Yesterday, I changed the insurance over from my old LeSaber to the 'new' Lacrosse, and finished the title transfer- that stung to the tune of $350. Ouch. My insurance is going up by $132 every 6 months, but that's not a real problem- I was at the very bottom of their pricing.

Left to do is cleaning the interior and getting new floor mats- I'm seriously considering the 'custom' prefit mats you can geet, as opposed to the 'fits all' trim-to-size mats that are a bit cheaper.

Not a ton cheaper, mind you. Not having the added trouble of trimming the damn things down will definitely make the pre-fits worth it.

I'll run it through the car wash after groceries on Thursday. Other than that, I have bills to pay (delays there whilst I find out how much I'll be socked for Spaz' dental work), but I'm in no danger at all.
I might start posting adventure write-ups here; I haven't decided. Right now I'm only doing them for the Sunday Shadowrun campaign; that's bloody well enough work, honestly. I might do quick recaps or something for the other games- I haven't decided.

Not much happened today, either. I called Countrywide about the refinance, and found out that my rep won't get the valuation information til Wednesday (today). So, doom-or-redemption is postponed for a day. As is my decision about MFF. Bleh.

I was SUPPOSED to have my meeting to arrange the refinancing of the house today at 9:30. As of 10:30, he hadn't shown up. At 10:00 I got a call on my celphone from ataramos telling me that he was going to be late, that he'd be there around 10:00. He never showed. I left him a phone message indicating my displeasure, and I'd BETTER get a good explanation or I'll be calling Countrywide Mortgage's home offices and making a lengthy complaint.

I really wanted to get this shit over with. Well, maybe tomorrow. If not with this guy, with another Countrywide agent.

I may have found where things went wrong. There's a $6.00 payment that I apparently didn't write down. In combination with me mistaking another amount, this MIGHT have been the trigger for the NSF's. I'll talk to the bank later when I get home.

I'll also talk with the boss at Baker and Payroll to sort out the missing 24 hours of pay as well- hopefully I'll get that back before the end of the week. I'll ask Dad to pay half of the car insurance to get that dealt with, and pay him back later this week after I've settled as much of this as I can.

I get to talk to:

The bank (to clear some of the NSF charges and find out what that $6.00 was for, and confirm what another of the NSF-affected charges was)

Work (Payroll and my boss at Baker for the 24 hours of missing pay)

Discover Card (To tell them that there will be a delay in my paying them

Dad (for the insurance payment)

Countrywide Mortgage (To get some numbers on a Refi)

Roomies (several things)

No I'm NOT selling the house. Not yet at least. I figure that I'll have it at least another 18 months. I think it'll be at least that long before the housing market is truly stable... But I think I can get some of this resolved asap. At least I hope so.

Tonight is a regular workshift for me. Friday will be a double-shift, as I'm filling in for someone on vacation. Also Friday is getting the groceries in the morning. Saturday... I'll be fried, and the flat roof will be getting fixed. Given that my bedroom is UNDER the flat roof, I'll either bee sleeping in the front room or maybe asking if I can crash in joshuwain and foeclan's spare room... Sunday is the last run of the current cycle of Traveller, unless something comes up, and I'm also working an overnight overtime shift- that means I have to bail at 10:30. Which isn't too much of a big deal as we generally end between 10:30 and 11 PM anyway. Monday I WAS going to be doing a 2nd shift overtime shift, but one of my co-workers wanted to work it. And I decided that this weekend was gonna be screwy enough!

As to other things... Financially, things seem to be looking stable for the moment. It is STILL likely that I'll end up selling the house at some point, but its not gonna be in the near future. I'll have time to notify people well in advance and get some work done pre-sale if and when that event come up.

For other good things... After the Carpenter Nature Center trip, I realised that there was a shit-ton of things I've not gotten around to doing locally, that I really should. Like hitting the Historical society in St. Paul, taking the St. Paul Cave Tours, visiting the Mill City Museum and Archaeological site, Visiting the Art Museum that I've not been to since I was in school (!!), and other stuff. Maybe the Mill City Museum next week, if it isn't so nasty out.

I'm also planning to visit some of the state parks, like Itasca and going to sites like Taylor's Falls.

Dunno when tho. More than likely most of the outdoorsy stuff will have to wait til winter's passed.

Be nice to go skiing again, but that takes mucho cash that I don't have.

(Ramblerambleramaletrailsoffintosilence...)

Well, its looking like the Vanguard game for this Saturday is off due to scheduling conflicts. O well. So, due to that either Saturday or Sunday I'll be heading to the Carpenter Nature Center for their Applefest. The Nature Center is located about 15 minutes from Afton, overlooking the St. Croix river valley. This time of year, the area is gourgeous! I'll be bringing the camera and the tripod and seeing what shots i can get. This does hinge on it not raining...

On other things, I think I'm stabilized financially for now. No more credit card use for me! I've found the likely fare for the trip to Midwest FurFest, and now all I have to do is get the money together for food and fun at the con- Airfare will be dealt with Friday, and the hotel is covered.

Other news- Looks like the repair work on the flat roof is gonna be between $1000 and $5000... Not unexpected, and I'm thinking it'll be the higher amount as they'll likely have to replace all of it rather than just patch. At least it'll be done before winter!

Right now, I'm at work- Nothing much going on other than the damn weather-radio going off over and over for counties to the east of here... Bleah.

Well, today is the day I talk to the parental-units about the money-situation... Ugh. NOT looking forward to this. I hate going to them for help, but at this juncture I don't see any other solutions that'll help fast enough. And I really don't want to consider certain other rather destructive options, like bankruptcy.

I've gathered together all the amounts I pay per month for the last year (back to January), and I've figured out a few things that I can do to lower overhead. After the talk, I'll be talking to all the roomies about the situation and see if there're solutions there as well.

Here's hoping it doesn't get ugly. I tend to get REAL defensive with the folks; I'll have to fight that. I know they wanna help, but sometimes... Its hard.

Its looking a lot like I won't make Midwest FurFest this year. As bad as my finances are, I doubt I'll be able to justify in good conscience making the trip, even if I went by car and floor-flopped in someone else's room. Given just how bad it is (roughly $1000 in due/overdue bills, of which I can cover half with the remaining convention cash), I don't see many other options. Christmas isn't gonna be all that lavish either, unless I can pull off some kind of miracle.

I'm about to do the one thing I didn't want to do- talk to the folks and ask for help. I'll never hear the end of this, and I'm afraid that they'll try to 'govern' my finances... The trick is, it isn't my spending thats the problem; its just a crawling escalation of costs, bills, and other shit that I've no control over. As I said in a previous post, I've got a few things like the comics that I'm going to put up for sale- that could get me the other half of the cash, but not necessarily instantly.

I'm not cancelling my hotel room yet. I don't really know where things are gonna be after I call the folks. I'm SURE I'll not be in a terribly good mood.

I'm really not sure where things stand right now. Its like every time I get close to stabilixing things, some other fucking disaster comes along and destroys all that I've done to improve my situation.

I should be, and I am, grateful that I have the option of asking help... Not everyone can. I just hate having to. This shouldn't have happened... And honestly, much of it is my own fault. I DO see that. But a lot ISN'T, as well.

I'll post the outcome of talking to 'em.