Whew!  Last week was emotionally charged!  Actually, it started last weekend when my niece had to have an emergency appendectomy.  Then on Monday I got a call from my sister saying that their house had burned down.  I was almost afraid to wake up each day after that for fear that something else bad would happen.  Thank the good Lord I don’t have weeks like that all the time!  I love my family so much until it’s hard for me to see them going through rough times like that.

So I’ve decided to adopt a new attitude.  I’m going to look at this new week as a blank canvas.  I can paint anything I want on my canvas.  It’s brand new.  It’s completely empty until I begin painting.  I want to paint my canvas this week with encouragement to those who need it.  I want to paint my canvas this week with hope, faith and love.

How about joining me and painting your own canvas?

… I think we’ve decided the best thing for us to do is put a modular home on our property.  The main reason is that we want to get as close to debt free as possible and while a site built home would be nice, we would still be looking at having to finance part of it.  Also another thing we thought about is that since the property is so far out in the country and off the beaten path, investing a lot of money in a site built home probably wouldn’t earn us as much money as a home would that was in a more “convenient” location.  You know what the realtors say … it’s all about location, location, location. Plus this property is near Lake Livingston, and a lot of the homes in and around the area are “weekend” homes which would also keep our value on a site built house lower than in a different location.

Here are some pictures I took off the Schult website of the inside of the model we looked at.  (Forgive me if I’ve already posted them … old age, you know …)

This would be Mike’s office … it’s designed to be a home office room.

This is the kitchen, looking in from the dining room.  Notice the entire wall of built in cabinets on the right …

This is the living room.  We would opt NOT to have a fireplace.  We have one in our house now and we’ve only used it maybe 3 times in the 10 years we’ve been here.

And finally, the master bathroom.

If you need a laugh, read through these answers that children gave on a Science exam.

Q:  Name the four seasons.
A:  Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar

Q:  Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink.
A:  Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removed large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists.

Q:  How is dew formed?
A:  The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q:  How can you delay milk turning sour?  (I love this one!)
A:  Keep it in the cow.

Q:  What causes the tides in the oceans?
A:  The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon.  All water tends to flow towards the moon because there is no water on the moon and nature hates a vacuum.  i forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q:  What are steroids?
A:  Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q:  What happens to your body as you age?
A:  When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q:  What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A:  He says good-bye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.

Q:  Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A:  Premature death

Q:  How are the main parts of the body categorized (e.g. abdomen)?
A:  The body is consisted into three parts – the branium, the borax, and the abdominal cavity.  The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels – A, E, I, O and U.

QWhat is the fibula?
A:  A small lie.

Q:  What does “varicose” mean?  (I love this one, too!)
A:  Nearby

Q:  give the meaning of the term “caesarean section”.
A:  The caesarean section is a district in Rome

Q:  What does the word “benign” mean?
A:  Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

My sister and brother in law had a fire at their house this morning.  Please pray for comfort and peace for them.  Fortunately they have insurance but it is still traumatic to have part of your home destroyed.

Two reasons why it’s so hard to solve a Redneck murder:

1.  All the DNA is the same.

2.  There are no dental records.

Exciting car chase on my side of town this afternoon … I’m sure it will make the national newscasts … the suspect ended up a few miles from our house. Here’s a map that shows my house and where the car ended up.  It’s just across the freeway from the Kohl’s Department Store where Erica used to work.

Never a dull moment around here …

Two blonde girls were working for the city public works department.  One would dig a hole and the other would follow behind her and fill the hole in. They worked up one side of the street,then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working furiously all day without rest, one girl digging a hole, the other girl filling it in again.

An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn’t understand what they were doing.  So he asked the hole digger, “I’m impressed by the effort you two are putting into your work, but I don’t get it — why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?”

The hole digger wiped her brow and sighed, “Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we’re normally a three-person team. But today the girl who plants the trees called in sick.”

Decisions, decisions, decisions … we have looked at so many house plans, model homes, modular homes and such until my head is spinning!

