A Nesty Day

I've been nesting today. Yesterday we went over to my in-law's house and got all the newborn things down from their attic. Maybe we're a little early, but oh well. We've had the closet at our house nearly empty and ready for a baby for months.

Now...it is full.

closet, above wardrobe

wardrobe

I have one, stuffed-full drawer that contains only bibs and burp cloths. I assure you this was necessary for the twins, but if Peapod himself needs this much fabric to soak up just his upper body juices, we have a huge problem.

upper body juices drawer

I set aside the onesies with the cute little twinsy-saying on them. Like Thing 1 and Thing 2 and My Twin Did It and I'm with Yin, I'm with Yang, etc. We will most likely not need two mobiles or two exersaucers or two newborn boppy loungers or 35 bottles, or numerous sets of identical newborn-size shoes, and I would really love it if I never have to use that breast pump ever again, but other than that, we'll probably be able to use it all! This dude will be the cheapest kid ever.

The boys were on their own all morning while I got nesty. At first they loved playing with the rattles and puffy toys with weird sounds and pretending the mobiles were spiders (whose bites can only be cured with chocolate medicine). They "tried on" the microscopic socks and undid most everything I did. After awhile they started playing Mommy and Baby and pretending to feed and care for each other. Their real mom didn't care, after all. I didn't notice where they went after that. I'm not really sure if Cal ever got dressed today, now that I think about it.

I knew by the loud giggles and belly laughter that they were enjoying taking pictures with my camera, but I didn't realize until now how many pictures they took, and of what stunning quality. Observe their best art:

Anyway, I'm all nested up. Now I only have...oh, that's right, until July before we get to hold little Mr. Peapod. He has a lot of growing left.

Tonight Cal said, "Sometimes I just like to peek in Peapod's closet."

Me too, Cal.
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Addendum: I decided to put my name in the Circle of Mom's contest for the Top 25 Funny Mom Blogs. I'm under no delusion that I will even place, (I think I'm currently hovering around #165) but they do an up-and-coming blog version of the award, from what I've gathered, that maybe I have a shot for, because I don't know how they determine it. Who knows. You can vote for Whispers & Shouts once every 24 hours until next Thursday-- Valentine's Day. Or not, if you think I'm stupid. Geez.

Small Family Living- An Inspiring Guest Post

Today I'm sharing a guest post written by a friend. I first met Lindsay about five years ago when she married a friend of mine from college. We've only actually seen each other a few times- once floating the Boise River together pre-children, once here in Virginia during newborn-phase, and then last summer in Boise in hardcore toddler/preschooler mode. Lindsay and I have several important things in common: she and her husband also have two boys, they also live in a small condo, and they are also from Idaho. 

As you know, we are forever trying to use our condo space more efficiently, and Lindsay and David's space is even smaller than ours. They are an inspiration! They make it look easy. 

Lindsay recently started her own blog, My Wild Idaho, chronicling her family's tales. I'm a fan. And I love the name. Read her post below, then read her blog, and then like her Facebook page!

She's also publishing one of my posts to her blog today so check it out here. Enjoy!

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My husband and I are raising two young boys in 714 sqft. of space (plus a 12x8 storage unit). We love it and it’s challenging!

The background to this: When we got married we fell in love with a certain area in Boise, so we found a 450 sqft. basement apartment to rent. Neither of us owned much when we met, but moving into our tiny apartment required further downsizing. We loved our place but finally grew tired of living underground and “throwing our money away” on rent. We found a beautiful condo to buy in the area.  

            In the meantime, the economy tanked and we stumbled across a Dave Ramsey book. While we were already frugal, we started incorporating more of his financial advice into our lives. Living in our condo started out as a short-term plan but has become a longer-term plan. We changed our 30-year mortgage to a 15-year and have been making it work ever since.  Side note: condo living is not typical for most Idahoans. Idaho isn’t exactly short on space. Don’t tell anyone though. =)

How we make it work:

·         We are realistic about what we actually use and value.

·         We don’t frequent yard sales, thrift stores, store sales, or even Craigslist without a list.

·         Instead of storing unneeded items we sell them, donate them, or find a family that needs them more than we do.

·         We stay organized, using our space wisely.

·         We don’t own seasonal decorations other than Christmas ones, and we don’t own China dishes (or other lesser used items).

·         We get our light beige carpets professionally cleaned every year (very important to our sanity).

·         I do laundry often instead of buying lots of clothes.

·         We recently sold our TV (for many reasons) and made room for a play kitchen for the boys (the boys are playing with it/using it as a jungle gym right now.)

·         We have a queen blow-up mattress and complete bedding set stored under our bed. We can still accommodate those brave guests. =)

·         We even shop at Costco (an ever-increasing list)! (We just stagger the bigger purchases.)

·         We purge toys before Christmas/birthdays and keep only the boy’s favorites.

·         We purchase less and purchase smarter (quality over quantity).

·         We have a “give away” bag ready. When we don’t want an item it goes in the bag. Every couples of months we distribute the items where needed: thrift store, consignment, another family . . .

