Well if you've been following my story at all,,,
you'll be pleased to know that in 12 short days, my family is moving OUT OF THIS SINGLE WIDE TRAILER!!!!!!!!!! And into a "real" house. now, I'm not dogging ANYONE who lives in a single wide or other type of trailer, NOT ONE BIT... we have lived in alder manor for over ten years. and it allowed us time to learn how to budget, and save money, and not choke each other out in such a small space!! AHAHHAHAHA
Anyway, MOVING IS TOUGH!!!
we are in the middle of packing boxes, and trying to sell our trailer. it's listed in the "for sale by owner" section of zillow. although, I don't have much up for pictures at the moment, we are waist deep in boxes!!
In case you're curious, we are paying about 425 GRAND for the house,with a little over 30K in closing costs. It took the better part of a year to save the money for the down payment. and, the bank and the mortgage companies ALL said I had "too many deductions" therefore I show ZERO INCOME... how exactly were we able to save close to FIFTY GRAND???? well with no income, I have NO CLUE. but we did. and thank everything holy my husband has a good job and likes to work, because it's ALL IN HIS NAME.. that's right they literally would not COUNT ANY OF MY INCOME. and I assure you I made plenty of money, even after deductions last year I "cleared" almost a hundred grand. is that a ton of money? NO. I get that, but I just wanted them to count ANY INCOME for me!! but somehow the stars aligned perfectly, and we were able to find a house that seems perfect with a whole extra buildable lot to boot, IN OUR PRICE RANGE!!! the lady even took a little less than asking price on day 8 of it being listed so that my little (well not so little!) family could FINALLY MOVE INTO A HOUSE. and it's not a moment too soon, let me tell ya!!!!
Currently, we have a couple jobs on the board, excited to get some more on the schedule, soon. Job leads have slowed down some, but PRICE INCREASES on materials, sure haven't slowed AT ALL.
I'm confident I'll keep booking jobs, I know theres plenty of people out there who love the underdogs, and we are definitely the underdogs!!
Funny story. the place where my employee, Lanae, and I get our massages once a month, which yes the company pays for. well apparently the office lady had been telling the folks working there we were a gay couple, for A YEAR!! Now I have definitely mentioned us working together, definitely mentioned that I own my own company, definitely got a PRINT OUT AT THE END OF THE YEAR FOR TAX PURPOSES...
now, I get it, a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE assume I am gay, and a whole lot assume Lanae and I are a couple, or that we are related. NOPE, Ive been married to the same man for 22 years, almost!! and we just have a great WORKING RELATIONSHIP... and it doesn't even bother me that people assume I'm gay, because they have for MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE... like my mom used to tell me, if we were all the same, this world would be pretty damn boring!!! I'm glad my mom told me there's no such thing as "boys things" and "girls things" she'd say, why can't they just be "amber's things" and I was hard on her some days!! I didn't believe her. and most people assumed my sexuality was hand in hand with my tomboy tendencies at 12 years old. when I MYSELF obvioulsy had NO CLUE who I was gonna have sex with at 12. I just knew I didn't like dresses and loved building tree forts. funny how that has ZERO to do with WHO is in your bed.
I probably don't have to tell you it takes a strong ass man to support his wife who is a construction worker, then encourages her for YEARS to start her very own company. has it been easy??? oh very far from it. but he remains my rock, my lover and my friend, too. as we get older our marriage just gets better and better. I guess because we are too old and lazy to fight anymore, LOL. or maybe we got it all out of our system when we were young and SPUNKY.
Props to Lanae for being strong enough to keep encouraging me when I feel down, or stressed out. Not to mention the days where I want to crawl in a hole and give up. Or when I cant find an address and get super down on myself!!! and Yes I make sure she is compensated VERY WELL for her time. I wouldn't change a thing. we will keep doing what we are doing. and we will be the BEST AT IT!!! Like batman and robin, or cagney and lacy, or any other characters worthy of comparison,,,,, we will continue to conquer our goals!! we joke around all the time that we could have an HGTV show!! it would have to be AFTER 10pm or whatever the cut off is for the foul language, though. I guarantee it'd be funny.
having strong people around me is the ONLY reason I didn't give up some days!! there's been some real hard days the past 3.5 years. but things continue to get better and better, as long as I charge enough money!!
Well my next update I'll share pictures of the new house, and hopefully the awesome fence we will build around it for the dog!!
so like I always say, STAY TUNED!!!
Thank you so much to ALL my clients, past present and future. well except for that ONE.... the one guy can GO STRAIGHT TO HELL. and if you know, YOU KNOW!!! hahahaha
I promise to write another update soon.
In the meantime, if you'd like an estimate, please send an email or text with your project details. we are currently booking mid November.
Cowan Custom Deck and Fences
CCB 225044
503-791-7473
acowan1216@gmail.com
