Eight Great Traits of Living in a Small House

I live in a small home. While that's a pretty subjective statement, I can't help but see the large houses in the subdivisions all around me. They're pretty big. In the (relatively) modest subdivision next door, the houses are between 50-100% larger than our house. And if I were living alone, my house would be plenty spacious, but thankfully I'm surrounded by my family, which means there are five of us living under this dainty roof.

I could complain about my small house. But I won't. Because at the end of the day, I have a house. It's dry and warm, clean and safe. I'm happy that I live here. And I've realized some pretty cool advantages of living in smaller digs.



1. I can vacuum my entire house without unplugging the vacuum cleaner. It also doesn't take that long to vacuum (or dust, or clean the walls, or...). Plus, I don't have to deal with stairs.

2. Because I can't fit very much furniture in my house, it's much more inexpensive to furnish. No formal living room set. (Does anyone even host gatherings here instead of the actual living room?) No chaise lounge in the bedroom. (Do they ever get lounged upon?) No china hutch. (It'd get broken anyway.)

3. For better or for worse, we can't escape each other very easily. There are definitely times where one (or all of us) has completely burned through their patience for people. But guess what, sweeties. You gotta learn how to get through those homicidal tendencies. It's a life skill, kids.

4. Baby monitor? Who needs one when you can hear when the baby wakes up clear on the other side of the house!

5. If my kids' bedroom is only 10 feet by 10 feet, there's only 100 square feet of space they're going to have to clean up at the end of the day. If my three kids each had their own bedroom at a more modern 13' x 13', that'd be 507 square feet of space to tidy up, a five-fold increase. Plus, my kids can't hoard toys with which to spread about the house. After every Christmas we must go through to weed out all the toys that never get played with so that they'll have places to put their new ones.

6. I am more aware of what is going on with my kids throughout my home, since I can often see and usually hear what they are doing. Annoying? Yeah, it can be. But it also gives me opportunities to correct when misbehavior is happening that I wouldn't get if I was far, far away in a big house.

7. Home maintenance and utilities are cheaper. Does the carpet need to be replaced? It's cheaper to replace 800 square feet than 1800, potentially by thousands of dollars. Heating is also cheaper. Typically property taxes are cheaper as well (especially in older homes that have locked property tax increases). Really, pretty much everything is cheaper.

8. Forced simplification. If I had a walk-in closet, you bet I'd fill it up with things that I "need". Well, I don't have a walk-in closet. Anything unnecessary goes to a new home (if it even makes it through the door to begin with). I don't feel like I'm drowning in stuff. (Up to my neck in it at times, yes. But never drowning.)

In the end, I really do love my little house. It's so cozy. What do you like about your house?

I like it the way it is. (Mostly.)

DINK.

Double-Income, No Kids.

Have you ever fantasized what it would be like to be one half of a DINK? I could, but I always feel uncomfortable about it because, you know, the kids are non-existent and now I feel like a good mom because even in the chaos I would still choose my completely rambunctious children over sunning myself on the beach in Maui without having to watch three kids like a hawk so they don't drown themselves in the ocean.

I often close my eyes and remember the time roughly between mid-college and our firstborn, when I could go anywhere and do what I wanted without it being a mental and physical challenge. I also lived in the Midwest, where all the main attractions were pretty much located on the same stretch of road and it took me no longer than 8 minutes to get to any of them. What The Husband and I lacked in money, we made up for in freedom. What, it's 4 a.m. but we are both inexplicably awake? Go to the diner for milkshakes or muffins, then head over to wander the aisles of Wal-mart. How romantic!

Actually, that does kind of sound romantic. It beats staying home on Friday nights and trying to outfart each other. Marriage is funny that way.

Control Freak Blues

Is it just me, or are there so many talking heads lecturing about the right way to parent, and so many different pieces of advice (many of which conflict), that no matter what you do, you are doing something wrong?

And when I'm doing something wrong, I'm not just doing something wrong. I'm doing something WRONG! W R O N G ! And now it's too late to make it right! I've completely wrecked my kids!!

But I don't think there is anything wrong with the kids. I think it's me. I think I'm a control freak.

Emotional aerobics in my coffee mug

There is nothing more terrifying than throwing back the last swill of my coffee and finding, to my horror, that it contains chunks. Mushy, mysterious chunks.

Then there is nothing like the relief of the realization that I put those chunks in there when I was dipping biscotti into my brew not ten minutes earlier.

And finally, there is nothing like the wave of stupidity that overcomes me when I remember that I did this last week, too.

Time ticks, life clicks

"The days are long, but the years are short."

