We did it!

We sold our home! (The contract is signed but I won't breathe too easy until after her inspector makes sure it is worth what she is paying for it.)

It all went down pretty much like Brent planned it four years ago. Buy a cheap home, fix it up and if you are lucky -double your money in four years. Brent called me at the end of March, four years ago from Buffalo and said, "Congratulations! You own a home."

This call came after a previous 2 minute call the following evening in which he said, "I am looking at a house tomorrow morning. Here's the address. Check it out on line. Gotta go, bye!" I looked up the $30,000 home and read that it was 875 square feet! I tried calling Brent back all night but was unable to reach him on his turned off emergency phone. What I was going to say was, "No, Brent. That house is way too small and it looks pretty bad. It's not going to work."

But the papers were signed before I even had that chance to weigh in. Then two weeks later I got to see it for the first time. It was full of all the people's stuff. They had died and no one in the family cared enough about them to claim anything. And "we" had agreed to keep it all. "We" also had thought nothing of the yellow walls and smoke contamination. "We" also overlooked the smell of cat. There was even a room just for their cat. It's now Kennon and Savannah's room but in the beginning we just called it the cat room.
After the short stinky tour, I went down to the basement to have a good cry where no one could see. Then I just got to work like any good supportive wife would. The first month, we all slept in one bedroom so we could take the rest of the house apart. Every night as we tucked the kids in, I wiped their feet clean because they were completely black from walking around our home.

Anyway, I am going to stop the story here because it could go on and on. The point is that Brent bought a bargain house and we all just dealt with it for the first few months. It was a ton of work but also kind of fun when I kept myself from becoming overwhelmed. I learned that I love remodeling. Building walls, painting - all things that I became expert at.

So I now want to take back all the times I complained and questioned my husband's judgment. This was a perfect house for our family.

Or Do I just think it was perfect because I have four years of memories here -good and bad? Probably that.

One thing I know. We are gonna look back on these days in the hood just like our days in the trailer. The good old days. . .



When a big sailboat once took up our entire front yard.


When no winter was complete with out getting snowed in at least once.


When everyone but Mom and Marcus had to go to school everyday.



When every kid in the neighborhood would line up to have a dip in our trashcan on a hot summer day.

Now aren't you all just DYING to know where the man is going to take us next? I know I am.

The closing date is May 25th. tick, tick, tick