Yes, I know, it has been a while

Busy as hell people. I am busy as hell. I have been working madly on the house. Had to stop though cause I am teaching at a Journalism workshop Sun - Wednesday. I leave Wednesday for Washington DC to spend time with the Bff and her family.

I have a whole nother post I'm creating in my head on the handyman working on my house. Nice guy, but he is driving me to drink . . . ok, more than I usually do.

In the meantime, the dogs have gone to the Canine Country Club for some r and r. He hasn't worn a collar in years because he gets upset, starts trying to take it off and then gets it caught in his mouth. Distressing for all of us to say the least. So, I bought a collar and a name tag for him and a halter so that if he tried to get the collar off then they could make him wear the halter. ( He used to try to escape all of the time, he really doesn't try any more, but we weren't certain of how he would behave.) So, Cat, is now chilling with the parentals. They have kindly been keeping me up with his happiness.

Cat is so happy - he may not speak to you when you return. I have the bag with the harness & receipt awaiting your return from MB's so you can return it. Of course, one never knows with a cat....he may be just waiting for us to relax and he will try to escape.

This cracks me up. He is a crafty bugger, and certainly he might be trying to lure them into a comfort zone before attempting to exit the premises. However, he is older now and, quite frankly, he enjoys Dad's lap too much to go out into the cruel world.

Another quick side note, if this were big sis's cat, he would be bringing them mice, frogs, birds and other things (some dead/some alive) to show his affection. I may have to remind the parentals about this if they start getting testy about Cat's love of the lap.

I'm in pain and feel like Elvis

I have worked my ass off. It's been 9 days. I have painted the shelves in the closet. Painted the master bedroom. Painted the living room. Gotten two storage units and begun filling them. I have scrubbed floors. I have cleaned, cleaned and cleaned. I have bought everything I need to complete the front bathroom. I have bought the paint to paint the TV room and the kitchen.

I am tired, and I am in pain. Everything hurts. My arms, fingers, head and toes. I have paint all over me. And, I have stuff that I needed to get done tonight.

My plan included taking another round of possessions to the storage unit and critiquing the two yearbooks I told myself I would have critiqued by yesterday, especially since I have two more to do. Auugghhhh.

I am feeling like Elvis because I downing the caffeine and energy drinks to keep me moving during the day. At night I am wired for sound, so I take Tylenol PM, a little nip of vodka and whatever to get to sleep. And then I start over again the next day. Dear Lord, just don't let me die on the toilet.

I have to admit when I first got the idea to sell the house, I was still rolling it around contemplating if I really wanted to do that or not. The more I work on the house, the more I think that it will be such a huge relieve to not have the huge monthly payment and all of the bills that come with it. . .

So, my mom used to say that she feared if she and Dad died and left me money I would take it and buy a big ole house that was falling apart because I fell in love with it. Ironically, I kinda did that. This is an awesome house, and it absolutely has great bones, but it needs so much. All of the cosmetics, but also it desperately needs the things that would make it energy efficient. None of the stuff which I actually have the money to do.

So, I have another long list of stuff to do tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after. But, when it is all said and done, I know the house will look beautiful. And there will be photos to prove it!!

Embarrassing moments

Greeeaatttt, just had one of my editors walk in to find me crying as I wait on hold for Bank of America to decide if they are done screwing me or not.

Turns out there was an update of account sent to me, I'm certain it was a pamphlet filled with writing. Somewhere in there it said they are raising my interest rates unless I call within X number of days to complain.

Well, I missed that little cut off, I just realized that my minimum payment went up, and I didn't know why. So, they have to pull my credit report and I had to give reasons why raising my payment is a burden, and they will decide if they will return the rate to what it was.

Of course, I did a balance transfer to this account because of the rate. I, foolishly as it turns out, assumed that as long as I kept my end of the bargain and made my payments, the Bank of America bastards would keep their end of the bargain and leave my interest rate the same.

The best part: because my debt has increased I am a bigger risk, so they are raising my interest rate AND raising my payment. Does ANY ONE ELSE see a problem with this logic???

The announcement

Ok, so I've been whining about my finances. They are, to put it bluntly, a mess. I know a large part of the plan must include changing habits on the part of yours truly. I get that. But, I also know that if all things remain the same, I am not going to get ahead of the debt in my lifetime. That calls for a big move.

So, I am going to sell my house. My friend KS is a real estate agent. She is going to look into comps and see if I'm right about the price tag I'd like to put on the house. If I can get what I want, then I will be able to either rent for a couple of years or find another townhome to live in for a while before I upgrade again. That will allow me to totally pay off my debt, and have money put aside for emergencies/new car when it is time. I can also start saving again for my next upgrade.

I love this house, but I hate how stressed I always am about my finances. So, once again, this blog will become the merry tale of my fixing up a house and moving on. . . I'll keep you posted.