tiny art : tiny home

I think I mentioned a bit ago I was considering starting a new etsy shop to help earn a little money for bus expenses. Well here it is! TINY ART : TINY HOME is a etsy featuring hand made accessories and tiny home decor (that is both decor for tiny homes and home decor that is tiny.) I've only got a few things up right now but go check it out!

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♥ ♥

Mer.

would you look at that bus.

Hello bus following people,

I'm sorry as usual for not posting more. For someone who is into blogging I'm pretty bad at blogging.

My exciting news today is that my dad wen't out and took some pictures and measurements of the bus last weekend! He wasn't able to drive it away because of some insurance complications but soon he will drive it back to their house to be followed by driving it down to me!

But first, here are some things on my mind.

• Looking at the pictures and getting the measurements I'm realizing how tiny this bus is. Remember that layout I did a few months ago for a bus that was almost too small, its about that small. The bus is longer than that bus (13.5' interior as compared to a 10' interior) however it is skinnier (5'11" compared to 7'.) This will mean a few changes in layout and a nice cozy bus, but I'll make it work!

• I'm so excited to have the bus here! We're in a super busy point at work and I'm hoping it will all calm down by the time it (and my parents) get here so I can have time to spend with all of them. I've had such a wonderful response from the folks I work with (thanks work folks!) and it sounds like I'll have a few helping hands when it comes time for bus work. 

• The bus will be making its trip to Burning Man with its previous owner, so I will need to make it become a blank slate again come August. My plan with that is to go ahead and do the roof raise, new paint job and insulating the inside like usual and then begin to build the interior but make sure it is all easily removable. 

Anywho, picture time!

Pre bumper stickered, always a good thing. Plus lots of OCF parking passes!

Oh yes, the interior is furry. 

My wonderful father illustrating how low the head clearance is inside the bus.

The bus in all it's (short) glory!

Bus bus bus,

Mer.

downsize.

Hey y'all,
I'm sorry I'm such a lazy blogger. Life has kind of taken over, not that I'm up to much besides the same old working and hanging out in coffee shops. Apparently that is just taking up a lot of my time. Also other things/people that I'm not talking about.

I celebrated my birthday. That's being busy, right?

To the point, let me give you a bus work update. I'm still working out when the bus will actually be making it's way down to California, probably sometime at the end of this month. The bus will be momentarily be returning to its current owners so they can use it to transport some large things out to Burning Man, so I won't be doing any house-y modifications to it just yet, but there are plenty of structural things I can get going on in the mean time. Order of operations will most likely be to clean it up and deal with any rust that may be plaguing it. Next will be to cut the roof off! I've been told its a fairly low roof and a bit uncomfortable for those above medium height, so I'm pretty sure I'll be chopping the roof off and re attaching it a bit taller. Lucky for me I've got a nice big metal shop at my disposal down here in Berkeley. After that I'll be doing all the insulation, paneling and floor for the interior, leaving me a nice blank and ready to fill slate inside. Also on the agenda is a new and fancy paint job which hopefully wont be ruined by the playa.

In other bus related news, I've been trying really hard to start downsizing my stuff. I guess I've been trying since I left Ashland last year and realized that I had a lot of stuff to move across half a state. Then moving down to Berkeley I had to downsize even more! So while I've still got a lot of stuff, I'm not doing horribly. I picked up this book...

I'm only a bit into it, but I'm not sure I'll finish it so let me tell you what I think now. The strategy is solid. The book got me thinking about what I should get rid of and how to decide what isn't worth holding onto and what is. After sitting down and reading a chapter or two I was itching to get back home and start throwing stuff away. 

Downside, its badly written and wastes so much time telling irrelevant personal stories which I think is raaather silly. 

Now that I'm being more serious about getting rid of stuff I'm thinking about how to get rid of stuff. When I left college I regretted not having a garage sale. I got rid of so much and ended up putting most of it on the curb or giving to goodwill.

Segway. I love things for free on the curb. I've gotten so many great things on the curb and totally believe in putting things out for others to have. I totally think all those things I put out when I left college (they were some really nice things) earned me some great curb karma because I've been finding awesome things ever since. 

Ok, back to my debate. I got rid of so much cool stuff that I wish I had had a garage sale. I could have at least made a bit of money back from all my stuff. Conclusion, I should have a garage sale during my downsize to the bus. Hindrance of the conclusion, I don't want to wait and collect things, I want to get rid of them now! Solution. I'm not really sure. At the moment I'm just collecting what I can. Maybe the stuff I have in Berkeley that I want to get rid of will go to the curb/goodwill but I'll have a garage sale with stuff I've got in Oregon. 

Thanks for putting up with my rambling. 

♥ 

Mer.