The continuing saga of moving from a small cramped trailer is a white trash trailer park to a bigger, newer trailer in a different white trash trailer park… and trying to be MORE than another white trash family.

So, the woman at the office of the people who own the trailer I want said she’d get back to me either that evening or the next morning.  That was Thursday afternoon. She did mention Fri was her day off, but she’d work on getting the paperwork done etc and asked if we had our W2s and if we were doing a Rapid Refund.   Well, Friday came and went and no phone call.  I called the office and got the answering machine. So, they have 3 day weekends? I guess it’s possible as it’s a family run business.  I drove by the trailer Friday afternoon to see if the For Sale sign had been taken down and it hadn’t.  So, maybe the lady did just take the day off and figured there was no rush… since we didn’t have all our W2s yet and were not planning on doing a Rapid Refund if we didn’t have to since they cost so much money.  Besides if you efile and have it direct deposited, then the economic stimulus packages get deposited right into your bank account instead of waiting 3 months to send a check.   So yeah that’s what I’m telling myself,… she just decided it wasn’t the most imperative thing to get the approval done on Friday since I wouldn’t have the down payment for a week or so at least. .. I just wish she hadn’t said I’d hear from her by Friday morning.  Sigh.

In other news, the new trailer makes DH puke.. literally.  He and I went out to get his Plavix Rx filled and get lunch together alone on our one day off together we get every two weeks or so. Then we went to the trailer to let him see it.  They keep it unlocked for some reason.  Anyway, we walked in and he said “Oh God they smoked”  I could smell cleaner and some other weird “other people’s house” smell, but nothing work puking over.  We got to the kitchen and noticed a yellowing puddle on the floor that looks like it was coming from the fridge.  I think it never really thawed out after they repossessed it since it’s been so cold for so long.  It was a bit warmer yesterday and this morning, so maybe that did it.  I really don’t know.  They sure hadn’t cleaned the fridge out yet.  It’s truly nasty inside.   So, he checked out the fridge and laundry room and the kids’ rooms and marvelled at how large they were for 2nd and 3rd bedrooms.  When we got to the master bedroom, he had to step outside.  He swears they smoked and the smell is in the carpet.  He wants to rip out the carpet.  Now this is frustrating because the carpet is in excellent shape compared to the carpet we have here now, and we just don’t have money in any budget for replacing carpet in that trailer.   I told him we’d get a bunch of Febreeze and open the windows and let it air out before we actually move in to live.  I tried to talk to him about placement of furniture in the living room and dining area since I want to actually USE my Mom’s farm table instead of just pushing it up against a wall. It’s really huge, so in this place we can’t have it pulled out where people can just go sit in any of the chairs, much less walk around the table.  It’s my dream to be able to use the table daily for sit down dinners and for when the guys come over for game night.  I’d love to even host a big family meal if DH’s grandparents come visit us.  Well, anyway, I’m gonna go use the Arrange a room tool at BHG website and see if I can fit the furniture I want in there.

Oh that reminds me. The friends of ours who’s house we went to on Fri night to hang out and play games has a couch they’re selling. It’s actually really nice, and they just want $100 for it.  I definitely want it.  When the tax refund comes in, and we get the house (thinking positively!), then we’ll buy that couch.  The love seat we have now is garbage really.  In fact it’s got hole gouged out of it and places that look like a rat nibbled on it.  However, I have like a really expensive slipcover on it so none of that stuff shows. (I paid way too much for that slipcover.)  But the seat itself needs to be trashed in the dump. The other big couch that also has an expensive cover on it has seen better days and I’ve decided to wash the two slip covers I have for it and clean it up as well as I can and get all the old bedding off the pull out bed, and put it on Freecycle.   I hope someone can use it somewhere.   We went around to some discount stores and looked for chairs we’d like to get to replace the ones we have now.  I just can’t see paying $300 for a club chair, or even a recliner.  I don’t have that kind of money to throw around.  So, I’m going to wait til I have the tax money in hand and then go to the used furniture store where I got my library desk and get one or two good comfy chairs there. We’d prefer the faux leather (plastic) stuff so they’re easier to clean with the kids and the dog.  I keep thinking I sure wish I had those old chairs from my Granny’s house.  Talk about vintage retro.  Those things are in style now hehe.

Well, as you can tell I don’t know anything else, and it’s driving me bonkers and I’m trying to keep my mind off of it.  Tomorrow is Sunday and I still have to make it through that whole day.  Here’s hoping I get the phone call I want to hear on Monday and our W2s come.

The car pictured in the (old) header image above (EDIT: I have since changed the header pic so it’s a little more anonymous than it was) .. that’s Zombie Car II… yes there really was a Zombie Car I. Scary, I know.  Well, we had to use it as collateral  for a loan back in March I think. It was before DH had received his promotion and my job hadn’t yet come through with the raise, so we were still trying to live on about half of what we make now.  So, the last payment is due next month. I’ve been looking forward to paying it off and selling the car.. well, we can’t get it running, so selling it will be difficult, and unfortunately we need money before Wednesday.

I was dumb and overspent on eating out with the family and stuff for the house, and the van was in the shop three times.  Our rent is due today, the electric is past due and they’re going to cut off my internet on Wednesday if I don’t pay the past due amount by then – and I’m overdrawn. So, I don’t really have much choice but to renew the loan. Fortunately, the loan company is one we’ve used since way back in 2000 or so.  I’ve made very sure to have payments to them in on time everytime, so they like having us come back. All I have to do is call them in the morning and tell them we want to renew, then DH and I can go sign it on his lunch break and get the check. Easy as that. I guess that’s how people with excellent credit and banks get along – maybe someday I’ll know. But I doubt it.

