When I saw this picture, I just about died laughing.

 

 

This is my mother. Seriously. No wonder I'm always in trouble!

 

:)

 

Sunday Afternoon Randomizer

~ My sister Anna celebrated her 20th birthday today! I remember the day she was born. I feel old (lol). We had a nice morning at home watching her open gifts, and then I curled her hair using the new techniques I picked up from the stylist who did my hair for the wedding. It turned out great, and she got lots of compliments on it! Then after church we continued our celebration at a picnic lunch with our grandparents at Battle Creek Cypress Swamp. Despite the fact that I mushed my toe (and tore off the nail! Eek!), and I was preettttyy sure I was going to watch my grandmother go over the side of the boardwalk into the swamp a couple of times... oh, and that I dropped my camera in the swamp, where only Maggie's quick thinking saved it (thanks Sis!)... a good time was had by all. :) Pictures coming.

~ I got an appalling little bit done on my remodel this weekend. I reallyreallyreally want to get the kitchen painting finished because it's so. dreary. Lots of taping and nit-picky angles and whatnot. I'm really going to buckle down on it this week and try to get it done. My family has company coming next weekend, and I'm hoping to be able to offer my bedroom as a guest room, so that'll be my motivation.

~ Betty Crocker Macaroni and Cheese is nowhere near as good as good ole Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Just sayin'.

My Crave List

- A wine-braised roast. With some potatoes, carrots, and sage. Can I get an "amen?"

- A picnic. With some yummy food, some artisan ginger ale, a big blanket to spread out on the grass, a good book to read, a laptop to play music, and a cozy sweatshirt for once the sun goes down (cuz it's still pretty chilly for this time of year!). Then, some stargazing. :)

- A date. Not even a romantic date, really - just a chance to get dressed up, get out of the house, have an interesting talk, and be able to stay out late without worrying about being mugged. Guys are good for this. :)

- A day poolside, soaking up the sun. 'Nuff said.

Of Small Spaces, And Books

Something I realized pretty early on in my search for a new place to live was that, regardless of whether I rented a room or bought a trailer, I was gonna have to do some serious decluttering/downsizing. In a way, although I didn't know it at the time, I got to "practice" this last year when my family was having our upstairs flooring installed and most of our belongings went into boxes while it was being done.

I learned a couple of important lessons through that experience. I learned, for instance, that while I can live with fewer clothes, fewer knicknacks, less "stuff", there are three material things I don't function well without:

• My own bed.
• Pictures of my loved ones.
• My books.

The bed is easy - when I'm done painting and remodeling and unpacking, I'll merely lift my mattress off the cheap frame in the house, walk it across the porch, and slide it into my new bedroom.

Likewise, pictures are pretty easy to move - I'll have less "surface area," so more pictures will probably get hung on the wall, but one way or the other I'll still have my photos.

Books... now that presents more of a challenge.

Books are important to me.

When I finally unpacked my books after the flooring got installed, I had visions of downsizing my library, of sorting through all these unneeded books that surely I had - cuz, I mean, I have over 500 tomes, and I can't possibly love all of them, right?

Wrong.

I unpacked. I tried to be vicious about deciding whether or not I really wanted/needed each and every book.

At the end of this experiment, I rid myself of less than ten books and honestly couldn't figure out how to trim any more.

When I read about how to downsize your library, the first advice they give you is to eliminate all the books you know you'll never really read, or books you'll never reread.

I guess I'm odd, because I don't actually have any books that fall into those two categories. I'm generally picky about what comes to live on my bookshelves, and each book is there for a reason. I return to my favorite stories and novels as though they were the arms of old friends - Lewis for when my soul needs soothing, Bauer for when I need an infusion of joy, my poetry anthologies when I need to see the world another way. I'm guessing I've read about 75% of the books on my shelves, and I've reread probably 95% of them.

As for the ones I haven't read yet - I regularly mark books off my "to-read" list and most of the time the instincts which led me to put it on the list to begin with were good, meaning it stays.

A lot of people have told me to convert to a Kindle or similar eReader. While I know they mean well, there are two problems with this: first, converting my library of over 500 books (even though it's largely made up of classics) would be ridiculously, prohibitively expensive, even when I consider that most of the books I own I bought secondhand for cheap or was given. Also, I like to take my books with me on adventures (road trips, airplane rides, beach or pool sitting... long reads in a bubble bath... etc) and I would never, ever dream of taking an expensive eReader or tablet with me.

Second, I'm a staunch believer that books are more than the words on the page; books are experiences, and part of that experience is the feel of the paper, the smell of ink, glue, and binding (oh that heavenly smell! Made even better if it's a used book with the scent of history), the sound of the rustling pages... and, yes, even the slight weathering that occurs with time.

I have yet to confirm my worst fears - that I just don't have enough room for the library I have now - but I'm anticipating some tough choices in my future. :(

Sunday Afternoon Randomizer

- It's been consistently warm for a few weeks now. So I spent a little time this weekend pulling out all my summer clothes and packing away my winter clothes. Then I woke up this morning and it was cold again. Oh, well. I'm sure not undoing that task, so I guess I'll just grin and bear it (and wear the one sweatshirt I left out into the ground).

- Got so much done on my trailer this weekend! Allen wandered in while Lizzie and I were working and ended up helping (okay, okay, mostly doing himself while I sat next to him humming endless refrains of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and using the top of the bed platform as a drum).

Before - see how the bed platform takes up all the room?!?

After - see? Now I have a living room with actual ROOM!

