Rest in Pieces......

Today marked one week since I was able to start sleeping, and for the most part living, in the sweet little house I once never thought I would have. In the meantime, my husband mostly lived in the moldy, rundown singlewide with ugly avocado & gold linoleum rotted out in several spots, that we somehow managed to exist in for over 15 years. He needed to stay with our dogs, since their fencing still had the old mobile as its back border, and he needed to continue to weed through his STUFF in the so-called 2nd bedroom that was filled floor to ceiling, wall to wall with God knows what. I hope this whole experience has finally taught him that his possessions have had him instead of the other way around. On Sunday, he managed to move most of the rest of our furniture over here as well as repositioning the dogs' fencing so it would point towards our house. Then he was up literally all night continuing to weed through STUFF and still didn't get it all out. I wondered what he was going to do, since the demolition crew was scheduled to come yesterday. But thankfully, they phoned and couldn't come till today. He was still up most of last night trying to get the place emptied out, but managed to get a couple hours sleep.

I came home from work today, and lo and behold, where the moldy dump once stood (or barely stood), there is a bunch of debris in its place, which the crew will come tomorrow and clear out. Rex said they crunched it in four parts. I'm glad I didn't see it even though I hated that place. In a way, it's kind of sad. But Rex said they merely put it out of its misery. The place literally had wood rot from one end to the other. It does amaze me that I endured "living" in those conditions for over 15 years, even though we had no choice financially and you do what you gotta do. My best friend Dianne called it "third world conditions", and though I used to think she was exaggerating, in retrospect, I have to agree. I "lived" there longer than anywhere else, sadly, and the memory of it will always be with me. But now it is just a bad memory. Rest in pieces, ye poor olde moldy excuse for a home.....

Our dog Jesse, the little (if you can call 120 lbs. little) troublemaker who doesn't get along with our other two male dogs and is a fence jumper which prevents him from living indoors, had to stay in the empty bedroom of the dump till this morning. I'm sure he wondered where "his" bed and all the other stuff had gone. He will stay in the utility room when the other boy dogs are inside, and Rex will eventually install an electric wire on the outdoor fence to keep him from jumping. He has adjusted well to his nice new surroundings, as have the other dogs, and he and Heidi have not yet attempted to dig up my pretty new carpet (and they had better not even think about doing so). My new master bedroom and bath are off limits to all four of them!

I have my new kitchen, my new bathrooms (bathrooms - I finally have more than one!!), and my sitting room set up pretty much the way I want them, except for many pictures and a few shelf units to be hung. I am using my new Franciscan Apple dishes, my new Sheraton flatware, and my new red Farberware cookware, all of which I loooove. And my Internet is connected in my home tonight, albeit still the old dialup. The game plan is to lose the land line phone, which we don't use anyway except for the Net, and get cable. That will hopefully happen in a couple weeks. We plan to get satellite tv, and I'm not sure how soon that will happen. But I haven't really missed the tv the past few days. I kept it on constantly when I was in the dump, to distract myself from my surroundings, though I was always all too conscious of them anyway. But now that I am where I belong, the tv is not needed nearly as much. There are a few certain programs I would miss if we are without it too long, but for now I'm fine with the radio or CDs, the Net, my doggies, my crocheting (which I will get back to after I post this) and.....MY HOUSE!!!!!! My dream, once distant and seemingly unattainable, has been realized, thanks be to God.

At Loooooooong Last!!!!!!!!!!

The day I truly thought would NEVER come. The day I will no longer have to look at my darling little house from inside the moldy, rundown dump we've been stuck in for over 15 years but can move myself in. The first night I will be sleeping in my bed in MY HOUSE!!!!!!!! All of our stuff is not moved in yet (for instance, my computer that I'm typing this on, but that will be moving over shortly) but the vast majority is -- everything in the main bedroom, all our clothes, just about everything that was in the kitchen except the refrigerator (which will be kept in the utility room as a 2nd refrigerator) and some old dishes, pots, etc. that are going to the thrift store.

This day would have actually happened over Memorial Day weekend which has just passed, but hubby and I were fighting colds for several days. His was at its worst Friday and Saturday, so he didn't feel up to doing any moving on those days, and I told him to keep his strength up since he was scheduled to start his new job yesterday. He felt better by Sunday, while I got worse. He left for work yesterday, and I initially panicked when I saw him drive back here 1/2 hour later. But he said, don't worry, my start date was moved to Wednesday, since the owner is boarding more dogs than usual because of the holiday and won't have time to train me till then. Phew!! And it worked out better since it gave him two full days to move things. In the meantime, I was mostly resting, hoping to feel well enough to go to work this a.m. But I didn't feel up to it, and I also didn't feel my coworkers would appreciate hearing my hacking cough every few minutes. The extra rest did help, and I felt well enough to bring the rest of my clothes into OUR HOUSE this afternoon.

I still can't believe this is really happening; that I will actually be sleeping in OUR HOUSE tonight. It was well into the 80s and muggy today, but it felt naturally air-conditioned in OUR HOUSE even though we don't have air conditioning, because of the excellent insulation. It will be incredible to be in there this coming weekend and set up my kitchen and my sitting room, etc. Thank you, God, for FINALLY making my dream a reality!!

Since the purpose of this blog was a home planning chronicle, and we are finally near the end of this arduous journey, I will soon stop posting on this particular blog (except for adding some updated pictures as soon as I can), but I also plan to start a new general purpose blog where I will post messages on whatever is significant to me at the time, including the crochet project(s) I am working on or have completed, happenings at church and work (my "day job" as well as my Watkins business), etc. I'm undecided at the moment as to whether that will be another blogger.com blog or at the blogging space provided at hisholyspace.com, a Christian alternative to "MySpace", where I have a page. I was leaning toward the latter but am now leaning toward the former. Whichever I decide, when I start my new blog, the URL will be listed here. Thanks to all who rooted, prayed and sent good thoughts toward my being able, at looooooong last, to having an (almost) completed section on my site entitled "My Dream Realized"!!

Inching Forward...........

We are not in our home yet -- but it now looks like it should be a matter of days. Hubby has continued to work at gradually getting our stuff (everything except last-minute everyday stuff) moved over, and he was able to get a couple more pieces of furniture at great prices from the large local variety store where he has two book booths. It's amazing how much stuff can be accumulated in 15 years in only 672 sq. ft. (especially with a hubby who's a packrat....). We had, and seem to have overcome, a couple of setbacks since I posted last. We failed an inspection due to our pump giving up the ghost after all these years. The pump was replaced last week and Rex reinstalled it himself, and that is supposed to be reinspected in the coming days. He was also unexpectedly let go from the full-time job he had been at only 4 weeks, when the company decided to send overseas what they hired him to do, to save a few bucks. I've had a lot of people praying he would find something else quickly, since we definitely need his full-time income now, and he will be starting next Monday (Memorial Day; they're open 7 days a week) helping out at an area dog kennel. This also means he can concentrate this week on getting the old dump emptied out and out of our lives, so we can get our occupancy permit!! Continued prayers and good thoughts that it will (FINALLY) be smooth sailing the rest of the way are always welcome. And I hope to have more pics of my house to post here soon! Between working full-time and moving stuff in after work and on weekends, I haven't even had the time to take more pics!

(By the way, regarding the cute new dishes I bought several months ago and posted a pic of waaaaay down on this page, hubby hasn't been able to find them! But I had already decided I wanted something with more of a cream background anyway. I found an incredible buy on eBay on a 52-piece set of a classic pattern, Franciscan Apple. The set even includes a gravy boat! I don't have a pic of the entire set, but all you have to do is Google "Franciscan Apple" to find dozens of pics of the pattern. This pattern has been around since 1940 and probably always will be, so it will also make it easy to add on or replace pieces!)

It Really Is Happening..........!!!!!!!!!!

Last Thursday, with the gutters the only work to still be done, Dave brought our house keys over that evening and said we could start moving our stuff into our house!! So we began the process Friday after work and continued through most of the weekend. At this point most of our groceries, clothes, toiletries, my new bathroom towels and accessories, much of my new and existing kitchen stuff, my collection of sheep statues and the two tall curio cabinets they go in, a couple other pieces of furniture, most of my yarn and craft supplies, my exercise machines, one of my small bookshelves and its contents, and a few other miscellaneous things have been moved in. Yet, I look around and there is still SO much stuff left in here. That's what happens when you live in a place 15 years (and your husband is a packrat...). We will keep chipping away at it after work the next few nights, and then make a huge dent next weekend. Rex is going to call our pastor and see if he can suggest a man to come over and help move some of the bigger pieces of furniture (not that we have a ton of furniture in our current 672 sq. ft., but there are a few items like the secretary handed down from his folks that I would not be able to help him lift).

