I just got an e-mail saying that Chris Isaak will be touring Europe this summer.
Big sigh.
That is what I should be doing this summer..... flying to Paris to see Chris Isaak and the guys. Maybe even following them to Nice or maybe Rome. That's the life I want to lead. I'm just not sure how to get there from the path that I'm on now.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Loan Mod, B of A, and Fridge
Updates Updates Updates
1. I called B of A this morning to try and find out where our loan modification is at. I applied Wednesday December 9th. At that time I was told it could take UP TO 45 days to receive word back from them. When I called this am the woman told me she could do nothing for me since it had not been 45 business days. It has been only 28 business days. According to my calculations I can call back again on the 11th of February if I have not heard anything. At that point in time I am supposed to call back in to the bank and I will be put on the expedited list.
Now when I first called I was under the impression that we would be done with this process in 45 days and now I'm told the 45 days is something like a holding bin where all good homeowners are told to continue making payments or else you will not be able to get a loan modification. Then after the 45 days you move into another 'expedited' holding bin. I'm not sure, the woman wouldn't tell me what happens or what the time frame is after the 45 days. It could take another 6 months to finalize a loan modification. No wonder so many people are just walking away. This process is ridiculous. It shouldn't be that hard to look at my bank statements, take my payments down to 33% of my income and write up a new contract. If it is that hard then I suggest that Bank of America and all other banks hire a few extra people with their bailout money to process these applications. It would be money well spent.
Also this is a juicy little tidbit. There is no direct phone number to the loan modification department. I asked and they couldn't give me one. You have to call the general customer service, wait for five minutes to talk to someone who will then transfer you to the MHA department where you will wait another 5-10 minutes waiting to talk to someone. Very shady if you ask me. If I've filled out the application and I'm in the middle of the process the very least they could do is give me a direct line to that department. I suppose it's like that to deter people from calling. What B of A doesn't know is that I've got nothing but time and I'll ride their asses to the very end of this process.
2. The roof. We got our first check for the roof last Thursday. There is now a pile of pallets and shingles in front driveway. The only problem is that currently they are covered by a foot of snow and by Friday they should be covered with 3-4 feet of snow. It's putting a real glitch in actually getting guys on the roof. Till next week on that one.
3. I'm not in the mood to update Fridge. Writing all the bull crap above has made me cranky. It's a snow day and there are 5 children running around wild in my house and I don't think I can leave them unsupervised much longer.
1. I called B of A this morning to try and find out where our loan modification is at. I applied Wednesday December 9th. At that time I was told it could take UP TO 45 days to receive word back from them. When I called this am the woman told me she could do nothing for me since it had not been 45 business days. It has been only 28 business days. According to my calculations I can call back again on the 11th of February if I have not heard anything. At that point in time I am supposed to call back in to the bank and I will be put on the expedited list.
Now when I first called I was under the impression that we would be done with this process in 45 days and now I'm told the 45 days is something like a holding bin where all good homeowners are told to continue making payments or else you will not be able to get a loan modification. Then after the 45 days you move into another 'expedited' holding bin. I'm not sure, the woman wouldn't tell me what happens or what the time frame is after the 45 days. It could take another 6 months to finalize a loan modification. No wonder so many people are just walking away. This process is ridiculous. It shouldn't be that hard to look at my bank statements, take my payments down to 33% of my income and write up a new contract. If it is that hard then I suggest that Bank of America and all other banks hire a few extra people with their bailout money to process these applications. It would be money well spent.
Also this is a juicy little tidbit. There is no direct phone number to the loan modification department. I asked and they couldn't give me one. You have to call the general customer service, wait for five minutes to talk to someone who will then transfer you to the MHA department where you will wait another 5-10 minutes waiting to talk to someone. Very shady if you ask me. If I've filled out the application and I'm in the middle of the process the very least they could do is give me a direct line to that department. I suppose it's like that to deter people from calling. What B of A doesn't know is that I've got nothing but time and I'll ride their asses to the very end of this process.
2. The roof. We got our first check for the roof last Thursday. There is now a pile of pallets and shingles in front driveway. The only problem is that currently they are covered by a foot of snow and by Friday they should be covered with 3-4 feet of snow. It's putting a real glitch in actually getting guys on the roof. Till next week on that one.
