OUR HOME!

When Michael and I bought our home 14 yrs ago we bought a house that was condemmed.Alot of people ask why we did instead of a home that was nice and ready to move in?Reasons.....when Michael and i married 15 yrs ago we were both in very unhappy marriages and we met as some would say on the rebound we met shortly after our divorces.Not that we felt that way. Michael and his ex wife were in serious financial straights when they divorced he was in Bankruptcy and we just could not Purchase a home with that looming over him.I was a stay at home mom when i was married and ZERO credit.So my little sister told me about a house that needed alot of work and was cheap and came with 2 house lots and had 3 bedrooms.Of course we were willing to come look at it...we were living in an apartment and wanted to start our new life in a home.
We set an appointment to come look at the house.My dad is a carpenter and came with us.I walked in and was APPAULED a family was living in a home at the time in this RUNDOWN place.I wanted to RUN and never look back at that ole ugly floors falling in home.But my dad says...It has great potential and would be a nice home.So we called the owner and told him we were ready to buy the house.I AM SO GLAD WE DID! It took many months to fix it to move in but its our home and we have worked hard on it.Michael and I have learned alot about finances and have learned to save to fix things.We dont own any credit cards..Our MOTTO...If we cant pay for it outright we DONT need it. We gutted our bathroom and remodeled after many years of living here.Its how we want it now.We may not do all remodels at once but it is comming together Nicely.We recently painted the living room and the dining room and pulled carpet out of the dining room and put the laminate wood floor in I LOVE IT.
There was many times we have said..What did we get into wish we could torch it and start over.But the kids are older and appreciate things better and we are now taking the time and doing it right.i love my house.It is not large by anymeans and can be cramped at times but we love it and would not have it anyotherway.Our home is one of the first sears and robuck kit homes.You can see through the years where rooms were added on.Our bedroom and bathroom were add on. there was a well outside we filled it in and capped it with cement it was to dangerous and when we moved here we had 2 toddlers and a baby and 1st grader.There was a back porch that if you stepped on it the whole thing shook.We ripped it off and put a nice deck on.We are proud of the work we have done.Michael and I have put our hearts into our home.We are now saving money again to get new carpet in our living room(i wanted the laminate floor in the living room) but michael says no he wants carpet.We also are planning on remodeling the whole kitchen it is very outdated and needs new cabinets.We want to get Jax home first and then will start working on these things when we have our son home.I can truly say Home is where the heart is.we have lots of sweat and many tears as some of the projects took Longer then anticipated.When we remodled bathroom Michael was in Iraq and my dad was doing the work.The bathroom had alot of issues OLD PLUMBING floor joices bad the works.The kids and I lived almost 2 months in the camper at the lake.AT least there we could have a bathroom and a shower.We would drive home acouple times a week and do Laundry and check on things at home and mow yard.It all worked out the kids and I love camping so it was like an extended vacation.
we have talked about selling and moving to Atchison(where we do all our shopping and docs and things and jobs) But we love it here and we are loving our home.We have Memories here our first home where our babies have grown up.I cant sale this place no way.I look back and feel so blessed for what we have and how hard we have worked to get here.We of course are feeling the economy crunch right now as everyone is and are really buckling on every dollar we spend.But it will be worth it in the end.We have a home we love happy healthy kids and a happy marriage.I may not be rich by far but we are HAPPY! what more could i want?