Small homes can be Beautiful too

By Angela on May 31, 2013

Please read all the way to the end to see how to vote for Carmella in the Small Cool Contest. There aren’t very many families in the running with 3 boys! I’d love to see her win.

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I’m so excited about this post! I get to introduce you to my friend Carmella. I thought I was queen of crazy when it came to drastic moves to get out of debt, but Carmella is a notch above. She took her family (husband and 3 sons), sold it all and built the best house they could debt free. That turned out to be a 665 square foot cabin!

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Not only is she amazing, but her prose is poetry and her poetry is so beautiful it has flavor. Everything Carmella touches is beautiful, but not extravagant. This is one blog post you’ll want to grab a cup of tea for and absorb every word:

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Q. Carmella, Your home is amazing and I can’t wait for my readers to meet you. But even more inspiring than your home is the story behind your choice to build it. Will you introduce yourself and your family and the reason why you decided to live in 665 square feet?

A. We are just us, a husband and wife, with an assortment of boys (9, 11, & 13), living our days in the largeness of small at the foothills of Wyoming’s mountains.

We didn’t set out to live this small, unusual way. We set out for steady jobs and progressive careers, for even keel and sound decisions, for work hard and buy a good house. We set out for normal. Our life wasn’t frivolous or fancy or over-the-top; it was normal and mortgage notes and furniture and fun, that’s how you work this American Dream. But then the keel went akimbo, the market crashed, the steady jobs weren’t, and suddenly, shockingly, our normal was not, and nearly everything worth anything was totally gone.

Stricken and vacant, we wondered how, and we wondered when, and we wondered where we could go from here.

Then, right there in the middle of the mess of it all, a new inclination appeared, training our vision toward a different view. Simplicity called.

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Instead of another house and a mortgage and a saddle of debt, the idea of a cabin settled itself into our sights. A cabin that we could live in and pay for now, that would become the guest house further on. With cautious excitement, we began to explore this big idea of small.

Six hundred sixty-five square feet small.

It wasn’t a magic amount, plucked from thin air. The size of the cabin encompassed a comfortable minimum of space for our family of five. Small was the goal; cramped and tiny were not.

We considered how we lived, what we loved, and what we’d need to get along, and I began to sketch: a kitchen here, bookcases there, a sofa tucked below this window, a dining nook below that one; a bathroom for five, a master bedroom for two, and a ship’s ladder stair to lead three to the loft. After a man who builds worked our vision into an unfinished shell, we took over from there. In each month of these past twelve, we brought this cabin closer to done, closer to home. And here we are now, living in what was only a vision just a short time ago.

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Q. Who made the initial decision to build a tiny house and how did the rest of the family react?

A. I guess you could say that, even though we considered other options, the idea of designing and building a little house had a very strong pull for me. I’ve always had an affinity for small. There’s something about the feeling of enclosure that cradles the soul. There’s also something personally appealing to me about the challenge of making a small space work comfortably. This natural leaning toward small, along with my interior design and architecture inclination has lead me to be an informal student of small space design for a long time now. The more my husband and I considered and explored the idea, the more we knew this was something we could fully embrace, and when we presented it to the boys, explaining the goals in front of it and the reasons behind, they were fully on board. The idea of living in a little wooden house? Totally cool.

Q. What are the hardest things you let go in preparation to move into a tiny house?

A. This change truly felt like walking from bondage into freedom for us. When we considered the magnitude of stress that we had endured over a seven year period, it wasn’t hard to leave hell behind. We had gained a new understanding that, comparatively, there were only a few things that were truly important to us, and the rest was just hollow stuff. Neither of us can remember anything that was hard to let go of.

Q. What did you think about that made this decision an adventure instead of a punishment?

A. This decision was an adventure. A life-filled adventure. Punishment is what we left behind.

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Q. Looking back is there anything you would do differently? What financial advice would you give to a young family just starting out?

