My friends, this is part of the reason I lean toward crazy. I live in a teeny tiny little hobbit hole lower level of a condo complex. Now don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful to have a roof over my head, a dishwasher and working washer and dryer in my place. But for God's Sake it's only 860 Square feet! And, not only is it small but it is filled to the brim with toys ALL OVER THE PLACE.
As evidenced by the photo to the left. Sadly this is not an uncommon appearance for my living room. Nightly I lament about the fact that we live in a two bedroom condo with no basement. Oh if only we had a play room! But truly, if I had a play room would my house be any less messy? When my husband and I were in college we were so messy we'd constantly joke that social services were going to take our cats away. I'm just bad at keeping house. Why am I outing myself as being a messy person? I guess I want you to feel sorry for me, or at the very least feel better about yourself lol!
To the right you'll see our living space. Tiny Galley kitchen (mine) and a small entrywa
y. The left photo is our living room/dining room. 
Well not ours, someone who is in the same complex selling their condo. My living room is way too messy to subject you to the whole thing. But you get the point. Then there are two medium sized bedrooms and a bathroom. Now stuff two of the world's loudest most high energy kids you can imagine, stir in one adults who works 40 hours a week and one who works 55 hours a week and every other weekend, shake well and here comes your big messy chaos.
Now lets look out my back window and see what is mocking me from across our grassy yard. Yep people, the richy-rich in their homes that I could probably fit four of mine in and all their space. I sit in my tiny living room and think about how they probably have rooms they don't use, some might have whole rooms they don't don't even realize exist, surely they could let me take one over as a toy room? They wouldn't miss the space. We'd cross the grassy yard and dash across the golf course to play in their unused basement a few hours a day... do you think they'd notice? I'm sure while I call them the Richy Rich mockers they probably consider my little Hobbit Hole an eye sore.
But I can't help but think if I just had more room then life would be a little less stressful and a bit more manageable. But maybe I'm just dreaming.
Calgon, TAKE ME AWAY!
22 comments:
You totally outed yourself. And with pictures! lol Too funny. Your condo is small though. And I think a playroom is the answer for your loud kids.
seriously, at least for the most part I keep the kitchen clean. Of course I know you have evidence suggesting otherwise on your cell phone-I'm not perfect!
I often feel that way when I drive through town.
I often wished I had a playroom so I kicked on ekid out of her room so we could have a room....with a bed in it. (Hard to be a playroom with an extra bed.)
When I think back to living in an apartment, I wish I would have gotten rid of more things. There are some really great deliberately small places out there-- you just need to go through your things to make it fit the space, ya know?
If it means anything, I think your living room looks nice. :)
Let me say that I go through days where I just want to throw everything. My husband and I have vowed to do that the next week day off he has.thanks for the comment.
I understand the play room/basement problem. Kids WANT to be where you are, so they bring ALL of their toys out of their bedrooms and destroy your house with them. Then people randomly drop by and you look like you sit around eating bon bons all day. (Which, by the way, those aren't very good. I would much rather eat a Twix bar.)
We are starting on our unfinished basement on Monday so that I can attempt to keep my sanity. I don't care how much you go through stuff. My kids play with most of their stuff. So, how do you decide what to get rid of? Sigh. Basement will have family room and a playroom. So, it can be destroyed and my upstairs living room will look like I am a super mom. Nobody needs to know the difference.
I've been in a 900 sq ft. apartment before so I feel your pain. Not much wiggle room. I'd let you come and play at my house.
Trust me, having a playroom doesn't mean the end of crazy messy rooms--my kids' playroom is a testament to that! I totally understand wanting more space though. Our place is smaller than I'd like too. :(
oh- I should say that my husband cleaned the living room so for the most part it's rather neat at the moment. ;)
I'll go ahead and out myself...I'm terrible at keeping house, too! We live in a fairly large house, but here in Texas you can get a whole lotta house for a little bit of money! I've found that the more room I have the more space the mess takes up. It's funny how it works that way.
