The Tables Have Turned

Two years ago, when we moved in, we dined at the kid's table for about 3 months.  I have a lot of pictures of us around this table because I thought it was just so funny.  Our renter, possibly feeling sorry for us, or maybe hoping we'd stop making excuses about how we couldn't entertain, loaned us her cute little oval table.

Oval was awesome--so many good times around this table.  But not so great in our small space.  Too many chairs sticking out, tough to get around. So, Scott started designing and testing out templates.

Then the building began. He picked an oak beam from the Ohio barn, had it milled, glued it together and hand-planed it for what seemed like 40 hours.  Oh, and I should mention he fabricated his own hand-plane to do the work.  Goodness, the man has patience.

Voila!  Pure beauty, it fits the five of us comfortably and pulls out to add up to three more.  Thanks to Scott's patience and craft, we will have lots of memories made at this table.

Temporary Legs--we hope Cactofab will make us some groovy metal ones!

Vanessa

It all began with spreadsheets......

Buying a car is no small task.  Still and all, the thought and introspection around this purchase seemed a little excessive around here.  I'm reminded of the "Portlandia chicken episode" in which the couple wants to see the chicken's papers, learn its name, and visit its farm of origin before eating it.  Well, meet, (or meat) our chicken, who I have named VANessa.  Mason thinks it's pretty silly to name a car, and I appreciate his gravity at four years old.

With my 300K mile Subaru leaking oil all over,  needing a minimum of 2K in maintenance, and unable to safely drive further than City Market, we decided it was indeed time to "bite the bullet."  However, I kept torturing myself, wondering if I could keep limping along with the Suby.  "I could take the bus if it breaks down!  Summer is nearly here,  and soon we will be able to bike!  I'll just keep an oil pan under the car, so the river and soil are not at risk.  Let's put a new engine in it--who cares that I have to use a ski pole to hold up the back door, we can't use it to go camping as a family, and it fills with fumes every time we drive it!  Plus, who needs cup holders, a CD player, or AC.  Why spoil myself now?"

My husband's answer was lots and lots of spreadsheets about cars: true cost to own, reliability ratings, pollution readings, size ratios, gas milage, ownership records....you get the picture.

We found a nice, one-owner van in our price range in great shape.  The boy's friends fit safely when they join us.  We no longer have to unload ladders and compressors from Scott's work rig on a Friday afternoon when we want to go camping.  It has a million cup holders and I can listen to something other than my college mix tapes. She is about as long as our house, which I'm trying to not read too much into (think of the chicken...).

The reaction of our peer group has been humorously mixed.  Some quotes, with my commentary:

 "You are too young to be driving a mini van!" Hey, one of the coolest chicas I know drove a mini van when she was in her 20's,  single, and free.  For her, it was the perfect ride for her dog and adventures.

 "Those are the best, most comfortable cars for a family, but I wouldn't be caught dead in one."  Not only am I comfortable in the van,  I'm comfortable being dorky.

 "Get that thing paid off because we could be headed for another great depression and it would be a shame if you lost your house." This totally plays into the Armageddon scenario that loops through my brain nearly nightly at 3am.  If the van is going to be what breaks us, in the meantime we might as well have fun driving it to Moab!

"We are jealous of your van. You made such a good decision!"  Of course, this is my favorite.

Wall Play

If you don't have space on your floor for more toys, consider moving things up the walls.  Here we took a $6 pizza pan and mounted it for magnets.  It's been a big hit.

For Christmas, Mason asked for a car track.  He got a wall mounted one from Santa, which we hung on their bedroom wall.  So thoughtful of our space, that Santa!

As from a previous post, here is one of the boy's favorite spots in the house--their mirror.  The spot for lots of dancing, hugs, tooth brushing, and tantrum observing.  I found a second-hand mirror, so it was quite affordable.

A quick internet search brought up lots of wall mounted kid's toys,  here are a few of my favorites.  Have fun, get creative and use those walls!

Velcro on the wall!



Indoor window boxes! 