A. Honestly, if I could advise our newly-wed selves, I would say to begin where we are now. I would say that, certainly, this living with less is not a perfect prescription for all of humanity, but I would offer a counterpoint to the widely-seeded assumption that more is better, that bigger is best, and that life is all about striving to attain some lofty material goal which could, in the end, be more empty than full.

Q. What influences and elements form your design style?

A. My design style is informed by a serene palette and natural elements. I respond to things that are time-worn and story-bound. I’m drawn to the interplay between the rugged and the refined. I admire the timeless quality of good design and careful craftsmanship, and I don’t believe any of this has to cost a fortune. Constantly reading and learning, I am a perpetual student of design, gleaning from the greats who have laid down their talent in photos and words.

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Q. What is your money saving advice in furnishing a home?

A. If you train your eye in good design, you’ll soon begin to recognize it – in furniture, in art, in accessories, in architecture – and you’ll be able to find treasures in places other than glossy catalog pages or fancy showrooms. When you walk through a thrift shop or visit a flea market, you will be able to spot the good stuff and skim over the bad. The sofa in our home was a $50 thrift store find. An exchange of euro pillows for the existing back cushions, and a slipcover made from painter’s drop cloths turned an ugly blue couch into something that’s both fresh and timeless.

And from Carmella:

Friends, I’ve got some very exciting news!! Our little home has made it into Apartment Therapy’s Small Cool contest!

This means that we need your vote to get to the finals (my, my, there’s some great competition this year)!

If you’d like to cast your vote our way, you may go to our entry here and click on the red heart. If you’d like to give us even more of a boost, you can retweet this post, feature it, facebook it, hold a banner on a street corner, shout it from your rooftop, whatever. The polls will remain open until May 31.

You can also read more of Carmella’s beautiful writing on her blog.

Our Relaxing Memorial Day Weekend

By Angela on May 28, 2013

Saturday morning I took Heidi to the store to buy a gift for a Birthday party and when I got home my dining room wall was gone! And I didn’t have to do any of it :). We sold our beautiful chandelier on Craigslist and the lady came to get it in between photos. Our new design is more casual.

Here’s the other side of the room and the back side of the pantry. With Darren making such fast work of the drywall (He made it look so easy!) I started taking down the popcorn textured ceiling.

The entire family helped. And it was a BIG help to have many hands taking trips to the dumpster. By evening, Dub said, “I’m tired of taking shamrock to the dumpster.”

“You mean Sheetrock?”

“Whatever.” It still makes me giggle.

Darren wrestled down our old range hood. Whew, we thought we’d never get that down. And unfortunately the back side of that wall holds the gas line to the upstairs heater. It will be an extra expense to move it out of the way so we can open the room up. You never know what you will find inside walls.

Behind the range hood was this strip of wallpaper original to when the house was built in 1971. It almost looks like grass cloth.

I listed the old cabinets on Craigslist for $100 and had a ready buyer within the hour. They drove out and took everything apart and hauled it away. Whoop! (except for the desk and island which really isn’t reusable anyway. We still are mustering up the energy to remove that stuff and for now the sink is still handy.)

Caleb carried all our books to the basement and then Darren and I hauled the bookcases down for the kid’s to organize.

This wall is leaving too. We plan to paint all that brick a nice light color and wrap it all the way around the backside into the dining room too. If I don’t like the house THIS open, I plan to buy a couple of IKEA bookcases and put them back to back so one side faces the dining room and the other side the family room then put in crown molding and trims so they looks built in. Our Ikea won’t open until October 2014, so I have some time to think about it.

In the midst of this we moved all our pantry food to the garage and our dishes to the attic kitchen. I’ll show you that later this week. We’ve found it’s not too handy to have our food and cooking space 2 floors apart. So we bought a mini fridge for upstairs and are gradually carrying our most used items up.

Now the pantry can come down too.

Whew time to take a break.

And pay the kids in popsicles for all their help.

