The Lady has a New Ride

I've got a new set of wheels!

I was keeping an eye out for a new motorcycle - and until last week I'd thought the only bike that really suited me was the BMW g650. I liked the seating position, the low height, and the performance of the BMW but at $8,000 starting price it wasn't really in my budget. So, I considered it a dream-bike and kept my eye out but didn't go much further.

D was looking. D has a V-strom but wanted something more. Unfortunately, or luckily depending on your perspective, there just isn't a better bike for what he wants. We had tried lowering the V-strom so that I could inherit it, but even after putting on the lowering links, I still couldn't touch the ground. If it went down I would not be able to pick it up on my own. Even though the V-strom and the BMW g650 have a lot of things in common, it just wasn't for me.

So I continued day-dreaming of a BMW adventure rider and keeping my eye out - occasionally going out to see what was available. I'd throw my leg over and confirm - yep, this is the perfect bike for me. I did that for one that was so close to my price range that it was worth it to start negotiations with the dealer. But, before I signed a deal, D suggested I check out one other bike, the Honda CB500x.

I'd seen a woman riding one at a Touratech movie night, and remembered it looked pretty good, so we searched around for one online. I found a 2015 at a dealer and D and I went to try it out. My thinking was that I was going to try one more option before going back to the BMW. I threw a leg over and wow, it was a great fit!

A few days later I found one in the price and features I was looking for online. I called the dealer to see if it was still there and we took a drive out to visit. When I walked in I was surprised when he automatically assumed I wanted to check out the 2013. I hadn't heard that there was a 2013 and hadn't found a used one available anywhere. Turns out it had recently come in and had just been listed. Good luck!

2013 Honda CB500xa has ABS breaks, a similar upright riding position to the V-strom and BMW, a lower seat, and at about 400 lbs - I wasn't worried about dropping it. This particular bike came with heated grips and after market adjustable levers. Bonus!

Now I'm no longer day dreaming about riding a BMW. Instead, I'm going riding on my Honda and saving about 4 grand. Now I can afford some gear upgrades for the new riding season! Updates on that coming soon!

Sidenote: I have some plastidip coming my way and I can't wait to mod out the tank sides with Sailor Moon stickers. 

Finishing the Garage

The project for February was to finish the garage and I'm happy to say we are done!

It started with bare walls, similar to our living space. We added insulation, drywall, paint, lights, and lots of organization! Not to mention tons of cleaning and elbow grease.

You'll see more projects coming up in the near future. Our goal is one house project a month - we have gardening, more organization, interior projects, and lots more!

- Pics below -

No more bare walls

Working around the windows

Taping the seams

Painted, organized, and put back together

Shop side

Storage, art, and canning side. There are some left over bits on the floor - soon to disappear!

Work tables. There are some left over bits on the tables but it is soon to be organized!

Dog Tricks - A little dose of cuteness

A little dose of cuteness here: Fams has learned to balance a treat on his nose! I think it has taken so long for him to learn this trick because he can see the food. That, and it is hard for me not to laugh when I see him going cross-eyed and so excited to have a tasty treat so close he can almost taste it.

He figured it out though. We moved the treat closer to his eyes so he can't really see it and he's learned to watch our hands to see when he can move.
He'd really very good with hand signs.

Isn't he such a handsome dachshund?!

Tiny House Organizing - Clothing Storage

More organizing at the Tiny House!

This week I went through my clothing storage. You may already know that we decided to capsule wardrobe our clothes. By going through our stuff and removing things we never wore, sticking to a color pallete, and pre-planning outfits, we have eliminated the need for a closet. I have 6 drawers, T has 3.

They started out nice, but over the time / washing / refolding / stuffing things where there was available space - it was getting hard for me to find the clothes I wanted to wear. That problem is now fixed and all it took was a little tape, a sharpie, and a pair of scissors.

How To -

Think: If you'd like to sort your drawers - first it is important to figure out what you have in there and what you want in there, and those may be two separate things.

Categorize: I thought about all my clothes and separated them into categories. The categories I ended up with were:

Skirts

Pants

Work shirts

T-Shirts

Tank Tops

Party Dresses

Work dresses

Athletics

Swimwear

Leggings

Sweaters

Jackets / Blazers

Special Occasion / Rare Use

Then I went through the drawers and made piles of clothes in each category. There was no need to dump things out, I left them folded but just grouped them into areas on my bed. For a while it was hard to separate Party Dresses from my Special Occasion clothes but then I realized Special Occasion would be better used as a category for things like Halloween costumes and my wedding dress - things I don't want to donate but that I really don't wear very often.

Group: After everything was sorted it became clear what groups of clothes would fit into a drawer. While it may make sense in my mind to put Work Shirts and Work Dresses in the same drawer since they are both work-related, there wasn't enough physical space to fit both of those groups into the same drawer. By grouping things according to how much physical space they took up I was able to find room for everything with out cramming and wedging things to fit.

Restore: Putting everything in it's place took a few tries. I had to sort which clothes I wanted to reach the easiest. I did that by deciding which category of clothes I wore the most - for me, that's work clothes, so I put them at the top. Then athletic / casual clothes came next. Last were party dresses, special occasion, and T-shirts.

Label: Once I'd swapped drawer locations a few times and made sure everything was in the right place I grabbed some masking tape and a sharpie and some scissors. Making the labels was pretty easy - just make sure your letters are facing the way you can read them :-) If you are not using wire racks but have wooden drawers - you may want to consider painters tape rather than masking tape so it doesn't hurt the finish. Another, and very fancy option, might be washi tape or printing out the drawer categories on return address label stickers. You could also use colored markers, colored tape, or even post-it notes.

Now, when T or I are doing the laundry it is easy to put stuff away - we know right where it goes. It is also easier to find specific items - if I need a sweater, I go to the sweater section etc. There is no more wasted time or stress over finding things to wear. Also, this has made sorting my outfits for the week so much faster!