Yesterday was a long and fun day! Again I was in awe of the fact that the very same people who were discussing what totally looked like the end without an ounce of hope, were now discussing the pros and cons of the house they just saw.

There was a double-wide for sale in our preferred park for 15K that was repossessed by the bank. Although we suspected it may be dumpy due to the lack of pictures, the location within the park seemed so ideal. So Tom called the realtor to see if he could stop by on Saturday. When she didn’t call back we assumed someone made an offer on the place. But yesterday morning he discovered a message with the realtor letting him know she’d be at the house at 10:00 to show others if we wanted to stop by at that time.

So a half-hour later we got dressed and headed for the place. I was impressed with what I saw when I got out of the car. The corner house wasn’t right on the street either in front or on the side. One side has a ditch, which as the realtor said, has been empty for a while since we haven’t had much rain in California for a couple of years now, and the other side was the neighbor. This place didn’t give me that claustrophobic feeling many parks give me. Between the spacing the hedges and trees that add great privacy, you still get a sense of privacy and seclusion, even though there are plenty of people around. The instant I stepped into the house I both loved it and hated it, LOL. I know this sounds funny as hell but it’s the nicest dump I ever saw! I loved the unique layout and the fact that it was 1800 square feet, which is almost too big for us, and I loved all the built-in shelves and cabinets in so many rooms, including the sunken living room which was probably bigger than the entire trailer I’m sitting in right now. But I hated the colors and the horrible condition it’s in and the thought of how much money and work it would take to fix it up.

It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bath in which I could display what dolls I have left in my collection times 10. More so than our Maricopa house, in a sense, because that house didn’t have a built-in hutch or any other built-in shelves.

The kitchen itself is half this place and has the most hideous wallpaper I ever saw. The closets are enormous as are all the rooms, though the master bath doesn’t seem that big. Its garden tub needs to be resurfaced and is missing part of its flooring.

The carpet is in good condition but needs to be cleaned and stretched because it’s loose. It’s also a hideous color of brown/gold. Whoever lived there had my exact opposite tastes in color. Lots of brown and tan in there, and yes, even some of that dreaded paneling, since it’s a 1984 model. There are skylights in the kitchen and master bath, which is nice, though I don’t know why they’d put one over a bathroom.

I wished I could’ve taken pictures while I was there and of the park.

The catch is the roof. Yeah, that may hinder us from any chance of getting the place. It needs to be redone completely, including the one over the garage/storeroom, and so if anything stops us from getting the place, it will be that. Actually, I think what’s going to stop us is that someone’s going to get it first. I think that by next weekend it’ll be gone. It won’t be the end of the world if it is, since when you add up the costs of all the repairs, you may as well get a newer, nicer place that’ll let you take out a loan. They don’t usually do loans on older places that aren’t in good condition. Other than the roof and water damage done to some of the ceilings, it seems to be in good enough condition otherwise.

Another bad thing is that the previous owner gutted it. The range is still there, but they took the refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer.

I almost slipped and told the realtor that our rats would love running around in something so big, haha.

When she prompted us to make an offer, I had to keep from laughing when Tom said that he’d have to ask our landlord the cost of certain things and materials since he was a construction worker. We really did laugh on the way back about hiring him to do some of the work. He’d probably love it too, being under the table and all that. We joked about “borrowing” his refrigerator too, till we got our own.

Seriously, though, I doubt we’ll have enough money accumulated before someone snags it, and why the fuck couldn’t the two-legged poodle have died a few months sooner?!

The combination double-car garage/storeroom is another 600 square feet. It’s weird that there’s no door between the two. It’s a separate structure from the house and it too, has its pros and cons. It’d be wonderful for not only storing things but for Tom to work on things he loves to work on and to be able to solder things without the smell waking me up if I were asleep. The negative is that it has no heating or cooling. He could use a portable heater in the winter, but those cost a fortune compared to central heating, and there’s no window to throw an AC in either. As I told him, if by some slim chance, we get this place, the garage/storeroom is all his to do what he wants with. He can even take the old exercise bike they left in back in there for all I care.

The place is 30 x 60. When you walk in the front door you’re sort of in the middle of the place. In front of you is the long living room. To your left are the dining, kitchen, and master bed/bath, and to your right are the other two bedrooms, bathroom and door leading to the back. Like I said, I loved and hated it, but know I could love and love it if it were fixed up nicely. If it weren’t for that damn roof! Still, the entire place needs quite a makeover, and we’d have to talk them down to around 5-10 grand to make it possibly affordable. I forget that he makes a lot of money and that just because we spend our savings getting into the place doesn’t mean that’s it. More money will be coming in! Although there’s always tons of work, I do worry about the possibility of a layoff, too. Better after we move, though, than before, since the monthly costs, after the place was fixed up, would be lower than what it is here.

The exterior of the house looks good. We even saw the little hatchway you open to get to the crawl space underneath. I was wondering how they got under there. One of the living room windows is cracked, but they are dual-paned.

Again, I just loved it, but it would need sooo much work! It sure would keep me busy for a while. Almost everything needs to be redone. It would probably take me weeks just to clean it, LOL. But everything would need to be done and bought from top to bottom – the roof, the ceiling, the walls, the appliances…

Saw another slightly newer one (just the outside) two houses from the lake going for 24K. The view would be beyond spectacular, though I’d rather the more private location than the spectacular view. Ducks were floating about in the lake, though the 3 fountains were off.

I worried that a lakeside house would not only be more expensive, but bring about more noise and people, but I don’t think it would. It’s not the kind of lake people swim in or even sunbathe by. It’s just something pretty to look at as you pass by it, though the beautiful dump isn’t close to the lake or pool.

