Fail, Epic...Fail

It's not like any big secret I live in a trailer.  I do. It is how it is out here.  If you find a home you are lucky so you take what you can get.  With that said.  I like to have a little fun out here.  I have jokingly said I would put up pink flamingos.  Okay, so I do have pink flamingo lights, they just haven't made it "up" yet.  Hmm...better find a guy to work on that for me this weekend.  Would be nice to have my little lights going while we grill.  Okay..so I digress.  Now to my fail.

Last weekend we went to Stanton (Texas) to "Ole Sorehead Trade Days"  and yes that is what is really called.  You can buy all sorts of goodies and we did.  One of them was a recycled golf cart tire turned into a Toucan.  I would have bought the pink flamingo but Robert wouldn't let me buy one on Saturday, so when we went back on Sunday I had to settle for the toucan as all the flamingos had found a home.

Now the nice thing about West Texas is all the open spaces.  But with wide open spaces comes NO trees.  Okay so there are trees out here, just not like there is in Central Texas.  We have one small pine tree in the yard.  I'm just so happy to have a tree I don't care what size he (or she) is.  And because we live in a trailer we do not have some place to hang up planters.  No rails or decks with roofs that type of thing.  We have to improvise. 

Today I visited one of my FAVORITE stores...Hobby Lobby where I purchased a "shepard's hook" for hanging plants.  Of course the one I have is much cuter than a plain ole iron shepard's hook. 

So I had Alex water the spot (ground is hard when it's dry out here) and put in my hook.  I love it!  I planted my little plants in my toucan and hung him.  Then watched the pole bend....and bend...and bend.  AGGHHH  The toucan is too heavy!  So I know have a random hook in the yard.  (which I will fix this evening.  Dang, I have to buy another plant.  Makes me so sad! LOL)  Meanwhile, I have a planted toucan to deal with.  There was a hook hanging from the roof by a previous tenant..just dangling away while I discuss the quandry with Alex.  I ask him to see how sturdy it is....it's sturdy.  So for the moment the toucan hangs off it.

Ugh!  I do call this blog Trailer Trash, but not because I actually intended to look like we live trashly (is that even a word??) But to show you can do and make a nice home with whatever you have.  A tent, rv, big fancy home, or even a trailer such as I.  So now, I have to get with my men folk and decide the best way to hang said Toucan.  And in this picture you can't even see the pretty little flowers.  As I said...epic fail.  *sigh*

I did have a few left over plants...oh wait, let me back up and say....what a pain it was to plant the flowers in there..  a rounded bottom makes for a pain in my hinny planting..but I got it done.  (or should I just say, I "got er dun")  So here are my left overs...all nice and cozy against the stairs.

Right now our little deck needs some love....or some one may need the ER if it decides to go....I have no idea how old the deck is...poor little deck.  My plan, once it has been fixed is to move it off, clean out very well underneath, add lattice except for the far side no one sees but me and Jacob (the official yard waterer) to hide my plant stuff and some other stuff we have stowed under there.  So please pardon that mess.  It is a work in progress around here. 

Hmm...not off to figure out what type of plants I want to hand on my pretty little hook!

Organize your small space

As I have already said, we live in a small place.  One of the main issues with a small space is storage.  We don't have a lot of stuff, but we do have items we like to have around.  Now before I go on, you need to know I do have a rented storage space.  It is a small one and it holds things we want to keep but don't have room for.  I have our holiday items, a table and chair set part of my dresser (I'll explain more on that later!)  as well as dishes etc..  We did keep these items because we have teenagers who will be living the next in the next few years and we wanted to be able to have these items for them. 

Fortunantly we have a small dining area but very little cabinet space.  Our cabinets are home to our food, dishes, pots and pans, bakewear and nice dishes.  Here is a a picture of our dinning area.

As you can see, it is not a large space.  In just our dining area we have our table and chairs, dog food and water, trash can as well as shelving for our baking supplies.  It is a well used space. 

We went to Sam's and found our great little corner shelf for about $89.  I honestly didn't think I would like it, but I love it.  Robert was the one to pick it out.  To make room in our cabinets all the baking products were moved to this shelving unit.

I have a tendancy to like things closed up, so I had to adjust to having my goodies just all out in the open and exposed! LOL  Of course you already know my love for baskets, so I do have several baskets on the shelf holding things such as our cloth napkins as well as wooden spoons and scrapers.  The space ended up being quite cheery with all the different colors on there. 

Another problem we had was cooking spoon storage.  We had a special container for them, but it sat in the way of the electric plug.  We were always moving it back and forth and then, spoons would fall out and onto the floor.  I hate that!  So with Mr. Looks Good in Wrangler's help, we set up a new way to store them.  I love this for several reasons.  1)  I can count and be sure all items have been put away correctly (the dishwashers at my home sometimes are not successful in this endevor)  2) I can move them and reach the plug without dropping them onto the floor.  3) It just looks great!!

To get the look we bought a towel rack and installed it.  The hooks are actually shower curtain hooks.  We bought our supplies at Target but you can get them anywhere! 

In a spall space you will have to go verticle in order to maximize your space!  This little thing only costs a few dollers and freeded up counter space (or if you have them in a drawer) and it provides interest to your home.  Just think of it as art work!!  I call this space, "The Spoon Rest"  okay so I'm kidding!  But you get the picture. 

