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Carmen Shenk

authenticity creativity simplicity

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It was fun to hang out with these great guys last weekend! @navigationnowhere is the guy to ask if you have Skoolie questions and @tinyindustrial builds micro dwellings and has a book coming out next year and I can’t wait to see it! That’s exciting stuff people! It’s about the people, the houses are just the excuse that brings us all together. And @tinyhouseexpos are great hosts! #tinyhouses #skoolie #buslife #adventure #homeiswhereyouparkit #liveauthentic

Change what you are used to! Don’t be scared, it’ll be amazing!!! ❤️💜🧡 #change #constantchangeisheretostay #need #want #minimalism #simplicity #liveauthentic #homeiswhereyouparkit

At the chapel where we were on Wednesday the stairs up to the organ loft are the steepest weirdest little stairs ever. Loved them! They were a slightly glorified ladder. Stairs in tiny houses are often MUCH bigger than these!! 🌻🌻🌻 My Austrian literally had to hang upside down over the edge to tune the front pipes at that place. And that’s when the music director showed up. I hate making our clients wait on us, but when hubs is wrong side up then I make people wait until he is done tuning that set before they interrupt him. #stairs #staircase 🌻🌻🌻 His gig tuning pipe organs is a bit like crawling into a shoebox when the shoes are still in there. He literally crawls all around and squeezes into tight spots and once he hung himself upside down from his feet to get to a part of the pipe organ to work on it. I’ll bet he has done that more than once, but only once that I know of in recent years. Unpleasant! He grunts and groans and makes the craziest noises when he’s trying to get somewhere to work on some crazy part and honestly sometimes I laugh my head off - which isn’t nice of me - but he makes the best theatrical noises and throwing some creative German and English at times. LOL! We like the larger pipe organs where it’s easier to get to things! Some are much easier to work on, but it’s rewarding work no matter what size they are. The difference between before tuning and after tuning is really great! Naturally. #tuningapipeorgan #pipeorgan 🌻🌻🌻 It’s weird to think that places where we were early this week got some real flooding from Michael only a day later. Storms have been crazy lately!! #flooding #hurricane #storm

Ella has a new toy from @epicballoons and right away she ate his face off! #goodtimes #dogsofinstagram #dogtoys #shecracksmeup #thankyou

At the Tiny House Expo last weekend we were surrounded by people taking the time to be friendly and it was so damn cool! Love this tiny house community!! #tinyhouse #community #friendly #quote #qotd #skoolie #liveauthentic #homeiswhereyouparkit

Last evening the sky was yellow and gold... and then it turned other weird colors. It was even green for a while in one spot. When I lived in tornado alley colors like this were not good because it could mean a tornado, but it wasn’t storming last night... whew! This was in the evening after a long day of rain. I think the sky is really cool! It has such amazing capacity for surprising colors and that is just so cool! No filters added. #weird #colorfulsky #sunset #yellowsky #weirdcolor #eveningsky

I tried an experiment - organic soap berries. Have you heard of these? They look a little bit like rose hips but they have a unique fruity smell and apparently they work in your laundry as if they were soap. I’ve washed three loads with them now and everything came out great. I have made my own laundry soap for years, but this is an interesting way to do the same thing. Who knew?! I will write a blog post about these after some more experiments. I’m up for anything that gets the chemicals away from my skin. Sleeping in hotel sheets for the past few days has been hard on my skin and I am glad to be back home in my own bed where the sheets are not laden with lots of chemicals! #soapberries #whoknew #naturallaundrysoap #laundry #diylaundry #minimalist #minimalism #minimalistlaundry

We are taking another step toward simplicity today by making our Steinway available for sale. See a photo of it in my previous post. As much as I’ve loved being the owner of that amazing piano - I know that no longer owning this amazing instrument will set me free. And I’m ready. I’m not saying I won’t cry when she goes - but I am ready for this next level of freedom. Sooo ready. #simplicity #freedom #setmefree #minimalism #simplelife #beauty #liberation

It was Steinway day here as we pulled the old darling out of storage to get photographs for the dealer so that they can get a feel for the condition she’s in. This, we hope, will lead to finding a good home for her. When you go tiny, there just isn’t room for things like this which is partly sad but also kind of cool. It’s time. I have moved on. I LOVED hosting concerts in the restaurant with musicians coming to play this amazing instrument!! Loved it!! And at the same time, that feels like a lifetime ago. So it is time to find the next people who will be good stewards of this magnificent instrument. She is for sale, but only to the right people. I need to know that she will be well respected and cared for and shared with the community - not stored in a storage unit!! Her days in hiding should be over, it’s not right for something like this to be hidden away in storage. And it cracks me up how good she looks - even in a storage unit place! LOL! #steinwayconcertgrand #forsale #beautiful #craftsmenship #antique

Saw this sculpture yesterday, isn’t it cool? It reminds me of my step daughter - always learning, reading, researching and exploring. #sculpture #womanreading #gardensculpture #art #beautiful #read #explore #research #learn

This is so true. #fightback #resist #standyourground #liveauthentic #kitchensimplicity #tinyhousefoodie #frugal #minimalist #simplicity

Good morning! Our pipe organ tuning trip continues with this beautiful instrument today. We've already met the new music director and she is absolutely a pleasure. I look forward to making these trips in our Skoolie. I think it will be fun to roll up to places like this without leaving the comforts of home. Then we can do our work and then carry on to the next instrument. I love these out of the way places with instruments that each have their own personality. My Austrian knows the history of them, which is amazing considering how many we take care of. He has a mind like a steel trap!

