Author Archives: Laura

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About Laura

Laura is an Artist who lives in Guelph Ontario. She is interested in societal equality, beauty, architecture, philosophy, feminism, people watching, dogs, animal rescue, ecology, as well as the generational ties between people. Laura has always been interested in peace and because she loves animals she is vegan. https://www.instagram.com/atelieroflauraleemoreland/ https://www.facebook.com/AtelierofLauraLeeMoreland https://atelieroflauraleemoreland.com

Seeing Next Week

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Laura

I am grudgingly still in the city way over on the South West side of the big lake.  I don’t like it a bit and miss being at THO on the North East.  I have to stay here until late next week because I have to see an eye specialist.  I am afraid that my eyesight is running away from me faster than it should and with some (a lot) of eye issues on both sides of my family, it is time.  I need, as did my 89 year old grandmother, to use 3.75 glasses to read and often suffer with aches behind my eyes.  Granted I do spend a lot of time using the green devils at the top of my face, I am hoping they are just tired, not sick and tired.

The family has left to go home to Germany which is another reason that I came here, it was lovely to see them.  Too, I also had to see my dentist and I am glad to be done with it, I had a good cleaning, but must go back for a crown on a tooth that has been wobbly since I was about 14 years of age.

I think I am too young to be falling apart!  I am just in my mid 40’s but I am not as fit as I would like to be and yet I refuse to go to the gym and stop eating candy, so I can’t want youth as badly as I think I do.

It will be 7 days exactly from this day that I arrive back home at THO and start connecting the wiring in.  I have to say I am pretty darn excited about this!   For now, I wait and dream about the Tiny House in the forest.

 

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.”  ~ HD Thoreau

 
Categories: Forest, Ontario, Simple living, Tiny House Ontario, View, Writing | Leave a comment

Money, Money, Money

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Laura

I always put off doing the figures for the 1/2 year because this makes me crazy!  Financial stuff is so darn boring and always so bleak!

Last night when I was doing the figures for this year Hj exclaimed “that is a lot of money” and of course he is right.  THO has cost $92,703 for the lot.  There is a hidden cost too which is not included in here.  This is the land debt.  We have been doing projects on a pay as we go with the income that Hj and I live within, but we do owe money on the land still.  $38,000 of the original $67,000 is still outstanding.  With the payment of $250/month that is made on this but at this rate we are likely never ever going to pay this debt off.  As a matter of fact when we got the loan in fall of 2010 it was about the same amount as it is today.  Not too sharp!  We simply must stop the financially costly improvements on THO and start paying down the debt.  When you start adding interest to the figures it becomes NUTS to have debt!

Saying that we are not nearly as bad off as some people does not make this debt excusable or explainable.

The fact is that we are pretty privileged!  We have two properties, one that is required in Southern Ontario as well as THO and together we pretty near have both land and space though not exactly a McMansion.  Kent Griswold’s Tiny House Blog hosts an article by Andrew Morrison, which suggests that a Tiny Straw Bale home is the answer could be right.  The interesting idea in this article is that he has taken some time to gather some very frightening unconsidered figures on what the McMansion cost their owners/ hour to live in.

I am not sure of his figures but I have done some of my own (to the best of my ability).

The Hamilton house value about $150,000 it is 1000 square feet.   When I include all expenses including food, recreation, mortgage, upkeep, vets, dog care, car, home and debt insurance, … living in this small house costs ~$48,940 a year

As a purely recreational property without any improvements THO adds an additional ~$4,580 to this budget a year, plus extra transportation costs for back and forth between the two places.  This makes THO a ~$400/month recreational property but as I mention we need to increase our payments on the land, perhaps $300/month which ups this to $700!  Brutal!

Assuming we would still use two vehicles and the same amount of gasoline: if we moved to THO, full time, today and lived a similar lifestyle our living costs would drop to ~$26,180 a year, but we cannot.  It is like that silly children’s round… there is a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza!  For him there is a hole – for us there is a different kind of hole.  THO’s hole is the nearly $40K in land debt.  Either I have to get a job or win the lottery if I want to move ahead… unless anyone wants to give me $40K… which I think is mighty unlikely.

