Not much to report this week.
It was just work, eat sleep, repeat.
I had a little bit of an emotional crash on Wednesday, after the high from last weekend, but I got over it.
I've been taking advantage of the on line shopping program offered by our conventional grocery store.
I had some issues with it at first (missing items, wrong items picked, etc), but I made a point of complaining about them, and, ever since, they have gotten everything right.
It shaves an hour off of our Friday night errands, when all we have to do is pull up to the door and collect our groceries!!
At first, they were charging $10 per time, but when I complained, they refunded the fee for two. Then, they stopped adding the fee to my orders all together!
I wonder if they decided to eliminate the fee, because Wal-Mart doesn't charge one, and they're in competition with Wal-Mart.
Now, I wish the other stores we shop at would do this, too, like Trader Joe's and Sprouts!!
We hit the farmers market yesterday again. I love that I finally discovered this! I am thrilled to have a source for pastured meats that isn't INSANELY expensive!
Well, have a good Sunday, gentle reader. Happy National Cat Day! I have a big black cat on my lap, WITH this laptop, at the moment. He makes it difficult to type, but I don't care!
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Sunday, October 22, 2017
What a weekend!
Everything else is gone.
Gone.
SO....my chemo dose has been reduced, and I have another scan in 6 months! Let's hope the mouth sores stop.
Please.
I picked my dance sisters up at the air port late on Friday morning. We had some lunch, and then we rehearsed for 2 hours.
We took them to their hotel, and had Friday dinner by ourselves. Then, the girls Ubered back over here, and Dave took us over to the Plaza district for the Friday night show of the dance weekend.
One of the girls danced in the show. SO good to see her perform!
They went to the Saturday morning work shop, while I rested and got my costuming packed up, mostly. Then, I met them at the afternoon workshop.
We performed our trio in the show Saturday night, and we were SOOO well received!!!
Then, I danced with my class, and that went well too.
Then, another work shop this morning.
I am pretty much exhausted, but it was SO GREAT!!!
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Dance, dance dance
The dance weekend I have been anticipating for 6 months is finally next week.
My dance sisters from Illinois have their plane tickets, hotel reservations, and class registrations.
I registered for two of the classes, wanting to conserve energy and money (there are three....two of them on the same day as the show).
My scans are next Thursday, and I will get the results the same day. I have been told to hold off refilling my chemo pills in anticipation of the results.
If we get good news, I will get another reduction in dosage!
Then, the girls arrive Friday, which I have taken off from work as a vacation day. We will rehearse all afternoon.
My class is Saturday afternoon, and the show, in which I will dance both with my class and with my friends from Illinois, is Saturday evening.
The other class I am taking is on Sunday, so my blog post may be late. The girls leave after that class.
Yesterday was a productive day, with a trip to the farmer's market, house work, and dance practice in the living room.
Today, we are going to see a movie Dave has been anticipating for a long time, and then this afternoon, I will work on my costume for my class dance.
It's supposed to be a gorgeous day! I am off to enjoy it!
(Oh, and GO CUBS----please get your act together.)
My dance sisters from Illinois have their plane tickets, hotel reservations, and class registrations.
I registered for two of the classes, wanting to conserve energy and money (there are three....two of them on the same day as the show).
My scans are next Thursday, and I will get the results the same day. I have been told to hold off refilling my chemo pills in anticipation of the results.
If we get good news, I will get another reduction in dosage!
Then, the girls arrive Friday, which I have taken off from work as a vacation day. We will rehearse all afternoon.
My class is Saturday afternoon, and the show, in which I will dance both with my class and with my friends from Illinois, is Saturday evening.
The other class I am taking is on Sunday, so my blog post may be late. The girls leave after that class.
Yesterday was a productive day, with a trip to the farmer's market, house work, and dance practice in the living room.
Today, we are going to see a movie Dave has been anticipating for a long time, and then this afternoon, I will work on my costume for my class dance.
It's supposed to be a gorgeous day! I am off to enjoy it!
(Oh, and GO CUBS----please get your act together.)
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Loom
I have not unpacked my loom since we took it apart and put it in a box in 2009. Before that, I had not woven anything since somewhere around 2004, when my kitty Riley died.