3. I'm not in the mood to update Fridge. Writing all the bull crap above has made me cranky. It's a snow day and there are 5 children running around wild in my house and I don't think I can leave them unsupervised much longer.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Fridge
This is Fridge. The one in front looking at the camera, snuggled up on top of his dear brother Rupert.
Today I came home from taking the boys to school and going to the gym to find a trail of blood all over the house. Upstairs, downstairs, on the stairs, everywhere. It looked like one of the kids had had a bloody nose, but after searching around and finding all the cats, I found Fridge hiding in my office under the chair with a huge bloody mess around his neck. It was too much even for me to invstigate and I immediately called the vet who were able to see him right away.
After shaving away all the hair on his neck it was discovered that something had full on open jaw bitten him on either side of his neck. He'll be at the vet all day for clean up, draining, and stitches.
It's fine, he's a cat. These things happen. But what I can't wrap my head around is who did it. To my knowledge he hasn't been out of the house for days. Sunday was the last time we let anyone out. I would be fine with a neighborhood cat getting into a scrape with him, or even if a mountain lion or a rough dog got a hold of him, but it is looking more and more like it was either his own brother, my beloved Rupert, or our other cat, affectionately called Baby Kitty.
This hurts my brain. They play, they sleep together, they eat together. They are old, like 6 years, and they don't fight that hard, or they shouldn't. I've seen them bat at each other, but only in a playful way. I just can't imagine one of them hurting the other this badly. It just seems impossible. I was home all day yesterday and the day before. I think I would have remembered a scuffle that big.
I'm a big cat person, but I'm not a pet person who coddles and nurses pets like children. They are animals, not people. But for right now, since I know Fridge is going to be okay, I am more upset at the thought of them hurting each other than anything else. Fridge is a sweet guy, not the brightest, and he keeps to himself and runs if there is any danger, loud noise or threat. I just can't imagine him provoking an attack of this kind. I may be humanizing them here and that is where I apologize. I don't usually do this, but brothers don't bite their brothers.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Watch out for your Sweater Puppies
So yesterday I'm at the gym and I am blindsided at the top of the stairs by a poor girl who is desperately in need of a good sports bra, and not the kind that you buy at Target, but this kind as shown above, a $70, no bounce, bullet proof sports bra.
This girl was maybe 25, about 30 pounds over weight, thick, but not obese, and she had some good sized jugs that looked like they were about to fly off her torso she was bouncing so badly. My jaw dropped. That is not how you treat your girls at all. It was painful to watch. She was jogging at a decent pace, but looked like a newbie to the sport. I mean she would have to be. No serious runner or jogger would let her boobs flap around like that.
I was distracted the whole time I was on the treadmill. I desperately wanted to stop her and say,
"Look I've got big boobs too and you are wrecking yours not to mention the fact that it's almost pronographic to watch you run. You need to go out and get yourself a good bra. Try Athleta, the 4 barbell bras for high impact workouts. It will be easier to run, your back won't hurt afterward, and your boobs won't be down to your knees in 5 years."
I kept practicing over and over in my head how I was goign to say it too her while I was walking. I kept hoping one of the physical therapists that own the gym was going to come out and say something to her. That's their job, right?
In the end I couldn't do it. I chickened out. My fear of being kicked out of the gym for harrasing another gym member was too overwhelming. Is there even a polite way to say that to someone else without hurting their feelings. It's almost a Dear Abby moment.
I know when I was young and had big boobs no one pulled me aside and told me that big girls can't buy bras at Target. You have to buy the expensive ones. It would have been nice to know that when I was younger. So maybe I would be doing her a favor. She might not appreciate it right away, but over time she would see the error of her ways and realize that I was only trying to help her.
Anyway I walked away and it is still bothering me. Someone has to do something to help this poor girl. If I see her again maybe I'll get up the courage or maybe just leave an Athleta catalog lying around the locker room.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Roof vs. Bank of America
Still we have no check from B of A. I called again today and was told that someone has approved a disbursement, and if it makes it to someone else's desk by this afternoon they might cut a check tomorrow, and then on Monday they might put it in the mail, so by next Friday we might, MIGHT, have a check, so maybe we will be able to start repairs on Monday the 18th.