Art roll from www.magiccabin.com 9

The Kibbutz

In September, Mom moved next door to live full time.  Last winter was tough for her--she stayed with us for six weeks after coming down with pneumonia, recovered, and then slipped on the ice at her rural home in Yampa, injuring both her legs.  Scary.  As a family, we decided it benefited everyone to have her closer to us, and what with the rental house next door, we had a fantastic option.  

She put a bunch of time and money into her new digs--it looks and feels fantastic.  The boys have a bedroom, and it seems they like being over there more than at home.  Who wouldn't with such a cozy Nana zone!

I love seeing my mom everyday, hugging her and knowing how she is doing.  I can help her move furniture, hold up a picture, bring her some half and half, whatever!  Scott takes care of all the snow on her drive way and  roof, and we share meals at least four times a week.

Fergus' first day on skis in Nana's driveway

Mom gets to see the boys everyday and participate in their raising.  She backs us up on discipline goals and provides a fun outlet right next door.  Rather than Nana being a one week a year event, she is a daily event.  She is invaluable help with child care, taking them when I need to go to the dentist, get a hair cut, or when I am ready to lock them in their room for the rest of the day.

Financially, we are pooling some of the burden of home ownership, with shared trash service, Internet, and food costs.

Of course, we are learning some lessons.  

Living in the Kibbutz means sawing your mom's box spring in half so it will fit up the stairs.  I'm not kidding.

Flexibility is essential. I realized I don't get to choose what my mom asks me for help with.  When she moved in, I had an idea that I'd help her with snow removal, cooking and moving heavy things.  Well, as it turns out, she needs help in other ways.  I've weatherized her windows,  sawed her box spring in half so it would fit upstairs, and done a dump run.  Honestly, she's asked far less of us than I expected.  My lesson is that family is not a rigid thing.  We need and help each other in fits and starts and waves, and all we can ask for is grace--in both the asking and the giving.

Scott is the sole man of the compound, so a lot falls on him.  He has the tools and the skills to do so much, and we ask a lot.  We are lucky to have him!

After four months, I believe we are in a good flow here.  The boys ask before they go charging over to her house at 7am, and she hasn't kept us up with too many wild parties.  No, seriously- she is very respectful of our space.  We are extremely blessed to have her as part of every day, and I know she feels the same.

Kibbutz breakfast.  Uncle Mike in attendance.

Companion

Cassie 

1999-2012

The hardest part of having Cassie gone is that I wasn't ready, but she seemed to be.  You would think that her long life would give me some peace in all this, but instead I just felt greedy.  I wanted more time!  I needed her in my home; she was my protector and my buffer, and the only other female.  We kept carrying her up and down the stairs, cleaning up her messes,  and keeping her free of the lice that plagued her at the end.  All of this was easy compensation for having her with me.

I questioned if we were taking this a bit far.  She was loosing interest in food, she was starting to fall down when eating or doing her business, and she developed a painful abscess from not being able to void properly.  I expected it to be clear, this answer to my question "when should we let her go."  But it was never clear to me, because I never wanted her to go.

Last fall I read an article in the NYT titled "Deciding When a Pet has Suffered Enough" by Jessica Pierce. (Sept 22, 2012)  She referenced Dr. Alice Villalobos' quality of life scale.  On a scale of 1-10 you rate your pet's  Hurt, Hunger, Hydration, Hygiene, Happiness, Mobility, More Good Days Than Bad. If the score is less than 35, she deems the quality of hospice care unacceptable. (http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/images/pdfs/Quality_of_Life.pdf)

When I read this wonderful, articulate, well-thought out article, I thought, "oh, this will be applicable to our end of life decision for Cassie."  However, when the time came I threw all matrix's and intention and education to the wind and just held on tight.  Through it all Cassie always wanted to be with me, and that is what I took as my sign that she wanted to be alive.  I worked hard at ignoring the fact that her body had another intention.

I had hoped to avoid euthanasia; I wanted her to die naturally and peacefully.  Mostly, I really didn't want to be the one to decide.  But, that is where I had to be courageous as Cassie's companion.  She excelled at her role as my dog: loyal, obedient, on my side every time.  When she came to suffer, I had to fulfill my duty to her, and give her some peace.

It was one of the harder choices I've made, but the right one.  We are all feeling a big void in our little house.

