My Holy Grail

Before I go any further with this blog business, there is something about me that you must know. I live in the smallest house in the world. Well, maybe not the world, but quite possibly the smallest house in my county and most definitely the smallest house on our road. You know those beautiful old farm houses that you see scattered out all over the countryside? We don't live in one of those.

I'm grateful for the roof I have over my head, all 576 square feet of it, but let it be known that at this moment in time I am sick to death of looking at the interior of this 24x24 "cozy cottage." As I mentioned before, we've been here for two years now. And we have a toddler. You don't have to be a genius to see why two adults, a toddler and the 8,569,342 toys, animals and books that go with the toddler would have trouble peacefully co-existing in a house with one bedroom, a bathroom, a small living room and a kitchen(ette). There's a cat, too. A very smelly cat. In a small space. Nice!

We have one closet. One! Whoever put just one closet in this house did it for the sole purpose of mocking me, I'm sure of it. I can hear them snickering. "Yeah, can't you just see her trying to fit winter coats and sweaters and baby dresses and tattered farmer work shirts into that closet?" Yeah, it all fits in the closet, if you'll allow me the liberty of considering my bedroom floor to be an extension of my closet.

I also share a kitchen with my mother-in-law. I love the woman. She produced one of the most wonderful men on the face of the Earth. Yes, we're ignoring the pregnancy test/Superbowl commentary for just a minute. Anyway, she's fun gal and I admire her in many ways, but we don't do well living next door to one another. That's the other thing that I need to mention. Our tiny shack sits a mere 50 feet from my in-law's house. Ahhh, family. My daughter has certainly benefitted from living so close to her grandparents. They're great with her, and always willing to help, and she adores them. My husband and I are definitely ready for our own space, with a real kitchen (no "ette") and TWO BEDROOMS!

That brings me to my mission. I must have a house. Any sort will do. One current plan is to build a garage with an apartment, complete with two bedrooms, over it, on our land about a mile from here. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be so giddy over blueprints. But I am. This place has more than one closet. I think I'm in love with the architect. Seriously. I don't know who he or she is, but to the architect at UCanDo Designs in St. Louis, I love you, man. Thank you for making a kitchen that doesn't require the suffix of "ette." Thank you for five closets and a pantry. Thank you for space for a full fridge and dishwasher. I will think of you fondly in my prayers, and I'm so not kidding.

So the plan would be to live in this garage with apartment until we can save enough to build a larger house. Then the garage, which by the way, is twice as big as our current shack of incredibly small proportions, would become a guest room and space for my quilting projects. You can expect that there will be a lot of discussion of this project in the coming months. We'd likely move in this fall, and would do 90% of the work ourselves. Crazy? Yes, possibly. But when you're living in 576 square feet, crazy is pretty much a constant.