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.