Lately, I have been hearing song references to weaving, and have been thinking about it more.
Yesterday, Dave dug around in the shed and found the loom box (it's a small 4 harness table loom for making narrow strips of fabric, like place mats and table runners). He re-assembled the loom, and I got the whisk broom out and cleaned it off under the beautiful blue sky.
I took the whisk broom to the warping frame, which was hanging on a peg in the shed.
Then, Dave dug some more in the shed and found my bin full of yarn and string.
He went out and bought me a folding table.
Loom, tools, sticks, and yarn are all in the house now, waiting for me.
This is progress.
After more rain this past week, the weather got oppressively hot again, like July. That only lasted a few days, though, and this weekend has been spectacular.
We have decided to get the bikes out today and hose them down. Everything in that shed is encased in webs.
While they dry off in the sun, I will get a little more laundry done, and then later, we will RIDE!!
We had a scare this past week.
Star, one of the feral cats who lives in our yard, got trapped in the shed for 48 hours. She peed on stuff while she was stuck in there, so now the shed REEKS of cat pee.
She must have been too afraid to run past Dave when he went to close the door on Sunday night last weekend. It's SUCH a good thing that we didn't wait until yesterday to open the shed again!!
We had noticed her absence at mealtime for a couple of days, so on Tuesday, when she didn't show up, Dave had gone into the shed on to get his work gloves, so that he could go search through the brush in the yard for her body.
Star is the senior member of the tribe, and she has always had respiratory problems.
When he opened the shed door, he noticed that the gloves were on the floor BEHIND the door. One of them was also wet. He asked me "does this smell like cat pee?"..... smelled weird, but not distinctly like cat piss. In retrospect, maybe it was a combination of leather and pee from a female cat (which smells different from a male's.)
He searched the yard, while I thought about the gloves. How did they get onto the floor from their usual spot? Why were they wet? That shed is solid, no rain gets in, and the gloves' usual spot is up high, on the top of a shelving unit.
Duh.
So, we went into the shed quietly and looked around.
There was no sign of her, but that didn't mean she wasn't hiding! Dave went into the house and got a flashlight, and he found her, hiding back among the storage bins.
We left the door open and went inside, and she came out!
If she would have been trapped in there all week, she would have died. We were out of the food that we keep in there for the ferals, so there was nothing to eat or drink, and as I wrote above, it was hot.
As it is, she is fine and happily reunited with her son, Luke.
In other news, we think our Annabel probably has a urinary tract infection. She was exhibiting signs yesterday morning, so Dave put a call in to our new vet who does house calls.
Annabel is pathologically TERRIFIED of going to the vet, so we waited for a call back that never came.
In the meantime, she continued to use the box obsessively, but has been exhibiting no other signs of distress. Her ears are cool, and she is bright eyed, active, eating, and drinking.
Hopefully, the mobile vet will call Monday, and Dave can come home to meet her.
If things seem to be getting worse today, though, we will have to put ourselves through the abject trauma of getting Anna to the emergency vet.
She will freak out when she sees the carrier, we will have to struggle to put her IN the carrier, at which time she may very well shit all over herself and the carrier. Then, we get to drive WAY up north like that.
Once there, they will have to sedate her to get her out of the carrier and treat her. It's AWFUL.
Right now, she's lying on her back between us on the couch in purring bliss like she often does on weekend mornings when we are at our leisure to enjoy our home and pets.
Must get on with breakfast. It's too beautiful of a day to waste any more of it sitting here!!
Lately, I have been hearing song references to weaving, and have been thinking about it more.
Yesterday, Dave dug around in the shed and found the loom box (it's a small 4 harness table loom for making narrow strips of fabric, like place mats and table runners). He re-assembled the loom, and I got the whisk broom out and cleaned it off under the beautiful blue sky.
I took the whisk broom to the warping frame, which was hanging on a peg in the shed.
Then, Dave dug some more in the shed and found my bin full of yarn and string.
He went out and bought me a folding table.
Loom, tools, sticks, and yarn are all in the house now, waiting for me.
This is progress.
After more rain this past week, the weather got oppressively hot again, like July. That only lasted a few days, though, and this weekend has been spectacular.