How in any way shape or form does this protect Bank fo America's investment in my home?
I have been without a roof now for over a month while they dick around with my money. Luckily there have only been 2 snowstorms and freeze thaw cycles on my unprotected roof. I may be a little bit niave on this, but beaurocracy seems a little redundant.
I was watching Office Space the other night and this is how I imagine the vast corridors of Bank of America. They pay a crapload of people way too much money to stamp a form, send the form to Atlanta, where it is again stamped, and then signed by someone else with a large paycheck, all of whom don't give a rat's ass that my house is without a roof. As long as they have a job that does nothing and provides nothing to society.
Why can't you just trust that I am indeed going to put a roof back on my house? Am I going to leave my fancy $680,000 house without a roof? Am I going to runaway to Europe or Costa Rica and live the rest of my life in luxury on my $20,000 insurance money? Come on? Who does that? Really? Is it the people who legitimately lose their roofs in a wind storm/blizzard? I don't think so.
This part of the process is fun, but just wait until we have to call a week in advance for an inspection by a Bank of America inspector and then start the process all over again to get a 2nd check that will probably take just as long.
I am just beside myself in frustration and sick to death of banks.
I have figured out that unless you pay cash for your home and own it outright you don't really own your house at all, the bank does. You're just babysitting their investment, not yours.
When we get out of this mess, both the roof repairs and the Loan Modification, I am going to work my ass off to get out from under every single bank that has a hold on us. Credit cards will never be used again, cars will be paid for in cash, and so will our house in Mexico/France when we retire.
We will move to our very own cash only bank..... that's right our check cashing business. All cash all the time, and the banks can just suck it. I hope they all go under.
How in any way shape or form does this protect Bank fo America's investment in my home?
I have been without a roof now for over a month while they dick around with my money. Luckily there have only been 2 snowstorms and freeze thaw cycles on my unprotected roof. I may be a little bit niave on this, but beaurocracy seems a little redundant.
I was watching Office Space the other night and this is how I imagine the vast corridors of Bank of America. They pay a crapload of people way too much money to stamp a form, send the form to Atlanta, where it is again stamped, and then signed by someone else with a large paycheck, all of whom don't give a rat's ass that my house is without a roof. As long as they have a job that does nothing and provides nothing to society.
Why can't you just trust that I am indeed going to put a roof back on my house? Am I going to leave my fancy $680,000 house without a roof? Am I going to runaway to Europe or Costa Rica and live the rest of my life in luxury on my $20,000 insurance money? Come on? Who does that? Really? Is it the people who legitimately lose their roofs in a wind storm/blizzard? I don't think so.
This part of the process is fun, but just wait until we have to call a week in advance for an inspection by a Bank of America inspector and then start the process all over again to get a 2nd check that will probably take just as long.
I am just beside myself in frustration and sick to death of banks.
I have figured out that unless you pay cash for your home and own it outright you don't really own your house at all, the bank does. You're just babysitting their investment, not yours.
When we get out of this mess, both the roof repairs and the Loan Modification, I am going to work my ass off to get out from under every single bank that has a hold on us. Credit cards will never be used again, cars will be paid for in cash, and so will our house in Mexico/France when we retire.
We will move to our very own cash only bank..... that's right our check cashing business. All cash all the time, and the banks can just suck it. I hope they all go under.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Bon Iver
This is Bon Iver, aka Justin Vernon.
He can make me cry.
He can make me think of things I haven't thought of in years and make me break down in tears thinking of things from 10 years ago.
His music is that powerful.
I didn't like it at first. We got this album last summer and it's just not summer music. He had a track on the New Moon soundtrack and it made me listen to it again. Some song came on in the middle of a dark snowy afternoon and it all just clicked together. This is winter time music, new year music, reflective music, philisophical music. Now I can't stop listening to it and I wish we had more than 10 tracks from him.
I haven't read his full bio, but this guy seems to have a deep soul. I think he recorded this album in the middle of a lengthy self imposed exile in the woods of Wisconsin. I think that is why it speaks to me so deelpy here in my lengthy self imposed exile deep in the mountains of Arizona.
