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joann10
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 7:30pm | IP Logged
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That is the size of our house. There was talk earlier today about the size of peoples houses. I posted some pictures on my blog of us having dinner tonight. I think dinner is the most crowded time of the day. 
I was wondering how everyone else with alot of dc deal with feeding everyone in a small space. We have tried buffet style for many of our meals but now there is not enough space to move back and forth from the counter to the table so now we put everything onto the table.
Does anyone have any helpful hints to deal with this?Here is a link to the post.
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Bridget
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 7:37pm | IP Logged
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Joann, no advice, but your my new hero! Your family is lovely and school has taken over our walls too.
The only thing that might help is a lazy susan or two on the table to help with the distribution of food. I have been hoping for a nice wooden one for a while now.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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joann10
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 7:49pm | IP Logged
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I have thought about a lazy susan, but some of the kids were so excited about spinning it, I thought we had better wait until the littles are older.
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Bridget
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 8:05pm | IP Logged
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 I suppose that would be a problem, but maybe the thrill would wear off after a while.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
Our Magnum Opus
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 8:14pm | IP Logged
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Joann,
I have that same tablecloth on my makeshift island in the kitchen.
See! 
I love the whole "Little House" theme. Could you please share more, like:
"Cooking in the Little House"
"Sleeping in the Little House"
"Schooling in the Little House"
"Getting Ready for Church in the Little House"
"Christmas in the Little House"
"Rubbing elbows in the Little House" 
You are doing a true service to all large families living in little houses simply by giving us all a sense of hope. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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joann10
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 8:27pm | IP Logged
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If people find hope in it, I will post some more adventures from the Little House soon. 
Although, I will have to get the kids to clean some bedrooms first.
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MarilynW
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 9:41pm | IP Logged
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Bridget wrote:
Joann, no advice, but your my new hero! Your family is lovely and school has taken over our walls too.
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I second this Joann - you are my new hero too!!! I am so tired after 3 days of (my annual) declutter, sorting clothes into sterilite bins, organizing closets - and usually this is the time I start wishing for a bigger bouse. But this time my motto has been "beauty and simplicity in small spaces" - and apart from sheer exhaustion and wondering where all this "stuff" comes from - I am quite content to be in my smallish home.
I had been wanting to resurrect the thread of big families in small homes - so thank you for doing so.
I do think it is such an encouragement to read of families like yours - because so many people think that it is only people who live in big houses who can have many kids. Sorry if I sound garbled - way too much tidying up going on around here - I am trying to race the clock to have my house tidied up before #5 makes a (hopefully not too early) appearance.
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Marilyn
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 10:08pm | IP Logged
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we're 9 in 1096 sq ft
My "dining room" is one end of the living room.. we push the table against the wall when not using it.. backless benches on the sides so that they fit fully under the table.
The dining area that's part of the kitchen.. lets me expand my kitchen a bit with a chest of drawer (my kitchen aid sits on top of it and the drawers get lots of use) and the rest of the space is my "office" area.
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 10:47pm | IP Logged
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Please share more about living in a little house! Bedroom sharing, bathroom time-all the nitty-gritty, please!!
Jennifer
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Jess
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 11:09pm | IP Logged
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I would love to see this too Joann! You are my new hero too  You have a beautiful family and you have really seemed to make the most of your space. I hope to learn from you.
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Jess
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folklaur
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 11:17pm | IP Logged
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No advice here. Sorry. Usually, I make up the plates, and hand them out, and we all then eat at the table. DH, however, really likes to do the serving dishes at the table thing, so I try to do that kinda often too.
And wow. Our house is only 39 sf bigger than yours at 1019sf - and I often complain (even if it is silently) about the size, and there are only five of us. I need an attitude adjustment... 
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amyable
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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Please, please post about living in your small house Joann! (do we have a "begging" icon? )
My husband will be ever so appreciative, because if I can learn to live here well (or better) then just maybe I'll stop pestering him to move.
I'd be especially interested in knowing how much stuff (clothes, toys, books, etc) each person can have , and how you store it!
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Lisbet
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WOW! Seriously, people around here (not 'here' 4Real, but here where we live.) go on and on about the 10/11 of us in 1500 sq. feet.! I am seriously impressed.
I have a wooden lazy susan on my table, and we really don't use it too much. We usually put two crocks of butter on the table, two bottles of ketchup/mustard, salt and pepper, etc... one on each end. That's the only idea I have. I am seriously impressed!
