2 Years of HELL on Earth

We lived in this busted ass place. It was horrible. The roof leaked straight through the floor. You could look through the floor and see the ground. You could look straight through some of cracks in the walls. It was hot as hell in the summer and cold as a mother in the winter. But we survived.... somehow.

Wes and I had to take showers together... and not for the reason you think. There wasn't time for that. Because you had about 10 mins of hot water and that was it. Then the breaker would trip and the water heater would shut off.

The only heat we had in that dump was a wood heater. Do you even know how bad that sucks ass? I will try to explain but I don't know if words could actually describe the suck assness of the situation.

First off you had to get wood. Now we were totally broke. Wood was $45 a truck load and it would last about a week and a half. If we couldn't afford that (which was most of the time) we had to go out in the woods and get some. Which ment wes cut I carried. He split it and I stacked it inside. So say we had the wood. Then the easiest way to light a fire was with one of those fire logs you buy at the store..... which are not cheap either and if we couldn't afford to buy one then wes had to build the fire because I was never able to build one. I would have to bundle up in tons of clothes and blankets because it would be so cold you could see your breath until he got off work and started the fire. Sometimes I would turn the stove on and open the door. That helped if you were right in front of it. And if that happened then right about bed time it would start to warm up. But to keep it that way you had to get up every 2 hours and load more wood in. And that damn wood heater was alway catching the ceiling on fire. Wes was tall enough he could reach up and put it out. I on the other hand had to go running for the broom to knock it out because I am so short.

Then we also had a well. That was the most disgusting water. You could actually see floaties in it. So we had to buy bottled water because I didn't think drinking it was a good idea. The water would have the same affect as bleach on clothes so drinking it was not an option. I didn't even brush my teeth in it.

All our furniture was hand me down or thrift store specials. And it all had to be replaced when we moved because everything smelled all moldy.

There was also a time that I had to decide whether to pay the power bill or buy groceries. Not that I could have paid the whole power bill at once anyways. But still. So I decided that we needed to eat worse.... so you guessed it.... power got shut off. Which ment no water cause we had the well. We took a shower at the neighbors (friend of wes) and started eating the bologna sandwiches. Turns out we had to eat them for the next 6 months. The cats too. And a phone...cable? No phone or cable until right before we moved. Couldn't afford it. There was the poverty level and just below there was us.

The night they cut the power off. We decided enough is enough. No matter what we had to do we were going to get out of there. So we scrimped and saved and worked as much as we could... plus I was going to college at the time. We had no help from anyone. Wes worked his normal job and we wired houses together at night and any other odd jobs he could find. I went to class in the morning went to work at a shitty barely paying job in the afternoons and on weekends and my days off I cleaned houses with my Nana. There were times I would come home COVERED in sheetrock dust from cleaning these houses. The shit would be all up in my nose... turns to glue by the way. Neither of our families offered to help.... not that we would have took it but still. It took us 2 years of living there to get on our feet and get the fuck outta there.

As much as I hated and cried about it... I think it turned out to be a good thing for us. We worked HARD for everything that we have. We also became very close. When you don't have tv you have to talk to each other. And you definitely don't want to get in a fight because you don't want to have to sleep on the couch. Sex & Cuddling was mandatory to keep from freezing to death. It was so cold that the cats would sleep UNDER the blankets. The main thing I learned from all this was survival. Make do with what you have and because when it comes down to it, that's all you've got. Most of the friends you think you have.... aren't really friends.

I told Wes that was real love. Anyone that would suffer through that must love him.

This is why I get so fucking mad at people who whine about not having any money and wanting shit handed to them.... because I have been there. Probably worse than most people out there. Get a job... get off your ass and work for it. I have NO sympathy for people like that.

The funny thing about it was.... we actually needed government help. Seriously if there was anyone out there that did.... it was us. But we didn't qualify. Are you fuckin kidding me? We don't have food or power or water AND WE HAVE JOBS MORE THAN ONE A PIECE!! but we don't qualify. So I get really chapped when I see someone driving a $30K automobile and getting a check every month and food stamps. I want to hit them. Seriously. This is a major factor with me being pissed off at the world.