Twist and Shout

Over a year ago I was turned onto Sara’s blog Walk Slowly, Live Wildly…I love reading her blog, feeling so warm by her words, enjoying reading another like-minded bloggers thoughts.  Then she announced that her and her fam would be taking to the road in a veggie-oil powered RV.  I was more than intrigued.  I offered a somewhat flat piece of concrete in front of my home for them to park for a few days, little did I know they would actually take me up on my offer.  Their tour the Live Lightly Tour is traveling the country spreading the word about veggie-oil powered vehicles and sustainable living…

Last week they came our way, stayed for a few days and our lives were changed forever.  Matt and Sara are amazing creation-loving Christians.  From the second they arrived Nick and I felt like we had known them forever.  (We continue to wonder if they have that affect on everyone they meet or if we were *special*, I would like to think we are *special*, but I think maybe not.)  We had an amazing weekend of laughter, scooters, redwoods, photography, raw food eating, veggie buying, worshiping, jammin’ (as in Matt and Nick playing music), girl-time, where we squeezed as much into as little time as possible, Thai food, coffee and Borders all before bedtime (thank you Daddy’s).  We had such a wonderful time with the Janssen’s and we would welcome them back anytime, absolutely anytime!

A little while back I wrote this post about having three children in one bedroom. Well after thinking about it quite a bit, I decided to move #4 in there also. He doesn’t sleep in his crib all the time, mostly naps and for the first few hours at night. But his crib was taking up precious space in our bedroom, so I moved it. So now we have bunk beds and two cribs in one bedroom. So far, so good. And yes, they all fall asleep in there just fine.

My sister (aka ‘E’) has told me a few times recently, ‘you’ve come across something good’ and I would agree.  When we downsized homes from 3 bedrooms to 2, 2 bathrooms to 1 and 1400 sq feet to 1000 (or so I am told), we had to make a few changes.  The bathroom thing wasn’t a big deal, we really only used one anyway, but the bedroom thing was something to figure out, for sure.  We have four children; 5 1/2, almost 4, 2 and 1.  The eldest are in bunk beds, the 2 year old is in a crib and the 1 year old has a crib, but co-sleeps a lot and mainly uses his crib for naps.  So 3 1/2 months ago, when we moved, we put the three oldest in the 2nd bedroom (which is attached to the 1st bedroom) and then put #4’s crib in our room (which is attached to the living room and thereby the rest of the house).

*Ok I think I need to upload my sketch of our house plan (that I concocted) so this might be a little easier to understand.*

This situation has proven to work.  In the ‘kids bedroom’ there are NO toys, only beds and clothing.  We keep all toys in the covered/enclosed front porch and the kitchen.  There have been no problems with them keeping eachother away at night, waking the others up in the morning.  The three old have seemed to enjoy that they all share a room and I like that it is ‘everyones’ room and nobody can be shut out, yet if someone needs some alone time the room is there for just that.

So this something good I’ve come across is just this: a room for sleeping/quiet time and a room for playing.  Now it wouldn’t take a genius to see the benefits of this, but it takes some faith to act on it.  In our situation we really had no choice.  But we knew God was leading us back to Eureka and to this house and into this rooming situation, so there we went.  And honestly I wouldn’t change my current situation for each of them having their own rooms, I think individual rooms for little kids are over-rated.

One month has come and gone and we are still Compacting strong. I have to say I am proud of me, proud of us (my husband and me) and proud of all of the support we have gotten. There are still lots (LOTS) of people in our daily life that do not *know* we are on The Compact and that is ok.

We haven’t had any slip ups! I only went to Target once and it was to help my mom pick out Téadora’s birthday gift. I bought some used clothing and a pair of shoes for myself and a used video for the kids. I bought some used Tupperware containers for Aidan to use instead of baggies in his reusable lunch bag. I have baked bread 4 times since the beginning of January and I have decluttered about 265 items from our house (mostly toys that my kids weren’t playing with (more on that in another post). We had to buy Nick a new pair of work of work boots and those were bought brand new, but that was an exception in our Compacting “rules”.

