817 Square Feet

Yup, you betcha... that's the size of our little L.A. house. When we started looking at places online I couldn't even visualize what a house that small would look like. Our house in Canada is more than twice that size plus a basement. Oh yeah, did I mention that our L.A. house doesn't have a basement!? I guess they don't need to worry about things like frost lines. Anyway, I digress...

The craziest part is that it turns out this house is the perfect size for our little family. Our girls share the big bedroom which they seem to love so far. Asha thought that sharing a room meant bunkbeds and was a bit bummed that her 9 month old sister was a bit young for that just yet (not to mention the fact that Asha is physically and/or mentally incapable of getting down from a top bunk). Essentially all of the rooms are a bit shrunk down but it turns out rooms don't need to be all that big. We all end up in the same room together all day anyway so we don't really need any more rooms.

When you have less room to work with you find yourself using what you have much more efficiently. I think those housebuilders in the 50's knew a thing or two about efficiency of space. There are built-in shelves and closets all over the place. It also helps that we had to fit all of our worldly possessions in a truck and trailer to come down here so we don't have much stuff! But really, how many slotted spoons did I need?

And the best part of it all? Less space to clean. It used to take me half an hour to sweep the floors and just when I would start to bask in my accomplishment I would think "dammit! the basement!". Not only is there now less space to clean but everything is pretty much always visible so I'm much less likely to leave dark corners piled with stuff.

So I hereby swear that I will never live in a house that is bigger than 1,000 sq feet again and I want you to hold me to that! I'm pretty sure I'll look back on this in oh about 13 years when I have at least 2 teenaged girls and laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of that. We'll see.

Those grumpy yanks

So you know how we Canadians pride ourselves on being friendly and kind, at the very least friendlier than those snotty, self-important Americans? Well, I hate to break it to you, people, but it's not the case! I have been shocked at how friendly people are here (excepting those whose job it is to be mildly friendly, i.e., bus drivers, library workers, etc.). Maybe it's all the sun that just makes people happier in general but people seriously stop me in the street to chat. It helps that I have adorable and precocious children, I must admit. For instance, Asha told a man at the Water and Power Board that he was her favourite kind of person because he had a big head and a big body. Luckily he thought it was funny. But even when David and I were in front of our house moving in furniture and the kids were inside, a neighbour (whose name was Odyssius if you can believe it) stopped to welcome us to the neighbourhood.

I think our views of our neighbours to the south are tainted by encountering them in situations like cruises and resorts. Not to offend those of you who like to go on cruises but they do tend to foster a certain sense of entitlement! I'm not sure yet what stereotypes about Canadians we may be reinforcing or busting. We didn't exactly live in an igloo but we did live in a log house in the woods. We also drive a pickup truck and actually let people in when driving. That's gotta set us apart. People may be friendly when walking through the neighbourhood but on the roads it's another story. I'm pretty sure even Odyssius would have honked at me and swerve around when I was slowly creeping along (at 40 mph in a 40 mpoh zone) looking for the post office!

OK, here we go!

Alright, I'm going to attempt this blog thing. I'm still not entirely sure how it works but I'm going to give it a try. Thanks to Marla who sent me the link to this site because I'm not sure I would have actually gone looking for it myself!

Well here we are in California! I feel as though I should start my blog with some sort of profound observation or something... Maybe I'll just start by saying that there are so many flowers here! My neighbour has calla lilies growing in the front yard! I guess I never thought about the fact that they would actually grow in nature and don't just magically appear in people's wedding bouquets!

Since I've started a bit of a flower theme to my post I will end with this quote:

"Die when I may, I want it to be said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow" - Abraham Lincoln

I love that quote except for the fact that the thistle is a flower and I think it's quite pretty! When I told David and Asha this quote and my issue with the thistle part Asha said "I know! You could say poison ivy instead!". Brilliant!