Infirmary Exodus - The Cure is Simple

The week and a half since my last post has been filled with family activities, hundreds of miles of driving, getting caught up on projects, a 17 mile trail run (my personal non-pavement distance record) and being sick, SICK, SICK!

I'm lucky to not get sick very often but when I do it hits me like a freight train and is gone just as quick. The advice to "take it easy and get plenty of rest" doesn't work for me. I go mental! I must have been abducted by aliens as a child because my wiring often goes against all logic. When I'm sick or feeling down I have to be active and power through. I think this drives my wife insane. She wants me to slow down and let her take care of me. I want to clean the entire house and go fishing.

This episode of Sick Man is brought to you by my 17 mile run.

I wasn't prepared for it. I had done my mileage and was ready for the distance. With all our activities and go-go-go, I have been eating a lot of foods my body isn't used to. Not sleeping in the same bed more than 2 nights in a row has definitely taken it's toll as well. My immune system as been compromised and I've been down for the count.

A lot of this down time has been spent reflecting on the story that I've shared with you so far. It has been interesting to look back on the last few years and be reminded of the experiences we have had.

I have been overwhelmed with gratitude as I've had the opportunity to talk to several people who have been following this blog. It's great to have so many people from our new Heber Valley community show interest. It has been humbling to hear powerful stories from other people on similar journeys, receive feedback about what I am writing, and answer some of the questions you have.

A few of these questions have given me a lot to think about. I've wanted to share some of this with you but haven't known the best way to go about it. The past few days of feeling like trash have helped me pull my thoughts together.

From time to time everyone gets sick. We get sick for different reasons and handle it in very different ways. Some people (myself included) deny the fact they aren't doing well and try to proceed with life as best they can. Others medicate. They throw down heavy doses of Airborne, decongestants, pain meds and pass out. Others take it easy. They might have a movie marathon and eat soup.

Casting aside the obvious pros and cons of each method of getting there we all want to feel better. We have different thoughts on how to make it happen. A lot if this is based on how we were raised, and information we are given from family, friends

The truth is, most of us have been sick in a different way. And strangely enough it's because we have followed the doctor's orders.

We have been sticking to THE SCRIPT.

Society is a cruel practitioner. It would have us believe that spending our time, energy, and resources in pursuit of things that just don't matter is an honorable thing. Slaving away in jobs that don't inspire or challenge us in order to afford oversized houses filled with "stuff" that we don't really need or care about is something to strive for. That the worth of a person is somehow measured by the emblems on their vehicles or the tags sewn into and embossed on what they wear. That in our endless drive to upgrade and replace we make ourselves blind to those in need.

This is a prescription for disaster.

Just like eating Popeye's chicken and getting 5 1/2" hours sleep the night before a long run made me sick, feeding our lives this load of bull is killing us. Which areas of the world have the highest rates of cancer, diabetes, stress, depression, anxiety.....? It's those countries and regions who are said to have the "highest standard of living". Sadly, The United States of America is at or near the top of every list.

More primitive areas of the world have their own epidemics and challenges to overcome. Millions of people die each year from hunger and disease. What's the difference? Their suffering is brought on by environment and lack of resources. Most of ours can be attributed to our chosen lifestyle of excess.

So what IS the cure?

SIMPLICITY

I am not suggesting that everyone quit (or get themselves fired from) their jobs, sell everything they own, and live in the woods subsiding on pine nuts and wild salmon. Many people live this type of life and absolutely love it. It would be amazing and I would do it for a month or 2 but then I would start to miss other things I am passionate about. I think most people would.

The prescription for SIMPLICITY looks different to each person. SIMPLICITY means trimming the fat on life. SIMPLICITY means saying no to some things in order to say YES to others. SIMPLICITY means not missing out on spending time with people we love because we are too busy catching up on social media. SIMPLICITY means declining the overtime hours so we can make it to our kids soccer game. SIMPLICITY means....

What would a life of SIMPLICITY look like to you?

 

How would you live MORE?

I really want to know. Please share.

Right Sizing - Part 5 - Making the Move, Outside the Box

Over the next few days all I could think about was this little, old, decrepit house up in Heber. I had already been getting only 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night and this made it worse. I couldn't get it out of my mind. What was it about this house? Why did it "feel right"!?!?

We decided to make a low offer and see what happened. We looked at the potential value of the home after repairs and updates and the estimated cost to make these things happen. If we did it right we would still come out very well.

The response came quickly. They accepted the offer and we were under contract.

Once again my mind was off to the races. Time to design. Time to plan. Time to pack. Time to move. Oh no! Were we doing the right thing? Were we absolutely insane!

During the due-diligence period I had people come out to inspect the home and provide estimates to do the necessary structural work. Because the house was built on 3 separate foundations and was settling in every direction it would be very difficult  to stabilize it. Because of the way the structure was pulled together there was also a good chance this movement would cause it to crumble.

The cost to try? An estimated $60,000!

This was only cost to lift the house, pour a proper foundation and lower it back down. No additional renovations and updates included and no guarantees we would even have a house left standing.

Best Case Scenario: Lifting the house would go without any major problems. We would be smart about the other renovations and the project would be completed within budget.

Worst Case Scenario: The lift fails. We are out an additional 60k are left with a condemned old house and no place to stay.

