Texas Reno Archives - Small Things Are Big Things

January 22, 2018 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Reverse Osmosis Water System from Costco

I have never purchased more throw away water bottles in my whole life! If you know how I feel about throw away plastic, you know how this is KILLING me.
But we drink water.
A lot of water.
Really… only water. (And this mama love La Croix too… but that’s basically water too.)

The water here is metallic tasting so as soon as we got the kitchen up and running we started to look for a reverse osmosis set. We found reverse osmosis system from Costco for $250. Not cheap, but a small price to pay for crystal clear H2O. And a small price to pay to keep all those water bottles out of the ocean and landfills. (My fave stainless steel water bottle.)

Everyday we make progress and this was some major progress today.

Here’s what went down:

October 10, 2017 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Inexpensive White Bunk Bed

We have moved out of the girls’ room and into the master bedroom garage conversion. (All the praise hands!!) The house is feeling so much more like a home and the girls are in heaven with the new inexpensive white bunk bed I found on Amazon for $267. (Affiliate link!)
What!?!?
For a classic style, and twin over full mattress sizes… it’s a steal!

Inexpensive White Bunk Bed (Some things you should know before you buy)

If you are used to the efficient simple IKEA engineering, putting this together is quite a feat. Read the instructions carefully and follow them step-by-step.
The bed pieces smelled a bit like paint or chemicals, so they should be aired out for a day or two. I also added a big air cleaning tree into the room. You couldn’t smell anything after two days.
Be mindful of the head space on the bottom bunk in the picture below. It would be tight for a tall teenager. But it is also cozy.

Overall, I’m so happy with this purchase! I love that this bunk bed isn’t too high and there is still full space under the bed for storage.

inexpensive white bunk bed

August 23, 2017 by: Kara Noel Lawson

I Love This Town

I love books.
I’ve always loved books.
Once, in Jr High, I saved my allowance money and purchased books for my littlest cousins for Christmas. And all my older cousins made fun of me because I gifted books. I’ll always remember being so confused, because books are the best gift. EVER. It’s like giving someone a whole new world, or perspective or experience… heck… maybe even a new skill! If you can read you can learn anything.

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Day 15 in the House – I love this town

Anyhow, when we were looking at places to live in Texas I discovered Waxahachie on the interwebs and fell in love.
Then I clicked over to google maps to see where the closest library was located.
I typed “libraries” and nothing came up.
Oh well, I guess we can’t move there. (I was thinking.)
Then I realized libraries aren’t named “libraries,” they are singular… so I searched “library.”
And there was a beautiful library, smack-dab-in-the-middle of Waxahachie.
So we could move Hachie.
Grammar matters, folks.

The library is in the middle of the beautiful downtown area. I can’t believe places like this exist. I feel like I’m living in a show like Heart & Dixie.

And if the atmosphere wasn’t enough, we found a painted rock in the gazebo (yes, gazebo) in the front grass area. Painted on the back of the rock were the words “Rocks-a-Hachie on FB.” I clicked on over to the site and people in the city paint rocks, hide them around town, and then leave clues about where to find them in the FB group.
What the what!?!?!
Could that be any more fun and adorable?
I love this town.
We’ll be working on our rocks next week.

There was a bit of progress on the house. Tomorrow should be a big day though! They may finish the fireplace and back siding, get the kitchen plumbing re-routed, and finish the electricity in the kitchen. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for more progress.

We finished out the night unpacking things in the barn, adding to the burn pile, and loving on “our” horse.
I love the work of this country life.
I still can’t believe it’s really our country life.
I’m looking forward to more chickens, a big garden, and painting rocks!
I think Cora Jane’s smile tonight echoes all my feelings.

August 22, 2017 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Texas is Closer to the Sun

For real!
Texas is closer to the sun.
I know the eclipse was yesterday, and ya’ll are probably tired of talking about the sun.
But my house was 83 degrees inside today and the mother-fudging sun was all I was thinking about.

Day 14 in the House – I can’t believe we’ve been here 2 weeks!

We went to a fun pool party this morning with our new CC Homeschool group. This group of women seem really amazing and it feels so reassuring to be connecting with a like-minded moms at an established community.

We got home, entered the inferno of our house, and I binge-watched Netflix while the children played together. Every few minutes (OK… in between episodes) I would check on the children (OK… I would take out one earbud and make sure no one was crying or arguing).
I heard them giggling, chatting, and playing CLUE together for hours.

People often compliment my kiddos because they get along so well. I love that.
This is the only family I have ever raised (ha) and I don’t have any siblings, so I don’t really know how sibling relationships work. Maybe thats a good thing because I’m looking at the whole “sibling thing” from an outsider’s perspective. We told our kiddos they were best friends with their siblings from the day we brought each new baby into our home.

