Trying To Live Minimally

We do not live completely minimally. But we have adopted some of this lifestyle's techniques. It wasn't until the other day that I realized how long we've actually been doing this and as the days pass, we continue to change more things that help us adjust.

Let me first say, that there are 5 in our family. We are were used to living in homes that were about 2,000 square feet. If you aren't quite sure what that means, I'll give you an idea. We had a full dining room, kitchen, a decent size bedroom with his and hers closets, three additional bedrooms, and 2.5 baths. Along with a garage and a large living room and storage closet! We now live in a home that is about 1,000 square feet. Still have the same number of people. I forgot mention we also have animals... Starting to feel a little claustrophobic yet?

We fist took a small step towards minimal living when we moved from one side of the country, to the complete opposite. We decided we were no long going to have cable or satellite television. This decision was made partially because we were tired of spending so much money on it, for only a few certain channels. That's when we decided to instead, get an online movie/tv series service for just $8 a month. That was nice and made the adjustment pretty smooth. We missed our shows, but learned to like "new" ones online. We decided to spend some money and get a digital antenna for our tv. It's good, but not the greatest. Depending on your location, is how many channels you will have access to. We
generally only have two or three. Makes me laugh when I compare to what we had with satellite. Then I remember how much we are saving and just like that, I'm fine with it ;) We also have more free time, since we aren't glued to the tv.

Then we made a big step... We moved again, nearly cross country... (to the 1,000 square foot home). And we decided we would continue to live without cable (this makes 3 years without cable. That's a savings of at least $2,300. I couldn't tell you what we were paying for cable, to be honest. I don't remember the exact amount. But I do know that number I put in to get this amount was indeed, less that what we had been paying. So, I can bet we've saved much more than that.) We also decided that we would not get internet. *gasp* I know!! How ever will we survive without it. It's like we would be living in the old days. No cable... NO internet! Have we lost our minds!? No! We are doing just fine without it. Now, I won't lie, I want it. I am always looking up local deals and such. And we can afford it. But, just choose not to have it at this point. We also have some great family members that allow us to mooch off theirs, when need be. I thank them for this! Don't worry. We still have our smartphones! So, internet is accessible through those as well.

Since I mentioned smartphones, I'll tell you about our most recent step. We stopped using the nationally known carriers and went with a small, pay as you go company. For less than half the amount, we have more data, unlimited calling and texting, and the service has been great. We have talked for a couple years about taking this step, but have always been very hesitant about it. We finally bit the bull by the horns and went with it. I'm very happy with it and especially happy with my bill!

Let's get back to the 1,000 square feet. My oh my was this quite the adjustment. We had so much stuff. Going through everything took a couple months. Most of our things were in the garage, boxed up, for a long time. It eventually got to the point where cars were filled and a utility trailer was packed and it all went to a drop off center, just to get it out of the way for us to breathe. I'm so glad I agreed to it. I don't like getting rid of our things. But, it's been quite some time now and I don't miss any it! We chose to stay in such a small home, due to finances. The payment is extremely affordable for us and we love it. We don't feel trapped. It's a nice home. You can view some of the projects we've started, by visiting here, here, or here.

Adjusting to our space truly took some time, but now we don't feel bothered by it, and I'm so grateful. When we have a lot of company over, it can get packed inside, but if the weather is nice, we like to be outside. The yard is much bigger than we are used to and we fully enjoy it. Every day I'm learning that less truly is more. I don't NEED cable. I don't NEED to have a brand name cell phone company. I don't NEED internet... Now, I will say it will soon become a need. So, we may come out of our box, but it's okay! Life changes and we will take the necessary steps to accommodate the changes.

I think I'll stop here and add more detail later on ;)

-T


Photos were saved from a search engine site.

Why I Make My Kids Take A Rest

In our home, we have rest time. No matter how old you are! Without it, everyone becomes cranky.

But really, and this is no lie, without it I become cranky. I need that time to catch up; to do what I want to do. To do housework, to scroll through websites without someone hanging over my shoulder, or to sit down and eat that puppy chow without having to share. That's right, I don't want to share my food 24/7. Why should I? I deserve to have something to myself too.