At this point everything screamed to cut our losses and once again RUN. But, as crazy as it may sound, this option still didn't feel right. But what other options were there? Because of the structural state of the home and cost to correct it there was no real value in the building itself.

But the land was incredible. A large lot in the center of town with beautiful mature trees. There was so much potential to create an amazing place for our family to live, grow, and create memories.

What if....? No way, it would never work... Scratch that idea... They would never go for it... It's a waste of time...

What if we were to somehow reduce our offer to reflect only the value of the land?

We could live in the house for a while then demo the existing and build new. It would end up costing less than the possible disaster project and we would have the house we really wanted. We could even salvage the original cabin structure and other materials rebuild it as part of the new home. We could preserve history and have an amazing house with a story.

But could it even be done at this point in our contract?

It was time to ask the real-estate agent (Dad). He said it could definitely be done. It was a long shot but we decided to go for it. We did some digging to determine the market value of the land. We put together documentation from my inspections and construction estimates to support the true value of the property. He put together an addendum to adjust the price and we crossed our fingers.

IT WORKED!

We paid cash from the sale of our monster house and closed on the property.

Over the next month we got the house ready for our family. We cleared out mountains of artifacts from the homes previous life. We swept and mopped and scrubbed out years of nasty. I spent my weekends camped out at the house making small repairs and making 3 bedrooms out of 2 (more on this later).

On December 28, 2013 we once again loaded the 26 foot UHAUL and headed East on I-80.

6 months later we are settling into an amazing new life. We have really enjoyed getting to know our new community and have met some amazing people. I work from home and spend a lot more time with my family. We go on hikes, we fish, we read, we run. We have our chickens, our garden, and a garage that is slowly clearing out (maybe one day we will actually use it for vehicles).

The house is not perfect. It smells weird. There is no storage space. It was drafty in the winter and is getting hotter each day this summer. But it works. It's an adventure.

We will build when we are ready and it makes sense. For now, we are 100% debt free and are loving the freedom of this simplicity.

Right Sizing - Part 4 - The Tree Hugger in Me

Letting the contract expire on the Copperton house was a hard thing for me to do. I had a lot of time invested in the renovation design and the logistics of making everything work out. My dad (our real-estate agent) had dedicated countless hours to dealing with the crazies on the other end of the deal. I really wanted it to work out. It felt like the right move for our family, It just wasn't happening.

We started looking again. This time we had different goals, purpose and vision. We wanted a place that would better suit the needs and evolving lifestyle of our family. Copperton is definitely a beautiful place, but it has recently become more of a subdivision than a true neighborhood community. It does have an amazing park, a post office, a fire station and churches but the schools, markets and other businesses had been either torn down or closed up shop. We wanted a more sustainable community. We wanted to be closer to things we needed. We wanted to be in an area with good schools for our kids. We wanted for a large garden and a chicken run.

We quickly realized that the homes meeting this criteria in the Salt Lake valley did not allow us to meet our other goal of reducing our monthly mortgage responsibility. So we expanded our search to Utah and Davis Counties and even looked a little in Weber County.

We were planning a trip down to look at some homes in American Fork and Springville when a house in Heber City came up on the radar. I almost ignored the listing but decided to check it out. It had potential and was priced right so we added it to the list.

After driving down to check out the homes in Utah County we made the trip up Provo Canyon. As we rounded the south side of Deer Creek Reservoir we hit a horrible bumper to bumper traffic jam. Kids don't like being stuck in a car and neither do I. We almost turned back a few times but stuck with it and eventually pulled up to the house.

My first impression was WOW! This is it! If you know me well you know that I LOVE TREES. And this house had them. Moving from a brand new neighborhood with about 2 trees I felt like I was in a forest. The house was classic, plain, and simple. No frills but tons of charm and character.

As soon as we walked through the front door we noticed something strange. The floor in the front room had a very noticeable slope from one end to the other. Probably 3 inches overall. It was like one of those old V8 Juice commercials where everyone is walking sideways. 

We had seen the listing pictures so we knew that the Kitchen, flooring and paint would all need to be re-done so we were prepared for that. But the structure didn't make sense.  There were areas with 18" thick walls and small steps between rooms.

I climbed up the steep stairway to the attic. This low ceiling room with creaky floors was the coolest space in the house. There was a hole in the wall so I went through to investigate. I discovered that the house was actually more than 1 house. The original structure was a beautiful hewn log cabin. At some point a farmhouse had been moved from another location and set up close to but not touching the cabin. Later on a kitchen wing was added at the rear of the home. We learned that the cabin portion had a good stone foundation but the other areas were supported by on grade footings.

It was time to check out the back yard. WOW AGAIN! I thought there were a lot of trees in the front yard but this place was amazing. Tons of beautiful trees and large open spaces. My mind instantly went to work on ideas of how to make it our own. Outdoor living spaces, play areas for the kids, Our big garden and chicken run. there was space for everything.

But the house was  a wreck. It was sinking into the ground! How much would this cost to fix? What other problems would we find along the way. It was a nightmare.

We stopped at the local favorite Dairy Keen but I couldn't eat my burger. Everything about this house felt perfect except for the house. Kind of a big deal.


To be continued... (sorry, 1 more episode)