Our house is a very very very fine house, with three cats in the yard, life use to be so hard ...

 

Our homestead  

 table and chairs, to really enjoy our meals 

Last but not least, the fireplace still needed to be finished.

Ernie and Josh doing their thing ... tile.  Brazilian slate in earth tones.

all cemented in place, needs to dry for 24 hours 

Ernie finishing up with the grout ... ready in another

24 hours. 

It really does look nice and we are planning our first fire tonight.

In the meantime, Jeremy (my son) taking in everything,

uses his new skills and ideas and left over wood to build us

a woodshed.

then, cleverly moves it in place with his new love, his tractor.

steady as she goes...

this is the drop place ... 

proud of his work on this ...

... adorable woodshed ... thanks, Jer. 

 This will hold our kindling and smaller wood

we will add on as we cut more wood.

County approvals ... Harry and Larry approved the building site and the building.

Two things needed to be done, ends on the stair railings (so as not to get your shirt sleeve hung up on the end of the rail and tumble down the stairs) sounds reasonable,

and more gravel by the outside stairs...other than that..

we are finished with the county :-).

I love autumn.

 With all of our Maples it is bright and cheery

through November.

 

 

history continued ...

 

It has been awhile since my last entry.  Between unpacking and the finishing details,  the time has flown by.

 

Where I last left off, we were ready to start building. 

 I had met with Hank, my contractor, to go over his contract and open a joint account at my bank,  "The Building Account,"  where I deposited my $140K.  We would both have access to this account. I was still short 8K but would continue feeding this account until, maybe, I reached the high end of the bid.

Sending out specific needs to my Creator and the Universe ... for help.

 

Little did I know,  the Universe was already working in my behalf.....

They sent me Hank.

 

Knowing my very tight budget, Hank was more than helpful through each phase of the building.

   He found a deal on stained lumber, half price.  Stain was fine with me,  it would not show under a coat of paint.  I couldn't afford my first choice on windows but the 2nd choice would look just fine.

I could cut more costs if I paint the outside of the house one color with a white trim.  Throughout the entire building process, Hank and I would talk and decide the best way to go.  Because of his professionalism and kindness, we were able to come in $4k under budget.

This did not, however, include my handcrafted cabinets or my appliances or fun things for the house.

  So, even though we made budget,

 I am currently sitting at the edge of my chair waiting for my bank to let me know when we can close on my refinance or mortgage.  The debt I incurred building the house I have put into a mortgage. 

(To be paid off as fast as we can)

 

I was approved

 

 but it takes a very long and weary time putting it together.   I had to dig up all kinds of paperwork from 40 years ago, (when the property was first purchased) and then finding my mom's death certificate from 31 years ago took forever... I am hoping to hear from them today.  My funds are very low and we are once again living day to day ...

 

 what we are suppose to do, right ?  Live One day at a time.

 

a little more history to be continued ...

 

 My camera is not working at the moment, what shall I do ?

 

 

 

Today is the final inspection. 10/16/2014.

Gifted this cute table, I set up my sewing machine

in front of the upstairs window .. it brought a smile to me face.

Hank, prepping the wall for the hood of the stove to be installed. 

Brian drilling the vent hole through all the layers of my house. 

looks so nice, back to cooking on a real stove.

Jeff creating a hearth box for the fireplace. 

 

hearth box to be finished with Brazilian slate

at a later date.

Builders, Brian and Jeff and son Jeremy

we are toasting the completion of my house. 

bye you guys...I will miss you.

history continued ... 

 

                 With my newly constructed house only days from completion and the final Inspection,  I need to bring my history up-to-date and conclude "Building My House."

 

 The first builder and I finally came up with a house plan that was okay.  Somehow it went from 1,000 sq.ft.  to 1,524 sq ft , getting big but it was nice enough and we submitted it to the county for a building permit.  We were approved after a lot of paperwork and patience.
 I couldn't start to build, however, until my house in Colorado closed.   We were already rolling up pennies and had to consider, daily,  costs for dinner, gas, bridge tolls and the unexpected.  It was getting old pinching pennies, but, we hung in there working on the property mowing and putting in an adorable vegetable garden (my friend Marsha gave me my first starts...raspberries, strawberries, a lilac tree, forget-me-knots and a lemon something-which are all doing wonderful) and we trimmed and burned debris and waited and waited.

