Update on the Allegro

We have now been living in the Allegro for a little over 2 months. I still love it more than I dislike it, but when  the weather is bad or my Dad is having a bad day as far as Dementia, it gets pretty small. Even though we are making plans to move Dad into a Memory Care facility (This is the result of MUCH convincing of me by the nursing service that I have done all I can do and it is in his and our best interest. More on that later.) in the near future, we are still crowded, but determined to see this plan through

I have begun to call it The Vardo. This is the Roma name for the Gypsy wagons the Roma used to live and travel in. Because we are looking to potentially be here for six months while we go through the process of cleaning up our credit and get a loan to buy land and/or a home, my Mom came down two weeks ago and helped me spruce things up.

If you did not see my earlier post about it, here is what it looked like before.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate paneling? Yeah, it's a deep-seated hatred. So with it's nickname of The Vardo in mind, I set my plan in motion. Both my Mom and The Hubs thought I was nuts when I showed them my paint choices. They are bright and gaudy and awesome. If I'm gonna do a thing, I'm gonna DO IT! Their doubts were assuaged by the 2nd day when what I was seeing in my head began to take shape. A modern twist on the decadently garish Gypsy style. Love it or hate it, I present The Vardo

Not much altar space, but a Mason jar terrarium and my Buddah fit in the corner.

We put up a curtain as a "door" to separate our bed and the bathroom area to give the illusion of privacy.

I added more plants since. I put up coat hooks and hung the plastic buckets by one handle

Kind of hard to see, but I covered the mauve upholstery on the seat cushions with blue twin sheets. I secured them with sheet straps, crossed over, underneath. They stay put when going up and down between table and bed. 

This wall is right at the entrance. I used stencils.

Obligatory Instagram shot. I plan to hang two more curtains, one on each side, across the front to hide the "cabin". I really hate the mauve curtains, but the front faces more or less South and they are blackout curtains. They keep out a lot of heat and blinding light from the Arizona sun. 

What you cannot see is that we organized each overhead cabinet and it was amazing how much stuff The Vardo can hold and still be relatively neat and organized. I say "relatively" because I have 2 kids and 2 dogs...something is always messy.

I still have to finish the bed/bath area, but it is such an improvement! I love it even more now. 

When we get somewhere more permanent, The Vardo will become either an actual camper for trips, or a guest house, depending on how expensive making it road worthy will be. Until then, it's our little Home Sweet Home.Gypsy Junkies Axel Caplet Boxy Long Sleeve Tee at Free People - Black (Google Affiliate Ad)Cotton Tale Gypsy 3-Pc. Wall Art Set (Google Affiliate Ad)Gypsy Junkies Mimi Tunic (Google Affiliate Ad)Gypsy Junkies Mimi Tunic (Google Affiliate Ad) 

Feathering the nest

Here we are, day 4 in our tiny new home, and it's the first day that the Hubs went in to work and left Mojo, the dogs, and I here to really settle in. Yesterday Hubs and I fixed the leaking water line, and so we had the place completely torn apart. We could barely walk around, let alone get anything organized. So, today I put everything away, and threw out or rearranged the things left by the former owners. I found a spot for everything we brought, and cleared out spaces for more of our stuff to come out of the storage unit where it is now.

It has been extremely calming to me. I feel very in control of my little corner of the universe. Everything is clean and put away, and I could get up and put my hands on anything in 30 seconds. I pulled all the crumbling wallpaper off the walls in the bathroom and kitchen, and am hoping my Mom and I can paint when she comes up here this weekend. 

I am actually dreading going back to Hereford next week. It's like I have a little bubble of safety here and am afraid to go back to my Mom's where I have less control. We agreed that it will be best for Mojo and I to go back and forth until Jilly finishes school, but I am not feeling it right now. Maybe when the novelty wears off I will feel differently, but I have already felt the positive mental shift I was hoping for with downsizing to the RV and I am clinging to it for dear life.

Yesterday was rough, because of several reasons that include the place being torn up and having no where to really go to get away from it, and not really eating because I couldn't get to the "kitchen". There was also issues with having to move my Dad into a new Memory Care facility. Melted down on a nuclear level.The best hour I had yesterday was spent in the laundry room at the club house, enjoying the quiet and reading magazines.

But for now I am sitting in my comfy little nest, listening to the light rain and looking at the mountains that surround the Gila Valley.

Rule 32

When the Hubs and I moved back to Indiana we wanted very much to have one of us home full time and do home school instead of sending them to public school. We have worked hard and sacrificed to make that happen, even going so far as to flip roles and last year the Hubs was a stay at home Dad and I worked 4 days out of the house and 3 days here in my grooming salon. We have flipped it back now, and I am here everyday with our girls. I have my salon open 6 days, although I strictly limit the number of dogs I take in a day, and do direct sales jewelry shows. I have also decided to become active on Keen again, although I only have an hour or two in the evening for this and it has been a slow start. It sounds more hectic than it is, but not by much. 