I spent today on the attic bed working on menus and reading books. I guess all that work wiped me out more than I thought. It sure felt good not to run kids to school and all around town for their activities. Summer is the BEST.

Homemade Push Pop Review

By Angela on May 25, 2013

Last Fall we bought these:

And finally got around to trying them. They are sturdy silicone and flexible. The lids go on and off easily. We filled ours with Great Value brand strawberry yogurt, the kind that comes in a 32 oz container at Walmart. We laid them on their side in the freezer and since it was thick stuff, nothing leaked. If I were using juice, I’d prop them up in a glass or vase just to be safe.

The lids came off easily. My 5 year old could do it without help.

The pops were hard to push up until the heat from our hands softened the outside a little.

Yummy. Mess free. And I know what’s in them.

“Do I get one too, Mommy?”

Cosmos ® 10-Piece Pink/Light Blue/Violet/Green/Orange Food Safe Silicone Ice Pop Maker Molds Set with Cosmos Fastening Strap

Simple Green vs Mean Green

By Angela on May 23, 2013

I first used Simple Green in Nevada at the house we rented during our Frontsight Training. The homeowners installed a brand new stainless steel glass top range the first day we were there. I was the first human to ever cook on it.

I arrogantly stuck two whole sweet potatoes in the oven for an hour. No foil, no cookie sheet. You can guess what happened. Yep, black sticky baked on, burned on, through both oven racks and all over the oven floor goo.

I thought since it was still hot and fresh that I’d just wipe it up—nope. Not gonna happen. That stuff was seriously stuck on. And surprisingly hard and brittle.

Thankfully the homeowner had a bottle of Simple Green in the laundry pantry. It took several spray and scrub attempts but the oven was restored to like new condition within the hour.

Present Day: We are selling our kitchen appliances to make room for the new design and I decided they would be worth more clean :). I shopped all over for a bottle of Simple Green and finally found one at Ace hardware. This stuff is special–not many places carry it.

On my next stop at Dollar Tree I found a bottle of similar looking stuff called Mean Green. It was only $1 so I thought it would be fun to compare the two. In the following pictures, I sprayed Simple Green on the right side of the oven and Mean Green on the left.

They are not the same product–and they did mix somewhere in the middle of the oven–not a smart thing to do. But I’m still alive to tell the tale.

Here’s how they compared:

Amount: Simple Green 24 oz Mean Green 20 oz

Cost: Simple Green $5 Mean Green $1

Dilution: Simple Green Concentrated up to 30 times Mean Green didn’t specify

Toxicity: Simple Green claimed non toxic but keep out of reach of children, avoid contact with eyes and fumes

Mean Green: Contact poison control immediately if ingested, avoid contact with eyes, skin or fumes

Odor: Both had a mild cleaning agent scent Simple Green had a touch of pine to it which was stronger smelling than Mean Green

Cleaning Powder: I couldn’t tell a difference between the two.

Tips: Let the cleaner sit at least 3 minutes before wiping, but not long enough to dry. Wipe up the first layer (paper towels are very effective for this, but expensive.) Then spray, rest, and wipe again. The stuff will come off in layers until the cleaner can penetrate all the way to the oven. Wear rubber gloves for either cleaner. Use a plastic scraper (like what comes with baking stoneware) for big chunks. You’ll need to follow up with a glass cleaner on the doors since both cleaners left a streaky residue.

Final verdict: The cleaners didn’t work as well on 1 year old baked on junk as they did on fresh stuff. For some spots my old baking soda and dishsoap with a scrub pad is still better. But if toxicity isn’t an issue for you the Mean Green seemed to have just as much cleaning powder as the Simple Green for a lot less money.

The wall is gone

By Angela on May 22, 2013

Before

Nothing a little elbow grease and a crowbar can’t handle. Notice, one project at a time for me. I let the kitchen get to total disaster state while taking down the wall.

