And what I plan to replace it with:
I am seriously thinking about removing the kitchen also, to increase the living area, but it is a difficult decision. I am flipping back and forth between removing it or just using it all for storage.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Compare
The existing bathroom "vanity":
And what I plan to replace it with:
I am seriously thinking about removing the kitchen also, to increase the living area, but it is a difficult decision. I am flipping back and forth between removing it or just using it all for storage.
And what I plan to replace it with:
I am seriously thinking about removing the kitchen also, to increase the living area, but it is a difficult decision. I am flipping back and forth between removing it or just using it all for storage.
New sewing table
The table and bench arrived to go with the Singer 301A I got last week from Donna in Florida. It is really beautiful, and will look perfect in my gypsy wagon workshop.
For now it makes a super night stand next to my bed, and if I move the pillow it still opens up to a full sized sewing table if I need it. Pretty spiffy, no?
For now it makes a super night stand next to my bed, and if I move the pillow it still opens up to a full sized sewing table if I need it. Pretty spiffy, no?
Dear Mom,
As my birthday approaches, I want to thank you, as I always do this time of year (even if I don’t always do it out loud), for being my mom. I want to tell you how grateful I am for what you are doing for us. I know we have had some scuffles in the past and I have no doubt that we will have more in the future but that is the difference between true friends and family and people you get along with and might even like. You have problems and then you get past them and find a way to stay together.
I have spent most of the last ten years in and out of a depression so deep I was unable to even talk to anyone about it. I didn't want to worry you or anyone else, especially since I was so far away there was nothing anyone could do, even if there was something someone could do.
Since I came to Fairfax in October of 2006 I feel like I have been clawing my way out of that dark place with the help of you and Julie and Dominic--especially Dominic, it is magical how he has changed things. My focus and priorities are so different now. But while I have been feeling better and more hopeful during the last sixteen months, I have also been feeling such an amazing stress and burden of weight, knowing that somehow I was responsible for supporting all three of us.
While I don't begrudge that, I didn't know how it was going to be possible, and if I could find a way, it was going to mean I had no hope of going back to school or even having time to do all the things I have been excited to get back into now that I am somewhat inspired to be myself again.
My creativity had pretty much died while I was in WA, and suddenly it comes rushing back and I want to do everything at once. I want to decorate, garden, cook, sew, write, photograph everything, install solar panels, compost, recycle, make friends, take classes, etc. Working full time and then trying to make extra money on the side would not leave me with much energy to put towards any of those things, or even energy to take Dominic outside to play. That scares me and makes me want to just tune out.
As soon as the initial rush of moving and the chaos of Christmas passed the realization of that hit me like a freight train. Suddenly I knew there was no way we could afford to stay here if I was the only one working, and no way in hell I was going to be able to afford to go to school, not even for a night class here and there, and that really upset me. Suddenly life was on hold again. I stopped unpacking, stopped thinking about ways to improve this place, stopped my projects, stopped trying.
I was fighting with the old darkness again when the possibility of you trading houses or selling and buying came up and at first I was afraid to even consider it for fear I would get my hopes up and it wouldn't happen.
I don't think I can even express to you how big a deal this is to me. It isn't just the money, although obviously that is at the bottom of it, the foundation of it, technically. It is so much more than that. I mean, so much grows from that root. It represents and CREATES the world of possibility that has opened up to me, knowing that I won't be putting ALL of my time and energy into some meaningless job for the rest of my life just struggling to make ends meet, probably living in some crappy house in a bad neighborhood with no fresh air in Vallejo. It means so much to me, what you are willing to do for us.
It means we can try to find a way for us all to work from home or start some business that Julie and I can run while you care for Dominic. It means that if need be I can get a low-paying job that I don't hate and we will survive. It means none of us will have to live with people we don't want to, just because they help cover the bills. The very idea of having housemates or tenants again makes me cringe. As does the thought of any of us being in or staying in a less-than wonderful relationship because it's the easiest thing to do. It means I can make things and go to craft fairs and sell them, and sell stuff on eBay and Craigslist and still manage to cook some delicious food in a comfortable kitchen when I want to. It means we can plant things and know that we will still be here in ten years to see how they have grown. It means all these great ideas we have had over the years for that "forever home" will have a place to come to fruition. It is like a huge weight off my shoulders, just knowing that you will be there to help with Dominic when Julie and I are both working. And that we will be there to take care of you when you need us, without it being a struggle or a stress.
I am, for the first time in at least five years, feeling hopeful and positive. I am even happy sometimes. I planted seeds and they are sprouting. Soon I will have that box overflowing with cilantro and we'll have pesto from homegrown basil in no time! Little things, I know, but so symbolic and real at the same time.
I don't know if it is clear to you, but your doing this means, in my eyes, that you worked your entire adult life to create a home for all of us and I hope you feel it was worth it, because it means so much to me I just can't find the words to thank you enough. If I don't say it often or if I seem like I don't appreciate it at times in the future, rest assured that I do, and I always will. I feel like you saved my life.
Thanks Mom, I love you..
I have spent most of the last ten years in and out of a depression so deep I was unable to even talk to anyone about it. I didn't want to worry you or anyone else, especially since I was so far away there was nothing anyone could do, even if there was something someone could do.
Since I came to Fairfax in October of 2006 I feel like I have been clawing my way out of that dark place with the help of you and Julie and Dominic--especially Dominic, it is magical how he has changed things. My focus and priorities are so different now. But while I have been feeling better and more hopeful during the last sixteen months, I have also been feeling such an amazing stress and burden of weight, knowing that somehow I was responsible for supporting all three of us.