Tonight, Erica and I sat down at the dining room table and looked at all the house plans we have been accumulating. We were keeping them in a folder as we (Mike included) would find something we thought might work. Well as Mike was leaving for a ham radio club meeting, he suggested that we sort through the pile of paperwork and try to narrow our choices down. (Yeah, right.) So I told Erica we needed to set some parameters. First, nothing over 1700 square feet because we’re trying to downsize. (There were a few plans that were anywhere from 1850 to 2200 square feet. Gee, they were nice, too!) So that was easy enough. Second, I told her the floor plan had to “flow” and be “open” … in other words, no formal dining room, no family room plus a living room … you know, that sort of thing. I’ve felt cooped up in every house I’ve had with the exception of our very first house 28 years ago. So I want an “open concept” floor plan for the kitchen, great room and dining room areas. Basically one big room, opening up the main part of the house where we spend most of our time anyway.

I think we narrowed our list of choices from about 40 plans to 15 or so … much better! Maybe now I will stop feeling like that girl in the exorcist movie … you know, the one where her head spinned around and around? Ha!

Later, ya’ll …

A cat died and went to Heaven. God met her at the pearly gates and said: “You have been a good cat all these years. Anything you want is yours for the asking.”

The cat thought for a minute and then said: “All my life I lived on a farm and slept on hard, wooden floors. I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on.” And God said: “Say no more.” Instantly, the cat had a huge fluffy pillow.

A few days later, six mice were killed in an accident and they all went to Heaven together. God met the mice at the pearly gates with the same offer that He made to the cat. The mice said: “Well, we have had to run all our lives from cats, dogs, and even people with brooms! If we could just have some little roller skates, we would not have to run again.” And God said: “It is done.” Instantly, all the mice had beautiful, little roller skates.

About a week later, God decided to check on the cat. He found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow. God gently awakened her and asked: “Is everything okay? How have you been doing? Are you happy?”

The cat replied: “Oh, it is so WONDERFUL here! I have never been so happy in my life! The pillow is so fluffy, and those little Meals on Wheels you’ve been sending over are delicious!”

Sara, thats awesome you guys are buying the land and I like the pics of the modular too! I have looked at them before and they do make some really nice ones. My next door neighbor moved a modular onto their property and once it landed on the slab you would never know it wasn’t built right where it stands. If you can get the size you want and all the bells and whistles I would save the extra 40k and put it in my pocket. I sure wish we had some of your prices here though, our contractor charged us 150 sq foot which to me is crazy but we checked around and it was about right, California is out of hand I want to move back to Texas where things make a little more sence. Sorry to hear about Erica’s wallet I had the same sort of thing a few years ago and it wasn’t good, they took my wallet out of my service van (yes I left it in there…stupid me) and I was only away from the van 15 minutes and when I realized it was gone I started calling companies to cancel right away and wouldn’t you know they had already charged almost 1000.00 at a few department stores and took 200.00 out of the ATM and used my gas card………so I feel for her for sure! Ahh if I could only have just a few minutes in a room alone with these kind of people……:)   Hope your mom is doing well. You guys take care and I will talk at you soon.

Mike

Well after we left Giddings yesterday, we drove to the property so Chase could see it. On the way back we stopped at a Modular Home park to look at what our options would be if we chose something like that as opposed to a site built house. We found one particular model that is 1685 square feet … which is only 6 square feet smaller than the house we had previously looked at.

I fell in love with the kitchen and dining room areas. Here is a picture of the dining room, which has an entire wall of cabinets (1st picture) and a shot of the kitchen (of course, we would use our own fridge):

And it has a “study” which could also be a 4th bedroom. But since Mike needs an office in the house, the study would be perfect. Anyway, here’s a picture I pulled off the Schult website, along with a floor plan:

It’s not fancy like the house was, but it’s almost $40K CHEAPER than the house. And since this particular model is Schult’s top of the line model, it comes standard with a lot of things a normal manufactured home doesn’t have.

