Dana Mize& the big m ranch
Well. now that we secured the property and "It's Ours!" we better get to start building & selling, moving & groovin' Right? Right! So we spent a few hours talking and praying to figure out what God had in store of us next... and would you know that just so happened to be a 1983 Fleetwood Prowler travel trailer? Yea.. Me neither! But seriously, after we decided we were ready to make this move happen we spent countless hours on craigslist searching for the right Twinkie... (as my best friend Alicia calls campers & trailers) We searched in the tri-state area and to be honest campers are expensive little toys, 40,000 here 60,000 there... We are apparently in the wrong line of work because I can go ahead and tell you that Gearhead & I are not anywhere close to that tax bracket... ha ha ha Okay... So we made a plan and I decided I would take on some extra photography work so that we could get our hands on a older nice model camper that would be comfortable to live in. Yup Live in! Houston and I are very like minded in the fact that we want to live our lives NOW... to the fullest extent. I don't want to wait until I am at retirement age to have our dream home. We are doing it now! With a lot patience, a lot of help from our parents, modest money management and perseverance we will be self building our own home. Not to fool anyone to thinking this will be a nightmare. Brian is a General Contractor and will be guiding and building our house with us! The Camper comes in on the modest money management side. We are planning on moving into the camper and living out of it until we are able to complete our home. That may be 1 year, maybe 3 years.. who knows... We just know we have a goal in mind, we are content with what opportunities we have and we aren't giving up. This will definitely be an adventure! So we saved what we had and whatever we could get our hand on. However I have a bad tendency to dip back into savings if it is accessible... so we ended up cashing out our savings and placing it into a glass jar with a very small bottle neck and of course.. NO WAY to get the funds out unless you break the jar..... Though this seems very elementary... it worked for us! We were able to watch our saving grow through the glass and found the nights where we rolled up the bills and shoved them in & wrote the new total on the bottle to be a pretty fun and goofy experience.... Plus you can't argue with results! Here is our camper jar hanging out waiting for more moolah! and us cramming in more money! Anyway.. after a short 1 1/2 hour drive to Forest City, North Carolina, we bought our new Metal Mansion and are starting to call it home while we are shaping the property and getting ready to build. This is also going to make it easier for Brian to go in and fix anything on the current house and show it to people since our stuff won't be clogging up the place! Brian and Houston had to fiddle with the ball on the hitch a little.... but we got it... I still wonder to this day is Papa Mize put Locktite on the threads just to play with us.... because seriously.. He Would! Either way.. it was pretty funny to watch. Well, we got the right ball on the hitch and loaded her up to take her home! Here are some photos of the inside. the front door leads into the living room that the previous owners were using as extra space to have a bed when friends came over. There are two bedrooms through the back door. A full kitchen, dining area and a bathroom. She is 33ft long :) Now to take down all that sexy wood paneling and
MAKE IT HOME! :) Carolina Love, D.
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No matter how white trash it sounds... in July 2009 in a Walmart parking lot in South Carolina I met this guy. Like Prince Charming he rode up in his lifted 1987 Chevy Suburban aptly named "The Tank". I mean take a gander at that thing!!! :) He opened up his warm, goofy personality, let me sit in the driver's seat and the rest is history. To this day, I am consumed in his honor he carries for family, his drive to be successful and his genuinely compassionate character. Almost 5 years later, I find myself writing this post with a smile from ear to ear and my soul warmed with his presence. I couldn't imagine a day not spent with HouMan. Love you to the Moon and Back, LumberJack. This is my GearHead (Houston Mize): My senior prom picture below: We ended up skipping the fancy affair and went to dinner, then came home and watched Transformers :) Best Night Ever We are constantly on the pursuit of accomplishing things that are larger than life and giving God the glory for it all. We are so privileged to have so many amazing role models and such a large support system.
For all of those that are dying to ask the question, "When are you guys getting married?" We are letting God handle the perfect time. He has been pulling at our heart strings and we are just waiting for him to make the way for us to tie the knot! Until then, we will be submerged in his plan of life for us, Love each other deeply and be thankful for the opportunities he is opening up for us. Carolina Love, Dana |
Dana Here..25. Married to my High School sweet pea, Houston. We have lived in a 216 sq ft camper working on 3 years now to become as financially free as possible while building our first home ourselves on 25 Acres in the Upstate of South Carolina. |