It's Zero Degrees Here

That's right, it's hovering below freezing here and our children are running around the house as if it's June.  I do not credit their Irish/German blood.  We have plenty of desirable clothing around for them to wear.  We are not pretending we are in Cirque Du Soleil.  No, I give all the credit to our kick-ass house.   The heat was not even turned on until November, and for that month our heat bill was $30 ($15 after all the hoo-ha fees Atmos imposes).  In the last 24 hours our heat has been on probably 4 times for about 10 minutes each.  This with below zero temps.

INSULATION, AIR SEALING, AND SOLAR DESIGN ARE WORTH IT!!!!!

Published!

For those of you who haven't see the latest Homelink Magazine, our little place got some press! Here is the article with photos capturing the cleanest our house will ever be!

http://homelinkmag.com/homelink_summer2012_builder_perspectives_downsizing.html

HomeLink Summer 2012
Sustainable Building. Sustainable Living.

BY: Megan Moore-Kemp
Photos by Eric Stubbs Photography

Big Home
Little Space

“Mom, our house is BIG.  But you always say it’s small.”
Mason Kemp, age 3

“You can make enough money to not need things, or you can just not need things.”
Gilad Elbaz, inventor and investor

 

Returning to my childhood home as an adult, I was astounded by how much smaller the space was than I remembered.  After asking around, I’ve come to find this is a fairly common experience.  While the bedrooms were tiny and the kitchen lacked windows, my memories were large and bright: plenty of room for dancing to Crystal Gayle, chasing the cats, and playing Pop Goes the Weasel in my laundry basket.  I didn’t have any concept of what it lacked, because it had everything I needed: my parents, my Strawberry Shortcake comforter and space to do my dancing.

Two years ago, I was pregnant with Mason’s little brother Fergus, living on thirty-five acres in a 1700 square-foot home seventeen miles out of town.  After much soul searching, my husband and I decided this life was neither realistic nor sustainable for us.  We had lots of space, garden potatoes and home-canned goods, but we were driving to the tune of seventy miles per day, and I was lonely during my long days at home with our son.

Buying a typical three-bedroom/two-bath home in Steamboat was beyond our means.  So, we started brainstorming.  Rent?  We are always averse to this.  Move away?  Just for a house?  That seemed dramatic.

We had a couple of things on our side.  Seven years ago, with my mother, we bought an investment property in town with a very dilapidated 1940s rental house on it.  We couldn’t move into the home, because we couldn’t afford to live long-term without the rental.  Could we build something next to the rental house?  We do, after-all, own and operate a sustainability focused construction company—hello sweat equity! Our biggest hurdles were going to be the very little capital with which we had to build something and the zoning restrictions of the lot.

We decided to build the smallest, most sustainable dwelling we could afford right next to the existing rental house.  Scott designed a 629 square-foot apartment above a garage custom made for us.  We had about $100/square foot to work with, including the garage.  Even this tight budget was a stretch for us.  We met our budget by doing as much work as we could ourselves, re-using as many materials from prior projects as possible, and thinking hard about what we could postpone until a later date.   

During design, it was a challenge not to dwell on what we were giving up—the second bathroom, an office, a mudroom.  We worked to focus on what the little house would bring us: the opportunity to build an efficient, healthy home, the chance to (drastically) downsize our things, more walking and biking, and finally, the ability to spend more time together doing the things we love to do because we are not working to maintain a larger home than we need.

All of our interior and exterior design elements were chosen to work with the materials we had available.  Using wood from an 1880s barn we deconstructed, our friend Mitch Porter built the cabinets.  Our claw-foot tub was taken from a home we remodeled in Oak Creek.  The interior trim is all salvaged or saved wood from prior projects.  Until we have money and time for something fancier, our deck railing is re-used dimensional framing lumber.  The exterior wainscoating is corrugated roofing from the old barn.  Most of the wood siding is regionally harvested beetle killed pine. 

