Over the mountian she comes...

Over the Mountain,

 

Around a Christmas parade,

 

Through road construction,

 

and

 

Stuck in the mud with 3/4 of the trailer sticking out in the road!!!! 

 

 

My best advise to anyone buying a Trailer is this...

 

 

DON'T WATCH!!!!

 

These people are professionals.  They know what they are doing.  Save your nerves and finger nails and let them do there job, then call you to come jump with joy when it is all done.

 

'CAUSE

 

nobody needs to see there house blocking traffic!! You do not want to look in, from the outside, of  your living room window and see an SUV where your sofa should be.... 

 

All I could think about was that scene in "Twister" where they drive through a house.  If I had heard breaks squealing, I think I would have passed out!

 

Each half was only stuck for minutes before a huge chain was attached to a frontend loader & safely pulled up the greased slide,  opps..  I mean mud soaked hill.

 

BUT IT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER!!!!!

 

 

 

This is where the tire blew out!

Not a sound you want to hear!!

Yet it still went up the hill!

 This is my favorite! If u look close you will see only one wheel is touching the ground!

 

At least we know the frame is strong!!

 

It made it u the hill in one -- I mean two pieces!!

 

Look baby!!  We have a house!!

 

Now the work can begin!!!

 

 

 

Much Love from 'Bama!

 

Thori Inspired

 

 

 

 

 

 



Choosing a Trailer!!

A few months ago, I did a minor rehab on a rental property I manage.

I am by no means a "master Rehab'er"

It is more like...

I just don't have enough good sense to know not to try!!

I am one of those silly souls who considers failure a learning experience.  Needless to say, I have a permanent flat spot on my head, from banging it against brick walls.

But

There is something to be said for the person who does not know it can't be done.  When things work out right, nice things are said and; when it turns into a "learning experience" we just fall back on our southern manners and say

Well, bless their heart!!!

I try to keep at least a 50/50 ratio of nice things / to Bless her hearts!!

That being said, I still was not ready to jump on another rehab.  I went looking for a move in ready Double Wide Trailer.  Boy, did I find one!

It was beautiful! Perfect! Amazing!

My paint colors, lots of room, finished sheetrock walls!

It was almost perfect.

But

The price was to high.

The sheetrock would crack when it was moved.

That would have to be fixed.

Then the paint would have to be redone.

The easy way was starting to sound like a money pit.

.

Moving on...

I was praying that the Lord send me to the right trailer and he sent me on a parts run!  As I was passing through Rainsville, Alabama, I passed AAA Mobile Homes.  I got that nagging feeling to stop on the way back.

So, several hours later, I pulled into the lot and took a look around.  They were all repossessed homes in various stages of repair.  None fit the bill the way the first one I found had, but it was my first stop since getting over the "perfect trailer" that was not to be...

I wanted open plan living.  Two looked ok and one fit the bill, if the kitchen had been more open to the living room.  I went in to talk to the salesman, despite my lack of enthusiasm.  I did not like the price on the first two, the third had not been redone yet, so the price was kind'a appealing.  Then Ken (my new favorite person) said the magic words that went right to my middle aged, penny pinching, tired of being cold, frostbitten heart...  

That one has the extra insulation and 2x6 wall.

Hmmm...  isn't that the one with the actual laundry room,  lets go look again I said, and out the door I went!!!

This one required imagination.  Part of the house had no flooring and what was there, well I am not sure it was ever actually in style.  It was half painted and some of the rock had fallen off the fireplace.  Lets be honest, the price was right  and he had me at extra insulation! The laundry / mudroom with a sink in it, well that was like whip cream on the top! All the work that had to be done was cosmetic.  I can do that. 

As quick as it began, the search was over.

4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, breakfast nook, laundry room ... with a sink and cabinets!  Laundry... in its own room!  wooo hoooo!  The husband can have a whole room and not just a drawer!  2 bathrooms, that are only bathrooms! 1,960 square feet of yummy trailer goodness, just for me and the husband!!

$25,000 for a whole house or for two half houses that make a whole one, however you want to look at it!  I tore out'a that place with the paperwork like I had stole something!!

It was all over but the financing! You would think on such a small amount that would have taken no time, but NOOOOO.....

It seems the red tape is the same on a home loan no matter the loan amount.  So if you go this route, wear you patience!!  You will need it!   You can finance a pick up truck, costing twice that amount, a truck that you can drive off into the sunset, over the phone, in a matter of minutes, but a place to live in...

Lets just say that the things they want to know gets rather comical!  Ohhh!! and make sure you buy a new pen before you go to sign!  The stack of paperwork could be used as a boat anchor for a cruise ship!!!