We have decided to get the bikes out today and hose them down. Everything in that shed is encased in webs.
While they dry off in the sun, I will get a little more laundry done, and then later, we will RIDE!!
We had a scare this past week.
Star, one of the feral cats who lives in our yard, got trapped in the shed for 48 hours. She peed on stuff while she was stuck in there, so now the shed REEKS of cat pee.
She must have been too afraid to run past Dave when he went to close the door on Sunday night last weekend. It's SUCH a good thing that we didn't wait until yesterday to open the shed again!!
We had noticed her absence at mealtime for a couple of days, so on Tuesday, when she didn't show up, Dave had gone into the shed on to get his work gloves, so that he could go search through the brush in the yard for her body.
Star is the senior member of the tribe, and she has always had respiratory problems.
When he opened the shed door, he noticed that the gloves were on the floor BEHIND the door. One of them was also wet. He asked me "does this smell like cat pee?"..... smelled weird, but not distinctly like cat piss. In retrospect, maybe it was a combination of leather and pee from a female cat (which smells different from a male's.)
He searched the yard, while I thought about the gloves. How did they get onto the floor from their usual spot? Why were they wet? That shed is solid, no rain gets in, and the gloves' usual spot is up high, on the top of a shelving unit.
Duh.
So, we went into the shed quietly and looked around.
There was no sign of her, but that didn't mean she wasn't hiding! Dave went into the house and got a flashlight, and he found her, hiding back among the storage bins.
We left the door open and went inside, and she came out!
If she would have been trapped in there all week, she would have died. We were out of the food that we keep in there for the ferals, so there was nothing to eat or drink, and as I wrote above, it was hot.
As it is, she is fine and happily reunited with her son, Luke.
In other news, we think our Annabel probably has a urinary tract infection. She was exhibiting signs yesterday morning, so Dave put a call in to our new vet who does house calls.
Annabel is pathologically TERRIFIED of going to the vet, so we waited for a call back that never came.
In the meantime, she continued to use the box obsessively, but has been exhibiting no other signs of distress. Her ears are cool, and she is bright eyed, active, eating, and drinking.
Hopefully, the mobile vet will call Monday, and Dave can come home to meet her.
If things seem to be getting worse today, though, we will have to put ourselves through the abject trauma of getting Anna to the emergency vet.
She will freak out when she sees the carrier, we will have to struggle to put her IN the carrier, at which time she may very well shit all over herself and the carrier. Then, we get to drive WAY up north like that.
Once there, they will have to sedate her to get her out of the carrier and treat her. It's AWFUL.
Right now, she's lying on her back between us on the couch in purring bliss like she often does on weekend mornings when we are at our leisure to enjoy our home and pets.
Must get on with breakfast. It's too beautiful of a day to waste any more of it sitting here!!
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Fall into autumn
It rained much of this past week, again. We certainly are not in a drought this year!
Yesterday was Oklahoma City's Pagan Pride day. It was lovely, as usual, to be able to go shop the vendors and see the good turn out, and to know that I am not alone in central Oklahoma!
I was invited to be one of the performers again, but turned it down again. I don't really do the style of dance people at PPD are interested in.
A friend of ours went with us this year, because she had friends there who were vending. I think she had fun, too.
Then, we went to one of the local breweries that was doing a fund raiser for prostate cancer awareness and treatment.
Came home, watched the Cubs game, made dinner, watched Svengoolie, used the hot tub.... It was a great day/night!
Today, I will finish laundry, mow the back while Dave goes to check on his dad, and then, hopefully, I will have some time to dance while Dave mows the front.
I got the vacuuming and bathroom done yesterday morning before our friend arrived, so that's already taken care of.
The weather, when it hasn't been raining, has been spectacular. Today should be picture perfect. MAYBE we'll get on our bikes some time today, too.
Happy Sunday!
Yesterday was Oklahoma City's Pagan Pride day. It was lovely, as usual, to be able to go shop the vendors and see the good turn out, and to know that I am not alone in central Oklahoma!
I was invited to be one of the performers again, but turned it down again. I don't really do the style of dance people at PPD are interested in.
