I've been meaning to take the time to explain how we are set up.

My sister and I each have our own 30ft round yurts. In our yurt we have me, my husband of 15 years, our 12yr old daughter, our 9yr old daughter, and our 1 1/2 yr old daughter. In my sister's yurt she has herself, her husband of 7 years, their 4yr old son, and their 2yr old son. Behind the yurts sits a single wide oooollllldddd trailer (yuck! but it serves its purpose) with our combined households kitchen, dining, laundry, and a bathroom for each family on either end of the trailer (it was the only trailer we could find that had two bathrooms).

My sister's yurt is all open with her boys bed being a queen bed that is shoved up next to their king bed. Basically it looks like a studio apartment might look (minus kitchen and bathroom). Because my girls are older we have ours chopped up a bit. We have high tech ropes, sheets, and cloths pins. Each of the older girls has an "area" and my husband and I have an "area" with the baby. I also have an area with my sewing/serger machines and our computer. We have satellite internet, which is great until a storm blows in.

It is not a great set up or one that feels very permanent. Although we've been living like this for going on three years (where did the time go!). It isn't that fun to have to go brush your teeth for bedtime when you have to actually go outdoors to reach the bathroom. I tell my kids that I had to go to an outhouse when I was little, at least they can flush a toilet when they finally get to their bathroom! I don't think they find this funny.

We have hoped to start on our actual house now for about a year and we don't seem to be getting any closer. Money problems (of course!) plus a structure that we've been bringing up to code for the last three years is really holding us back. The structure should be brought up to code this summer and we are very much hoping to refinance everything to start a house by next spring. I won't be holding my breath though. We go back and forth between wanting to throw money down to make our lives a little comfortable and not wanting to spend the money because we are going to get a house soon.