I learned that Sawzalls are empowering.

After, no more shadows from the wall. Let the sunshine in (tomorrow.)

“Hey Mom, Now that you’ve cleaned up the wall–and washed the dishes and scrubbed the floor, I think I’ll empty out the cabinet here.”

Faux Leather Floor Update

By Angela on May 17, 2013

I’ve done several faux leather floors (aka paper bag floor) and some definitely worked better than others.

The paper floor on my dining room looked amazing when I first got it done, and was a huge improvement over the vinyl:

Here's a current view of our dining room window. (The only part of this remodel that makes me sad is I just painted this room and added molding. This was before we knew that tearing down walls was possible.

Unfortunately the floor didn’t hold up as well installed over the vinyl as it did installed over wood subfloor (particle board). I’ll elaborate on why in a minute.

Here’s a better picture of another floor I’ve done in a red Mahogany Stain:

For my previous post with detailed instructions on how to lay an inexpensive paper floor see here:

http://groceryshrink.com/2010/05/illustrated-guide-to-faux-leather-floors.html

The floor is moppable and holds up well when installed over a hard surface like subfloor plywood or particle board. (I haven’t tried it over concrete but have heard that others had good success with that.) For areas that will get wet, seal the edges with quarteround and caulk and be sure you have at least 5 coats of floor strength poly on the floor.

Back to why my dining floor was a fail:

The vinyl under the dining room was super cushy and not in good shape–with divets in the surface and air pockets underneath. The elmer’s glue didn’t stick to the floor after it dried creating a floating floor effect. The paper did stick to itself and once sealed with poly I had an awesome flooring sheet that was shaped perfectly to the room. But I could have gently rolled it up and carried it right out :).

This wouldn’t have been a problem if I had sealed the doorways and edges with caulk, or trim or something. I was lazy and knew it would be temporary so I left it. When a breeze went through the room it would lift up the floor which would flap around then lay back down, lol. This can be hard on wear and tear especially when the back side of the floor is still just paper.

Also my chairs had metal feet on the bottom (under the wood legs.) I didn’t cover them with felt or anything and they tore holes in the floor pretty quickly. The furniture that was covered or didn’t move much (like the rubberized feet of my big round table) didn’t damage the floor at all.

Another mistake I made was to just end the floor across the entrances to the next rooms without threshold or anything to tie it down. I had planned on adding on within a few days to those areas and eradicating all traces of vinyl, but it never happened. The kids would catch the edges of the paper floor with their feet and tear up sections (you can see this really well in the after picture at the doorway to the kitchen.)

I still recommend the floor wholeheartedly for small areas that will go directly on wood subfloor. Larger areas take a lot longer to lay but can still be beautiful and work out well if you are sure to protect the floor from rough furniture, and have every edge covered and sealed.

Hope that helps anyone considering this inexpensive flooring option. We’ve recently been pricing tile and hardwood to make a more permanent floor for our remodel and can really appreciate how affordable a Faux Leather floor is!

Let the Deconstruction Begin!

By Angela on May 15, 2013

I’m digging into our huge kitchen project! Monday, I carried all the camping gear out of the kitchen cabinets in the attic and moved them to a new spot in the basement (that Darren cleared off and cleaned for me.) Then I disinfected everything and sealed the grout on the attic kitchen countertops just to make sure everything is watertight. It’s move in ready :).

Before: The wall paper is a creamy white with tiny mauve dots on it in flower clusters–very ’80’s. And not terrible on the eyes but not stylish either. The floor is the same vinyl that goes through most of the main floor. We plan to tile and keep the vanity but upgrade with new faucet and hardware.

Then, I finished removing the wallpaper in the guest bathroom and took off the popcorn ceiling in the same room. I decided to start there since the room is small and if I figured out the job was beyond my skill-set I could give up and hire help without a huge mess in the main living area.

