This post is a part of 31 day series about downsizing. Check out the other posts here.

Ahhhh, I already missed my first day of the 31 day challenge. I figured it would happen, just not so soon! It’s okay though, my baby’s first birthday party is a really good excuse and I don’t regret focusing on that all day yesterday.

The party does kind of tie in to today’s topic though, because I was going to blog about our hideaway coffee table and when we had 10 more people in our apartment last night we “hid it”.

Having a coffee table isn’t necessary, but they are nice to have for popcorn, laptops, or my favorite- a place to prop your feet up!

 However, when you are limited to a small space they can be inconvenient to have in the middle of your room. That is why my husband J designed this media table.

He built the coffee table a while back, and when we found out we would be moving to an apartment he made the table as a way to conceal the coffee table when not in use.

Now you see it

Now you don’t

I’ve wanted to show off J’s carpentry for a long time now, but I realize it might not be that helpful to other people living in small spaces since building your own furtniture isn’t the most practical tip.

 There are plenty of other options though. Having an ottoman is great because you can use it for seating or as a table. There are also less worry when your toddler bangs their head on it. Getting a coffee table that has storage space is great too because small spaces never have too much of that, right?

What does your family use for a coffee table?

Today I am going to talk about how we downsized our living room.

Our old living room was a nice size and I am sure we’ll go back to something like this again someday because I love to entertain, but who knew we could be comfortable with so much less.  We sold most of the stuff in this picture at “the world’s longest yard sale” and we narrowed it down to just a single couch for living room seating.

Here is our living room now. We also added a TV media table and coffee table. You may not notice the coffee table, but it’s there. I will be talking about that tomorrow. For now lets get back to the couch.

This raggedy old couch has been with J since before we were married. He got it from a yard sale when he was in college. Who knows how old it is, but it’s held up. We even hauled it out to a field for a photo shoot in 2011.

It has a basic slipcover on it now, which we used to dress it up a bit when we were selling our house, but it’s still the same piece of junk it’s always been. We talk about replacing it. I doubt that will happen anytime soon, but we will probably shed a little bitter sweet tear when it does.

With the kids being so young all five of us can sit on it. And if we don’t feel like being that snuggly or we have company then we can use the chairs from the table setting.

It’s as simple as simplifying. You would be surprised at how little you need.

For links to the rest of this series A Lot of Hope in A Little Home click HERE.

Jump ahead to find links and a schedule to all my posts in this series HERE!. 

My mind started reeling when I read on Oh Amanda’s blog that The Nester has invited everyone to be a part of a 31 day challenge starting this month. The idea is to write on one topic for 31 days. I knew exactly what I wanted to write about, and I felt inspired and exillerated. I also knew that it was horrible timing. My baby is about to turn one (today is his birthday actually), and I am particpating in some focus group and research studies  in the next couple weeks, plus field trips and fundraisers. Not to mention I hate my blog format right now and would rather show up to the party after I’ve had a makeover. Lastly, I know that sometimes I get so excited about something that instead of preparing and doing it the right way, I just rush into doing it half way and end up being not so proud of it. 

             

I’ve seen a lot of very viral write ups lately about how we shouldn’t try to be so perfect for our online profiles.

There is this post,

*Stop Instagraming Your Perfect Life- Everyone’s life looks better on social media and that’s the problem

Then I saw this one,

23 Things Every Woman Should Stop Doing (#8 Comparing Your Real Life To Someone Else’s Virtual One)

Or this, which is hilarious by the way.

21 Really Annoying Facebook Friends We All Have 

And the one that really got me thinking was this latest movement “Don’t Delete That”

“@therevrock has started a hash tag social experiment #dontdeletethat. Instead of posting only that perfectly edited selfie, try posting a REAL pic of yourself that you’d normally delete! Spread the word and let’s see the real you! #dontdeletethat”

On one hand I get it. I came across this blog article the other day and the person was portraying themselves as the super star of homemaking and she’s pretty successful at writing about it. Lots of people are looking up to her as the expert in her field, but I’ve seen her field in real life and it is in horrible condition. I mean stop blogging right now and go take care of your field because it is on fire kind of condition. It’s like the documentary Catfish, which is now a show I guess. This documentary is CRAZY and I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it, but let’s just say people aren’t always who they make themselves out to be on the internet. And we know this. So I understand that there is a danger in trying to create a virtual facade.

