The Reason

The reason for it all...

Lyliana's Room.

I put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, wall, and ceiling fan.

Can you see my attempt at Orion on the right?

Lyli's Christmas gift from Daddy was $20 for me to spend on her. We took a trip to the Dollar Tree, and I let her pick whatever she wanted. She chose a bunch of "babies"-- a horse, a lizard, and a monkey. I purchased some butterfly stickers for the walls.

The Jesus plaque hung in my childhood room, and I've passed it on to my daughter.

This table was a scavenging find-- it was abandoned in a storage unit. I was thrilled to get it at the storage-unit-foreclosure-sale. It's fantastic. Solid wood. Decent shape, although the insert was a bit ratty. I painted the insert with chalkboard paint, and it covered the ratty edges really well. I painted each side with leftovers from the kitchen cabinets. Lyliana really enjoyed helping me paint it. She would walk around it chanting, "Purple! Blue! Pink! Green!"

Beach Cheap tip-

Storage units often go unpaid. The storage company runs public notices in the classifieds for units they are forced to foreclose on. Then the company sells the contents of the units. You can pick up some terrific finds this way. Check the classifieds in the Beaches Leader for ads.

And the tent. I used the curtains from our Live Oak house and a hula hoop. I was going for a private nook for reading and playing quietly on the princess rug. Lyli, however, has no time for quiet reading, so it is now a sleeping-place for all her "babies."

A few pictures...

We have an office space! With room for my favorite books, sewing machine, crochet and knitting projects, and pictures. YeeHaw!

Our own bedroom! With some of my very favorite books (way up high out of toddler reach) and some paper lanterns that I got on sale from Target. I love the "we're on vacation" feeling.

We even have room for my records and record player.

My Kitchen

My kitchen is a very happy place. We painted every cabinet door a different tropical color. Now, when Ben asks, "Honey, where's the...?" I can respond, "It's in the green cabinet." It eliminates confusion and exasperation. ;D

I love my mermaid. Can you see her above the window? My Aunt Dianne painted her for me.

The removal of some cabinets really helped open up this room. And painting it all white and tropical brightened up the previously cave-like space.

And now I have room for my coffee cup collection (in the tiny green cabinet) as well as my new projects. I have a jar of cucumbers pickling in the corner of the countertop and some yogurt incubating in the oven. I have counterspace now, so I can roll out homemade crackers, pizza dough, bread dough, and pie crusts. I'm glad to have the space. It's nice to have extra room for personal indulgences such as the ancient percolator on the stovetop. Can you see it? I just perked some coffee for my afternoon cuppa-comfort.

Beach Cheap tip-

A fantastic cookbook- Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon includes information and recipes about lacto-fermentation, my favorite way to make pickles. I've made some terrific garlic-dill pickles (cucumbers) and fabulous ginger-carrots. YumYum.

The Big House

We finally finished repairing my Mother-in-Law's house. The broken windows have been replaced. The rotted door has been replaced. The holes in the floor/ceiling/walls have been patched. The kitchen has been opened up (we removed some cabinets and moved the fridge to the opposite wall- technically the dining room wall). We changed the tiny master bathroom into a laundry room. (I'd rather share one bathroom than have to chase my three-year-old around a laundromat!) We painted. Now, every room except the kitchen is the same color (the kitchen is white). We resurfaced the bathtub and tile, but it wasn't sealed properly and came off the tub almost immediately.

And we have learned:

1). Your family will always be there for you.

2). Husbands and Wives MUST be on the same team!

3). How to repair the handyman's repair-work. (I learned to install the proper stove receptacle- he installed a dryer receptacle. And I also learned how to install a ceiling fan- he wired it wrong. Ben learned how to repair the bathtub faucet and light switch. There's more, but I think you get the idea: handyman=bad.)

4). It's just a house. {Material things will rust, rot, burn. Thieves will break in and destroy. Build up your treasure in Heaven-- not on Earth.}

Ironically, the best thing about living in this house, is the back yard! Lyliana loves her tire swing and way-too-many toys. I love having my glider to sit on and drink coffee while I watch my garden grow. And our four-legged baby, Coal, loves to be outside. (That's him lying by the fence behind the tire swing.)

Beach Cheap tip-

Scavenging! Our beaches neighborhoods are filled with people who buy new things and put their old things by the road. Just a few weeks ago, our next door neighbors bought a new plasma TV and put their old cathode-ray TV out by the street. They even taped the remote control to the top of the television.

And check http://craigslist.org/ for things you need. We found two doors on craigslist for a great price. Buying local helps your neighbors. I also made a new friend during this process.

I would like to recommend the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which is basically Goodwill for building supplies, but I must include this caveat: take someone who knows about building with you to the store. I purchased a ceiling fan that did not include a mounting bracket. I couldn't use it and they don't accept returns. Let the buyer beware.

My Favorite HandMade Journal

I made as many hand-made-from-scratch journals as I could for Christmas gifts for the women in my life. As it turns out, I could only get eight done. And my absolute favorite went to The Sister I Always Wanted my sister-in-law Genevieve.

I used a gorgeous purple suede halter top {that I bought in college but never wore} as the cover. Isn't it pretty?

I hope you see this, Lori, I owe so much to your advice. Thank you!

An Efficiency No Longer?

We have begun repairing my Mother-in-Law's house. The main house (of which our efficiency is a part) is about 800 square feet, according to my brother-in-law. And he should know; he has one of those laser-measurer-thingies. So our family will move into the main house, and my Mother-in-Law will move into this mother-in-law-suite.

The list is long, and it is taking awhile. But I think this will be worth it. Every few days, Lyliana and I take a trip into the main house to visit "Lyliana's Room." She is super-psyched about having her own room. Last night, she grabbed her Thomas the Train blanket and said, "I want Lyliana's Room." I grinned in anticipation of my three year old sleeping in her own room. WooHoo!

So here's the basic list:

• replace broken windows and door

• repair broken wood floor (it's a little piece, but a danger to our toes)
• repair damage under kitchen sink
• remove some of the kitchen cabinets to make it more roomy





• add a couple of ceiling fans
• resurface the pink tub and blue tile in the bathroom


• repair the plumbing in the bathroom, clean, and re-grout
• replace the broken and missing fence panels in the back yard (our four-legged-baby will appreciate this)
• patch various holes in walls and ceilings and repair old water damage
• replace broken blinds and remove some wallpaper and paint
• replace kitchen floor (When we removed the old cabinets, we found that the floor under them was not tiled. So we had to remove the old tiles and redo it. Of course, I didn't really mind because the old tiles were very dark brown, and I'm more of a beige or gray kinda girl.)

Whew! That sounds like a lot. Thank goodness for talented friends and loving family!

And Lyli isn't the only one who's excited. I will finally have counter space! I will be able to bake and cook and roll out my pie crusts and pizza dough. And a bedroom that is separate from the living space... *sigh* that is going to be great! And a back yard! Lyli loves to be outside, and I want to have a garden super-seriously bad! This spring is going to ROCK!

Life is Good in a Small Space

It really is convenient, the closeness. I can sit at the dining table/office desk and write this note while my lunch is in the oven four feet behind me (no danger of it burning without my knowing about it) and my daughter is playing in the bathtub (literally fifteen feet away).
Nothing is hidden from Mommy's eyes in this efficiency.

I see all.

I hear all.

I know all!

Happy Thursday, everyone!