Removing popcorn ceiling

So far so good, thanks to some youtube videos on how to remove popcorn ceiling that had been sealed on with paint (Easy tip–just add a few drops of dishsoap to plain water in a garden sprayer and soak the painted ceiling–wear eye protection and cover anything that could get destroyed by water.) This is a messy job! A wide metal bladed scraper goes a lot faster than small plastic scrapers. And no matter how careful you are, you will have places that will need spackling when you are done. It’s all good–don’t stress too much.

Ceiling’s all peeled. It looks worse than before but primer and paint will fix that. And the walls are stripped to reveal an ugly green paint with a thin layer of primer over all. The primer made stripping the wallpaper a lot easier. Still deciding on paint colors.

Be sure to use primer before painting. I skipped this step in another house and it looked great until the humidity came along and peeled all the paint off–heartbreaking!

By evening, I started emptying the dining room of furniture. In preparation of starting on the ceiling there first. I hope to carefully remove the crown molding and chair rail etc to use in future projects.

Goodbye beautiful dining room….I’ll write an update on the paper floor you see here in a few days.

Today, I’m tearing down the little half wall separating the kitchen from the living room–which is basically in the way of everything. It’s a bigger job than it looks like with al the wood trim around the two windows.

Meet my new Stove :).

Viking Range

We finally made the last two decisions necessary to get this project rolling. I found a gas range on craigslist–which we pick up Tuesday. It’s everything I wanted! I have been drooling over double oven gas Viking ranges online and finally gave up the idea after seeing the price tags. Yikes! These babies are worth more than both our cars put together. (Yeah, we drive really old cars :).) Even on sale or used it looked like a dream I was going to have to wake up from. Then I saw this craigslist ad for $2200. It’s still sounds crazy expensive, but I gave up on some other things in our remodel plan to make it happen. (Oh and that cutting board lifts off to reveal a stainless steel griddle. I know! Right?)

The other huge decision:

And we picked out our floor. We ended up with real hardwood in a new finish that we hadn’t considered before called Cambrdge Oak:

It’s lighter than either of our choices before with a nice wide plank hand scraped texture. I was worried that I wouldn’t love the red tones forever, but since it’s thick solid hardwood, I can sand it down and refinish if I want. (Though that’s a huge job that I hope will never have to happen :).

We decided to slow down on the mater bathroom part of the project and focus our energy and budget on the kitchen. Our tiny budget just won’t accommodate both right now and it’s a relief to admit it and form a plan :). Also I’m doing a lot of the demo personally so am starting in the dining room to leave our functioning kitchen in tact as long as possible It feels like a snails pace right now.

A Woman’s Guide to FrontSight Take 2

By Angela on May 14, 2013

We just got back from our second trip out to Frontsight, Nevada for 4 day defensive handgun training. If you’re not a gun person, I totally understand. I was pretty opposed to guns before my first trip, but took my first course at the insistence of my Dad and my husband. I was shocked that I enjoyed learning to shoot and even more that I wanted to go back! Imagine a world where most citizens were trained with firearms and conceal carried. What a huge deterrent to criminals that would be!

What it is: 4 days of intensive training that is as friendly as possible while still being safe. It is not a boot camp. Almost anyone can come, even children aged 11-15 can go with a parent. It’s okay if you’ve never fired a weapon before Frontsight. It’s better to not have any habits, than to have bad habits to overcome. But if you have shot before they will show you how to take your existing skills and get even better. The classes are more than just how to shoot, but also when to shoot, how to stay within the law and what the likely consequences are even if your shots were completely justified. There is a background check required for all students. And because everyone is armed, it is one of the safest places on earth. No one would dream of committing a crime there unless they were suicidal.

One of my favorite students was Lori. She is 77 years young and not even 5 feet tall! She carries 4 magazines on her left side and with 15 rounds each. This was her second year at Frontsight. 4 years ago she decided to take martial arts classes and achieved her black belt in the second degree at age 75. She was throwing large men on the mat and doing it well. But threw out her back in the process. She decided to take up shooting instead. I asked her what her son and grandchildren thought about grandma shooting. She said they didn’t know about it! She also said she really didn’t need either martial arts or guns, because she had Jesus. I just adore her. Isn’t she the cutest thing?

