I am spending this holiday weekend “sick like dog”; I blame cottonwood pollen (though it is likely grass or some other item, since cottonwood fluff in May and June is well after the actual pollen release for them), or perhaps the odd manner in which stress, suddenly relieved, seems to bring on a bout of sickness. Whichever, I’m speaking like someone who doesn’t have a nose, my throat feels like it’s studded with glass shards, and I’m unable to get comfortable regardless what I try. Bleh. On the other hand, preparations for the coming move are going along quite nicely, […]
How do you spell relief? C-L-O-S-E-D.
Trust me on this one; after almost two months of back and forth with the seller, an extended bout of bureaucracy courtesy of both HUD and the bank intending to purchase my loan pretty much as soon as my mortgage company issues it, and the final spasms of updating, re-re-re-re-re-validating information I already sent over months ago, and generally being run through the wringer forwards, backwards, sideways, (and I’m pretty sure they ran me diagonally, too) I finally (a) had loan documents issued, (b) had the final HUD authorization issued, and (c) signed those bitches and made the sale official. […]
A happy graduation (and a sore spot on the return home)
Just returned from being out of town since the 3rd at my daughter summa cum laude graduation (proud of her? me? you betcha). It was a pretty pleasant experience but for the return flight home and an unfortunate encounter with TSA. I spent the evening last night and most of today contemplating the matter and trying to decide what to do about it. Part of me is so angry that I want to just shred something and the other part? Well, it acknowledges that this pitiful state of affairs wherein citizens are routinely being intimidated, humiliated, harassed, and manhandled is […]
Locked and loaded (house update)
You have no idea how hard it is not to post pictures and start planning as if this house is mine. Yesterday evening, I got the notification that lot and renovation work is complete at the house; I pulled a “split shift” for work (took lunch at 1, departed at 2, returned home and knocked out the difference in hours) to go over and walk through the place to decide if the outcomes were to my liking. They are. So, upon return (and in possession of many photos, copies of all renovation receipts, and permits), I notified the seller’s agent […]
“Yuh di’ a gud ting, George.”
Now I’ll admit, I work very hard not to be too prideful about my own opinion. It just always seems to me that this one thing avoids a lot of mess, overall, and in particular, the unfortunate circumstance of thinking your opinion is somehow “naturally” better than anyone else’s (because, you know, we all think that unless we work at it). But, on occasion, I’ll riff something out without letting “the editor” get her hands on it and, on even rarer occasion, that something I look back at a day or two later and say to myself, “Wow, you know, […]
Just call me “Cassandra” (grins to you-know-who)
On September 3rd, 2011, the prediction made long ago came true: To anyone who might still be reading this newsgroup: Over the past few years, a couple of us have been funding the panix account at which the moderation software for this newsgroup is hosted. Given the minuscule traffic here, and what looks like the imminent death of usenet, it’s hard to justify the $100/year that it’s costing us to keep the lights on here. The billing cycle has the account up for renewal on 9/15/2011 and our current intention is not to continue paying for the account. If there’s […]
Yet another reason I know I made the right choice
As you may know if you read here, I recently decided to change jobs/companies and began with a new company in February. Among the many reasons I did not and will not share, I now have another to add which I will share, as I am sitting here both astonished and disgusted (though, admittedly, given the many reasons for this change, I probably should not be surprised). While with this previous company, I opened an FSA account. The account was funded fully by my own contributions, with no employer contributions or matching. Having experienced the benefit of being able to […]
Adventures in housing… continue!
So… as of roughly ten minutes ago, we have mutual acceptance on a contract to purchase a house. Two weeks of vigorous back and forth and more terms, counters, and revisions than expected, but here we are…. now, it’s waiting on final construction to complete, doing the buyer’s walk through and deciding if I accept or reject the final construction outcome and, if so, THEN the remainder of the actual contract kicks in with all its ten days to formal housing inspection, five days for loan completion, etc. Fortunately for me, I was doing most of that loan paperwork and […]
Offending sellers (oh my!)
I mentioned in a previous post that we are back on the house hunt. Our first offer went in this morning and, whaddaya know, by noon we had a response. A little backstory here… We went to view one house, noticed another was under reno, and due to a curious encroachment of a fence between the two, discovered both had the same owner. A quick call to inquire and lo! The reno house was available and they were interested in entertaining an offer on a pre-sale contract. We were scheduled to meet the agent and the contractor at the house […]