of you are wondering how we did with the -10 degree weather a few days ago. We did just fine! Sure, it wasn't a balmy 72 in The Pod, but still livable. We made use of the electric oil radiator. Dan was supposed to turn it to high when he headed to bed, but that slipped his mind. Even with the single heater working on medium...the house only dropped to 56 degrees. Coincidentally, a very comfortable sleeping temperature for me. I was breathing easier, but I did notice my nose seemed a little cold when I woke up. No biggie! I threw on a few layers, turned the lights on (which bring more heat) and got a pot of water boiling- the house warmed quickly. 

I'm glad to know we can manage -10 with just the electric heater, but I hope we don't have to face anything harsher than that for the rest of the season. Next winter, we will be on solar power- so electric heaters will not work out as great. A non-electric heat source will be on the list of things to sort out in the spring.

All the kiddies on Jess' side of the family! Such a fun day. :)

Exciting news everyone!!!

First off, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! Dan and I had a great Christmas! It was hectic, a bit stressful at the start, but full of laughter, love, and joy-- as it should be. I was able to finish the project I've been focused on for Dan's little nieces. The morning of Christmas I was still frantically putting together the last pieces! Now that it's no secret- I'm happy to share some pictures of my little creations. They were a complete success too! Julia was smitten immediately. Hearing those little squeals of joy made all the time and work completely worth it.

Butterfly blankies with hoods! For play and nap time.

Dan and I also got a ton of AWESOME gifts this year! My parents got us some great hiking and camping gear including a new tent and a cooking set for two! Next summer we won't be consumed with construction of the house, so we will have more time to PLAY! And to us, that means mountain hikes and camping. :) 

See it between the hats? So tiny! BIG sound.

Dan's parent's got us a Bose Sound Link Mini which has been an utter delight- we can listen to music now without a full computer set up going! It's so compact, chargeable, and sounds unbelievable. We can set it anywhere in the house, and we are just inundated with crisp full sound. We highly recommend this to others with tiny houses. It doesn't take up a lot of space, but pumps out BIG sound. Being portable is a plus. It also has Bluetooth connectivity, so it can be completely wireless!

We also have a nice shiny new set of stainless steel pots and pans thanks to Dan. :) That was my big gift and I LOVE IT. We are trying to get away from chemicals, and Teflon is a health nightmare, so I'm slowly weeding out all my non-stick (sigh- I will miss it) cookware. 

But, perhaps the best news of all to share is this:
Yesterday, we met with a very cool family and we now have a place to go in the Spring!!! AAAGGH! We are so excited and relieved that I couldn't put it into words. It has been one detail that's been nagging at both of us for months. The family lives about 12 minutes from my Dad too! Not a long haul, and I like that. They don't have acres and acres, but they have a decent sized back yard, and a tucked away space among the trees that would work perfect for us. Oh, and get this! He was actually looking for someone who would want to plant a garden on his land!! WHAT. SIGN ME UP.

So we discussed where the house would go, how big the garden would be, the fact that they have well water and he could run a basic spigot up to us. He even offered to run us power from his big garage (he has a sweet workshop and works on motorcycles among other machines) if we needed it. We hope to have the solar power system going by the time we move, but if we don't have it by then, it's nice to know the people are willing to give us power. 

This all came about from a social outing- by the way. One of Dan's old time friends was back in town and he was telling his friend what we've been up to. The friend immediately thought of his Uncle, which is the guy with the land, and connected us with him. Oh, the power of networking! 

This week we plan to SLOWLY get back to work. We still have the kitchen drawers to finish, and I plan to make little covers for the cubbies as well.

The sibs + Dan :)

I mentioned on Instagram a couple of weeks ago (while posting a pic of chocolate chip cookies, ha!) that I was starting a juice cleanse and was a bit worried about it. A few of you have asked since how it went, so I thought I'd share my thoughts with you. Good AND bad!

Here we go...

1. Reservations about getting started on a Juice Cleanse.
I was VERY unsure about how I'd do on a cleanse where all I did was DRINK for 3 full days. I mean... chewing and food are two of my favorite things ;)

 That being said I was really looking forward to emptying out my bod of all the not-so-healthy stuff that I'd been pumping into it. I just felt bloated and gross, so that definitely helped me to commit. Another big help was the fact that a friend at work was doing the cleanse with me too. It's WAY easier to stay on track with something when someone else is around to hold you accountable.

2. I got all of my juice from a local juicer named Dani.
If you're in the SLC valley you can find her on Instagram under @dvinejuice. Here's a link to a blog post she did on all of the flavors she offers.
WARNING: chugging a spicy drink WILL make you burp like a dude.

Remember when your parents used to pull out that big honkin' video camera... mostly at Christmas time and birthdays, and then record everyone doing mundane things or being completely obnoxious in front of said camera, all just to really capture the few important moments that really mattered in that day?

