Do you need bunk beds or could you use a daybed? Then you wouldn't have to worry about the ceiling height so much but would still have a cozy reading spot. They make some day beds that pull out and become large enough to sleep two.

We're also in Ohio and went to North Carolina this past summer. There are 6 of us, 2 adults and 4 children under 10. We averaged a little more than a bottle per day. We would be at the beach in the morning and everyone would use it then. Then, in the afternoon, usually just the older 3 kids would use it while they played in the pool. DH and I would sit in the shade watching them and the littlest one would be inside napping. I did reapply more frequently than 2 hours - probably closer to the hour mark - especially for people in the water. So I would think for adults spending a lot of time in the water, 2 bottles per person makes sense.

LVT - Luxury Vinyl Tile, or LVP - Luxury Vinyl Planks are both waterproof. You could steam clean your rug on top of it no problem. You could leave a spilled cup of water to evaporate and not damage it (however if you have a wood sub-floor I wouldn't recommend it). We had it in our old house if the enclosed breezeway that we finished off to turn into an entry area/school room. We went with the planks (wood looking) that were a medium gray tone. It hid dirt well and they were so easy to clean. We just put in beautiful hardwood throughout our entire first floor in our new home and I love to look at it, however the care of is freaking me out a little.

Get samples of the LVT and scratch them up. Even the higher end stuff scratches, but you're looking for something that will hide the scratches well. IME the lighter or gray tones do best with this.

We just moved from a city to a farm about 6 months ago. I had grown up on a farm so I thought I was prepared. I forgot a lot of things after being in the city for 14 years. Here are some of the things I'm not loving right now: It's dirty! I knew this, and yet didn't realize how much mud we would be tracking into the house. We have plan to try to get the garage set up so that we can take boots off out there instead of in the entry. I'm hoping this helps. Mowing. And mowing. And mowing. We have a lot of frontage along a state highway. We wouldn't need to mow it as much as we do, but then it doesn't look as nice and DH and I both take pride in having a very tidy and pleasing property. Basically, DH like to come home and think "Wow, our property looks so nice!" :) So, mowing takes about 4-5 hours. And that's just the mowing, there's usually some weed whacking that needs done as well. Oh, as well as all the trash pick up along the road that needs done before we mow, thanks to the people that litter! Thankfully our oldest will be helping with the mowing next summer so I'm hoping to capture back at least 2 hours of time. Driving. When we lived in the city we were very central and could be most places within 15 minutes. We're kind of in the same situation here for stores like Kroger, Kohl's, JCPenney's and Walmart. There's also a UPS store (only office/printing place around) and a Dunham Sports. I'm very thankful for those places, but they're not where I shopped before, so that's been a transition. For anything else, we have to drive about an hour. For a chain restaurant that's not fast food, we have to drive 45 minutes. Dining out options - like I said above, for a chain that's not fast food we have to drive 45 minutes. I do like that we're going to small, local places instead. HOWEVER, it's almost impossible to get a good salad or a piece of fish that isn't deep fried. Pretty much everyone has great burgers, pizza and fried food. And that's it. The best salad I have had since moving here that I haven't made myself has been from Wendy's. I didn't realize how many different types of places we ate in the city until that wasn't an option. The smell of manure. I grew up on a small farm surrounded by a lot of other small farms. Manure was around, there were some bad days but it was tolerable. People pastured animals frequently. I have now moved to the land of Factory Farms. People around here call them family farms, but when you have 8 chicken barns, each as long as a football field, I don't consider you a small family operation. It's very flat here, so it's easy to till, so hardly anyone has animals on pasture. This means all manure needs to be dealt with, and there's a lot of it. So, 6 months in I wouldn't say I hate it, but I'm still transitioning and it's a lot harder than I thought it would be. Moving in general is a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's just very different here, even though we're only 90 minutes from our old house.

We just moved. We had 4 kids in 1300 square feet. We were able to move a lot into storage before photos. Then, 2 days before we went on the market, I left town to visit my parents with all the kids and we stayed there for the first week. DH was able to get every thing in perfect order after we left ( I did so much beforehand, but yes, kids) and we were able to accept every singe request for a showing. It was a lot of work but saved us from two mortgages at the same time.

3-5

I have an electric skillet! I never thought of that. I swear I am in such a fog of decisions about the house I'm not functioning fully when it comes to other things.

We're in what I hope is the middle of the renovation that just won't end. We now have a working fridge, so I can do things like lunchmeat and yogurt and cheese etc. We don't have counters, a sink or dishwasher or a range. Oh, and currently no microwave, but I need to buy one and can do that soon. I do have a crock pot. I can use the table for prep, but with only the bathroom sink to wash in I would prefer there to not be much prep. I can go to my MIL's to do major prep. I was thinking of prepping several crockpot freezer meals there. We don't usually buy much that's processed but at this point I'm beginning to not care. I am so tired of eating out or having to leave our house and go to the in-laws to eat (although I am also very grateful that's an option)! We still have so much unpacking and official moving in to do here yet, constantly leaving for meals is breaking up my time in a terrible way.