More money was budgeted proportionally for a few key things: energy efficiency and noise control.  We purchased the most energy-efficient insulation, windows, appliances and gas fireplace we could afford.  Our insulation is a combination of spray-foam and blown in fiberglass.  Big effort was put towards air sealing, with high attention paid to detailing during construction—including two blower door tests and a fresh-air ventilation system.  This has definitely paid off.  Our heat is only on for four months a year, with natural gas bills totaling just $200 for the season.  We control noise with cork flooring, triple pane windows, sound control panels on the garage ceiling and insulation in the interior walls.  This has also been worth it.  Scott can work in the garage, trucks can move through the distributor warehouse across the street, music can play, and mommy can still sleep in!

To accommodate for the future, and manage our budget, we worked for flexibility in our design.  Right now we have a storage space which can be converted to a sleeping loft once the boys are bigger and can manage a ladder.  At some point, we will build more specific furniture and storage.  The garage could become the hang-out zone once the boys want to be farther than five feet away from us.

Our actions are definitely unique to new parents in our country.  The average family home today is 2,343 square feet.  Parents work hard to maintain the family home.  Instead of adding square footage along with a growing family, we chose to take it away.  Our goal is to emphasize experience over income and social standards.   Basically, we want to spend more time outside than inside.  The house is an experiment for us: how efficient can we be with our money, time and energy?

When I am feeling philosophical, I also view our choice as an experiment in social engineering.  Our boys will know how to share a bathroom.  We are learning how to carve out our own little meaningful personal spaces.  Everyone is involved in carting laundry to and from the washing machine in the garage.  We are disciplined in choosing what we purchase for the house, and putting our stuff away. 

The space works for us right now.  Surprisingly, better than I expected.  There was a phase of downsizing that entailed obsessively thinking about what stuff we keep, and what we get rid of, and what is the perfect stuff for this size house, and just a lot of thinking about stuff, which is, thankfully, over. The boys have very specific, space conscious toys.  (The child-height mirror on the wall being my current favorite—so great for dancing!)   We have an office area, a coat and shoe zone and cozy sleeping spaces.  Our kitchen is the best.  A few weeks worth of groceries costs more than our annual heating bill.  We don’t lack for sunshine and fresh air. Mason and Fergus think our house is BIG.  I’d say we’ve settled in—without having to settle a bit. 

Out With the New, in With the Old

I love my husband who will take my photo with the laundry basket and not ask any questions

I recently called my mom and asked, "Do you have any extra laundry baskets lying around?  Our plastic one has a hole in the bottom, side, and is missing a handle."  To which she replied, "Oh, yes, I think so.  Hmmm, oh yea, I have that one we got in Mexico the year before you were born.  You could use that one."  

Seriously?!?  My mom has a functioning laundry basket that is older than I am?  The one that just bit the dust--albiet, after much use as a play house, launch pad, and train car--was only 5 years old.  This was an epiphany for me: buy the good stuff, take care of it, and you can give it to your kids when they are in need.   And, when they use it to death, it will be an added bonus if it can bio-degrade in the land-fill or, better yet, compost pile.   However unimaginable it seems right now that my boys will be as excited as I am over a laundry basket.

Clothing

A significant amount of storage in our place is dedicated to clothing

 It's that time of year....down come the bins full of summer clothes--and in the case of the boys, BIGGER summer clothes--to be traded out with the too-small items, sweaters, fleece pants, and Levi's we won't wear again till fall.  

This was a crazy idea. 

If I sound excited, don't be fooled.  It is one of my least favorite chores around here.  With the sprouting children, I have to do it about every three months, and faithfully put it off till the last possible moment, when they are running around sweltering in sweatpants, or shoving themselves into tight, stained T-shirts.  It can be quite an undertaking, especially when the boys are helping!

However, while getting out my own summer gear last week, I was down right thoughtful about the process. I credit this to two developments: our new, microscopic closet, and, a greater understanding of myself.

First, I discovered I had bagged up a nice little pile last fall to go to the consignment shop.  Way to think ahead about trading!  However, this required me to both iron and introduce my two year old to this modern appliance, which I did on the front porch--I'd recommend an outdoor ironing tutorial to anyone.  It's what got us through the chore.