Well, I DO!
Batteries that never lasted longer than an hour or so, sore arm, perma-ring-around-the-eye... but guess what? We all go back and watch those old videos now, and admit it... YOU LOVE THEM! And most of the stuff that we end up laughing hysterically at or remembering forever, are the goofy questions asked AFTER the candles have been blown out, or the presents have been unwrapped. It's the silly little thoughts shared by a passing kid and the random crazy brother in the background making funny faces that we cherish the most. Am I right?

All of this being said, I only WISH I had taken more videos of my kiddos when they were small. They just grow up SO fast, and you don't realize in the moment how precious and perfect they are in that very specific time of life.
LUCKILY though, with all the crazy-awesome technology we have now, capturing video is a breeze, and I've found one of the cutest, easiest, FREE apps to help me do just that - OneDay.
It's an instant movie maker that you literally need NO editing or video skills to operate, because it does everything for you! There are lots of different story sets and questions that you can ask your kiddos to get them chatting away, and then once their answers are recorded through the app, OneDay stitches the video clips together, adds music and makes it an adorable video!
Check it out...


So cute right!?
You can make up your own questions too, which is pretty great, because then you can customize the video clips for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, etc.
Her poor future husband! #ihavecreatedamonster ha!

Solar power racking is underway!

It's something we both avoided speaking about and dreaded starting- although, in the grand scheme- I have no idea why! Saturday, Dan was able to grab a few hours working for his Dad so he took it.  He's still struggling to find something part time that will work with school. If anyone in the Rhode Island area has any suggestions, let us know! While he was off earning some keep, I tackled a list of errands. Neither of us returned home until about 3pm, at which point, we called it a day. Well sort of- we grabbed showers and free movie passes at his parents so we could head out and see How To Train Your Dragon 2. Yes. That was my requested movie. I loved it almost as much as the first!

Anyways, after a day doing other things, it meant Sunday was a work day, noooo compromises. We hope to move the tiny house next weekend, so we need to get crackin!

We researched a few different ways to mount solar panels, and finally decided to go with the ideas shown in this youtube video. We made a few of our own modifications, but the over all concept is similar. 




We have 8 solar panels to build for, so we plan to make four smaller versions of this which will hold two panels each. We plan to put two racks right next to one another to make a 13 foot row of four panels. We will have two rows. That's a lot of sun power right there! I keep seeing all of these tiny houses with just one or two panels sitting out front and I wonder how the heck they manage with that. This is our home full time, and of all things to skimp on, solar power wasn't one of them. I work from home some days, and I KNOW there will be days in the summer when we thank our stars that we can run an A/C and days in the fall when we are happy to be able to plug in the small eco-heater- because the main stove would be too much. 

It's still a very modest system. Here is what our load calculator chart looked like- and it gives you an idea of what we can run.

Appliance Load/ Name	On At Same Time	Quantity	AC Watts	Hours on Per Day	Watt Hrs/ Day
Cooler	Y	1	70	8	560
Great Rm Lights	Y	1	50	6	300
Kitchen Light	Y	1	10	4	40
Blender/Juicer	-	1	300	0.1	30
Sewing Machine	-	1	100	0.1	10
Table Fan	Y	1	25	7	175
Computer (Laptop)	Y	1	50	6	300
Window Fan	Y	1	40	6	240
Clock Radio	Y	1	1	24	24
A/C (or heater in winter)	-	1	600	4	2400

So our total system is 4079 Watt-Hours Per Day. Without the A/C option we would be down to just 1679 Watt-Hours per day. That would be nice on the wallet, but I've sat through more than one scorching day with no A/C and I'm not about to make us tough it out in that little box on wheels!  This chart comes right from the AltE website. They have a lot of great calculators that make it much easier to understand what you are calculating, and provide a lot of the basic appliance power loads for you!

The board at the bottom of this pic is the where the panel goes.

Anyways- back to the racking. So we went out early and got our rough estimate of needed supplies. Then the mind-melting math came in. When I say mind-melting, please don't take that as an indication that it was truly hard- it was just one of those days when we both were suffering from chronic brain farts and could not process basic geometry. I lost count of how many times we talked out our moves and our cuts and our measures, only to pause right before beginning and say, "Wait....go over that again?" 





On our first run through, we made the cuts "upside-down" the first go round, meaning, if we had put the rack up, the solar panel would be at the exact opposite angle of what we needed. After doing the math for our latitude, we found that 35 degrees would be optimal. A triangle always adds up to 180, and we had our 35 and 90 degrees, so the last angle was 55. What we got mixed up on (among many other things that day) was which corner needed to be 35- the top corner or the bottom one?




I'll cut to the chase and tell you- it's the top. It may have taken us a few hours, but we finally got all of our cuts, angles, and measurements right. Our first racking post was complete. We spent another hour or so making cuts in an assembly line manner. By the end of Sunday, we had completed two of the eight posts we will need.

We didn't get it all done, but man does it feel good to have sailed over the hurdle of just-getting-it-started. We have about 40% of the wood cut. Throughout evenings this week we will complete all the posts and hopefully head over to the farm to mount them in the ground. 

Yep! It fits! Woooh!