My original 5-year-plan was as follows:
- Graduate from nursing school. CHECK!
- Get a full time job. CHECK!
- Husband gets full time job. CHECK!
- Work for a year or two, living cheap in the trailer park and thus saving money. CHECK!
- Use saved funds to put a down payment on a few acres of land just a bit outside civilization............. (enter distinct LACK of check)
I have been planning my capable-of-off-grid homestead for the last decade of my life. Everything planned out to the last detail. I have been doing as much as I can in the circumstances we are in to meet my self sufficient (though really there is no such thing.) goals until I can put them into full action once leaving the trailer park. And then, as usually happens when one makes plans, life said no. For reasons outside my control that I will not go into here, we are back at square one in regards to funds.
Let me be clear. There are innumerable people living in far worse conditions than we are. I am well aware of this and I am not a person prone to complaining. I much prefer to look at the positive side of things, almost to a pathological degree. But this recent setback really sent me into a depression. I couldn't shake the this-sucks-everything-sucks-whine-complain-blah-blah thing that makes me crazy. I discussed this with a friend of mine who suggested that if I hated the trailer so much, (and I do. Beyond reason.) I should put my energy into making some cheap quick fixes that may make it more tolerable as it appears we will be here another 2-3 years. I took her advice and looked around my home.
First stop, the kitchen. We are a family of 5-6-7 depending on who we are playing host to that particular week and in a 3-bedroom 1970s trailer. I garden, can, and cook nearly constantly. As a result, the kitchen takes a beating. Most annoying to me (besides the sinking floor and the leaking roof that finally has a patch that appears to be holding) is the wall behind the sink and counter. This is where my dream house was going to have a do-it-yourself tile backsplash. This area is always splattered with sauces, seeds, water, playdoh goop...........you get the idea. And if I attempt to wash the wall, the paint comes off with whatever else, even if using a soft washcloth and just water. So I began to look into doing my own tile. I went to the Habitat Restore and picked up a bunch of tiles for $3.86. I also grabbed some of that goop that makes the tiles stick to the wall. (As you can see, I did not do enough learning on the subject to remember what it's called.) I googled it and got the idea, put goop on wall, place tile on, let dry, add grout, wipe down. Seemed easy enough so I went to work. Halfway through the project I realized I did not have enough tile. But then I had a wonderful idea! The trailer has zero resale value so it doesn't matter what it looks like as long as I like it!
I went around the house and gathered all sorts of loose items that had no real purpose. A broken ceramic piggy bank, beads, spare legos, seashells, broken jewelry, several flip tops off of glass medication vials I use as an RN, a few buttons and pins. I placed these items in the 'goop' at random and smashed the remaining tiles and used those pieces to fill in the gaps! 2 of the 3 small ones were at home to help and the BOTSO laid tile while the SOTSO scraped the extra goop off after. Ages 11 and 3. :)
End result! I love it! Dave is happy I'm happy. If only I could figure out how to embed this picture......
