My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 35

Today is the 35th day of my experiment. I am going to give $3500 to St. Lucy's in Newark for saving my Dad's life. He was a Nicky Newarker and from a very large family of 7 children. His Dad was not around much and my Dad spent a lot of time in the streets with his gang. One of the solid forces in his life was centered around this wonderful church and its Drum & Bugle Corps. Through the miracle of music, I think Dad's soul was lured to the Lord. So, this is where I am putting my 2 cents in today. They will appreciate the money coming from someone who, as a little girl, was their little confessor. It is just a tiny gift to repay them the good that they did for me and that they still do today.

The rest of the money is going to go to pay for the downpayment on my Pocono home. When I was a little girl, my parents used to take me to 3 different places: Ecuador (about every 7 years), the beach (every year we did not go to Ecuador) and last, but not least, the Poconos. I have always been very at home in the woods. (More so than the shore....) The prices of houses the way they are, I should be able to secure the home and pay the downpayment in a vacation area so that we could have a place to retreat to if we wanted, whenever we wanted. It would have to be several rooms so that we could have many guests come and stay with us. We would probably have 6 bedrooms with 2 sets of bunks in at least 3 of the rooms. It would have to be near a lake, probably close to my friend Anne, who I adore. It would have to be in a community, near a church and close to fun things, like skiing, and water slide parks. I can't wait to show the kids how much fun it is to spend time in the woods and all the fun things you could do. I miss the Poconos already. I have not been there in a long time. :) Now, with my own home there, I could go anytime. Oh, and I would have a video surveilance camera put in to make sure the kids did not have crazy parties there....they will never have to know. :)
All the best,
Alicia
ps- Here is a shot of a home from http://www.poconomountainbuilders.com Looks like something I would buy.

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 30

One month since I started the experiment. Wow. How time flies when you are having fun! My life is heading toward matching my experiment every day, closer and closer. It is very exciting to see it unfold. I think one of the keys to the success of the experiment is the clear and definite plan that I am creating through the experiment....words, matched with pictures, and a purpose with an expectation through clarity of thought. Anyway, I am going to start today off with a donation ($3000) to an organization called Concerned Women of America in honor of the unborn children of America and the world. Here is their mission statement: The mission of CWA is to protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens - first through prayer, then education, and finally by influencing our society - thereby reversing the decline in moral values in our nation.

The remainder of the money, $27,000 will go to putting a down payment on a house that we could rent out in town. It has always been my dream to have as many of my children living in the same town so we could be close and help each other. There is this really nice house up for sale in town now that I would just love to own. It is just so pretty and it is right on the park where it would be so nice to live there. It does not have as many bedrooms as my house does, but it has so much going for it. Besides, when we get our home addition, we will need a place to stay, so we can rent it out until the money comes for the addition. Then, we could stay there until the house was done without too much disruption. :) Below is a picture of a fountain that is steps away from the house. It is such a charming place.

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 28

I was at church today, honoring the life of Gerry at her funeral. I sing for funerals all year long and usually am not very moved when singing since it is my job to sing; but today was a little different. I found myself a little weepy as the Mass went along. It could have simply been the Pastor and the way he conducted the Mass, who knows. Anyway, the reason I am bringing this whole thing up, is because we still are short 1.5 million dollars in the renovation and my tithe money will go to helping us to build. Now, it is only $2800, but every little bit helps, right?

The remainder of the money will be spent on new doors in the house since most of them are drafty. Really nice doors that have stained glass in them. One for the front, one for each side. Each door will also be equipped with a thumbprint lock. Ok, I just want to replace all the doors in the house. It needs it anyway. There will be work that will need to be done to get them in, so it will probably cost about $10K. The rest will go to buy my hubby a used car of his choice!

So cool!!
All the Best!
Alicia

My THOUSAND Dollar experiment....Day 10

It's a $10,000 day! Woo Hoo! Double digits! As the first tenth goes off to tithe, I think I will send it in the direction of my church again as they still need in need of about 14 Million dollars! Click here and you can see what it will look like.

The remaining $9000 will go to our porch renovation. It is badly needed since it is probably as old as the house! We had the stairs done, but the rest of the flooring is in need of finishing too. We have some gingerbread on our house, but I would like to implement more. I really like the house pictured here, but maybe mixed with the khaki house below. I always wanted to have a bellowed out window where I could put up my Christmas tree and to have a place within the kitchen to eat everyday. Oh yeah... the kitchen....that is SO for another day! I will have to wait several other days before I even tackle that one!
Keep dreaming!
All the best!
Alicia