It has been freeing to not NEED to go to Target or the Mall. I have un-subscribed to many company emails; Gap, The Children’s Place, Gymboree, Pimperlime, Old Navy, Sears. Some of which I am not even sure how I got on their email list in the first place. I have spent more time with my family, with the Lord, planning adventures that do not cost money and organizing mine and my family’s life around things that do not involve excess and consumption.

X-Posted Mamas on the Compact

Téadora you have forever changed our life.  You came into this world a tiny little girl, a few weeks earlier than we expected.  And each day since then we have thanked the Lord for bringing you to us.  We love you!

Two years ago, with 11 minutes to spare we arrived at the hospital. There was exactly 11 minutes from the time we pulled into the parking spot to the time I lifted her onto my chest.  Those 11 minutes were jam packed with adventure.  I was thrown a gown and told to put it on.  I said no and took off my pants.  She was 3 1/2 weeks early so I had yet to “pre-register” meaning I was hand a kagillion pieces of paper to read and sign.  I set them on the side table.  I was having my 2nd VBAC, so there was a nurse trying oh-so-hard to get an IV put in me, she had no luck.  However the worst was that one nurse did not believe me that the baby was actually coming, so she decided to check and see how far dilated I was.  I wanted to laugh, I wanted to scream, but I nicely said, you don’t need to “check” she is coming out.  She proceeded to check me, she prepared, started in and yelled, GET THE DOCTOR, we have a head.  HAHA, I thought, I was right.  Crazy a woman right about her own body.  But the best was yet to come.  Dr. Anderson (the same Dr.Anderson that delivered my husband) came waltzing into the room.  “Good thing you called on your way here, I was in the parking lot going home to take a shower.”  Like I care, I am having a baby, I thought.  He put on his gloves and went to take his position, honestly I never wanted a man in sitting there staring at me, but I had no choice he was the only one there.  (But according to him I should be ecstatic that the nurses caught him in the parking lot.)  I was then told that she was coming out with her face up (posterior), which explained my back labor.  Next thing I know I see a HUGE needle.  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”, I yelled.  He calmly answered, “you are going to need an episiotomy, so I am numbing you.” ” Do-not-cut-me, I don’t care if I tear.”  Next thing I know I am pulling my little girl up onto my chest.  She was wonderful and tiny, a whopping 6lbs 1oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  (For what it is worth, the doctor did end up telling me that I made a good call about not wanting an episiotomy.)

Well onto what you all have been waiting for the finished kitchen!

The sink was cut out.  We use a stainless steel bowl for the sink.

We cut a dowel rod that we had in the garage to make the faucet.  We used the rest of the dowel rod for the to hang the curtain (see below).

 The curtain went with her crib bedding set, I had to hem it (in 1/2).

Here is an up close of the curtain and the shelf inside.

And here is the finished product with her pots/pans and utensils set out.  The pots/pans set was purchased prior to Christmas.

So how did we do?  Do you like it?  We found everything in our home/garage with the exception of the pot/pans and the knobs for the sink and burners.

A few posts ago I made mention of trying to find items in my home/garage that could be put together to make a play kitchen for Téadora’s 2nd birthday (which by the way is on Thursday). Well her kitchen is almost finished. God truly blessed us through this adventure. It really came together quite easily. I was prepared with ideas of kitchens that I liked, see this, this and this (made by my friend Brynna and her husband Luke).

So the finished product will not be revealed until Thursday, January 17th, but here is a sneak peak.

We started out with a cheap-o computer desk from WalMart.

It was sitting in our garage taking up space

The top was removed.

And then sawed down to a lower height.

Here it is with the top removed and sawed down.

Check back on Thursday to see the rest of the project and the FINISHED PRODUCT!

On another sort of related note: how does your family do birthdays? Do the kids have “parties” every year? Or some years is it just immediate family for cake and ice cream? As your children get older will you change the way you handle birthdays? Will they ever have “friend only” parties? I would love to hear your responses.

