Shopping Trash To Pay For A New Paint Job

Ten years ago, the counselor and I bought a house just up the street from where I grew up.

My parents only lived 4 houses away.

This is the walk to my parent's home. It's a lovely street with lots of big trees.

I married a man who loves me and loves my family, so this arrangement was alright with him. The best thing about this house:

1. It’s in a cul-de-sac

2. It has 29 citrus trees

3. It has a pool.

This home had everything we wanted from four bedrooms to the sweetest memories of a lifetime, so why did we move 2 years ago to a new house?

Because we found a bargain, a deal we couldn’t pass up; we found a foreclosure in near perfect condition.

This new home we purchased is just 2 houses from our old home and 2 houses closer to my parents (and the counselor still loves them). It’s not in a cul-de-sac and only has 5 citrus trees (an amazing pink grapefruit tree that I could never live without), but the pool! Don’t get me started on the pool. Alright, get me started!

I must say, for a girl who is ½ mermaid and ½ human this pool is the perfect fit. If I had to live in this pool, I’d be happy. It’s surrounded by pine trees and I feel like I’m swimming in the mountains.

In the summer, the pool is shaded by 2:00pm in the afternoon and my kids don’t get sunburned.

The pool is a huge conversation piece because it is so large. It’s also old and worn-out, but here to stay. The counselor knows about me and water. He knew right from the start I would need a pool. With 4 boys, living in Arizona, can you imagine my pain if I didn’t have one? I told you not to get me started about the pool, but there I went. By the way, we purchased the diving board off Craig's List for $100.00. New, a diving board runs around $1,000.00.

When we moved into this beautiful foreclosed home, there were very few things we wanted to change.

1. We put a pool fence around the pool with fencing we found on Craig’s list for $500.00.

2. We cut down a huge dead cottonwood tree.

3. We wanted to paint the trim of the home. Good-bye 1970’s brown, hello modern white.

The money? Where to get the money!

Over the last month, I earned the money on EBay.

The house went from this (yucky brown trim, but really cute kids):

To this:

The backyard and its huge white gorgeous patio is begging for a wedding reception or something amazing like that.

I love it. More importantly, I love that if I want something special like a $1,000.00 paint job, I shop trash, work trash and ship trash. The money is there for me to earn, I just have to be creative and persistent enough to find it.

I’ve been trying for two years now to get a Young Adult novel published. When I get discouraged, I remember a quote my dad told me last year.

“In most cases, perseverance supersedes talent.”

Quote from Dad

Being talented is subjective, but being persistent is something I have control over.

Thanks for the support Dad and I love that we get to see each other everyday when you ride your bike down the street. Here’s a picture of my parents at a Father’s Day dinner a few years ago at our old home.

And the ties in the background? I found a box with about 100 ties in it at a yard sale. I paid $5.00 for all the ties and hung them ALL from my ceiling in celebration of Father’s Day. There was a huge sign in the family room that read:

“Dad, We will always be tied together.”

I owe my work philosophy to my dad. Being a hard worker isn’t just something he taught me, it’s something he does himself. Working hard to achieve a goal leaves me even more motivated to achieve the next and that’s something I hope my kids will learn from me too.