7 Quick Takes, A Recap of Life in the Tiny House This Week! The Great Trash Can Debate, Toxic Tomatoes and Why I Hate Technology

 It's Friday! 

That means it is 7 Quick Takes day! The day every week that I entertain you with the happenings of our life in the tiny house this week. There are almost no pictures this week. 

Read on to find out why.



1. Technology fail

  Anna got her hands on my phone  this week. Typically this wouldn't be an issue. However, she has recently discovered how to 'clean' things with baby wipes. She is not supposed to play with the wipes or my phone.
I left the room for a couple minutes and returned to her squeezing wipe juice onto my screen and wiping it. I took it from her and dried the screen. Didn't really think much about it. Two minutes later my phone started acting completely possessed by demons. The screen became striped (think original nintendo screen), tinted green and would randomly blink black, red and green.
I had about 2000 pictures that were not backed up. Plus as much as I hate to admit it, my life is in my phone. Phone numbers, calendar of events, schedule, school schedule, all of the links I use and even some of my writing. *Sigh* I was a little lost without it.
I'm also very frugal and do not like to have to replace my phone, even though we do have insurance on them. I dislike change and that especially includes technology.
After freaking out, slightly hyperventilating and doing all of the usual things to fix it. I said a prayer over it and put it into a bag of rice for about twelve hours. It helped some. At least enough to remove the images and some important info. Then I put it back on rice for another entire day.
Amazingly it is now fixed! No more crazy screen and it is right back to normal. Praise the Lord!
 I had already decided I would just live without a new phone and use the old back up one we keep on hand.

*That is why there are basically zero pictures from the week. 


2. Rotten tomatoes

We visit our beloved local farm stand often.  The owner of the stand is named Tricia. We love Tricia.
Last week were gifted some tomatoes from a lady at homeschool co-op. We also visited Tricia on the same day that we received the tomatoes from co-op. 
Somewhere in the mix of the influx of tomatoes and the craziness of co-op day... (Co-op day is SO CRAZY!)  tomato was lost in the shuffle. I of course was oblivious to this until yesterday (the next week's co-op day.) It was late afternoon and we were at cross country practice. I kept smelling something strange. Addison was hanging in the car with me and helped to hunt down the smell. It wasn't the baby, I checked her twice. It wasn't a lost sippy cup, or a stray fast food bag.  Nope, none of the usual offenders. Plus we had just cleaned out the van earlier in the week.

It was this lost tomato. 

 Since I'm pretty sure most of the people we socialize with outside of homeschooling already find us strange, un-socialized and slightly weird...I decided to wait until after we got home to deal with it. They already stopped practice last week to watch Anna screaming and watch me throw a carseat out of the van and peel out of the parking lot in my haste to get Anna to the Dr said. They didn't need to see me removing toxic waste from my mini van also. 


It was organic, but I still felt it wouldn't have gone over very well.



3. Lots and lots of painting!  

Dustin finished putting up the wainscotting over the weekend. I also started painting. It is looking really good! I still have hours of painting to do this coming weekend. Dustin is also putting the final coat of grout on the backsplash. It is coming together. We can not wait for it to be finished and I can not wait to make a post about it for you all to see!


4. We walked in circles all week

In the process of finishing the kitchen and making space for some really neat shelving. (AHH!!! I'm so excited about the shelving!)  We moved the trash can out of the kitchen. I am a firm believer that there are two types of people in the world. Those who strongly believe trash cans should not be in the kitchen, and those who don't really care. Dustin is one of those people who really feels strongly about it. I, being the person who does most of the cooking, prefer to have it in the kitchen. It has been a frequent topic of conversation at our house for the last 15+ years.
Well, Dustin finally won the discussion and the trash can has been moved to the utility room. Mainly out of lack of space for it in the kitchen, because of the shelving! EEK THE SHELVING!!! **Can you tell I'm excited?**

The trash can had stayed in basically the same place since we moved in three years ago. It has maybe moved three feet as the kitchen has been renovated and finished. Now it was a good 10-12 feet in the opposite direction.
I am not even joking when I tell you that most of us walked in circles half the week, looking bewildered and carrying an arm load of trash. Emma and I especially struggled. We are the main cleaners and chefs in the house. There was even a moment where someone (it was me) threw an egg yolk and shell in the general direction of where the trash can used to be.
I am positive that I took no less than 1000 extra steps a day trying to find that darn trash can all week!