 It was a double blessing to have Allen help me with this because it ended up being complicated - like, as he put it, it required tools to use tools to use tools. Luckily, I think the hard part is over, and now I just have to modify the top part and add cushions and voila! Build-in storage sofa. :)

- I had a great time in Sunday school this morning. I'm not sure what started it, but one of the guys started telling me about what a great deal he and his girlfriend got on their shoes at Payless, and then he and his girlfriend and I discussed shoes (turns out we'd both seen the same pair and loved them), and basically we just had a lot of fun. We're studying Job, which is a book that I lovelovelove, which makes it fun anyway. Unfortunately, our group leader just took a job that's going to take him away, so our future as a group is uncertain. Boo. :*(

- I finally got a haircut yesterday, so my hair is back to being healthy and split-end free. Yay! My hair has really had "A Series of Unfortunate Events" thing going on lately... last week, I had a dye job go horribly wrong and for a few days I had hair just like NCIS's Abby Scuito. Don't get me wrong, Pauly Perrette is cute, but my hair is supposed to be brown. Then yesterday my hair was so bad I had to watch three months of growing it out go down the drain during a "trim." :(

- Lately I've been rewatching "Sanctuary," partly because of upcoming Shore Leave, but mostly cuz I really enjoyed the show (before that fatal season four). And I'd really, really forgotten how much I liked season one, before Kate Freelander joined (not that I didn't like Kate, I'd just forgotten how much I loved the original team). And how handsome/charismatic Christopher Heyerdahl is. Lol. (And I just found out he's in an episode of Castle - EEE!)

Coming Together

I know, I know - it feels like all I've talked about lately is my trailer.

But, seriously, it feels like that's just the biggest thing going on in my life lately. Or, at least the most important thing. :) Every day, it keeps looking better and better and is starting to feel more and more like home. I can't wait to move in!!!

Liz joined me tonight and helped me knock out some of the last few things left to do in the rear bedroom/sleeping compartment. It was so nice to have the help! Plus, my siblings joined us later on to read, watch movies, or play the ukelele (lol) and so my little "apartment" was filled with people, which is exactly how I pictured it.

Everyone has been asking for pictures, but I still don't have any good ones, mostly because 1) I've been working in the evenings after work, when the light is horrible, and 2) the space is so small that it's hard to get a good angle on it. But, rest assured that it's looking good. :)

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the top bunk-to-closet conversion at least started, if not finished, and then as soon as I get the AC running (apparently it requires a different electrical hookup than the rest of the system?) I can move in and "camp" until the sewer and water systems are hardwired.

First Coat Of Paint

So, I bought paint yesterday. Two gallons (which cost more than $60! Yikes - paint is expensive! Good thing my whole entire "house" is only 27' long :)). And I went home, and stalled.

Because everyone told me not to do it.

My vision started with the first trailer I went to see - it was big, over 30' long, had a big sitting area and a huge bedroom, felt spacious, etc, and I fell in love. I'd been considering the idea of converting a trailer for awhile, but this was the first time I'd actually been inside of one, and in my mind I could see it with new carpet, the walls painted a pale shade of gray and the cabinets painted a slightly darker hue. My dad got hung up on the spots in the carpeting and I couldn't have cared less, because I could see it.

Although I didn't get that trailer, I carried the vision with me to each subsequent trailer I went to see, and when I found the one that eventually became mine, I had that same moment of seeing it.

And then I went home and shared my vision with others.

Mistake!

In a family that loves country, cowboys, westerns, handmade quilts, and wood, I love sleek lines, graphic prints, futuristic/industrial inspired furniture, monochrome, metal, glass, concrete. Most spaces that people label as cold and harsh, I would happily move into.

To refresh your memory - my trailer came with blue floral curtains and upholstery. With taupe wallpaper (that reminds me of my doctor's office). And lots of wood cabinetry. Everyone loved it.

Everyone but me.

And it was mine - or rather, it needed to be.

So I brought home a gazillion gray paint chips from Lowes, taped them to the walls and cabinets, and studied them. Every time I had a spare moment, I'd duck out and play with color, moving one closer to the window so I could see how the light played on it, or closer to the shadows, to make sure it wouldn't darken.

I matched up tons of light/dark combinations, looking for that elusive "perfect" combo from my visions, and the whole time, I doubted myself. I doubted that this was a good idea, that maybe I should just learn to be happy with the blue and taupe and wood. That everyone else was right.

I finally found the colors I loved, brought them home, and doubtfully plunged a paintbrush in and began painting broad streaks of gray across the wall.

And you know what? I loved it.

I got distracted by the way the evening light danced across the lovely hue. I relished every second as the ugly wallpaper disappeared beneath the fresh gray, creating a blank canvas for new memories.

Hazy stratus

I watched, in rapt wonder, as the space that, up til now, has been mine only legally, began to become mine in spirit.

The truth is, I'm not the same person I was three months, three years, or even ten years ago. God has been working in me, and in some ways, I'm like my trailer - for a long time, I was His in name only. But lately, I've been feeling brushstrokes across my soul, covering the ugly wallpaper, and heard Him whisper, "I'm redecorating. I have a vision." :)

And of course, the fact that I have a place to redecorate and call home, and the fact that my heart is made so happy merely by the perfect shade of gray - these are all testaments to the fact that I am the child of an infinitely loving Father, that I am being taken care of. For the first time in a really long time, I am resting.

 

And if you don't like my paint choice?

I don't wanna hear about it! :)