What I have just stated is far from the beautiful things that I post on this blog but I post it because even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, lessons were learned and it gave way to new thoughts and things I never really considered before.  We might still have to spend another night or two outside our home in the next week or so, but for the most part, the worst is over.

I am human and things I don’t want to happen, happen.  Just because I have a blog or all looks rosy with whatever nice things I post here regarding my online hustle with Origami Owl, it does not mean that I am free from the realities and frustrations of life.

Let it be known that I am very grateful that my recent life setbacks had nothing to do with health problems, sickness or death.  (I did have a cancer scare months ago but I’ll share that a different time.) Our life situation had to do with an overflowing washer that caused damage to half of our home and the things below it.  We have a small home (thanks Southern CA prices), so when water damage takes up half of it, that’s a lot of loss!  The water damage affected both bathrooms, the laundry area that held the washing machine, the hallway, and our master bedroom and its master bath.  The other bedroom that did not get affected became the storage room for all the items that were once in the affected area, including my king size bed, stored with many things way up high to the ceiling!

November 5, 2018, was the first time we checked in to a hotel and January 24, 2019, was our most recent checkout.  We have been living in and out of hotels and since November, we have been going through the process of getting our home back to normal.  In addition to not having our home, there were hurdles and pushback/fights with our insurance and our HOA along the way. I got to choose all my flooring and turned in a paper color sample for paint I would like, back in December, but none of the fun stuff was to happen until more than a month later. We were in and out of hotels because our insurance living allowance was being depleted at a burn rate way faster than the timeline of repairs and completion. For those who care for all the details, I have shared lots of this on my Instagram highlights at @jennylouraya.

By mid-December, we spent nights and weeks in our unlivable and under construction home with no flooring and no toilets to save remaining funds for when we really needed to have a room (such as the days when even the showers could not use accessed due to the flooring process). We used public bathrooms and HOA shared facilities.  It was an eye-opening experience and one I would not wish on others. I even had the president of the HOA yell at me for using the HOA facilities that one time he caught me using the men’s bathroom. I was using the men’s bathroom because the women’s had been clogged for days and NO, I am not unclogging it for them.

Despite the stresses and some tears, we made the most out of our living situation.  I carried on with my Origami Owl work of posting online and serving my customers with their holiday orders.  I had record sales in December.  I even had a customer shop my stock at a hotel conference room and sold $200+ in jewelry in an hour.  Homeschooling in and out of hotels made it really hard to be consistent but the daily breakfast buffets and housekeeping made things better.  The kids definitely loved that.  We also learned that we need very little space and things to live on and have even decided to “Konmari” our home when all the rebuilding is done.

Now, on to the better days…..

This past Saturday, January 26, our new floors were finished. Yesterday, my new toilet was put in.  But what really got me excited that there is nothing but sunshine up ahead was the arrival of my new paint! Painting is scheduled to start today and if all goes to plan, the yellowish khaki mustard from the previous owners of this home will be gone and I will be surrounded by the color Shiplap – a Magnolia Home Premium paint by Joanna Gaines. When the paint is done in a couple of days, carpeting will follow and the newly painted doors and baseboards will be installed. When this company is done with their part, I will be diving into some DIY while still staying true to our existing goals and incorporating the new lessons we have learned during this process.

The many days living in hotels gave me some time to watch TV.  Initially, I was watching a lot of forensic files but later weeks, I was all about the HGTV. Property Brothers became my favorite show and I just kept thinking of all the possibilities in my home. I now actually have less interest in moving out of our little home as I have seen through HGTV episodes what paint and remodeling can do to any space.  We also watched the Tyding Up series on Netflix while in a hotel suite and saw how getting rid of things we don’t love can make such a difference in the space we already have.  We learned that we actually need very little to live on and that is a great thing.

If you would like to follow us on our journey of rebuilding home, tidying DIY, and doing with less (and still continuing our journey to paying off our home and be completely 100% debt free), follow me on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jennylouraya/

 

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It’s a been a pretty quiet, gloomy Monday. Homeschooling in full effect and my project manager arrives with paint! I showed him a paper sample of Shiplap by @magnolia months ago. He had said then that they normally use a particular paint company, so I wasn’t expecting what arrived today! I’m truly happy and ecstatic that the paint is finally here (this process started early November) but even more than that, it’s the actual Magnolia Home line AND it goes with my flooring (I did not have a tile sample on hand when we were going over paint colors). Now I feel like I should buy her book. Confession: I’ve never seen an episode of Fixer-upper by @joannagaines and @chipgaines until last week sitting in my hotel room because our place was a true fixer upper with no toilets and showers. Hello @joannagaines and @chipgaines ? Now, we are forever linked ?. . . . . . #magnoliahome #fixerupper #magnolia #farmhouse #farmhousestyle #homedecor #fixerupperstyle #farmhousedecor #interiordesign #joannagaines #hgtv #modernfarmhouse #magnoliamarket #shiplap #sandiegohome #bhghome #hearthandhand #home #shiplap #sandiego #acehardware #betterhomesandgardens #decor #timbertiles #flooring #diy #chipandjoannagaines #homedesign #farmhouse #sandiegofamily #paint

A post shared by What Says You, Jennylou? (@jennylouraya) on Jan 28, 2019 at 1:26pm PST