5. One of the reasons why I love being married to a diesel/mechanic technician

We recently opened a new business location in our new town. It is going well and Dustin is so much happier working for himself again. It is also nice having him closer to home. He used to over a two hour commute each day. Now he is less than ten minutes away.
My favorite perk of him being so close by, I can have him look at my van any time it starts to make weird noises or do strange things. Which is what happened yesterday. He is so great. He stops everything he is doing to take a look.
 

If he happens to ask though, my favorite perking is seeing him more and having lunch with him a couple times a week. ;)

6. Handicrafts

 Our homeschool has a strong Charlotte Mason approach. Part of that is every child learning a handicrafts. The kids each pick a few to try each year. They also have to complete a project from each topic they choose.
The girls are easy. They love to bake, sew, crochet etc. We are even trying pottery this fall!
 Alex is a little more difficult to find a thing for him. I am requiring that he work on cooking. He is also helping his Dad with Precious. We are still looking for another couple of things for him to try.
That being said, Alex has done a very good job at coming up with ideas that he wants to include in the handicraft that are definitely in fact not a handicraft. Such as, Minecraft, Xbox, etc.
We'll find one for him.

7. At least he is still proud to be married

It has been a long standing joke in our house that Dustin can not remember birthdays or anniversaries. He is usually good to remember the month the child was born, or at least the season. I guess I can't blame him, there are a lot of them. I even get a little tripped up sometimes.
He doesn't post much on social media but posted this. I think it was so sweet. I'm so glad he still loves me enough to post it on social media..but I couldn't help but laugh.

Either way, he's still a keeper.

Happy Friday!

~Lyndsay

7 Quick Takes, A Recap of Life in the Tiny House This Week! My People, Run All The Hills And Yet Another Reason To Not Get Old!

It's Friday. Some weeks we sail through and life is good. We complete the week on top of the world. Then, there are weeks like this. You get to the end of the week by prayer, living on leftovers and lots of coffee.

Ok, it's not really that bad. But I'm glad this particular week is over. 
 

1. I Found MY People!

  This was week two of school for us. It was also our first week of co-op! It was a great first day of co-op. We were only about 5 minutes late getting there. Thankfully, almost everyone else is was late too. Clearly, I have found my people.

2. Cat Scratch Fever Take Two

  Addison is seeing a specialist for her cat scratch fever. Apparently her lymph nodes have continued to grow despite antibiotics. So, off we go to another Dr appointment. :( The Dr said it shows all the signs of being benign. However, the size and shape warrant an extra look. and probably some testing.
Prayers would be appreciated.

3. Run All The Hills

  We had cross country on Tuesday. I did not get to stay for it because I had to rush Anna to urgent care. However, I hear from the kids that their first race is in two weeks. They are so excited. Despite the fact that our first race has what has been described by everyone as 'the killer hill'.

 Raise your hand if you are glad you are not on the 3-6th grade cross country team this year. ✋

4. Kitchen Update
 
 After about a month of things being on hold, the kitchen renovation is moving forward! Part of the wainscotting went up last weekend the rest is coming this weekend. I have been told I will be painting this coming week. We are so excited to have the kitchen finished!





5. 0-Screaming in 60 Seconds




 This little one had a slightly rough week.  She kept crying out in pain, and just generally screaming.  She was not able to sleep and was refusing to eat. But sadly she isn't old enough to tell us what hurts. This all took place in the course of about 9 hours. It didn't get really bad until after the Dr office had already closed. Isn't that how it always works?
 I ended up rushing her to urgent care right in the middle of cross country practice.(So thankful for friends who are always on call.) Mainly because she was acting like the pain was in her belly or legs. My mommy radar was going off. Thankfully it was only double ear infections. :(  A couple days of Motrin and antibiotics and she is well on her way to being better. Praise the Lord!

6. Reasons not to get old.
 
 We managed to pull off a family day on Saturday. We went out to lunch, did some shopping for the office and Dustin and I got new kicks. This is actually a big deal for us. He only buys work boots about once every three years. Also, I hate spending money on myself. Especially the price I had to pay for these shoes to help with my old people feet syndrome. Don't get old people, it's not fun!

 

We also got a new coffee pot and mini fridge for the office.  That was actually fun to buy though!

