Guest Post: "Our Wives Are So Worried About Us"

     Our friend Dawn has a highly-polished blog called "Whispers and Shouts". Read it. Like her page on Facebook. She's hilarious and luckily a much better writer than I. She also has two boys (very vocal twins!), lives in a small place (D.C. area), and has a sweet husband. Did I mention she is hilarious? 

MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012

Our Wives Are So Worried About Us

About a month ago, we stumbled upon the movie Apollo 13 on TV. Since the boys have been enthralled with space over the past year or so, Brian kept it on and explained the situation to them—and explained that those were not the real astronauts, but actors pretending to be the real astronauts. Then they looked at pictures online of the real astronauts. It got to be late. We put the boys’ pajamas on and let them keep watching the movie. Clark fell asleep on the couch. Cal sat, glued to the movie, until it was over and we plopped them both in bed. 

When they woke up it was all they wanted to talk about. I bet you can guess the boys’ favorite story to reenact now. The Gruffalo has taken a backseat to Apollo 13 Astronauts. Their favorite place to play it is on the metro. Which is good for practical reasons—they’re engaged and entertained for the entire ride, but like it or not, so is everyone else around them. We were out on the metro three times in the past two weeks, and many metro riders have now been exposed to the boys’ imaginations while trapped in a small space with them.

The awkward part is that the boys reference their wives at home who are so worried about them, the Apollo 13 astronauts. Loudly. Loudly, these three year-olds inform the whole train car that they have wives at home who are worried. What can I say? There's nothing I can say to make that not weird. 

They both address each other each time they talk as “Hey Apollo 13 astronaut…” and they also call me by the same name. I mean, there were three astronauts in Apollo 13, so it’s perfect. So, as we are rumbling along on the train, all the stone-faced commuters staring out the window or in their newspaper, Clark usually starts everything off by loudly proclaiming, “Houston, we have a problem.” 

Then they go on to talk to each other (and everyone because they don’t know how to talk quietly) about the explosion in the oxygen tank, and how brave they are being as they figure out how to get home safely. “We’ve lost the moon,” Cal will somberly tell us. Then we will discuss how there are so many scientists and engineers on Earth who are helping us figure out how to get home. Occasionally, one of the boys will scream and point out the window, “There’s Saturn!” which startles most people, but not me anymore. This will start off a series of exuberant planet-sightings out the windows. “Jupiter! Neptune! There’s Mercury! That’s my favorite planet!”

The best part happens on our way home from downtown. We come out from underground a few stops before ours. As soon as we go from being in the dark tunnels to being in the light of day they start loudly clapping and woo-hooing. Apollo 13 landed! The people are so happy! Everybody is hugging! This usually gets quite a few grins and chuckles from passengers. When we get off at our stop they clap again and hug. “Our wives are so happy to have us home!” 

And I hold their hands and walk my Apollo 13 astronauts to the elevator space ship, where they start a countdown to liftoff to the moon.

Everybody is so happy to see the Apollo 13 astronauts!

Our home is our haven.

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 basement apartment to rent (450 sqft). Neither of us owned much when we met, but moving into our  apartment required further downsizing. We loved our tiny 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 brutally 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 and uncluttered, using our space wisely (writing this post inspired me to complete our coffee making corner. Picture below).
~   We use baskets to organize toys under the boy's beds.
~   We have a queen blow-up mattress and complete bedding set stored under our bed. We can still accommodate those brave guests. =)
~    I use white wire shelf dividers in many of the cupboards in the kitchen and some of the closets to maximize use of space. 

·      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 get outside as much as possible. We visit parks, take walks, fish for crawdads in the river in the summer (with Grandpa), bike, go to Saturday Market. We have even been bundling up and going outside this winter (Ok. Fine. Maybe just yesterday. But it was therapeutic!).

·      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 couple 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 (It will be literal 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 soft earth tones, where guests can stay, rest, drink the world’s best cup of coffee, and have a 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 keeps us closely bonded, as we have no choice but to be in each other’s space. Our home is our haven.
~I wrote this as a guest post for fellow blogger Dawn via "Whispers and Shouts"
~Related Posts: “Before” and “After” Photos.

Laundry closet in our room

David and I share a standard size closet

Our room

Our room (Harper stomping on my jewelry.)

Bathroom

Bathroom

Boy's room

Boy's room

Main living space

Another view

Kitchen

Coffee corner before.

Coffee corner after (counter stayed the same).

We make use of as much vertical space as possible with shelves like these in cupboards and closets. The coffee corner redo inspired kids dishes to be lower. Huddo loves to help unload the dishwasher now.

