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What made us 2x stronger…

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I absolutely love our neighborhood. It’s quiet, safe, tree-lined, with wonderful neighbors and dozens of kids for my daughters to play with. It has a close-knit community feel, but the yards are spacious and private. My girls leave their toys out in the yard and ride their bikes through the streets, carefree. We have a neighborhood list-serv, a newsletter, an active mom’s group, a babysitting co-op, book club, and a bunch of other well-organized committees that put together great monthly events – a Halloween parade, Easter egg hunt, chili cook-off, wine & cheese parties, and so much more. Although the area feels very suburban, there’s a wonderful elementary school, dozens of stores and restaurants, and a Metro station within a couple of miles… and we’re just a few minutes outside of Washington, DC. My kids will have wonderful memories of growing up in this neighborhood.

Yet, back in 2008, we considered giving it all up.

We decided that in order to take care of some debt – and stop living paycheck to paycheck – we needed to downsize. So we put our house on the market, planning to either rent a place for a year, or move a little farther away, looking to buy a home that cost significantly less than what our current house was worth. With the money that we’d make from selling our house, we could pay off all our credit cards and still have plenty left over for a down payment on a new, more affordable home.

family roomI figured that it was a good time to make this decision. I wanted to move before the girls started school because I knew that would make it that much harder on them. The baby was well, just a baby. Not even a year old yet, so I wasn’t worried about moving her away from her friends. Maya was almost 4 years old. Not really old enough to understand what was happening.

We fixed some things here and there, moving boxes and boxes of stuff into storage to stage the house a bit. I was heartbroken when our real estate agent suggested we paint our beautiful family room wall because it was a little “too abstract” and might turn buyers off. My house had never been cleaner. I would send the kids out to play every afternoon just so they wouldn’t make a mess inside, because you never knew when a potential buyer would want to stop by.

The problem was the housing market wasn’t exactly in good shape at that point. And though our house was beautiful – or so we were told – we didn’t have any takers. I mean, we did have a couple of buyers lowball us, but the difference was just too much and not worth it in the end.

I'm letting her jump all over the furniture...After 4 months, we took the house off the market. We gave it our best shot, but it just wasn’t meant to be. We decided that we would have to make some sacrifices, but we were determined to stay put. And it’s the best decision we ever made! Maybe we aren’t able to take the two-week vacations or buy the pool membership that so many of our neighbors enjoy, but we’re okay with that. Because we love our neighborhood. We love our house. It’s home. Situations like this can break up a marriage, but everything we went through that year made our family 2x stronger.

Angel Soft is now 2x stronger!

Angel Soft, the bath tissue we all know and love, is new and improved! An ideal balance of softness and strength at a value your budget will love, it’s 2x stronger, so you’ll likely use less. With two young daughters who go through toilet paper like crazy, this is important to me! Try it for yourself! Grab a coupon and be sure to visit facebook.com/angelsoftlatino and the Angel Soft website to learn more!

WIN IT! Angel Soft “2X Strong” Reader Giveaway

Our friends at Angel Soft are providing a TDB reader with an Angel Soft product gift basket, which will include:

  • one (1) $25 Target gift card
  • one (1) Angel Soft 2x Stronger pack with 4 rolls (valued at $1.99).

You can always use some toilet paper, right? To enter, check out the widget below. For the mandatory entry, please leave a comment on this post telling me about a personal experience that made you 2x stronger.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Angel Soft. However, all opinions expressed are my own. 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. There are a couple examples I can think of that made me 2x stronger. But one good example is my kids! With one that was diagnosed with ADHD and the other having allergies to common food preservatives, I have had to learn how to cook from scratch and kick out some of the nasty ingredients that are common in processed foods. I used to be a microwave cook and now I don’t even own one!

  6. I guess for me its been my two back surgeries. They didnt turn out quite the way they were supposed to, and will need one more. It has made me stronger …mentally! Weaker physically…but a much stronger person!

  7. oh..where should I start?!… 🙂
    I think all obstacles we go through make us a little stronger.