A friend of ours went with us this year, because she had friends there who were vending. I think she had fun, too.
Then, we went to one of the local breweries that was doing a fund raiser for prostate cancer awareness and treatment.
Came home, watched the Cubs game, made dinner, watched Svengoolie, used the hot tub.... It was a great day/night!
Today, I will finish laundry, mow the back while Dave goes to check on his dad, and then, hopefully, I will have some time to dance while Dave mows the front.
I got the vacuuming and bathroom done yesterday morning before our friend arrived, so that's already taken care of.
The weather, when it hasn't been raining, has been spectacular. Today should be picture perfect. MAYBE we'll get on our bikes some time today, too.
Happy Sunday!
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Switch back
There isn't too much to report this week.
My monthly trip to the clinic was non-eventful. Blood counts look good, and I told the doc that the tendon pain SEEMS to be a little better. The hip pain is completely gone!
He assured me that the intense hot flashes should abate over time, like they did with the previous changes in hormone blockers.
My scan day is Oct. 19
We got up early yesterday and went to the Farmers' Market. Then, Dave went and did a couple of other errands while I did laundry and mowed the back yard.
He mowed the front after he got home, and we watched the Cubs game.
Then, we went out to get me a new cell phone. THAT process literally took almost 4 hours, and wasted the entire rest of the afternoon. We didn't get home until after 7 pm, and I was too worn out and hungry to even think about cooking dinner.
Fortunately, we had some frozen entrees from Trader Joe's in the freezer.
Anyway.... several years ago, Dave got a company phone and left our "family plan" to just me.
Before that, we had both had iPhones, and were on AT&T. We had started to become extremely frustrated with AT&T's HORRIBLE customer service, and had already turned off our land line and their Direct TV service.
Dave's company phone was an Android, and he decided that he really liked it.
I remained with AT&T with my iPhone for a while, at what I considered a HIGHLY inflated rate of over $140 per month for one line.
Eventually, Dave talked me into switching to an Android.
I got an LG, and it was a piece of shit from the start. I hated it, but I kept it for a long time. It's been so long, I can't recall all that was wrong with it, but I seriously DID NOT like it.
Eventually, though, I decided that I also hated having to pay so much money to AT&T for service, so I chucked them AND the LG, and switched to a Samsung at Metro PCS ($56 per month), the newest carrier in town at that time.
I've been with Metro ever since, and, in comparison to the LG, I liked my Samsung. Though iPhone was still my preference, I had come to think of it as a phone for the elite who had lots of money to spend on a phone. BECAUSE DAMN! Have you seen how much they cost???
I kept that Samsung until it started to also be a pain in the ass by no longer RINGING when calls would come in, and no longer updating. 3 years maybe?
I went into the Metro store in our neighborhood back in May, and got a new phone. The clerk assured me that the new LG he was selling me would be a vast improvement over my old one years ago.
He lied.
I am either just not compatible with LG, or this one was a "lemon" as well. I've only had it for a few months, and I am already screaming at it, and wanting to smash it to pieces. It also doesn't ring sometimes, and the optics on it are "off kilter," so that when I text, the words that appear on the screen are ALWAYS wrong.
I hate the fucking thing.
SO.... here I am, back with AT&T, because they had the best deal going for an iPhone (they spread the payment on the crazy high price out to a monthly amount that goes on your service, so it's less painful), and I have a new iPhone!! AND I can upgrade every 12 months.
Fortunately, it's no longer over $140 a month!! But it IS almost twice what I was paying Metro for my android service. That bothers me, but we can afford it now, and I'm worth it.
Also, AT&T is an actual network vendor, NOT a piggy back, and I will be able to get phone service no matter where I am, including overseas, if we ever manage to make that trip.
This was all at Dave's urging, because HE is switching back to an iPhone though his company account, and he knew that I would be insanely jealous!
I've reached a point in my life where I am trying to allow myself to have the nice things that I want and can afford. This new phone represents a step in that process.
Today, I will make up for lost time, and prepare the meal I didn't get to make yesterday. It will go in the freezer for our lunches this coming week. I also have receipts to enter into the check book, and some tidying I want to do. Maybe also wash the bedding, if I can get the cats off of the bed.
