7 Quick Takes, A Recap of Life in the Tiny House This Week! Frog Swimming Lessons, Fancy Footwear and How I Got Better Gas Mileage

 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.  The Great Van Cleaning of 2017

We typically clean out the van as needed and or every week or so. However, this job is usually something I hand out as a chore to one of the kids. They get paid for it. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting my money's worth though. It was REALLY bad in there.

It took 2.5 hours. We filled more than one large trash bag with trash and a large laundry basket with items that needed returned to their rightful place.
I'm fairly certain we are getting better gas mileage from the literal pounds of trash, dirt and stuff we removed.

The plan is to maintain the cleanliness of the van. Check back in a month or two and we can all have a good laugh about the stuff that falls out when we open the doors.

2. Our Town Takes Taco's VERY Seriously!

The local taco joint had a deal on tacos this week. 34 Cents! All of the proceeds went to a local children's organization that operates in our county. People were so excited, and hungry...that they needed a Sheriff to direct traffic in and out of the parking lot. The line wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined it would be...we only waited about 20 minutes to place our order.


3. All I wanted was a haircut...

Emma and I got our hair cut this week. I used to cut everyone's hair. However, hers has gotten so thick. It makes me nervous to even think about cutting it. So, we go to our favorite gal to have it done. I don't go too often, every 3 months.
Emma had been growing her hair our recently. She wanted to grow her bangs, and get longer layers added in. She wanted spiral beach waves.

Well, she definitely got what she wanted...but I wasn't prepared for her to look so grown up. I went in with a little girl and came out with a young lady.

4. Over The River and Through The Woods...

Our neighbor a few houses down asked us to pick some of her green beans and sugar snap peas last week. She was having surgery and couldn't get it done.
The girls and I walked over. A handful of the neighbors are related and they have trails connecting their properties. So we went over the bridge and through the woods to pick some beans. :)
I figured she would share a little with us, but she sent them all home with us! Such a blessing!

 

 



 I cooked some of the beans in the Instant Pot this week. Added ham, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder. Cooked on high for 5 minutes. They were perfection!

They tasted like the beans my mom would make when I was a kid. Those took hours! These took 15 minutes.




5. Fancy Footwear

I've been having issues with my arches recently. The chiropractor has lectured...and I listened. No more cute, flat sandals or flip flops. :(
My friend gave me these foot supports. They are so neat. Like a hug for your arches. They have helped a lot...and they are so attractive!



I am totally and completely positive this will be a new trend.When it comes around, be sure to remember who started it. OK?! OK!


 6 He's taller than me and has a jump shot too...

Alex has been growing like a weed lately. Over 3 inches since Christmas!  He has officially grown taller than me.
 

 His favorite sport is basketball and he has worked really hard to improve his skills this year. Basketball camp was this week. His hard work is paying off. His coach tracked me down after the first night and had all good things to say.  He asked me if I had seen him play. lol Yes, Every. Single. Day. ( But I knew what he meant. He has definitely improved.) We are all excited for b-ball season to start this year. He has his heart set on point guard, but he seems to be made for center. His team mates have started calling him the Center Guard...and it stuck. Guess I need to get a t-shirt made. 





7. Frog Swimming Lessons
Our friend Marie Anne took Addison for a special day just for the two of them this week.
They baked cookies, packed a picnic lunch and went to the park. This is our favorite park, it has a stream with sand and plenty of rocks for skipping. Plus, it has Addison's favorite thing...frogs!
Marie Anne said that she had 3 at one time. The last one was especially tame. Addison decided to give it swimming lesson. She would toss it out into the stream...and that poor frog, swam right back to her. All while Addison would cheer, instruct and encourage from the shore. I guess this went on for a good 5-6 times of her tossing the frog out into the stream and it swimming back. Finally Marie Anne said that the frog was looking tired and suggested she let him rest.

Poor frog...but look at these amazing pictures that Marie Anne took! I'm in love! Thanks MA!

Well, our Summer is about to start winding down. School starts in two weeks. We will still enjoy the weather, and go on some adventures..but we will be back to reading, writing and arithmetic. ;)

Happy Friday!