I've decided to give myself the "closet challenge."  Over this summer, I will try to wear each item in my closet, to test its mettle in my current life.    If something is the least bit uncomfortable, high-maintenance, weird, magnetic to dog hair, stained, or just plain wrong--it's out.  I expect to have very little left by fall.  And then, I hope to slowly re-build what I will call--at the risk of sounding like a total weirdo--"my collection."  Because that is my goal--rather than have a bunch of clothes I consume at random, I'd like to collect what will really work for me for the long-term.   I wore a dress yesterday, to great community surprise.  Evidently, it's a keeper.  Today I got lazy and put on my same-old yoga pants.  They are keepers--but, I already knew that.

I found a great blog by a woman who calls herself Miss Minimalist which outlines how to create your "capsule" of only ten items of clothing. Here are hers:

 (You can check out her philosophy at: http://www.missminimalist.com/2011/03/the-minimalist-wardrobe-aka-the-10-item-wardrobe/)

Obviously, those shoes wouldn't work for me.  Can you picture me chasing two strider bikes in those?

Wish me luck!

Life With The Big Dogs

It's surprising it has taken me a whole year of writing this blog to mention our two big dogs, Cassie and O'Kane.  I really should call the blog 6in629, since our dogs are the size of small people.  However, you cannot put small people in the garage all day when you need space from them, so I'll stop the people:dog analogies right now.  I used to think of my dogs as my children, until I actually had children and realized I couldn't lock them in a kennel all night to prevent them from waking me.

Perhaps they have avoided my critical eye because they have adapted so well to our space.  They each have their bed at night, which I pull up during the day--so we can navigate the main room easier--and wool rugs in our bedroom during the day.  If it's getting intense up here, they go to the garage or the yard or off to work with Scott.  When we moved in, I  bought some nicer looking dog bowls since they are so visible in the space.  We designed one kitchen cabinet to hold their dog food.  Other than that, we haven't done much else to accommodate the dogs.

I sense it could be our last summer with our Cassie.  She is somewhere between 11 and 13, blind, loosing hair, weight, and her back end.  We've got her on thyroid pills and rimadyl, without much effect.  It's getting hard for her to get up and down the stairs.  I'm in this pre-mourning phase which I have practiced with all my dogs since I was six.  The pre-mourning involves imagining life without them, which seems like having a big hole you will have to navigate around forever.  Truly, life seems unimaginable without Cassie.   For being so large, she is the least demanding, most quiet, forgiving, and motionless member of our family.  Which is a nice balance to the rest of us.

OH, and I forgot about Loony Luna!  7in629.....but she's technically not allowed inside.  Even though she manages to evade us.....

Speaking of Trading

By far one of the most beneficial trades I  do is working for our membership at the Old Town Hot Springs.  With just three hours a week of work, I get a membership for our whole family.  This includes the gym,  exercise classes, lap pool, hot springs, and, of course, the essential child care room.  This place has changed my life.  I am able to get my exercise without a summit of synchronizing schedules between my husband and I .  AND, we even get a "date night" every Monday when we work out together.  (Even though I have been forbade from kissing him in the weight room.  It was worth trying.) The place is heaven to me.  On a very hard day with my children, I always know I can take them to the lovely child care room and take a moment to myself,  after which we will all emerge happy.

What is so wonderful about this particular trading situation is that I can bring my children with me while I work.  Where else can you get your family ahead, with your children in-tow?  While the trade is worth an equivalent to $9/hr, if you factor in that you don't have to pay for day-care while you make that money, it is actually worth closer to $20/hr.  And that makes me feel like MONEY!!

Three Cheers for Bartering!

Can anyone tell me why this ugly old propane heater is making me so happy right now?

We just traded this brown thing taking up space in our garage for a new, crystal-clear, crack-free Subaru windshield.  And let me tell you, I feel like MONEY! To my chagrin, after my windshield was installed, the bartering just continued.  Prepared to pay a commission to our friend who stored the heater in his stove shop and set up the deal, he said, "No money!  Just help us install a new front door, and we'll pay you for your extra time.  Oh, and go on a river trip with us this summer."  OK!

 This trade has me extra impassioned about the barter economy.   I've used this little under-ground economy quite a bit in the past.  When I owned a food business, I traded sandwiches for massages, manicures, pedicures, facials, and land-scape design. OMG I was so glamorous back then.  Now I'm excited by a windshield.

