Loan Snag

Great news: we qualify for the loan. Bad news: we don't qualify for the loan yet.

We make a small enough amount of money, I have good credit, John has good work history and income, the only problem is that John has awful credit. We're stuck where we're at for 6-8 more months, depending on how well John handles his secured credit card. Of course, by then it'll be 100+ degrees out. I do not want to move when it's that hot, and I also don't want to  pay to cool a larger house if I can wait it out here just a few more months.

Ugh.

A Little Melt Down

I had a little melt down yesterday while trying to bake a cake. When I closed the oven door, my kitchen floor shifted, rocking the book case that I use as a counter, and throwing my freshly completed cake batter and my hand mixer on to the ground. Cake batter covered the cabinets, the clean dishes sitting on the bookcase, and broke my hand mixer.

It's hard living with 12"x28" of counter space. I cook, bake, and can. It's so difficult and frustrating having no counter space and trying to do anything. On top of that, we're stuck for at least another six months. There's no sense in moving somewhere else for just six month. Plus we couldn't find anywhere cheaper that would let us keep our dogs.

I just hate feeling helpless.

Trailer Park Garden

Right now, I live in a small trailer park. Unlike most people though, I'm incredibly fortunate to have a small yard. Last spring we put in grass because our yard was made of silt and dust, and our dogs did nothing but carry that fine powdery sand into the house. 600 square feet, three dogs, and pounds of sand ground into the carpet and I finally had enough. As non-desert friendly grass is, it was a worthwhile sacrifice. Currently our washing machine drains into the yard and it waters a good portion of our 100 square feet of grass.

The grass needs to be trimmed!

A few weeks back, I planted sugar pumpkins! Sugar pumpkins are the pumpkins used to make pumpkin pie or pumpkin cookies.  In the shadowy corner is my pumpkin patch.

My pumpkin patch is surrounded by chicken wire to keep the dogs from accidentally trampling them. To my surprise, morning glories popped up and grew along my chicken wire.

Volunteer morning glories!

With the crazy amount of rain we've been getting (almost 4 inches in one day!), my pumpkins have taken off.

The largest leaf is as big as my hand.

 No flowers yet, but hopefully I'll have pumpkins by the time Thanksgiving rolls around!