Now, I'm not saying I utilize this time to the best that I should (i.e. making sure the house is 100% spotless, just to let it get messed up again when everyone wakes up), but that quiet, that noise free, mommy-free time, helps me. I am able to continue on with my day as a happier person when we have rest time. The days where rest time doesn't happen are the days I begin to not like myself. Especially come dinner time.

They say naps are important and I couldn't agree more. I know there are those out there who can go on without them, and so can I, but man do I feel better once the little people in my house have had them ;) Now, with this being said, just because it's rest time, doesn't mean they are always going to sleep... They lay in bed or play in bed quietly, but that's fine! I just need that quiet time. Which is why we call it rest time.

What do you do in your household to recharge?

Parasomnias? Maybe!

So, recently my friend and I were talking about about things our husband's do when they sleep... Of course there was the snoring, talking in Lord only knows what language, and the crazy hand movements like they are at work nailing things or messing with tools. But, the one that tops the cake is this:

It involves the two of them laying there... The girl is almost asleep for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. Every time she starts to fall asleep, something would wake her: the dog, the baby, a random noise, or the husband mumbling in his sleep. This time, she is startled awake and immediately looks at her husband, because he's making this strange noise. When you are almost asleep, you know it can be difficult to comprehend what's truly happening sometimes... So, she's watching him, trying to figure out if he needs help, or is indeed just making some strange noise in his sleep.

The noise grows louder and louder, each time he makes it. It's almost like he is having difficulties breathing from something being lodged in his throat! Right around the time when she begins to truly worry, (remember, he's laying in bed, still asleep) he leans forward and HOCKS A LOOGIE! Yes, a loogie! If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google It! Out of complete shock and disbelief that THAT really just happened, she throws herself forward, gives him a nice little love tap on the arm and says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!???". He of course, mumbles something and rolls over. She continues to try to speak... Okay, maybe hollar... At him. He clearly is not awake and doesn't seem to be waking very easily.

Fast forward to wake up time. 

When he wakes her before heading to work to say goodbye, the first words out of her mouth were about the instance, and as you have probably already assumed, he didn't remember ANY of it! In fact, he was in slight disbelief, himself. And then, he laughed. And laughed some more. Apparently, these bizarre things are disgusting and hilarious. 

"YUK.", is all I can say. 

-T

Gutters... Finally!

Here you can see where it'd been leaking

The top/inside of the old gutter

It's been over a month since we had our consultation for new gutters and they are finally here. Geeze Louise! Talk about getting impatient. We were beginning to think, Okay seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I even called the company to check on the status of their arrival. But, because this summer has decided to rain nearly every day, all appointments were getting pushed further out. Blah.


So far, they look super nice! When they took off the old gutters to reveal the fascia, man was it dirty! Apparently our old gutters were not on properly and were missing the flashing... Ooops! Which, also explains why we had a window leak earlier this summer. And, I don't mean a slow drip, it was, Holy crap! There is water coming in NOW! When that happened, it was pouring outside, and I do mean pouring.


These people come right to your house, double check their measurements and then they head back to their truck, and literally start "spitting out" the gutters from a machine they have. Everything is made right there. I stood and watched the machine spit out some of the gutters. They can do short pieces and long pieces. It's pretty neat. Almost reminds me of a meat grinder with he sausage attachment. Strange comparison, I know!

Top of the new gutter

So fresh and so clean, clean!

Here's to the first big project as homeowners! This one wasn't a DIY, but it felt like one when we wrote the check ... lol ... These gutters are going to be so helpful when ALL the leaves fall off the trees. It's still summer and we have already had to do some raking. Does that make sense?!

*Stay tuned for more household projects.

-T

Grey or Gray

Grey... Or Gray... Whichever way you spell it. How do you spell it? It just a difficult subject all around. First of all, everyone spells the word differently and second of all, man is it difficult to get the right shade. We learned this with our living room / dining area.

The samples looked so blue when we painted them on the wall. We first went to our local home improvement store and picked out two shades, both which we found online from Google Images or Pinterest (of course)! Once we got the sample rectangles panted, we weren't sure this was what we wanted at all! They looked so different from the photos we found AND the paint samples. So, we gave it the benefit of the doubt and did a second coat, as you should... Still, it looked so blue! Then the sun went down and the glow of our lights made them seem closer to the greys we were hoping for. So that brought on the questioning: 

Valspar's Urban Sunrise & Filtered Shade

• If it looks one way during the day and a different way during the night, will we be happy?
• How is it so different from the photos online?
• Is this going to be too much "blue"?
• Should we change the color scheme altogether?
• Maybe we should keep looking and get one more sample?
  