In what ways has our current economy effected the barter economy? After all, isn't this the original economy? It makes sense that we would return to it in hard economic times.   I rather like the idea of just trading things for things rather than working for money to trade the money for the things.  In some ways, bartering seems to give the items being traded a more true value.  The two parties agree to its worth, in a very personal way, rather than the infinitely complex monetary economy brewing around us.

Now, we need to find something to trade for the new mountain bike Scott is dreaming about.

Toys for the Small House

Disclaimer: This intention of this post is NOT to guide people in buying gifts for our children.  If you are thinking of buying something for us, please resist the urge and instead come over, share the gift of your company,  and play with us--using the many toys we already have!

Now that that's out of the way: I've been thinking a lot about toys this month.  Which is a change of pace for me.  As a parent, I fail at knowing what the latest and greatest children's toys are.  I don't like shopping, and really despise it when my children are with me--which is always.  In fact, in the last three and a half years I have probably purchased four toys for my boys--and all of these were bought as bribes.

Luckily for Mason and Fergus, other people do get them toys.  Friends and family have been so good to us--total abundance around here. So much, in fact, that I frequently take away bag full of un-touched or over-sized ones to my Mom's house so we can have fresh ones there.

When we downsized, I entered a new toy realm I will call: size concious.  Suddenly we couldn't fit just anything.  We had to be choosy.  So, I started paying attention to what they actually played with.  Maybe this will help you in your gift giving this year for the little ones in your life.  Once again, please don't get our boy's anything--we have more than enough!

Here are some winners:

• Wall Mirror: One of the best things about this is that it employs a very underused space in our house: the bottom 3 feet of the walls.  Plus, the boys love it!  The favorite activity lately has been to "cry" in front of it to see what they look like.  Hilarious!
• Anything that can be and do many different things (thanks, Sarah!)--such as blocks, train tracks, magnets, farm animal sets.
• Blankets and pillows for forts.  This play is just starting for us, but it's really involving for the boys.  And very easy for me to re-incorporate the building materials back into our space.
• Clean laundry and a basket to toss and move around (much to my chagrin, this really is a favorite activity).
• Art supplies and Games.  I put these two together because Mason is just starting to enjoy these.  With Fergus (18mos) they are a disaster.   So, we keep the locked up and try to do them when F is sleeping, otherwise the dog eats a lot of crayons and play-dough.  They store so well, though!  Good space:use ratio.

• Books, books, books. By volume, we commit the most space to books.  I purchased this book rack at a book store going out of business for $25.00.  It only projects 4" off the wall and, once again, only uses the bottom 4 feet of the wall.  Plus, easy for the boys to re-shelve their own books.
• The great outdoors! Snow shovels, sandbox, trees, balls.  Plenty of room outside to keep these!

• Doot-Di-Doos.  These are the long or short cardboard tubes used to loudly announce: "DOOT-DI-DOO!" (Eternal thanks to the Bradley brothers for introducing me to these.)  Not only do the boys love to practice their vocal skills, but also to ride cars through and, god forbid, play swords  with them.  I'll never forget the look on Mason's face when my mom presented him with about 8 of them, all diferent shapes and sizes.  Good gift!
• Lastly, work-related items: sponges to clean, spray bottles, mini brooms, hammers, levels, etc.  You get the picture.  They love to work, and we are happy to oblige!

We wish you all  happy, sane, down-sized holidays!  Come over and check out our mirror and doot-di-do collection! When used together, it is really an amazing performance!

Food Before Floors

What's in your bowl?

A skill I used to enjoy was a keen ability to prioritize.  No more.  I have lost that ability in the slush-pile of our lives.  I have a minor crisis about this daily.  In fact, right after Mason was born, I saw a counselor about the sudden evaporation of my sense of priorities.  "There is so much to attend to--more than one person could ever take care of. What do I do first?"  She gave me really great advice in the form of a parable:

A professor has a cup in his hand.  Next to him on the desk is a pile of rocks, a pile of sand and a bowl of water.  He fills the cup up with the rocks and asks the class, "is the cup full?" 


They reply, "Yes!" 


"Wrong." He commences to add sand to the cup, fulling in the cracks.  "Now is the cup full?" he asks.  


"Yes!" they reply.  


