Actually, Work Happening Downstairs

I find myself working downstairs. Moving around the chopping block table and pushing the bench / chest to the side for puppet making. I quite like having a fluid space downstairs that can transform to fit my needs. My art making materials are still up in the loft. But I now plan on having that be a second bed region, and keeping my art stuff in the 3' storage area under my bed, where I can easily pull it out, work and make a mess, and then retract everything into order. It's so nice to have a second bed ready for friends and passersby. The luxury of a guest bed, even in a 6' 10" wide by 16' long trailer.

Help from Nave and Jen

THANKS SO MUCH.

Surreal Estate Makes Action, What About You?

FOR RENT?

If I were to put my house up for rent to the highest local bidder, would you be interested?

Have you thought about living in a small house, but want to test it out?

My home will be available for rent September 2010 - May 2011.

Email me:

jenine.alexander at gmail dot com

TAX SEASON: OVER

Goodbye bras of Sears, dear friends.

Heads UP

The puppets will be packing come fall . . .

Shipping Container Construction

AKA inter-modal steel building units (ISBUs)

Spent the day doing this for a friend. Will spend the next two weeks in the effort to turn the shipping container into a livable space for her and her daughter. Perhaps I'll post some photos as the project develops.

In the meantime, my house houses me, though not completely finished.

Grilling and Grilling

I'm Sort of Like My Mom

(Not that that's a new revelation.) I like to start the day with order in the house. This is one reason I feel comfortable in a smaller home. When I have a lot of space I'm personally responsible for, the result is often less than pleasing.

Puppets Moving In in the Morning

A day of things sculptural, falling out of boxes. The bed in the loft got put on top the bed where I had thought I would put my studio. After living in the house though, I realize how much I like having the bed in the main living space so it can serve as a large couch at all times I'm not sleeping in it. I also know my workspace / puppet world would overtake my tidy living space in an instant (as it did today), and so, I am going to experiment this week with having the loft as my workspace. Since I tend to work on the ground, this may work fine. Additionally, as long as the weather is nice, I will be able to open the roof to the sky, with no limitations on standing upright.

Party at Night; Sewing for Day

Warm Milk at Night

Just need the goat.

Got the sewing station rearing.

So Nice Nights

[Featured above: Lume making fresh lemonade/lemon water]

Friends for dinner. It's the best feeling to hear someone in my house ask someone else to pass them a fork, and then have that other person easily pass the fork along. Smells of food sure beat sawdust.

A friend is about to begin construction on a shipping crate.

I'll stop posting at some point soon, when it begins to just become my life in this house, rather than the building of this house. I realize there is no real clear line. I can see though, rather soon this blog will return to the FORGE AHEAD PUPPET PRODUCTIONS, as it began. Or perhaps I'll need to reorganize blogs, creating one portal leading to various productions of the forge-ahead nature.

Working Hard on the Details / Playing House

Some photos, algunas fotos.

And my parents

A sleepover! (Currently two beds set up to meet demand.)

And Shanty

Helping out & helping out.
Notice the surger / overlock / sewing machine got some play time today!

Kids in the Loft, Lights that Turn On

Getting a few things taken care of. Thanks to neighbor to the west, Eric, for helping me put the final connections in place for the electric.

Thanks to neighbors to the east, Jamie, Joselyn, and Anthony, for coming by with their curiosity and for frequently asking, "Are you going to finish today?"

Nice sleepovers with friends. Comfortable to be in, just need to get to that trim if it's going to be gotten to. Already slipping into living-in, makes sight of the to-do-list a little murky.

(pictures once I find the camera cable again)

Be Better Than Spray Foam!!!!!!!!

FRIENDS!

Let's think more about insulation...

TWO VIDEOS ON MYCELIUM

Update on Tiny House Blog

Dear Readers,

Kent has posted an update on this building project on his website. You can see it by clicking HERE.

And check Kent's site often, as he posts tons of things worth considering.

That would explain the nausea.

I'm doing a little research on Copper sulfate, which I think is what the exterior boards on my house are inundated with. The same boards I planed down to use for the interior. This wasn't a great option by way of low-toxicity. On the other hand, it was free. ...funny how that works. Anyhow, more on that later. For now, I want to note some of my findings from Wikipedia.

Mainly, I leared that copper sulfate is an emetic, a vomit inducer. "An emetic is used medically where a substance has been ingested and must be expelled from the body immediately (for this reason, many toxic and easily digestible products such as rat poison contain an emetic). Inducing vomiting can remove the substance before it is absorbed into the body. Ipecac abuse can cause detrimental health effects.

"Salt water and mustard water have been used since ancient times as emetics.[4] Care must be taken with salt, as excessive intake can potentially be harmful.[5][6]

"Copper sulfate was also used in the past as an emetic.[7][8] It is now considered too toxic for this use.[9]"

Furthermore, and noteable since I just had a little bout of pink eye, "Eye contact with copper sulfate can cause conjunctivitis."

After reading the following, I can say: luckily, I still need to urinate often. "After 1-12 grams of copper sulfate are swallowed, such poisoning signs may occur as a metallic taste in the mouth, burning pain in the chest, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, discontinued urination, which leads to yellowing of the skin. In case of copper sulfate poisoning, injury to the brain, stomach, liver, kidneys may also occur."

This makes me very interested in finding a local science student/person who would be interested in taking a little sample of my wood's green dust to determine what it is. Or if someone recoginizes it and knows some context, please leave a comment.

This also makes me realize the care I must take so this material isn't able to reach food sources etc. and even further skin contact.

Fabric Getting Situated! Still Interior Walls & The Way Things Work

Moving Furniture etc.

Arranging, re-arranging.

Where to put the oven?

The sink?

I had it all planned out. Now I'm feeling it out to find what's what.

Ashley and mom so nice as we re-arrange, and talk about how the sink will get watered.

Some stacking of blocks above legs on top of propane tanks to play pretend.

I've been gifted with some furniture from childhood times.

Camphor chest & oak organizer, now the postcard HQ.

etc. includes "finishing up" with the interior walls,

and cooking with friends,

and

a

lot

of time alone.

Back to Puppets and People

Remember GOYA

FREE STUFF: GIVING AWAY

I have a posting on Craigslist now, giving away some of the building materials that I need to clear out of my family's garage. If you're looking for anything in particular, I might have it for you.

A guy's coming by tomorrow, so you gotta act fast if you're interested.

...though I think it'll be a week or so process to sort everything through the "filter" . . . seeing as how some of it I'll want to keep for future projects and for finishing up the doors, trim, etc.

It's funny, everyone's jumping on the futon cover.

Waking Up

So nice looking around.

All Day Interior Walls

Some real progress.

THANKS TO ERIC FOR THE STAPLER.