While I don't begrudge that, I didn't know how it was going to be possible, and if I could find a way, it was going to mean I had no hope of going back to school or even having time to do all the things I have been excited to get back into now that I am somewhat inspired to be myself again.
My creativity had pretty much died while I was in WA, and suddenly it comes rushing back and I want to do everything at once. I want to decorate, garden, cook, sew, write, photograph everything, install solar panels, compost, recycle, make friends, take classes, etc. Working full time and then trying to make extra money on the side would not leave me with much energy to put towards any of those things, or even energy to take Dominic outside to play. That scares me and makes me want to just tune out.
As soon as the initial rush of moving and the chaos of Christmas passed the realization of that hit me like a freight train. Suddenly I knew there was no way we could afford to stay here if I was the only one working, and no way in hell I was going to be able to afford to go to school, not even for a night class here and there, and that really upset me. Suddenly life was on hold again. I stopped unpacking, stopped thinking about ways to improve this place, stopped my projects, stopped trying.
I was fighting with the old darkness again when the possibility of you trading houses or selling and buying came up and at first I was afraid to even consider it for fear I would get my hopes up and it wouldn't happen.
I don't think I can even express to you how big a deal this is to me. It isn't just the money, although obviously that is at the bottom of it, the foundation of it, technically. It is so much more than that. I mean, so much grows from that root. It represents and CREATES the world of possibility that has opened up to me, knowing that I won't be putting ALL of my time and energy into some meaningless job for the rest of my life just struggling to make ends meet, probably living in some crappy house in a bad neighborhood with no fresh air in Vallejo. It means so much to me, what you are willing to do for us.
It means we can try to find a way for us all to work from home or start some business that Julie and I can run while you care for Dominic. It means that if need be I can get a low-paying job that I don't hate and we will survive. It means none of us will have to live with people we don't want to, just because they help cover the bills. The very idea of having housemates or tenants again makes me cringe. As does the thought of any of us being in or staying in a less-than wonderful relationship because it's the easiest thing to do. It means I can make things and go to craft fairs and sell them, and sell stuff on eBay and Craigslist and still manage to cook some delicious food in a comfortable kitchen when I want to. It means we can plant things and know that we will still be here in ten years to see how they have grown. It means all these great ideas we have had over the years for that "forever home" will have a place to come to fruition. It is like a huge weight off my shoulders, just knowing that you will be there to help with Dominic when Julie and I are both working. And that we will be there to take care of you when you need us, without it being a struggle or a stress.
I am, for the first time in at least five years, feeling hopeful and positive. I am even happy sometimes. I planted seeds and they are sprouting. Soon I will have that box overflowing with cilantro and we'll have pesto from homegrown basil in no time! Little things, I know, but so symbolic and real at the same time.
I don't know if it is clear to you, but your doing this means, in my eyes, that you worked your entire adult life to create a home for all of us and I hope you feel it was worth it, because it means so much to me I just can't find the words to thank you enough. If I don't say it often or if I seem like I don't appreciate it at times in the future, rest assured that I do, and I always will. I feel like you saved my life.
Thanks Mom, I love you..
Friday, February 29, 2008
Twigland
This is the Twigland property. You can barely see the house behind that goat pen, or whatever it is, but it's a great shot of the playground and the side of the barn (my future home?).
I've got nothing to ramble about. I might go pick up my vanity tomorrow, not sure. If not tomorrow, then Monday. Yay. Haha, I don't even have the trailer yet! And that's got to be moved by the 7th apparently. Larry said he'd help, so now I have to bug him to do it soon. That's one week, ugh.
Larry said to me "You really like to put the cart before the horse, don't you?" because I am getting the trailer already. Of course he is right, but he doesn't realize three things.
- 1. If I don't get it now I may not find another one I like enough later.
- 2. If I wait I won't have time to fix it all up before I move in. Trying to fix a place up when you live in it sucks.
- 3. If everything falls apart I will still have a place to live, so long as I can find a place to park!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Preparing
I'm trying to get mom's laptop set up for her, and of course I had to order parts, it's got no wireless network card and the hard drive is nearly useless at 6 gigs, since she wants to collect digital photos. I will have to replace that as well. No big deal, I can get a 20-30 gig for next to nothing I am sure, if they even make them that small anymore.
I had to have it ready for her this Sunday when she comes over but I doubt the parts will be here until mid-week. No biggie, she just needs it for when she moves in really, but her current laptop is about to die so we want to transfer all her stuff before it's too late.
I think I have solved the Julie's birthday dilemma, she mentioned again wanting to have her tattoo covered over-- she has two kanji, one for Apricot, her name when she was a baby, and one for Star-- Jesse Starr (Dominic's dad). She wants to alter the star symbol to something else. I will give her a gift certificate to have that done I guess.
Alright, I am going to go watch Lost. Yippee!
I had to have it ready for her this Sunday when she comes over but I doubt the parts will be here until mid-week. No biggie, she just needs it for when she moves in really, but her current laptop is about to die so we want to transfer all her stuff before it's too late.
I think I have solved the Julie's birthday dilemma, she mentioned again wanting to have her tattoo covered over-- she has two kanji, one for Apricot, her name when she was a baby, and one for Star-- Jesse Starr (Dominic's dad). She wants to alter the star symbol to something else. I will give her a gift certificate to have that done I guess.
Alright, I am going to go watch Lost. Yippee!
March is around the corner.
I need to think of something to do for Julie for her birthday. I have no idea what she wants, but It would be nice to surprise her with something really special. Her birthday is this coming Monday, the 3rd.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Dharma Wagon
So I had always planned to put a DHARMA symbol on the door of whatever vintage trailer I ended up with... and the trailer I bought was used as a meditation room by the previous owner and she called it her Dharma Wagon! Pretty neat Plate O' Shrimp if you ask me.
