(2) Oh… You’re really going to live here??

Every mother wants the best for her children and my mother was no different. She has always wanted the best for me and my two brothers. My parents’ young adult life, and my childhood, was during a time where “Flip This House” and “Fixer Upper” were not top rated reality TV. (There was no reality TV… gasp!…) DIY wasn’t a “hobby.” DIY meant you just did it yourself, often out of financial necessity, as it was (and still is) expensive to hire out manual labor jobs. DIY was not something someone aspired to do, but more so HAD to do. It was not a trendy thing to buy a disheveled home, fix it up, and “Love It or List It.” Many people of my parents’ generation, at least those that I was exposed to growing up, considered a mostly finished, slightly dated, “just needs a fresh coat of paint” type of house the only way to go. It was safe, stable, and comfortable. That’s what my mom wanted for me. My husband and I, on the other hand, had different dreams…

It was the summer of 2014 and the boys were 7 (Hunter), almost 4 (Ryker), and 1 (Zander). We were living in the middle of the city. Neighbors in every direction, as far as the eye could see. Small yard, small house, and 3, sorry 4 (including my husband Jake), rambunctious boys. We needed more space… We had not “planned” to by a new house that summer, however, it was not, “not the plan” either. My husband and I live by the “everything happens for a reason” mantra. As I mentioned in my first post, it had always been my husband’s dream to live in the country.

One afternoon he can across a foreclosure property listed online. The 3-acre property was just outside the city, and about 1 1/2 miles OFF of paved roads. The rural location was what sparked his interest in the property. This was a foreclosure, sold “as is”, no inspections covered by the seller (the bank who owned it). For a non-risk-taker like myself, frankly, this scared the crap out of me! You see, I’m the logical, think it through, do the “safe” thing one and Jake is the fly by the seat of your pants, “hold my beer, watch this!” one. But he convinced me to take a look. So we go out to take a look at the property, I say property because the house, a manufactured home, was not in livable condition… not even slightly. We had a 1-year-old who’d just learned to walk and let me tell you, this place looked like a death trap!

As you can see from the pictures, it was not exactly a slice of paradise! Please keep in mind that when we first arrived at the house, we couldn’t even really see the house, like at all… There were so many overgrown bushes, tall grasses, and trees surrounding the house, and they had grown to the full height of the house. So much so in fact that after we purchased the property it took Jake four 10-hour days of working to clear enough of the brush so we could get these pictures and really see what we’d purchased.

Breaking the news to my parents…

Just after we signed the contract to purchase the property, we broke the news to my parents that we were moving from our small, but comfortable, city home to the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road (the county called it a gravel road, but there were like two pebbles on the road… it was just dirt),  to live in a death trap! We prepped them the best we could to keep an open mind,  using selling points like the fact that we got a great deal (Which we did! We basically only paid for the land.), and the “potential” in the property. Honestly, I don’t think anything we said could have prepared them for seeing the place we planned to move in to with THEIR grand-babies. As those of you who have grown up and have your own kids are aware, you (their actual child) do not matter near as much as your children do to your parents. Grandchildren trump actual children 100% of the time…

I was impressed! My mom was very positive the whole drive out to the property. So was my dad, that is until we hit the gravel/dirt road. You see, my dad cares for his cars like a child. He has never had extravagant cars, but they’ve always been sensible and high quality. The way he maintain’s his cars (my mom’s and his) is like a professional detailer would at a dealership. They’re in immaculate shape. As we hit the gravel road he made a “politely sarcastic” comment regarding the dirt that was now covering his car and suggested that if we do buy this house, they may have to buy an old car, just to drive on trips out to our house. If you knew my dad you’d know he was NOT being mean, but jokingly honest. We showed my mom and dad around the property and then inside the “death trap” that was the house and gave them the best “diamond in the rough” tour that we could. We came to a stop on the back porch and, I’ll never forget the look of shear astonishment and confusion on my mom’s face, as she said, “Oh… (long pause) You’re really going to live here?” As if hoping it was some sort of nightmare. She and I laugh about it now, and I think I even laughed when she said it then. She just couldn’t bear the thought of her baby girl and grand-babies living in a place like this.

At that moment, she was standing on the outside looking in…

But, being a nature lover herself, over time, she came to see the attraction we had to the view from INSIDE the house looking out. Once we cleaned it up,  the view was spectacular! As people, we often stand on the outside looking in and cannot see the beauty in something. It’s not until we step inside and take a look at the view, that we can truly appreciate the beauty in some things.

Yea the ending got a little deep… ANYWAY, stay tuned for a few stories from the renovation of the inside of the house. Much lighter, and more comical I promise! Just a teaser… all 5 of us lived in the play room/dining room during renovations. When I say lived, I mean ate, slept, played, etc. in an 10ft x 18ft room. Oh! And me getting used to coyotes at night… that was fun…