It's so totally night and day to walk into our darling house and then back into this dump. Our house has that new house smell (which hopefully will stay for awhile despite our dogs), is SO spacious, and the carpet is so clean and plush. I can't believe I will soon get to live there and what I've had to endure all these years will just be a bad memory. I want to take more pictures soon, having found the manual for another little film camera I'd set aside, but with the priority needed for moving our belongings in, I just haven't had the chance, but will soon!!

Our First Guests!!

We had our first house guests two nights ago (sort of) even though we won't be able to move in till, apparently, next week. We were pleasantly surprised to come home from work and see that our steps are now in place -- though we still won't be going inside a lot till we can actually start moving our stuff in. The carpeting was all installed too and looks great. So all the indoor work was done at that point, except for a thorough cleaning which is being done yesterday and today. After looking around for a few minutes, we went back into our dump to have dinner and unwind for the night, when about 10 minutes later, two cars I didn't recognize drove up. I said, is more work being done tonight? But Rex recognized one of the cars as being that of our builder's rep, Dave, who has been such a huge help and encouragement to us during all those months when nothing seemed to be happening and I wasn't sure if our house would ever really be ours. In the other car was a young woman with 2 young children. It turns out this young woman's home had burned to the ground just the night before. Apparently she will qualify to get a comparable 4-bedroom home but still, she seemed to be doing well considering the fact that I imagine she had to have lost many items of sentimental value that one can't put a price on. So once this happened, she went to see Dave and told him she needed a 4-bedroom home quickly and was there a completed one she could look at that was nearby? And he told her, well, I know of one that's almost finished. So he brought her over to look at our home. She loved it and said it "made her day" to see it and that she is interested in getting this same model, which in turn made my day. It was also the first chance I got to see Dave since we finally secured financing and got the ball rolling, so I got to thank him in person for all the help he provided in this very long process. It looks like all that is left to be done now are the gutters, and as soon as the final inspection is signed off on (supposed to be in the coming week), we can start moving into OUR HOUSE!!!

More Progress!!

Last week, all the indoor work got done with the exception of the carpeting. The drywall repairs were completed, doors were attached, etc. Today the man started laying the pretty beige plush carpeting and is supposed to be finishing that tomorrow. I went inside after work today for just the second time since our home has been moved to our land, since it's still hard to get in till the steps are there. Once the carpeting is laid, there will just be some final outdoor detailing and the inspection. Shouldn't be long now!! I'll try taking some more pics soon. I can really only get the one angle at the moment till this old dump is out of the way, the dogs' fence is moved and the workers' trucks are out of the way.

Well.....LOOKY Here!!!!

Since I posted last, the water has been turned on in our home, and a fellow was here for 3 days and 2 nights this week completing the considerable plaster/drywall work. The 2 nights were because the fellow apparently came from Oregon, so he asked to stay on our property in his truck rather than go to a hotel each night. This was fine with us, except that the dogs could sense someone was on "their" territory even though the fellow was very quiet. So it was bark, bark, bark, bark much of both nights; I just hope the guy got some sleep. I ended up parking in my recliner in the living room, since that was quieter than Jesse (who we keep indoors since he's a fence jumper) yelling in my ear in the bedroom! (Jesse, pal, I love you, but you will not set foot, I mean paw, in my nice new master bedroom! You and your pretty white shedding fur, dander, and loud bark will take up residence in the utility room or in your "dad's" room/office....)

Next, the carpeting will be installed. It looks like we will be able to move in within a couple of weeks! Today is our wedding anniversary, so this will be quite a belated anniversary present to say the least. Following are the very first pics I took of the site before our home was delivered, the site with the concrete blocks installed, our home before the three sections were put together, and our home put together. The pics are OK, but I'm never going to use one of those disposable cameras again. It cost over $14 to get the roll developed! If I have to use a film camera, I'd sooner use a standard camera and send the film to Snapfish which costs less than half as much. Oh well, live and learn. And (drumroll, please), here are the PICS!!

The two pics above are the excavated site before the concrete was laid.

The two pics above are the site with the blocks (or whatever you call the concrete thingies the house sits on) installed.

The two pics above are our home before the sections were put together (each piece had to be delivered separately and joined when it was all here).

And..........here it is!!!!!!!!! It doesn't look very big in these pics, but it is a roomy 2,100 square feet. I've only been inside the one time since it was delivered. since it's hard to get in without the steps (that and the skirting will be the last step). What do you think -- should we paint the exterior light sage, cream, or pale yellow? All I know is, I am waiting to finally get inside and get my house set up! More pics and updates coming soon!!

MIIIIIIIINE!!!

Today after work, I got to go inside OUR HOUSE for the first time since it was moved onto our acreage. The sections have been attached together and the electricity was turned on today, since the workmen will need it on in order to do the remaining work they need to do. (This meant the electricity had to be turned off on the stove here in our old dump. I can microwave most of the stuff I eat, but I'll need to crawl -- see below -- into my new home if I crave eggs or spaghetti the next couple of weeks.) The steps and skirting have not been attached yet, since the bottom needs to be left open to allow access for the remaining hookups such as water and cable. So to get in, I had to step on a large stone and then get my one leg in, sit down and then stand up. I probably could have navigated the large step if I was younger and in much better shape. It was a painful reminder of how desperately I need to get restarted losing this weight (as if I'm not reminded every moment anyway). The place will look SO sweet once the plaster work is done and the carpeting is laid. I will try to take a few pictures of the current stage to finish up the roll so I can get them developed and posted here!!!

It's HEEEEEERRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!!!

Following is the message that for many years, I honestly never thought I would get to write. I'm really tired and will log off for the night once I write this, but wanted to get it recorded here while it's still Friday, March 23. To back up a few days, our concrete was poured this past Monday and we were told it was likely our home would be delivered today (not meaning we could move into it for a few more weeks, but at least it would finally be here). I had arranged at my job several weeks ago to take this day off work as a vacation day, since I usually try to go to the Northwest Women's Show in Seattle (a fun, huge trade show with hundreds of exhibits of interest to women and lots of free food, product samples to take home, and drawings to enter for prizes) every year and prefer to go on a Friday rather than the weekend since it's a lot less crowded. Today also happens to be payday, and the small company where I work doesn't have direct deposit. So I arranged with my coworker who works at home in the afternoons to meet her on the ferry so she could give me my check, enabling me to deposit it before I went to the show.

Being the nightowl that I am, I like to stay up (too) late when I don't have to get up for work the next morning, so I was up last night till after 3. I awoke before 9 to loud trucks outside and a couple of my dogs barking at the trucks. Still over half asleep, I thought, "Oh, it's the garbage truck" and rolled over. Then it dawned on me -- our garbage is picked up on Thursdays and this is Friday. Could it be.........??????? Though I wanted to stay in bed another hour, I got up to see what was happening, and it was a truck spreading gravel between the now-dry sections of concrete. The 3 sections of OUR HOUSE, one at a time, would shortly follow!!!!

Some timing -- of all days, here I was off work and could have watched OUR HOUSE being delivered, but I would need to leave in a couple of hours to meet my coworker so I could pick up my check. I asked Rex if my check reaaallllly needed to be in the bank today instead of Monday, and he said, as I suspected, that it did. So I asked him to take a few pics with my disposable camera of OUR HOUSE being delivered, since I wouldn't be here. At the moment I needed to leave to catch the ferry, the first section was being delivered!!!! SO......I went into town, to the bank and then to the show, which was fun as usual. When I got back, all three sections were HERE, though the workers will be coming back this Monday to actually attach them together. In the meantime, there's plastic between the sections to protect them from the showers that are remaining in the forecast for the next few days. But I can't believe it's here and I can look out the window at it and know that NOW, at loooong last, it will be just a few more weeks and then I can actually LIVE in it, not just look at it. Pics will be posted here soon, when the roll is finished. My Dream, just a dream till now, is becoming a reality and apparently will BE a reality next month, April of 2007. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc., please work very fast!!!!!!!!!!