The good thing about getting the loan to pay these bills is it still frees up DH’s check this coming weekend for the regularly scheduled bills, as well as the big Fall Festival we go to every year in my home town.  I’m really looking forward to the festival. After we spend the day there, we’ll take the kids to my in-laws house and then head back to town for our 20th yeah High School reunion.  DH and I graduated the same year from our highschool. So did Friend, who said he’ll be there if he can get his wife to attend. Won’t that be fun?

Speaking of Friend, I’m supposed to go meet him for lunch this week. We had originally said the next time we meet for lunch, to do so at the park by the river.  Friday he said he was really looking forward to it, but since it’s getting to be cold weather, we’ll have to find a way to keep warm… This is going to be an interesting week.

I have been asked to post pics of my living room that I talked about in yesterday’s blog. I am such a perfectionist, I’d have never considered posting any until it was perfect but that’s not going to happen, so I’ll take pics as it is now. Complete with dog hair on the couch and a dirty carpet because my vacuum is broken.  I’m not happy with the wall over the brown loveseat. I want to eventually put up my kids school pics in gold frames there. Or maybe the Japanese prints will go there after I buy a second book shelf to put to the right of the TV. It just kind of happens as it happens. I can’t plan too much. I just start doing it, and it all works together.

My living room as seen from the kitchen.

Another view of my living room. I love the ottoman.

Living room as seen from front door entryway.

The Chinese cabinet in the entryway. I cropped out the clutter! LOL

My china cabinet and Japanese prints and my coffee-table-now-tv-stand

Our collection of pieces from around the world. I love the red walls.

Thought I'd add a couple pics of the Gazebo. Still needs pumpkins!

The gazebo as seen from the bottom of the front steps.

Hope these are OK. As I get the entryway decluttered and get my kitchen cleaned up, I’ll add some of those too.

Ok, I’m going to quit promising photos because I seem to be completely unable to remember to take them.

I managed to get the garbage dumped by letting 16 drive the van to the dumpster and dump it without me going along. She only has her permit, but it wasn’t really on a road, it was inside the park which is technically private property. I also got 12 and 10 to clean up the rest of the yard by taking the big resin toys over to the shed area to store them. The summer is over and 6 never really plays with them anyway. The bench is handy for the summer yard toys like badminton rackets etc, but she never really even looks at her kitchen set. It’s a shame really. I’d have killed to have something like that as a kid. They just don’t appreciate things in this day and age. Maybe she needs to watch reruns of Mr. Rogers…

I LOVE watching HGTV. There are very few shows on there I don’t like. My Parents House is one I don’t like. However, I LOVE House Hunters and Colorsplash and Designed to Sell. I have learned so much from watching the staging shows and the redecorating shows. The new Rate My Space is awesome too. I know from watching all of them, that my style (and my husband’s) is Eclectic. I love to decorate with emotion. I want things that I love around me even if they don’t really go together. I still like to color coordinate as much as I can, and currently the living room is all golds and browns and red. Really pretty. There is some black too, like the ottoman and the Chinese cabinet and the huge TV. We have Egyptian art alongside Japanese prints and Indian wood carvings. (India the country – DH’s dad lived there til he was 19), plus dragons and gargoyles and even a Buddah. Plus all my Mom’s china which is on a cherry bookshelf kind of between the kitchen and living room.  To me, it all works. In fact, I am finally happy with the room (other than the floor- next phase is hardwood floors).

I had a smile moment this evening. For some reason 6 invited the new boys that moved in a couple doors down to come look in our front door. I noticed they were there and was about tell Zoe it was time for them to go home and she needed to come eat dinner, when the boys went “Wow! This looks really nice!” big grin Yeah I guess it does look pretty good. I’m proud of how the living room has come together.

One thing in the living room that was really bugging me was the Chinese lacquer cabinet we have by the front door where we are supposed to put keys and DH’s wallet etc. You literally could not see the top of the cabinet from all the stuff on it. It had two baskets on it overflowing with papers and all kinds of junk. One of the baskets looks really good there since it has a curled wrought iron handle and the clock above it has the same curly wrought iron accents. So, the basket is good for holding the keys and wallet and pens and change etc without it laying all over the cabinet top. But the other basket had to go. So after getting rid of the clutter (half filled a trash bag!) and the extra basket, I washed the cabinet top, and placed the good basket back on it alone with a couple of DH’s dragons that he collects. They looks really nice with the Chinese theme going on there. So, I had this other basket, and it occurred to me that it was the perfect size for DVDs, and there was a perfect place in the floor by the coffeetable-that-is-now-the-TV-stand. It looks really nice there. I put a gold painted basket that has been floating around with no real purpose, on top of the TV and DVD player to hold more DVDs (like current rentals), and then I put a red lacquer Chinese tray DH had before we got married and has been sitting around gathering dust – in the center of the new black ottoman. Some glasses with narrow bases cannot really sit on the soft ottoman top, so the tray is a perfect place to set a glass, and it’s colorful and pretty.  I would actually prefer to have a nice big red-stained wooden tray to set of the ottoman instead.  I saw one on HGTV tonight I loved and would be perfect. So, sometime when I’ve got extra spending money, I’m gonna take a trip to Pier1 and grab one. I can almost 100% guarantee they’ll have one. (gold will work too if red isn’t avail.)

The kitchen table and one chair are still piled with stuff that had been hiding in the old entertainment center cabinet. I know it’s a pain and I hate looking at it when my living room looks so nice now (the kitchen is connected to the living room). But until I can get that other bookshelf, it’s how it has to be.  I have decided though that since a lot of the stuff piled up isn’t really something I want to look at on a book shelf (old kids’ school papers, files, etc) that I’ll just take all our books out of the Chinese cabinet and put that unsightly stuff in it, then put all the books on the bookshelf. Who knows, maybe we’ll start reading them again!