We make sure they treat each other with respect and point out all the ways they serve and care for one another. Often we point out how each of them have unique strengths which compliment their sibling’s strengths.
Our family is better together.
Really.
We even throw in a bit of logic during the difficult times, “You are stuck with each other, so make the best of it!”
It’s the Small Things, you know. And those Small Things add up, and then mama gets to binge watch Netflix as sweat drips off her her chin. Theoretically.

We had the contractor out to finish repairing the termite/mold damage on the chimney. Tomorrow they should be able to put the new siding on the back of the house. The new french doors for the back wall should come in next Thursday. Progress! Little-by-little. Everyday.

After dinner, the kids collected rocks from around the property while Brad and I unpacked the shed. The shed was a dusty cave of fire. But we unpacked over 10 boxes and everything is in it’s place.

Progress in the Texas heat.
(Which, by the way, every Texan says this hasn’t been a hot August. I’m going to be a puddle next year. A PUDDLE!)

cleaning the shed

August 21, 2017 by: Kara Noel Lawson

More Than We Need

Eli prayed over dinner, “Lord, help us to recognize we have so much more than we need.”

My mental response was, “Are you kidding me?!? We don’t have a kitchen, you kids are sleeping in wall-to-wall beds, and we are still living out of our suitcases. Did I mention, we have no back wall on two sections of the house… just gaping plywood temporarily nailed in place.”

But we have beds, bathroom plumbing, electricity, and an oven to heat up all those frozen meals I was able to buy with money at HEB. And a country view that can’t be beat.

Yep Eli, we have so much more than we need. Thanks for giving me some much needed perspective.

But I’m still counting down the days till we have a kitchen sink.

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Day 13 in the House

Today was quite productive! Our handyman (more like contractor, who is now a friend) came over this morning and framed out the new kitchen window over the sink. He is fast. He is good. We like him. He might even get the kitchen plumbing done this week. Wouldn’t that be grand!

I finished organizing under the bathroom sinks… I don’t know why that has been such a pain in the a$$. And I unpacked some if the towels I have found so far… into the bathroom linen cabinet. (Why is it so foreign to me that people keep their towels in the bathroom? Everyone seems to do it per my FB live post the other day!)

Brad installed the entry light (yay!) and hung the boy’s nightstand shelves.

Another burn pile. Burning trash is super satisfying. I’m feeling like the Lawson Homeschool needs to do a study about fire, turning trash and the affects on the environment. We were able to burn a large amount of the packing paper from the move. I makes me feel terrible when I think of how many trees had to die for us to move to Texas. There has to be a better way, moving companies.

We made a trip to town to visit the YMCA. Yep, joining again. I love that place.

And there was this minor astrological event today. You may not have heard about it, but there was a solar across the US today. Ha! Yes, we all heard about the eclipse, and thanks to the eclipse glasses my dad sent us we were able to enjoy the whole thing. We sat in the back yard, played UNO, and I made the kids look at the eclipse every five minutes. It was a good day. (We studied astronomy this year with Apologia and loved it. Affiliate.)

August 20, 2017 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Light Shines in the Darkness

“In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5

Fixing the light in our living room a few days ago was a mental game changer. As soon as we had light, the children wanted to be in the room. We started a new read aloud and played board games for hours. We all gravitated toward the light, the ONLY light in the main part of the house. (Aside from the flood light we have been moving back-and-forth between the kitchen, dinning room and living room… does that even count?)

Light makes us feel safe.
Secure.
Nothing is hidden in the light.
It feels like the light is pushing out against the darkness. The light wins. Always.

But light comes from its source, and stays near its source. If we walk away from the light, even the most powerful blaze can’t follow. And then there is darkness.

We left a place filled with light – a thriving spirit-filled church family, the best damn neighbors in the world, and real friends who love us and our children. (Watching my children say goodbye to their friends was the worst. The worst.) It felt a bit like walking away from a light.

But aren’t we lucky to be able to carry the Light with us wherever we go! We get to carry The Light into the world. A light that even darkness can’t even comprehend!

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” John 1:9

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Day 12 in the house

I took the kiddos to church with me and we were blessed beyond measure by Rudy again. This amazing master electrician worked with Brad for 12 hours to get light to our kitchen. (Yes, 12 HOURS.) That includes the oven, dishwasher, fridge, and outlets galore. All for free. (Yes, FREE.) And, remember that handyman who wasn’t-quite-an-electrician? Rudy found all his errors… I was happy to hear all the live wires in the attic were safely sealed up and/or routed in the correct direction. (Yes, live electric wires in the attic that could have BURNED the house down.)

I spent the day building ALL the drawers for the kitchen. One step closer to a kitchen sink. It’s possible we can have a semi-working kitchen in two weeks. Wouldn’t that be grand?