Timeline Taking Shape!!

It's amazing to FINALLY have enough happening in this whole process that I can post updates on consecutive days! The concrete wasn't poured yet today as I hoped -- however, the crew was here and -- sorry, I don't know the technical terms for any of this -- measured and installed the wooden "forms" into the site where the concrete will go. I'll post a couple of pics of this stage when my roll is developed. It's hard to explain but anyone who's had a manufactured home installed will understand. It's like four large wooden oblongs in the ground that the concrete will be poured into, and then gravel gets put in around them. Then the concrete has to dry for at least three days. So the current timeline looks like: Monday the 19th or Tuesday the 20th - concrete to be poured, with OUR HOUSE due to be delivered hopefully A WEEK FROM TODAY. We still won't be able to live in it for at least a couple of weeks thereafter till various things are done -- the plumbing, wiring, carpeting, just to name a few. But it will soon be HERE and I will be able to look out my window at it instead of thinking about it sitting there waiting all these months, six miles away. At long, LONG last, the fact is that I can start counting down days to remain in this toxic, forlorn tin can instead of unknown numbers of years, months, weeks. Thank you, God!!! More soon.......

The Excavation!!! Can You DIG It???!!!!

Like everything else in this whole process, this update is a little overdue. We were originally told the excavator would come to start digging out our home site a week ago Monday (March 5). Then Monday became Tuesday, then the end of the week, then "for sure next Monday" (the 12th). This was according to my husband, who has gradually gotten the area cleared out (the two storage trailers moved out of the way, the four - count 'em, four - non-operating cars hauled away for parts, various piles of hubby's mostly unusable-looking STUFF -- some covered with tarps, some not) but had not yet really finished doing so till the beginning of this week. I have not gotten (and don't expect to get) a straight answer out of him as to whether the STUFF not being cleared out on schedule was the true reason for the delay.

I got home from work on Monday the 12th, thinking that "for sure" meant I would see a prepared site just waiting for the concrete to be poured. Any guesses? Right. I asked what was going on and my other half said the crew had a roof to install somewhere and they would be here on Wed. I started to panic, having run out of fingers on my left hand to count the delays in the past week. Another reason for my concern was the 10-day forecast (which, granted, does change every day) that gave only a 10 to 40 percent chance of rain this week and up to 90 percent next Monday, and therefore desperately wanting our concrete to be dry by then. I expressed this in the most tactful manner I could (as in, look, you make darned sure they get here Wednesday - THIS is the week!). I got home from work on Tuesday the 13th, to a surprrise of a different kind. The site had been excavated!!! I asked when they would be back to pour the concrete - "Thursday or Friday", which has now become Friday (tomorrow). I pray that will actually be the case. In the meantime, I took a few pictures of the now-bare patch of dirt which will soon be covered by my beautiful home. I will post them here when they are developed (this is a time it would be nice to have a digital camera I could get along with, but that's not the case).

It still won't all seem real till my house is on our land and I am IN it. But in my head, I have to acknowledge it actually, at looooooooooong last, is happening. I realized today (Wednesday) when I arrived home and looked at the site again, what a pretty site it is, surrounded by trees. It's where we originally planned to build the log cabin we envisioned when we bought our acreage waaaaay back in '92. Little did we imagine back then that the log cabin would never be, and that we would be stuck in our old, dilapidated singlewide for almost the next 15 years. But it looks like, FINALLY, that is all behind us now as we await our pretty, spacious (!!!!!), new 2,100 sq. ft. triplewide. Back soon with more!!!

Soooooo Close........

Two days ago was a big day. It was so big that I'm finally coming down to earth enough to record it on this blog. No, we are not in our house yet (though we did get to go inside for the first time in many months), but we signed on the (many) dotted lines. I learned a couple weeks earlier that we apparently were finally approved, and that it would also be a one-part loan instead of two which will help with the closing costs. But I still didn't let myself entirely believe it till we were there on Feb. 20, in the title office with the lender, signing a myriad of papers. Afterwards, we went to the sales office and visited OUR HOUSE. So........the last big hurdle seems to have been crossed in my dream at long last becoming real. I trust the time can now be counted in weeks, and then, days. Now, what we are mainly waiting for is the schedule of the man who will be coming to excavate the area (on the other side of the front of our acreage from where our current dump is) and generally prepare the land for OUR HOUSE, and then there is the weather. The 2-1/2 solid months of wind, snow, ice, rain, and more wind are thankfully behind us, but it is still winter and still unpredictable and prone to storms. This could also further back up our construction man's schedule if he has other anxious homeowners-to-be waiting. I've waited this long and can wait a few more weeks. I just pray that's all it is. This whole process has dragged out soooooo much longer than we could have imagined. But glory to God, it appears to be finally almost over. Our new payments begin April 1 and will be a challenge, but hubby did have his best sales week last week that he's had at this job (or any job for quite some time). If he can keep that up or close to it, we will be OK. I hope whoever reads this will be praying that will be the case. This lovely triplewide home with the open space I have longed for, for what feels like forever, is where we belong, and I trust God will provide the means that it will remain our home for life. I expect to be posting updates more often now that the finance hurdle has finally been crossed, so come back soon. MY HOUSE WILL TRULY BE MINE SOON; I finally can say that now..........

Blue Christmas......

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It also marks exactly two months ago that we finally got our final permit after a delay of several weeks, clearing the way for us to get financing, the final hurdle between us and our pretty new home. But two months later, here we still sit in this tiny old dump, waiting for word that we have gotten our financing and can proceed to have our home moved from the lot six miles away to our acreage. When we finally got that last permit, I felt confident that I would finally have a nice home to decorate for the holidays -- room for the good-sized nativity set I bought which instead is still in its boxes, room for more than a 2-foot tree, room for the various other holiday embellishments I'd admired in magazines and on area streets for many years.

As December rolled around, I realized that likely wouldn't happen. But I at least thought we would have officially been approved and that I would know we would have our home in a matter of weeks. Maybe it will happen next week, because we seem ever so close. But for now, for this Christmas, we continue to W---A---I---T....every day, every week that goes by being yet another week that I am denied from at long last being in my home. I am trying to focus on the reason for the season, and yet I admit that this Christmas, my heart is broken. I didn't have the heart this year to decorate this dump at all - and I still haven't mailed Christmas cards, waiting to at least be able to let people know that we now know we would have our home in a matter of weeks. Instead, I will mail belated cards on the 26th with the non-news that we are STILL waiting.....

A week and a half ago, it seemed fairly certain that by Christmas, we would have an answer on our financing and be on our way. A woman came to visit our property from a lender on the other end of the metro area and visited with my husband. Our broker told me shortly thereafter that it looked very promising. Then the lender decided they needed our last FIVE years employment history instead of the usual two. My husband gathered that info, but it was delayed getting there due to the largest windstorm this state has ever seen nine days ago. An 80-foot tree fell on our gate and smashed its right panel, and our power was out almost 5 full days. There was similar damage and outages over the entire metro area. I phoned our broker 3 days ago but was told he is on vacation all this week and his associate had no info on the status of our loan application. I left the broker a voicemail asking him to please let me know when he knows something. If you are reading this, please send up a prayer that we will be approved in the coming days. I can't believe this entire year has gone by and we are still sitting in this dump, one hurdle away from finally being in our home that is sitting there waiting for us six miles away. Merry Christmas to all, and like I said in my mini Christmas newsletter, I trust that at this time next year I will be able to say we have been in our home about 10 months.....

ONE More Hurdle..........

I have been meaning to post an update to my chronicle, but have been busy working on some charity crocheting for the holidays (lapghans, scarves and face cloths). I will have pics of some of these items soon on my crochet pages on my site. Anyway....a couple of weeks after my last update, my husband and I started taking some action re the permit delays, which finally paid off. I got on the phone with the rep at our builder's office and told them my hubby was apprehensive of making the county people mad if he bugged them about the delay of several weeks for getting our last permit. Our rep said, no way, the county works for YOU and you have every right to at least find out when they are coming. He gave me a number to call, where I got a man's voicemail and left him a tactful but assertive message. In the meantime, that same day (Oct. 18), unbeknownst to me, my other half was AT the county office telling them we were told 8 to 10 weeks and it's been that long, and we need to get our permit. The inspector FINALLY came two days later, was only here about 15 minutes and saw no problem with the site where we plan to have our home placed. She said she would sign off, and our final permit went through the following Mon. the 23rd!