Concrete slab, gravel beds and bamboo floors.
I just updated the instructable I made last night, including release tips and photos of the cake after slicing and with topping.
The staff at instructables.com invited me to come play in their super duper workshop in Alameda! I am so excited, they have tools there like laser cutters! I could make some super stuff for the Spartanette, including a fabulous Dharma sign for the door. I may go there this friday, they have a sort of open house going on.
Larry came over for dinner tonight and Julie made some yummy pan-fried tilapia and baby carrots over rice. We had the cheese cake for dessert and it was scrumtrillescent, if I do say so myself.
We talked to Larry about the trailer, he said he would help move it and have his guys help lay a gravel foundation for it. That will cost around $300 as opposed to the probable $1500 for a solid cement slab. Hopefully we will get that moving in the next few days.
I also spoke to him about the bamboo flooring for the trailer and he said that he paid $2.00 a square foot for our floor and that they have a lighter color that would go really well with the birch in the trailer, and that it would cost $200 for his guys to lay it for me so to do the estimated 185 square feet it will be a total of just under $600 for the floor. Not bad.
Julie is calling me impatiently to come watch our nightly 1.5 hours of TV drama, Oz and In Treatment, so I'm off.
The staff at instructables.com invited me to come play in their super duper workshop in Alameda! I am so excited, they have tools there like laser cutters! I could make some super stuff for the Spartanette, including a fabulous Dharma sign for the door. I may go there this friday, they have a sort of open house going on.
Larry came over for dinner tonight and Julie made some yummy pan-fried tilapia and baby carrots over rice. We had the cheese cake for dessert and it was scrumtrillescent, if I do say so myself.
We talked to Larry about the trailer, he said he would help move it and have his guys help lay a gravel foundation for it. That will cost around $300 as opposed to the probable $1500 for a solid cement slab. Hopefully we will get that moving in the next few days.
I also spoke to him about the bamboo flooring for the trailer and he said that he paid $2.00 a square foot for our floor and that they have a lighter color that would go really well with the birch in the trailer, and that it would cost $200 for his guys to lay it for me so to do the estimated 185 square feet it will be a total of just under $600 for the floor. Not bad.
Julie is calling me impatiently to come watch our nightly 1.5 hours of TV drama, Oz and In Treatment, so I'm off.
Cheese Cake
I finished the cheese cake. I forgot to set the timer because I was too busy creating an instructable and almost burned it!
It will be fine, it's cooling now.
I made a raspberry topping, of course.
It's a big one, there is no way we'll eat it alone, even with Larry coming for dinner tonight we'll hardly make a dent in it. I'll have to invite Jor over, and maybe Julie will invite Gramma Lou-Lou over. Even then, there will be some left when Mom comes on Sunday I bet. Now I am going to get a few hours of sleep before Julie and Dominic wake up.
It will be fine, it's cooling now.
I made a raspberry topping, of course.
It's a big one, there is no way we'll eat it alone, even with Larry coming for dinner tonight we'll hardly make a dent in it. I'll have to invite Jor over, and maybe Julie will invite Gramma Lou-Lou over. Even then, there will be some left when Mom comes on Sunday I bet. Now I am going to get a few hours of sleep before Julie and Dominic wake up.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Nothin' New
Nothing happened today. Is that possible? Nothing... I went to Safeway, spent $60 on groceries, came home and made us chicken sandwiches with sprouts and pickles, watched Oz and In Treatment and now I am procrastinating making cheese cake. I will do it, but I am just waiting for some kind of inspiration. I'll post pics of the cheese-caking.
Sleepless
So just as I am drifting off to sleep in the wee hours, Dominic wakes up, so Julie brings him out to the living room to watch TV so she can go back to sleep on the couch. He watches two episodes of The Backyardigans, shouting intermittently before he falls back asleep and Julie takes him back to bed with her.
So now I am finally just drifting off once more when I hear the familiar "screech, grunt, grind, crash" of the garbage truck and of course realize I have not taken out the trash! So up I hop, into my jeans and teeshirt, no socks or shoes and haul ass into the kitchen. I grab the trash from under the sink, grab whatever is lying around and make a mad dash outside to throw the bag in the rubbish bin and wheel it across the lane to where they pick it up, JUST in the nick of time as they are creeping along towards me.
Only halfway back to the porch does it hit me how cold the ground is and my feet start feeling like they are burning from the cold! I manage to make it back inside without any permanent damage to my delicate piggies.
And now, the morning cacophony of wild birds has begun. I swear there are fifty different types of birds in this mini-grove of trees outside my bedroom window. I think Julie has been doing a little bird-watching with her binocs from the front porch. Either that or we have some very interesting neighbors, because she always has them with her out there when she goes to smoke. I keep meaning to ask her what's to see.
Gonna give sleep a last chance. I think I'll make cheese cakes tonight. Larry is coming for dinner tomorrow and I promised him a cheese cake last time he came over.
So now I am finally just drifting off once more when I hear the familiar "screech, grunt, grind, crash" of the garbage truck and of course realize I have not taken out the trash! So up I hop, into my jeans and teeshirt, no socks or shoes and haul ass into the kitchen. I grab the trash from under the sink, grab whatever is lying around and make a mad dash outside to throw the bag in the rubbish bin and wheel it across the lane to where they pick it up, JUST in the nick of time as they are creeping along towards me.
