"Comfortable"

My husband and I attended a conference this weekend (it was amazing!) and we stayed a couple nights in a place we found on Airbnb.  The place was great (I'll be checking Airbnb next time we travel): large bedroom with vaulted ceiling, full size closet and private bathroom with large walk in shower.

I didn't think to get pictures of the room we stayed in, but it was really simply and nicely decorated and clean.


And I started missing my tiny loft space.

Funny, isn't it, how "comfortable" becomes the things we are used to?

I love my tiny space.

I really didn't want to leave the encouragement from the conference 

but I was glad to get back to my own bed in my own space.  

When downsizing isn't all it's cracked up to be...

When your washer/dryer combo doesn't dry and you wake up at 4:30am to attend a conference but your one pair of skinny jeans is still dripping wet.

So, you reach for your one other pair of jeans only to find that there is a stain on the front of them you hadn't noticed.

I'd be frustrated with my favorite jeans being out of commission but when said jeans are your only jeans...

...your only other pants are jogging pants or dirty work pants...

Downsizing trauma.

Good thing is, the stained jeans were clean and dry; I'm sure no one will notice those two big oil stains on the front of them.

Sleep deprivation effects my ability to refrain from self-consciousness over my clothing and I need to call someone to fix my washer/dryer.  

Nighty-night..maybe

Oh, you know just hanging out in a cargo net suspended across my ceiling.

Blew my eyes out trying to LOOK at the camera so now it looks like I'm sleeping...and I'm still trying to blink the light reflection out of my eyes.  

No, not sleeping just blogging and browsing FB.

WHY am I lounging on my sons cargo net at 11 o'clock PM?  

Someone else in the house is having a hard time getting to sleep.....

....you missed her peek-a-boo face that pops out every couple minutes to make sure I'm still there....

Yes, this is a Con of having a tiny house.  If one child has trouble going to sleep, the other child ALSO has trouble (not dissimilar to children sharing a room, but an inconvenience we didn't have in our 4 bedroom house!) 

So, while I run interference by hanging out in a visible, slightly comfortable location, the child who was not having trouble is with Dad in our bedroom/family room/movie room/school room/music room loft watching youtube.

I've been feeling particularly uninspired the last couple days.

Perhaps this uninspiredness is why I forgot to clean the church building (on the property where our tiny house is located...doing upkeep is sort of like "paying rent"...), oh and heat, I forgot to turn on the heat in the building.  You know this is not good because our tiny house location is sort of reliant on my job.  Ok, to be honest everyone was very cold this morning at church but very gracious...I think we'd have to do a lot more to get a "request to move"...like throw wild parties...or destroy property...yeah, I think we're ok but I still felt bad.

I think my uninspiredness also effected by procrastination in completing a lesson plan for tomorrow's science class (with my son and my little brother)...thankfully I remembered before tomorrow morning!

My uninspiredness hasn't effected my husband though so paneling is done (whoot, whoot!!!) and work has begun to complete my kitchen sink and cupboard unit.

I think I shall sleep now and maybe I will be inspired tomorrow :D

Switchbacks Again

The new adventures in our lives, which started about this time last year, continually reminded me of taking a hike with switchbacks.  We just never quite knew what direction we were headed next or where we would end up.  

If you haven't read my previous posts about the switchbacks but you want to start at the beginning, I've included the links to those posts.

Enjoy the adventures!

http://tinylivingbigplans.blogspot.com/2015/08/switchbacks-in-our-lives-1-2-and-3.html


http://tinylivingbigplans.blogspot.com/2015/10/remembering-switchbacks.html



Switchback #7

While we were moving forward with trusting God for his direction on our new journey, 

we were getting our house ready to sell, downsizing a 1700 sq ft house and dreaming about living in a tiny house.

Meanwhile, my husband was contacted about another job in the new city we were headed to. He was offered and accepted an on-call position that paid more than he's made at any of his previous jobs.  

Not only that,

he would be on-call so he would have time to build our tiny house over the summer!!

Switchback #8

We've moved.

We're staying at my sister's.

My husband has started converting the trailer to accommodate a small house, literally.

I'm loving staying home and concentrating on being a wife and mom.

My husband is working 60-70 hours a week.

Yeah, 60-70 hours a week.  

This schedule IS NOT conducive to building a tiny house within two months.

Switchback #9

Time for another change of plans.  My husband knew that bringing home the bacon takes precedence to building the tiny house, after all we do need money to build the thing.  

