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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Well... Robert got his first taste of the Ranch and this was his overall reaction Needless to say, he is raring and ready to go. We are so happy he liked the property. We are going to have to adjust being 30 minutes away from all of our friends so it helps to know that he would like to come stay with us and thinks all of our other friends will be just as ready to come and hang out on the weekends. We took him down the driveway and his eyes lit up. We showed him where the houses are going to sit and then we went through the property Showing him all of our hunting stands Then we walked down to the river and it just so happened that a flock of ducks flew out from the undercut of the riverbank. Couldn't have been more picturesque! Robert broke out the duck calls and got on it! That was truly one of the most beautiful moments at the property so far. Listening to the sound of the duck call bellowing through the trees, listening to the ducks and birds respond, the water flowing. It was awesome. I think Robert will have a blast down here. :) Dang it... We all Will! In other news: I am DEATHLY afraid of heights However, I am very proud that I made myself get into a Lock on stand with climbing sticks while we were down at the property. It took me 3 times to get all the way up... And about 20 minutes to get down... Ha Ha Ha but I did it! Here was my view! Pretty Dang amazing if you ask me! If I had the courage to do that in the dark, It would be GAME ON for Deer Season! As of right now, I am still a chicken and It will probably take me a few more tries before I go it along.. But the views are like no other That is for sure! Robert ended his trip with a donut and tearin' shit up with his truck Scarlett! ha ha ha Pretty good time down on the ranch. Ready to get down there and really have some fun! :) Until Next Time Carolina Love,
D. Once of our very best family friends, Meredith Hill & Bart Parson, tied the knot a few weekends ago. I ended up doing the photography for the wedding and little miss Kindall was the flower girl. We were so excited to see Meredith and Bart start their lives together and couldn't wait to get down to see them! They just so happen to live about 20 minutes away from our new property and it was fun to get to explore the area and take in the beautiful scenery on the drive down. Kindall and I had to be there early, for obvious reasons, and the rest of the Mize Clan followed later on. Kindall and I spent the hour drive with the radio off and enjoying pointing out the stunning fall trees and the wide open pastures. After a stupid moment of thought we actually started taking pictures to put up on the blog and the photos below are what came from the beautiful, breezy, sunny, fall afternoon! Aaannndddd... We just so happen to see this little guy while we were on our way down! I just love VW buses.... Obsession talk will be in later posts, I'm sure! Kindall snapped a few photos for me.. reminds me of my old blue Blue! We took the time to enjoy our new area and to imagine and dream about how excited we were that a drive like this everyday was going to be ours! All of the trees dotted the sides of the road with the stunning fall colors. Kindall made me aware that there were a good many places where the road was lined and covered with huge, beautiful trees and made it seem like we were going through a tunnel. We would get all excited when we saw a spot like that coming and we of course had the sunroof open to enjoy all the views... Finally we got out of the car when we reached Meredith's and were able to enjoy their farm and land for the wedding! Needless to say The quaint backyard wedding had their names all over it! From the hay bales that their guests sat on, to the old Ford truck that their cake sat on. It was simply the cutest backyard wedding! Big M is very excited for Meredith and Bart and can't wait to be their neighbors (kinda) in the next few years! We are so proud of you two and can't wait to see what exciting things the good man upstairs has for you two! Congratulations you two! Mr. & Mrs. Bart Parson November 2nd, 2013 Carolina Love,
D. Our families have been on the hunt for the right track of property for the past 2 years, trying our hardest and busting our butts to prepare ourselves to take the leap of faith, sell what we can, keep what we want, manage our budgets and own our own, as Tammy would put it, "Compound" ha ha ha We have searched through an endless amount of tracks that were close but no cigar. We have had several deals with property fall through and of course we would all get disappointed, sad and upset. The loss of what we thought was the perfect property over and over again had us questioning ourselves and left us confused about how we could make our situation better. At this point we were left with a bitter taste about moving and we didn't want to have to explore unplanned avenues for starting a new chapter in our lives... no one really does when you have a plan in mind. Let me explain. We all live together, yes, in one house. Each of us taking care of the others, financial problems, emotional issues, career advice, accomplishments, disappointments, tears and laughter we are all able to tackle life together, which I have come to realize is a pretty darn genius way to go