On the line next to us, a twelve year old boy was taking classes with his dad. The boy was likely the best shot on the property that day (at least among the students.) It was impressive to watch him! The instructor told his dad if they were ever in need of tactically clearing a house to send the boy in first. He was that good. But I think that would be a hard decision for any parent to make.

The climate is unique in Nevada. Hot and Dry during the day, cold at night. Dehydration is a real risk as is sunburn, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke. We found it is cooler to wear long lightweight layers than to have skin exposed to the sun. Here’s the outfit I recommend:

A Woman’s Guide to What to wear at Frontsight Nevada

511 tactical gear pants in light khaki (the pockets in these are invaluable) (Try LApolicegear.com for the best price–around $29.00) Be sure to get the new fit or you will end up with mom pants–yuck. Also tuck the pocket flaps into the pockets on the left side of your pants while you are on the range. The rough velcro is rough enough to cut your hands as you reach in and out multiple times. Tucking in the pockets will protect you. Mine are way too long. They come in regular and long lengths. Regular is about 30 inches. Long are about 34 inches. I’ll hem mine later but for the class I just flipped up the cuffs. (Then I took home pieces of ammo casing and gravel every night. If you are flying right away at the end of the class be sure to check your cuffs :).

tank top

white Long sleeved button front cotton shirt to wear over the tank and use for concealment on days 3 and 4

low cut socks and breathable mesh tennis shoes (you’ll want to wash the shoes in the washer once you are back home)

Hat with brim (not optional); and wrap around protective eyewear with a dark tint (also not optional)

A wide belt with a slide fastener instead of buckle and holes. This will help a lot when it’s time to use the restroom. (see below :).)

A loose weave neck scarf is nice too. I’ve never had one, but my husband and dad love theirs. They are popular on the grounds.

Wear sunscreen under the long sleeved shirt. You will need to take it off at times, especially the first two days when conceal carry clothing isn’t used yet.

Also, be careful your tank isn’t cut too low. I caught a hot casing down the front of my shirt on the last day and it really had me dancing. Those things can burn you, so it’s best to protect for that.

My Ammo Box. Looks too messy to me, but I move so fast normally that I don’t take time to stay organized. My SIL snapped this picture because my sparkly lip gloss tickled her funny bone. I was the queen of sparkly lip gloss on the range. Just in case, I felt like I was losing my girly edge during a fast draw. And we were in the desert–can’t have too much sparkly lip gloss in the desert.

What to Pack in Your Ammo Can

An ammo can is a plastic box with lid and latches for holding ammo, some people use a range duffle or tackle box instead. You will need 600 rounds of ammo for a 4 day course, but only keep 200 rounds at a time in your can. This will keep the can from getting too heavy and save room for the other essentials:

1. A fingernail file. Bring something heavy duty–your nails will break. In preparation for the class, trim them just slightly longer than your fingertips and file them with flat ends. Then reinforce your nails with 3 coats of clear polish or hardening top coat. Still bring the file. Guns are hard on fingernails.

2. Pocket tissues: the range is dusty

3. Beef jerky, nuts, and fruit or other snacks (that won’t melt.) Lunch is late 12:30 and if you have a time zone issue (we were delayed 2 hours) it can be really hard to make it to lunch or dinner.

4. Lip balm and lip gloss. If you have one with sunscreen in it, all the better. My lips got burned this time, ouch!

5. Sunscreen. The higher the SPF the better. And reapply often.

6. Electronic hearing protection–this is required. Just ear foamies won’t do.

7. Ponytail holders (if your hair is long enough) I like to wear a ponytail and pull it through the back of my hat.

8. Waterproof bandaids. Frontsight has first aid kits there with a plethora of bandaids but I had a hard time getting any of them to stick after I started sweating. I wished I had brought the sport ones that stick through anything.