Harper is a "Boss".

My son, Harper, is a “Boss”. Don’t let the gorgeous face fool you.

The Urban Dictionary defines boss as: “a person who is a leader, someone who runs s*** in his/her hood or city.”

Or “Baws”, (which is the classy word we use to describe Harper): “slang term for boss. Meaning: awesome, epic, leader, etc...” (although it turns out “baws” means many things which don’t describe Harper.)

Now, to clarify, Hudson is the one who runs s*** in our house. He is clever, and also sensitive and agile. What makes Harper a “baws” is his brute strength and “no holds barred” demeanor. (Yes. I looked that up. Quite educational.)

Harper walks around our house in just a diaper, pounding his fists on his puffed chest, vocalizing anything he wants to, very loudly. He steps on (not over) anything on the floor even at this own peril. Oh, Hudson's train set that he has carefully set up? Consider it stomped. He is more mellow than Hudson in a lot of ways, but once Hudson pushes him too far, Harper will literally tackle Hudson with all his weight (which is significant) and try to sink his teeth into him (like a shark, of course), which usually results in both of them tumbling off the couch or bed and Hudson screaming, "HARPO!" Harper does not care. He is a boss.

He also dances likes a boss (he gets it from his dad). He will dance to any beat or tune, whether it's a cell phone ring or his brother pounding fiercely on a piece of furniture. He stands with legs spread wide, shaking his butty (as Hudson says). Or he swings his head around exuberantly, so much so that we have had people in the grocery store stare worryingly at him. His dancing makes me laugh, out loud, every time (isn't there an acronym for that).

The face of an angel.

Harper found one of his girl cousin's "stompers". He loves shoes.

Our boy.

Hudson English Dictionary

Help	=	Hope!
Balloon	=	Momo
Lawn Mower	=	Momo
Hudson	=	Hutsey
Francesco (character from Cars 2)	=	Puto
Tiptoe tiptoe	=	Teto teto (which he whispers very loudly when we are trying to be quiet)
Eat	=	Um mum mum or eat
Don’t eat my food, mom	=	Mom! No un mum mum.
Love you mom	=	Mishyou mom (Makes me almost cry every time)
Harper	=	Harpo or Baby Harpo
Thank you	=	Hunun (?)
I’m sorry	=	Hunun (?)
Uncle Daniel	=	Nani
Uncle Jesse Grandpa Ron	= =	Hessi Bob (David and I named my dad "Papa". Hudson combined it with "Poppy" (his great-grandpa's name) and somehow it became "Bappy" then "Bobby". Now it's just "Bob". Or "Bob!" when he really wants his attention.)
Uncle Cameron	=	Pot Pie (Hudson couldn’t say Cameron and they once ate a chicken pot pie together. Done named.)
Uncle Dan (David’s brother)	=	Nani (with an aggressive head shake that jiggles the cheeks because that’s what Dan does when he sees Hud.)
Mom	=	Mom(my)
Grammy Brooke Cramblitt (Jesse's Friend)	= =	Mommy (in his mind there is a distinct difference) Meshul B (Special B)
Dogs	=	Ooh hoo (shortened version of a dog bark. All animals are their sound, of course)
Shark	=	Argh! (Ok, maybe not always the sounds, but just their implied fierceness.)
Train	=	Choo choo
No thank you	=	No pease
Sit on the floor and play with me.	=	Come. Seat. Me.
Happy	=	Hoppy (He wants to know which animals are hoppy. Sharks are no hoppy. Sheep is hoppy (and fuffy). He also decides whether he likes someone based on if they are hoppy or no hoppy.)
To indicate lots or many	=	Fie (example: fie shnow = five snow = lots of snow)
To indicate even more	=	Fie! Fie! Fie!
It’s cold	=	Ooh hoo hoo (with a little shoulder shake)
Fluffy	=	Fuffy
Okay okay	=	Hotay hotay
Stop	=	Bop or Dop
Yellow, red, green, Milk Chocolate milk or beer On/off That Truck I see that/let me see that	= = = = = = =	Weddow, vredt, reen Moo moo tschuce (juice) Daddy tschuce (juice) Hon/Hoff "Eh": that, there, see, um, Hudson's Universal Noun "Pull": small, black toy truck and trailer, "borrowed" from the Scott's. He puts cargo in the back. Favorite toy right now. Meshe

Grammy (my mom) calls Hudson “sweetie pie”. So Hud started adding “pie” to the ends of people’s names when he was feeling especially affectionate towards them. Mommy = mommy pie. Daddy = daddy pie. Baby = baby pie.