We considered purchasing another home but our dream of tiny living was to strongly imbedded.  We want to live debt free and we'd already gotten rid of just about everything we owned (well, it left like it).  This and there was just a real big draw toward the adventure of living in a tiny house.

We agreed to try to find someone who could build the shell of the tiny house for us.

Unfortunately/Fortunately tiny houses are really popular right now.  Most companies were 3-6 months out just to get a tiny house trailer from the trailer manufacturer and then there was the building time needed. 

We had signed a contract stating we would be out of my sisters house on September 1 

- a good idea considering what is to come!

After a lot of searching I found Tiny Heights Homes (http://www.tinyheights.com) and gave them a call.  They had only made one other tiny house and they are a mom and pop kind of business.  This was perfect because they could meet our September 1st deadline and were totally down-to-earth with us.  

We were back on track to be living in a tiny house by the end of summer!

Amazing how easy it is to play on the floor when it's CLEAN

And then there is my son cleaning..."I just jam it all in, that's my method."

Nice.

I think MY methods will be directed toward his loft next!!

My daughters room

I try to teach my kids to clean up there own rooms. 

 I try to give them tips on organizing, clean-up and clean-room-maintenence.  

Sometimes, however, it is just plain therapeutic to go in my daughter's room 

and give it good cleaning.  

Feels SO nice to make her space look the way I want it to look.  

No worries, my "let-kids-be-independent-teach-kids-to-do-it-themselves" friends, it was personalized with strewn books, clothes, snack wrappers, etc within just a few minutes of the return from school.

I have always wanted a "wet room" for a bathroom.  It makes so much sense to me to scrub and hose the whole bathroom down.  I also really like tile; I had imagined my bathroom complete with tile and drain.  

The good news: if I ever want to do a bathroom make-over, our bathroom is tiny.

The bad news:  we had to get our house livable and didn't have the time or money to include everything we wanted.

We're going to seal all the cracks as much as possible, coat the walls in Varethane almost to many times and keep the room as dry as possible...which is hard but now impossible.

Paneling in the bathroom

...is completed!! 

...except for the Varethane...

AND

my husband hung this really cool coat hanger for our coats

As I am attempting all sorts of weird angles to get a good picture of the progress my husband (blocked at the door by my contortionism) asks, "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking pictures," I reply. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to work on something." says the husband, staring pointedly at the project.

"Something I can take pictures of!!" I reply with a smile.

This something he is working on will house the kids shoes and our mud boots as well as store misc. things like soccer gear.

Please don't ask me how, I am not architecturally inclined in the least, for some reason "seeing" things without a model or a picture escapes me, but I'm sure it will be great!  

We're still working on finishing up the outside drainage for the water.  Our running water is working great but we're waiting till next payday to get the supplies to finish the drainage ditch.

And just in case anyone is wondering...I do not like the color of my door.  It is not growing on me like I was told it might.  

Unfortunately, I can't paint again until it's warm enough outside to dry the paint over a 24 hour period.

The back of our house hasn't changed much but it was so sunny yesterday I just had to take another picture :)

Light

I took a lot of pictures of the light coming through all my windows this morning. 

I love the light all of the windows provide in my tiny house.  

Then I found out a young man we know died of cancer this morning.  I can't stop crying and I can't imagine what his family must be going through.  There is light everywhere and yet emotional states are very dark right now.

How do we reconcile all the light with all the dark in the world?

I don't know.

I do know:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  John 8:12

Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. Psalm 112:4

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  John 1:5

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  2 Corinthians 4:6

And there will no longer be any night; and they [a]will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.  Revelations 22:5

The little doeling didn't make it.  She seemed to be getting stronger, even walking around in the sun today, but then she just got weaker and weaker.  She wouldn't eat.  Then she was gone.  My son reminded me of Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibilty, acting out the quote: "Give me something to do or I shall go mad."  He was very sad but once she was gone he got right at digging the grave almost as if he would lose it completely if he didn't have something to do.

God has a hand in all things and He used this little one to teach us a few things about ourselves.  

• Nurturing is my "hobby" - I like taking care of people and animals - this could explain why I find joy caring for animals but no joy when trying to sew a skirt.
• There is "A time to give birth and a time to die" - despite fighting your hardest for life, death may come.
• Even as young as 8, my son needs something to DO in the face of tragedy.

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—

2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace

.....

11 He has made everything appropriate in its time....

12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; 13 moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God. 