Dave will take care of his pop today. Other than that, it should be a nice, low key day.
It's been disgustingly hot all this past week (heat index hit 102 on Thursday or Friday), but there is rain in the forecast for next week, and some predicted highs in the 60s!! Can't wait.
My monthly trip to the clinic was non-eventful. Blood counts look good, and I told the doc that the tendon pain SEEMS to be a little better. The hip pain is completely gone!
He assured me that the intense hot flashes should abate over time, like they did with the previous changes in hormone blockers.
My scan day is Oct. 19
We got up early yesterday and went to the Farmers' Market. Then, Dave went and did a couple of other errands while I did laundry and mowed the back yard.
He mowed the front after he got home, and we watched the Cubs game.
Then, we went out to get me a new cell phone. THAT process literally took almost 4 hours, and wasted the entire rest of the afternoon. We didn't get home until after 7 pm, and I was too worn out and hungry to even think about cooking dinner.
Fortunately, we had some frozen entrees from Trader Joe's in the freezer.
Anyway.... several years ago, Dave got a company phone and left our "family plan" to just me.
Before that, we had both had iPhones, and were on AT&T. We had started to become extremely frustrated with AT&T's HORRIBLE customer service, and had already turned off our land line and their Direct TV service.
Dave's company phone was an Android, and he decided that he really liked it.
I remained with AT&T with my iPhone for a while, at what I considered a HIGHLY inflated rate of over $140 per month for one line.
Eventually, Dave talked me into switching to an Android.
I got an LG, and it was a piece of shit from the start. I hated it, but I kept it for a long time. It's been so long, I can't recall all that was wrong with it, but I seriously DID NOT like it.
Eventually, though, I decided that I also hated having to pay so much money to AT&T for service, so I chucked them AND the LG, and switched to a Samsung at Metro PCS ($56 per month), the newest carrier in town at that time.
I've been with Metro ever since, and, in comparison to the LG, I liked my Samsung. Though iPhone was still my preference, I had come to think of it as a phone for the elite who had lots of money to spend on a phone. BECAUSE DAMN! Have you seen how much they cost???
I kept that Samsung until it started to also be a pain in the ass by no longer RINGING when calls would come in, and no longer updating. 3 years maybe?
I went into the Metro store in our neighborhood back in May, and got a new phone. The clerk assured me that the new LG he was selling me would be a vast improvement over my old one years ago.
He lied.
I am either just not compatible with LG, or this one was a "lemon" as well. I've only had it for a few months, and I am already screaming at it, and wanting to smash it to pieces. It also doesn't ring sometimes, and the optics on it are "off kilter," so that when I text, the words that appear on the screen are ALWAYS wrong.
I hate the fucking thing.
SO.... here I am, back with AT&T, because they had the best deal going for an iPhone (they spread the payment on the crazy high price out to a monthly amount that goes on your service, so it's less painful), and I have a new iPhone!! AND I can upgrade every 12 months.
Fortunately, it's no longer over $140 a month!! But it IS almost twice what I was paying Metro for my android service. That bothers me, but we can afford it now, and I'm worth it.
Also, AT&T is an actual network vendor, NOT a piggy back, and I will be able to get phone service no matter where I am, including overseas, if we ever manage to make that trip.
This was all at Dave's urging, because HE is switching back to an iPhone though his company account, and he knew that I would be insanely jealous!
I've reached a point in my life where I am trying to allow myself to have the nice things that I want and can afford. This new phone represents a step in that process.
Today, I will make up for lost time, and prepare the meal I didn't get to make yesterday. It will go in the freezer for our lunches this coming week. I also have receipts to enter into the check book, and some tidying I want to do. Maybe also wash the bedding, if I can get the cats off of the bed.
Dave will take care of his pop today. Other than that, it should be a nice, low key day.
It's been disgustingly hot all this past week (heat index hit 102 on Thursday or Friday), but there is rain in the forecast for next week, and some predicted highs in the 60s!! Can't wait.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Re- financed the condo
Hey, I forgot to blog about the process of re-financing my Illinois property.
This post is going to be long... If you already know all of the story, just skip it, HA! If you only know parts of the story, read on for the glorious details!