 

     It is now early November 2012 my renter/buyers contract will be up by the end of this month. I make the call to my realtor and ask what is going on.  They have had two years to clean up their credit (thanks to me).   He and they say NACA is working on their loan as well as another bank.  They tell me it is close and I am excited.   They need a few extra months for all of the paperwork to go through and that March of 2013 is the month their credit will be good.  So, I agree, thinking they are trying their hardest to buy my house. 
Finally, the next four months pass and the end of March rolls around.  My realtor let's me know that the renters have been approved, by the other institution they were working with.  Problem is the bank will only lend them an amount that is $100K short of my asking price.  Would this be okay and could we sign another contract to pay off the balance in a year.    I told my realtor I needed the entire amount to even start the building of my house and to pay off my debt that has been accruing over the last 2.5 years waiting for them.   We decide to wait to the end of March first of April when NACA says they should have something.  Pacing, it is now well into  April... tired of waiting and struggling, I telephone them and ask if they would please let me know if they are serious about buying my house or not ?   I almost fell off my chair when she said, "well, we can't afford your house so we need to move out! "  "We can be out in a couple of months."  My blood began to rise and I told her they needed to be out in a month....normal notice. 
 

It get's better !
 

Now to protect the names of the innocent I will just say that it was found out that these folks, after getting approved for the lower amount,  went out and bought another house.  They hired another realtor and found a house on the eastside of Denver (hahaha.. far from the mountain house).

 

I had asked a neighbor friend to drive by the house.  They took pictures and sent them to me.
  This beautiful piece of land now had vehicles parked everywhere..two sheds and a dirt road plowed in down below on the land...it looked terrible.  After viewing the photos of the outside, what did the inside of the house look like.   Thinking, I need to fly back to Denver and see what is really going on and what the house looks like, meet my realtor and get my house back on the market.

I called an attorney friend to ask his opinion on what to do.  He wrote a one-page letter to these folks telling them they had to be out by the end of the month and the property, house and land cleaned up like it was when they first moved in and any damage would be charged to them.
 

I flew back to Denver and was touched that my friends met me with buckets and brooms and vacuum cleaners to help clean up wherever necessary.   I met the man for the first time cleaning up outside, he wasn't exactly nice and was bitter things did not work out.   They did however take that letter from my attorney very seriously because they were cleaning up nicely...thank goodness !!!

I needed to repair the deck and fix a leak in the roof ... with little money and charge cards the only way out.   Thanks to Louis, my realtor, we got the house back on the market.

 The house sold in 8 days to a lovely couple who lived on the other side of Denver.  The house was perfect and a VA Loan was initiated, approved and we closed at 4:45 pm October 2013.. Finally, after waiting for 3.5 years, I was free  and out of debt. Not quite the profit I had hoped for but it was enough to get us out of debt and move on with the building of my house.

 Looking at the approved house plan, I realized I wasn't going to be able to afford that big of a house and we started to downsize, but a lot of time had passed and my permit was about to expire and I had lost interest in this house.  My builder wanted to start over.

 Back online, I found a new house plan that caught my eye.  It was different and only 880 sq. ft.  more like what I was thinking.  I emailed my builder, my excavator and two others this house plan asking what they thought.   No reply.   

 



 Christmas 2013,  I went Christmas caroling with an organization I now volunteer for, caring for the elderly here on the Key Peninsula, and I was talking to a lady on the van who gave me the name of a local arborist and her husband, who was a builder. 

 

 Six months go by and I decide I am ready to build my house. 

 

 I gathered my courage and dialed the number the lady had given me but found I had dialed the arborists number by mistake.  It was a great mistake.  He told me that the builder I was calling was very busy but he knew another builder who lived in the area and was just finishing up with a house.  I called him, Hank, and we set up an appointment to meet, along with his architect to view the above plan.  We made some changes on the plan and I was very excited about this house and the builder.   The house was small, with an upstairs suite with a bath and it had character.  A house I could grow old in. 