Yesterday night while baking cookies and listening to his album I came to the very earth shattering conclusion that the reason why I have a hard time being an architect, getting my rugs off the ground, the reason why I don't understand how any woman can be a good mother and work full time is that... for me it is just not possible. It is just all that I can handle to take care of this big house, my three kids, and attempt to be a supporting wife. If I take on too much more I will slip right over the edge of sanity and I live way too close to that edge now. Maybe other women are better equipped to deal with a professional life, maybe they have better behaved children, maybe their husbands are home more to help out, maybe they can afford to hire help.
But for me this is all I can handle and most days I have a hard time keeping it all together. And that is okay.
That's the earth shattering part.......it's okay. I don't have to do everything. If this is all I can do right now, that is okay.
Sorry to be so deep, but I fully blame it on Bon Iver, the snow, and lack of any good shows on TV to keep my mind occupied.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Considering my Options
It's January and I am usally really good about making a few resolutions, but this year I'm stuck in a weird limbo that makes it hard to buckle down and guess what it is that I might want from this new year.
Things could remain the same for the most part.... we could get great loan modification, be able to stay in our house, I'll pick up a few projects here and there and we will muddle through with shipping, check cashing, rugs, and architecture. I'll work extra hard to pay off our credit cards and we'll be well on our way to being debt free with money for college, retirement, and vacations in a few years.
Or things could change drastically.... we won't get the loan modification and we'll deed the house back to the bank, move into a nice rental house for a few years, pay off all our debts a little bit faster. Then we will reconsider our options. Stay here in Flag?, throw caution to the wind and move someplace warmer?, try our hands at some new careers?, who knows.
One path seems predictable and stable, the other path seems scary and exciting.
I'm trying to visiualize what it would be like to be a "cog in the machine" as I like to call it. I want to add something to the everyday vital function of people.... a mail carrier, a teacher, a 911 operator. I don't get that feeling doing what I do now and I think it might be fun to try just once.
On the other hand I miss being an architect. I don't miss the city and the uneducated clients, but I miss the buildings and the contractors. I love the smell of lumber and drywall. I miss floorplans and trying to make the spaces fit together like puzzle pieces.
I still haven't found my place in this world other than being a wife and mother. There is something else out there that I need to do to add to society and I need to find it. My mind changes daily on what the one thing could be. I still want to write and I still want to have something to do with buildings and my rugs as well, but I'm confused.
So, this year my resolutions will be up in the air. When I look back next January there will not be anything to cross off my list and say that I have accomplished. I just need to be able to look back and see that I have done something, anything that makes me feel like I am contributing to society other than raising cool, somewhat polite children.
Things could remain the same for the most part.... we could get great loan modification, be able to stay in our house, I'll pick up a few projects here and there and we will muddle through with shipping, check cashing, rugs, and architecture. I'll work extra hard to pay off our credit cards and we'll be well on our way to being debt free with money for college, retirement, and vacations in a few years.
Or things could change drastically.... we won't get the loan modification and we'll deed the house back to the bank, move into a nice rental house for a few years, pay off all our debts a little bit faster. Then we will reconsider our options. Stay here in Flag?, throw caution to the wind and move someplace warmer?, try our hands at some new careers?, who knows.
One path seems predictable and stable, the other path seems scary and exciting.
I'm trying to visiualize what it would be like to be a "cog in the machine" as I like to call it. I want to add something to the everyday vital function of people.... a mail carrier, a teacher, a 911 operator. I don't get that feeling doing what I do now and I think it might be fun to try just once.
On the other hand I miss being an architect. I don't miss the city and the uneducated clients, but I miss the buildings and the contractors. I love the smell of lumber and drywall. I miss floorplans and trying to make the spaces fit together like puzzle pieces.
I still haven't found my place in this world other than being a wife and mother. There is something else out there that I need to do to add to society and I need to find it. My mind changes daily on what the one thing could be. I still want to write and I still want to have something to do with buildings and my rugs as well, but I'm confused.
So, this year my resolutions will be up in the air. When I look back next January there will not be anything to cross off my list and say that I have accomplished. I just need to be able to look back and see that I have done something, anything that makes me feel like I am contributing to society other than raising cool, somewhat polite children.
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