After we returned home from Sedona it was Thanksgiving Weekend. So we went back to my parents’ house and I attended my high school 10 year reunion that weekend as well. It was 1 part traumatizing, 1 part fascinating, and 2 parts VERY VERY STRANGE.

It’s surreal to return to a time in your life that has almost become myth you’ve churned it around in your head so many times. I remembered being made fun of and attacked by my classmates – coming home every day with gum in my hair or pretending not to hear snide remarks tossed at me from across the hall…

But no one else remembered those things. They just remembered I was the shy quiet tall girl that intrigued but intimidated them.

Who’d have guessed?!

Following Thanksgiving Weekend, I had two days to pack up my apartment as my brother and I were moving into our brand new house on Dec. 1st. Of course, then we did our walkthrough and got so excited we decided to move in THAT NIGHT!

So Matthew drove back with me to my apartment in Venice Beach and we packed up the entire place, starting at 7pm. By moving up our truck rental to that night, the only truck they had available was their largest one. THANK GOODNESS is all I have to say! We had gotten two sizes smaller originally. And we barely had enough room for all our stuff with the large truck!

The only hiccup in all this was that the truck we rented didn’t come with a dolly! We rented one, but it was nowhere to be found. As per usual with me, luck has a random way of working out (actually the Law of Attraction, but I’m not going to knock you over the head with how well that works just now). We went to all the local stores to buy one, but none were available. Then as we walked back to my apartment, we noticed an unlocked, empty Uhaul in the 99 Cents store parkinglot.

Yep. It had a dolly.

We “borrowed it,” did our dirty work and then replaced it at about 3am. Well someone must have noticed, because now their truck had a lock on it! Oops! We placed the dolly next to their driverside door with a thank you note.

After a quick bite to eat at IHOP, we drove the hour north to my parents house where my brother had still been living. I grabbed a quick nap while he loaded all his stuff. At 10am we were ready to rock and roll down to Irvine where our new house awaited!

Look at the freaking SIZE of our truck!

And then we moved into Paradise…

Now the story behind how we landed this house is pretty crazy. I had come out of my fibroid surgery in quite the pickle. I’d been out of work for several months due to the pain, surgery, and recovery process. The day I returned to work the bailout was announced and all the members of my main membership site (my main source of income) all canceled within 48 hours.

I had no money and no real prospect for making money.

Add on top of that the fact that I had decided two weeks earlier that I wanted to move into a house and get out of my cramped apartment. In typical Jaime fashion, I went ahead and put in my 30 day notice that I was moving out. The universe always takes care of me.

Well this time almost turned out differently and I almost wound up homeless again!

There was a particular night, at the end of October, when all of this got pretty scary. My checking account was negative over $1400, I had no source of income and no way to make money. Everything I’d tried in the past just wasn’t working. The economy had pretty much frozen over with the bailout debacle currently going on.

I drove around in my car and just cried. I mean “I have no pride,” snotting all over, can barely see where I’m driving crying. I finally just went to see a movie to try and calm myself down.

When I got home, I just meandered around the internet. Somehow I came across a book that was public domain. It was called “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles.

That book became my bible.

After reading it, all the lightbulbs went off and I knew how I would make my money, get my house, and everything else. Starting Nov. 1st, I began a 60 day experiment to attract the new life I wanted.

Now let me preface what I’m about to tell you with this:

1. Before I started the experiment, my brother and I were denied 5 houses we’d applied for. They didn’t want people who were self-employed, or the owners would suddenly decide to move back in and keep the house.
2. I had no idea how I would make money. I’d used all the normal tricks I keep up my sleeves and nothing was working.
3. The economy had just been thrown into the most dramatic swing any of us has or hopefully will ever witness in our lifetimes.

Within 48 hours we were approved for ALL THREE houses we’d applied for the day I started the experiment. One of them was the house we were now moving into. This house was a miracle and it hit the market the day I started the experiment. It came fully furnished, was a 3000 sq. ft. home with all the best upgrades and exquisite details and best of all it was $1.3 million and, brand new, could have gone for that much too… yet we got it at a steal!

I can’t explain how or why except that we truly can have what we desire.

We rang in our new house with a housewarming party and many more parties to follow (with lots of Guitar Hero and Hide-and-go-Seek!).