  

  Adding Valspar's Simply Gray

  
  After some thought, off to the store we went againnnn. Seems like we were running there for a few things every other day for a bit. Welcome to upgrading, I suppose! And holy blue, again! But, we ended up making a decision from these samples... More or less because we didn't want to keep looking and did a great amount of research on the colors once a room was fully painted. Taking a leap of faith, we decided to go with the first two samples.
  
  
  
  Boy are we happy with the almost finished product!! We love these colors. Especially up against the new white trim on the windows! We still have the flooring to redo, and the base trim, but things seem to be coming along quite nicely. We are happy with the difference we are starting to see.
  
  Here is a sneak peak of the before wall and the afters, with the paint colors. The photos do not do justice on the actual outcome. But, should give you a good idea of what's going on :)
  
  
  -T
  

We Did It!

Well, the time has come and gone... We BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME! After 8 years of marriage, we did it. It's crazy to think about. We finally have a place of our own.

On the day of closing, I didn't feel as excited as I thought I would. Maybe because the home we bought, we've actually been renting for a few months now, so we didn't have the anticipation of moving all our things into the home and unpacking. That's a plus, actually! Or, it could be because I was coming down with some sort of illness... Turns out it was Strep Throat! YUK. And then again, let's get serious. We have moved 6 times in the last 8 years. Moving just isn't that exciting to us anymore (even though it is quite nice to get a "redo" every few years or so. I should feel blessed that we didn't have to move again. So, that's what I'm going to do, think about the good and soak it all in :)

When we were looking for a home, we had a couple things in mind that we wanted:

• particular school district
• affordable home
• view of some sort
• wrap around porch
• window at the kitchen sink
• garage
• basement

And guess what?! This house has all those! We didn't know what kind of home we were going to find. Our two biggest concerns were cost and the school district, all the other things would be bonuses/negotiable. We seem to be going backwards in the scheme of things, compared to most. We have basically been renting for the past 7 years due to work. That definitely has it's perks, but isn't always great. A lot of people rent, get married, buy a home, have children; we on the other hand, got married, rented, had children, rented, rented, then bought a home! Some of the people our age are upgrading to their second home while we are getting started with our "starter/project" home. But, I could not be more content with our decision and am happy to and excited to start this journey. It may end up that I just create a whole blog dedicated to our upgrades and house work. Speaking of...

First Big Project.

After owning the home not even 24 hours, the Mr decided to start messing with stuff and took the tan paneling off the wall in the dining area! After a trip to our local home improvement store, and a few chit chats between us, the drywall was hung and the mud was put on.

He also got curious about what the sub-flooring looked like... So off went some of the laminate.

 

To Be Continued.

-T

Traveling With The Littles

Since summer is on it's way, and that usually means more traveling, I thought I'd write about my experiences of traveling with small children AND pets. Hopefully, you'll be able to gain a tip or two. I've done a lot of traveling with small children and dogs. Together... Separate... I feel like I could say, "you name it -- I've done it"!

My first experience of flying with a baby, was with a three month old, nursing baby, by myself. After that trip was over, turns out, I could have driven the 12 hours and would have gotten to our destination before we did by flying. We had two layovers! Not fun. Thankfully my baby was wonderful. But, as a first time mother, it was nerve racking. I chose to not to buy a separate seat, and held the baby the entire time. Naturally, what happens first? Well, I got sat next to two men and while I'm nursing, my baby is kicking one of them in the arm! Thankfully, he thought it was funny. There's only so much room in those seats, ya know! On that trip, I learned that I will forever avoid layovers as much as I can! And 5 years later, I have only had to purchase one flight that contained a layover. I only agreed to purchase that one, because we didn't have to get off the plane!