Although the realtor said the bank told her to get the place sold as fast as she could, I don’t think we’ll get it. Having the roof done would cost close to an additional grand, from what Tom researched, though the government does pay for people to install solar roofing, and there is a possibility of getting Home Depot to finance it. We’d probably have someone else do it. Tom could do it. He did our Phoenix roof. But the guy has no free time. I could do the walls and some of the ceiling work.

In a house and location like this, who knows, maybe we won’t want to move to Florida when he retires. I want to move into wherever we end up with the attitude of 10 years to forever. If we’re happy enough where we end up, though, we may not want to chance giving it up. After all, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Only time will tell if all those Florida dreams I had were just a reflection of what was on my mind at the time or a glimpse into the future.

Despite the tremendous costs of just the repairs and the fact that I usually like new places, it’s hard not to picture myself in this house, in this park, and in the ideal location within it, painting the walls, then taking a break to jump on my bike for a ride around the lake. Wallpapering or decorating later on, then hitting the bike again for a relaxing break in the pool…

Then it was back to reality. Back to the Jes pest buzzing around on its ATV and feeling like we entered a human rat tube when we stepped in here after being in such a cavernous place. Here we have 7-foot level ceilings, their vaulted ceilings that go as high as 9-10 feet.

From here on out, it’s in fate’s hands. If it’s meant to be, it will be, but I don’t think it is. The next people to see it were construction workers. Well, this house would be every fixer-upper’s dream.

I want to try a prayer experiment and I’d like to ask anyone who reads this that believes in prayer to help. I realized that just because I believe something doesn’t mean it’s true. Maybe it’s not that prayer is a bunch of wishful thinking like I believe. Maybe it’s me. If God hates me as much as He seems to, then He’s not likely to grant my prayers. But maybe – just maybe – if someone else prays for me, He’ll listen to them. If not, then He either didn’t listen to you because it was me you prayed for, or yeah, prayer really is a bunch of bunk.

So here’s what I want you to do. It’s simple. Just pray that we get this house, and pray that Tom gets the job he’s applying for where he works. I’ll explain more about that in my next entry, as this one’s already outrageously long. Thanks in advance to whoever participates in this little experiment of mine. I just figured that just because prayer doesn’t work for me, maybe it will for others. It’s sort of like with other things. Just because you can’t learn Hawaiian doesn’t mean I can’t, and just because you can run 20 miles doesn’t mean I can.

Thanks in advance, and do let me know if you’re praying for us! I will allow for anonymous comments on OD and MO for a day or two. Hopefully, the spammers and scammers won’t be a problem in the meantime.

Later…

I always use the rats’ burrow to prop their cage door open when I go to let them out to have fun running around. Both rats were at the door twirling and jumping in excited anticipation of being let out. Then Sugar ran across the cage and pushed the burrow over by the door, knowing I’d use it to prop the door open. If that isn’t a little genius of a furball, I don’t know what is.

Can’t wait to try Andy’s onion experiment and see if leaving a few slices of onions around really does help with sleep and energy. It’s bad enough I can’t keep a schedule, and even worse when you don’t get solid sleep. I seem to be waking up more and more throughout the night. Or day. The memory foam also continues to cause me to overheat in my sleep, so we ordered a cooling mattress pad commonly used by menopausal women with hot flashes. That cost $139.

Meanwhile, I’m also doing a hip experiment. I’m still not sure if the on-and-off pain I get there is arthritis, not being active enough, or both. I do slack off with the exercising at times. I noticed they were sore the day after I had my serial tonometry done and was out walking and shopping all day. But the 40-minute walk, plus stretching, plus arm and ab work I did today hasn’t left me sore. We’ll see how I wake up tomorrow.

So there are 3 experiments going on – prayers, hips, and onions, though I haven’t gotten around to getting the onion yet, and so far no one’s offered to pray to God and see if they can “trick” Him into answering prayers for us to get the house we saw yesterday and the job for Tom. The job would be as a second shift lead. They’re taking apps through Tuesday. We know it would pay more, but how much more we don’t know. They never tell you that cuz that’s their way of seeing who really wants the job. If he gets the job and then for some reason decides to turn it down, he worries that may hurt him in the future. He’s going to be let go or laid off sooner or later because that’s what most jobs eventually do, fair or not. I just hope that when the job does end, it’s not for another year or two.

Sleeping with the sound machine was no problem yesterday. I realize that no matter what I blast in here, I’m always going to feel and hear a bit of a rumble when the Jes pest comes and goes on its many loud vehicles, in this flimsy little place with its 2” walls and an equally thin tin roof. And whoever’s stay with him. Tom said he thinks I’m right about someone staying with him cuz he’s been parking further down the hill. I know I’m right. Those dogs are too quiet. They never bark when someone’s home unless someone goes up there. Whoever it is is there all the time and I hope they stay there as long as we’re still here. If it were a case of only the weekend overnight barking sprees stopping I would think the Jes pest quit running out to get laid at those times. But because it’s also quiet in the daytime when he comes and goes, that tells me that someone’s there. If I remember correctly, his mom is dead and his dad is in his 90s. Maybe he took his dad in.

Cindy is getting on my nerves by using my Facebook posts to say hi and chat with others who comment on my posts. Can’t she go to their walls and say hi there or send them a PM?

Did yet another little experiment, and along with whoever’s playing with Molly on Ask (Adonis?) I said I was Kim and asked how she was doing, just to see if Kim would jump in and insist that wasn’t her. She never did. Again I wonder just how many others besides Kim were behind some of the shit I used to get there.