Not Hot

I stopped counting how many weeks it's been since we've had hot water; I'm counting in months now.

I have also come to a realization: a broken hot water heater is NOT the most inconvenient circumstance I have dealt with since moving into our tiny house.

The reward for most inconvenient goes to a broken washer/dryer...or maybe no running water...I don't know, it may be a tie between those two.

Either way, these circumstances are probably part of the reason I'm still dealing and still living in our house despite the lack of on-demand hot water.  I do have one of those boiling water electric pitcher/pot things and a hot plate to heat water when needed.  I don't have to leave my house to get hot water (like when the washer/dryer broke and I had to use the laundromat).  I just feel slightly like I am camping every time I take a "shower" or wash dishes.

Meanwhile, the service company (Tri-Tech - worst customer service ever in case you were wondering) and the hot water heater manufacturer (Rinnai - poor communication pre-sale but better customer service overall) have been going back and forth with the age-old desire humans have to avoid responsibility if at all possible.  We are finally at the point where Rinnai will replace the unit and pay for 2/3 of the service for Tri-Tech to install the new unit.

Through trials of all sorts I try to find a lesson I can learn; this trial is no different.

Here are some things I have learned:

• If you live in a smaller town, call local service companies before buying fancy appliances, heaters, etc. to make sure they will service the unit.  If the local service company will not service it, be prepared to pay travel expenses to a service company that will service your unit.
• Despite hours of research on appliances, etc., you can still miss details that create issues later on down the road.
• Just because a unit has the best reviews, the best history and seems to be the best product, does not mean it is the best for everyone in any given situation.
• What could be great for a 1700 sq foot house is not necessarily great for a Tiny House, even if it does "fit".
• I could survive in a third world country without running hot water, or even running water!  Who knew? 

In the midst of heating water with a water boiling pot-pitcher thing, I am EXTREMELY thankful that we have a warm, dry comfortable house to call our own and I will not take hot water for granted again!

Bring on the Pressure ... Cookin'!

I was feeling very accomplished the other day.  

I've been cooking with a toaster oven for almost a year now, with the addition of a hot plate 6 months ago.

• Spaghetti NOODLES took an hour to cook...and that was after the hot plate entered the home.
• Beans from scratch...I tried...once.
• Soup...nope (except the 4 times I bought canned soup).
• Lentils...forget it.
• Rice...a little crunchy at times.

My family still had food to eat.

Yes, I do feel I have accomplished a hard task on this adventure we are on!

However,

Feeling accomplished does not erase the INTENSE desire to speed things up!

Several people suggested a crock pot, but again, I was looking to speed things up.  For several years now I have been thinking about getting a pressure cooker.  As Summer turned into Fall, I began thinking of all the money we would save by making soups and how nice it is to eat soup through the winter.  I'm a bit of a soup snob and I really don't like the preservatives often found in canned soups.  I again broached the subject of a pressure cooker with my husband and on our date night class 

Costco's Pressure cookers are EXTRA LARGE                    but we got one anyway; after all what's one more LARGE item in a TINY HOUSE??!

See that space where I'm storing towels under the counter?  The pressure cooker actually fits perfectly there once I moved some things around.

 

Now that it is out of the box it doesn't look quite so intimidating.  

Not to mention I made a Cheesy Broccoli Potato casserole this afternoon in under an hour!!!!!!!!!

Hidden Ants: Hidden Treasure

In the process of preparing to transport our male goat to my friends house, I pulled a large tarp out of my outdoor storage (where I stash all the gardening odds and ends/extra goat tethers, etc.).  It's huge so I semi-shook it out and covered the back of my car with it partially folded.

My son brought Brownie out to the car but wasn't putting him in so I huffed over to help out.

"Um, mom, there are ants EVERYWHERE."

Crawling all over the tarp, marching all over the carpet, creeping into all the cracks...DISGUSTING!!!

I rip the tarp out and an ANT HILL had started IN THE FOLD OF THE TARP!

My son jumps in the car and starts stomping and then runs to the house for the shop vac.  I feverishly start vacuuming as fast as possible, rip the carpeting out and vacuum every crack and crevice I can see.  

Here's the carpet
(there wasn't any of that other stuff when we did this,
but I wanted to show you some pics of the space).

Ripping out the carpet leaves this in the corners

I scour the now uncarpeted floor for any little escape artists, lifting the cubby hole on the left side of the car and sucking up the escapees.  

Then I turn my attention to the cubby hole on the right side of the car, lift the lid and 

NECKLACE!!!!!!!!!!

My long sought after "Lost in the Tiny House" (http://tinylivingbigplans.blogspot.com/2016/10/lost-in-tiny-house.html) necklace was in THIS cubby hole.

As I gasp in joy, grab the necklace and jump back to my vacuuming, I remember WHY ON EARTH I put my necklace in the cubby hole of my car OF ALL PLACES:

I was somewhere my car was likely to get broken into.
I knew the glove box would be the first place a thief would look.
I didn't want it lost under the seat (but also a thief likely place).
I knew wallets and purses are desirable to thieves.
I didn't want to wear the necklace (it probably didn't match my outfit!).
I knew this cubby hole was well hidden.

Evidently well hidden enough that if it wasn't for a very disgusting ant catastrophe I probably wouldn't have found it for months.  However, it WAS in a safe place!

Oh, and I haven't seen any ants in my car since the catastrophe: another HUGE blessing!