On the other hand when I read the articles above sometimes I think people worry about it TOO much. It’s like complaining that people dress up at weddings, or that girls wear makeup to cover blemishes. We all want to put our best foot forward don’t we? When I saw several of my friends posting some funny #dontdeletethat photos I thought about joining in, but I humiliate myself 20 hours of the day as it is (yes even my sleep is embarrassing) and so I don’t have time to make a conscious effort to humiliate myself on purpose on the internet. Although, I do that sometimes, like intentionally including dozens of typos and grammatical errors on my blog so that no one feels inferior to me. That was a joke, those are authentic.

As I chew on these thoughts, it occurs to me that just because I am not dealing with this there are so many people that are.  It’s like the models on the covers of magazines are getting worried that they are being replaced as the #1 reason so many women hate themselves. That’s a shame. Even though I do spend a significant amount of time online I do not think I am contributing to this epidemic. Then again, I could see how some people would be jealous of my prayer requests and my instagrams.

But I just can’t help it that my life is glamorous.

What it really boils down to is to know the truth and be set free, John 8:32. The truth is you are a one of a kind beautiful individual. Man has struggled with comparison, insecurity, and pride since the beginning of time this isn’t something that is all the webs fault. I have recommended  Hamlett’s Blackberry before and I’ll do it again, it is all about this kind of thing.  Here is part of the description from the back of the book

Author William Powers draws on some of history’s most brilliant thinkers, from Plato to Shakespeare to Thoreau to demonstrate that digital connectedness serves us best when it’s balanced by its opposite, disconnectedness. Lively, original, and entertaining, Hamlet’s Blackberry will challenge you to rethink your digital life.

Go check it out from the library like I did, or by all means if you are going to order it through Amazon click the link on the side of my page here and I get a little sliver in commissions.

I’ve rambled on long enough. Keep it real internet.

*It’s interesting that this article used to be called “Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life”which is how I saw it when it was circulating on Facebook, but now it appears to be called “Instagram’s Envy Affect”. I guess I wasn’t the only one that thought that sounded a little bitter.

The other day my friend posted this status on Facebook

Our next baby will sleep in. God has to give us one that sleeps in, right? Someday? 5:00 am on Saturday isn’t my favorite….

and my reply was

Be careful what you wish for. If you get a baby that sleeps in he/she probably won’t go to bed anywhere near a decent hour. Take it from one who knows. 

My kids are night owls and while it is nice that they’ll let us sleep in, struggling to get them to bed before 10:00 is bleh. Last year when we had to start getting up early I had to gear my ENTIRE day towards how to get them to sleep at night. That meant that the moment I got up I was thinking about how late they could sleep in without ruining bedtime. The same thing for naps and calculating how much exercise or outdoor time they needed. When to do dinner, the last movie of the day, bath time etc. It’s like the whole day was really about the night.

It’s not that bad anymore now that we are in a routine. In fact some of our evening rituals are really pleasant and enjoyable, sometimes. Other times I worry that our neighbors are going to call the cops and I will have to explain “I am sorry officer, I know it sounds like someone is being brutally murdered, but kicking, screaming, and violently thrashing around is how my kids choose to settle in for the evening.”

All 3 kids in their PJ’s before bedtime

But let’s focus on the pleasant and enjoyable evenings, shall we? One VERY special bedtime was when Z recently prayed the prayer of salvation with J. You can tell he has had a genuine change in his heart. Every night he wants to read a Bible story. He loves for us to read to him from both real Bible or the Jesus Story Book Bible.

If you have never read the Jesus Story Book Bible, you have to check it out, even if you are an adult. It is so beautiful written! Sometimes Z will even request for us to share a Bible story without reading. J is great at this, but me not so much. I worry that I will end up teaching him false doctrine all because I am tired and bad with names.

