For good or bad I realized I take myself everywhere I go. The same habits, speech, education ....haircolor:)))))) Well, anyway! I bought an extremely damaged , disgusting mobil home to flip. Never never did I think I would live here full time! I re-did the place and turned it into a gem! It was so bad..drug dealers (trailer trash) lived here. They busted out all the windows and let the water run over on the sub flooring. Pulled out the kitchen. I even found needles in the roof!!!! Yuck. When I walked into the stinky living room I saw a meadow in my back yard thru the broken extremely large windows. I said Yes!!! Everyone thought I was over the top..as usual!
I stripped the entire place of everything, yucky paneling, flooring windows. I helped put in more 2 by 2's . My friend is an electrician. We re-did the entire electricity- I was the helper! He couldn't''t believe there were actually nails thru the wiring. I helped him dry wall. I learned a lot! This was before my local police set me up for my insurance policy and before the brain surgery and cancer.
I saw another person who made a show room out of his mess and believed I could. I ...WAS going to use this place as a weekend place, than flip it. I was so inspired at what I saw the other person did in a magazine review of his single-wide, so I was inspired to buy this wrecked place. I have some photos you may like. Most of the stuff is re-purposed. I still have a long ways to go, but there are no limitations....I also don't have a mortgage nor do I have high property tax. A good thing when someone is starting over! I don't have any photos of before , but I do have photos of now!
The first photo is my new walkway. I put up lattice and also enclosed the patio with lattice. I re-upholstered some used beat up patio furniture I purchased for $2.50 each. A lot of work, but I did it! I learned as I went along. Along side the walkway ( my neighbor put in when I was in the hospital- as a gift!)
I had some (opps ) paint left over. Opps is mistake paint that is returned to the paint store. I paid $ 5 for a 5 gallon! What you see is what you get! But you can always mix little tubes of color to get close to what you want! So this opps paint was a lavender. I wanted that color anyway , so I bought it!
I have 20 feet of clay dirt in the front yard that won't grow anything, so I started a worm farm. Nobody knows the difference, but always comments on my beautiful plants. I only grow edible things like herbs, fruit trees, and hot peppers. I also grow roses. When I took a trip to Israel , a pioneer woman told me how to make a delight refreshing drink from roses...from her own garden. Wow It was delicious! The day was extremely hot , as North Africa gets!So what you see is a worm farm with plants and herbs growing over it.
The walk way my neighbor made for me is from recycled cement and tiles. Beautiful isn't it! He also put river rock around my home. I was so surprised because the front yard was a challenge, like everything else here!
I have a two bedroom home. Both of the bedrooms were funky. The picture is of the tiny , tiny bedroom next to the living room. The only way you could access it was Thur the hallway, so I added 2 by 2s and blocked the hallway and put French doors......( actually it was a patio door on sell as a close out . I got a fantastic price on it!) facing the living room and doubled the use of the bedroom /office . Through the French doors you can see a beautiful meadow and lots of oak trees in my backyard...all to myself! I haven't taken that photo yet...later. But now you can see the French doors.
The stinky time bedroom is now airy and functional! Simple and clean! I still have more work to do, but for now, it is functional.
The home had 2 nasty bathrooms. In the first bathroom, the tub was falling thru the floor...Did I mention that we had to put new sub flooring throughout the entire place. We combined the two bathrooms and I bought seconds and used everything. I bought the paint on sale..I think! The claw tub was rusting out in someone's yard. I had it re-powdered and added minimal fixtures. We put in new windows and tiling on the bathroom floor. I bought a closeout shower and we put that Where the other bathroom was. I'm talking about tiny rooms, but I love the place! I put quilted pillow cases over the windows that I bought cheaply at a thrift store.
The table on the right is a dresser converted for the bathroom for storage. I do not yet have closets so I use many shabby chic ideals and ideals from other start-over people!
It's kind of exciting starting-over. It's me against me. For a while I sat and just couldn't put things together. Where was I going to live? What was I going to do for work? What was I going to do? Was I going to get restitution for the police racketeering against me for my insurance policy? I was humbled because I owned and operated an extremely large business and was (reduced or so I thought) to starting completely over.
The truth of the matter is , I feel more like a woman than any time of my life. I am alive and am building my life from scratch and it feels invigorating. I never want to be so stuck with no way out again. When the business was successful, I was miserable! People were stealing, I would get the steroid users unloading on me - I kept a crow bar next to the register! What a way to live!
My family says that God tried every way to get me out of business, but I wouldn't budge, so he used the police! I remember one time that I asked God to show me another way. I didn't exactly expect the way he answered me. I was devastated for a while, but the Great Creator is showing me a way. For example, the insulation I wanted for my home was too expensive! The man doing work for me was driving on the freeway and had to stop suddenly because a truck dropped about 25 rolls of insulation! The best super thick kind. The truck drove off and left the mess. My friend and a CHP officer loaded up my friends truck. The CHP told him thank you for helping her! It was like that through tout the project! Thank You Great Creator!
Things didn't always go so smooth, but when I needed something , It appeared! I thank The Great Creator all day long. I hope he doesn't get tired of it! I just can't help myself when I see what I had in front of me . I would never have the story this way. I never did see any kind of good out-come after having my business stolen from under me! I wanted to die! Even when I went through brain surgery and cancer, I never had the humiliation of having someone bear false witness against me.But the Lord saw me througt it and I am energized about starting over. I CAN DO IT! I feel strong and able. I did learn the biggest lesson. Before all this stuff happened, I thought I was in charge. Now I learned that the Great Creator is in charge...Period! Oh, how I was fooling my self. I needed to come down a few notches! I am a completely different person now, and much much happier. I know that God supplies our every need. I'm not trying to preach. I'm just telling you that I would rather have God on my side! It makes ALL the difference!..Oh sure, I still get saddened when I pass my old building...no fault of my own! But things happen for a reason.
So back to my bathroom. Here is a side photo of the claw tub and my new curtains.
The water heater was also sinking. What a chore that was!
The toilet and shower are next to my tub
