Last year, at this time, things were pretty bad.

I didn’t go on about it at the time because I didn’t want everyone to feel sorry for us, but our house was bad by US standards.  The floors were crooked, sinking and holey, the walls had cracks so big you could look outside through them, the ceiling was partially caved in, there were rats, cockroaches and fleas.  We slept on mattresses on the floor.  There was no air conditioning and only a few of the windows opened.

Recovering from a catastrophic family event, it was all we could afford at the time.  We weren’t happy with it, but we knew it was temporary.  We pinched, scrimped and saved.  We cut every corner so much there weren’t any left.  We fought and clawed.  After almost six months we were able to move up.

Our new place wasn’t fancy, but to us it felt like a mansion.  The holes in the wall didn’t go all the way through.  The floors were straight.  We had air conditioning.  Still, we thought of it as temporary.  Again we scrimped, saved, pinched and squeezed.  We endured.  We prayed.  Prayers were answered.

Now, less than a year later we are moving into a house we love.  This is not temporary.  We are finally home.  It feels like we have been recovering forever but it shocks me to realize all this was in less than a year.  We each have our own personal mountains to overcome but they all have one thing in common – no one that quits survives.  No matter what, keep going.

Summa ope.

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Our new kitchen just as the last people left it…

Since I started working at the newspaper in Niceville we’ve been wanting to move there.  My lunch hours have been spent viewing houses.  I’ve been poring over Trulia.  I’ve been schmoozing with rental managers and landlords.  We kept getting the same answer, “No.”

The reasons were always different; you don’t make enough money, you don’t have enough money, you have a dog, you have kids, this place isn’t big enough, there’s already a long list of applicants… The last straw for me was finding an okay place in a great area for a decent price and getting told absolutely no dogs.  We threw in the towel and decided to stay put.  ”Apparently moving to Niceville requires an act of God.” I told my husband grumpily.

The next day as I sat working on a story a man came into the paper asking to put a classified ad in for his rental house.  My ears perked up but I refused to pay any more attention.  I was swearing off houses as an obnoxious habit.  The receptionist came and got me.  ”He wants to rent a house, come talk to him…”  I smiled politely and got up just to get the new disappointment over with positive that it was too small, expensive, pet free or otherwise unobtainable.

He had a list scribbled on a paper and I read the words three bedroom, two bath.  That was the right size.  I asked how much.  ”I’m asking $1200.” came the reply.  I was relieved to be done with it before I was put through too much additional torture.  ”That’s too much for us,” I answered. “Our budget is $950.”  The guy thought about it for a minute and answered, “I can do $1,000.  When do you want to see it?”

I see a potential Tracker romance happening here.

Within a few hours I found myself exploring a huge house in a beautiful neighborhood.  The landlord accepted our dog.  The place had a two car garage, a Florida room for all my plants, a large kitchen and two living areas.  I tried my best not to like it, positive it was not in our future.  I told the guy that I liked it but would have to talk to my husband first.  As I backed out I saw something that made me hopelessly in love.  The neighbors have a red Tracker.

We all went to see the place Saturday and everyone agreed, it was an awesome house.  We asked to take it.  Turns out it was mutually beneficial for all of us.  The last tenants had vanished and left the place a little messy right before the landlord was going out of the country.  He didn’t want to leave the house empty and have to worry while he was gone.  I offered to clean it and he halved the deposit.  I had to post date my first rent check until the first, sure that would break the deal and he accepted that too.

The backyard is the perfect size for us and even has a fire pit…!

We were determined to take it but money was going to be tight while we struggled with the deposit, and to add drama the Tracker decided she needed a $200 fix the day after I promised we’d take the house.  Fortunately my taxes finally came in today and so we are back in a somewhat comfortable spot.  I wouldn’t mind being more comfortable but we have nothing to complain about.

I said an act of God was all that was going to get us to Niceville and I think that’s exactly what we got.  How would you explain it?

We just signed the lease on our new house in Niceville.  It’s a miracle, seriously.

More as soon as things settle down…

This brings me why I will never let anyone but Sumblin’s Automotive in Fort Walton Beach touch our cars.  I called at 8 a.m. to see if they could see her today.  By 9 a.m. she was in being checked out.  By 2 p.m. they had managed to diagnose the issue, get the part and by 4 p.m. Ryan was taking our now fixed car to pick me up from work.  All this for $200.

Just like that we are back on the road!  We love Sumblin’s  ❤

First we went strawberry picking and I took photos for an upcoming story I’m working on. We went to Akers of Strawberries, had the best strawberry shortcake I’ve ever tasted and filled the car with garden produce (and strawberries!)

Next we went to a huge plant nursery in Crestview.  I was drooling over the herbs but Aaron and Ryan got a little tired out.  Tons of great photos though, and a huge plant wishlist.

After that we took ourselves to Niceville to check out a house we may be moving into.  Everyone was tired by that point but it had to be done.  We loved it and have said yes, so there may be a move to a new town in the very nearby future.  More on that later.

We ended our super exhausting day up back in our own town at Subway where we feasted on something more substantial than fruit.  Four towns and four stops in one day…

Time for bed…!

I was impressed and proud to be part of an award winning team.  When I asked my boss about them he just grinned and replied, “If you think that’s impressive you should see the stacks I have at home…”

I hope I can add some more to the stack…

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