So these past few weeks, we have been working on our final hurdle -- the financing. This has been a bit of a challenge due to my having gone from wrong job to temp job to wrong job, etc. for five years, followed by losing what I thought was a perm job in Feb. of this year, but this May I finally started a job that is working out well. And Rex has been working commission-only, mostly part-time, the past several years. This week, we have been in touch with a lender who feels he can put together a loan for us for about a 2-year period given our present situation, which can then be refinanced when our work histories are more stable in a couple years. The interest rate he quoted was not awful, and we are trusting this last hurdle will be overcome in a matter of days. Will post here once that happens, which should FINALLY be the last step in our having our HOUSE (which I desperately want in time to have a real home to decorate for the holidays!!!!).

My Middle Name: W-A-I-T.......

It's almost October, and I sure thought I would be in my home by now and have some pictures to share at long last. Instead, we continue to W-A-I-T, for weeks now with no knowledge of when it will end, for the last danged county inspector to get here already and sign off on something called a DCD Environmental Review, which I guess has to do with the county okaying that our site is approved to place our home on. No one will give us any indication of when this person is coming, and of course there is no 100% guarantee they will sign off with no further delay when they do finally get here. Our builder's rep has also tried calling several times, and they will not return her calls. We are not alone; it's apparently a county-wide problem due to not enough inspectors to go around and a lot of people waiting to get their permits before winter arrives. It's beyond frustrating to be this close to my dream at long last, and be powerless to bring that dream to completion because of some bureaucrats who could care less. I hope the next update will be one of genuine forward progress but till then, my middle name will continue to be spelled W-A-I-T.

Plan B -- as in, Bring It To Mama!!!!

I haven't posted an update for several weeks because, even though things seemed really certain this time, there have been sooo many false starts, combined with a lifetime of waiting, that I just wanted to be at least 90% sure things were truly progressing this time. Can you blame me? Well, my husband has been working diligently on the site prep, to where we were able to have our septic inspected two days ago, and it was approved. Today he is at our county offices applying for the permits we need. I guess that will take a couple weeks for us to hear back about that. If all goes well there, then we can apply for our financing. The game plan is to have our bee-yoo-tee-ful home on our property (and have the old dump trashed; good riddance) by Sept. -- that's NEXT MONTH. (Somebody pinch me.......) There's still a part of me that says "I'll believe it when I see it". But it does appear things are progressing, and it appears promising enough at this point that I registered for a few housewarming items at Bed, Bath & Beyond (registry #2424682) and have a wish list at Amazon consisting of some Fiestaware (love the stuff and always wanted some) serving pieces in the color Cinnabar. Here is a picture of my beautiful new cookware that I just won on eBay:

It's the same cookware I was eyeing on the Bed, Bath & Beyond site, but I got it on eBay for just over half the price BBB wanted. I have my dishes, my flatware, my red stand mixer, a burgundy bedspread with matching pillow shams, a set of that cool new bendable silicone bakeware (in red, of course), most of the towels for the navy bathroom, a few of the towels for the sage bathroom, two sets of bathroom accessories, some afghans and doilies I've crocheted (will have pics of some of them soon on the crochet section of evergreenrefuge.org) and various other items I bought along the way. So the rest of what I need is pretty much on the two above registeries. (I technically don't NEED new red his & hers coffeepots, but I want them. The existing old white ones will clash with my pretty new kitchen!

Soooo..... I hope in the coming weeks, that I will be able to post in this looooong-awaited home planning chronicle, pictures of MY HOUSE (pinch me again....). Stay tuned.....

Plan B with a Twist Will Be Worth the Waaaaait....

It's been over 5 months since I've posted an update to my new home chronicle. By now I had hoped and expected our new home would be on our property and we would be living in it. I never gave up hope that it WOULD happen this year, but there were days and weeks it became hard to maintain that hope and I often wondered if, once again, I was only kidding myself to think I would ever really have a nice little home I could fix up, have sufficient LIVING space as opposed to just a shabby little cover over our "stuff", not be ashamed ever again to have guests over, and have genuine pride of ownership in. We found that home last October, as I described in great detail, and I continued to wait, pray and believe it would be mine before too long. A setback of sorts happened at the end of February when my 1-1/4 year job at an insurance company ended. It didn't take long for me to find another good administrative position that I liked, and it looked promising that it could quickly progress from a temp assignment to a perm position. But the location in the city was an even longer commute than my previous position, and I wasn't getting home in the evenings until almost 7:30 p.m. So I regrettably realized that was not a schedule I would be able to keep up with long-term. I then had only 3 days temp work in the next 3 weeks (and seriously considered getting a license to sell life insurance, though I've never felt effective at selling anything) before starting my new job last month at a closer location, better hours, good variety, and the positive feedback I had been missing for so long. However, we felt the job change would make it harder to obtain the financing we needed for "our" home, and Rex's hours at the store where he worked remained at the same scant number. This was OK while he was working outside (weather permitting) on the site prep for our home. But I knew he would eventually need to seek work with more hours once our home was finally here.

On May 26, a Friday, I got home from work and Rex said we were going to look at a 28 x 58' 80's mobile a mile and a half away, which was available for a good price plus the cost of moving and would result in a much more affordable mortgage. I went with him to look at the mobile. Of course, it had a good amount of space, almost three times what we have had all these years. The kitchen was OK sizewise but left me cold in comparison to the sweet, open, bright space lined with alder cabinets that has been in my dreams for so long. There were four bedrooms, all with a small closet, and two of the closets had a funky velvet curtain instead of a door. Two small bathrooms, each no bigger than the one we have now. Rex talked about how this place would be more "practical" than "my" home that was still in my heart, how the walls could be painted, the cabinets could be replaced, doors could be put on the closet. I agreed verbally, figuring that with my lessened income and his lack of work hours, this had apparently become the only affordable way we could have more living space. He apparently didn't see that my heart was breaking, so I didn't tell him. At least, not for another week and a half. I don't remember how the subject got started one evening. But I basically told him how I felt, that our neighbor's mobile left me cold and that, after waiting my whole life, I needed him to do whatever it took for us to be able to have the home I still felt we were meant to have. At the same time I felt he would continue to be practical and to pursue the large but old, plain, drab mobile. And I tried to convince myself that it would be OK, that I really could fix it up to be the home I always wanted. I really did try. But I was only kidding myself and I knew it..........

Two weeks later, June 9, I came home to learn that the first couple who had wanted the 80's mobile, but had trouble getting financing and had told the owner to offer it to us, had been able to get financing after all so she was going to sell it to them instead. I tried to contain my relief as I asked if this meant we were still going to buy the home we'd selected after all. He said yes, and that he was going on a job interview in the coming week that seemed promising, and if that one didn't work out, he would get a job with more hours so that we could have our home. Thank you, Lord!

Four days later, Tuesday, June 13, I got home from work. I had a mild but unpleasant headache and looked forward to a long evening at home doing next to nothing. But Rex said we were going to our local home builder's office. He'd been there that day and learned about a larger "lot model" we could have for almost the same price at the home we'd selected. I said, who needs larger? 1,900 square feet will seem palacial to me. He said, just come and look at it. It's a more practical layout for the dogs (oh no, not that word "practical"; I'd come to hate that word), it has a big kitchen with an island and nice cabinets, it has a walk-in closet in the master bedroom and the bathrooms are in your colors. I said, OK, I'll look at it. And so we went that night and I walked through what I now believe is MY HOUSE -- NOT a model representation of sort of like what my actual house will be like, but MY HOUSE, all built already and waiting for me. The only features it is missing from the one we selected is the TV room with the French door and the arch between the living and dining areas. It has an even larger "great room" area and the kitchen has the same alder cabinets I'd picked, plus deluxe appliances including a dishwasher, and similar flooring and countertops to what I'd already selected. The utility room is large enough that we will be able to put a freezer or spare fridge in there and includes a very deep sink for soaking clothes. There is my walk-in closet, and there are four bedrooms instead of three so that maybe one can be a guest room. The master bath has two sinks and a huge round tub, and amazingly, both bathrooms have the SAME sage countertops I'd already picked for my master bath. AND..... there is a nice little covered porch that will be perfect for letting the dogs out!! The home we picked didn't have a porch; we would have had to add that afterwards. This home is 2,142 square feet. It has a gable (I think that's what that point is called) in the middle of the roof instead of being box-shaped like the house we'd picked, so that's another improvement. The outside is presently painted gray with white trim, which we will change to either a warm beige or light sage, possibly with hunter green trim. We'd actually walked through this home briefly last fall, but didn't spend much time there since it was too expensive and more space than we felt we had to have. But it is a "lot model" other buyers have walked through and it's now time for the company to sell it at a discount so they can replace it with a different model. So we will be getting more living space and more features we can really use (the porch, the larger utility room, the extra bedroom) for close to the same price!!! Rex has promised me he WILL get work with enough hours for us to be able to have this home, and talked about how he envisions our being able to actually entertain and how the spacious area off the kitchen was made for a wide screen TV where I can come home from church on Sundays and watch my Nascar races. SO.....I will call this Plan B (for beautifully bigger and better) with a twist. It's not the original Plan B, it's even better. It is, and officially will be, MY HOUSE. I hope to be posting regular updates here very soon as things progress and will appreciate all prayers and good thoughts that everything goes smoothly from here on out!