  10. Taking care of my elderly bedridden mom for the last year of her life made me stronger.

  17. Surviving school, the down job market, and taking care of an aging parent Whew, I’m strong but tired LOL! 😉

  18. Losing my daughter, my dad passing unexpectedly and my daughters epilepsy have all made me stronger (most days) … but its really made our family stronger, our love stronger.

  25. Having a miscarriage helped me develop stronger empathy toward others.

    Thanks for a great giveaway!

  27. Having an ex that skipped out on child support, having no family near, and raising two boys made me stronger.

  31. getting one child through teenage years and now in the process of getting another one through

  32. Taking care of my father in law dying of cancer who was bedridden, somehow I know God gave us the strength to push on!.

  33. My husband and I are going through one right now and it’s making us and our marriage 2X stronger.

  35. Being diagnose at 33 with heart disease has made me stronger.My father passed away from the same thing at 36.I will be around to watch my kids grow up.

  37. Helping my sister find herself again after her devastating divorce after 28 years of marriage. It has made me stronger, now I just wish she would get stronger. I want my sister back and it is so sad.

  45. Being married to a military man moving all over the place so many deployments with no family or support made me a stronger person

  47. Taking care of my mom when my dad died made me 2x stronger!
    ptavernie at yahoo dot com

  48. 10 years ago I was diagnosed with RA and I’ve learned to be strong and deal with it.
    Thanks for the contest.

  56. My husband being deployed and I am taking care of our two small children without him.

  58. Going through 2 floods and losing a lot. Friends and neighbors were wonderful about reaching out and helping and it made us stronger in relationships and how we view things that are just that…things. people are more important.

  70. Becoming friends with a wonderful lady named Eva who is my inspiration and role model

  71. Hearing my daughter may have leukemia made me stronger. Thank God she didn’t but hearing something like that it really changes you. It makes you look at life differently and makes you realize you are stronger than you think. Thank you!

  72. After trying for several years, my first pregnancy ended in miscarriage. A few years later our two month old son died from SIDS. That made us stronger – sadder, but stronger!

  77. When I married my husband who was in the military. Not only did we live far away from family, but I learned that I could do many things on my own!

  79. Being sucker punched by the economy and an illness… well, I survived, guess it made me 2X stronger!

  84. My husband lost his job two weeks after we found out we were pregnant. We had been trying for a year to conceive so our great news was shadowed by really bad news. It ended up working out for the best though, it took 9 months but he finally landed his dream job. The bad times made us appreciate the good times.

  92. My experience is on-going as I am battling MS. It has made me stronger in spirit.

  98. A few years ago I lost my job. It was tough times but I think it made me 2X stronger!

  102. Helping the police capture a criminal the newspapers called “the worst serial rapist the South has ever known” made me 2X stronger … and so proud!

  106. Five years ago I was in a serious car accident that left me with permanent injuries including traumatic onset fibromyalgia. Learning to live with these debilitating problems has taught me to be two times stronger, because I still need to support myself and refuse to go on disability. The settlement came three years after the accident and only paid a fraction of what my medical bills will amount to for the rest of my life, but coming to terms with that took a lot of strength as well.
    Danizilla´s last blog post ..Danizilla & Portland – an Uneasy Truce

  110. Sorry posted before I finished.

    I would love to win because I know I am strong 3 children later 🙂

  113. I am 2x stronger because I carried and delivered 4 babies in 8 years. I survived with them while my husband was overseas for over 6 months.

  122. Making it thru a non-traditional (for females) apprenticeship. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. hmmm

  123. Increasing my power walking by an hour a day has made me more than two times stronger.

  125. This past Oct. my 90 yr. old dad had a stroke and a week later Hurricane Sandy hit. Going through both of these things back to back definitely made me at least 2x stronger since I had the responsibility of caring for my dad and dealing with preparing the house for the storm as well as the clean up afterward.

  128. Being with my mother, holding her hand when she passed away. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

  129. My father passed away when I was 19, I had to leave college for a bit to help my family out. Overall, it made me a far better person, despite the sad circumstances.

    acartwrightmorell at gmail dot com

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