Holey House!

I said it was going to be a busy month! I ended up working six days a week for most of August. However, I was offered better shifts at the restaurant, which allowed me to quit my second job at the convenience store! So from here on, hopefully my life will be a little less hectic! In addition to that, I moved out of Dylan’s parents’ house. It was time.

And speaking of time, I felt like I didn’t have enough! After working six days a week, mostly nights, I was not jumping out of bed at 6am on Sunday morning to work on the house. Doing this build myself does give me flexibility and control over when and how long I build, which can be bad when I’m procrastinating, but it can be good when I need a bit more sleep. I do what I can. It’s nice to have a build day where I get up at a decent hour then build until dark, but I’ve also felt very accomplished sneaking in a few hours in the morning or early afternoon before a shift. Then there are other times when I take too long in the morning and run out of time to get anything done before my shift.

I’ve worked on the house six days so far this month, and have one more day planned before the 1st. I leave on a road trip with my sister September 1st! We’re driving to drop her off at university in Ontario, and then I’m spending a week visiting friends and family. I am so excited and I definitely need this vacation!

But before I leave, I have to catch you up with what I’ve done! I think the pictures will say it all:

I cut out the skylight holes, doing my first plunge cut!

My jigsaw guy  ❤

While I was working on the roof, Dylan was busy cutting out all the downstairs windows!

I added a skylight!

One skylight in, one to go

Ooh look another one!

😀

Ooh look, pretty roofing! Spanish tile inspired, 3D orange shingles made with recycled materials 🙂

Ignore my twisty fascia, it’s on the to-do list to fix 😛 The ridges give the house a unique shadow 🙂

Laying it out to test it. Before nailing these down, we taped the foam closure strips to the bottom of the shingles so they’d end up in the right place. The solid foam will keep bugs and little creatures from crawling in.

Finishing up the first row!

Dylan worked on the first row from the ladder, and I worked on the second row up on the roof 🙂

Third row started and flashing kit installed (the kit took two hours on its own)

I can’t decide if it looks unreal or too real 😛

First row on the other side and the second skylight kit installed – only took an hour this time. 🙂

TA-DA!

The silver is tape, and will be covered by the ridge cap I have to add.

I’m just proud we didn’t put any pieces upside down!

It might not have been the unrealistically productive month I planned, but skylights and roofing are two big milestones, and they look amazing! I still have to put the verge and ridge caps on, but then it’s done! And we’ll see what September brings. 🙂

July Recap & Month #3

I didn’t get as much done on the tiny house in July as I wanted to, but that’s okay. I worked on the tiny house 7 days in July. I did a lot of little things, I put up the ice and water shield by myself, and we finally put in the blocking.

We also fixed the ridge board, which had started to dip down in the middle. I believe that happened between putting it up and putting the collar ties in, because the collar ties keep the rafters from moving. When I realized this issue and measured the height of the board, we took out the newly installed collar ties, used a jack and three long 2x4s sandwiched together, and jacked up the ridge board an inch to the right height, then re-installed the collar ties. But we had put the ties back in so hastily, two of them were a bit crooked, so I fixed those. Then I noticed later that one of the ties was a little short on one end because of where we had nailed it. So I’m going to have to fix that again. I’m probably going to re-do two of them to make the collar ties symmetrical around the living room skylight.

Because we didn’t get a lot done in July, there are so many things to do in August, and some of that might get pushed until September, but that’s how building schedules go, right? 😛 August is also going to be a busy month for other reasons, so we’ll see how all this goes. I’m sure once we get back to the bigger tasks that you can really see the change, we’ll be out there more often. It’s like sweeping every night versus cleaning behind the stove. You should clean regularly, but you get more satisfaction out of the things that make a big difference.

As for my shopping ban, I didn’t do too well. 😛 I wasn’t as committed to it, and ended up going shopping several times with friends, especially later in the month. At first, I only bought things that I needed and had been on my to-buy list for a while, like a new pillowcase and a small cutting board, and I bought several replacement items, like new work shoes. But being out in stores made it harder to resist the sale items and the “I might use this someday” items. I spent some money on scratch tickets again, and some pretty things, and going to the movies. But I am getting better at saying no to things I don’t need. For every thing I bought, there were probably at least 5 more things I wanted but said no to. Even though I bought lots of things in July, I’ve built the habit of being very conscious of my spending, and that’s something I can carry with me.

I didn’t do too well eating out less either, because I didn’t have a plan to replace it. Grocery shopping tends to be an afterthought in my weird schedule. Getting a milkshake and someone else to cook for me in the heat of July was a lot more appealing than digging through the cupboards with no ideas. But I did learn more about what I need to do to eat at home more and I had some great meals with friends, so I consider that a success. These are all life experiments that I’m doing, so even if it doesn’t go as planned, I still learn something. 🙂

As for avoiding convenience stores, I did okay, only stopping in 5 times this month despite being tempted many more times. And again, I’ve built the habit of being conscious of my spending. Convenience stores have a purpose, and it is nice to be able to run out and get an ingredient we’re missing, but I’ve stopped spending so much money at them. 🙂

In the end, I was over my budget again, but I learned a lot. I’m aware of my spending and what affects it. I won’t be continuing the shopping ban into August though. I have something in the works that’s going to require shopping and spending. However, I get to keep my good habits and continue working on the not-so-good ones.

Cheers! Stay tuned for some big stuff coming up!