We had a wonderful time giving all of you a tour of the house this past weekend! Thanks to you, we raised a little over $500 for the Smiles Park! Things have actually been going better than expected since we moved into the house a little over a month ago. I think everyone actually agrees about that!
I mean we did discover while we were getting ready for church Sunday that we all brush our teeth right before we have to leave. Who knew? We are going to work on staggering our brushing, but I think we can manage that. 

Here are some pics from the party! I know you all want a detailed tour of the house. I promise I am working on that. The girls and I are taking a quick trip to the beach before school starts and once we get back I will give you the grand tour- from top to bottom. I will even let you peek in all the cabinets and drawers! 

I have plants, y'all. Real live plants. Take a close look at that adjective- live. In a few weeks I hope that I can still use that word to describe them. You see, I kill plants. I bought a succulent three weeks ago and it is dying. How does one kill a succulent?!?! I don't know either, but I did. "Mist it once a week," the instructions stated. Surely, I thought, I can handle that. And I did. I have misted it exactly three times since I bought it. And it's brown. It should be green. Oh well. You never know unless you try. 

So back to the landscaping... it is gorgeous!!! I thought I should post some pictures today. You know...while it's green. 

​BEFORE

AFTER

Isn't it fabulous! Thanks so much to David Foster at Southern Living Landscape for putting my vision into place. Now let's all pray they live. Seriously. 

The Tiny Tour is this weekend. After that I will post photo tours of the house on the blog for all of you to see. I will also try to link all the items we have purchased for the house to help with organization. Until then...

We have been so busy around here lately that I haven't had much time for blogging (well that and I don't have internet), but I am finally getting a minute to sit down and give all of you an update. The week after we moved in we packed right back up and headed on vacation. After packing, Matt said, "I think I just packed up all of my clothes." You did, honey. You did. 

We usually go to the beach, but this year we decided to go to Austin, TX. Here is a brief recap. 
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We packed everything we had just unpacked. 
We drove all day long. 
We rented a tiny house for the first two nights. 
We went to Krause Springs. 
We went shopping. (the kids loved this)
We swam.
We moved to a hotel where my college roomie and her family met up with us. 
We went to TopGolf. (I am AWFUL.)
We ate salsa at every meal one day. 
We went to see UT. 
We went to South Congress. 
We shopped some more. 
​We got rolled ice cream. 
We moved hotels again. (Matt loves changing where we are staying during a trip. Loading and unloading the car is his FAV!)
We went to Schlitterbahn. 
We drove home to a HOT MESS at our house. (more on that in a few)

And you better believe that when someone has gas in the new house, everyone knows about it. The phrase- take it outside- has an entirely new meaning. Anyway, let me get back on track. Gas. We have propane gas at the house which means we now have hot water and are fully operational. Three days of living in the tiny house with no hot water was challenging, but thankfully we still had access to the awful house during that time so we just packed up and bathed there. We survived. Barely. 

Isn't it lovely? Just what every homeowner dreams of... a big grey tank in the backyard that obstructs the view of the water. Maybe I am being a bit dramatic. Really- I will take the tank because it means I have an endless supply of hot water for showers!!! Well, an endless supply until it unexpectedly runs out which I am sure will be on a school morning when one of the kids wakes up vomiting and we all need showers. But you know...until then.

We finally managed to get all moved out of the awful house. Matt made a gazillion trips to the donation center because I was just too tired to be garage selling. Or lazy. You can call it lazy if you want. I call it tired and it is my summer break so I should be actually breaking. 

Many times Matt would drive up to the donation center right at closing time to drop a load. (of donations, people...come  on!) The worker would always say, "This ain't getting sorted today." Matt always replied, "Fine by me."
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Eventually the worker told him, "Man, you are killing me one car load at a time."

Now, this is a beautiful sight...an empty awful house! Matt even cleaned it. I wanted to pay someone. Matt said he would do it. Whatevs. I am really gonna miss that wallpaper though. 
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This morning, I made our last drop off at the donation center. You know your house is small when you can't even have a laundry hamper. Those laundry hampers have held unmatched socks for eight entire years. Today they were empty. I told the spare socks that I was sorry I had failed them in life by not finding their solemates (take a minute...laugh...). Then I threw the socks away. Gasp! 

Freedom is having only matched socks in the house. Try it. In every load of clothes all the socks have had matches. And then we fold them and put them up. Y'all. I haven't experienced this in a long time. I may have to wait in line to pee at my house, but by golly I don't have a hamper of socks anymore! (And I have only had to wait for the bathroom one time. So far.)
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So we have lived in the tiny house a little over week now. How is it going you might ask? The first five days were awful. I was stressed and I yelled a lot. At the kids. At Matt. At the low ceilings in the bathroom. At the dirt in the front yard. At the dirty dishes left on the counter. It was bad. I was retraining everyone in this new lifestyle and my patience was gone after the first night. Since we have gotten unpacked, things have been much better. I have tried to be sweet and patient when reminding the kids to bring the dirty clothes to the washing machine or when reminding them to wash out their dishes in the sink. The one major difference in this house is that cleaning can't wait. Everything has to be picked up immediately. That is the one thing we are all adjusting to right now. The kids would tell you that not having wireless internet or cable tv hooked up yet is their main adjustment at the house. You know. First world problems. 

So we are surviving. We cannot wait for you all to see the house at The Tiny Tour! If you would like more information on that, please message me. After the event, I will do a room by room tour on the blog! Until then I will keep you posted on our survival in small spaces. (They are happier than they look. I promise.)