·         I use books to decorate. I already own them, I love them, and they have to go somewhere.

·         We practically live on our porch in the summer (Literally this summer. We plan to camp on it once in a while.)

Don’t get me wrong. We sometimes dream of an extra room, decorated in earth tones, where guests can stay, rest, drink the world’s best cup of coffee, and have great conversation (ha). We dream of a backyard where we can throw the boys the boys can play; where we can raise a puppy, build a tree house, grow a garden . . . (We do plan to grow some killer tomatoes on our porch again this summer). We dream of a big dining room where we can fill our family and friend’s bellies. A pantry. An extra freezer to participate in an organic beef share (Hello Scott Family). Maybe even a garage to park our car in (seems so extravagant!) and a desk to put our laptops (kitchen counter) and printer on (storage ottoman, not the most convenient to print something).

The benefits to small space living: It forces us to keep life simple; more family and friend time, fewer projects (all painting I did before having babies). No lawn to mow or yard to take care of. We have less space to heat, cool, clean, and decorate. It helps us value relationships and experiences more than what we do or don’t own. It also keeps us closely bonded, as we have no choice but to be in each other’s space. Our home is our haven.

~Related Posts: “Before” and “After” Photos.

Main living space

Different angle

Our bedroom

David and I share a standard size closet.

Laundry

Bathroom

Boys' room

Boys' room 

Condo-solidating

All the clutter that amasses each day in our condo is mind boggling and borderline maddening to me. There comes a point every day that I'm at home when I feel like stuff is attacking me. It seems like I'm always picking things up, putting things away, throwing things away, donating them, or eating them, and yet crap still comes at me, stronger than ever, and intent on choking me. I can’t take a step without walking on a metal space shuttle or a small child. Insanity!

Recently we’d been itching to do a house-purge. It had been a little over a year since our major closet project, which necessitated a full-on purge as well. Before the boys’ party I did what has become a regular toy purge. We’re fortunate to have Gammy’s basement for all the overflow toys, so those toys are on a regular rotation, and by rotation I mean we are rotating them from our house into hers and they are rotating around her house and staying there.

I recently saw a discussion thread on Facebook about whether or not it’s a faux pas to ask guests not to bring gifts to a party and there were some mixed responses. I’ve never felt bad asking party guests to either not bring a gift or bring something little, intangible, or consumable. I think it’s necessary when living small. Perhaps I am a tactless party-throwing shrew? 

While discussing the condo-overhaul, Brian mentioned the possibility of getting rid of our china hutch, and even though I’d resisted it in the past, I took it up as my cause, for whatever reason. It would give us some more room in our dining room and there’s this feeling of freedom that comes from getting rid of stuff, so I was game to do it. 

For a couple days, in between watching three children and keeping a house functioning, I chipped away at going through all our kitchen cupboards, the hutch, and the pantry. If the stuff had no sentimental value, if we hadn’t used it more than once or twice and never recently, or it couldn’t be used elsewhere as a space-saver, it left in a box for Goodwill. After rearranging everywhere with fewer things, I decided to keep the hutch for all the storage it provides.

My proudest accomplishment this time around was taking the canisters I rarely used, which were taking up valuable cupboard space and putting them in the boys' room as art supply storage. Before I had their art things in shoe boxes and tins, but with the transparent canisters it's easy to find everything and it looks cool.

I went through the linens in the drawers, got rid of some, and put others on upside-down box tops (one for linens we actually use sometimes, one on the bottom for wedding gift ones that maybe one day we'll use). Nothing pretty, but it freed up all the drawer space in the hutch!


I went through the vases in my hutch and kept one of each size. When do I ever have more than three bouquets of fresh flowers in my house? You're right. I took them out of the hutch and found a corner of a cupboard for them. I found a Magic Bullet mixer that we used maybe once. It had seven accompanying cups! It was decidedly un-magical when we did use it, so that got donated, which freed up more space.


My second favorite part of the purge was being able to take much of the clutter off the usually-unsightly shelves to the right of the hutch that serve as my office. With more space in the hutch, I put office things in the lower corner, and more things from the shelves, like our video camera, into the middle section. Because of the linen-purge I had four drawers in the hutch to fill. I put art things that we use frequently that often clutter up the table, CDs (I know, who has CDs still, right?) from the shelves, all the aprons and kids' baking things, and gave my blog its own drawer!

Now I have to take my purge-fervor to other areas in the house. Bet you’ve never heard purge-fervor before. Rural juror, anyone?

I recommend doing similar purges at least once a year, especially if you live in a small space. I know a lot of people who regret having a bunch of stuff, even though they have room for it. It actually feels amazing to let things go. 


I apologize for some out-of-order pictures. I also wrote about another aspect of this family purge on DC Metro Mom today.   

The disastrous, dusty hutch

The drawers had table linens we seldom use.

I kept some of the linens, put them on box tops
 in the back of a cupboard.