Last night was also really sweet because SJ had picked out 10 apples up on top.

It’s tricky with her because for this time in our life we/she usually takes her processors off during pajama time. It’s a way for her to start to unwind. This means that she can’t hear me read a story. So I usually sign to her. While we were reading last night she said “apple” really clear (and she wasn’t repeating me because she could not hear). I was so excited. She pointed to each apple and said apple and then started counting each one. She doesn’t really know the numbers, but it was totally obvious that she was trying to mimic what sounded like counting. She might have even said an approximation for the numbers one and two.

Every night after story time I turn the lights off and we pray together. Z never felt comfortable leading in prayer until his recent commitment and now that he does I would love to sneak in a recording sometime to capture the precious words he says to the Lord. Wow! His authentic heart of faith is so encouraging. After prayer we play worship music (Amy, sometimes, like last night, we play Ross King.  Such a good way to end the day! Thanks for the tunes.)

Then I lay there with them. Sometimes I fall asleep briefly. I am going to be honest, I don’t always love doing this and I think the end is in sight for me laying down with Z. He can go to sleep on his own when he is forced to. I am glad that he will be more independent, for now I will cherish the moments.

In the words of Charles Dickens “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” and in the words of Messy Mom “One of the greatest joys a parent will ever experience is knowing that all of your children are happy healthy successful  asleep”.

Boot socks are so hot right now. Literally. It’s still the end of summer weather in most parts of the country, but it won’t be long before we are in full fledged fall. Last year I started eying boot socks/cuffs on pinterest.

But I noticed that these boot socks were not cheap (and I am). Then I saw some DIY pins popping up so I was all over it until I found out the tutorials required knitting or sewing. I am not that crafty, but refusing defeat I decided there was nothing to stop me from just cutting the sleeves off a sweater.

First of all the sweater has to be big enough to to fit on your leg. I have skinny legs, but they are still bigger than my wrists (hopefully yours are too). I had this frumpy sweater that I bought second hand from a thrift store while visiting Colorado. Here is a picture of me wearing it when I was pregnant with SJ 4 years ago.

 The sweater has a lot of stretch to it and it’s the perfect cable knit, so I went after it with some scissors. I told the sweater not to feel bad because it had served it’s job well, but it was time to move onto other things.

There was one part of the knit that was a tight thread, probably to keep it from unraveling, but it was quite restricting so I cut it. It will probably unravel eventually, but it’s good enough for now. That’s my style “eh, good enough”.

This is an awkward pose of me wearing my home made boot socks on a date last winter. The necklace, boots, and dress were also purchased used!

If you’ve got skills and you’re looking to make real upcycled sweater cuffs check out this post

If you are wanting to know how to do it the podunk way like me, it’s easy. Just cut the sleeve off a sweater and put it on your leg. Roll them, scrunch them, go thigh high. The styling is up to you.

I appologize that I do not have photos of me using scissors, but just picture a close up of my hands cutting in a really jagged line.

I love to buy used, reuse, upcycle, and all that other thrifty green stuff AND I love this fall look. Now I just have to wait for that weather to change!

I think everyone is still getting into the swing of things with school starting up. Coinsidently both of the kid’s schools had big social events happening this weekend. Luckily one was on Friday and the other was Saturday so we were able to do both.

.
I signed up to bring all kinds of sweet things and so I baked my heart out (including practice rounds).

I made so much that I was handing out the extras in sandwich bags to the parents at the bus stop.

First up was the carnival at Z’s school. I overspent (cha-ching) quite a bit to get them an unlimited game/ride pass, but at least it was for a good cause.

 Z had been counting down all week long and it was the most excited I’ve seen him since his birthday (granted that was last week, but trust me he was excited).

 Z and SJ had a blast,

the only problem is when the kids crash from these sugary happy highs they fall hard.

We went to get pizza afterwards and Z pushed SJ and she fell out of the booth and it made quite a scene. Z felt bad and started crying so his batman face paint was running and getting in his eyes. It was a terrible mess and in the most pathetic little voice he sputtered “I don’t want to be batman anymore”. He was asleep before we left the restaurant and all three of them were asleep by the time we got home.