7. WWI 

We have been studying WWI this month. We have learned a lot and enjoyed it also. Alex has taken it one step farther and has been designing WWI trading cards to make and give to his friends. I'm not positive if these will make it all the way to print and circulate but I sure do like admiring his work.  

Happy Friday!

~Lyndsay

7 Quick Takes, A Recap of Life in The Tiny House This Week! Tooth Fairy Fail, Shockingly Accurate Emoji's and Meet Precious

 It's Friday! 

That means it is 7 Quick Takes day! The day every week that I entertain you with the happenings of our life in the tiny house this week. 

It might be funny (It tends to be funny), entertaining or down right bizarre! But that's why you keep coming back to read it..because no one wants to read about boring. 

The scary part? All of it is true. Yes. Our lives really are this ridiculous, goofy and weird. Every. Single. Day.

Welcome to our tiny little part of the world. Pull up a chair, but wipe it off first...because it is probably sticky...Everything is always sticky.



1. Tooth Fairy Fail

I have never been great with the whole tooth fairy thing. My children are convinced that she is a busy, frazzled, unorganized, disheveled and forgetful little fairy. She tends to forget their tooth for a night or two. She sometimes neglects to collect their teeth and she even sometimes makes an appearance after they have gotten up in the morning.

I told you I was bad at this. Really, really bad. That being said, this is about Addison, age 6.

She has managed to LOSE two teeth. Not lose in the 'Yay! I lost my tooth!'kind of way.

No. No. We are talking 'Mom, My mouth feels funny. I was picking and eating apples and now there is this weird space.'

AND

While eating popcorn this week 'Mom, I lost my tooth. But I think I ate it.'

Yes. She has lost/eaten two teeth in the matter of a two month period!  
(I have considered googling the possible dietary repercussions, but I'm not sure I want to know.)

The tooth eating situation has made the fairy visits a bit more complicated. Addison resorted to making teeth out of paper. The fairy remembered the paper the first time. The second time, not so much. I told her the tooth fairy emailed me and told her to just hang onto it for the next time around. She efficient like that. 
Yes, our tooth fairy has an email address. She is a busy little thing and is sometimes up to three days behind on her email and tooth pick up. I told you I was bad at this! 

Also, for those who are curious. Our fairy is old school. She pays out $1 per tooth. Anyone who tells my children differently are subject to inflicted injury.  Seriously people, who ever came up with the idea of paying $5-20 per tooth?! 

2. First Week of School


 

School started at the tiny house this week. This year we have a 6th, 4th and 1st grader. Plus a fun filled and spunky toddler. So she has to be kept busy, organized and on schedule.
The first week went well. Everyone was very worn out by our last day.(They are currently still sleeping while I type this at 8:15 am)  This year's school curriculum has seen a lot if changes. Good changes, but a lot of new things to adjust to. They all handled it well and have been rising to the challenge. We are all excited to see how much we learn and grow this year.  
I know that a lot of families take the super relaxed, sleep until 10, do school in your pajamas route. That was us at one point in time, but now there are just too many kids in older grades to be so relaxed.

Everyone is up, dressed, morning chores, and breakfast by 7:45. School starts at 8. There's a lot to learn this year. Structure is necessary.
That being said. We still have a lot of fun!
We do fun science experiments, go on field trips and laugh a lot. Structure doesn't necessarily mean strict.

Here are a couple of pictures from our first week. The big excitement was for Addison. She earned an A+ on her first ever spelling test.

3. County Fair



We have lived in our new town for almost 3 years now. We love our new town. This was the first time we went to the County Fair.
We all enjoyed it. Dustin goes for the food. Funnel cakes, steak sandwiches, lemonade, elephant ears, Italian sausages, pizza, French fries...you get the idea. It was a real treat for the kids and the husband.

I fell in love with the barns and exhibits. It was laid out well. At least compared to our old town. I was quite impressed. (We bled green for 4H when I was a kid. So, my fun version of the fair is the exact opposite of my husband.)

The kids convinced us to let them ride some rides. The oldest three are adventurous and love anything that spins. They went on this at least twice.

 

 They played some games...which I was a bit disappointed by. Apparently you win a prize every time, even if you suck. Yep, that's what our world has come to. It's sad. Basically it worked like this, pay $3-5 and they hand you a fidget spinner. Rant over.