"Wrong." Next he adds water, filling in more gaps again, until the cup really is full.


"What is the lesson?" asks the professor.  


The student in the front row responds, "No matter how full your cup is, you can always add more!" 


"No," says the professor.  "You better put the rocks in first!"

This is a great parable.  One I think about often in the form of "what are my rocks today?"  Of course they are always my people--my family and friends.  I recently had the revelation that I am a rock that needs to go in, too.  Don't know why it took me three years of motherhood to discover that!!

One clear way I care for all of us is with food.  If we don't have good food in our bellies, it's tough to do much else--maintain energy, health or well-being.   I don't show my love with the latest and greatest toys (because I hate shopping), or with money in the college fund (because it's all going somewhere else right now), or by keeping the house clean (because it's truly impossible.) Instead,  I put up some Colorado tomato sauce and help butcher a local hog.  Needless to say, our pantry and freezer and bellies are full, but not the bank account or vacuum cleaner.

Piece by Piece

It's quite elevating to dine here.

Many days I think it will be at least 20 years before we finish our house.  It is going so slowly right now.  That can get depressing for me.   I love nothing more than COMPLETING projects.  But it feels as though life is strongly working against us completing the house.  We need money, so Scott has to work elsewhere.  We have two small children.   Here is my what I've learned: only crazy people have their second child and build a home in the same year.  

But then, our sage friend and cabinet builder, Mitch, came by to install our (new, spacious, gorgeous) pantry and he helped me.  "You are not sitting at the kid's table anymore!  You have some siding up!  It's looking good around here!"   

"Seriously, Mitch?  We have a long way to go and we are so tired.  Especially Scott."

"Megan, you just have to put up one piece of wood at a time.  One piece of wood, and then another,  and another.  You WILL get there."

And now I think this every day: One Piece Of Wood.  I think it will be less than 20 years.  Maybe 15??

Siding is starting!!!

Inlaws and Outlaws

For two reasons I feel like a cheat when saying we live in 629 square feet.  One: The Garage.  Two: Nana's Casita.  

First, the Garage.  Our cars don't dream of rolling in under our house.  It's for our bikes and tools and washer and dryer and camping gear and dry food storage.  In our small house priorities, these things seem more worthy of precious cover than our cars.  Besides, I've lived in snow country my entire life and never parked under cover.  Why spoil myself now!  When we designed our place, finding a spot for a washer upstairs meant trading for precious cabinet space.  Walk my laundry down to the garage?  No problem!  It's not like it's across town or anything.  Besides, it give me a reason to go outside.  Evidently, 50 years ago, the garage was a common location for the laundry center.  But now the laundry keeps getting closer and closer to the bedroom....I'm not kidding.  Homes are now being designed with washers and dryers in the walk-in-closets.  I guess it's good cover for the bed squeaking...hee hee.

Another major reason I feel a bit disingenuous describing our house as small is Nana's Casita.  In a previous post I mentioned we remodeled the back of the existing house next to us to fit a small studio apartment for my mom to stay in.  With its own entrance directly across from our front door, we wake up and look out to see if the other has parted her curtains to signal a welcome.  Then, either I send Mason over to say good morning or she comes over for coffee.  She stays there about twice a week (she lives in Yampa).  While other homes accommodate their guests in a bonus room, we had the opportunity to create a totally separate zone.  It has its own bathroom and kitchenette,  and its own heat we can turn on or off as needed.  Best of all, it stays clean and free from my propensity to fill it with miscellanea!

I will say it has been stressful trying to complete our own house and hers at the same time.  Needless to say, neither is done!  But, we'll get there.  Hers is done enough to have her pals over for wine and  give us the opportunity to yell, "Keep it down over there!"

I think a lot about auxiliary space--living space not connected to your main house that you can use when you need it, but not all the time.  You only have to heat, clean, attend to it when you use it.  Rather than everyday.   My mom loves her casita because she can be close to us but doesn't feel as intrusive as if she was IN our house (in our case, on the couch).  She has her freedom, and we have her!  Which is priceless!

The next auxiliary space I am dreaming over: an old camper retrofitted to be our library.  Imagine that!  "I am headed outside to the library.  See you in a couple hours....."