Living In a Round Yurt - Week One

What is a yurt?

A yurt is a a fancy name for a round hut.

Ger is the correct term if you live in Mongolia- But we call ours a Western Pacific Yurt.
My husband is still finishing it up but we moved in Saturday. One of the worst days- I threw shoes...at my husband. I cried a lot we made up and worked together happily. I HATE moving and I'm so thankful to my sweet friends and brother for coming to my rescue. I lived in a really big house until I wedded my husband and there was plenty of room and always a place for everything. Yes, just about every winter we were dirt poor and our food supply suffered a little but we were never without power or plumbing. Then I got married and lived in a cute retirement cabin that was a haven to all who came to it. My Grandma Sydow even wanted to live there.

We moved into a 480 sq ft round yurt or 19 4ft sections connected to make it round. The idea is romantic and it will be beautiful when it is finished but right now I'm figuring out what to do with this odd triangle I will have between my fridge and the bathroom wall.
Yes, I'm a spoiled rotten American girl who has no idea what roughin' it means. But this past week I have found out.
We have a blue (my favorite color :) porta potty outside and to the right of our door...probably 4 yards away. Tuesday I felt like I was getting dehydrated so I drank a lot of bottled water before going to bed (dumb). About 4 times that night I ran out down the ladder (as we have no steps yet) to potty in the dark with my cellphone light-screaming each time at the poles planted in the ground that look like scary men about to kill me but are really a porch in progress. Coyotes howling I brave the potty each time.

(Photo taken by my sister Chasity)

We shower, cook and wash our clothes up at my in-laws.
We have a refrigerator. We have an air mattress that we borrowed from a neighbour. Two dressers and a make shift closet. Piper has her own bed and a little dresser.
The walls are covered in tar paper awaiting the pretty wood that will cover them. The roof leaks a wee bit but it is waiting to be finished.

You might think- oh, wow your husband is a slacker but he isn't. He is a man with not enough time. He is a dreamer with a million crazy ideas- I fell in love with that crazy dreamer and now I'm trying to bite my tongue through the hard times and help those dreams come true. He works away from home 12 hours a night. Has no time to watch sports or have hobbies right now. I wish I could give him a day to go fishing with his buddy. A day to have no worries. He is the hardest working man who badly needs a break- which we will get at the end of September when we go to the west coast! YAY!
There is much to be done but looking back on all the work already accomplished I can say we will get there- maybe not on my timing but it will come.

Piper enjoying the nice wood floor in the yurt.

We will have plumbing, we will have water, and we will stay together no matter how hard it gets.
I care too much what other people think, I care too much about what I think is normal. I've cried a lot. I hate being dependent on others for my needs. I love being organized and having a place for everything and get stressed with the boxes of stuff that has no home.
I hate roughin' it.
I love these modern things called running water and a working well pump. Thank you Romans for figuring that out!
Soon my husband will figure it out too and things will be much more comfortable. The stress will go down as each thing we own finds it's place on a shelf or a cupboard.....just not spread all over the floor...ok ok.
So that is how i am feeling. I wish I was more positive and I strive for it.
God has us in this place at this time learning these things for a reason.