through life. Yes, there are times in our family, just like in any other family, where we could strangle each other, but for the most part we keep life on the light and happy side and focus on our goals together and in the end, it all seems to work itself out. With Houston and I being a young couple getting prepared to get married and start our lives as one, we knew the we would want a home of our own, a family our own, but to keep our close knit family, well, Close! So we kept our eyes on the big picture, patiently waited, and prayed about our situation. In the mean time of searching for property to live on, we were also searching for Hunting property. We are all avid hunters and love when Deer season hits the upstate! At that point we were a few weeks away from the season open date. Brian ended up calling an old business client to see if she would mind if we hunted her property. And would you know.... During their conversation she offered the property to us to BUY. We couldn't believe it! When we weren't expecting or looking, the opportunity presented itself. Brian told everyone when we got home that night and you could immediately feel that excitement rush over the room, hopes were brought higher than ever before and our minds got rolling on the "What if this is it!?!?" question. After talking ourselves down from the udder surprise and excitement, we had a talk about it, we prayed over it, had another discussion, broke open the books to see if this would financially work for us, prayed some more, had another discussion and on October 18th, 2013 God made his entrance, placed his hand on our family and showed us the way. This was it! It was really happening! Below are the photos of all of us the night we signed the contract! This was our first step to reaching our dream of owning our "Homestead" :) So,what to do now that we have secured our new property?
Sell our current house. Harder than it sounds, right? Kinda scary? Yep. But Brian has this genius phrase, not complex at all, but it makes so much sense it will definitely create the "Face-in-palm" effect. Here it is... "Either you want it, or you don't" simple as that We are doing everything in our financial, faith, and determined power to make this happen. Because we want it! So here we go. Selling our house, moving to a new town, new schools, a new area, more land, and the Good man Upstairs by our side. With a little bit of faith, and a whole lotta' love, everything is possible! Carolina Love, Dana 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 Hi There.... For my very first post I figured I could introduce all of the WONDERFUL people in my life that you will hear about most often in the Big M blog. So let's get our feet wet my Family Tree God had a wonderful plan designed for these two sets of couples to create 2 of the best parents this girl could ever ask for. God made the way and held them to standards far greater than themselves to churn out my mom and dad. They are the root to our family, our lives and our values. These are my grandparents. So back in rockin' 80s this handsome gentleman (Brian Stone): Met this Stunning woman (Sissy Stone on the left): Sparks Flew, they hit it off and ended up tying the knot on December 1st, 1984. My mom and oldest sister (Natasha) were brought into the Stone clan and created the first trio of Stones :) Look how dashing they were. Two little love doves... 2 years later they decided that 3 just wasn't enough and Holly Merrelle Stone was born on April 10, 1986. (she might possibly kill me for using her middle name, which was provided by my oldest sister's cabbage patch doll, right on Natasha) ........ okay moving on! From left to right: My Cousin (Kimberly) , Natasha, and the little blond is Holly Stone My parents must liked pina coladas and getting caught in the rain because I made my grand entrance to the world 5 years later on November 26, 1991 After many years of ups and downs, ins and outs, we are all humble, happy and healthy and that is more than I could ever be blessed with for my family . Needless to say we all look a little different now And my sisters have added beautiful nieces and nephews and my brother-in-laws to the bunch. Below are my sisters and brother-in-laws: Sammy and Natasha Griffith Corey & Holly McMullen I love these kiddos with all my heart :) As of right now I have not had the blessing to have a child of my own but HouMan and I have some fish to fry before we tackle raising a family.. So having all these little munckins to worry about are more than enough right now :) There is truly nothing like family.
As I always say, " We may not have it all together, But together we have it all." There will forever be the ups and downs of family dynamic, but in the end, when you are taking your last breath of life, your clothes, fancy cars, brand new houses and material things won't be there to comfort you and sing, "Amazing Grace" as you greet the good lord above, your family will. I love every single one of them for very different reasons, I love their characters, and personalities. I love the person they have enabled me to become and how they effortlessly support me to the person I have yet to be. They are my family. They are my rocks. They are my support system. They are a stunning gift from God That I am nothing less than Thankful for. |
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. |