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Here it is. The most embarrassing photo ever taken of my family. Minus the teenager - I'm not that sadistic. I just thought I'd get this over with. Now that it is out of the way, we can all be friends.

We are a family of five living in a small town on the west coast of Michigan. We started a business about five minutes before the economy collapsed. We're hanging in there like everyone else. Just having fun watching our younglings grow and enjoying the beautiful town we call home.

We homeschool, and I mention it from time to time in my posts but don't dwell on it. If you are looking for homeschooling advice, there are countless blogs out there by parents who have done this a lot longer than I have. If you are looking for encouragement... go for it! It gets less intimidating as time goes on, I promise. I do use a boxed curriculum, but I consider us eclectic homeschoolers at heart, and I have some wonderful unschooling friends. I suppose that means I am no cheerleader for any one type of homeschooling - or rather, a cheerleader for them all. Some of my best friends are public school teachers, so I also have no beef with traditional education. I suspect this makes me wishy-washy. I'm fine with that.

I was a graphic designer for our local paper in my working mom days. I still freelance a few times a year for the paper, but don't pursue any other freelancing assignments as our card is full at the moment. Between our business, homeschooling, freelancing and doing the usual mom-type stuff, I'm scattered. So in a futile attempt to keep myself from mainlining chocolate, I relax by creating random arts and crafts. I find the blogging world an inspiring and giving experience that has added much joy to my life. So I do what I can to give a bit back with my clumsy attempts at tutorials, tips and links to shiny places, intermixed with random observations about our days.

"In a Tiny House" refers to a song my mom taught me as a child. It also refers to our actual house that is small by American standards, under 900 square feet for a family of 5 with hobbies. (Hobbies = Stuff.) Out of necessity I am an organizational junky. I'm always looking for tips on how to wrangle the stuff of life into manageable piles.

This blog is my attempt at tying it all together. I consider this place my back up brain. I don't apologize for my tendency to photograph using creative camera angles to hide mess and clutter. Trust me, in real life, it is there. I tend to concentrate on the good stuff here, but not to make it seem like my life is perfect. A long time ago I when speaking to a writing mentor, I lamented the tendency for angst to seep out in my writing. His advice? Write happy stuff. So I did and still do, and over the years this practice has shaped my life in amazing ways. Can't beat cheap therapy.

This is my happy place. In my happy place, there is no laundry, clutter, dust, zits, stomach fat, money troubles or unfinished paint trim. Well, as little as possible that is. See, I have a plan. I often refer to this blog to remember past events. Time flies by so rapidly I can hardly remember what day it is let alone what happened two years ago. Since I tend to mostly document the good stuff and ignore a lot of the bad, I am shaping our future memories toward the positive. Basically, I am loading the dice. And I don't feel bad about that even one tiny bit.

In my next life I want to be a research scientist, write fantasy novels in my spare time, and subsist on altoids, coffee and pepperidge farm cookies.