Categories: Money, Ontario, Open your eyes, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | 3 Comments

Little Pink Houses

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Laura

I really like this little pink house and not just because it reminds me of John Cougar (before he went back to Mellancamp) and my youth.  The way that this central pink house is similar to THO and has has grown organically into a small house makes me wistful and wishful.  I don’t mean for this house but for my own Tiny House and what is in its future.  This one is for sale in Illinois for $38,700 and on the water and you can see a lot more photos at the link.  I really like it, even though the additions are not exactly the way that I would do them if I am ever able to add on at Tiny House Ontario, but then how we do things is very individual!

I have mentioned before on here that I would like to have had a 300 square foot house but the under 108 square foot (foot print) was defined by building codes.  You can’t always get what you want… but even so, what I am really strongly hoping is that before I make my move to THO that these size restrictive codes will have changed.  I would love a 200 foot addition on the front from the roof line out, with a bathroom, laundry room and kitchen.  I would want this addition to be made from Timber frame from our own logs, straw-bale and glass with proper stairs to the loft because I am not getting any younger!

I am a long way away from this – still have to hook up the solar and come to understand how it works year around.  Too with the lack of heat, water, the indoor functional kitchenette and a husband that is a long way from wanting to retire I am stuck between two lives.  THO has a life that I want but can’t quite attain, and one that I want rid of that has things in it that are required.  I guess I have to keep on banging away and working on more things than one.

Categories: Money, Open your eyes, Stuff, Tiny House Ontario | 2 Comments

Canadian Farmer Art

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Laura

I got tickets to see a number of the Piccaso works.  His paintings are on loan to the Art Gallery of Ontario until the end of the week because their home in France is under construction.  Even though he is long from being my favourite artist, it was great to have the chance to see them while they are so close.  I got the strong impression that I would not have liked the man much even though there are a few of his paintings that I really like.  The one I liked best is Two Women Running on a Beach but the detail of this tiny painting (maybe 8×10?) is lost in all the e-pictures I found on line.  In the original you can feel the women’s exuberance!

I saw a lot of paintings today and I have to tell you quite honestly that the ones that I loved most are the ones by Lawren Harris.  I am biased of course!  I love his work and after walking through the busy and lovely Picasso display there was a double door that said push and when I did I saw The Group of Seven and Emily Carr before me!  I was so excited that I very nearly wept!  I had no idea that they had so many Harris pieces!

One of the most interesting facts about The Group of Seven which is ignored by galleries and the artsy people is that without Canadian farmers these works would not in all likelihood exist in the way that they do.  Lawren Harris who is one of the founding members of the group was the son of the very wealthy  Thomas Morgan Harris – the Harris’ of the Massey Harris industrialists.  The Harris family money came from building and selling tractors to farmers.

Lawren Harris (in my opinion) put his money to fantastic use with this group of artists.  He and his buddy Dr. James McCallum built the group space for them so that they could work (or live) in, and Harris even financed trips for them.  In both 1918 and 1919 he put some of that tractor money to good use and paid for the boxcar trips that took The Group to Algoma to paint!  Can you imagine The Group of Seven works without the Algoma works?  I can’t!  Thank you farmers and Harris too!   Another mitigating factor is that Harris himself never had to work (though he did have a job for about two years of his life).  This family fortune meant that he did not have to be concerned about the cost of canvas, paints, brushes, housing or any life stuff, and with the luxury of both time and money he created a magnificent body of work.

I wonder if all creative people had family fortunes which allowed them to do what they wished, what kind of world we would live in?

Categories: Open your eyes, Tiny House Ontario, View | 5 Comments

Don’t tell me to stuff it!

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Laura

I am catching up on the Tiny House community while I am in Hamilton and I have the luxury of a full time internet connection.

I found this interview with Dee Williams.  Dee has been living full time in her 84 square foot Tiny House (on wheels) in Olympia Washington, since 2003.

I think that she and I have more in common than having dogs named Rudi… but I have come to understand that we Tiny Housers all have things in common.  I can’t speak for us all, but I have noticed, largely, that we do not wish to participate in consumer culture, we think about what we consume and we try to lead our lives simply and sustainably.  More than once I have heard Tiny Housers speak to the issue of simplification because they want time with those who they care about, more than they want stuff in their lives.

“I think stuff is a huge distraction from your character”  Dee Williams

Categories: Environmentalism, Family, Friendship, Materialism, Off Grid, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny house, View | 3 Comments