Anna rode a pony ride and walked with me through all of the exhibit buildings. Plus it took me a little while but I found my happy place. The rabbit and poultry barn!



Over all, we really like our new county Fair. I Definitely see us attending again in the future.

4. Park Day

We went to the park with some friends one afternoon this week. We visited the biggest park in our town. We hadn't been there in a while. We tend to be park hoppers.
The oldest kids ran off to be wild and free and we played with the littles and chatted for a while. It was good for the kids and the moms. The only thing missing was some iced coffee.

* The older boys couldn't be troubled by standing still for pictures. They were far too busy for that.*

5. Fun Science

Have you ever microwaved Ivory Soap?!

It is so much fun!
 It is of course a science experiment and there is actual science behind it. However, the best part is what actually happens when you do microwave it.
You can find the science behind it here.
You can also read about the happy accident that created Ivory Soap, here.
Here are the pictures from our experiment.
The kids really enjoyed this one!

 

If you homeschool or even if you don't....you should consider giving this a try!

 











6. A Shockingly Accurate Emoji

Poor Addison. She has had a bit of a rough summer. She caught some strange 'Scarlet fever like' virus along with poison ivy. Lots of meds including steroids.
She managed to get poison ivy two other times. Bad enough for meds. She is a tad bit allergic to poison ivy.
Last month I noticed she had picked up a fungus on her thumb nails. We've been treating that.
Two weeks ago I found one really swollen lymph node on her neck. Apparently she had three very large lymph nodes. Yet another trip to the Dr to find out she has 'Cat Scratch Fever'. Yes. Not only did they make a song about it, but it is actually a real thing. More medicines and a new med for her fingernail.

She is tired of all this and so am I. She has however enjoyed picking out the Band-aids to cover her finger nail. Her most recent choice was themed Emojis.

As much as I do not get into all of the recent fads. This one pretty much sums up how we feel right now.


I am officially in the market for an Addison sized germ bubble.


7. His Precious

A couple weeks ago this conversation took place between Dustin and I.




*He never did reply back with the cost to fix it.*
 
Of course you can imagine that this rather interesting  and slightly frightening creation is now parked in the office garage.
Alex and Dustin are starting work on it tomorrow.
It has since been dubbed 'Precious' and it has stuck. Even the toddler is saying it. The kids are not up to date on why it is funny, but have played along. We have shown them the short video clips, but have decided that it just doesn't do it justice.




A Lord of the Rings binge watch is scheduled for the first rainy weekend in September.

Raising them right. ;)

For those of you who understand why this is funny. I have included the clip. Just because. It made me a little sad to realize that there is now an entire generation of kids who know nothing about this. Not because we are that into Lord of The Rings, but because it mad me feel SO OLD!

Happy Friday!

~Lyndsay

Toddler Busy Boxes

I mentioned on Friday that I made busy boxes for the resident toddler. 

 

I've done this a few times over the years. When Anna turned 18 months and started to give me a glimpse of the type of toddler/preschooler she was going to be. I instantly knew we'd be breaking out all the tricks to keep her occupied during school time.

 The fun thing about toddlers is, they find even the most boring stuff entertaining! Especially...trash!

We filled a water bottle with pom poms and she played with it for close to an hour. 

Hand them a little bit of a leftover streamer roll. That give you 30 minutes of free time! Toddlers can be such complicated creatures, yet oh so easy at the same time.

We gathered items from around the house, and made a trip to the dollar store. As well as a couple of choice items from Walmart. Our busy boxes are ever changing, and no two are alike.

Each box has an item from a few topics.

Something crafty; Crayons, watercolors, playdough, stickers

Something challenging; Puzzle, bottle with pom poms,  pipe cleaners stuck inside a cardboard cone.

Something fun; Toy animals, Fisher Price little people, a tea set.

Then there is the mother of all busy boxes...




The rice box! 


 
 This was originally supposed to be filled with sand. It is getting later in the year, and Walmart only had colored sand. I opted for rice instead.

This box only comes out about once a week and is a highly supervised activity!  

We made five boxes this year. Four that she can do mostly by herself or with a helper. As well as the rice box mentioned above. 






If you type busy boxes on Google or Pinterest it brings up so many ideas!

If you are a 'Crafty McCrafterson', you can go hog wild making games, crafts, busy work etc .
I am not that crafty of a person. At least not when it comes to items that the toddler will probably rip into shreds in about two months. So I opted for the 'trash as a craft' and 'what does the dollar store have ready made' variety.