9. Frozen gatorade. I don’t generally drink gatorade but make an exception in this case. It can be hard to see the signs of dehydration or heat exhaustion in yourself, but others will see it–especially if you start doing stupid stuff or missing easy targets. It’s dangerous, so stay hydrated. They have deli trucks that come around with gatorade for $2 a bottle, but you can get it for 1/4th the cost if you plan ahead and bring your own. Pop it in the freezer the night before. Then as it thaws you can give it a good shake and it’s like a slushie. Yum!

10. Your photo ID. You will need this to check in on the first day, and if any of your equipment breaks you will need to leave it as a deposit when you rent equipment to replace it from Frontsight.

11. Caribiners. The best price on these are from Wal-mart. A huge one for $3 is handy to hang your electronic ear muffs from when you are doing dry practice. And the small ones are good for clipping things like your loader to your belt loop. I wish I had taped a small one to each of the front courners of my conceal carry shirt too. The wind was making it hard to clear and draw for the exam and I know I lost points from wind delays that the weight of the beaners would have fixed.

Travel and Where to Stay

If you live close enough to Pahrump, NV to drive, I’m jealous. If you need to fly, watch airline prices carefully. They will dip between $100 and $140 one way; book your flight on the low end. We found the best prices on Southwest. Sunday is the most expensive day to fly and Wednesday is generally the cheapest. We like to fly out Wednesday night for our classes that start Friday morning. This gives us a day to rest, grocery shop, and get used to the time change before the crazy schedule begins.

Plan extra time when flying with guns. You can check them in your bags but will have to fill out a declaration card at the counter. Also you’ll need to pack ammo in a separate container from your gun (still inside the same suitcase though) and it must be in original packaging, not floating around loose. You will be limited to 11 lbs of ammo. Our friend’s ammo was weighed at the counter, ours was not–so you never know when they are going to check. Your gun case will need to be securely locked for flying and a TSA lock for the outside of your suitcase is a good idea too. Once everything is cleared at the counter you will be asked to wait 10-15 minutes for your bag to clear the 2nd level of security before finding your gate.

When flying home, book your flight for the day after your class ends. You will be too exhausted to travel and if your flight is too early, you will miss the closing class activities (and the test.) You definitely don’t want to miss those things. When you do fly home, check your pockets carefully for stray ammo. During the class you’ll be shoving loose rounds into every available pocket so you can load on the line. TSA doesn’t find it funny if you forget and leave a round in your pocket.

Also, TSA doesn’t allow coconut oil, peanut butter, mayo or other spreadable items in your carry on bag. I lost a big jar of coconut oil that way. I thought it was just liquids that were restricted, but it’s not. You can find the most recent TSA rules on their website: http://www.tsa.gov/traveler-information/prohibited-items

If you are going alone or with just one other person, the cheapest hotel is SaddleWest in Pahrump. It doesn’t have a great reputation, but we liked it okay. Our room smelled of smoke, which I didn’t like, but we weren’t there much. Most rooms do not have a fridge, so plan to buy a styrofoam cooler when you arrive to fill with ice and lunch fixing stuff. Boxed lunches from the hotel are $10 each! but are $12 at Frontsight! You’ll definitely be ahead to pack your own lunch.

If you are going with a group of 6, the cheapest option is to rent a vacation home. We did that this time and loved it. Plus the full kitchen made it super easy to make simple breakfasts and pack lunches. I don’t recommend trying to cook supper even if you have a full kitchen. You will be exhausted and most often won’t leave Frontsight until 6pm–with a half hour drive back to civilization and then starting meal prep–you’ll be hungry and frustrated before dinner is ready. If you are set on saving money by cooking, it is easier to cook the 3rd and 4th nights. We used a slow cooker for one night and grilled burgers the next. It worked out ok. Vacationrentals.com is a good place to look for accommodations.

