Phew, what a whirlwind it’s been since my last post! I had thought that things would slow down once the tiny house got here, but it turns out there was just more work to be done once it did! My dad and I got the electrical hooked up, and I got the water hooked up. Then we spent several days putting in the skirting (it looks pretty nice, actually—it needs to be wiped down and cleaned up to take the construction dust off it and have the paint retouched, but I’ll do that once it warms up outside), and then the septic guys put the septic in. Meanwhile, I was having furniture delivered, so things have been crazy. But, today is my 2-week anniversary of moving in, and things are going well.

I bought $200 worth of groceries the other day and was worried that they wouldn’t fit (I’m so used to the camper’s lack of space that it’s hard to conceive of being able to fit all that), but the refrigerator is still almost empty, and the freezer has enough space to store probably 4-8x what I bought, despite having bought enough to make one of each meal I know how to make (probably enough to last me 6 weeks or so). It’s crazy how much space there is, even though the place still isn’t “big”. Showering every day has been glorious, and being able to do laundry without leaving the house has also been wonderful. With these groceries, I might well be able to stay in the house for a few weeks without leaving for any reason…a really weird concept to me since before I had to go to the grocery store before every meal to get supplies. I even got hold of some resistance bands and have started working out a bit. I’m not sure whether it’s a realistic goal, yet, but I’m hoping that by, say, June, I’ll be in considerably better shape than I am now. The ability to eat something besides TV dinners and crock pot recipes will help a lot, as will having space to exercise and full-length mirrors to keep my motivation up (yeesh, my gut has become…erm…ponderous!). I’ve also really enjoyed having my (musical) keyboard back. I’ve been playing the stuff I used to play, and I’m learning the Game of Thrones theme. I had forgotten how much I missed making music, so it’s really nice to be able to do it again.

I’ve got a massive list of projects lined up, too. Stuff like caulking and touching up the paint on the skirting, finally ridding myself of the trash in the barn and getting rid of that !@#$ trailer house, putting in more road base, building some climate-controlled space in the barn, putting in gutters, sealing the porch, and planting a garden. It all has to wait for now: between finances (I’m stretched super thin right now) and winter, it’s not the best time to be doing much of that. But, I’ve got clear direction and am optimistic about the future, which has been a major improvement over the last 9+ months! And, if I can stick to the plan, I’ll be debt-free once again come early to mid 2022, so there’s that to look forward to, too.

As for writing, I have started looking back at the commission I was working on before I went on hiatus. I haven’t added much to it, but at least it’s back on the radar again. Still no promises as to when I’ll finish it, let alone open up for commissions again, but I am at least thinking about it again. Now that I’ve finished Game of Thrones and don’t really have another show I really want to watch, the lack of distraction might help a bit, too…