Plan B a/k/a Plan W (Waiting.....)

In case you have been here lately and wondered why there has been no further news on our looooong-awaited home, it's because I have none......yet. After all these years, I suppose I can wait a few more months. Especially since it appears I have no choice. My husband decided to do much of the site prep himself to save on expenses, but then came our typical Northwest winter which has been more like the Tropical Rainforest the past month. As I write this, we are in our 25th straight day of rain (the record is 33, set over 50 years ago) and I am considering the feasibility of commuting to the park n'ride in an ark instead of my car (kidding about that last part). So needless to say, till things dry out, not a lot can happen with the site prep. This tin can we "live" in is falling apart day by day; we had no choice but to replace the back door, and Rex had to put a tarp over the window behind my recliner in the living room when I felt a few raindrops last week. Our present "living" conditions as compared with what awaits us makes it that much harder to continue waiting. I trust things can proceed soon, and I am anxiously waiting to be able to report any progress here. So, once again, stay tuned....

Plan B, Chapter 8

We met with Lora again to finalize the options and colors for our future home. We kept most everything the same except for adding a 50-gallon water tank (instead of the standard 40-gallon) and I changed my tile and countertop choices for the kitchen and bathrooms. For the countertops of all three, I chose a very pretty medium beige textured style called "Parchment" which will go great with my plans for a red and cream kitchen as well as my color choices for the bathrooms. Both the kitchen and master bath will have a medum sage tile with a sort of rust marbling in it. For the second bath, I chose a beige tile which is almost the same tone as the countertops. This will permit me to introduce more color in the towels and accessories against the neutral backdrop, since I already purchased navy towels and navy/burgundy/cream lighthouse-themed accessories for that bath.

I am so relieved that we are moving ahead in faith with making this home a reality. For something as major as this that we both have awaited for decades, it is crucial to get it right, and I know that this is the right choice. The next step is to get our septic approved and work on getting the necessary permits, and Rex will work on that in the coming week. With rainy season already upon us, we hope to be able to get everything resolved as soon as humanly possible - and of course, with the help of our God who led us to our home and will provide the way for it to be ours soon. I really believe that now, more than ever.

Plan D is Dead...But Plan B is Back!

What a difference a day makes.....after the events of this week, I was on the verge of renaming the sub-title of this blog, "My Dream (sort of) Realized". But God willing, the Dream -- the Real Dream we found a few weeks ago -- WILL be a reality.

A few nights ago, we did make an offer for the cute used mobile we visited last Saturday. We really did like it and due to the timing of it becoming available, I really felt God intended us to have it as our new home. My husband did some calculations and came up with an amount to offer the seller that would have paid her remaining loan balance off completely. Any higher than that and we would have to instead consider Plan E (a new mobile of a similar size). The seller had actually been looking for renters, but apparently was having trouble finding suitable tenants. We were told she would be agreeable to selling provided she could get the money quickly. So we felt pretty optimistic. But the next day, our agent friend informed us that the seller rejected our offer. The seller apparently made a counter offer but it was such that the deal was probably not going to be doable from our perspective.

That same day (two days ago) Rex then went to again look at a 1,188 sq. ft. mobile from another builder that we had briefly looked at a few weeks ago. I recalled that for the size of the place, it was extremely well-laid out and the kitchen was really big with a considerable amount of counter space. He spent a lot of time "crawling underneath" and concluded this new home is built a lot better than the gently used one that our offer was rejected on. The builder offered us the actual model we walked through, at a better price than if we were to have a new one built to our specifications. Rex brought home the papers and I signed them, but with a sinking feeling that I was now settling for much less than we hoped for. The kitchen was spacious, but the living room and master bedroom (and especially that bedroom's closet) were much smaller than the lovely model we fell in love with 3 weeks earlier, and the master bath only had a shower stall and not a tub. Rex was able to sense my discomfort with making this deal, so when I came home from work yesterday, he said he didn't turn in the papers yet because he wanted to make sure I felt comfortable with the deal. So he told the builder to hold the model till we could come and see it together Saturday. He also said he did some measuring when he went back yesterday and that the living room really did not have space for furniture beyond what we have now. I recalled the place was cute and despite both our misgivings, I figured that if this smaller home was God's will for us, I would know it when we went back Saturday. I kept telling myself it was important for us to not stretch beyond our means and to be able to keep up with the monthly payments. All this to try to convince myself that we really are not supposed to have the home we drove to Vancouver in a hailstorm to see a few weeks earlier and knew was right the second we walked in. How could this be?

I came home from work tonight and my husband told me he realized the home we were supposed to see together tomorrow, while it has its good points, is not what either of us really wants. We have been waiting for a house our entire lives and after all these years, it needs to be right, not just something we both are settling for. He had spoken to our mortgage lady, and apparently the monthly payments for the small place would only be a couple hundred less per month. Being the practical type, he broke that down further to $50 a week. He said, we can make this happen. He has his hands full in the coming week with all the site prep, permits, rearranging the dogs' fencing, etc., but after that, he said, he WILL find a way to bring in more income. The Dream is resurrected and it will be a reality, because THIS is the house God wants us to have. I will have my real-life refuge with the cute little TV room with double French doors, the large picture windows that run almost from floor to ceiling. the three arched openings separating the living and dining areas, the walk-in closet almost big enough to be a bedroom, the large master bath with the huge tub, the kitchen with the alder cabinets and full center island. Moreover, this home will again officially be referred to as "Plan B". The house deal that fell through in the spring did not have the character or personality of this one and was a false alarm. Plan A was the log cabin in the woods, but this one will be almost as beautiful. We still need to obtain the financing, but we WILL, because I now know as surely as I have ever known anything, we are supposed to have this house. And so tomorrow, instead of going to look at the barely big enough home I have been trying to talk myself into, we will go to the local office of the builder of our refuge and finalize our color choices. The color choices for the home that is really intended for us, the one I have waited and prayed for all these years.

Plan B is Really Plan C....and on to Plan D??

SIGH......just when I think things are on a definite path I can count on, comes yet another fork in the road!!

First, to back up before I could even think of starting a home planning chronicle -- our original plan when we bought our acreage was to build a log house....a rustic little "cabin in the woods". Lack of finances prevented that or any other improvement in housing for many years. By the time we were able to realize our dream of a cute, modest, respectable home, for expediency's sake, we decided on, first, the stick-built home we selected earlier this year, and then, the new manufactured home we fell in love with a few weeks ago. So, if you want to get really technical about it (and I do), I have mislabeled my chapters on this blog to this point. The log cabin was Plan A. The stick-built home was Plan B, and the home I described in the last few messages of this blog is really Plan C. Now that I cleared that up, I haven't added to my chronicle for the past couple weeks due to a stall in the process regarding financing. The first financial institution our mortgage lady presented our package to instantly rejected our app for a strange reason. They apparently won't even look at loan packages for mobiles that don't have a garage or carport attached. The reason they gave is that they did a study that showed there are more foreclosures on loans for mobiles that don't have a garage or carport. Even if this is true, it doesn't make sense that they would not even look at a loan for that reason alone. We purposely omitted the garage to save on the total expense, figuring it can be added later if we decide to. But that was their answer - and then our mortgage lady went on vacation for a week. She apparently IS going to ask that lender to take another look at us and also has others in mind. For now, we continue to wait - and I continue to realize that even if we do obtain the financing, the payments for this particular home will be a real stretch, likely leaving nothing left for even short vacations or any other extras. But then, a few days ago, came the fork in the road.