14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. 15 That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. 21 Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? 22 I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? (emphasis mine)"  Ecclesiastes 3

New Kid in the Tiny-House

Tonight, these will be staples: 

"Kid Milk" and M&M's ;)

I can't remember if I mentioned it on this blog but we have 4 Nigerian Dwarf goats: 3 does and 1 buck.  They are residing on my parents land right now because we have no fenced area for them where are tiny house is.  One of the does had twins last Wednesday; my mom heard them not long after the were born so I was able to get over there and check on them pretty quick.

Today, my parents and my family were out of town and no one checked on the goats until after dark.  My brother called to let me know there was an extra kid in the goat house and we headed up there to check on the health of mama and baby.

The new kid was cleaned off, standing on its own and nursing.  The new mama was eating and drinking but I decided to look around for the afterbirth, maybe cause something didn't seem right to me, I don't know.  As I looked around the area, I heard a kid cry (there are 3 new kids) but the cry sounded desperate and weak.

I found a 4th kid lying on it's side in the briars, struggling to live.

I picked it up as gentle as possible while trying not to panic, rushed it over to mama and started milking Colostrum into it's tiny mouth.  My son valiantly held mama for me while I tried to hold up the little one, open it's mouth and milk the mama (this particular doe has not been milked by me much and does not like it).  

Little one was sucking and swallowing.  It's heart was beating steady but it couldn't hold up it's own head and was very weak.  My guess is mom had the baby out in the open but it wasn't strong enough to follow her back to the goat house.

As soon as I got "enough" Colostrum into it's little mouth, I took it inside where my mom mixed up some dry goat kid milk and my husband brought in a little more milk from one of the does. I fed the little one with an eye dropper until it seemed to be satisfied.  

Then I checked its gender-doelings bring in twice as much money as bucklings-and this little one is the only doeling out of the 4 kids born this week.  Figures. 

I really didn't want to stay the night at my parents when my own bed is 10 minutes away AND there's no reason we can't have a new resident at our house for one night.

I was able to milk about an ounce of colostrum and milk out of the does before leaving my parents.  We got home and, after filling up her belly, little one went right to sleep in her cozy box-bed.

AND she's already holding her head up better!  

I'll be keeping watch throughout the night and praying she makes a full recovery.  

Oh, and we DO NOT make it habit to bring goats into our house...unless they're sick and need to be nursed!

Pallet Board Blocks

I placed all the extra pallet board pieces from the walls into a box, thinking I might be able to use them for a project at some point.  

My son started taking a few pieces out and building a catapult, which of course then needed a target, the target then needed an army, which needed a city to defend.  Pretty soon there were multiple catapults, tanks and cities.  Quite a feat when he first started seeing as how the floor was still being protected with drop cloths and cardboard!

My daughter joined right in when she got home from school and these unlikely blocks are quite a hit around here now!

Thankfully we've been able to remove all the extra floor protection (except for the piece of plywood my husband is using while he's building) and the floor is nice and flat for these very uneven blocks.

                                            

Dinner gave me a "tiny" bit of trouble.  See, I'm still only using the toaster oven to cook with. This means I made soup (yellow split pea) in my cast iron skillet in the toaster oven. 

Problem:  I needed the cast iron skillet to cook the cornbread.  

I could have used a cake pan but I really like cornbread made in a cast iron skillet.

I transferred most of the soup into a baking dish (minus what wouldn't fit).

This picture shows a very full baking dish.  What is doesn't show is me trying to put the lid on this very full baking dish and soup pouring over the sides; me quickly trying to mop up the spilling soup; and me cleaning the backside of the toaster oven that took the hit from the spilling soup.

I ended up with a overflow bowl of soup.  

In my large kitchen, I had plenty of space for overflow bowls when needed (ok, so maybe this is an operator issue, not toaster-oven-cooking issue...enough said ;).  In my tiny kitchen, every "extra" has to be thought out carefully.  It gets a bit cramped with to many "extras"!

Then, I had to set the soup-in-baking-dish on the toaster oven to stay hot while I cooked the cornbread.  Sometimes this works...not tonight, the soup was warm, but not hot.  My husband mentioned this, but he thanked me for dinner when I looked at him, smart man.

The cornbread got cooked and the soup was tasty (lukewarm but tasty).  

Not my most successful cooking experience but we're fed so we're happy :)

Rain can't hold us down!

Waterproof coats and umbrella's, along with a heavy dose of dancing and joy, and the outdoors is still ours to enjoy!

My house is officially a playground

We have a cargo net, a climbing wall and a rope swing...

The rope swing was originally for my son to get into his room but, hey, we tiny house people like things with a duel purpose :)