Reducing Waste
When I think about how I’ve changed since moving to The Little House 2 ½ years ago, it really kind of amazes me (and also disproves the old adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks). J
Before Dale started his new job, he was taking care of most of the household chores, and while doing dishes, he broke my carafe on my programmable 4-cup coffee maker.
I wouldn’t say I’m as die-hard of a coffee drinker as my mother, who would brew up to 4 full pots daily, but I do need my 4 cups in the morning and another small pot to keep me going in the afternoon.
Luckily, I have an older reserve coffee maker that I could use. The carafe on the older model wouldn’t fit my programmable pot and it is also much slower in the brew process. I admit that I’ve been spoiled by setting my coffee so that is already brewed when I wake up. Waiting 10 minutes for the older model to brew about killed me some mornings!
Plan? What is a plan?
I found that quote last week on the day that our life took another turn last week that we hadn’t planned.
It seems like our lives have been a series of twists and turns that we didn’t plan since our move 2 ½ years ago, something that in itself has been a little difficult for us, since we had previously spent a number of years with Dale on the same job, working the same hours, and living in a house we had owned for 17 years.
When we lived in the city, Dale had managed to work his way up to night supervisor at a company that he had worked at for 23 years. He’s always been a night person, preferring to even work the graveyard shift over days. I didn’t care for his evening shift that often had him staying 12 hours or more in the city, but that job paid provided for us for a long time.
To Enjoy Good Food, Good Conversation
Dale likes this table much better. Photo by Kevin Pieper
I love the tiny kitchen table we have in The Little House, but that wasn’t always the case. Scrounging for a small kitchen table was my first foray into second-hand shops when we built The Little House.
I found the perfect kitchen table that was well, less than perfect. It was one of those early 90s models with the fake wood glued on (although the fake wood was peeling off) and it caught my eye because it had two matching chairs with the fake wood bottoms and green backs.
My mom went with me to the thrift store and we didn’t think it was a bad purchase, but Dale hated the set, even when I bought a dark green tablecloth to cover its’ imperfections.
For Writing and Storage
People have asked me how to find furniture for such a small home. When we were building The Little House, we had planned on using it for weekends and vacations and eventually, a guesthouse. We needed something functional, but we wanted it to be cute as well.
We found two foutons that looked like they belonged in a cabin and fit our woodsy décor. We used one in the bedroom, where I was able to fold it up when not in use and use half the bedroom as an office. The one in the living room was eventually moved to The Belle Writer’s Studio and we took the one from the bedroom and placed it in the living room of The Little House so we could still sleep a guest there if need be.