A real estate agent who is still in the office Rex worked in and who lives two blocks from us learned from a fellow agent about a still-unlisted 8-year-old mobile, from the same manufacturer as the new one we chose, in great condition. It's on leased land and would need to be either offered as a rental, or purchased and moved. Considering the fact that I felt we had found the home of our dreams and that God would somehow make a way for us to have it, my initial reaction to this alternate option was not pleasure. But I agreed to at least look at it. I realized the monthly payments for this used mobile would be more affordable for us and possibly mean the difference between being "house poor" and never getting the mortgage paid off, or having a little money to spare each month and maybe getting it paid off. But having gotten my heart set on the home we chose earlier this month, it hurt to think of having to settle for less. Rex said that if I didn't like it, we wouldn't even consider it an option and would continue attempting to obtain the home we really want but admittedly will have trouble affording.

We saw the gently used mobile ("Plan D") yesterday. I admit I liked it very much and don't feel it would mean "settling for less". I was able to picture Rex and me living in this home. It was really cute and very well-maintained. It had the open "great room" feeling of the models we had visited. The kitchen was long and fairly narrow, without room for a center island. However, it had a lot of nice counter space, and a large number of nice cabinets that appeared to be oak and had very pretty stained-glass look doors. There were also nice touches such as a built-in shelf for collector plates and another open area for collectibles. The master bedroom and its closet were not as large as the new home, but still adequate, and the "me room" and "his room" were a similar size. The utility room has a side door rather than a second front door like the new home had, which is an advantage. The home has dark teal carpeting throughout, which is a color I like, and the kitchen and bathrooms have dark blue-green (a bit greener than the carpet) countertops, which will actually go with the red kitchen items I've bought so far (a nice contrast) and the navy towels I bought for the second bath. If we do go with this home, I expect we would paint all the walls a warm beige, since the light sage I originally envisioned would clash with the teal. The outside of the home is two-tone beige and white with aqua trim, and it even has a cute little front porch, which we wanted on the new home but would have had to add afterwards. The square footage is close to 1,300 as opposed to close to 1,800 for the new home, yet it is quite space-efficient and doesn't feel that much smaller. The main places the size difference is noticeable is that the new home would have the cute little separate TV room where we wanted to have our TV and recliners, and the main closet is not nearly as big, but is probably big enough considering that the two smaller bedrooms also have closets. The place did have a very nice overall feel, and considering it is just the two of us and our pets, it would do everything we need a home to do and be much more affordable.

So, Rex will meet with our agent friend tomorrow and "crunch numbers" to help us decide what to do. If the cost of moving the home adds enough to the cost that it would get close to the price of buying a similarly sized new model we saw, then maybe we will look into going that way instead (so I guess we really have Plan D-1 and D-2 to consider in addition to C). I still admit I very much want the home we walked through in Vancouver a few weeks ago and spent hours the following week picking out just the right exterior, carpet, tile and counters. Part of me doesn't want to think we will not be able to have that home. The other part of me does really like the more modest but still very nice little home we saw yesterday and feels somehow that we are supposed to have it. So.....the uncertainty continues, with the only certainty being that we WILL have better housing soon, housing that I can take some pride in and have guests visit without cringing, housing that will be a refuge to come home to after a long day at work. God knows what that housing will consist of and what day He will let it be a reality. When that mystery is made known to us in the coming days and begins taking shape, I will continue reporting on the progress right here. Stay tuned!

(By the way, don't tell my hubby, but I won the eBay auction for 8 place settings of "Sheraton" by Oneida. Because this is a somewhat bigger purchase than the towels, bath accessories, bedspread and kitchen items I purchased to date, I hid the flatware away and will consider it an early Christmas present to both of us. It really is beautiful! I will post two pictures below. )

Plan B, as in Buy Home Decor!

I feel just a little guilty. And more than a little obsessed. It's hard for me to think of anything else nowadays besides my pretty little house and the way I want to decorate it. Compared to the cluttered and rundown living environment I've had to endure for so many years, I guess it's easy to understand. But the guilt part comes from not only finding it hard to concentrate at my job (where concentration is definitely required) but also not wanting to differentiate between things we NEED for the new place and things we WANT. And I suppose I am really getting ahead of myself, since our financing isn't even officially approved just yet. But I can't help myself. I really want to start fresh with all new dishes, cookware, towels, bedding, bath accessories, and even flatware -- though we don't NEED new flatware. I suppose the stuff we have been using is perfectly fine. I felt that way till I was in Macy's at lunchtime the other day and found "Sheraton" by Oneida. (With flatware, it's really important to not only see it in person but hold it in your hand and love the way it feels.) It was the same type of "this is just right" feeling that I had when I walked in our model house almost two weeks ago. Told by the nice sales clerk that it retailed for $90 a place setting, undaunted, I proceeded to duck into good old eBay after lunch and found it for MUCH less. I also found the serving pieces at discounted prices and proceeded to buy a gravy ladle, serving spoon, slotted serving spoon and serving fork. AND I placed a bid on 8 place settings. I also have ordered the following goodies so far this week: a burgundy bedspread and pillow shams, an oak quilt rack (for displaying three of my crocheted afghans), a red stand mixer, a set of three red casseroles, two red and cream gingham appliance covers, navy blue towels for the second bath, and sets of bath accessories (wastebasket, tumbler, soap dispenser, toilet brush holder) for both bathrooms from a nice eBay seller who I have had a friendly E-mail correspondence with the past two days. I plan to register with bedbathandbeyond.com (they actually have a housewarming registry) for some other stuff and was going to include the bath accessories there, but it is so much more economical to buy them on eBay. I also found out about the wish list on froogle.google.com and will include some stuff there when I have an idea of the target date our HOUSE will be here. (I don't want any of my cyber friends to feel obligated; the list will be more for my record keeping of what I have already and what I still want/need, and if I end up needing to pick up most of it myself on eBay, that's what I'll do.) It's just that I have been waiting SO long to have a modest but pretty little place to call my own and have room to fix up a bit, that it's hard not to be obsessed with the idea now that it looks like it's finally almost here!! So forgive me if I appear just slightly materialistic right now. I'll get over it as soon as I am surrounded daily by my burgundy, sage and cream (with navy and peach accents...) rooms........

Plan B, Chapter 7

Last night we had the important appointment with our lending officer, a lady Rex knew from his days in real estate, who had already pretty much prequalified us but who was not contracted with the builder we originally planned to use earlier this year. We were there 2-1/2 hours and it went quite well. She was optimistic that the funding would be approved. We unfortunately have to go with a 30-year mortgage, and the rate already went up a quarter-point from when Rex met with her a couple weeks earlier. But it is still a good rate, and we decided to sign the agreement to lock in the rate so that we won't have to worry about it going higher. When we got home, I sent our lender the info she requested about my job history of the previous two years, and Rex will do the same today. Our lender said we may have the answer back from the financial institution in as little as two days or as long as two weeks. She didn't expect any surprises and I have confidence she will do all she can on our behalf to get our loan package through without a hitch. For a little while longer, I will continue to feel that my middle name is "wait". But now my dream feels that much closer....

Plan B, Chapter 6

This past Friday night and from 9 to 5 Saturday, along with other women from my church, I attended my first Women of Faith conference. This is a conference featuring nine prominent, inspiring, talented, sometimes funny and often poignant female Christian speakers and singers. You can learn more about it here. Since we are, if all goes as planned, about to FINALLY buy our first home, I was determined not to buy any of the books or other merchandise being offered. I certainly didn't plan to pick up an $18 T-shirt. But when I tell you about the shirt at the end of this message, I think you'll understand.

