Why hello my friends, it’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything – I guess good news as far as migraine is concerned I remain pretty stable with Migraines Bad Treatment Doesn’t Work Well but don’t seem to be getting worse.

I started the year pondering this thought – what does it mean to be stuck somewhere in the middle – feeling like life doesn’t really get to be lived anymore but not knowing when it’s time to move on. (I wrote about A Life In Between in January if you missed it)

That conversation about being an adult, but being stuck due to health reasons resonated with many of my friends I’ve met over the years, and I was kind of surprised just how common the feeling is.

Sometime around late spring I began to get antsy, one of my best friends uprooted his life to go live his dreams out in Denver, CO and it got me thinking a bit more seriously about the when for when I’d want to go off on my own again.

Then as the coldest summer I’ve ever experienced in Northern Wisconsin dragged on, one of my favorite old house blogs – @cheapoldhouses over on Instagram – shared this darling century home in South Carolina. It had a covered gazebo in the wrap around porch and a charming as hall hell red tin roof, and it was in the heart of the state on a road I drove on dozens of time making the commute between Clemson and Charleston. And she was only $49,900.

My curiosity was piqued at this point and I ended up on the phone with a mortgage lender, learning that I – disabled low income me – qualified for a mortgage. When I’d written previously about future plans, I had mostly assumed any place I ended up I would have to purchase outright. That there was simply no way a measly $1400 a month disability benefit would garner any kind of bank backed loan like a mortgage.

Lordy I was wrong! They pre-approved me for upwards of $80,000.

The idea of moving back to South Carolina was charming. My friends still in the area certainly liked the idea. Some even offered to go see the house on my behalf.

But as I ran the numbers, and familiarized myself with taxes and medical costs, all of my $1400 a month budget would be accounted for. A dream to let go of.

As summer continued, as life has a way of doing, I kind of got kicked in the ass and realized under no circumstances could I spend another goddamn minute in Wisconsin, under my parents roof, and I sure as hell was not going to spend another winter there.

And so on July 19th, I decided to move. On July 30th, I submitted an offer on a house!

There’s a LOT that happened in between – and a lot of things I learned about lowering some of my monthly expenses – including the Social Security Extra Help program – that I’ve written about extensively over on Patreon. For $3 a month you can check out my Disabled Guide To Century Homeownership where I discuss everything I’ve learned in this process and all the nitty gritty details that went into down payments and moving expenses. That series is mostly wrapped up now but you can continue enjoying updates as I begin fixing up my (almost) century home.

You can also wait until I go through some editing as I will be publishing the Guide as an ebook/pdf or something similar as a low cost resource for all of the disability community.

So for $35,000 I bought a 1928 single story charmer of a home in Oklahoma.

August was spent doing inspections and all the necessary paperwork. I closed at the beginning of September.

And in mid-September I made the long drive from Northern Wisconsin down to Des Moines, then off to Joplin, and then out past Oklahoma City before arriving at my new home.

I had the home replumbed before I got here, it really doesn’t need a substantial amount of work, just appliances and a new electrical panel, and a whole lot of adjustments to bring a home into the 21st century – like lots of paint scraping and getting some of the windows open.

I solemnly swear to maintain the mint green tile in the bathroom and the cute as a button blue and white tiled kitchen and I will do my best to make century home time appropriate updates that match the original time period.

As my About Me page states “I’ve wanted to be a weather girl, a detective, a journalist, a psychologist, an architect, an interior designer, an astronaut, and a volcanologist.” and now I get to do some of those things! The little kid in me who grew up idolizing Jo in Twister went and planted herself right in the middle of tornado alley and I greatly look forward to all the (long distance) weather photography opportunities that will arise.

And as an interior designer and long lover of century homes, this is another dream come true.

So a new adventure begins. A warm swaddled in 90 degree days, adventure.

Thanks for still being here, and I look forward to sharing all this new adventure has to offer.

A.