Only halfway back to the porch does it hit me how cold the ground is and my feet start feeling like they are burning from the cold! I manage to make it back inside without any permanent damage to my delicate piggies.
And now, the morning cacophony of wild birds has begun. I swear there are fifty different types of birds in this mini-grove of trees outside my bedroom window. I think Julie has been doing a little bird-watching with her binocs from the front porch. Either that or we have some very interesting neighbors, because she always has them with her out there when she goes to smoke. I keep meaning to ask her what's to see.
Gonna give sleep a last chance. I think I'll make cheese cakes tonight. Larry is coming for dinner tomorrow and I promised him a cheese cake last time he came over.
BAD haircut!
Did I mention that I got what is quite possibly the worst haircut of my life the other day?
I am not kidding. My hair was WAY too long, so I went into this salon and asked for a very severe A-line where the hair is wedged and tapered at the nape, sculpted around the occipital bone and then long in front well past my chin. I came out with the most UN-SEVERE, boring, lopsided, short-short (just barely covering my ears, no where near my jaw even, let alone my chin) Dutchboy haircut ever! Normally I go get my haircut and then come home and fix it up to what I asked for. This time there is literally nothing left to work with. I could just cut it all off and have a super butch cut, but then I would have to wait past all those horrid awkward growing out stages, one of which looks exactly like what I have now! Nope, there is nothing to do but wait three or four months. Oh well, thanks be to (insert deity here) that hair grows. And no, I don't think I will take a photo of the catastrophe.
No.
It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day...
I am not kidding. My hair was WAY too long, so I went into this salon and asked for a very severe A-line where the hair is wedged and tapered at the nape, sculpted around the occipital bone and then long in front well past my chin. I came out with the most UN-SEVERE, boring, lopsided, short-short (just barely covering my ears, no where near my jaw even, let alone my chin) Dutchboy haircut ever! Normally I go get my haircut and then come home and fix it up to what I asked for. This time there is literally nothing left to work with. I could just cut it all off and have a super butch cut, but then I would have to wait past all those horrid awkward growing out stages, one of which looks exactly like what I have now! Nope, there is nothing to do but wait three or four months. Oh well, thanks be to (insert deity here) that hair grows. And no, I don't think I will take a photo of the catastrophe.
No.
It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day...
And I'm Feeling Good.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Something occurred to me...
I was thinking about the fact that I have been writing in this journal-blog-thingie a lot since I started it, and it made me think about the last time I kept a journal and I realized it has been about the same time since I stopped meditating, praying and doing rituals regularly. Interesting coincidence that have been embracing prayer ritual recently to help me manifest this whole home/future situation, and suddenly all the pieces began to fall into place.
I also feel positive, and I am looking forward to life's changes and obstacles more now than I have in years. I have really been more depressed than I even realized and now that I am resurfacing it is really sort of shocking to look back and realize what a haze I was living in.
I am planning to set up my alter as soon as I get in the trailer, I already have a nook that I think will be perfect. Meanwhile I will set up a small one in my closet in the house just because I feel the groundedness that regular spiritual focus gives me is so much more important than I have been accepting. I can't even explain how it went into storage, literally, without feeling so weak and ashamed. I mean, I was made to feel like what was important to me was insignificant and downright stupid and ridiculous to the point where it was easier to let it go than to argue my beliefs. Being the sort of person that I am, I have always felt spirituality is such an intimate and personal thing that I hardly ever even discussed it with anyone, so to have to defend it was just not something I was prepared to do, especially when I was basically being beat down emotionally to the point of feeling invisible and inconsequential. More on that later, mt laptop battery is about to die.
I also feel positive, and I am looking forward to life's changes and obstacles more now than I have in years. I have really been more depressed than I even realized and now that I am resurfacing it is really sort of shocking to look back and realize what a haze I was living in.
I am planning to set up my alter as soon as I get in the trailer, I already have a nook that I think will be perfect. Meanwhile I will set up a small one in my closet in the house just because I feel the groundedness that regular spiritual focus gives me is so much more important than I have been accepting. I can't even explain how it went into storage, literally, without feeling so weak and ashamed. I mean, I was made to feel like what was important to me was insignificant and downright stupid and ridiculous to the point where it was easier to let it go than to argue my beliefs. Being the sort of person that I am, I have always felt spirituality is such an intimate and personal thing that I hardly ever even discussed it with anyone, so to have to defend it was just not something I was prepared to do, especially when I was basically being beat down emotionally to the point of feeling invisible and inconsequential. More on that later, mt laptop battery is about to die.
A done deal.
So, I took Mom to see the Royal Spartanette today and she loved it too. Oh wait, I already posted that, didn't I? I guess I am keeping up with this journal better than I expected!
So after looking at the trailer today with Mom we went home and there was a package from Donna in FL... my new Singer 301 arrived in perfect condition and she is gorgeous! I've named her Pearl, after Donna's grandmother who was the original owner in 1950-something. I'll post photos soon.
Then Julie and I went to the bank to get the trailer cash and stopped off at the Sequoia Drive-In and got bacon burgers and onion rings... this place is outrageous, two burgers and one order of rings was $18, but my God! Their rings and fries are awesome and they give you about five pounds in a single order! We brought the food home and ate with Mom and Dominic, then I went back and met LouAnn around 6:00pm and paid her for the Spartanette. We got the title transfer papers and everything squared away and now it's mine, all mine!
As a symbolic gesture she asked me to put the new tabs on the license plate since she had just renewed them so had not yet put the 2009 sticker on. It has the cool old black and orange California plate still, which is nifty.