Anyway … we’re still a pretty good ways away from actually putting a house on the property and moving so we have plenty of time to continue looking around. We’ve already ruled out the “custom builders” like David Weekley … their houses go for anywhere from $95 to $100 a square foot … totally out of our price range especially if we’re looking at trying to be virtually debt free when we move.

Anyway … that’s the latest. Stay tuned for more, I’m sure.

We visited my mother today. Chase drove to LP from Longview last night and we got up this morning and drove to Giddings so we could see her. While she wasn’t anywhere near as “alert” as she had been when we saw her on July 4th, she was still okay. Here are some pictures:

Believe it or not, Erica had her wallet returned today!  A police officer brought it by work for her.  Someone found it in a drainage ditch not far from our house and called the police.  It took them some time to track Erica down because Mike wasn’t home, I wasn’t home, and they had no idea where she worked.  But eventually they found her.  Her debit card, social security card, and driver’s license were in it, although she said they were in different places than where she had put them.  The police officer gave her a case number they had assigned to it so if she has any kind of repurcussions from it, she can show it was reported to the police, blah blah blah.

Also this morning I went by Murphy’s to get gas … Murphy’s is the place the bank told her the debit card was used … and I told them what had happened and when.  They wrote it all down and said they would check the surveillance cameras.  The police officer told Erica he was going by Murphy’s to talk to them himself.  We may not ever be able to catch who did it or press charges but at least it makes us feel better to know we are trying.  I’m sure it was a kid who took the wallet.  A “seasoned thief” would never have left it somewhere in plain sight to be found after they were through with it. 

So … I’m glad that mess is cleared up!

Well this afternoon Erica realized that her wallet is missing.  The last time she saw it was early this morning, about 6:30 am, when she got 50 cents out of it at work so she could get a soda out of the machine.  Of course she had her driver’s license, debit/Visa card and social security card in the wallet … so … as soon as she realized it was missing and retraced her steps without locating it, she called the bank.  The lady asked her if she used her debit/Visa card at 11:35 this morning at Murphy’s Gas … “no” Erica told her.  So the bank lady said they would refuse to pay the charge when it came through.  They cancelled her card and will issue her a new one.  I also told Erica maybe she needed to call the major credit bureaus since her ss card was also in the wallet … you know, chance of identity theft even though she doesn’t have any credit established yet.

Ironically, I just got an email the other day that told what to do in case of identity theft and one of the things said to contact the 3 major credit bureaus and ask them to put a “fraud alert” on your ss # in case someone tried to apply for a loan or buy a car or something like that using your ss #.  So she called one and they told her she didn’t need to call them unless she found out that someone had tried to buy something in her name.  So apparently the credit bureaus won’t do anything until the damage is already done.  !!**@##

Mike is taking her to DPS tomorrow to get another Driver’s License and then they will go to the SS office to take care of that problem.  Poor Erica is learning what life is like in the grown-up world … she’s not a happy camper at the moment!

Well, we took the next step toward finalizing the land purchase Saturday.  We met Kent and Lori in Seabrook, had a hamburger, gave them earnest money, and signed paperwork.  The survey of the land should be completed in 2 to 3 weeks and then we’ll close.  For sure we should be closed by August 8th at the latest.  I’m getting more and more excited as each day passes.  This is almost as cool as when we bought our very first house!

Now that we’ve made a decision and found a parcel of land, Mike is getting anxious to move on with our plans.  The first thing we’ll have to do is put in a water well … big $$$ there, I’m sure.  Then have electricity run from the road to the property … probably more big $$$.   We’ll hold off on a septic system until we know definitely where we want to put the house … but that will for sure be big $$$ since we will put in an aerobic system.

Now we’re thinking that maybe we don’t want to spend as much money “fixing up” the house as we originally thought about doing.  Of course, we will paint outside and inside but probably leave off the “cosmetic” things we talked about doing.  We’re just not sure we would recoup our expense … you know it gets to a point where you can put too much into a house and never see any benefit from it.

The house next door to us is a lease home. It’s possible that the couple who own it might be interested in buying our house when we put it on the market.  At one time in the past, when we were chatting with them about our future plans, they indicated they might be interested if we ever decided to sell.  So we will pursue that avenue when the time comes.  If we get lucky, we may not ever have to put a “For Sale” sign in our yard at all!

