This summer has been...

an interesting lesson in minimalism. We rented a one bedroom apartment for the summer for Paul's internship:

mostly because I didn't want to move our stuff and then move it back. Financially expensive, emotionally sound. So we loaded everything we could into our little Mazda (ourselves included) and basically started from scratch.

Clark and Linds came into town the same weekend we moved in and so we all "camped out" in our apartment the first few days. Clark and Paul braved a Mexican Flea Market to procure what little furniture we now live on. A king mattress and a futon. Paul and I later craigslisted (isn't that funny how that's becoming a verb, kind of like "google") a table, and so in the way of furniture, that's all we got. Oh, and a mattress for Ella... in our walk-in closet. Don't tell CPS. Sometimes we close her in the closet if she won't go to sleep. And we feel like real jerks for locking our daughter in a closet. But we do it in love, and she does

n't seem to mind too much. Usually, she just ends up singing Old McDonald quietly to herself, and bonding with her stuffed penguin... and then falling alseep.

Paul rides the train to work every morning. If the girls are up, we all walk down to the station together and kiss him goodbye. Last week I rode the train downtown for an outdoor concert, which was fun. The ticket-checker looked at me like I was getting a really good deal for my four dollars, with the three (me and the two girls) of us all riding on one pass. You don't have to pay until your kids are five.

This weekend has been our first weekend not going back to College Station. Whew! So nice. Paul and I went estate sale shopping this morning, mostly just because we like looking at other people's stuff. Seriously. So interesting. We did buy sheets for our king bed for $1. Which just happened to be all the cash we had. :)

Life is simple, but good. I am loving not having very much stuff. All of our dishes were dirty the other day, and we just barely had a full dishwasher load. Ella has maybe five toys, and a few books and she stays plenty busy in her play. We do have a little yard where she takes a few tupperware bowls and plastic cups and pours water, and plays with the rocks and sticks out there. I am loving that. I just read a book called Simplicity Parenting, so now I don't even have to feel guilty that she doesn't have (m)any toys. It was a great book. Although he doesn't advocate the level of minimalism we are living... but I do. I am getting rid of the rest of my toys when we go back to A&M. She is a great helper and loves to help me clean and cook, which is also good for her development. Andhopefully having less to play with will allow her to be more creative (forcing her to create her own play, rather than following the script of whatever toy strikes her fancy). I can't wait until she can talk, so I know everything going on in that sweet little head. (Although that is a whole nother post.) (There's another made up word that we use all the time.)

We don't have internet either, if you haven't guessed. So we utilize the services of Starbucks and the Public Library. Good times. We are getting internet, though. We've put if off, trying to decide if we really need it. "Need it". Of course we don't need it. You know. But we do "need" it. I like being more connected than I am. And I'm getting used to not having it, so hopefully I'll waste less time on the internet once we're connected again. Hopefully.