I am more of the 'Lazy Busy Box' kind of person. ;) 

These boxes are subject to change and transform all year long.

She will grow and be smarter(Hopefully).

 She will tear stuff up(Yep.)

We will lose part of it or neglect to put it all back in the correct box(Most definitely).

Sorting the busy boxes will probably become an item on the weekly chore list.(It's on my mental to do list)

I've mentioned before that we do real life here. I refuse to pretend that these boxes will stay fully intact and or organized in any way. By Christmas they will probably contain empty sticker papers, empty playdough containers, two half pieces of a crayon, the remnants of fifteen paper cutting crafts for the 7 year old,  seven goldfish crackers and a petrified cookie. I also fully realize that we will always be stepping on and sweeping up rice. 

At least I can say I tried. 




 Today was our first day of school. We pulled out one of the boxes during the first part of school. It definitely did its job. It kept her busy for almost an hour. Then she started pelting us with crayons.

 Oh, the joys of living with a toddler.




Happy Monday!

~Lyndsay

7 Quick Takes, A Recap of Life in The Tiny House This Week! Bubble Tea, Free Chicken and My Husband's Genetic Flaws...

 Welcome! 

It is Friday, and I am writing this at 4:30 in the morning. Apparently the toddler is boycotting nighttime, sleep, and all things rest related. Which means, I'm up too. Yay. 


Here goes, 7 Quick Takes on life in the tiny house this week!

1. Bubble Tea

 

School starts at the tiny house next week. This week has been spent prepping, Cleaning, organizing, planning, supply shopping, library visits (yes, plural) and of course a stop at the frozen yogurt shop. I've always been curious about the 'Bubble Tea' and decided it was time to just try it. I picked strawberry.
It was different. I found it strange having to drink the tea, try not to choke on the "bubbles", and then having to chew the "bubbles" to pop them. I ended up drinking the tea and letting the kids fight over share the bubbles.

2. Read all the books!

Speaking of preparing for school. We went to our two favorite libraries. On the same day. Within an hour of each other.
Our school has taken a big shift this year. We are changing back to more of a Charlotte Mason approach. Which means, lots and lots of living books. Sixty-three to be exact.  At least for this month.

We maxed out one library card and started on a second. 📖Since we live debt free, it has been a long time since I 'maxed out a card'. I might have gotten a little chuckle out of that.


3. Busy Boxes

The kids had a lot of fun helping pick items for her.

Can it always be this organized?

Speaking of school starting. (That seems to be the theme today.)

 I have fully acknowledge the fact that we have a very curious, adventurous and rather busy toddler. In the effort to keep her brain and hands busy this fall, and hopefully give myself fifteen whole minutes of uninterrupted time with the older three. We made busy boxes. (Post coming next week,  I promise.)

One of them has sand in it.
I am 100% positive I will end up regretting that later.

4. Real life science.

While playing in the yard this week, we saw the dog getting into something by the garage. One minute later she is running past us with something in her mouth. I was thinking snake or mouse. It turned out to be this little turtle.
We instantly had to stop everything to build him a habitat. Then spent the next 24 hours observing him. That's real life science at its best.
The turtle was safely returned to his natural habitat, far away from the dog.




Here is another insect that we observed this week.












5. Free stuff from Sam's club!

We grew up recently and got our very own Sam's club membership.
I didn't realize they gave you so much free stuff when you signed up! Dinner rolls, croissants and a rotisserie chicken.  Three of our favorite items from there.

It doesn't take much to make me happy.








 6. It must be genetic.

My husband is incapable of opening a package the correct way. This is something I'm rather particular about. I have spent half of my life (Literally) trying to teach him the concept of open AND close packaging.  It would only seem fitting for the children to be born with his inability to open things correctly.

Case in point. This package was already opened and re-closed with an elastic tie.

Clearly, that was just too much work.












7.  What are the odds?!

We were blessed with a slow day this week. We had a picnic and played cards in the yard on a blanket.
While playing a rather heated round of Bologna, someone called 'Bologna' on one of the oldest two. The cards are flipped and it turns out that both of the older two had fibbed and  placed the exact same sets of cards on the pile.



I'm not sure what the odds of that are happening, but we were greatly entertained.

Happy Friday!

~ Lyndsay