i feel a little out of it.
i think it's all that is going on in my head preparing for Craft Weekend again.
lots of things to get ready.
all good…but just lots of things to remember.
i had six cups of coffee today.
for real.
that can't be good for me i am guessing.
waffle.
he is such a goober.
annie made a birthday card for me…she worked so hard.
:)
i got The Help and a blender as my gifts.
perfect gifts i think.
not kidding.
some of you were asking to see the farm house and how i "decorated"
ha.
this is my kitchen.
this is my kitchen when i make cheesecake.
i don't know why there is a lighter in the middle of that mess….
this is the front room…the room you walk into when you come in the house.
it has a big set of windows that faces the yard on the right side of this picture.
(one of my kids "hung" that paper star on the curtain hardware months ago… it's not a decoration)
this is where i spend 95% of my time when i am home.
it gets the light.
but there are no screens on the windows or door so it has no air flow whatesoever….it's a bummer.
that door way in the back…goes to the garage.
the family computer is off to the right.
the coat hooks are to the left…. i showed this picture way back in the summer.
and this is our bathroom.
that we ALL share.
there is another bathroom upstairs but none of the kids like it so they all use this one.
there is a tub behind the door…and the toilet.
it's no wider than the the doorway. :)
do you see why i miss my bathtub? my big private bath tub in my private grown ups only bathroom???
this weekend i decided to reorganize my closet.
i took out everything and put it on my bed.
that is my bedroom….i am in my closet taking that photo.
there is nothing decorated in it either…just our furniture we got a long time ago….and some of my grandma's.
and there is my reorganized cleaned out closet….
craig has one 2 feet to the right of mine…but his isn't paneled…i am the lucky one.
this house is a rental.
i like living here but do not feel a desire to decorate.
i may someday….but i feel uninspired at this point.
we are still adjusting to the smaller sized space that is not really "ours".
all of us.
this was on my bed last week after a monsterous tantrum by annie.
she is pretty cute!
we have a no screen rule for the first hour home from school.
if you don't have homework you can read, draw or play.
she made this story….it's awesome.
ok…i am dead tired.
i am going to bed.
goodnight bloggy people.
🙂
Allison - Does Meg ever reply to the comments? I remember asking a few questions in the past with no reply. I find it curious too as to why she moved. I’ve been reading her blog for years and then one day (after the fact) she said, oh yea, we moved lol Hopefully one day she’ll fill us in 🙂 I’m guessing they are using craft house as a form of income, kinda like a small business going on… crafting/bed and breakfast. Do what works for you Meg and what makes your family happy!
bathroom lighting fixtures - Nice post! I think your bathroom is a little overworked. I mean I’d change the counter tops into something smaller to conserve space, which I think is really important especially for a bathroom where we don’t have that much to start with.
Kelly - I really enjoy seeing these photos! Your white couches in the family room make it seem so “you”. But it’s not about the stuff it’s about where you live and there have been some really good and nice comments about all that. Kelly
Antonette - I looove your coffee table set up with the kids chairs. I remember you once said the coffee table is actually a dining table, but where did you get the little chairs?! I’m having a hard time finding any that small. Thanks!
Tracy Fisher - We ALL share a bathroom too. In our rambler. I thought it best only one bathroom looks disasterous (15 yr old girl with hair products everywhere and 11 yr old boy who has discovered AXE). The other bathroom is for guests. It stays pretty clean. There’s no great solution when you only have 2 bathrooms! haha. Love the letters you share. I keep mine. Especially the ones where they are apologizing. They are so cute. Have a piece of cheesecake for me! -tracy
elisa - Awww I love that you showed pics of the farmhouse. I know people don’t get it. And I love that you don’t care. 🙂
It’s all good.
Love you girly.
Alisa - This was nicely said Jenn! I think the people who don’t understand Meg’s decision are less questioning the fact that she downsized or went to the country or even got into a rental. Many people choose to or have to do this. I think the hard thing to understand is that the other house is still there and is a craft house. Most people who downsize don’t (or can’t) keep the large house. Anyway beautifully written Jenn.
Heidi Jo the Artist - I really love Annie’s card and how she added on to the grass to make it perfect for mom. 🙂 Cute farmhouse too! I love the turquoise box with the flip flops!
Susan - I don’t understand why your family lives in a rental with one bathroom while your beautiful home is reserved for crafting time and craft weekends? I may have missed the explanation, but it is confusing.