 

With renewed excitement, the new builder worked up a bid.  I told him I could come up with $100k.  and I was so sad when he came back with a bid of 148k.  We parted, both thinking it was too much for me to come up with and probably was not going to happen.

 How could I possibly come up with another 48k ?  I slept on it and then in the morning I took a look at all of my $0.00 balances on my 5 credit cards and found they were offering a 0 % interest for a year on all but one of my cards....I added up my credit and I could come within 8k of the bid.  I called my new builder and we decided to go forward. 

 

 I would let my creator and the universe know my needs.

Let the building of my house begin.

 

a little more to be continued ...

We are almost to the end.

The plumbers arrived to install sinks, toilets and faucets.

  After 17 days of semi-camping this was a most wonderful day !!

The plumber told me to go take a walk for about an hour,

so my son and I drove down to the Heron Ferry dock watched the clouds form interesting

designs in the sky while we waited.

Installing my awesome sink.  Check out the light fixtures.

The first sink they brought me was a stainless steel double sink.

It was ugly, I wanted the one above...and I love it.

No more washing dishes outside with the hose.

ah, the toilet-a.

Here comes Dave to bury the trenches from the septic, power

and water.

Removing the temporary utility drive-way of large rocks.

Smoothing out the front yard

and creating a walk-way.  

 All in preparation for the final county inspection.

I planted a flowering ecological lawn mixture.

 

history continued ...

 

I last left off crying in the rain because of a broken awning and a leaking trailer.

Two times, I kid you not, I was awaken from a nightmare of raindrops dripping on my head.  It wasn't a nightmare at all, it was a reality.  More tarps and this time a piece of plywood on top of the trailer to block that leak.  We located the leak to the shelf above my head.

 

    It is now November of 2010 and I haven't heard from my renter/buyers for about five months,  not a word about "buying me out by the end of the year."  So, I finally gave Her a call to see how things were going and I was shocked when I heard her say, "they took out a two-year contract so they could have time to complete the sale of their house. "  It was if she had never said they would buy me out by the end of the year.  Now, to make things even worse, I hear they sold their house but is was a 'short sale' which I now know ... means your credit sucks for the next two years.  This means another year, November 2011.  They were working with NACA to get their loan.  I readied  myself to spend another year in the trailer and sincerely hoped they would get their loan and honor our contract.

Once again, I heard the words, "nothing will stop us from buying this house we love it.

 

I mentioned earlier about the extreme heat that first summer and now as we prepare for our first Thanksgiving,  a snowstorm showed up.  It was exciting and fun ...... until the tarp tents around the area started filling up with snow and yes, they start to cave in and fall over, along with a Madrona tree across the drive-way.

It is Thanksgiving 2010 and with the snow falling  we are to spend holiday in the trailer.  Our drive-way is quite steep and it looks like we may be stuck for a bit until the snow lightens up. My friend, Crystal, had a friend with  a 4-wheel drive truck and offered to stop at our local store and bring us some sort of dinner.  She brought us  two Cornish game hens to cook for dinner.  This was kind of fun....until the temperature dropped and our porta toilet  froze.  Omg this is serious, we need our toilet.  I must say this was somewhat entertaining watching my son outside with a portable heater trying to thaw the septic lines.  I was, in the meantime, collecting snow from outside in a pan,

thawing it on our propane stove and turning it into hot water to pour down the porta toilet....After a lot of effort the septic thawed and now we were free to pee.

We are having fun now, not.

 

At this same time, my neighbor Jarvis, lost his wife, Mary.  They had been married 50 plus years

and he was about to start his new life.  We joined forces and became friends and helped each other through the next two years.  I will always be grateful for those two years.  Trailer life was difficult and Jarvis and I would go and do something fun every Thursday.   He introduced me to the wonderful Museums in the Tacoma area and lunches at fun restaurants.  We would even go to the movies, which neither one of us had done in years.  This was good for both of us while we adjusted to our new lives.  Jarvis has been a very good friend since and will continue to be.   We no longer play on

Thursday's but I value his friendship very much.  My son and I were counting dollars (soon pennies)  and there was no room for entertainment or splurge spending and those Thursday's were cherished.