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

It's been so long, yet it feels like just yesterday. I've been a mom for almost five years, and with each additional month, the job seems simultaneously more serious and more, well, silly.

We've been blessed beyond anything we could ever deserve. We have a loving home, nourishing food, good health (and good health insurance), and job security. Praise God!

Our days are filled with playing, reading, coloring, and singing (and cleaning, folding, organizing, and cleaning up pee on the floor...again. [And Pinterest.])

And by fall it will be filled with Kindergarden.

How did we end up here? I'm not sure, but all I can do is hang on for the ride.

And make some vaguely witty remarks. ;)

I Made Corn Chowder Last Night...

...and now I feel like a cow in a feedlot.

Corn Chowder is too corny.

On an unrelated note, I am totally checking this book out from the library when it comes out: Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity From A Consumer Culture.

Methinks there will be a lot of vindication to be had on the day I read it.

Five Minutes on Bread

I would love to start baking bread.

I buy store-brand whole wheat bread. There's a ton of ingredients that I can't grow or buy from a farmer on it. Fail Bread.

I've tried to bake loaves of bread before but I generally fail. Rolls and pizza crusts are easy, but for the life of me I haven't been able to make good sandwich bread. It's always too moist and crumbly. It doesn't hold up to slicing.

Of course, I don't have any time to make bread. Or, rather, I have lots of time to make bread, but it's hard to make bread while holding and/or nursing a baby. And I have a potty-learner who always seems to need to use the bathroom when it is most inconvenient for me. So no baking bread for a while. Sad.

I almost bought a loaf of Dave's Killer Bread at the store this week. But it was nearly $5, and I can buy FOUR loaves of our usual bread for that. And I know I can make it for a fraction of that.

I Want Bread.

Brain Scrambler

I know I seem extremely disjointed lately, and that's because I am. Or at least I feel that way. I have so much in my brain right now that I need to lay out there to get it cleared, but I can't seem to grab an hour or two to myself and just reboot.

It's 99% good stuff. We are so freakin' blessed, it's not even funny! We're undergoing a kitchen remodel right now (which started out as an easy couple of projects and has turned into a beast, but for the good!), I am trying my hardest to not screw up our garden this year, the kids are changing and growing and I'm trying to give them great opportunities to grow and learn and be happy, we've had huge family changes in the last few months (my father-in-law's passing and we have two new nieces, not to mention Oopma-Loompa!), plus miscellaneous odds and ends projects that for some reason I seem to want to do. Oh, and I have this newfound interest in permaculture. Plus, you know, the dishes need to be washed, the family needs me to cook them dinner, the laundry seems to pile up quicker than I can get to it, and I'm trying to potty-train a three-year-old who hasn't had an accident-free day in the last month (you can just about imagine how my house smells, yuck!).

Haha, I just checked out a book from the library today! What makes me think I'm even going to get to it??

SO, in summary, I love this blog and I love to journal, but damn, it's hard!

I'm making a goal for myself, right here and now. I'm going to be done with half of my "stuff" that's going on in two weeks. That's about June 10. I'm going to clear off my slate before I get into anything else, CAPEESH? Capeesh.

Clearing my Mental Cache

These are things that I have contemplated writing about here, but for various reasons have not. If anybody develops a way to add a few hours to my day, please contact me. ;)

Slug hunting

Baby talks

Growing a Miniature Orchard (Or, Why I love Permaculture Magazine)

Farmville

Why Am I Playing So Much Freakin' Farmville?

Thrips

Aphids

Outdoor Preschools

Radical Homemaking

Hypomania

Recipes, Including Vegetable Pasta Salad and BBQ Chicken Pizza

Oh, And Lemon Curd

The Documentary Entitled "Escape From Suburbia"

Why Won't My Baby Sleep?

What Was That Noise, and Where Is My Preschooler?

The Kitchen Remodel

And much, much more...I want to write. I'm just too busy living life right now!

Catch You On The Flip Side

The Husband and his sister (TL) were a little over an hour away from home when they received the phone call that their father had passed away. They were too late.

They put The Statler Brothers in the stereo in the car and jammed out to it in his memory.

As they turned off the interstate and onto the two-lane highway, they came upon a huge flock of pheasants. The Husband said he's never seen so many at one time in his life. He guessed that his dad was now hunting with his hunting dogs, Snappy and Snow, who had passed on years ago.

Seems about right.

Gerald: Dad, Grandpa, Husband, Brother, and Uncle
May 3, 1954-April 24, 2010

Life and Death

Haven't posted in a few months. Life lives.

Oompa-Loompa was born on January 22. He came into the world here at our home; it was a beautiful waterbirth. A healing birth.



