Category: To Occupy my Time

Another Five Years, another journal filled.

Another five years have gone by and I’ve filled a second Daily Reminder.  Even crazier, I’ve been writing this blog long enough to have talked about finishing the first one on this very blog.

This version (unlike the first) had the days of the week printed with each day.  I found this to be a negative after the first year, because the days of the week did not match up.  However, it seems I will be dealing with this for another five years, as the new journal is exactly the same.

I went to town with books/movies in the last five years.

I actually ran out of space for books by the end of September, 2014 and ended up adding lined post-it notes to keep track of the books for the rest of the year.  We shall see if that’s still a problem at the end of 2019.

And the phone gets faster.

On the right, my Samsung Galaxy Reverb, which was both my first cell phone and my first smartphone.  On the left is my Samsung Galaxy S III which is my second cell phone and MUCH faster than my first one.  It’s like being in an entirely different cell phone world.  I was worried about switching phones, but it was a very smooth process.  Once I activated the new phone, it downloaded almost everything from my old to my new phone.  And they sent me an envelope to return the old phone for recycling. 

The other tiny houses of Caravan

We stayed in the Roly Poly at the Caravan Tiny House Hotel.  But here are the other houses you could visit.

This is the Caboose.  It is 134 square feet and has seating for 4-5 people as well as two bunk beds and a loft bed.

 

This is Rosebud, a 120 square feet traditional tiny house design.

 

This is the Tandem which is 160 square feet.  It has two queen beds.

 

This is Skyline, which is 160 square feet, but with a shed roof, so it seems larger. Of the tiny houses here, this is the one I would choose because I could put a desk upstairs where the second bed is and have my cozy “reverse loft” that I’ve become rather obsessed with.

 

This is the Kangablue, which is another 170 square foot traditional tiny house.

I’m hoping to book another stay one of these tiny houses in the future.  It’s fun for a night away.

Caravan the next morning.

View from my window.  That’s the fire pit and hidden between the two tiny houses you see are the fixins for s’mores.  It was a very cold night, so we just ate the chocolate.

More pictures from inside.  The bathroom door.

Standard sized toilet hooked up to city water.  There was also a tiny shower, which we did not partake in, sadly, due to the fact it was cold enough that the water froze.

More storage.

Our departing photo.

Great front porch, with our room service tray from the night before.

Back view.  That was my bedroom window.

Of course, I had to peek in the box on this side.

Caravan

Where am I headed on a cold winter day?

 

To Caravan!  My friend Deborah gave me a stay in a tiny  house for my birthday.  Caravan is the first tiny house hotel in the USA.

 

We stayed in the Roly Poly, which is 80 square feet.  Here’s the main section.  The ladder stores on the wall when not in use.

 

Standing against the ladder wall you can see the house from the other direction.  I was particularly enchanted with the string art.

 

Additional storage space built in under the lofts.

 

The queen-sized loft bed.

 

Deborah playing the uke.  A tiny guitar for a tiny house.

 

Storage space above the kitchen.

After warming up the soup dinner brought by Deborah, we spent the evening chatting, her on one loft bed, me on another.  Deborah tried out different songs from a new songbook. I caught up on the newspaper. Around 10:30 we got hungry and ordered room service from the Radio Room, a restaurant across the street from Caravan.  Delicious pork tostadas were consumed.

Seamwork Oslo Sweater Part II

Julie came over for a day of sewing and she helped me lay out the material.  So it was speedy, taking us only 10 minutes.  She also got to see first-hand how lazy a sewist I am.  “Aren’t you going to line up that grainline?” she asked at one point.  I shrugged and she adjusted it.

Here we are 90 minutes in and it’s looking like a robe.  The material is this great fabric I got from Rose City Textiles in their bargain room.

This was also the point in which the directions and I became estranged.  The way I was reading the instructions for the cuff ended up not making much sense, so I finally just added the cuff the way I thought it would work.

And done!  I really like it! It’s very soft and cozy and is the perfect length for a robe.

And here is the final tally. Although you have to add the hour I spent taping the pattern.  But I still consider four hours “an afternoon.” Color me happy,  Seamwork.  I also added snaps to the front to keep it closed. Worked great.

Seamwork Oslo Sweater part I

I’ve subscribed to Seamwork, a digital sewing magazine.  The magazine is free, and if you subscribe ($6.00  per month) you receive two patterns each month.  Each pattern is designed so it can be completed “in an afternoon”.  I aim to make the Oslo Cardigan, although I’m going to use it as a robe.  Let’s see if indeed this pattern can be completed in a timely fashion.

Below, Sentinel observes the detritus from too many projects.

The pattern comes in two forms.  A digital file that can be printed at a copy shop, or a file that can be taped together.  I didn’t make it to the copy shop, so taping and cutting I am.  I did this the night before I set to sewing, and forgot to start the timer, but I think the taping and cutting took about an hour.

Why yes, I’m making six loaves of bread today.

But I only have two bread pans!  So staggered baking it is.
At the time of this picture, I had two loaves rising, and had prepped the wet ingredients for the other four. When it was time, I poured the milk/water combo into a pot and heated it, then poured some of the warm milk/water back into the jar to loosen the honey.  Then I stirred in the butter–melted in the microwave–and that made it easier to pour the liquid into the dry ingredients while the mixer was going.
The bread turned out great.  But alas,  no pictures.