Jenn - If living in a real, undecorated, zero storage, one bathroom farmhouse means your incredible kids, and you, and your husband – have the best chance to become the best versions of yourselves…then throw the throw pillows out the window and put your feet up on the furniture and listen to the cows bellow across the field while you wait in line to use the bathroom and know that we LOVE you for that because that is life and living. Your house is awesome and it’s a privilege to have you share it with us. Family is the CAKE of the home, decorating is the sugary icing. There is no such thing as too much cake, but too much icing can ruin a perfectly good slice. Like you, our family decided to have our cake and eat it, too. We left the 4-bed 3-bath beautiful home with its walk in closets (man, I LOVED those closets), and we moved into a 2 bed, 1 bath, 112-year old farmhouse in the country. Sometimes I worry that a friend will come to visit and see this home and not understand and ask why we left our beautiful house. I hope that she finds her answer in the country lane that sees more foot traffic than cars, in the old barn with its soaring beams that arch over us like a cathedral, in the meadow where the butterflies and birds make the wildflowers dance, in the warmth of my neighbor’s eyes when she comes to leave tomatoes and hen’s eggs on my front porch, in the smell of the sweet country air. She won’t find it in my shoebox-sized closet, in my quirky farmhouse kitchen with its sloping floors and cracked countertops, in the walls which remain unpainted and bare. But come on in anyway, throw your feet on the furniture and your troubles on the floor. No pretense here, just some real living going on. And here – in this raw, undefined, unrefined space – we are becoming our most authentic selves and are finding joy in doing it. Dirty dishes and all. Thank you for sharing with us and trusting us to understand and to not judge. Love you, love your blog, love your house!
Shelly - We live in a rental too. We moved from CA to PA. I think it’s a permanent move but we just can’t quite bring ourselves to sell a CA property that is 2 miles from the beach and we have really nice tenants in it. Our first rental out here was smaller living space rooms and we all shared a bathroom upstairs – that drove me nuts. Then, 8 months later, we had to move again for weird reasons and this place is bigger with more bathrooms and living space but now my girls share a room and all our lights are very “dated.” But more outdoor space – it’ll look beautiful in the snow this winter. 🙂 Our basement floor actually has a shuffleboard game built into the laminate tiles. ha! When something breaks, we make a phone call – which is the best of all. 🙂
betsy - Don’t you just love when dogs curl up and do funny things with their legs for a nappy? It kills me!
🙂
denise@victory rd. - Annie is right, it would be funny if a dog could bowl.
Thanks for sharing a peak into your reality.
Kristen - I know you had a good reason for leaving your other house, but oh my goodness, I loved it!! It’s taken me a while to get used to the farmhouse. Actually, I’m still not! At the same time, I love the barn on your property and I imagine what you would do with the house if it were yours, considering what you did with the craft house. I love your blog and you seem like someone I could have coffee with 🙂
And you look amazingly similar to one of my cousins. Weird.
pattykaplan1@me.com - I am guessing you can’t paint anything in this rental? Small is doable, no problem, but it’s not being able to really do what you want with it because it’s a rent. I am guessing you moved there because of the school system? I am new to your blog and love your honesty. I hate it when people act like everything is peachy all the time, like WE can’t say we are having a shitty day or my kids are driving me crazy today…it doesn’t mean we don’t love and appreciate each other…it just means we are human! Thanks for sharing! By the way, I love the area where you hang your bags and take your shoes off!!
Kristin S - Emachin
I used to teach second grade and that just made me really miss phonetic spellers?!?!? I loved trying to decipher their daily homework.
Emachin
Makes perfect sense to me!
sara @ it's good to be queen - i love everything about this post. thanks for taking real pictures of real life…trash in the trash can and all. 🙂 LOVE it. we are going on two years in a rental and it is hard. i *choose* contentment a lot even though my heart longs for a forever home. thanks so much for this post.
Flower Patch Farmgirl - I’m having flashbacks from that pink bathroom tile! Man, we really missed out on the pink bathroom era. I’m glad you and I have been able to experience it.
We have the same after school rule. It grates me when Calvin comes home and starts asking to use the computer. ??? So the new rule is, if you even ask in the first hour, it’s a no-go all day. Mean.
traci - I understand wanting to live in the country and the only reason your comments about you can do without bug me is the fact that you are not really doing without. You are keeping TWO houses going which is expensive. One day, maybe you will decide to chat about why you have decided to keep two houses but for now I am perplexed.
