Okay... We still have to wait on some things, but effectively THE HOUSE IS SOLD! Closing will be mid-next month, so it's finally over. :) We didn't get as much as I'd hoped for, but we got enough to kill debts and get furniture and stuff. Woo!

Just waiting on an inspection, then we go into the Labyrinth of Paperwork and Money. I should have the check in my greedily waiting hands at closing.

Finally.

Okay- I got the hotel room locked down for MFF for Wednesday to Monday. I have 2 beds arranged, so woot. Now to confirm person #2, and to determine if anyone else will be in there with me beyond that. In other news, I got my state tax return on Tuesday, which is the fastest I've ever gotten it- I only filed on the 1st! Now I just have to figger out how I'll be getting there. I've heard that if I do the overnight run on Megabus its both low-ridership and cheap as dirt, so I'll be looking at that as well as the train, and maybe going by car as the last option.

This should be a good con- I'll have a bit more money than last year, especially if I try to sock a bit away in addition to the funds I'll have from the tax return. Woot!

Oh, and as a totally unrelated note to the roommates- I may have a bunch of 60 watt bulbs shortly, via the folks membership with on of the big warehouse stores- I can't recall if its Sams or the other one. I'll also have the long florescent bulbs. Not sure when, but likely before midweek next week.

Today I return, likely temporarily, to the Saturday Gaming Group. The game will be a short-run of the Dresden Files RPG, with an indefinite number of actual meets. I'm both looking forward to this and feeling some trepidation, if not paranoia. I'm hoping that I've changed enough for things to work out, but I'm afraid that I'm going to be treated differently than everyone else. I expect added scrutiny, but part of me worries that it'll be an 'if I blink I'll fail' kind of thing. Most of this is paranoia. I hope. But time will tell. It doesn't help that I couldn't sleep worth crap.

On a happier note, I watched the entire first season of True Blood over the last few days- I like it enough that I want my own copy of the season collection, and I want to watch the second and successive seasons. It is NOT exactly like the original, which is disappointing, but its STILL a very good series. I definitely question some of the changes (Tara being black and an almost rabidly outspoken 'wild girl'), some of the alterations to what the vampires are like (they're being portrayed as more evil and nasty overall culturally which IS a problem), and a few other little problems. I LOVE the casting of Sookie, Bill and Jason. Lafayette was PERFECT (tho they made changes to him that I dislike), and both Sam and Eric were VERY close to what I was hoping for. I'm definitely looking forward to the further episodes.

Less happy is my monetary situation. I'm VERY tight right now. I'm probably going to stoop to talking to the folks for some petty cash and help with some medical stuff (pay a small bill and get a new inhaler- it might be months before I can afford it, depending). I hate doing it, but I've little recourse. Fortunately, I'm not in any kind of danger financially, its just uncomfortable. And I'll be flat broke til my next paycheck, and immediately after too. And my debts don't rise to the level of being terrifying, just really, really annoying.

I think that's enough rambling. I don't really feel comfortable posting all this, but I'm thinking that by actually doing so some of the stress might be lessened.

Well, I didn't have any miracle $10,000 coins or anything. O well. But I DID get $57 out of the deal, the lions share were the three 1921 silver dollars, the 1894 silver dollar and the Mercury dimes. Woot. Better than nuthin!

I think I'll go on Ebay sometime and buy more coin grab-bags for shits and giggles; that's where the silver dollars came from anyway. :)

Once again I had a financial disaster. This time though it's totally my fault. While paying bills about a month back I managed to somehow not write down two REAL big payments... And between that and the fees I far more than wiped out my buffer. So I'm in the hole. BUT. With no help from anyone, I've solved it- It'll involve using the credit card, but I'll repay that in two months (thank ghod for that!). In addition, to prevent this from ever happening again I'm (finally, my fault totally for not doing it earlier) getting overdraft protection on my bank account; it wouldn't have prevented the mistake, but it WOULD have saved me the fees- which ended up surpassing the amounts I failed to write down.

I'm getting Quicken when I can afford it (this weekend), and setting it up synched with my online banking. I've also revised my bank record so that it's better arranged- I plan to keep using it as an additional record of transactions.

On top of that... While I won't have the $500 I wanted stashed away, this weekend I should be able to sock away $100-$200. When it comes, I'll add the Property Tax Rebate money to that, and I'll be adding cash til its at the level (or above) that I want.

