Hi, Reader,
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Well, it actually started long before that but this was the day I finally broke down and sobbed.

We were moving to a different home and I was loaded up with boxes, clothing, fish (more on that in a moment) and 2 California Desert Tortoises. My friend was in front of me with an additional load. I'm pretty sure we had taken the chickens in a prior move but he may have had them in the back of his truck. But he got pulled over for having expired plates and I pulled over behind him. After the officer spoke with him, he came back and asked me to step out of the car. I actually asked the officer why he was asking me to do that because I wasn't the one being pulled over. He said he had that right. (I'm not sure about that but wasn't going to argue so I got out of the car.) The first thing he asked was "where are your shoes?". That's when I started sobbing. Everything just came crashing down all around me.
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You see, that day, I had to move out of my dream home where I thought I would stay until I officially retired. Then I hap planned I would move to a smaller place and live off the equity from the sale. I had to hand over the keys to a realtor who would then sell it for $350,000 less than I purchased it for. Yes, it was the housing crash. And I lost everything. This was the day I had to start over.
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And this day, we were moving to a rental home. My shoe had gotten stuck in the small handmade pond when I was trying to catch all the large goldfish to take with us. Nobody would be there at the house to feed them until it sold so I couldn't just leave them. At that time, I didn't even have enough money to be able to fill up the gas tank so I was hoping there was enough gas to get to the rental house that day. When you move into a rental, you have to come up with first and last month's rent, plus security deposit so it was a big chunk.

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Although several things happened that were out of my control (the well went dry; the market crashed; I couldn't return to my nursing career without additional training because I had been out of it too long while caring for my father), this isn't a poor me, victim story. It's a learning experience, a very expensive learning experience. There were things I did to contribute to my demise. I didn't know a home inspection wasn't required in Idaho at that time, so when I purchased the property, it closed without a home inspection. I spent way too much money on landscaping because there were stipulations in the HOA (I hate HOAs!). I didn't calculate how expensive it would be to live off propane. And mostly, I bought a much too large house... on too much land (10 acres)... by myself.

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What is the lesson in all this?

Well, besides learning that it's important to live within my means, I also learned that it's still important to pursue your dreams. I LOVED that house and I'm glad for the 7 years I was able to live there. I worked so hard on the landscaping, learned to raise chickens, grow a garden, thin out trees, and use power tools. Sometimes dreams don't work out but if you don't give up, you can make other dreams come true! Don't quit trying.

That's all for now!
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XoXo Shelley
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