When I sold the Villa I had to do something with all of my belongings. I could not take it all to Washington State so I decided to give away all I could and put the rest into a storage unit until the time when I returned to Florida. I thought I would be back here in a few months. I sorted some things but found it was a bigger job than I could handle alone so Landen and I just pack up most of it and put it into two storage units and we left for Washington.
It was not in the cards to move back to Florida with the whole family so the end of February found me on a plane headed back to Florida to live with Patty. I moved into her home along with her two children and three grandchildren. They all packed in a little closer and made room for me. Plans were made for a new house right next door to the present one. Tyler went through all the paper work and permits and financing that goes with a new house and finally the contract was signed. We hoped to be in the new house in three months but it turned into nine months before it was time to move. Everyone adjusted to the crowded home life and we all got closer and didn’t mind but were glad when the move finally came.
Then came the problem of my “stuff” in storage. It was decided I could get a shed to put on the lot behind the house and I could put in there everything I wanted to keep and the rest I would give to Good Will or Salvation Army.Thus began a long hard job. I ordered the shed in April but could not put it on the lot until the house itself was done so we waited and waited. Finally in Nov. it looked like the house would be done soon so I picked out the shed I wanted and they began making it and all I had to do was get a building permit to put it on the land. Easy, right? Hold on, no permit until Tyler took possession of the house and was living there. Just because he owned it wasn’t enough he had to have that address on his driver’s license and that he had to do and then he had to go to the city offices and get the permit and that meant taking time off work to go there when the office hours were and Tyler worked six days a week with Sunday his only day off so he had to take a day off to get the permit. If he didn’t work he didn’t get paid and he needed all the money he could get to pay for a new house. Another catch 22. It seemed that there were too many of those.
Finally we got everything going forward and the shed was moved onto the lot. This is my shed. It is 24 feet long and 12 feet wide. There are two windows on each side and four feet are taken off the front for a porch. The shed itself would be filled with shelves and if I want to work over there I could sit out on the porch. Patty gave me two nice rocking chairs and a small table for Christmas. They fit just right on the porch. This is the front, this is the porch and the 52″ front door. The windows in the door help to bring light into the shed. . Another view of the front showing the porch but you see it is high off the ground and I could not get up onto the porch. The younger people could but I couldn’t so I knew then I needed steps on the front. This is the back of the shed. You will again notice I have double doors so if we need to bring in large items into the shed we could take them in this way but how could we lift them in? I needed a ramp on this side of the shed. Add into this mix my new dog, Otis Max. He thought the shed was great but he could not come out there and just run free. I needed a fence around the yard so I didn’t have to take him on a leash every time I went to the shed and as he showed me very quickly I needed something around the shed so he could not go under it and get caught. More things to do before I could put my “stuff” in there.
Once this was on our lot I started getting electricity, insolation and paneling put into the shed so that it was useable come summer and the temperatures inside that shed would reach over 100 degrees without AC so that also needed to get in.
I waited and waited until Tyler put a fence around the yard and he was nervous about spending more money that he didn’t have. There were so many things for him to buy just to move into a new house. Between Tyler, his mother and myself we got the things we needed to live in a new house and I got someone to fence in the back yard so I could let Otis out without a leash. I got some one to bring electricity to the shed. Both of these things needed permits to do and luckily the contractors could pull the permits so that part went smoothly, they also took care of the inspections that went with it so that went smoothly. Then came in rest. Kareem, who put up the fence was a handyman so I asked him about the finishing inside the shed and he contracted to do it all for me. That took all the pressure off me and he did a wonderful job. These are the steps he built for me on the front. This is the skirt Kareem put around the shed so that Otis could not crawl under the house and neither could the neighbor’s cats or other animals that prowl around at night. This is the ramp in the back. Now if I have anything large we can bring it in through here if I remember to use it. In side went along well also. I had ordered and gotten all kinds of shelves for the inside but they all needed to be put together. They were all in boxes piled up on Becca’s screened in porch. In the way and not in my shed. As the inside began to be finished and Tyler could not get the time off to do it for me I asked Kareem if they could put together my shelves and they agreed if there was time on Friday to do it as they had another job to do starting on Monday. Well the electric did not pass the first inspection so Kareem could not put up the insolation on Wed as he had planned so they did not come to work here that day which meant they lost a day. Thursday it passed and Kareem and his crew came and got the insolation all put up and the started on the paneling. Friday they finished the paneling and we decided we really need something on the floor and there was some paneling they could not get done Friday as it was getting dark. So Kareem said he would get his men started on the new job on Monday and he would come and finish up my job. That was great but I couldn’t wait for the shelves so I started putting them together. I got the four five footers done and four small ones for under the windows.
On Monday Kareem came back and finished inside, I moved the shelves I made in and he started on the first work station. He was surprised when he saw what I meant by putting up shelves and found it took an hour and a half to do that one station so he ran out of time. We agreed I would still work at putting them together and if Tyler could take time off he would try the other two stations and if I couldn’t get them done Kareem would call me in two weeks and see if he needed to come back and put together the last of the shelves.
I work on the cubby shelves and they came out pretty good and Becca moved them over to the shed as they were too heavy for me. Then Patty said she would help me put together one more station. We did that last Tuesday and near killed ourselves but we made it on Becca’s porch as we could not lift the box to carry it to the shed and when we got it together how do we get it to the shed? Becca and Jen carried it over and they near killed themselves too. So I decided I didn’t need the last work station. If Becca wants it for her house with the kids she can have it other wise we will give it to Good Will and let them Put it together.
This is the corner just inside the back door. These are two of the smaller shelves I put together and here I am storing my yarn. This is on the other side of the door with two more of the small shelves and here I am putting my finished projects and my embroidery work and materials. Also some sewing on the plastic shelves. Under the side windows I have put the 6 cubby shelves both this side and across the shed on the other side. I have not decided what will go into these cubbies yet; I am trying different things but won’t be sure until I get all the “stuff” from storage. The small plastic set of draws next to the cubby is for James’s rock collection. As he learns the name of each rock it will go into the cabinet so he can keep track of them. Just inside the front door is this chrome shelves and here I will put most of my genealogy material. I have one more of these shelves to put together and two more wire shelves plus a large book case. There are the cubby shelves under the. two front window also and for some reason I didn’t get the picture of the work stations but I have two of those in the middle of the room. I’ll get those pictures today and put them in a new post.
Now I have to pack in all the boxes from storage and sort all that out and when it is all together so you can see it I will take more pictures in side. You will see I won’t do too much work in here as it will be pretty full I also will take pictures of the AC/heater unit for you. For now I need some lunch so I’ll say have a good day and talk to you again soon.