Tiny House decorations for Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving: Check. Cutest lil pumpkin ever! Isn't this an ideal crop for a farmer in a #tinyhouse ? Lol! #sostinkingcute #pumpkin #miniture #mini #micro #home #decorating #decorations #minimalist #minimalism #skoolie #pumpkins #minipumpkinpie

Enjoying a beer in our roach motel with the bullet holes in the wall by the head of our bed and hoping our Skoolie is legal with the DMV soon. Like really soon. Like soon soon. We travel a good bit tuning pipe organs and I am really looking forward to never leaving home on these trips. Our Skoolie is perfect for this work and I won't miss this place! But expansion foam is a good way to repair bullet holes so points for creativity. LOL! #buslife #seedy #roachmotel #bulletholes #skoolie #traveling #travelingforwork #homeiswhereyouparkit #pipeorgan #tuninginstruments

I like how the windows inspired the people who did the needlework for the fancy chairs at this church. I understand the lilies, grapes, and ivy, but I don't know the name of that first purple flower. It's just cool to notice the details at these places when we visit to tune their pipe organs. Anybody recognize this flower? #flowers #ivy #grapes #stainedglass #churcharts #decor

Last evening my dinner was underwhelming. If it looks like Prego, a few salad shrimp, garlic from a jar and sketti the size of my arm... Well... That's pretty much what it was. I managed part of it but after a bit I just couldn't. And look at him. He ordered well. Be like him. Seriously, I stole broccoli from him and pretended it was garnish - still didn't help. LOL! He let me have one of his crispy fried chicken strips smothered in mystery yellow salad dressing and it was fiendishly delicious and CRUNCHY plus also salty and sweet AND the chicken was hot and the sauce was cold... All the yin and yang of glorified chicken tenders at a premium price and it was So. Effing. Good! *Whimper* It was a true reprieve from the sad mess on my plate. He also had a perfectly cooked rare steak and baked potato with butter and sour cream. Sigh. This is why eating out is so hit or miss. I should have looked at that menu description and known that would be one long spaghetti-O... with pickled garlic from a jar but no. LOL! And Garnish! Would it have killed them to add some fresh parsley? Basil? Lawn clippings? Something! Note to self: Spaghetti-No. #ocharlies #chickentenders #spaghettino #foodcritic #underwhelming

This is my office this morning, we are here to tune this magnificent instrument. I love the stained glass here, it's the only client we have with an earthy purple and green color scheme and very floral designs in the glass. Love it! It's a small but high end old sanctuary, very stately. It's a downtown church right on the street, the sort of cool old building that would be in the historic district downtown anywhere in the US - very beautiful but slightly aside from modern life so to speak. He is now running through the stops to see how out of tune it is, and what needs attention. There is a cipher now - lol! And there are some weird action problems to fix because of high humidity in the room, so we will be here a while. After he has fixed the initial stuff I will be helping him tune by holding the keys he asks for.

Dear Hive, these lovely ladies interviewed me at the Expo and I got their card but I have already misplaced it. And I am awful with names - which is such bad form because they were so sweet and we had an interesting conversation! Please - someone - who are these marvelous women? (I already know who the middle one is - thanks! LOL!). I loved hanging out with them! If you know them - please tag them or comment or something. I thought they also messaged me but I can’t find the message either. Grrr! #Blastedtechnology #usererror #blogger #interviews #whoisthis #hivemind

Blog

Would you like a Tour of my Skoolie?
What Your Clutter is Trying to Tell You!
Launch Day
Can you Judge a Book by the Cover?
Live a F.A.S.T. Life (Fabulous, Abundant, Simple, Tiny)
Coming Home: Letters from a Tiny House
The Advance Reader Copy of my Book is Here!
Meeting my new Book for the First Time!
Inspired
The Future She Left Behind

Tiny House Foodie:

The Blog Post that started with some thoughts on Branding and ended up a Manifesto on Simplicity.

I got some advice about branding early on that I’m throwing out the window now. I used to look at this as a brand, but that got old. Now I look at it as …

Random Things I love about the Tiny House Community

My very favorite part is seeing people come through and realize they can do this! They can live this way – and see that dawn on them – and the freedom it represents…

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