Now I have to figure out exactly where it's going to sit in the yard and how we are going to do the foundation/leveling platforms. She currently has it on these two bases made from railroad ties sunk in gravel and cinder blocks stacked on top of those. She said I can probably take the cinder blocks and wood base beams since she originally paid for them when she brought the trailer to the land it's now on.
And now for the bad news. While I was leaving it was very dark, no lights on the long gravel drive up to the trailer and no moon or stars because it was overcast, and the windows were fogged up... so yes, you are probably already guessing where this is going and you would be right. I backed about 100 yards down the drive and just when I thought I was clear of all the obstacles (the property is a bit Sanford & Son) I hear this horrible tell-take "CRRRRUNCH!"
I pulled forward, turned around in a patch of grass so I was facing forward and put my brights on to see what I had hit. It was a junked out old pickup's bumper made of solid heavy metal. Thank goodness it was just an old rust heap and there was no damage to it anyway because the bumper on Julie's Lexus is that flexible plastic crap. I just about died when I felt/heard it, thinking I may have hit someone's nice car and damaged it, and imagining the cost of fixing someone else's car... ugh!
Once I had ascertained that there was no damage to the other vehicle I got back in the car and drove towards home. I stopped in at Valero and parked under the glaring lights at the fuel pumps to check out the damage to Julie's car. Yes, the bumper was crunched in at the passenger corner, and the side marker light lens cover is broken but the actual tail light was untouched. It is the same spot on the corner of the bumper that was already damaged, and it's only the plastic bumper, none of the actual body or paint is touched.
When I got home I went online and looked up replacement parts and it should only cost around $200 to replace the whole bumper and marker light assembly whenever we get around to it. We would have had to replace it before selling the car anyway. That's for a new one, we may actually find a used one from a salvage lot that is already the right color, since I am pretty sure the new ones just come primer grey. I'll do more research on that later.
All in all, despite the crunching of the Lexus, it was a good day.
So after looking at the trailer today with Mom we went home and there was a package from Donna in FL... my new Singer 301 arrived in perfect condition and she is gorgeous! I've named her Pearl, after Donna's grandmother who was the original owner in 1950-something. I'll post photos soon.
Then Julie and I went to the bank to get the trailer cash and stopped off at the Sequoia Drive-In and got bacon burgers and onion rings... this place is outrageous, two burgers and one order of rings was $18, but my God! Their rings and fries are awesome and they give you about five pounds in a single order! We brought the food home and ate with Mom and Dominic, then I went back and met LouAnn around 6:00pm and paid her for the Spartanette. We got the title transfer papers and everything squared away and now it's mine, all mine!
As a symbolic gesture she asked me to put the new tabs on the license plate since she had just renewed them so had not yet put the 2009 sticker on. It has the cool old black and orange California plate still, which is nifty.
Now I have to figure out exactly where it's going to sit in the yard and how we are going to do the foundation/leveling platforms. She currently has it on these two bases made from railroad ties sunk in gravel and cinder blocks stacked on top of those. She said I can probably take the cinder blocks and wood base beams since she originally paid for them when she brought the trailer to the land it's now on.
And now for the bad news. While I was leaving it was very dark, no lights on the long gravel drive up to the trailer and no moon or stars because it was overcast, and the windows were fogged up... so yes, you are probably already guessing where this is going and you would be right. I backed about 100 yards down the drive and just when I thought I was clear of all the obstacles (the property is a bit Sanford & Son) I hear this horrible tell-take "CRRRRUNCH!"
I pulled forward, turned around in a patch of grass so I was facing forward and put my brights on to see what I had hit. It was a junked out old pickup's bumper made of solid heavy metal. Thank goodness it was just an old rust heap and there was no damage to it anyway because the bumper on Julie's Lexus is that flexible plastic crap. I just about died when I felt/heard it, thinking I may have hit someone's nice car and damaged it, and imagining the cost of fixing someone else's car... ugh!
Once I had ascertained that there was no damage to the other vehicle I got back in the car and drove towards home. I stopped in at Valero and parked under the glaring lights at the fuel pumps to check out the damage to Julie's car. Yes, the bumper was crunched in at the passenger corner, and the side marker light lens cover is broken but the actual tail light was untouched. It is the same spot on the corner of the bumper that was already damaged, and it's only the plastic bumper, none of the actual body or paint is touched.
When I got home I went online and looked up replacement parts and it should only cost around $200 to replace the whole bumper and marker light assembly whenever we get around to it. We would have had to replace it before selling the car anyway. That's for a new one, we may actually find a used one from a salvage lot that is already the right color, since I am pretty sure the new ones just come primer grey. I'll do more research on that later.
All in all, despite the crunching of the Lexus, it was a good day.
It is real, and it is my reality!
I spoke to LouAnn about the trailer, we agreed on a price and I am going to meet her tonight to give her cash and get the paperwork! Now all I need to do is decide where it will go and then make arrangements to move it. Then I can begin cleaning and making all the small repairs needed so it is perfect to live in. I went to look at it again today (she left a key so I could go in) and took Mom with me, and she agrees that it is ideal.
We were talking about what would need to be removed for it to be a great comfortable living space and it seems like we agree that I won't remove the kitchen or other cabinetry, at least not right away, I can just use the stove and fridge for storage and not hook them up. The space is actually pretty big with them in place still, since they are all along one wall, and they are very cute vintage appliances.
I can just build some shelving in the shower stall and leave that in place until I am absolutely sure that I want to remove it.