Brianna - How long is your family planning to rent the farmhouse? Thanks for sharing your home with us!
beth - rather than trying to put how i feel into words, when the last commenter (jacci) has spelled it out so eloquently, i’ll just say, i echo her sentiments exactly. thanks for this very real post! : )
Jacci in Ohio - I just want you to know that when I saw that first full picture of the family room, I teared all up and said, under my breath, “Thank you, Megan” 🙂 Because this shows it. *This post* shows that you are you, no matter where you are. And it encourages us to remember that contentment is not found… as you reminded me months ago… in granite countertops. Joy and creativity and family can happen in wood paneling! And dated kitchens can still make yummo cheesecake 😀 Thank you so much for sharing these! You blessed me today.
mama lola - annie’s cursive is lovely! what a little lady!
your rental looks cozy for all of you! and, you’re quite the brave mama for having white furniture– wowza!
julia - I think people who don’t like to bowl are weird too! So funny!!1
Sarah - why did you move to the farm house?
Heather F. - I love the “sorry” note. My kids used to write those with pictures of themselves with big bubble tears coming out of their eyes. Precious.
colleen from alabama - Smiling. I live in a house from the early 1900’s. I love the closet pictures. My husband & I share a closet the size of yours. double hung on both sides, no shelf on top (he is 6’2″ & needs longer hanging space:) 1400 square feet gets tight at times but we always know where our kids are! We only have one shower. My oldest is a girl. 12. drama. one shower is getting stressful. one bathroom with good light is too. Thanks for keeping it real. That is sweet mercy & grace to the rest of the world who doesn’t have it all perfect either. like me. You are my kind of people.
Jennifer Davis Wood - as a Ps. When you guys lived in the big craft house I know it wasn’t perfect but it was lovely. It was also inspiring to me, I was never able to get my home as cute as yours, that’s okay! Seeing the farm house makes me feel like the energy is in the right place. Relaxed family. that’s what I’m all about right now in my life. I’m letting go of the perfectionism and concentrating on my family and traveling lightly through this world. I have a big’ol house and I miss my smaller home and it’s layout. The house I live in now is never fully cleaned and organized. We do our best and that will just have to do.
Emily M. - I love how real you are and I really like the charm of living in a home that’s not picture perfect. I like it because you can let your kids hang paper stars on the wall and it doesn’t mess up your design among other reasons. 🙂 I love your no screen rule… I’m going to have to use that someday when I have babies of my own. Hope your sleep cured your weird mood… i love the way Annie spelled weird. 🙂
Jennifer Davis Wood - OMGoodness! She is Totally Adorbs! Really funny, I can tell:) I have a couple of my own that are that way. It’s the best.
Krista - Don’t you love “kid writing”? Every time my girls ask me how to spell something, I tell them to write it the way they think it sounds. Love her cursive!
Tiffany - I agree with Stephanie, the book is awesome. Most books do…
Tiffany - oh goodness that annie is sweet. can you keep her this age?
Stephanie Talty - You are going to love the book, The Help it is amazing!
Have you seen the movie?
The movie does not compare to the book-enjoy!
amy cornwell - Ellie just started making her “y” just like Annie’s with the loop on the bottom…it’s so cute! Thanks for sharing the farm house with us 🙂 I think I missed something – didn’t realize it was a rental, are you still looking for something else to buy? I’m still envious all the same…someday I’ll live on a farm!
Alisa - I teach third grade! Wish I could have Annie in class. Such a neat kid. Love the writing!
Tracey - Annie’s notes inspire me to encourage the kids to write more to me and me back to them. Just so I can read them and save the awesomeness for later.
Love shaved Waffle. He makes me smile. 🙂
Do you have slipcovers on the front room furniture? If so, from where? I love the smoothness of yours. Mine always look like they are falling off.
Kate - Goodnight bloggy friend.
Jack - I keep all the little notes that my kids leave around for me. The ‘sorry’ ones are the best!
Rebekah Brummel - I lived in a house like that for years. . . . rental living wears on you 🙂
lisa currie-gurney - good night friend.
hugs from my heart
Tania K - The only reason I follow your blog is to see pictures of Waffle. For reals. LOL
How about a Craft weekend just for teachers? Count me in! I teach second grade.
I love how Annie writes.