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joann10
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 7:47am | IP Logged
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I am humbled that people think that this is amazing. To us, it is just our lifestyle. I guess there are alot of things I can share. I like Cay's idea of putting pictures up on the blog about different activities that take place in "the Little House." I will do that as time allows.
Right now, while it is fresh in my mind, I can share our morning routine. We have one bathroom so- dh needs to be at work at 6am so he gets up at 4:30 for his shower.(our shower curtain is very thick so others can come and go as the need arises) My dd18 works at eight,she hits the shower at 5am-she then helps around the house until she leaves at 7:15 with ds17,ds14 and dd13-they attend a private school started by homeschoolers and faithful to the Magisterium. (paying for that is another post-we clean the school).
Dd11 is my right hand from then on. The two babies(ds24 months and dd12months)sleep with dh and I so they are usually up by 6am and dd11 takes over the dressing and feeding of them. Ds7 and dd5 wander out of bed by about 7. We try to take all showers and baths at night to help the morning run smoother. Ds20 is a chef at a casino 10 minutes away from here. He works until 11pm and sleeps until about 9am. We then wake him up to help with the littles so that we can start school.
That would be our normal morning. It doesn't always run this smoothly though.
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JenniferS
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Wow! Thank you so much for posting. Our house is only a little bigger for the eight of us. My dh alwayys thinks we need to sell and get something bigger, but we really have an awesome six acre yard and pretty decent neighbors. I have mentioned to him that many ladies here make it work with "little" houses, and he is impressed enough to relax a little on the house front. Frankly, I'd only move if we could be out in the boonies with a lot more yard to tromp in the woods.
Jen
P.s. My mom had a lazy susan for the table, and I remember getting into so much trouble for spinning it!
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Maryan
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Oh Joann (and all you ladies posting your wonderful large families in modest-sized homes) -- thank you!!
We live in a neighborhood where the house size begins at around 3600 sq. feet. So when we put up/built our modular house of 1800 sq. feet, several family members referred to it as a "little house."
I was really uncomfortable with that labelling. (When did 1800 sq. feet become "little"??) I didn't want our children to grow up with the impression that they were somehow deprived and not be GRATEFUL for what they have. Our area is "unreal" compared to the rest of the country in terms of house size.
So last night, I was so glad to show my dh your beautiful home decorated and filled with children. What a great witness!
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Maryan
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 8:18am | IP Logged
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Joan,
Do you have much yard space?
I have a hs friend who went from a huge 5 bedroom/5 bath house on a handkerchief lawn to a smaller house with plenty of yard. She said the large house was too much work and she preferred the children to play outside rather than the house becoming their jungle gym.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
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joann10
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 8:26am | IP Logged
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Jen mentioned that she had a six acre yard. Our isn't that big, but one thing that helps us is that in back of our house a church built a building and put up a nice big playground. Beyond that, are fields, woods, creeks, and a big hill that the kids like to climb. It makes outdoors a wonderful place to be. (of course, it goes on for miles and miles so I was always happy when my husband was a volunteer fireman and knew a lot of search and rescue techniques)
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joann10
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 8:27am | IP Logged
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I was typing at the same time as Cay. I have already answered your questions.
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asplendidtime
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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The house we own and lived in for seven years is only 680 square feet. We moved though,(because of work/layoffs) and our present home is hardly any larger. But it does have an undeveloped basement so that helps (for storage and my laundry is down there, dh set up a workshop down there too). And now the dc have a place to play when it is raining!
We de-cluttered a lot, I stored things in weird places but did what worked... We could only shop for 2 weeks at the most, because we didn't have room to store more food than that. We don't own a deep freeze, because we never had the space, so I could freeze things flat in Freezer bags and fill up my small fridge top freezer. Less clothes, less books, less toys, less furniture, less stuff made our home much happier. Less heating costs, less air conditioning, less lights... One bathroom can be challenging, but we make it work.
... the positive side, is that you know what the children are up to more, because they seem always underfoot. You can hear conversations, and you can help them with their heart attitudes... They can't sneak around on you, and get into things that they shouldn't. You can be more consistent in discipline.
Besides that, when they have to share space more, you are preparing them for service and self-denial. They can be taught to be a lot less materialistic. They will be happier wives/husbands/parents/religious later on.
You are probably doing a really great job Joann, it sure sounds like it.
P.S. Are you the same Joann who used to be on the Trad Catholic Mothers board (Kathy's)?
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: 12 people 990 sq. ft.