 

to be continued ...

 

Now for the inside finishings.

My cabinet creators, Joe Millie and Bob.

natural maple wood

working hard 

Albert Lee took care of me.  All of my appliances.

Thanks, Meegs...they were great.

yay, now I can cook on a real stove and

not the bbq we have been using.

A wonderful refrigerator that is IN the house.

And, just the best !   Say good-bye Belfair laundramat.

We had baskets of dirty laundry

Not any more .... Lily is happy too.

Out my kitchen window....oh, someone put an apple on the ledge.

Apples are from our very own trees.

Look at my kitchen now ... oh how I love thee.

 

history continued ...

 

Let's see, I last off sitting in my trailer and looking at the surrounding blackberries, scotch broom and

some kind of yellow noxious weed growing high.   Everything has grown to shoulder height.  My good neighbor, Jarvis, let me borrow his riding lawn mower and for the next two days I mowed like crazy.   It was great fun ! 

What a difference it made, the property is just beautiful.

 

My realtor says his clients are working hard to sell their house to purchase mine.  I am hoping they hurry because I am using my savings and it seems to be dwindling.  Making the ends meet are now quite challenging as is fitting in ... where I left off 27 years ago.

 

The first year back to the northwest was very trying, even though I knew it would be.

The first summer was in the middle 90's for a week and we couldn't find any relief.  My son and daughter-in-law and grandson's were coming for a visit and I was feeling pretty down because I had nothing to offer.  No house, no bed, no extra money,   just my trailer.  Fortunately, the family beach place in Belfair was available for them to stay. 

 

Then fall arrived and the torrential rains began to fall.  One day it rained so hard that the nice awning attached to the trailer collapsed from the weight of the rain. It was at this point I collapsed on my bed wailing ... "what am I doing" ..... we had to rip off the awning and put up lovely black tarps, so now I couldn't even see out the tiny trailer windows.

Argh .....

 

to be continued ...

 

 

 

Maybe another week ?

I can't believe I forgot to mention....along with the trailer, heading down the road, on board was a hornet's nest and our grey cat, Junior.  We didn't notice he was gone until later in the day.  Once located, I had to drive up to Silverdale (45 minutes away) and retrieve our cat. Boy, was he happy to see me.

So all that is left on the trailer sight is the satellite dish

and the refrigerator and our

 new living area... the kitchen to the right, living area in the middle, 

and our water source, 

a restroom facility is the tough one..our neighbor has generously

opened his downstairs bathroom for us to shower and use ..or the grocery store or the

Home Depots, or the Target store or the stations....

thank you all of you for clean sanitary restrooms,

and my bedroom on the porch, with Junior our adventurous cat.

Once again, Dru and Kevin are here to paint the inside of my house 

Navajo White is the color and I hope it turns out beautiful,  

it's hard to tell...until it is dry and all of the masking is down.

yay, the gutters have arrived ...

and this is a good thing, because the rains have arrived, too.

The walls look great and so does my sofa that has been in storage here and there for years. 

Oh ! the inside walls do look beautiful !

Now I can sleep indoors and just live outdoors.

 

history continued ...

 

We are getting there. 

My son and I are now living on the Vaughn property and sizing up the situation.

Tall grass and blackberry bushes and scotch broom everywhere.  I am a little overwhelmed but one day at a time and we will be fine.  

My realtor started the paperwork with the couple who were interested in buying my house.  They lived down the hill from the house and I thought that was a good thing because they already knew what mountain living was like.  They would put their house on the market and get things rolling.  Again, thinking this was a good thing because I am now running low on money and need to sell this house.  All of my equity is in this house and I will need every penny to build my new home. 

In June of 2010, the realtor and the couple and I agreed to a two-year contract to insure they could sell their house..She said they just loved my house and nothing would stop them from purchasing it.

 They would pay me rent until then to keep me going.  She also told me they were confident they would buy me out by the end of the year.  Cool.  I am thinking this trailer life will be short lived, so I kept most of my possessions in storage and in the garage.   Just living with the basics and concentrating on cleaning up the property and reuniting with family and friends.   Also meeting with the first builder several times to finalize a house plan.

 

to be continued ...