I'd selected today as a vacation day months before since I knew I would be at Women of Faith much of the weekend. But it turned out to be great timing, as it gave Rex and me a chance to see the lady at the local office of the builder of the home that spoke to us a week ago Saturday - and she is not there evenings. Rex also wanted to stop at the county courthouse first and make sure we would be allowed to temporarily live in our present dump, I mean mobile, till we were able to get all our belongings brought 50 feet down to our new home. Then he remembered it was Columbus Day. But miraculously, the courthouse was open. And because everyone else probably assumed they were closed, there was no waiting to talk to someone and find out we could do that. (Someone had told Rex the county had a rule against having two dwellings on acreage at the same time. But we can just have this one changed to temporary status for up to 30 days.)

We were at the builder's office almost 3 hours. I probably won't remember all the options we picked though there weren't a huge list and I previously mentioned some of them. We did decide to have a door on the utility room for the dogs though it will mean two front doors, and get two windows in the dining area instead of the sliding glass door. We eventually want to have a sort of wooden canopy added to the front with a small porch below, so then it won't appear so obvious there is another front door, and it will be a lot more practical for our dogs. We are getting the deluxe insulation and deluxe carpet pad, and the French double doors on the den, but decided to skip the second window in the small bedrooms since the windows are so tall. I'll mention other things as they come to me. Then came what I have been waiting for - time to pickout the carpeting, countertops, tile and exterior colors. The part that took the longest was the carpeting, and that is still not set in stone. We knew we wanted a warm medium beige that would harmonize with both burgundy and sage (we plan to paint all the walls a light dusty sage). I held those two colors against the beige standard (but still nice) carpet samples and found one I felt was just right. But Rex felt we should get the deluxe carpet though it's over $1,200 more. We do want the carpet to be resistant to our doggies trying to dig it up, and the deluxe carpet was very plush and soft but I wasn't convinced it would be more "bulletproof" (or "clawproof"?). We tentatively chose it in a color called "Albany Smoke". But we'll see what the numbers look like when we see our mortgage lady Wednesday night.

My kitchen and second bath flooring will be very pretty - kind of hard to describe - has shades of beige, brown and gray in it. My countertop will be light sage and the tile will be a variegated dark beige. (I plan to have barn red decor in the kitchen and barn red and navy decor in the second bath.) The master bath floor is more of a light beige and white with a beige countertop and dark sage tile, and the decor will be more of a sage and cream. The exterior will be light sage with brick red trim (and white window grids and doors). I will try to go into more detail re the colors when I see them again, and like I said they can still be changed, though we both felt satisfied with what we chose. It's just hard for me to believe that it looks like this all is really finally happening!!!

As for that shirt I just had to buy at the conference: well, it's royal purple which is just about my favorite color for clothes (along with teal). But that's not why I bought it. The front says "Extraordinary Makeover" - and those words are inside the shape of a house. Now I know it's talking about the "house" that is our body and soul, not a literal house. But the timing of it and the extraordinary difference between this 672 sq. ft. disaster I have endured for 13+ years and what I am about to have in its place - to me, THAT is one extraordinary makeover, so that shirt really spoke to me. And on the back it says, "Our designer works miracles!" Amen. Thank you, God, that we are on the verge of seeing this miracle I never thought I would see.

Plan B, Chapter 5.5

Rex went to visit our local rep of the builder today during the day while I was at work, since she is not there evenings. He reported no surprises as to what comes included with our house and the few options we do want. None of the few additional items we want are prohibitive in cost, not even making it 2 feet wider to be the same size as the model we visited. We will "hash over" the options together to make sure we are on the same page when we visit her Monday - when I happen to have a regularly scheduled vaca day. (I will be at a "Women of Faith" conference Friday night and Saturday with some ladies from church and look forward to that.) We will then see our mortgage lady next Tues. or Wed. evening since she is off Monday. So far so good.....dare I presume that it's really going to happen this time!!!

Plan B, Chapter 5

Doesn't it seem strange that some weekends you have nothing going on and other weekends you have too much going on? The latter was the case this weekend. Our HR manager had given me two tickets for the Mariners game Friday night against the Athletics. I haven't really followed the "M's" this year, and they haven't had a good year anyway (am still a Cubs fan; don't ask me why). But Rex and I had never been to Safeco Field (which replaced the Kingdome a few years ago) and were curious to see it. And it was a good game. We won 4 to 1, Ichiro got his 200th hit and it was popular catcher Dan Wilson's last game. So it was worth staying for the whole game. However, that meant we had to wait an hour and 20 minutes for a ferry. We didn't get home till 12:45 a.m. So we didn't get as early a start as we would have liked for our 3-hour drive to Vancouver to see what we sensed could be the model home we have been longing for. The weather slowed us up a bit as well. "Scattered showers" were predicted for all of western Washington. At one point, about halfway there, the "showers" turned into torrential rain and hail, bad enough that we pulled over and waited it out for 10 minutes. Then it was back to pesky on-and-off showers, but finally a little after 2 p.m., we made it.

We planned to look at all the models at this location, having driven all that way in the rain, even though I already sensed which one would still be right. This was confirmed for me as soon as we walked in. It looked every bit as good as the pictures. One unique feature was, as you walk in the front door, off to your right is a cute, tiny room that I originally envisioned as a computer room/office, the way our pastor and his wife use a similarly placed little room. But instead, I think it will be a place to put our two recliners and the TV. It would give us a cozy place to watch TV and keep that function separately from the rest of the "great room". The "great room" itself has (this is hard to describe) a divider with three large arched openings separating the living and dining areas (a feature we were shown the photo of at the local office and said "wow"). So it is actually two rooms, but the openings are so large that it still feels spacious and connected, in addition to the arches being attractive and architecturally interesting. This whole area is open to the kitchen, which is not as huge a kitchen as some other models we have seen but is still a nice size with LOTS of very nice cabinets and the large island I want for food preparation and other duties. The master bedroom is a nice size and its walk-in closet is HUGE. The master bathroom of this model is the deluxe version (with both the large round tub and shower stall) at no extra charge. Another big plus of this model is that, unlike most "mobiles", it has flat, level ceilings throughout instead of sloping ceilings. So you definitely don't feel at all like you are in a "mobile". The only possible drawback is that the utility room (which we sort of wanted to have a door put in for the dogs to come in and out) is in the front of the house - and the location of this room can't be switched with the second bathroom which is opposite it. So this would mean putting a second door on the front of the house, which we would rather not do. (The second door of the house is a sliding door in the back of the dining area.) We will figure something out, since everything else about this model really spoke to us. In addition to the deluxe bath, it comes with other features that have to be bought as extras on other models we visited: thicker walls and insulation, the deluxe kitchen cabinets that come in either alder or oak (we thought we wanted oak, but the alder is very pretty - darker than oak but not as dark as cherry), window grids, wood windowsills, etc. The only extras we may need to buy are the double French doors on the TV room (the model had these and it's very pretty in addition to allowing for quiet if the other person doesn't want to hear the TV), a pull-out sprayer on the kitchen faucet, possibly the thicker carpet pad, maybe a second window in "my" craft/sitting room and Rex's office/room, and he wants horizontal "lap" siding to give it even more of a house look. (He was impressed with many of this builder's construction aspects as compared to the other builders I don't know if skylights are offered - but due to the high, flat ceilings, many of the windows in this house are extra tall which should let in plenty of light. We did also learn that the model we saw actually had two feet added to the total length - making the master bedroom/walk-in closet and the dining/utility areas one foot wider than the standard model. So we want to see what that may add to the cost, since we liked the size of the rooms the way we saw them. All in all, I feel this house has more personality and features suited to us than the house we originally tried for earlier this year, and is 5% larger in square feet even if we don't extend the length by the two feet.

So.....the next step is to see the lady at the local office and, as hubby says, "crunch the numbers". I hope we can do that one evening this week and not have to wait for the weekend. Hopefully the numbers will be relatively close to the estimate he gave our mortgage person. The payment estimate he received will be a stretch, but should be doable. I do feel our search is over as to finding what best suits us and am determined we must find a way to get the ball rolling very soon. (By the way, according to our real estate agent friend, apparently in this county, mobiles that are about ten years old are currently going for about the same price as new ones from the quality builder we have decided on. So that further helps seal the deal that what we found today is the right way to go.)

