When Covid 19 hit, I had to come up with a new way to offset the costs of this blog since commissions and sponsorships dried up. It was recommended that I allow advertising on my site, like permanent ad banners, but I find that annoying on other sites so I didn’t want it on mine. I instituted a monthly subscription instead and one benefit is an extra post each week — like this one.
So, hey Patrons! After last week’s post, I immediately went out and tried my lights in the ceiling with this little battery pack I’ve got and they worked!
I don’t know why I didn’t think to try them out the day I wired them, especially since they might not have worked and I already had them secured in the ceiling! I have learned since then to try everything right after I wire it!
And wiring I have been…
I got these under cabinet lights working and installed the light switch for the ceiling lights you can see in the background.
And I got this light switch, which is a dimmer even, working for the under cabinet lights.
I drilled a hole in the shower ceiling and put this light in and wired and working. I still have to do the switch though.
I got this baby working! You can’t see the blades because this is a picture of it in action. This doesn’t have a switch. It has a remote control and everything works beautifully!
I put this gooseneck reading light up above the bench seat, but I’m not sure about it. I only have it glued up there and the second one already came unglued. Plus, they are bigger than I imagined and seem to get in the way. I don’t know. I’m going to leave it there for awhile and see if it bugs me or gets in the way or not.
Alright, I’m here to tell you that I feel pretty confident wiring up electronic gadgets. Now, if there is a problem, I don’t feel like an expert who could trouble shoot something, but really it’s simply wires that go from power to switch to appliance. Not rocket science!
I’m done wiring for the time being because I’m waiting on a couple of other items, but I’m pretty much done wiring all my lights. I will be wiring each appliance or gadget as I go, so that will happen over the next few months. Really, with the fan and lights working, I could manage in this van on a road trip right now!
Since electricity is done for now, I started working on my roof rack that will hold the solar panels. This is one of those projects that I had no clear idea of what to do and couldn’t find a step-by-step video or blog post to walk me through, so I had to engineer it myself. This should be done this weekend so I’ll go through the blow-by-blow for you next week, but so far this is what I’ve accomplished:
See the metal brackets up on the roof? I figured out how to attach them without drilling any more holes in the roof!
And the other side. The most nerve-wracking part of this project is unfolding the heavy ladder in the front yard, in front of all the neighbors, and all walkers walking by, and hoist it onto the side of the van and climbing up there.
First bracket, I carefully climbed the ladder with my tools in my pockets, feeling totally self-conscience, but by the fourth bracket I was climbing the ladder confidently with the tools in my hands, like a boss. Out in the country, I didn’t have an audience, or at least not much of an audience, but here I do, so that is something I need to get over.
The other thing I’ve been working on is putting together my butcher block counter. Wanna sneak peak of it?
This is in the garage (my new work space) and each day I glue a few more boards to the counter. It should be done by next week, so you will be able to see it done soon!
It’s funny, as I write this and show you all the pictures, it seems like I’ve done a lot of work, but each day when I’m actually out there working, I feel like I get so little accomplished. I seriously say to myself “I gotta get something done to show my readers”! Plus, I look around and see how much more I still need to do and it can be overwhelming. Yes, I do try to remind myself how much I’ve already accomplished, but I am really feeling the deadline to be done by September 1st.
At least I’m not moving in the middle of the summer! Sometimes when I try to find a tool or something I’ve purchased for the van and everything is in disarray, I remind myself that we did just sell a house and move in the middle of this big project, so it’s normal that I can’t find a little metal tab or that little screw thing. Slowly the garage is getting some order to it, at least in the van build side.
I have a new mantra that I saw written on a wooden sign: “everything is figureoutable” ! This is so true and I am living proof of it!
Alright, well, I’m going to head back out there. It’s finally not raining and 85 degrees here, so I’m not going to melt as I work outside, like I have been this last past week. Even the humidity seems down today, so this is a good day to finish a roof rack!
Take care everyone!