And I’ve checked google maps and mapquest to see how far away the land is from Giddings since I like to visit my sister and mother as often as possible.  Right now, from La Porte, it takes me just a tad over 2 hours to get there.  From where the land is, it would be just a tad over 3 hours.  One hour longer.  Not bad, really.  It will be freeway all the way.

And Chase got back from his vacation to Chicago last night.  He called to let us know he’s back.  Mocha (my grandcat) stayed in the kennel the vet has while Chase was gone.  The vet also did surgery on Mocha during that time and now Mocha is an “it” … I imagine he’s not a happy camper.  I’m sure he’s also po’d at Chase for leaving him for so long (a week) because he’s used to having all the attention!  Ha!
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week.  We’ve had a LOT of rain here and I’m ready to see some sunshine.

Our youth group at church has started a project called the Pure Water Project.  They are raising money to purchase water wells throughout Africa.  One well costs approximately $1,000 and will be big enough to give a small city PURE DRINKING WATER instead of the bacteria laden stuff many of them now have.  So today my Tuesday night ladies group held a garage sale and donated the proceeds to the Pure Water Project.  We raised $500!  Here is a picture of some of the ladies in the group … the ones who were at the garage sale today:

Left to right:  Me, Lorie, Karen, Sherry, Melanie & Carole

We also took some time to be silly and have a little fun … and here is a picture of Melanie with a Halloween mask someone put in the sale:

And let’s not forget moi … Melanie convinced me to don a clown’s wig and pose.  (I think she was trying to tell me something!):

Although it was very hot (around 92 degrees) and very humid (at least 95%) we had a steady stream of people stopping by the sale.  We had decided early on that around 11:30 or noon we would begin sacking up whatever was left for the Houston Achievement Group to pick up on Tuesday (they make routine stops throughout our neighborhood).  But people were still coming at 11:30 so we started marking things down in price even lower than they were!  We still had a lot left over but I think $500 is a pretty darn good amount, don’t you?

This is a view from the south end of the property looking to the north.
Our 2.5 acres are on the left side of the road.

We went to Giddings today to see my momma and to celebrate the 4th of July with my sister, brother-in-law, neice and her husband.  Here are a few pictures:

My Momma … she looked good today …

Erica and her granny

Me and Momma

Erica let Granny listen to her IPod …

Me and Mike …

Erica and Mike

My sister!!!

We drove back up to Livingston to look at the property after work yesterday. It had been raining all around La Porte and also in Livingston most of the day and we wanted to see how the area looked after a heavy rain … you know, mud, standing water, etc. In spite of the fact that the last 1/2 mile or so to the property is a dirt road mixed with a little crushed concrete (I told you it was way out in the country!) it was very good. No big mud holes or gooey stuff to keep a vehicle from driving down the road. No big “ponds” of water standing on the property, at least as far as we could tell.

While we were walking along the road by the property, we met one of the neighbors. His name is Mr. Smith and … get this … he’s a bounty hunter. Yep! Ha! He obviously was wondering what people were doing out on the road so he came out of his house. He had a glock gun at his side in a holster and a rifle hanging off his shoulder.  Anyway, we waved at him and started walking down toward his property. We all stood there talking for a good 15 or 20 minutes. He gave us the lowdown on all the neighbors … who lived where blah blah blah … and then Mike noticed that his badge had a picture of the scales of justice on it … which probably means he’s authorized through the Justice Department or something like that. He was very friendly and helpful. I think I’ll feel really safe with him living so close, especially when Mike is traveling and out of town. But Mr. Smith said it’s very quiet around there and it’s a really safe place.

So … we decided that we’re going to buy the land. Everything just seemed to work out and be what we wanted it to be. Also, there is 3 or so acres that join up with what we’re buying that are for sale as well. We might end up buying that eventually, especially if it’s as cheap as what we’re planning to buy.

Turn up the sound on your computer and click on the link:

 http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=HM44847212