Another word of wisdom about small spaces, if you can keep your counters cleaned off your home will look much cleaner and less cluttered.  And trust me, in a small space, every bit helps!! 

Totally unrelated, but yes I did decorate the dog's feeding area.  Our dog is very protective of the area and if I take items down and move them, he will sit and watch.  I bought the pillow which says, "I don't do leftovers" from the Cracker Barrell for $1.50.  His little dog print was $1 at a thrift store and the dog bone art was for $6 at Ross.  Whimsy is always good in a home, and for us, decorating this little area makes us smile.







Ode to Baskets

I love baskets. Probably a bit too much, but I love them. I use them for a lot of different things and in a small house it is essential. Well at least in my small house it is. The nice things about baskets, they fit in places where a shelving unit or dresser or a piece of furniture just won't fit. I have baskets, on shelves, in closets, under chairs, behind chairs, under bedside tables....you get the picture. I even have baskets lining the top of my cabinets for decoration, but if I needed to---I could use them. They are just my favorites and I don't want to use them. I am in my living room right now and on my bookshelf I have two baskets. 1) because they help decorate the space and 2) to hold stuff!! DUH!! One basket holds all my dogs toys which are covering up some electronic stuff I haven't gotten around to moving. Previously the basket held movies and before that..it held something else, but I just don't remember. The other basket is smaller and is used to hold cards..playing cards. I am not sure how we ended up with so many decks of them. Now they are all neatly tucked away. In my tv hutch, I have another basket to hold more card games. Again, it adds visual interest as well as great storage for UNO, Phase 10 and who knows what other games we have in there.

One of my favorite baskets is this one:

It stores all my cami tops. I used to be under this great chair, but now the chair has moved on and the basket is located in my closet. I don't have enough space in my dresser or room for another dresser, so the basket works great. I simply grab out which cami I want and put it on. Because I don't dry these in a dryer, I hang them in my closet to dry. Once dry, I quickly fold, turn around and back in the basket they go. Ta-Da! Before being moved to my closet, it hid under the chair. No one really ever saw it, and it was quick grab and get when I needed a cami.

My room also has a basket for craft items, cd's, current reading, the list goes on. They have served me well. And for a small space, I am better able to use the space I have available for those items which do not need large amounts of storage.

I buy my baskets both new and used. Under my bathroom cabinet I have an ugly pink basket but thanks to spray paint...it is now black. I think I paid $1 for the basket, so not only am I able to orgainze quickly, but also cheaply as well. And who doesn't love a good deal. When I am out and about I simply keep my eyes peeled for a basket and if it is the right shape for what I need, then home with me it goes. And if it happens to be ugly, out comes the spray paint, and wah-la I now I have a pretty basket.

Now, I must warn, don't go crazy...too many baskets and you have a bit of tacky going on. Buy good looking baskets (or make them that way) before putting them out. Just because your space is small does not mean it needs to look like Wal-Mart's Easter Basket aisle threw up in your home. Don't gather all your baskets in one spot, unless you are trying to make some sort of statement and look around for places to stash a basket or two. Under the coffee table for magazines? By the front door for a catch all. Under the bed for shoes or what nots. Hidden away in cabinets with spices or lids or whatever contained....okay--so maybe you can go a little basket crazy.

So how do you use your baskets? Do you have baskets? Which one is your favorite??

All hail baskets and small home living!!

The Official Introduction

We really aren't trailer trash.  But generally people think of that when you say "hey, I live in a trailer," and thus the trailer trash name.  I will tell you how we got here, so maybe you can be a bit more understanding of how and why we live in one.

We moved to West Texas for work.  Yep, the oil field.  It is a practical gold rush out here.  Families, single men and women are moving in from all over because currently our town is #1 in the state of Texas for lowest unemployment rate.  Signs are posted every where saying "Hiring"  If you want a job, it's out here.  Almost every company related to the oil field has a sign as well, not including every 7-11, resteraunt and various other places.  Job fairs are the norm out here with one about every month.  You see maybe one homeless man out here.  And honestly, if you don't have a job, it is because you simply don't want one. 

We moved out here in June of 2011.  We lived in a motel for a month.  Not the best of times, but not the worse....hey it had a pool!!  LOL  Out here when it comes to housing, you take what you can get.  We found this place and well....took it. 

You have to understand, housing out here is crazy.  3 bedrooms rent for $1500-3500 a month.  I am not joking.  We have discussed buying, looking for another rental etc...  but the truth is, we have a good price for rent and we are not 100% sure we are staying out here forever (discussion has already been had over North Dakota) So we stay....in our tiny little single wide mobile home. 

There is six of us.  Four teenagers and two adults.  Three teen age boys share one room (all teenage boys are over 6ft tall let me add!!)  The girl-child has her own little room, and of course, us two grown ups share a room.  Our home we have figured to be about 900sq foot.  Yep, that is it.  In the land of plenty and excess, we live in a tiny home.  We make due and make room.

Now let me explain a bit about our little trailer park.  It is not your typical lower class, cars on blocks type of place.  Our neighbors include a DPS officer, second in command for the fire department, and people who drive NICE cars.  You have Yukons, Escalades, big ole burly Dodge trucks etc... parked out front of little homes.  So really, no trash here.

My little blog is simply how we live in this small home.  How I decorate so it feels more like a house.  So I hope you will join me in the fun of living my crazy life.  And maybe glean a few ideas for yourself which you can use in your home!