I'm pretty sure I will do the floor in bamboo, and that should cost between $300 and $500 depending on how much of it I end up doing. Obviously the less built-in stuff I remove the cheaper the floor will cost because there will be less of it to cover. Another consideration. I am estimating around 175 square feet need to be covered without removing anything, but it may actually be less. I may just leave the linoleum in the bedroom since it will not show anyway once my bed is in there, and I will want some nice rug there too. I envision a patchwork of nice old rugs scattered throughout the trailer anyway. Maybe I will try to measure it out when I go meet with her tonight.
Just look at that beautiful wood in the bedroom. Remove the various hanging sheets, particle board book shelves and misplaced mattresses from your imagination and see it for what it is behind the clutter.
So! It is going to happen, and it is an immediate reality! We're going to the bank in a little while to take care of paying off Mom's equity line and to pick up the cash for LouAnn. I'm pasting an excerpt from one of her emails here about the trailer:
Dear Rupa, What a beautiful letter you took such care and time to write. I can tell by your words that you fell in love with the trailer the way I did when I first stepped into it. I am not insulted by your offer at all but instead very impressed with your like-minded gypsy spirit and drive. Even though I had the trailer for a short time, I so much enjoyed living in it and was a little sad at the time that I was not able to complete all the renovations I had dreamed and planned. Better yet, for me I learned many lessons from the trailer as I filled it full of very positive loving energy. I'm a practicing Buddhist and I had the front room decorated like a beautiful meditation temple. As I would practice, a herd of deer would come up and circle the trailer. Their energy was very healing to be around. I called the trailer my dharma wagon. My life is calling me to live closer to the bay area... It seems to me that the trailer is calling for you to be it's next owner. I'm sure you will love it as much as I have. Congratulations on your new home! ~ LouAnn
Well I'll post more, and with more pics soon, no doubt.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Clowns and cookies
I went to see the Spartanette today, and I am in love! It is so warm and beautiful on the inside. It's got all these soft deco details, like this built-in vanity table:
The mirror is that super thick glass with bright bright almost platinum backing and in perfect condition except for one small crack on a corner. All the cabinets throughout are in great shape, all the hardware is excellent... it is the one, I am sure of it. Now all I have to do is get her to sell it for what I feel I can afford to pay and then arrange to move it! The thing is this, I am planning to remove most of the amenities, such as the stove, fridge and shower, so paying for all that is not so logical, and I think that is where she places a lot of the value. So we may not be able to agree on a price. I think I will probably let emotion rule and I will buckle and pay what she is asking if she won't budge.
All the woodwork is wonderful, with very little areas needing any attention other than a little Murphy's oil soap and elbow grease. It positively glows golden in the areas where the lady has started polishing/cleaning the wood. She was asking $5,500 and said dropped it to $4,500 already. I don't know if I should offer her less, but I really want it. I feel like I need to try to save as much as possible so I will have cash to buy the flooring and any other stuff I may need (I really want to do the floors in bamboo). And the vanity sink I think I will be buying on CraigsList is this one:
So for the first time in over five years I feel like I can breathe... like the future is actually bright. Because my mom has decided that she wants to sell her house and move up here we will be able to afford to live without feeling dread around the corner... we'll be able to add on to the house in a few years when Dominic needs his own room, or we just need more space. We used the profit from our house to pay off her equity line on her house so her house is now totally paid for, and we're all out of debt for the time being! Wow, that feels so good I can't express it.
Now when she sells her house we will pay off this house we are in, and then we'll probably just get an equity line in the future when we are ready to do improvements. Basically that means we can afford the current expenses on the house even if Julie doesn't work for another year, AND it looks like I may be able to afford to work part-time and go to culinary school while my mom is still working, then by the time she retires I will be done and can work full-time. Plus Julie should be working by then.
And I LOVE my gypsy caravan already and it's not even here yet.
I am still really trying to come up with a business plan for us to do together that will support us all without us having to work outside the home too much. Maybe catering/event planning... including kids parties? I could be the boss of clowns! HAHAHAHA! Perfect!
The mirror is that super thick glass with bright bright almost platinum backing and in perfect condition except for one small crack on a corner. All the cabinets throughout are in great shape, all the hardware is excellent... it is the one, I am sure of it. Now all I have to do is get her to sell it for what I feel I can afford to pay and then arrange to move it! The thing is this, I am planning to remove most of the amenities, such as the stove, fridge and shower, so paying for all that is not so logical, and I think that is where she places a lot of the value. So we may not be able to agree on a price. I think I will probably let emotion rule and I will buckle and pay what she is asking if she won't budge.
All the woodwork is wonderful, with very little areas needing any attention other than a little Murphy's oil soap and elbow grease. It positively glows golden in the areas where the lady has started polishing/cleaning the wood. She was asking $5,500 and said dropped it to $4,500 already. I don't know if I should offer her less, but I really want it. I feel like I need to try to save as much as possible so I will have cash to buy the flooring and any other stuff I may need (I really want to do the floors in bamboo). And the vanity sink I think I will be buying on CraigsList is this one:
So for the first time in over five years I feel like I can breathe... like the future is actually bright. Because my mom has decided that she wants to sell her house and move up here we will be able to afford to live without feeling dread around the corner... we'll be able to add on to the house in a few years when Dominic needs his own room, or we just need more space. We used the profit from our house to pay off her equity line on her house so her house is now totally paid for, and we're all out of debt for the time being! Wow, that feels so good I can't express it.
Now when she sells her house we will pay off this house we are in, and then we'll probably just get an equity line in the future when we are ready to do improvements. Basically that means we can afford the current expenses on the house even if Julie doesn't work for another year, AND it looks like I may be able to afford to work part-time and go to culinary school while my mom is still working, then by the time she retires I will be done and can work full-time. Plus Julie should be working by then.
And I LOVE my gypsy caravan already and it's not even here yet.