One of the things that makes things hard for me, personally, is my kitchen. It's microscopic, seriously.I had a studio apartment in my early 20's with about the same size kitchen, and this is a 3 bedroom house. There is limited cabinet space, so way too much stuff is crammed on the tiny counters and on the too-big kitchen table. (We gave up the dining room when we made it the grooming salon, and although we traded tables with my oldest sister to downsize it's still too big) What does this all mean? It means that if more than 4 dishes are dirty it looks like I haven't cleaned in a week. In addition, being home all the time, and relatively poor since we are a 1 1/2 income household means I cook or prepare maybe 80%-90% of what we eat and that makes dishes for 3 meals a day plus snacks and drinks. This leaves me 2 choices, deal with it because I know I just cleaned the kitchen and it's clean under those dishes or do dishes a minimum of 3 times a day. This is on top of the fact the heating element for my dryer is STILL on backorder after 9 weeks and I have laundry hanging everywhere, but that's another story.

The sink is ancient stainless steel, scarred by limescale and hard water deposits that a jackhammer wouldn't break off. Above it is an ugly metal window that looks out onto our carport and our neighbors boat parked between the houses. I would hate to calculate how many hours a week I am standing in this spot. So I have tried to make this little corner as nice as possible for myself.

I have a spider plant instead of curtains to let in light. (it looks sad in the pic, but I just swapped it out for one that was too full and was poking me in the eye when I did dishes) I have a wind chime there because that window is usually open, even if it's raining, because it's covered by the carport and I like the sound. I have a few utensils hanging on the sides of the cabinets as both decor and a storage option. On the right you can see my little Raggedy Anne boxes, my kitchen is decorated with all my Raggedy Anne stuff from my college sorority days. (Go Alpha Sigma Alpha!) The main thing I want to show you is the left hand corner of the sink.

This is my little Rule 32 corner of the house. If you've seen Zombieland, you know what I mean. If not, rule 32 is 'Enjoy the little things'. I have to stand there and do like a million little loads of dishes everyday, do I have made myself a pretty little view. I have a stained glass angel that was my Mother in Laws, a plant I am saving from death in an earthenware pitcher that has been hanging around the house since I was a kid, the Hubs and my engagement picture in a little plastic frame, and a little poodle figurine my Mom got me the year I was a grooming apprentice.

Today, before 1pm I was washing the 3rd sink full of dishes, and I noticed the little jar left from the strawberries I used last week for strawberry-banana bread on the windowsill. I went outside and clipped some flowers for it and set them on the breadbox/charging station next to my little doggie. Did it make me hate doing dishes any less? No, not really, because I really, really, REALLY hate dishes, but it made me smile, and I know it will make me smile tonight when I do yet another sink of dishes after supper. I am enjoying that little thing, and a hundred other little things in my life. I may have to look hard from them, but that's ok too, because it doesn't leave me much time for bitching and feeling sorry for myself. Don't get me wrong, a little wine and whine is good for the soul, but for the moment I would rather do dishes and look at my strawberry jar full of flowers.

H.W.

Help wanted, ask Mama

Today Mojo is 4 weeks old! It seems like it went by in a blink, but at the same time she folded herself into our family so easily our life before her seems blurry. She did not, however, fold herself right into my Mama routine. This may sound strange, but I want to clean my house, I want to cook an actual meal, I want to get the weeds that are taking over outside pulled, I want to get the rest of the diapers sewn. I cannot do them, however, at least not completely or to my satisfaction, because of the gravitational pull of my sweet baby girl. I can get some housework done w/Mojo in the sling, and my husband helps a lot, but I think it's just that I can't do it that makes me want to. I actually got a lot done today, and one unexpected side effect of cloth diapers is I keep my laundry caught up because I am always aware of it. But then Mo wakes up and needs Mama, and I sit in the chair to change/nurse/hold her and do not get up for an hour or two. I love those hours, don't get me wrong, having gone through it once w/Jiji I know how sweet this time is and how quickly it is gone, but then I put her in her bouncy seat or back in the sling and plod along through house work that is slipping steadily out of my ability to keep up. Worse, the Hubs goes back out on the road Monday and I will be on my own again as far as the day to day. It is worth it, the housework will be there when I have time and a year from now I will be remembering sweet baby smiled and coos, not that all my laundry is clean but we are living out of laundry baskets, or that I can't run the vacuum yet until the Dr OK's it, so instead I just pick up dog-hair-dustbunnies when they get really big. At least I am getting really great at blogging while I breastfeed,opens up time to snuggle after diaper change.
H.W.