Was it the 70′s or was that color of paint on sale?

It’s a mystery!

Here is the kitchen.  I am going to hang my bathroom cabinet up here (currently sitting on the counter) to hold toothbrushes, basic family medicine type stuff that all families with kids have, shampoo and conditioner, etc.

Most of these carpet  scraps and that bed will be going to the transfer site.

Looking out the front window.

Toyo stove, heats with fuel oil and a bit of electricity.  Water jugs.

Well at least it’s not purple.  The first little house I ever lived in on my own had a  purple kitchen.  Ohhh it gave me headaches!  This is the bedroom.

Great windows to see the sunrise or the Northern Lights!

Front porch view of the outhouse.  We have a bird feeder and a thermometer already there.

The foam is to keep your butt from freezing to the toilet seat.

What to bring, what to say goodbye to.

When I first moved here 6 years ago, I packed my then 2 year old and 5 year old, my most precious possessions, a few clothes, some blankets, my computer, a sauce pan, a frying pan, a few dishes and 2 towels into my car and drove up from Oklahoma with a stop in Minnesota.  My parents also hauled a bit of stuff up for me.  When I got my first apartment it was so easy to keep clean.  After all, when you only have a dozen toys, they all fit neatly into a toy box or on a shelf.  Immediatly I started gathering…of course, these were things that were needed.  A broom, a toilet brush, more clothes for both myself and my quickly growing children, enough dishes that I could actually feed company or cook a full meal without having to wash my pot and pan in the process.  Then came a couch, tv, computer desk, beds, dressers, the apartment was getting that more occupied look and feeling more homey.  Now we have more than we need, more than I want.  I don’t want to go back to our original lack of creature comforts, but severe sorting and purging is certainly required.

I will be renting a storage space, paying rent on the cabin, and still will be paying less than half the rent of this current place, which is really, nothing to brag about.   The problem now is that my children are 8 and 11 and have very strong opinions about what should not be gotten rid of.  I am only allowing them one box of toys each in the cabin so that means the remainder must go into storage.  How much are stored toys worth?  Apparently quite a bit.  I am not going to make them get rid of THEIR precious possessions but we do need to be reasonable.  I am pretty sure this is just the first of many compromises that out adventure as cabin dwellers will be bringing us.

When we were growing up we moved a lot.  I don’t mean across town but across country, many, many times.  I don’t remember having a lot of toys but I also don’t remember feeling that I was lacking in toys.  I remember having one toy box under a bunk bed, and that was for all 5 of us girls.  I do remember my teddy bear that my mom made for me when I was two and filled with old stockings.  I still have it sans one ear, eyes, nose, mouth.  I remember one baby doll that peed.  I was never much of a doll playing girl, though I do remember playing with that one so I must have been pretty young.  Barbies never interested me.  I simply don’t remember being traumatized by toy purging.  Some of my sisters may feel differently though.

I remember long summer days playing base ball in the field by the house my parents owned.  We would move back to this house every couple of years so that felt the most like home.  I remember playing in creeks.  I remember doing cartwheels and roundoffs and all sorts of gymnastic feats.  I remember going swimming in the lake and my mom sitting and crocheting or painting while we yelled “Mom, look!”  Ok now I realize I am rambling but basically I am procrastinating.  I guess I had better get back to packing and sorting…and purging.