OK, so after wandering Walmart and our local toy store, I decided I liked the idea of giving several smaller gifts instead of one $20 item. I think that's a great idea, and may help with the smaller amount of gifts issue. So, they're each getting a small Lego set, a Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pad and a plush - Paw Patrol for him and Shopkins for her. I also like the idea of having three chances at something they may genuinely enjoy instead of just one =) Thank you for all of the ideas!

I just found out that my sister will be bringing her new fiancee's children to Christmas. There's a lot of backstory but basically no one in the family is thrilled with the engagement and only my parents have met his children. I know that my other sister and two brothers will not have anything for these children to open. My parents have purchased a few things, but my mom has no idea if they'll be liked or not because she's not sure of what they like. Also, my sister is not responding to questions about their preferences because she's mad that we're not all celebrating her engagement. Despite all of that grown-up crazy, I don't think it's right for these two children to watch a bunch of kids who are strangers open gifts without having something of their own to open. All of the cousins will have a gift from each aunt or uncle, nothing huge, usually around $15-$20. That's the price point I'm looking at. Also, preferably something I can find at Walmart so they can easily return it if necessary.

My brother was married about 18 months ago and I bought all of his stemware from Crate & Barrel. I think that would be a nice choice!

I'm so happy this recipe was found! I love this place =)

We recently moved and the little ones would love it if we got a few lights up outside. DH, whom we lovingly refer to as the Grinch this time of year, will not have anything to do with decorating outside. So it's up to me!. I have thought about getting those weird projector lights because they seem easy. While I don't love the way they look it would work for the kids. What I would love to do is wrap the trunks of the trees in our small orchard with a strand of lights each. However, to get electricity there we would need to have an extension cord running across the driveway. I don't think it's a great idea to be driving over the extension cord. Can anyone think of another way to do this? I was thinking solar powered Christmas lights would be perfect! Do those exist? ETA: Any outdoor decor ideas that aren't difficult are welcome!

OK, this is what I was really wondering and you all have answered it. We're not worried about resale at all, so I was wanting to hear that people like using the solid surfaces more and it's not just that they look nicer. I was having a difficult time spending three times the cost of laminate just because I like the look, you know?

Which did you like more? Why? We are debating between quartz and a formica FX product. Is it just the look of quartz or Granite that everyone loves more? Or is there something about the day-to-day use of it that makes it worth it? The Carrara marble Formica product looks very similar to the quartz we're looking at.

Amazon has Melissa and Doug as their Deal of the Day. Of note is the shopping cart on sale for $34.99!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!

We had an enclosed breezeway that we converted by putting in good windows and baseboard heating. We initially carpeted it with a remnant but then eventually put in vinyl plank once we realized how much we used it. The extra space was wonderful! I think the carpet remnants and space heater idea would be a good start for a basic rec room for the kids. You could slowly make upgrades once you know that you'll utilize the space.

DD8 has been telling me she wants Beyblades for Christmas. I looked at them on Amazon and don't know where to start. What all would we need for it to be fun on Christmas day?

We just went through this. Consumer Reports recommended the GE Profile the most. In the end we went with the Kitchen Aid, because it wasn't ranked much lower and my DH loved the look of the handles. It was also on sale, which helped. In the end, I don't think there's any right choice. Samsung is always highly recommended, but our last fridge was a Samsung and it died after two years. The 70+ year old salesman at our mom and pop appliance store wouldn't actually recommend a brand to us. He said they get repair calls on all of them today and that while energy efficiency has increased dramatically, they all seem to end up in the landfill within 10 years instead of 20. He told us the safest bet would be an old fashioned freezer on top, simple fridge with turn dial controls. Of course, I wanted a stainless steel french door counter depth one, so we have digital controls. Good luck! It's kind of crummy spending $2000 on something and just hoping for the best, isn't it?

This is on sale again today! I hesitated the first time, then decided against the 5 quart because it was too small. I was very happy to see the price drop again.ðŸ˜

Thank you for posting! I have always wanted that extra quart but having been willing to pay so much for it, this is perfect!

This house is so weird. If i curtain off the doorway to the kitchen, then you would also have to walk through the curtain to get to the door to the garage. If I just curtain off the area where the washing machine is, I end up having more of a curtain wall, as that space is about 5ft across. So basically there is a 4 foot arch from the kitchen to the laundry room, but the laundry room itself acts as a hallway connecting the family room, bathroom and mudroom. It's an old house, so nothing is "normal", you know? I would never actually take the first floor hookup out. I could see that the lack of space would be much less of an issue once I'm no longer doing laundry for so many people. If we turn the area into an office space I thought I could just hang a bulletin board over it :)

I would LOVE for it to be upstairs, but that's not a possibility right now.