~ Lyndsay 

How We Came To Call The Tiny House, Home

I am sitting here thinking back on how we came to be living in this tiny house of ours.
The story starts about 11 months ago.
It was December 10th 2013. My husband and I have made some big changes in our lives the last few years. We had made the continuous choice to pray for God's will to be done in our lives. That had brought about a lot of changes both emotional and physical. Along these changes my husband had been lead to leave his position at his work and work full time from home. He had wanted to do it for so long. This time last year we were working from home, we were very busy. It was a good business and my husband was very popular...but he turned to me and said..'I'm not sure this is what God really wants for us.'
We had prayed endlessly before he left his position and we knew we had made the right decision when he left..but it turns out, that wasn't where God had planned for us to end up.
So, once again we prayed for guidance and the Lord's will. We got our answer a couple of months later.  On December 10th...my husband came to me and said he had found a house and he felt God wanted us to buy it. We had looked at a couple other houses but it just wasn't the right fit. This house however..it was God sent. It was a disaster lol but never the less a God send.
I did not even see it before we put the money down to hold the property. My husband had come up to look at it(in 4 inches of snow) and instantly called to tell me to call the realtor and put a hold on it. I did.
He took me up a couple of days later. The house took my breath away..literally. It smelled and was a mess. But then again...must 100 year old foreclosures are. lol It had a garage (if you could call it that), out buildings, woods, county water, cable access, was away from town, but not too far out. Everything we had prayed for in a house.
But..the best part?? We paid for it with cash!
 We did not do anything to the house until after the first of the year. We climbed into the van with all of the children (they helped every step of the way) one snowy January day..and set to work.
We decided that tearing out the drywall and carpet would give us a good look at what we had to work with.
As I sit here I am picturing flash backs. I had a dead mouse fall out of the ceiling on my head. We found roaches in the walls and it was so dirty and gross.  The kitchen plumbing ran through the living room on top of the floor. You had to step over it to get into another part of the house.There was a huge hole and leaking in the roof around the chimney. The original part of the house was clearly built well..the additions and later 'improvements' were not built well. The people who lived here before had clearly not taken good care of the house or the buildings and grounds.
That was ok though..that is why we were here.
We decided later that day that part of the structure would have to come down due to it being poorly built. My husband is a stickler for things being down correctly and the way it was at the time, just was not going to work.
We filled 3 huge construction dumpsters, took off three additions and gutted the entire house back to studs.
Popped out part of the original roof and put in four dormers(we had 5 inches of snow and it was -7 that day), put on a new roof..rebuilt two of the additions, put in all new windows, door(s), insulations, plumbing, electric. basically we have built a brand new house inside the bones of a 100 year old house.
I just adore the hand crafted solid oak beams in the original structure. The history of the house just fascinates me. My husband loves to build and I am a descent helper...so we were almost made for this. :)
The house started out at 1400 square feet..it is now just a little under 1000 square feet. Probably closer to 980 square feet.
We love this house. It has taken us 11 months of blood sweat and tears..but it is finally livable. At least parts of it. We moved in the second week of September and live in a little less than half of the house at the moment. It is a bit cramped but it is home. Every week we get more accomplished and the house grows in comfort and space.
We made a purposeful decision to downsize when we were looking for a house. Part of asking God to show us His will involved the decision to be debt free and to downsize and live minimally. We are still working on some of these things... and Lord willing we will accomplish all of them in due time. This debt free tiny house was a huge step in right direction for our lives.
It you had told me a little over a year ago that our lives would be as different as they are today..I'm not sure I would have believed you. The past year has been a roller coaster of emotions and changes. It was painful at times but progress is never painless. It is painful and new and makes you feel vulnerable. It changes parts of you that you never expected. This past year my husband and I have growled at each other, worked together. We learned a lot more about each others strengths and weaknesses and have grown so much closer. When one of us reached the point of breaking, the other was strong enough to pick up the other and move forward. Our family has worked, rested, cried and rejoiced together on this new journey of our lives. The children worked so hard to lend a hand and have grown so much this year.
I am so proud of my family and what we have accomplish with our tiny home this year.

I will be adding pictures to this post as well as keeping up with the renovation with posts from this point forward.

I look forward to sharing our tiny house journey with you all. :)

~ Lyndsay