Floors And Driving

We used to rent a house that had hardwood floors throughout, and honestly, I hated it.  The house was old, and the floors needed some work.  I wouldn't even walk on the floors without slippers or socks on my feet.  The floors were always cold, which felt nice in the summer, but in the winter it was horrible.

Some homes look beautiful with hardwood floors, especially when the floors are taken care of.  I bet if the owners of our rental house had some orlando hardwood floor refinishing done I wouldn't have minded them so much.  My mom has beautiful hardwood floors in her house, but I think I prefer carpet.  I like having something soft under my feet when I get out of bed in the mornings.  

Ryan used to love playing with his little cars on the hardwood floors.  He would sit at one end of the room and see how far they would go across the floor when he pushed them.  I miss the days he used to play with his cars.  He's old enough now that he wants to play with real cars.  In fact, he is on a mission to convince me to buy a new car so he can have mine for himself.  I keep telling him to get a job and buy his own car, but that has yet to happen. No one in our town is hiring right now, and I refuse to drive too far to transport him back and forth to a job after I've worked a ten hour day.  Maybe this summer he'll be able to find work close to home.

Chandeliers

 I love this light fixture!  I am not a fan of chandeliers that have the lights facing down.  I like ones like this that have the bulbs facing up.

Which do you prefer?

I Want To Buy A House. Eventually.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about where the kids and I are headed.  In a little over two months I will finally be able to file for divorce.   I have been looking forward to this for the past ten months, since the day my husband left.  I have written enough about how much I have changed and how much I am enjoying my new found freedom, but what I haven't really discussed are my goals for my future. 

My biggest dream is to finally own my own home.  I have a lot of work to get there, so I consider it a long term goal, but one I hope to eventually reach.  My biggest obstacle is going to be improving my credit score.  I have been trying to pay off all our old debts, because trust me when I say there are quite a few people we owed money to when my husband left.  I spent my entire married life living paycheck to paycheck, and I hated it.  There was never enough money to pay everyone, so I got good at putting things off.  Unfortunately, right now I am also living paycheck to paycheck, but I make sure all my bills are paid on time every month.

I don't make a lot of money right now.  In fact, I make minimum wage.  But, I work hard and my boss is very good to me.  I have considered looking for something else, but I don't know if I would find another job that would allow me to work the same hours I do now.  Plus, I love spending the day alone, listening to my radio and singing along at the top of my lungs to all the songs I love.

I have been hearing a  lot of commercials lately talking about home ownership, and according to them, right now I am throwing money away by renting.  According to these commercials, I could own a home for less than I am paying in rent.  I'm not looking for something brand new, just a home that doesn't need too much work and is big enough for me and the kids.  I may have to compare Aurora Bank mortgages and see if I could afford a mortgage payment.  Seeing as how I have never looked into this before, I have a lot of questions.  I don't know what good rates are or how much I would need for a down payment or closing costs.  Thankfully, there are sites like this that can help me find the answers to all of my questions.  

I am sure I could call my dad, too, for a little information.  I call him a lot these days with all kinds of questions.  I may have found my independence, but I still need a little help now and then.

My Feet Are Happy

The last house we lived in didn't have a single room that was carpeted.  It didn't have real hard wood floor, but the flooring was made to look like hardwood.  I hated it.  In the winter, the floor was always cold, and I had to wear slippers or socks all the time, which made my feet sweat.  I am looking forward to winter in the apartment, because every room, with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms, are carpeted.  My feet will be very happy.

I used to have two area rugs at the old place, and they were not picked out by me.  In fact, they were display models that we got for a really good price that we just couldn't pass up.  These rugs looked almost oriental, and I am more of a contemporary rug girl.  I have a thing for squares when it comes to rugs which is kind of weird, I think.  I also like subtle colors better that bright or bold colors.  If I could pick any rug, without worrying about the price, I would want this one in my house:

It's beautiful, isn't it?  I used to lean more towards grays and blacks (I know, that's a pretty bold color, but mixed with grays it can be beautiful) but these days, I am more into neutral colors.  I guess as we get older, our tastes change.  Goodness knows my taste in men sure has changed.

A New Floor

When it comes to remodeling a room in your house, the choices are endless.  You can do little upgrades like painting the walls and hanging new curtains, or you can do major upgrades like knocking down walls and redoing the floors.  If we were ever to buy the home we are living in now (which may be an option in a couple of years) there are a lot of things that I would want to remodel, starting with the floor.

This is a mobile home, so the floor has small dips in it in places, from where it has settled.  I have lived in a few different mobile homes since I've been married, and they have all had this issues.  I would want Junior to go underneath and put some type of supports in where it's dipping, and then I want him to take up the linoleum and put down Wickes laminate flooring.  

The linoleum that is in it now is wood grain looking, so it looks like it's a hardwood floor.  I really do like the way it looks, so I would want a laminate floor that is similar in color.  I found the one in that picture, and that is really close to what we have now.  It matches all my furniture, and is durable, so I think I could convince Junior to put that down.  I am sure I would have to help him, which is fine by me.  I kind of like working on the house.  I even have my own hammer.

Yeah, I'm that cool.

Our Home

This is our new home. It's not huge, but it is big enough for us.

The other day, we were in the grocery store, and one of Kasi's friend's mom works there. We stopped to chat like we usually do, and she mentioned something about us moving. She said she read it on facebook. (I am friends with her daughter...in fact, I am friends with a lot of my kids friends, which is pretty weird, but if they send me friend requests I usually accept) Anyway, she asked where we moved, so Junior told her.

Her response:

"Ya'll moved from a house to a trailer?"

I didn't really think anything about it at the time. I just told her that it was a really nice double wide, and a whole lot better than what we were living in. She continued to say how she would never live in a trailer, because of tornadoes and a bunch of other crap. Then we had to listen to her go on and on about how she bought her house because it was what they could afford, but not really what they wanted, but that she would never live in a trailer.

When we left the store, I asked Junior if he was offended by what she said about where we live. I mean, I totally took it that she was looking down her nose at us because we live in a "mobile home community". And who the hell is she to judge us anyway? I hate people like that.

I love where we are living, and nothing anyone says is going to change my mind. My kids have friends here. They have lots of places to ride their bikes and play football and baseball and dodge ball, and whatever else they decide to do. If people look down on me because of where I live, then they are not worth being friends with.

The Long Awaited Pictures

I promised pictures of the new place, and here they are. I finally finished unpacking this morning, YAY!

This is a shot of the living room from my desk. The ceiling is sloped, which makes the room look bigger.

This is a shot from the entertainment center, looking towards my desk.

This is a shot of the dining area, which is part of the kitchen.

This is a shot of the kitchen from the living room.

This is a shot of the kitchen, obviously, from the back hallway, which is also the laundry room.

A shot of the back hallway, aka the laundry room. It also had room for our freezer, which means it finally came out of Ryan's bedroom!

Here's the kids bathroom...I love the shower curtain the girls picked out!
And now for the best thing in the entire house...my bathtub!