BEDA- #1 2 families in 1 home

Hello everyone- it’s been a long time! I’m not going to discuss details but the last 10 months or so have been a hard, unusual and sad  time for my entire family and that is why I have not read or wrote blogs much. 

The latest change is our daughter and son in law sold their home and have started building a new one.  But, it won’t be finished for maybe 10 months.  Family home rentals are hard to find and they want to save money for new home stuff so………their family of 5 has put much of their stuff in storage and moved in with us.  

Our home has an almost perfect layout for 2 families.  

It has a large master bedroom on one end.  We moved in 2 recliners and the laptop/printer into our master so we can retreat in there if needed (but so far, we are mostly in our room just to sleep. 

We have a big walk-in master closet and lots of extra stuff is stored in there during this process.  

The other 3 bedrooms are on the opposite end of this home.  I spent several weeks downsizing in these rooms- some stuff was donated and a little bit was put in storage.  

Before our daughter’s family moved in, The craft room looked like this……

Most all the sewing and craft things are in this end of the room.  That tall piece on the right is 2 pieces that stacked perfectly! I’m short and can’t see in the top drawer but that’s what stools are for.  

They are vintage Ethan Allen and I’m a big fan of how solid they are and how their finish holds up.  

A slim bed for a slim granddaughter on the other side of this room- 

This closet is still pretty full but 1/4 of it on the bottom right was emptied for  this granddaughter 

The 2 grandsons are sharing this room - there is a small walkin closet and dressers on the other end 

The parents are in the “guest room”

I didn’t change much in the living areas except I added a craft corner to the living room 

Zero changes in the dining room and thankfully our table is plenty big enough for all 7 of us 

In the breakfast room,  I did store away all the decorations on the hutch as I knew they were bringing food and it’s on there now.  They also brought a freezer full of locally grown beef and a full fridge which is in my husband’s shop ( I’ve bought a few groceries since they’ve been here but not nearly as many as you might think) 

And we are all hoping to garden so we have some seeds started (this photo is several weeks old and the plants have grown a good bit) 

So far,  things are going just fine and I think we all are enjoying seeing each other often.  

Yes, I am cooking more but I like cooking.  I’m doing more laundry but I don’t mind that either.  I’m thankful for appliances, utilities and cleaning products which make laundry so easy compared to past generations and many people in other countries.  

Our daughter and son in law both are employed, their children are in school and they are all busy with school, ball, dance, church activities, scouts —- so they live in our home but they are gone more than they are here.  

They also brought their dog, Winnie.  I was most worried about how the 2 dogs would get along but they are doing great! 

They are almost the same age and weight. .  They play hard outside and then mostly sleep when they are inside 

Ducky and Winnie - yes, our grass is brown.  It’s been a cold, dry winter but the grass will start growing soon and should be green then.  

BEDA means blog every day in April.  

I’m going to try! 

❤️ Rhonda 
Thank you for visiting today 

First post for February 2022#7

Hello everyone - I have less free time for blogging right now but I want to check in.

We have had a big snow event that’s lasted several days.  Granddaughter Cora was here today and we made tiny snowmen in the living room.  If you look close,  you’ll see a clear tray full of snow on top of a towel on a coffee table. We made snowmen and had lots of fun.  Cora wanted some tiny hats for the snow people but this was a spur of the moment activity and I didn’t have any tiny hats.  

I wish I had a before photo but Ducky got his first ever grooming, as in a professional haircut and he looks very handsome.  

Our oldest grandchild Gavin turned 13 this week.  His cousin Elizabeth isn’t far behind him  either.  

They spent lots of their early days here but now they are in different schools in 6th and 7th grade.  

I’m still trying to declutter and organize every square foot of our home.  I spent a few minutes cleaning out these 2 upper cabinets in our laundry room.  




These are the BEFORE photos 😱😱😱

I only spent a few minutes working on them but I think it was well worth it.  

I removed the lightbulbs from most of their packaging to save space 

These are the AFTER photos 

All of this came out of the cabinets and went into the trash or recycle bin.  

Our laundry room stays pretty busy as I do our laundry and another family’s laundry so I’m quite happy I squeezed out the time to get this job done.

I also cleaned out our small entry closet but I didn’t take any photos.  I think my husband most appreciates this better space, I found a coat he forgot about pushed to one end so he’s been happily wearing it.  

Lejmom -  yes we still have some pantry items stored in 2 bedroom spaces but not as much and not as spread out as it was in 2020.  

But it’s likely a family will move in with us for several months so I’m trying to figure out how to keep a lot of pantry items and have room for them too.  Haven’t quite figured it all out but I’m planning options in my head and I’ll blog when I figure it out.  

Hope you all are fine 

❤️ Rhonda