He's three months old now. He's really figured out how to function earthside, and he is a mostly happy baby now.

We celebrate.

Munchkin turned three years old in March.



She's had a few rough patches over the last few months, but she is still my sweet, caring daughter on the inside. I've been able to see how she deals with stress, and unfortunately she deals with it kind of like me: retreating to seclusion and shutting everyone else out. Oh, and crying a lot. I wish I could have some do-overs lately.

Nobody told me that the mommy guilt would hit like a Peterbuilt semi after #2 is born. I think that's been the hardest part of a handful of hard parts.

But every day is a new start. A clean slate. An opportunity to create more love in our lives.



The Husband's father (my father-in-law) is very near the end of his life. He will be departing within the next day or two. We went to see him earlier this month, and while I wish we would have gone sooner, I'm glad he got to see his grandkids one last (and, for Oompa, first) time. Hopefully The Husband will be able to make it in time to say goodbye himself.

We grieve.

It's surreal. The Husband is only 26 years old, too young to have to say goodbye to his father. Papa Gerald is only ten days short of his 56th birthday, too young to go, really. What a shame. I grieve for my husband, for my children, for his wife he leaves behind. So sad.

Ok, I had to get that out there. I feel better now. Thanks for listening.

New Starts

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful." -Mark Victor Hansen

"As you begin to take action toward the fulfillment of your goals and dreams, you must realize that not every action will be perfect. Not every action will produce the desired result. Not every action will work. Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right." -Jack Canfield

"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing" -Thomas Jefferson

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. " -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Regular posting to resume momentarily. Happy Spring.

New Year's Resolution

Hello...hello? Is this thing on? *taptap*

Hi, My name is HausFrau, and I'm a naughty blogger.

Today is still January 1. It's a better time than ever to start up again, no?

I humbly apologize for my gaping inadequacies. I promise I have no more morning sickness. Though, it's getting awfully hard to move.

So much has happened and on the verge of happening that it's hard to know where to begin.

We are still very much enjoying our house. I laid around in it for two straight months, doing nothing but forcing myself to eat popsicles and toast while I kept the TV on the 24-hour cartoon channel. After I finally felt better, the summer was all but shot, and I quite enjoyed the autumn and beginning of winter. I've been cooking up a storm, making up for all the meals I didn't eat earlier.

Munchkin and Husband are doing quite well. Husband has taken to playing copious amounts of computer games in anticipation of this little one's arrival, just like he did with Munchkin. I've found it's best to let him get it out of his system. Munchkin likes to talk about her "baby brother" (yes, it's a boy) and give my belly kisses and cuddles. Today she was trying to get him to sing with her. I'm not sure how she expected that to work.

I am 35 weeks along, so I am in the midst of getting our home set up for the birth and the baby. I have some cleaning tasks to attend to in the next few days, a few miscellaneous birth supplies left to acquire, and some knitting and sewing projects to finish up, but other than that we are ready. Oh, I am so ready. I feel like I'm going to burst open, and flipping from one side to another in bed is a five-point maneuver.

I could probably blather on for another four or five paragraphs, but I won't do that all at once. My life is fairly boring, right, so I need to stretch out of blathering for a few posts at least. ;)

Couch Potato

Hello, world. I have not forgotten my blog. I think about it often, actually, but since I have been doing the same thing every day since when I last posted, there hasn't been much point to updating. Plus summoning up the mental stamina to write a blog post is a bit daunting lately.

So what have I been up to? Nothing. Laying on the couch, wishing I was unconscious. Forcing myself to eat whenever possible. Missing normal life. Loving Husband for doing all of the cooking, cleaning, and his normal house chores, and working 40 hours a week, all with a smile and a hug. Isn't he amazing? Loving Munchkin for being perfectly content while watching cartoons (*cringe*) and playing all day long. Plotting revenge for bored teenagers who seem to enjoy trespassing and harassing us in the middle of the night. I vote paintballs, but I don't want to spend the money on supplies, nor would I be willing to do a night watch.

I hope to feel better soon. I wish I felt better NOW. Hopefully life (and blog posting) will return to normal...soon.

Damn You Perfect Brownie Pan

For now a pregnant woman with a broken oven weeps...

Jumping In

Have you ever gone swimming with your friends on the first nice day of the year? The pool isn't quite warm yet but you have been waiting all winter for this day, and you don't want to get in because it's going to be almost unbearably cold. You dread it. But you remind yourself that it won't last too long, and after that you and your friends will have a lot of fun. That seems reassuring, but you still dread it. After stalling for awhile, you finally force yourself to jump in...