When I flew with a toddler and baby by myself, wearing the baby and having an umbrella stroller were the best things. It worked out very well for me. Now, using the restroom in the plane was interesting, that's for sure! But, we did it and survived. I guess you just have to put yourself in the, "I got this" mode! I've heard you can ask the flight attendant for assistance, for such things, but I never have. Brining a car seat for the toddler to sit in, was so nice! My children always fall asleep while in them. If they are just buckled into the air plane seat, with no car seat, they do not fall asleep, and let's be honest here... It makes things a little more chaotic! So for me, I will always choose to bring their car seat! If you are wondering how do to that with a baby and a toddler, here's how: Wear the baby and if the toddler can walk (or is trusting enough to walk holding onto your hand or the stroller, put the car seat in the stroller!! Yep! Worked great for me. Just be careful with your turns. Trust me :)

Believe it or not, driving 1,000 miles with two small children, by myself and with help (dogs were involved in that trip) multiple times, wasn't that bad! Our children were pretty darn good, I'd have to say! We have movie players for the kids, but there are set rules that come with them. First and foremost, the movie player is a privilege.  They do not get to watch movies every time we get in the car, just to drive around town. Our movie players are strictly for long car rides. They do not get them as soon as we start the drive either. The players are saved for "last resort" situations. Or in cases where they've been really good, so it's also served as a reward. When my mother travels with me, she doesn't like the movie player rules. But! It works for us and our children. So, that's what we do :) We do this because, if our children are given them right away, after a little while, they become bored with it. And it's difficult to get them interested in something else since to them, watching movies in the car is the "coolest thing" -again, probably because they don't ever get to do it. So, save the best for last, right!?

We've also driven over 2,000 miles with three children and two dogs... A couple times! We are crazy, I know. For the dogs, I definitely suggest having collapsable bowls. They are very convenient and cheap too! I also suggest having a long leash. That way, when you are stopped at a rest area, you can easily tie the dog to a tree or something of that nature. There have been many times we would stop and not have a long enough leash. Our little dog is picky and absolutely WILL NOT go to the bathroom if you are standing there! Talk about fun!

So I don't turn this into a book, here are a couple more random tips I've learned over the years of traveling with children:

1. Bring a laundry bag for dirty clothes
2. Put a day's worth of clothing for each child, in grocery sack, inside the suite case. This can be nice for grabbing and going
3. If they are old enough, give each child a little bag/backpack of their own to carry
4. SNACKS! Pack easy snacks for them
5. Make sure an extra set of clothes is easily accessible

*I will be adding to this, as a think of things. So, be sure to check back before your next trip!

-T

Grilled Banana Dessert

Recently, we were invited to a family member's for a mock Low Country Boil! To achieve this Boil, a  bunch of seasonings, corn on the cob, potatoes, sausage, and shrimp are thrown into a pot with water and cooked for some time. It's pretty yummy!

For dessert, we were offered a grilled banana substance. Sounds crazy, right!? But, to my surprise, it was pretty tasty! It had a gram cracker crust, mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, and of course, the grilled bananas. I believe the bananas were grilled while still in the peel, then cut up and carefully put into the mixture. After that, it was topped with more marshmallows and chips, covered in foil, and placed back on the grill for a bit. Now, I'm sure I'm missing a step, possibly even an ingredient, but hopefully you're getting the picture of this thing! I do not have the exact recipe for it. But can try to get it and update later. I just couldn't wait to tell you about this crazy (to me) contraption. Who knows, maybe you guys have had this or something similar. It was served to us with vanilla ice cream and tastes best, served fresh off the grill, while the marshmallows are still warm and gooey!

Do you have a dessert that sounds strange to you, but tastes amazing?

UPDATE:
I've tracked down the recipe! It's actually a Banana S'mores. Makes total sense! Here's the direct link for the recipe:
http://www.weber.com/recipes/dessert/grilled-banana-smores

Welcome!

So glad you were able to stop by and welcome to my blog! Here, you will soon begin to see how my life (or my mind) jumps from one thing to the next... Sometimes, without any warning.



On any given day you are sure to find three things in my house:

1. cereal
2. books
and of course we can't forget:
3. a small container of unmatched sox

I've started this journey because, well, sometimes I just want a place to share things. But also, because I hope to inspire you to step out of your box... Try something new! Do something you've always wanted to try. I'll share my experiences in trying things I've never done before or things I'm not that great at. I'm sure sometimes I'll have things very similar to the "Pinterest Fail" memes! And that's okay. That's what makes life interesting, right?! 

I'm going to spend the rest of this day being productive and get a few things that need to be done, done. Like, eat some of that Candy Corn my mother brought over the other day :) 

-T

P.S.
Comment with something you'd like to do that would get you out of your box.