Squeezing all my kids (plus some extras) into the house for the summer has been like a game of musical chairs. We carry stuff from room to room, trying to fit everyone in. When we first moved into this house, it seemed huge: three little boys fit nicely into the big bedroom, and my daughter was happy to get the small bedroom because it meant a room to herself. But now that we have so many adults in the house, including extras like Smiley Girl and Sailor Boy when they’re here, the house seems to have shrunk. What complicates matters is that most of us work at home so each person needs a place to set up a laptop: a place to sleep is secondary.
We’re almost done. Shaggy Hair Boy dismantled the old couch that’s been in the boys’ bedroom for years, and we’ve taken three carloads over to the Rescue Mission. One of the cars in the driveway is still filled with Smiley Girl’s stuff, my husband’s car is still filled with Drama Niece’s stuff, but at least everyone has moved out of their college dorms or off-campus apartments.
Shaggy Hair Boy took over the small bedroom, my daughter took the big bedroom, and Boy-in-Black ended up with the downstairs coat closet. I moved out all the coats, and he stacked everything he owns in there. “Want to see my room?” he’ll ask friends, and then open the door. He doesn’t sleep in there, of course — he’d have to sleep standing up, like the robot in Futurama. He sleeps on the couch. Or sometimes on the living room floor, if With-a-Why is on the couch. Because With-a-Why technically doesn’t have a room either, although he has closet space in my daughter’s room, and he sleeps in there when Sailor Boy isn’t here.
“I need a place to do work,” my daughter says when everyone asks how she ended up with the big bedroom. She’s got two bookshelves of papers, case studies, and reports. And a little table that serves as a desk. But she also has a queen-sized bed, and usually when she’s at her computer, her brothers are lounging on the bed, talking and joking around. Her bedroom has become another place to hang out.
Boy-in-Black’s workspace is a table by the couch, right in the middle of the house, so he’s always surrounded by people eating, playing the piano, or talking. But he’s nocturnal so he does his research at night, when we’re all sleeping. It’s all good.
We’re almost done. Shaggy Hair Boy dismantled the old couch that’s been in the boys’ bedroom for years, and we’ve taken three carloads over to the Rescue Mission. One of the cars in the driveway is still filled with Smiley Girl’s stuff, my husband’s car is still filled with Drama Niece’s stuff, but at least everyone has moved out of their college dorms or off-campus apartments.
Shaggy Hair Boy took over the small bedroom, my daughter took the big bedroom, and Boy-in-Black ended up with the downstairs coat closet. I moved out all the coats, and he stacked everything he owns in there. “Want to see my room?” he’ll ask friends, and then open the door. He doesn’t sleep in there, of course — he’d have to sleep standing up, like the robot in Futurama. He sleeps on the couch. Or sometimes on the living room floor, if With-a-Why is on the couch. Because With-a-Why technically doesn’t have a room either, although he has closet space in my daughter’s room, and he sleeps in there when Sailor Boy isn’t here.
“I need a place to do work,” my daughter says when everyone asks how she ended up with the big bedroom. She’s got two bookshelves of papers, case studies, and reports. And a little table that serves as a desk. But she also has a queen-sized bed, and usually when she’s at her computer, her brothers are lounging on the bed, talking and joking around. Her bedroom has become another place to hang out.
Boy-in-Black’s workspace is a table by the couch, right in the middle of the house, so he’s always surrounded by people eating, playing the piano, or talking. But he’s nocturnal so he does his research at night, when we’re all sleeping. It’s all good.
7 comments:
Sounds fabulous. I don't have a home office and some people think that's deprivation. Why? I'm in the midst of it all and with Eldest typing away on the couch beside me, I feel a lot more connected and alive!
How wonderful to have them all home!!!
Yes, I love it.
Wow -- you guys are packed!
Such a homey place.
wow... that sounds crazy but lots of fun! I just don't know how they can work with the crowd and the confusion (except for your nocturnal son).
It's a good thing you guys are so cool with one another because most families would not be able to live like that. Almost anyone else probably would've had a civil war by now.
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