From the beginning

When I was in grad school in Indiana and drowning in student loan debt (oh wait, I still am) JR (my intrepid and long-suffering husband) and I would take car trips around the Midwest. These car trips were an excuse for me to read incredibly boring texts and for him to find off-the-beaten tracks brewpubs (if there is a brewpub within 100 miles from him JR can sniff it out). 

There is this deal we made several few years ago that states; Jr will stop at all historical markers, plaques, signs and old houses so I can get my history fix. In exchange I will happily go to any brewpub he comes across and will drive after the third one.

On these drives we started a little game we called: "We can afford that". The object of the game is to spot broken down old houses and be the first to say: "we can afford that!"

These can't just be any old dilapidated house. No, No, No, they must be falling down, listing to the side, have no glass in the windows, and roofs falling in preferably with grass & bushes growing on what's left. A really prime specimen has birds roosting in them. OMG, there is nothing better than seeing a turkey vulture perched on the top. We swoon over that sight.

Why do we play this game? Besides that we see cool houses that is? Because these are probably the only houses we could afford. It was our tongue-in-cheek way of putting a little humor into our sad financial situation. 

Years later this game has become sort of an obsession. We have moved several times and we are in a little bit of a better financial situation but we still play the game. We go out of our way to drive the back-roads of the country to spot "that old wreck". Every time I have to go on a trip I try to make it an opportunity to play, "we can afford that".I'm that crazy person that makes a u-turn, pulls to the side of the road, shleps through the waist high weeds to take a photo of this:

And I share them all with you. I write snarky advertizements, really bad poetry, set humorous (or what I think is humorous) words to popular songs, scary-bad haiku or actual historical facts about the house, town or trip. One really never knows which way I'll go with it. Most times, I don't even know when I take the photo how I'll be using it. 

Stay tuned for more "We can afford that" posts.

If you would like to share a photo of an old crumbling down old house, building or town I'd love to feature them. If you want to include a post for it I'd be happy to post that also. Let's turn this into a really fun interactive game/website!

Smile pretty for the camera,
Michele