“…because we get to cuddle.”

Several days ago our four year-old son was laying in bed with my wife and cuddling.  They were telling each other “I love you” and hugging each other.  My wife was really just enjoying her little boy.

As they were talking he said, “I like living in the trailer.”

“Why?” asked my wife.

“Because we get to cuddle more!”

His response was unrehearsed and nothing we ever discussed.  He was genuine in his response and sat beaming as he said it.  Our son captured, in one brief sentence, the greatest benefit we have yet received by our lifestyle.  We now have greater proximity to each other physically and emotionally.  While he noted the increased time being near each other due to our small space, he hit on the underlying desire our children have to share those significant times together.  I have spent many mornings lying on the couch holding three little boys before we get ready for the day…I love it!

“Oh baby it’s cold in here”

In our last house, our master bedroom included a converted one car garage as part of its space.  Because of this, the heating and cooling in that room was always inefficient.  During the winter, the clock on my nightstand would frequently read 51 degrees as we woke up and never rise above 65 without a space heater.  Well, the trailer has had its heating issues also.  Cooling was not a problem (electricity is included in our rent payment and the A/C is refrigerated air).  Heating as the temperature drops has been a different story.

We have relied heavily on space heaters as they run on electricity.  The furnace uses propane for which we must pay and I believe it is rather inefficient.  So far, the space heaters have worked quite well and keep us comfortable through the night.  The boys are the warmest due to the heaters being pointed directly at them and we are a little cooler as is our preference.  The problems arise when we turn off the space heaters and are gone for large parts of the day.  Several weeks ago, we were gone from morning until after dark and the larger space heater was turned off.  When we returned home, the coldest area of the trailer was 49 degrees.

Since then, I have been very good about leaving the heater on while we are gone so that the chill is kept away.  Today I was diligent about having the heater on and pointing in the right direction.  As we left I double checked it and ran out the door.  That is where I went wrong.  I guess the door slammed, but it did not catch and shut.  When we returned home, ten hours later, on one of the coldest nights of the year the door was opened as far as it could.  We quickly realized it was bitterly cold, but still a little warmer inside than outside.  Actually, I came to that conclusion because my breath made more steam outside the trailer than in it.

I turned the furnace on and got to work trying to thaw everything out.  That clock with the thermometer in it read 32.5 degrees and suddenly it felt much cooler.  Thankfully, 290 square feet can become comfortable rather quickly.  Sadly, three hours later the furnace is still running, but the temperature has increased by 31 degrees.  Finally, it has reached a good sleeping temperature.

Goodnight from the trailer!

Gettin’ ready for Christmas!!

When we made the decision to live the way we do, one of the stated benefits was going to be more family time.  The trick about that is one must actually do it.  I can say, with some certainty, we have yet to set aside time to just have fun as a family.  We have been moving, e-baying, sorting, just being…we have been very busy.

Tonight I decided we needed to just do it.  We have several hours every night that we are not using to clean the house, work in the yard or have a second job, so what are we going to do?  Get ready for Christmas!  Our older boys helped us cut and decorate 25 strips of construction paper to make an advent paper chain.  Everyday, we will tear off a link and read the scripture about Christ which we wrote on it.  The boys loved the time spent on them and our rewards are being seen.

This weekend we will play the part of the Griswalds and go get our Christmas Tree.  I am still not sure exactly where we will put it!