The post that needs pictures

…that I don’t know how to take.

This is going to be a very chatty, busy post, because that’s what I have today.

You see (actually you can’t see) our house is (by USian standards) very small.  We have one bedroom, that the kids all share.

What’s funny about all this is that I still read those “simplify your life” blogs (or posts) and consider what else I could do to maximize the space I have.  And this Christmas break (Jay’s been home) we’ve done quite a bit and I’m *thrilled* with the results.

Only there’s no way really to show you through the computer, so you’ll just have to come visit, ‘kay?

Since last month (you know, back before our massive rabbit expansion) here’s a list of the space-makers that have improved my quality of life:

  • Changing to a full-size stacked washer/dryer
    • This is huge to me: I can sort (and fold!) laundry in the laundry room now.  Baskets fit in the laundry room instead of spilling into the hosting bathroom.
  • Jay put counter top in the wellroom, so I have a place for my Vitamix and Kitchenaid to hang out and stay easily usable.
  • I moved the miscellanea cabinet into the wellroom, which left my main kitchen feeling more roomy and got my measuring cups and mixing bowls closer to where I use them most.
  • We hung up lots of stuff. Which means it’s contributing to the environment, not cluttering it.
    • There was the stuff that makes the spaces more comfortable/attractive, like my gordian knot quilt in the main room, a miniature knot in the kitchen, and a two hangings in the wellroom (to mute the intense yellow all around).
    • And there were the little things that just made life easier: my Thread Elephant (okay: one of my New Year’s resolutions is officially to get my camera to talk to my laptop.  You all need to hear the thread-elephant story, and it just doesn’t work without a picture.) and a few other things, but the BIG ONE is that Jay hung a florescent tube light fixture in my office (which also happens to be under our double-size loft bed).  This is a big deal because we’re going to add full-spectrum bulbs once we go to the store again, and I’ll be getting that oh-so-important light therapy while I do my writing and computer time.

Another life-enhancer is just the plain cuteness of bringing in glossy baby angoras.  I’ve been reading about rabbit agility (don’t roll your eyes. You love me, remember?  Just smile at my quirkiness and be supportive, please), and it made me think of the work I used to do in a similar vein with Joule.

Yes, I miss her.  No, we’re not likely to get another dog.  Jay is loving the pet-free house far too much.

Rabbits are proving to be a good match for me: they can go from bare-minimum interaction to lap-pet with remarkable dexterity.

Two of the three new angoras look to be torts (half-way down this page, if you’d like an estimate), and very high-energy.  I expect I’ll experiment with one of these for agility.

You might think all the babies would be high-energy, because they’re young and they’re rabbits, but I continue to be amazed at the perfectness of properly selected lines.  The meat rabbits are mellow beyond words.  Except for the three does we have sharing a cage (I think they make each other a little stir crazy) everyone is content to hang out.

I did have one person ask me– a bit accusingly– if I kept them in cages their whole lives. I said yes, and was pleased I refrained from pointing out at least I don’t have to mutilate them to keep them from attacking cagemates (chicks are de-beaked in standard practice. Jussayin there’s worse ways to hang out while you wait to be eaten.)

Anyway, the next big deal is that I’m not starting anything at the beginning of this year except “clean living.” That is to say, I’ve got an idea what I’m working on now (via the schedule I mentioned last post, and letting myself really enjoy my rabbits), and I want to see what it looks like to find my ballance that way.

It’s been just amazing how getting the house in order has given me new energy.

Probably the best thing is my office.  Before Jay put the light in, I cleaned it out and made it useable again.  Between the light and the “private place” — a space that I can choose who enters– I am feeling restored and infused with a hope that is hard to articulate but very, very good.

5 thoughts on “The post that needs pictures

  1. Angela says:

    Hi Amy,
    Let me just say that you are all out adorable. 😉 Quirky is always good in my book. I have a pinterest account and I’d like to share a link to some ideas I’ve saved for bunkbeds. I’m always reassessing our home. We do have a large home, but like all homes, it can become overwhelming, cluttered and inefficient. I find little nooks and think to myself, “Hmm? Shelves would be good here for maximizing space!” Right now I’m currently looking at our peninsula in the kitchen and I just decided to use the space under the counter to put in 8 feet of shelving so we can put all of our canning supplies as well as the things we can up on display. It isn’t hit with major light so it will be okay there. I think it will look cool.

    We do have a pantry and we’re building a second utility kitchen, but there is always ways to improve the areas we already work with. It brings a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and contentment. Before we moved into our house last year, we were all living in a small 850 sq foot home that we were renting. We made the most of it. Big doesn’t always make problems go away. LOL Anyway, we’ll be building some built in bunk bed systems for my adult daughters for when they come to visit us, and here is a link to some ideas I have for how that will happen in a relatively small area:

    http://pinterest.com/highdeserthome/guest-room/

    You can also go to my main pinterest profile and see other ideas I save that I find online. I also have photos of our house and the improvements we’ve made. I LOVE pinterest! 🙂
    Can I make one tiny suggestion? Can you get feedburner onto your website so I can subscribe to your new posts?

    I look forward to reading more on your site!

    • Amy Jane says:

      Thanks for your thoughts. I haven’t spent a lot of time on Pintrest yet (I’m a little scared to have one more place to spend time online) but I’ll check out your links.

      Bunk beds (and our loft bed) have been so necessary in this place, but certainly not an imposition.
      And I laughed when I saw your comment about feedburner: I was just on a blog yesterday where I thought *rats* they need an rss.

      I don’t have the time to figure out adding one to this theme, so I’ll change themes to one that’s got an RSS included. Not quite the same as feedburner, so let me know if it doesn’t do the job.

      Looking forward to keeping up with you, too.

  2. Angela says:

    I like your new look! The rss will be fine thanks for adding it. 🙂

  3. Brooke says:

    Rabbit agility? Ok. I’m tickled by that.

  4. […] next two are a couple of the pictures I wanted to include in this post.  They were the chosen ambiance for each room[…]

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