In early August, I got a notice from my mortgage company that I MIGHT qualify for a HARP re-finance before the program ends at the end of this September.
So, I called.
I had been told previously that I could not re-finance under HARP for a rental property, but I was now told that I would qualify.
I decided it would be worth it to eliminate my monthly shortfall, and moved forward.
At first, it was just a lot of paperwork being sent back and forth, and waiting. Something would be missing or wrong, and I would have to re-do it. No big deal.
Then, right at the end, when I got the mortgage disclosure in the mail to sign on hard copy, I noticed that they had my name wrong.
I was able to just scan it back to them via the scanner at work to notify them that they had made an error.
None of the other stuff I had signed prior to that time had been wrong. I am not sure WHY they did it, but on some of the items, they had changed my middle initial back to H.
(It has been B since I remarried in 2008)
In order for THEM to correct THEIR error, they advised me that I then had to provide evidence of my name change that took place 9 years ago.
I asked why I had to do that when they had changed the name themselves NOW, at the end of this process-- with no prompting from me-- to one that was not correct. I never got a satisfactory answer.
I found a copy of our marriage certificate showing my name with the middle initial H, and I sent a copy of my Social Security card, showing my name changed to middle initial B after the wedding.
That was satisfactory to them, and we moved forward.
I was told that closing was scheduled, and that I could have it at my own dining room table at home at a time of my choosing that day. A notary would come with all of the paperwork for me to sign, and the notary would take it from there.
Great!
The day before the closing, I got a phone call from the notary. "Ms. Brown?" I corrected her, but she didn't seem to notice or listen. We confirmed my appointment.
A little while later, she called again... "Mrs. Brown? I didn't realize you are married. I see here your spouse's name is ____" and she spelled it out.
I said "Yes, and that's MY name, too.. it's NOT BROWN. I'm not sure where you got that."
She also said that my husband would need to be present, and provide two forms of I.D., for the papers that HE would have to sign, blah blah....
?? No one had said anything about him having to sign anything, since this is a property that he has no ownership of in any way.
But then....She paused. As if she suddenly heard what I had said about my name.
Then she said "Oh my, they have your name all wrong on this paperwork."
I about went off, even though I knew it was not her fault.
We hung up (this is all happening while I am at work mind you), and I got onto the closing agent at my mortgage company, while she got with her third party company supervisor and told them what was going on.
My mortgage company rep apologized, and said she saw the errors right away, it was being corrected, and they were scanning the new documents over immediately.
As it turned out, they had my name three different ways, one of which was COMPLETELY incorrect!
Okay, so we thought everything was fixed and ready to go.
Closing day came, and the notary arrived right on time. She brought the paperwork out, and started to go through it.
She asked us for our copies of our I.D.s, and Dave asked "Why do I have to sign anything on this?"
She tried to explain it, and said that because we both live here in the house, he would have to sign, too.
Dave and I looked at each other.
I interrupted her, and said "This loan is not for THIS HOUSE! It's for a property that I own on my own in Illinois!"
This time, the error was her fault.
She looked totally confused, and started going through the papers. Dave and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
She exclaimed "OH, I had not even noticed that!"
REALLY???
She got on the phone with her supervisor, and explained that we were questioning Dave's having to sign anything, blah blah blah.
She also demanded that I get on with my mortgage company, even though I explained to her that they were already all closed up for the evening. I sent an email that I knew would not be answered.
Ultimately, it was explained that BOTH Illinois and Oklahoma are what's called "spousal states," and that, even though he is not named on the loan, he DOES have to sign certain forms for ME to be able to get the loan.
Okay, whatever, let's PLEASE just MOVE ON.
She started handing me papers.
First was another copy of the mortgage disclosure. She said to review it and make sure that the name was corrected. It was.
She never had me sign it, or hand it back to her.
Dave and I signed everything we were told to sign, I had to correct my name myself on two forms (!!), and she MOVED THE MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE FORM off to the side, packed up the rest of her stuff, and left.
I was told that I would be receiving a check for $250, for the difference. Cool!
FINALLY!!! It was all over. The whole process took about six weeks, and was kind of a pain.