I never used these canisters that were taking up space...

so I put art supplies in them and put them on the boys' shelf

The boys love funnels so instead of the kitchen, 
I put them in the bathtub.

Yes, I'm sure we will one day need 100 packets of
soy sauce and plastic utensils-- tossed almost all of them.

These two sets of silverware were easily combined into one box.

I got rid of all the small tea containers by squishing them
 into a plate box.

Super-inefficient cupboard

Reworked with my entire set of China and extra silverware 
stored in the back.

So they're on top, ready for finite 
periods of fun.

Lately, fridge magnets make me 
claustrophobic.

Reorganized hutch

Four new empty drawers freed up the cluttery shelves 
that serve as my office.
CDs, aprons and kids' baking gear, art stuff we use often, and
my blog now has its own drawer!

The lower section by my laptop now has my 
office stuff in it.

Another kitchen space-saver: hang things up...

like spoons and knives

Took some lesser-used dishes out of the cupboards

Bulletin board on inside of the cupboard door, 
so not visibly cluttery

You have no idea what an improvement this desk area is--
 unless you've been to my house...

How the Storage Unit Disappeared: Shelf-topia

Last week I was thinking about how I could help people out with my blog. I realized I can not only share what we’re learning about parenting and parenting twins and parenting boys and trying to eat healthy and entertaining friends and family with our tales, but I can also share ways we’ve learned to deal with raising a family in a small space. In addressing these issues I’m sure I can also learn tips from other small-space dwellers about ways to make the most of every square millimeter of home. 

When we decided we were going stop pouring money into a storage unit and store everything at our house, we redid all of our closets. It was a Christmas break project that Brian took on and he did a brilliant job. The biggest and most life-changing, to be dramatic, project was the coat closet/pantry in our entryway. When we moved in it contained simply a rod for coats and a shelf directly on top of the rod. It left a giant amount of unused space above the shelf. Brian put in one shelf up above it and we used it that way for a couple years. It morphed into an embarrassing combination of coat closet, pantry, and shoes receptacle with food stacked on the floor. During Operation Storage Unit Migration he made a custom closet/pantry that, like I said, basically transformed our kitchen life. Our canned goods and such had been in a small cupboard by our sink. With them moving to the pantry, I could move more dishes into that cupboard, taking away from the other very-full cupboards.

 Surprisingly, when we took out the rod and shelf THAT HAD BEEN GLUED TO THE WALL (WHAT??), much of the wall came out with it. That was distressing, but with some of that wire wall fixer-upper stuff and enough spackle to fill a kitchen sink, we repaired it. (This disaster we called “Afghanistan.” It was not as bad as the living room wall fiasco in our old house we dubbed “Iraq,” mostly because it was in the closet.)

Afghanistan

the pink spackle (Cal called it yogurt) fixed it up

The end product provided adjustable shelves on the left side and a closet area on the right. There was also room for several boxes of storage stuff. We now store the boys’ extra set of carseats (for when friends drive us around) in the back below the coats, and in front of them we have a shelf with shoe cubbies.

Awe.some.

Clark and I arrange everything it alphabetical order (that's a joke)

Ta-da!

By the way, Brian didn’t know how to build these shelves he just sort of made it up as he went. A creative and resourceful guy to have around!

Off our balcony we have a small storage unit that was poorly arranged. We couldn’t fit our bikes in there and so they were just sitting out cluttering up the balcony—fine for a single couple—not for two climbing toddlers. The end result allowed for much more user-friendly and adjustable storage, including room for our bikes and car-top carrier that contains all our camping gear. The way we have it now is different than the picture, but because it is all adjustable, we can change it to fit the shapes we need to store.

balcony storage unit shelves

He added more shelves and pegboard to our linen closet, which we relocated in segments to the two room closets, to make space for all his tools and other fix-y type things like our painting supplies, etc. Below the shelves we put a see-through set of drawers. I call it his garage.

the garage

And again...

In our dining room he put three shelves on the wall for desk-type things. It’s basically my office. I keep my laptop on it and music for the boys, computer bag, camera and video camera, etc. It’s not pretty to have next to the hutch of beautiful china, but it gets the job done.

In all other closets he added shelves up above the existing shelves, even in the hot water heater closet. He put pegs behind clothes in our closets to store my purses and scarves. Another big feat he accomplished was also in our bedroom. We had a lot of books that we wanted to keep, but many of them had been sitting in boxes since we changed the office into the nursery before the boys were born. Brian put a row of shelves across the top of three of the walls in our bedroom and we fit all our books on it. They are displayed so that we can actually find them and read them! He also put cute little white lamps in all four corners on the shelf since we don’t have overhead lighting in the bedrooms. In the boys’ room he put a couple shelves up high, one for a lamp and the other for out-of-the-rotation toys. Quite a handy guy!

part of the bookshelf

another part of the bookshelf...

It is a snug way to live and it takes work to keep it all functioning. Sometimes we forget where things are. But now we don’t have to pay $60 each month and keep a bunch of junk we don’t remember we own.

And that is how our storage unit found a loving home.