One you laugh your way through all of that the last thing you will sign are your titles!  Yes, there are two titles, one for each half!!

Then you are officially the Queen of your very own Double Wide Trailer!

Now you just have to wait for your home to come to you!!!

Much Love from 'Bama!

Thori Inspired

It takes a village to move a trailer!

In the beginning where were a few things in the way!

 

This was the driveway!  4 Wheel drive much??

 

We putt another drive in that was a little less steeeeeeeeppp!

 

Boy!  Was that a big stump!

Thanks to Mr. Storey and the Brother in Law / track hoe master our Trailer site looks awesome!

Huge hole where the Tree use to be!

 

That thing was a beast !

29 loads of dirt, a whole lot of help and work!

 

The site is starting to shape up!

 

Now..  if the rain will let up long enough to drive or drag our house to the top of the hill???

 

 

Much Love from 'Bama!!

 

Thori Inspired!!

straight up crazy or inspired genius? Let the trailer renovations begin!!!

Straight Up Crazy??

 

Inspired Genius???

 

Only time and results will tell...

 

So here I blog again.  I am feeling most inspired, because I am at the beginning of an epic project!!

 

Mom has been after me to start writing again.  So... What better to do than keep her updated on the process of becoming...

 

"The Queen of my Double Wide Trailer!!"

 

Go ahead and insert your own Alabama redneck joke here

 

But

 

I promise you, it will not be as good as the truth of how a "former" pampered country / slightly preppy princess

 

(hey Hubby, Remember when you told me I would never be a redneck)

 

came to be rehabbing used Double Wide Trailer in Gaylesville, Alabama!

 

So, for a moment, we will go back in time I few years.  Before the housing market crashed and everyone was building the "Home of their DREAMS"! 

 

We had dreams of a BIG, BEAUTIFUL BRICK HOME. 

 

We already possessed the most perfect building site in all of Gaylesville (well, in our opinion, anyway).  High atop a hill, overlooking the fields we farm & the amazing Alabama ridge tops in off in the distance.  We were ready.  We had a driveway and a perk test, but something just kept nagging at us.  

 

Then it happened.

 

We stopped in a local store, just to get a cold drink but what we came out with was a perspective that changed everything.

 

We struck up a conversation with the Indian gentleman who owned the store.  I wish I could tell you I remember his name or what all we talked about that day.  The truth is all I can remember is this one line, that went something like this ...

 

You Americans are just plain crazy.  You put all your money and hard work into a house to live in and it will never make you a dime.

 

If that had been anyone else he had said that to that day, it would have likely fallen on deaf ears, but he said it to us.

 

A diehard work-a-holic and a confirmed penny pincher.

 

IF THOUGHTS MADE SOUNDS...

THE NICE INDIAN MAN WOULD HAVE HEARD TWO BRICK HOUSE CRASHING DOWN!

 

ONE IN THE HUSBAND'S HEAD and THE OTHER IN MINE!!

 

We never really discussed it, other than to say - he was right.  The "knowing" look had passed between us & talk of a house, just did not happen.

 

Then the housing market crashed and we were not sorry that we had chosen not to build.  We were glad not to be "upside down" with a nightmare payment for a dream home.

 

So.. a few more years passed in the "affordable rental".  I passed forty and he was sneaking up on it.  I'm not sure it the winter's "actually" became colder or the summer's became hotter, or if the drive to the farm got longer, but it really started to seem like it did.

 

The last straw came at the beginning of our ninth winter in our current house.  The gas logs, our only source of heat in the front of the house, played out last winter.  We were so busy with work and sick ones in the family, winter just snuck up on us.  Before we knew it, it was in the low 50's on the inside of the house and our little space heater just was not cutting it!  

 

Not that the logs ever kept the house really warm, but the camels back was broken.  Our Cheapness had been overcome by the sound of chattering teeth!  Well.. Sorta.....

 

There was a place on the farm - with a well, a driveway and a septic tank....

 

HMMMM.....

 

it is on a hill ...

 

And I did tell the husband that I would live with him anywhere, so long as it was on a hill...

 

we need to be closer to the farm asap (& warm)....

 

You can buy furnish a used double wide for less than the cost of a new pick up truck...

 

AND THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF HOW I BECAME

THE QUEEN OF MY VERY OWN DOUBLE WIDE TRAILER!!! 

 

 

Much Love from 'Bama!

 

Thori Inspired

 

 

 

Bountiful harvest to come!

 

One on the many upsides of being a farmer's wife is with all this beauty 

surrounding us, there are many great photo opportunities!!

A selection of my Very Affordable, 

ready to be framed,

art and photography prints 

are available 

on ebay!

