The "1 Family in a 1 Bedroom House" Series

I've been thinking about this series as soon as we knew we were moving into our house. We moved from a 3 bedroom spacious double wide out on a ranch with a covered carport and basically an endless yard, to a 650-square-foot, 1 bedroom home with neighbors close enough we can see what they are watching on their television.

We knew it would be a big adjustment, but we knew this was the right thing for our family right now. Our house is cozy and we have learned ways to make the most of our space. We're still perfecting things and figuring it out, but we have a great start.

I thought a series of posts scattered over the next few weeks would be fun to show things we've learned, products we use, and ideas we've incorporated to make our space work for us rather than against us, to keep us sane, and to enjoy this house we're in right now.

What our house looked like in July before we moved in. 

So, if I've had this in the plans for so long, why did it take so long to get started on it? Because this is intimidating! I'm showing you my life, my house! We love our little house, but it's not one you'll see in magazines, and it's still a work in progress. As I posted on Facebook not too long ago...I've battled myself with deep cleaning it, organizing it beyond what I normally do, and hiding boxes on shelves to make it look more pretty and ready for pictures for this series, but that's not real. That's not what Pinstrosity is about. I did sweep, do the dishes, and I actually made our bed, but I tried to keep it real. This is what our home looks like. It's not Pinterest Perfect, but really...who's house is?! 

This is smaller than we were used to, but what we had was so much more than we really needed. This has taught us a lot already about priorities, not hording for the sake of just having stuff, being patient with each other, and about being grateful. Gratitude truly does turn what you have into enough. 

Tomorrow morning starts the first official post with the first room! As long as you don't expect magazine worthy photos and ideas, come by tomorrow and check out our ideas and what we've done so far! 

As each room and it's space solutions gets posted, I'll add the link here to this list:

• The All-in-One Bed 
• The Closet Makeover with Hangers

Holiday Traditions: Decorating for Christmas

Finding and implementing holiday traditions has been a bit of a struggle for us. We have things we want to do from our childhood, but some of them really don't work without kids so we couldn't do them at first. Some we found just seemed forced or overly trendy. We just didn't know what to do. 

So year after year we just kinda made it up as we went. And now, lo and behold, 10 Christmases later we're realizing we have traditions! Things that have stuck around each year, things we never really intended on being traditions have turned into family favorites. 

We don't have a set day that we decorate for Christmas. It varies every year. But, we've ended up with other traditions that are stable every time we decorate. The first year we were married we wore Santa hats while we put up our few and cheap decorations. The next year, we still had the Santa hats, so we wore them again when we decorated. And then the year after that. And by then it was a tradition. We wear Santa hats when we pull out the Christmas decorations and adorn the house. 

Last night we pulled out the box of Christmas decor that survived the pre-move purging and of course the top 3 items in the box were the beloved Santa hats! 

I didn't have makeup on that day and my hair was in a ponytail. I saw the pictures of Darrow and I that we snapped and my first thought was "Eh. I'll delete those and take nicer ones tomorrow when I've put some effort into my appearance." But then I realized that was dumb. Darrow isn't going to sit with his kids and show them pictures of Christmases as a kid and point out how bad his Mom looked because she didn't put makeup on to decorate the house. He's going to smile at his grin, at my small hat, and at the memories. In this age of selfies, digital cameras, and Photoshop we forget sometimes that pictures serve more of a purpose than to show our best selves to the world. They are there to preserve memories, to show family history, and to capture moments. The shot of Darrow and I captured a fun memory and a cute little boy who giggled when he said "Ho! Ho! Ho!" It's one that I want to put in a family memory book. Don't get too caught up in getting perfect holiday shots. Get caught up in the memories, the moments, and the emotions. 

It's not an elaborate tradition, but we love it. It brings back memories of previous years and celebrations. And now as parents we'll get to see how the family grows and how the kids age year after year in the Santa hats. 

And someday, maybe someday, I'll find a Santa hat that fits my over-sized head. :)