We are doing it. Crazy huh!?! We are diving into our version of “The Compact”. Some might be exclaiming, “not you guys”, YES US, others might be cheering us on, THANK YOU, and yet most of you are probably saying “what the heck is a compact?” Well over the next months I will probably be in each one of your shoes. I am going to blog some of our journeys in compacting here, however most of the documenting is going to be done in a spiral bound red notebook. I am going old-school, I am going to hand write journal entries, can you believe it.

To get me to where I am it has been a long road.

I am a struggling Target, WalMart, $Store addict, I like nice clothes and things, I always am wanting more, I waste money on eating out and drinking “glamorous” coffee, I like the readily accessibility of new, I am a sucker for sales, clearance and anything that seems like a GREAT deal, even if I don’t need it and sometimes I don’t even want it.

We are a family of 6 living in a 1 1/2 bedroom, less than 1000 square foot house, with two cats and soon a puppy. We have been decluttering for over a year and simplifying and organizing throughout that time. We are earthy (some say). We cloth diaper, use cloth wipes, eat mainly vegetarian, we are about 50% organic at this point, we use natural cleaning products, recycle, we don’t vaccinate, by kids breastfeed for a long time, I love tie dye and by goly I rarely shave my legs

Well anyway, I wanted to give you a little background on us. Moving on…

December 29, 2007

I am on a journey of less spending, less consuming, more happiness, no debt, figuring out what *I* really need, what we (our family) really needs.

I have some thoughts about what “COMPACTING” would look like to me.

*One time per month trip to Target and only for necessities

*No brand new clothes for kids until 2009

*Limit brand new clothing for Nick and I

*REALLY THINK ABOUT PURCHASES

*Do not use credit

*Buy local as much as possible

*Bake bread once a week

*Declutter 2008 things in 2008

EXCEPTIONS

*Aidan’s uniform clothes (I will try to first buy used)

*Underwear, socks, undershirts, shoes

*New car seats for Aidan and Coda

*Things that will help us to become more self-sufficient (not sure if that is the right word), such as cloth diapers, seeds, potting soil, etc for planting vegetables.

*Items needed to run our business

January 1, 2007

So far today I wanted to buy a new magazine “Mothering” (maybe Kristy could send me her copy when she is done with it), I wanted to buy a new book, I am going to check out the used bookstores.

Téadora’s birthday is in 16 days. We really wanted to make her a play kitchen for her birthday. So today/tonight I am going to search in the house and garage for items that could be used. I wish myself luck.
Taken from “The Red Notebook”

Over the past week we have decluttered a lot of stuff; 5 - 33 gallon bags of clothing, HUGE box of shoes, toys, misc. housewares, 1 - 33 gallon bag of toys (the boys chose the toys to give to other kids that didn’t have any, and they did this without a fuss
It feels good to declutter, it was needed obviously, but the more I declutter the more I realize how much JUNK, excess stuff, whatever you want to call it that WE have. I have my reasons for keeping some of the stuff; another child will wear it down the road, when Téa and Dillon are older they will use the two extra beds we have. However, there is some stuff that there is absolutely no need for…I do not need 5 30gallon plastic containers full of Christmas decorations, I do not need pictures frames that I have no room on the wall for, I do not need stuff in a filing cabinet that I haven’t looked at in atleast 2 years, I do not need a lot of the stuff that I have.
We are moving to a much smaller house, even though it is suspose to just be temporary, we do not have a specific length of time we will be living there. I feel like the Lord is challenging us to live simpler, to not just accumulate stuff because we CAN. The Lord has called us to move back to Eureka, to live in a small home and to make good use out of what we have. I mean what is the point of saving all of this stuff, just for the *day* that we *might* be able to use it. I mean who needs 4 Pyrex cake pans, plus two metal ones, who needs 12 coffee/tea mugs that match our dishes, plus 10 or so others that don’t match.
I feel motivated to continue decluttering, to live a simpler life…I guess I fear one day I will regret giving away something, silly, silly.