Plan B, Chapter 4

I like my job, but it can be mentally exhausting. I prepare commercial insurance policies and endorsements (adjustments) to those policies, so everything needs to be done just right and with a great deal of care and concentration. Adding greatly to the length of my work day is my commute - I get up no later than 5:25 a.m. (with a great deal of effort, being a "night person"), leave no later than 5:50 a.m., get to the office at 7:20-ish, start work at 8, leave no later than 4:45 p.m. and get home at 6:30 p.m. Since most of my commute is via ferry, I am able to crochet, read, nap, use the facilities, etc. But it still makes for a long day. My underwriter recently took on a new program I will be helping with, and between that and the existing accounts I already help with, last week was especially tiring. That was the main reason I switched one of my remaining vacation days for the year to today. But it worked out well since it allowed us to visit the remaining builder today instead of waiting till the weekend. They have a small branch here in our town, but there are presently no models there. But we wanted to discuss development costs and compare to what the last builder estimated, see interior photos of some of the plans that interested us, and find out where we could see the models in person. We felt this was the only way we could compare their models to the high water mark the other builder set two days ago and be able to make a final decision.

I wasn't real impressed with most of the floor plans this builder offered. There appeared to be at least a partial wall between the living and dining areas, which I felt would not result in the open "great room" we want. The master bedroom on the plans in the total size range we want also didn't seem quite as spacious as we would like. One plan that did have a great room, the room bent around in sort of an "L" shape whereas we would prefer an open square or rectangle. We spent a good amount of time there and when we left, I wasn't convinced we should even go and see this builder's models, with their next nearest branch being at least a 40 mile drive. We sat in the car outside the office for some time and looked over the plans again. Suddenly, one that had gotten lost in the shuffle made its way to the top. We looked at it and looked at each other. We looked at it again and brainstormed aloud as to how right it looked - the island kitchen, the not-huge but very open great room, the big bathrooms, the BIG walk-in closet - and wondered how we had overlooked it when we were sitting in the office. We went back in and the man said, oh, I have interior pictures of that one. He showed us the pictures. I am tearing up as I write this; I don't want to jump to conclusions before we have even seen the model but if it feels as right as these pictures did, I feel we have found OUR house. It even comes with a lot of extras such as the thicker walls and upgraded cabinets that we would have had to pay extra for on the other models. I will refrain from posting a floor plan here till we see the model and make our decision. But we are driving 2-1/2 hours to Vancouver, WA this Saturday to see this model in person. If you are reading this on or before October 1, I covet all prayers and good thoughts that our ordeal of seeking the housing we desperately need is about to finally come true. Chapter 5 coming soon!

Plan B, Chapter 3

I feel we are definitely closer to making our decision after visiting another Tacoma-area builder today. In fact, we may have found "the" one. We spent a good amount of time in this particular model and most everything about it felt right, to the point where we were standing in the living room discussing where things would go - the wood secretary (china cabinet) that has been in Rex's family for years, my curio cabinet, the TV, the wood stove we don't have yet but plan to get, etc. The layout, as Rex put it, "does everything we need". It is the spacious "great room" concept with no walls between the living and dining areas and kitchen. The kitchen has an incredible amount of counter and cabinet space, along with the large island in the center of the kitchen that would provide the space I need for not just preparing food and having future buffet dinners, but things like blocking larger crochet projects, cutting out garments (now that I will soon again have room for my sewing machine) and wrapping packages, which I presently literally have no place to do except to try to chase the dogs off the bed or floor. The master bedroom is good-sized; the closet is not as large as some other models we have seen. But it is still large enough that we would not have to put out-of-season clothes in storage but just move them to another part of the closet. And of course, the "me" room (for me to sit and crochet and store my yarn; my stair stepper and the second tv will also go in there) and "his" room (for his "stuff" and books) also have their own closet. There is also a 4th little room off the master bedroom that could serve as a computer room/library instead of combining that into Rex's room. Both bathrooms were also lovely, with huge bathtubs and spotlights above the mirror in the master bath. So this place seemed almost ideal, especially the kitchen and great room. The only drawbacks were the main closet not being as huge as I'd prefer and the outside looking a bit "boxy" except for the shingled dormer in the front. I can live with "boxy", especially since we can gradually upgrade with a deck, window boxes and landscaping as finances permit. This builder works with the lender we want and she has pretty much pre-qualified us for this home.

Rex stopped short of having the man in charge of site development make an appointment to evaluate our site (which already has had the septic and well for up to a 4-bedroom home for years) since we have one more builder to visit (who will also work with our lender). But the more I think about this home (especially the kitchen!), the more right it feels. I am just about ready to sign on the dotted line, but agreed to wait to see what the remaining builder has to offer. Rex, who knows more about construction than I do, feels the builder we haven't visited yet uses superior foundation materials and methods while remaining comparable in price, and they have a lot of floor plans we need to see before making a final decision. So, while my heart is in that wonderful kitchen we saw today, we shall proceed to Chapter 4....

Plan B, Chapter 2

Today we visited the Tacoma-area location of a nationally known manufactured homes builder. We liked some floor plans we saw on their site. There was one in particular that interested us, but they didn't have a model of it on site. However, they phoned a couple who they had recently built the same model for, and these people were gracious enough to agree to have us come over and look at their home. We drove the 14 or so miles to their home and loved what we saw. It was laid out attractively with generously-sized rooms, and the kitchen was wonderful. We also were impressed by the quality materials this builder used and the documentation in their office about their homes having survived major hurricanes on the same block where others didn't. However, when we returned to the office and drew up the estimate, it would have turned out to be literally as pricey as the stick-built home we originally had selected last Feb. (This was even with what they called a "red tag discount".) So we realized we would need to do a bit more comparison shopping. We went online again once we got home tonight and found a couple more builders to visit next weekend. (My work schedule limits me to only being able to visit the model home sites on weekends.) Stay tuned for Chapter 3....

Plan B (as in New B-ginning), Chapter 1

This is the day our dream was awakened, after laying dormant for several months. All my life, I have ached for a cute little home to call my own. When my husband Rex and I finally were able to graduate from being renters to owners in 1992, it was not what I had in mind to say the least: 10 acres of rural acreage south of Port Orchard, Washington (the original game plan was to live in Seattle, but that became financially infeasible) and a small, used, 12 x 56' singlewide mobile built in 1973 which had definitely seen better days. This mobile was intended as a temp residence that would need to last only till we were able to build our log cabin in the woods. For reasons I won't detail here, we were never able to make that happen and 13-1/2 years later, here I still sit in the same mobile which has gone from slightly rundown to barely liveable. I go into a bit of detail on a few of the things that are wrong with this dump, I mean "home" on my My Dream 1 page, so I won't repeat those here. But suffice it to say it has been inadequate both sizewise and condition-wise from the beginning, and I have never felt like a "homeowner" - and have continued to ache for the day I could have a nice little home to live in and not have to be ashamed of.

In late 2004, circumstances arose that made it finally, FINALLY appear possible to vastly improve our living conditions. The following February, we visited a home builder that Rex had become familiar with through his days as a real estate agent. We had looked over their web site and selected a floor plan - a palacial 2-1/2 times bigger than we have had for 13+years - that we agreed would work out great for us. We visited the model home and fell in love with it. We picked out the options we wanted and signed the papers. The home was supposed to be built by June, provided things went well with the unfamiliar lender that the builder was contracted with. And that's where things stalled. The contract ran out and things stayed stalled - till today. I won't go into what jump-started the process again or how that happened, only that it did happen. We realized we would need to go to Plan B and that this could turn out even better than Plan A. Namely, it looks like we will be going with a new mobile as opposed to a stick-built. We won't have the step-by-step, dramatic process of watching the house gradually emerging before our eyes. Instead, it will be moved to our acreage in one piece and then gradually tweaked/improved as finances permit. But for impatient me, who wanted the home to be ready yesterday, this could even be better.

For those who don't like mobiles, I guess you don't have to read on. But all I know is, we visited a local manufactured home dealer today and saw some truly beautiful models. One model in particular had the type of huge kitchen I have always longed for and a walk-in closet almost big enough to be a bedroom. It will be difficult to find something we like even better, but a red flag arose when the rep admitted he would not work with the lender we want to use. But we plan to visit at least a couple more builders to compare what they have to offer and then quickly make our decision. I do feel that in the long run, this will be a better choice than the home we originally selected which, though it had an interior I loved, looked very "boxy" on the outside. Chapter 2 of Plan B coming soon! (By the way, if you want to read the home planning chronicle I originally started with details of the home we originally picked, go here. I will leave that page intact, with a link to the blog you are reading now which is replacing it.)