I am still really trying to come up with a business plan for us to do together that will support us all without us having to work outside the home too much. Maybe catering/event planning... including kids parties? I could be the boss of clowns! HAHAHAHA! Perfect!
My Gypsy Caravan
I'm excited about the prospect of gutting and remodeling a vintage aluminum trailer to be the perfect gypsy caravan inside! This is the one I have my eye on now, and it's less than 3 miles from my house! It's called the "Royal Spartanette". Apparently it was the female version of the more manly and square "Royal Spartan" back in the early 50s. I love it!
It's sort of like the warehouse all over, being able to be creative with the space I live in is so important to me, and it's been FAR too long since I was in a place I felt like I could do that. Even in the place in Seattle, I was never in love with it enough and I never felt like it was a long-term home... it was simply an ugly house I had to stay in long enough to make a little profit on the investment rather than losing money on it. This home in Sebastopol is different, I already have many ideas of improvements I'd like to do once we know it will be ours, and with the trailer I can do all the "quirky" things I have been suppressing since I left Oakmot. God how I have missed my glamorous four poster bed with the rich and royal fabrics and exotic details. How perfect that will look in my little gypsy caravan!
I really won't need a kitchenette, since I have the fabulous kitchen in the house just about the way I want it, so I'll probably remove that and save it in the barn, just in case. That will leave a lot more space for actual living area. I plan to have a fabulous bed behind a dark heavy curtain, a sofa--probably this one, only in a dark blue/purple since I already own it:
this sewing table, but I will recover the bench with something more dark and fabulous:
,
and an antique style sink vanity, whatever I can find cheap enough.
Hopefully something like this but more beat up and gypsyesque:
I am so excited to begin making cushions and curtains for this little hide-away! I am also going to do the floors in wood laminate and hopefully find an old wardrobe or tall chest of drawers for my clothes and other personal stuff. Not sure about the computer, I think I'll leave it in the house and just have my laptop out there. A computer really doesn't fit my gypsy theme. Likewise a TV, I'm pretty sure I will NOT be bringing a TV out there.
This is going to be so great, I can hardly wait to get started! I have been in limbo for far too long. I'm off to browse CL for trailers and furniture items, just for fun. I like to watch. Oh and tomorrow I get to go see that Spartanette trailer in person! I'll bring my camera.
It's sort of like the warehouse all over, being able to be creative with the space I live in is so important to me, and it's been FAR too long since I was in a place I felt like I could do that. Even in the place in Seattle, I was never in love with it enough and I never felt like it was a long-term home... it was simply an ugly house I had to stay in long enough to make a little profit on the investment rather than losing money on it. This home in Sebastopol is different, I already have many ideas of improvements I'd like to do once we know it will be ours, and with the trailer I can do all the "quirky" things I have been suppressing since I left Oakmot. God how I have missed my glamorous four poster bed with the rich and royal fabrics and exotic details. How perfect that will look in my little gypsy caravan!
I really won't need a kitchenette, since I have the fabulous kitchen in the house just about the way I want it, so I'll probably remove that and save it in the barn, just in case. That will leave a lot more space for actual living area. I plan to have a fabulous bed behind a dark heavy curtain, a sofa--probably this one, only in a dark blue/purple since I already own it:
this sewing table, but I will recover the bench with something more dark and fabulous:
,and an antique style sink vanity, whatever I can find cheap enough.
Hopefully something like this but more beat up and gypsyesque:
I am so excited to begin making cushions and curtains for this little hide-away! I am also going to do the floors in wood laminate and hopefully find an old wardrobe or tall chest of drawers for my clothes and other personal stuff. Not sure about the computer, I think I'll leave it in the house and just have my laptop out there. A computer really doesn't fit my gypsy theme. Likewise a TV, I'm pretty sure I will NOT be bringing a TV out there.
This is going to be so great, I can hardly wait to get started! I have been in limbo for far too long. I'm off to browse CL for trailers and furniture items, just for fun. I like to watch. Oh and tomorrow I get to go see that Spartanette trailer in person! I'll bring my camera.
Sebastopol in a nutshell.
So here's the deal. Nutshelled. I've been living in Seattle for the past ten years. My sister had a baby on October 9th 2006, and I came to visit for what was supposed to be two weeks. While visiting it became obvious I couldn't live a thousand miles away while my nephew grew up, and since my sister was single and had no intention of working for the first two years while breast feeding, I decided to sell my house in Seattle and move here to help her with the baby.
We both went to Seattle to deal with selling the house and that took several months. We moved back here and stayed with mom for a couple months while waiting for a house to be ready for us to rent and possibly buy once the Seattle house closed. This house in Sebastopol is ideal. It's a little stucco two bedroom built in 1906. It sits on an acre of level fertile land and has a large barn that is already partially converted with electricity and water, and a fabulous redwood play structure with three swings, a large sandbox, a two-level play house, a couple slides and a couple old metal jungle-jym tractors all in a nice fenced in playground.
It has TONS of fabulous garden potential and plenty of room to park boats and RVs and of course, my fantasy Airstream, Streamline, Spartanette or other vintage aluminum trailer.
Shortly after moving into this Shangri-la in Sebastopol we realized that there was just no way we could afford to buy it with the sale of the Seattle house alone, and there was no way I was going to be able to manage a mortgage of around $3,000 a month myself so we were about to give up and start considering a crappy little modern house in Vallejo when Mom mentioned she wished Larry would trade this house for hers as he suggested once in passing. We started talking and scheming and suddenly everything fell into place. She is going to sell her house and buy this one, since the values are just about the same. She'll move in here and commute to work for a while, probably carpooling since a couple of her co-workers live within a couple miles of our house. She'll be up for retirement soon so the commuting won't be forever, and like her friend told her, she can always get a job closer to here if she still wants to work. She'll probably keep her job for a while just to take advantage of the benefits, but once Julie and I are both working she won't have to work at all. The really great thing about this is that with all three of us, we can all work part time and try to work out some sort of business from home that we can all work on.