Click Now

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Thori Inspired - Presented by Forrest Field Trading Company 

Click here for a selection of affordable frames!

The Love Revolution

Altered Photo By Thori Brewer

Copyright 2009

taken at

The Love Revolution

Joyce Meyer

Womans Conference

2009

St. Louis, Mo.

You can join the Love Revolution

at

http://www.theloverevolution.com/

http://www.joycemeyerministries.org/

Get inspired and stay inspired! To do that you need great resources. These two are a wonderful place to start.

My mother and I attended The Love Revolution womens conference in September and it was outstanding. The music, the messages, the venue, the city, the food, the hotel (the, well, everything at the Hyatt was first class!) the whole experience was out of this world! Well worth the drive from Beautiful 'bama.

It was amazing to be in the same place with, well over 10,000, other women who are walking with the Lord. It really reminds you that you are not alone in your faith.

We need experiences like these to keep our batteries charged up, so we are ever ready to fight the good fight of faith!

Stay Inspired!

Much Love,

Thori Inspired

DAY 488

"Shake off the dust of your feet"

Photo by Thori Brewer Copyright 2008

DaY 483
Over a year ago, I wrote my first blog post. I had just returned from a solo trip that allowed me to see seven states, in just two days.

The photo I posted was taken as the sun was setting in Missouri. It was one of hundreds I snapped while on the trip. That image captured the essence of my, short but grand, adventure.

The road stretched out in front of me and night was falling fast. Hundreds of miles and five states separated me from home, but I had hit a snag. I was without direction. The time tested route, over the mighty Mississippi River, that my husband had laid out for me, would not work. The Bridge he had told me so much about, the bridge I had come miles out of the way to cross for myself, that bridge was closed. Knowing all of that, I still had to see her.

She was just as beautiful as my husband had said. She was thin, tall and time worn. She curved off into the distance and out of sight. I could see her beginning but it would be a year and a day before I would see where she ended. That day, the bridge, very much like the lady taking her picture, was alone, broken and waiting to be mended.

The flood waters of the great Mississippi river had damaged her just as the flood of life had damaged me. At that time, neither she or I were fit for use. What a rare privilege to capture a shared moment in time as we both patiently waited for healing. She in need of concrete and steel and me in need of the word of God to renew my heart and mind.

I could tell you that all of this occurred to me while I was in the moment. I wish this was a story of a great life changing event. The truth, for me, is that it is hard to see how all the pieces fit together when you are so beaten up by life. I knew there was beauty and meaning in the moment. Today I look back on the moment I captured and I get it.

The road was blocked. The Mississippi was in front of me and I had no idea where there was another crossing. I could have gotten upset, screamed and cried. Even if I had, there was no one around to here me. Broken bridges like broken people don’t draw big crowds. Being upset would not fix the bridge. I could sit down in the middle of the road and waited for help, but it was unlikely that any one would come. (did I mention the Bridge is two exits past, how far out in farm country are we?) I had to accept that today I was not going to get it my way. I had come a long way just to see this grand old lady standing watch over the Mississippi but she was in no condition to receive me today.

In Matthew 10:14 Jesus told his disciples how to handle rejection. "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor here your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake the dust off your feet". What no screamin’ cryin’ fit ’cause I didn’t get it my way? You mean I can’t peal out of the parking and lay long black drag marks to show "them" I was here and I was pissed? (That would have been cute to see a chick in a one ton, flat bed farm truck trying that!) Jesus wanted none of the nonsense, just shake it off and move on.

Well, move on I did and a few miles up the road I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset (the photo on my first post) I would have never seen if I had crossed the Mississippi and headed east. I had to turn around and when I stopped for fuel a nice man told me a quick route to get back on track.

He also told me that the other bridge I wanted to see over the Ohio River was still open. A few miles out of the way, but I was still able to get there to see her just before the sun went down. It is funny how God works things out if you will let him.

I took the trip by myself but I was not alone. My heavenly Father was with me. At some point just after dark I cut the CD player off and just began to talk to Him. For hours it was just he and I, Diesel fuel, highway, and a lot of truck stop coffee! We crossed through four states before reaching the promised land. (for you who don’t know that is the great state of Alabama) We got home just as the sun came up. I need that trip to remind me that no matter where I go or what I do God is there with me.

God did have a gift in store for me. One year and one day after I first tried to cross the bridge, my wonderful husband drove me across. I took pictures like a crazy tourist and I think my in-laws in the back seat thought I had lost my mind!

My sick friend, the bridge was well enough to receive me. As for me, I had been walking with God for 427 days, on that day, I was beginning to be well enough to be good company. In the end Gods way always works out much better.


God Bless you and keep you!
Much Love!

Thori Inspired
day 483