The next day was the picnic at SJ’s school which included alumni families.

The weather was perfect and

the family time priceless.

I’d say this weekend was  success!

I may not be the most qualified to write a “how to” on the matter of punctuality, but I’ve learned a few tricks and I have needed to remind myself of them now that we are back on such a rigid schedule. Some people are just timely by nature and some of us have to work hard to be. I am one of the latter. These 5 tips have been tested and proven by me, the messy mom, to work with getting even the most “challenging” of pupils up and out and on time!

5. Time yourself


In order to know how much time you need, you need to know how much time you take.
For example, when I had my second child I was shocked by how difficult it was to be even close to on time. So I would set a timer each morning and then stop it when we were leaving. There were actually several times I never stopped it and would come home from church and the timer was still running, but eventually I learned how much time I needed to get myself and two kids ready. 

 Last year when SJ started school I had my laptop open while I got ready and I typed out what time I did everything so that I had a realistic idea of how much time everything took. Even though no one was ever supposed to see this I am going to be vulnerable here and show you a copy 

Lastly, this year I have to admit that I have missed getting Z off the school bus TWICE already. Kindergarteners have to have a parent present or they won’t let them off. I was so embarrassed. So what I started doing was taking a screen shot of my phone so that I know what time I left the apartment, then another screen shot when I get to the bus stop, then another one when the bus comes. You could just write everything down, but this way is so much faster. After some observation of these patterns I think I have the hang of it. I know when to leave without having to get there TOO early and feel like I am wasting my time. Isn’t that the art of time management? 

4. Dress to the shoes


This is a fly lady thing, but it’s helpful. She will tell you to get fully dressed including your lace up shoes, and even do your hair and makeup so you feel motivated and in the zone. When you are in your pjs and socks you feel comfy and lazy. This doesn’t mean you have to get all dolled up. Trust me I usually look like a bad tabloid photo most days, but I do like to get myself ready first and have some solitude while the little ones are still snoozing. Then I wake the kids up at the last minute. I think of it like securing my life jacket before assisting a minor. 

3. Set everything out the night before


This is another one where I am preaching to myself. Twice I have panicked trying to find my keys at the last minute. Last year before SJ started school I posted a question on Facebook for advice on the matter of getting up early and getting to school on time and this was the most popular suggestion I received. I am going to work on it. 

2. Give yourself extra time


Something unexpected always happens. You may have to go back to the house because your child forgot their backpack. Or maybe you can’t find your kids at the last minute because the lining of your purse has a hole in it and your keys slipped in there to become a part of some secret society. Or who knows you could even arrive at school to find that your child took both shoelaces out of her shoes and retied them into a the most intricate of knots that not even a high ranking boy scout could undo. These are just hypotheticals of course, but stuff like this could potentially happen. When you have done #5 and timed yourself add 10 minutes to whatever amount of time you have concluded you need.

1. DO NOT HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON 


When I asked for advice on Facebook last year the best tip I received was in all caps it said “DO NOT HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON”. This has been the #1 thing for me (that’s why I did 5 through 1 because I wanted to save the best for last).

Comedian  Jim Gaffigan jokes “The snooze bar is a wonderful invention. Nothing like starting the day off with a little procrastination! As my first decision of the day I will go back to sleep.” His whole bit on the snooze bar is hilarious, and not to get all serious, but it did get me thinking. Do I really want to spend the first 30 minute of my day in groggy debate with myself about whether or not I have more time to sleep. Some of you you can’t think of a better gift to yourself than hitting snooze and that’s cool. I like to think of the snooze bar like a real bar. Some people can go to the bar and have a drink and it’s a delightful little treat. Other people go to the bar to have a drink and wake up the next day with an enormous headache and a hideous pair of celtic boots they paid a gypsy $700 for (true story from my neighbor). I think I am a snoozaholic and saying no to the snooze last year may be a big part of why I was always on time. 

Alright ladies, or should I say “late-ies” he he. That’s all the tips I’ve got for you today, but feel free to share your own. I’m still a work in progress myself.