The wait is about over. My home will be delivered March 14. (weather permitting). All of a sudden there is so much to do. Yesterday I drove up to Liberty Hill and got the keys to my storage unit, located on site. The storage unit is 120 sf which makes Tiny living SO much easier. I took my first load in my truck which consisted of a shelving unit and a lot of work related items- shipping boxes, foil envelopes and gel ice for shipping orders, most of the canvas photos of chocolate and spices from our shop, molds ,tasting equip, melters for chocolate making etc. The first things to pack away were the currently least used items, but 120 sf is generous space , so it will all fit with room to spare. All my work items came to Texas after my personal items so they are blocking my personal items currently in the barn they are in.
On March 14th I will go again to accept delivery of my home and I’ll pack and unpack another load of work items to store which will help unblock the personal ones. It’s a 2 ½ hour one way trip up there, and after the house is set in place and secured they have to hookup the utilities. The priorities begin…
I am in the middle of tutoring a class for Ecole Chocolat, so internet is pretty critical. I will try to schedule internet hookup for around the 18th which the electric should be connected by then.
I just need a router.
The house needs stairs so I’ll be building those as soon as possible. Once I can measure the distance to the ground, after the house is set, I can order precut stringers, treads, Simpson ties and screws from Home Depot. Hopefully I can do that on the 18th and take them up there to do over the weekend. In the meantime I’ll have to figure out how the dog can get up on the deck. Petco may have steps for dogs or a mounting block for getting on a horse might do. Tractor supply has those. I also need a retractable mesh gate for the front of the deck so Lillie doesn’t go wandering. The home needs to be skirted and I’m hoping this is some kind of minor construction job I can do myself and save $1000. I can’t get a firm price for the materials until the house is set in place and I know the distance from the ground up that needs to be covered. I’m ok with it taking a month or more to complete as a project. My evenings right now consist of construction videos on You Tube.
Insurance is top of mind at the moment as well, so I have about 5 quotes I’m waiting for and hope to have that decided in a few days.
We can’t really solve the propane issue right now. (shortage of tanks and high prices) so to hookup my cooktop, looks like a BBQ grill size tank will have to do and we’ll see how long they last. Two years ago a 100 lb propane tank cost $400. Today its $1700 plus the propane cost which has gone up considerably as well. I can always do 2 BBQ size with a switchover for a while and somewhere in my work belongings is an electric induction burner if need be, but no cookware that works on it except a huge stockpot.
I will definitely be “camping” in my house for a while without much furniture or full function but what the hell. Its still a roof over my head and quite comfortable. Hopefully once I’m settled I can work more regularly with Dragon Spirits or even a temporary part time job to get back on my feet. I never thought I’d be in this awkward financial position but Covid certainly turned things on their head as did inflation increasing my cost to do the tiny close to $10K extra from a year ago when I started this journey.