Yes, I learn slow. But t least I can survive it.

Also... I'm not upset or mad at this point. I've gotten over it, and learning that it WAS my fault and not someone using my cash card is actually somewhat of a relief.

So there it is. Hopefully I'll get stuff straightened quickly.

No chance on the new laptop from extra cash from previous year's returns. My old preparer apparently left such a cluster-fuck that my new preparer considers it a challenge to try and figure out exactly WHAT he did. O.o

So, unless the property refund gets me something for last year, what I've got is what I get. No biggie. At least next year'll be better.

On other topics, I've screwed up my sleep schedule, so I'm going to have to try and get straightened out again. Its partly my fault this time, and partly just circumstance- I had to stay up late for the tax-preparation, then stayed up later playing City of Heroes while I waited for him to give me a call. Once again, no biggie. This isn't insomnia, as I AM sleeping- just not when I SHOULD.

Today I got groceries, and I may get some people together for home-made malts here this evening. I have chocolate syrup and strawberries, so I'd need someone to bring vanilla ice cream and maybe malt powder... And any other flavorings/toppings needed. :)

(Sigh) And once again, I've been hit with $105 in overdraft fees. I could try to go to the bank and work through it (and I DID do so over the phone, and now have an accurate balance at least), but given the scale of the mining operation that would involve, I'd be charged more to go back through the records than the damned fees themselves. They can charge $5 per statement they have to call up, and that's 24 or more statements... They can ALSO charge an hourly fee for the service. So, I get to suck up the charges. At least I DID get $26 back from said fees.

What's even weirder is that going back through the records I found a check that they say was never written! It was to Cub, using my check card... But it seems to not exist at all! So that should have been in my benefit, and it wasn't. :P

I know I'm not the best at tracking my finances, but geez... Every goddamn time I think I've gotten everything stable, something else comes along to sink me. At least financially. This means that I get to use the credit card to pay for the tax service too. Bleah. That, at least, I can pay off when I get the tax-return money.

Its looking, by the way, like the tax-stuff will go to the tax-guy Monday or Tuesday next week. Closer than I'd like, but nothing to sweat about at least.

Is 1:00 PM Friday. I'll get up around 10:30, and head out an hour later, thus giving me an hour to get lost and then locate the place. ;)

Actually, it should be easy. But better safe than sorry.

Then, LATE Friday night, after the Strike Force, I'll be baking cookies. Somewhere after the closing I'll get groceries, make the last payment of the current mortgage, and maybe sell my class ring.

Oh! Earlier tonight (Thursday) I went out to eat with foeclan, joshuwain and feezlekahn as a sort-of mini-celebration of the retirement of debt. :)

First, I've figured out how much money I'll be taking out- it'll be $12,000. That'll cover all the credit-debt and give me a bit to work with to catch up on regular bills. One month's payment is added as well to the mortgage, giving me a 'free' month where I won't have to make a mortgage payment, plus the associated fees. They're waiving the value-assessment of the house due to my 'account-in-good-standing' and kickass credit rating (despite the troubles I was never a month late on ANYTHING so I never got nailed in the credit reports), and in a last bit of news the rates apparently dropped so I'll be getting a lower interest rate. Yay!

So it goes down today at 9:30 AM. I should get the cash within two weeks, although there IS a chance I could get it today. I doubt that, however.

God, this is gonna take some stress away...

Yesterday I did the bills and started the Xhanuqwannsramamas season. I got the tree upstairs to assemble, and started the shopping- I've gotten about as much of a start as I figured, getting some of the harder to shop for people out of the way right off- this is REAL unusual for me.

This year, My budget is a little tighter, and I can't use the credit cards at all. So, I'm spacing the shopping out over the weeks before the holiday- I should have enough to do bills and the holiday shopping without being squeezed too hard. I'll try to get the tree up and the lights on today at least.

Also yesterday, I made another shot at the halfass stirfry- I think it needed more flavor, and I put the bean sprouts in too soon, and cooked the peppers too long. But, it was okay. And FLinthoof on FM did a pic for me! Is rare for me to get free art, so its real nice when it happens. The pic is here: http://tinyurl.com/yhdwaf

Thanks, Flinters, and I love TinyURL. :)