I'm there. We have loads of empty boxes laying around, begging us to be filled. Meanwhile, I'm still futzing around with things in cupboards and drawers and closets and shelves, meticulously putting them away after I've sorted through them as though they won't be thrown in one of the aforementioned boxes in a few days. I carefully clean my kitchen every evening, putting everything in its place, and I almost can't bear to think that I'll be tearing it all apart within a matter of days. I'm holding back, clawing at "home" to keep it from vanishing. The end is imminent.

In other news, my finger is doing better. It doesn't hurt anymore, but it is really stiff. I can't flex it all the way, and it is weak. As long as it doesn't hurt though, I'll be okay. I can move with a stiff, weak finger, but not a stiff, weak, PAINFUL finger. 

Munchkin refused to take a nap yesterday and never became belligerent, so she skipped it. I think that's the first time she went all day without a nap. Let's just say I prefer naps for her. I like my little break in the afternoon! Hopefully that was just a fluke, and that she continues to nap, like she did today. I just need to be better at wearing her out.

Laryngitis For My Fingers

Did you know that it's incredibly hard to type when two of your fingers are buddy taped together? Well, it is. So here's a picture!

Scullery Maid

Well, I finally found my motivation and cleaned the daylights out of our home. Not that I'm aiming to knock my MIL's socks off, so to speak, with my awesomely sparkly home (okay, maybe a little), but it needed the cleaning anyway in preparation of us moving out next month. Just a little less to scrub, know what I mean? I gave it my all, and now I'm pooped.

Now, after a long, hard day's work, it is late, and I'm going to bed. In the morning I'm getting up, showering (with Munchkin, as always, because although my bathroom is sparkly, I still don't want her playing in the toilet), baking banana bread (for the ambiance, right?) and heading over to the airport to pick her up. Don't know if I'll be able to update much while she's here. But if I'm not back by Tuesday, send a search party, okay?

Letter to our Upstairs Neighbor

Hello, Neighbor.

I just thought I'd write you a letter telling you we will be moving in a month. You see, we are buying our very own house. It's a cute little house with a big backyard with a fence and a gate so your dog can't come over and poop in it. Which is great, because now I won't have to endure "Abby, go potty! Abby, go potty!" over and over, right outside my living room window.

It's been a fun time being your downstairs neighbors. My favorite memories involved your young teenage daughter having school off, and you being at work. She really knows how to party, it seems, because I could hear every single lyric pumping out of that stereo! If she has a hearing problem, though, I am sorry to bring it up. I should be more understanding. Although, that wouldn't explain the running, or traditional clog dancing, or whatever her and her little girlfriends were doing up there. Kids and their energy, huh?

And how could I forget the time right after you moved in, when I had a small baby, when you hired some dudes to come install a hardwood floor for you! And they pitched their little tent, which held the power saw to cut the planks, immediately outside our door! They had to do that because when they were cutting the wood inside, it kept setting off the fire alarms. That was three days of pure fun for both me and Infant Munchkin. I'm glad you didn't let me know ahead of time, because I quite enjoyed sitting at home, listening to the "REEEEEEE!" of the power saw and the "BAM! BAM! BAM!" of the hammers and the "EEEEP! EEEEP! EEEEP!" of the fire alarms. But it didn't stop after the installation, because (joy!) you have the habit of walking around with your heels on.

I wanted to thank you for being more considerate than the couple that lived in your place before you bought it. They would get up at 6:30 every morning and drag their dining room chairs all over the dining room floor. It's not really so horrible, per say, to use one's furniture for its intended manner, but the fact is that our bedroom is immediately below said dining room, and when they dragged (drug?) their chairs around, it was not only super loud, but it made something in our ceiling fan resonate, which doubled the noise. I wouldn't be surprised it it was twice as loud in our bedroom as it was in their dining room! But as it stands, you leave at 9:30 and I don't even think you eat breakfast. So kudos to you!

All-in-all, you've been a great upstairs neighbor. We've had our differences and our issues, but we live in high-density residential housing, so those things happen. I'm just glad you don't throw raves in your living room or feel the need to exercise by running up and down your staircase or have a small child up there chasing your dog and cat around. THAT could get annoying. (Hey, don't get me wrong, I love kids and all, but I'm just grateful that none live above me.)

So, next month, I'll move out, and you won't have to listen to me singing "Shake Your Sillies Out" or "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" eight or twelve times a day. We'll call it a win-win.

Love,
HausFrau

Learning Moment

Don't chop up jalepeños and then pick your nose.

Don't ask me how I know this.

That is all.