One room living...

Since returning to Botswana Jon and I have been living in a one room house. We have a second room on the way but it isn't ready yet. Living in a house where a person can see your whole house from the front door feels liberating and vulnerable. Some days this place is my 300 sq foot piece of heaven, other days it is my prison.

Our one room house

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

The good: To clean I haul all our furniture outside, then sweep & mop, and finally dust everything as I bring it back inside. Guess how long this takes? 1hr 45 mins ... if I do a great job. It's fantastic!

The good: Our lives are romantic! We have no room for a table so every night dinner is either a picnic on the floor inside or eaten outside illuminated by the soft glow of parafin lanterns. Lanterns or picnics every day... how lucky are we?!?

Entertaining himself as we eat

Eating outside in the afternoon

The good: Living in one room, Prescott is learning how to sleep through anything. He sleeps through pots rattling as we cook, me running on the treadmill in the morning, lights on as we live life. We are learning how to adapt our lives to Prescott's tolerances but I think it will be good for us in the long run.

The good: I am learning to be a more disciplined and open person. There is no back room to hide clutter or wall covering an unmade bed from passers-by - the way we live is open to anyone who wants to stop by.

The bad: There is no place to hide. Now that it is getting hot during the day we open all the doors and windows in the morning to cool the house down before shutting it up again around 8:30. A few weeks ago I was changing Prescott's diaper at 6:30 in the morning and he was wailing. Then I heard a voice behind me say, 'Why is Masimo crying so hard?'. I turned around and there were three people standing in the doorway - 2 men, 1 woman - and I only knew the woman. Good thing I was dressed.

The bad: We haven't had an oven since we moved here in the beginning of July. I have really missed my oven and having more than three feet of counter space. In a place where so much of a meal needs to be made from scratch, our menu options will take a big step up whenever we get a kitchen. For now, cold meals, grilled meals, and crockpot meals are still tasty... but maybe getting a little old. Anyone have any good recipes or creative ideas for me?

The ugly: We have a foot wide gap between our wall and the roof so anything can climb in. So far we have had bats, rats, birds, toads, frogs and large lizards along with too many spiders, moths and mosquitoes to count (thankfully no snakes). Thank goodness for mosquito netting, if I keep my imagination under control then I can almost convince myself that I am untouchable inside my gauze guarded haven.

... I can't end on ugly, that feels too depressing. So, a few more goods:

The good: We spend so much more time outside. Even when we are inside during the cool parts of the day the double doors are open so the sunshine and fresh air (and a few bugs or birds) pour in.

The good: With so little space, it has encouraged us to minimize and cut back. This was especially helpful with Prescott - there is no room for bouncy seats, high chairs, changing tables, exersaucers, etc. We were even crib-less until last week (thanks, Amy, for the loaner crib).