Hey, look at it this way....at least you're not a mean...super, super mean Mommy like your beloved sister Honey Bunch...
Things can always be worse. :)
Hey thanks little miss Rude Pants. :)
Don't worry Honey, Emilie didn't know about Kiki yelling at me that I'm not nice all the way to daycare. I was mean mommy today.
Thanks for outing yourself Charissa :)
I know your pain...our previous apt. was 525 sf. 4 people. Both adults working at home. Clean? I was lucky if there wasn't 4 piles of laundry somewhere. And we didn't even have a dishwasher.
I got so excited when I saw the picture of your living room - until I realized it wasn't YOURS!!! Our last child moved out two weeks ago and we cleaned the entire house last weekend. I keep walking from room to room enjoying the clean, pretty, pleasant smelling, space. It's been 26 years of tripping over shoes and backpacks, dirty dishes everywhere, locker-room smells smacking you in the face when you walk in the door. Get used to it. The messes are always there, just different.
Part 2:
So, Jill's in town (our oldest daughter). After I posted the last reply about finally having a clean house again, I looked around my house and this is the current scene: In family room; one scarf, one bra (yes, I said bra), one couch sitting cockeyed, one scrabble game, a pair of shoes in the middle of the floor, and gummy bears on the counter. Upon further inspection, I see two suitcases in the foyer that have been there for a week- mine. A bag of Dove chocolates on the counter, mine. Textbooks on the chair - mine. Scarf across banister - mine. So, nevermind.
JacqAAAYYYY!!!! I have only heard the stories about your house and how everything in it doesn't have a place. I must admit, I got a chuckle out of the photo of your living room. It appears to me as though you came home on New Year's Even, whipped off your crazy print dress, had a few eggs and some oatmeal, blew your nose a few times, threw those used tissues on the floor and the left the room barefoot, walking through bits of hot dogs and blueberries. Stay in that small place girlfriend, the bigger your house is, the bigger your mess will be to clean up. I love ya though and when I do finally win the lottery, like I always say I'm gonna do, I'll hire someone to come in and clean your house for you every week. Deal?
We've lived in homes from 3,500 square feet to where we are now at 900 sq. ft., and it doesn't seem to make a difference in the mess. It follows me wherever I go. But now we don't have a dishwasher or a dryer (very common in France) so it's nuts trying to keep it clean.
Is that a ground up egg in your carpet?? Ewww....
(fingers in my ears) "La la la la la la la la"
Ya, but the real reason you lean toward crazy is those beautiful boys of ours. Seriously, I love them to death, but you can't get 3 minutes of uninterrupted time. Some kids can watch TV or play with their favorite toys for hours on end. Not here. I have to go now and pick up every single can of canned food that they pulled out of the cubbard, playing 'I want to make pizza. Daddy, is this in pizza?' Not only is every can out, but they are spread across the kitchen, dining room, and living room. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a can of green beans in a closet somewhere too. Plus the youngest knows now that he can grab a chair and reach everything on any counter top too and now the contents of my wallet are in a pile in a drawer that I hope to remember before I go out again.
But I wouldn't trade those two for the world, even if that means having green beans in the closet.
-Dad
I forgot that the oldest decided to build a nest today too. He took every single pillow, cushin, and blanket he could find. He ended up with 3 pillows, 10 cushins, 2 blankets, and his baby doll (thats a whole other story) and they went from the middle of the living room to the edge of the kitchen in a long train. He did have fun with his bed, for all of 10 minutes.
They are alot of fun, and I enjoy every moment I have with them. Oh, I just remembered I have to put all the junk back in my wallet before I forget.
Oh, and dont forget that those wonderful boys think that every bag of potatoes they see is like a huge bag of brown balls that all need to be played with.
Oh, and our youngest cant help but to take all the dirty dishes out of the dishwasher while we are trying to put them all in it.
Space is not your issue, sassy dear.
I guess you really can't set up a shed in your parking lot. :-)
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