There is a Walmart in Pahrump with a full grocery store and an Albertsons too. I took a few specialty items from home, like Trim Healthy Mama chocolate waffle mix, chia seeds, ground flax, and glucomannan powder. But we bought most things when we arrived.

How to Use Facilities When Armed

Guns are expensive, and the last thing you want to do is drop one in a toilet. While most have safeties that prevent them from firing when dropped (and you won’t be allowed to be loaded in the John) it’s still a bad idea to drop your gun. If you have a belt holster and loosen the belt and drop your pants, the weight of the gun will pull your belt out and drop everything on the floor. (Ask me how I know!) To prevent this, use a slide buckle and loosen the belt almost to the end to give you plenty of room to move your pants up and down. Then lock the slide so the belt can’t come off.

Also, when using the porta-potties at the back ranges, don’t lift the lid to the toilet until your pants are down past where your gun could fall in, and close it immediately before lifting your pants back up again. This is TMI only if you don’t need the info!

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I’m not sure how to transition from that last topic, lol. So I’m just going to move on :). My goal is to pass the Defensive Handgun Course with 90% or better. And even after 2 times through, I couldn’t even graduate. It’s the speed pressure that gets me every time. The key to graduating is dry practicing at home. The hardest part for me is just getting out of the holster in time to take my shots. I’m going to take a year to practice and save my pennies so next time I can take my 2 oldest kids with me. Once I graduate at 90% I can take the advanced course and then the tactical course. I really want to do that!

So do any of you shoot? I’m always pleasantly surprised to find out how many women do and don’t talk about it much.

3 More Quart Size Spice Mixes

By Angela on May 5, 2013

Fajita Mix:

3/4 c seasoned salt

3/4 cup oregano

3/4 cup cumin

1/2 c garlic powder

1/2 c chili powder

1/4 cup paprika

Yield: 3 1/2 c

To use mix 2 Tbs oil; 2 Tbs fresh lime juice with zest; and 2 Tbs fajita mix to marinade 4 chicken breasts overnight.

Spaghetti Sauce Mix #1:

1 1/4 cup onion powder

1/2 cup garlic powder

3 Tbs dry mustard

2/3 cup brown sugar or stevia

10 Tbs salt

3 Tbs celery seed

1 cup bay leaves, crushed (or leave these out and add 4 bay leaves to each batch)

2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup basil, dried

1/4 cup oregano, dried

To Make: Simmer together 2 lbs browned ground beef; 8 ounces chopped mushrooms; 12 oz tomato paste; 2 pounds (canned) chopped tomatoes; 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce and 2 1/2 Tbs of mix. (This is an untraditional spaghetti sauce that is delicious!) See below for a more traditional one.

Spaghetti Sauce Mix #2

2 1/4 cups stevia in the raw

3/4 cup parsley flakes

6 Tbs celery seed

3/4 cup salt

6 Tbs garlic powder

6 Tbs onion powder

6 Tbs oregano

6 Tbs basil

12 crushed bay leaves (or leave out and add 1 bay leaf to each batch)

To Make: Combine 5 1/3 Tbs to 18 oz of tomato sauce; 1 lb browned ground beef or Italian sausage and 6 cups of water. Simmer for 45 minutes or until thick.

3: Quart Jar Spice Mixes

By Angela on May 2, 2013

Update: For even more mix recipes check out my new post here.

I’ve been out of town and there’s so much to catch up about. But first I’d like to give you a post that’s actually useful :).

Our large family uses a lot of spice mixes especially ranch dressing mix; taco seasoning; and onion soup mix. I’ve never purchased a packet of seasoning from the store–it’s too expensive for my sensitivities :). But I have gotten tired of running out of seasoning and having to make it on the fly. Life is much easier since I’ve put together a whole quart of stuff at a time.

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