Note to mom regarding sleeping arrangements in Sebastopol... I ended up having this conversation on the phone and never emailed the note, but in the spirit of keeping this journal--err, blog active I am posting it here anyway.
Mom,
I'm certain someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I have a feeling it makes more sense for me to be the one living in a trailer, rather than you, for a few reasons. Mainly, why would you want to sell your house just to go live in a trailer, when this house is so fabulous? Next, you usually fall asleep on the couch anyway, and once you are asleep, moving to the trailer (or barn) is hardly likely, especially in winter. Just imagine having to rouse yourself from that groggy post-midnight TV-hypnotism just to trudge through the frozen tundra that is our yard. You and Julie like watching TV together and I tend to like to sequester myself in my room sewing or working on some other equally time-consuming obsession, so if I have to go outside to do so that's just fine by me.
Ever since I was a little wild child I have fantasized about living in a gypsy caravan anyway. The plan to convert a semi-truck container to a dwelling on wheels was something I came up with before I ever knew there was such a thing as an actual mobile home. Probably inspired by many hours spent in the VW bus with the nifty tall closet and overhead cabinets. Of course, if you prefer to be the one living outside, that's fine too, I just wanted to let you know that I have every intention of being the one so you can have a bedroom in the house.
So now that we have a plan in the works to be debt-free and independent of anyone else, suddenly Peter wants to be involved anyway, via Allan. After telling me a couple of days ago that Allan "didn't seem interested" in getting financially involved in our house buying schemes, last night he came back with "don't do anything hasty with big numbers, like ignoring Allan's offer to get involved." I'm guessing Allan didn't actually offer anything, Peter probably bullied him into acquiescing finally. At least that's what I imagine when I try to visualize that conversation, and knowing Peter as I do. It's just a family thing, no one else would understand it, and no one in the family wouldn't.
We both went to Seattle to deal with selling the house and that took several months. We moved back here and stayed with mom for a couple months while waiting for a house to be ready for us to rent and possibly buy once the Seattle house closed. This house in Sebastopol is ideal. It's a little stucco two bedroom built in 1906. It sits on an acre of level fertile land and has a large barn that is already partially converted with electricity and water, and a fabulous redwood play structure with three swings, a large sandbox, a two-level play house, a couple slides and a couple old metal jungle-jym tractors all in a nice fenced in playground.
It has TONS of fabulous garden potential and plenty of room to park boats and RVs and of course, my fantasy Airstream, Streamline, Spartanette or other vintage aluminum trailer.
Shortly after moving into this Shangri-la in Sebastopol we realized that there was just no way we could afford to buy it with the sale of the Seattle house alone, and there was no way I was going to be able to manage a mortgage of around $3,000 a month myself so we were about to give up and start considering a crappy little modern house in Vallejo when Mom mentioned she wished Larry would trade this house for hers as he suggested once in passing. We started talking and scheming and suddenly everything fell into place. She is going to sell her house and buy this one, since the values are just about the same. She'll move in here and commute to work for a while, probably carpooling since a couple of her co-workers live within a couple miles of our house. She'll be up for retirement soon so the commuting won't be forever, and like her friend told her, she can always get a job closer to here if she still wants to work. She'll probably keep her job for a while just to take advantage of the benefits, but once Julie and I are both working she won't have to work at all. The really great thing about this is that with all three of us, we can all work part time and try to work out some sort of business from home that we can all work on.
Note to mom regarding sleeping arrangements in Sebastopol... I ended up having this conversation on the phone and never emailed the note, but in the spirit of keeping this journal--err, blog active I am posting it here anyway.
Mom,
I'm certain someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I have a feeling it makes more sense for me to be the one living in a trailer, rather than you, for a few reasons. Mainly, why would you want to sell your house just to go live in a trailer, when this house is so fabulous? Next, you usually fall asleep on the couch anyway, and once you are asleep, moving to the trailer (or barn) is hardly likely, especially in winter. Just imagine having to rouse yourself from that groggy post-midnight TV-hypnotism just to trudge through the frozen tundra that is our yard. You and Julie like watching TV together and I tend to like to sequester myself in my room sewing or working on some other equally time-consuming obsession, so if I have to go outside to do so that's just fine by me.
Ever since I was a little wild child I have fantasized about living in a gypsy caravan anyway. The plan to convert a semi-truck container to a dwelling on wheels was something I came up with before I ever knew there was such a thing as an actual mobile home. Probably inspired by many hours spent in the VW bus with the nifty tall closet and overhead cabinets. Of course, if you prefer to be the one living outside, that's fine too, I just wanted to let you know that I have every intention of being the one so you can have a bedroom in the house.
So now that we have a plan in the works to be debt-free and independent of anyone else, suddenly Peter wants to be involved anyway, via Allan. After telling me a couple of days ago that Allan "didn't seem interested" in getting financially involved in our house buying schemes, last night he came back with "don't do anything hasty with big numbers, like ignoring Allan's offer to get involved." I'm guessing Allan didn't actually offer anything, Peter probably bullied him into acquiescing finally. At least that's what I imagine when I try to visualize that conversation, and knowing Peter as I do. It's just a family thing, no one else would understand it, and no one in the family wouldn't.
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