Well, first thing the next morning, the notary called me.
"Do you have the mortgage disclosure I handed to you last night? I must have walked out without it."
I said "You gave that to me first, to make sure the name was corrected. You never told me to sign it or hand it back to you. I even watched you move it to the side when you packed everything else up."
"Oh, no. I need that, too! How can I get it from you?"
"Well, I am at work until the same time as yesterday, you can come by and get it at 5:15."
Within minutes, her boss called me and asked to email the documents to me to sign and scan back to her. Sheesh!
SO I did.
FINALLY DONE??
Nope. At 5:15, the notary knocked on the door. She said she still had to have the forms with my original signature on them, the scanned one was not sufficient.
I am glad we came home instead of doing an errand first, because no one told me that this was going to happen!!
I went and got the papers, signed them, and handed them to her. She said that she HAD to get them to UPS before 6 pm, or the whole thing would fall through.
It was Friday night, too, and we were out of time. Dave and I, once again, looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
As she left, she called over her shoulder, "Thanks, Belinda!"
BELINDA?!?!?! Oh my EFFING GOD!!
Anyway, I heard on Monday that all was well.
FINALLY DONE!!!
A week later (this past Friday), I got the check in the mail.
It was made out with... you guessed it... the WRONG middle initial.
As if that was not hysterical ENOUGH, my name was also on the check STUB, and THERE, it was correct!!
I just endorsed it, and took it to the bank without pointing anything out. They took it, and deposited it.
That story is just too good not to tell. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of it!
Apparently, I am Belinda H. Brown!!
The only other news is that we had a great day yesterday. We trapped our first feral cat in over a year! While Dave was taking him to get fixed/vaccinated/ear tipped, I went out and did errands.
I went to the weekly (all year!) Farmers' Market over at the OSU/OKC campus.
We had gone when I first moved here, and I was disappointed. A friend of mine has been talking about it lately, though, so I went to check it out.
Oh my goodness, our weekly shopping process just changed completely. I will be going every week.
We also tried the online shopping offered by the grocery store we usually go to. That was amazing...order groceries on line, go pick them up. Done.
The only drawback is that they charge a fee (first time is free).
But with the Farmers' Market, we may very well not need much from the grocery store anymore. Maybe just for packaged goods. Either way, this makes our drawn out Friday night errand routine MUCH easier.
I've been fighting a virus most of this past week, thanks to the stupid attendance policies at work. Co-workers come to work sick, because they have no more "occurrences" to use, and the person with the compromised immune system gets sick.
Every. Time.
Thanks, puppet master!
Feeling better today, but still dealing with annoying congestion and a cough.
I still have only lost 2 or 3 pounds. It's aggravating, but I am not giving up.
Have a good week!
This post is going to be long... If you already know all of the story, just skip it, HA! If you only know parts of the story, read on for the glorious details!
In early August, I got a notice from my mortgage company that I MIGHT qualify for a HARP re-finance before the program ends at the end of this September.
So, I called.
I had been told previously that I could not re-finance under HARP for a rental property, but I was now told that I would qualify.
I decided it would be worth it to eliminate my monthly shortfall, and moved forward.
At first, it was just a lot of paperwork being sent back and forth, and waiting. Something would be missing or wrong, and I would have to re-do it. No big deal.
Then, right at the end, when I got the mortgage disclosure in the mail to sign on hard copy, I noticed that they had my name wrong.
I was able to just scan it back to them via the scanner at work to notify them that they had made an error.
None of the other stuff I had signed prior to that time had been wrong. I am not sure WHY they did it, but on some of the items, they had changed my middle initial back to H.
(It has been B since I remarried in 2008)
In order for THEM to correct THEIR error, they advised me that I then had to provide evidence of my name change that took place 9 years ago.
I asked why I had to do that when they had changed the name themselves NOW, at the end of this process-- with no prompting from me-- to one that was not correct. I never got a satisfactory answer.
I found a copy of our marriage certificate showing my name with the middle initial H, and I sent a copy of my Social Security card, showing my name changed to middle initial B after the wedding.
That was satisfactory to them, and we moved forward.
I was told that closing was scheduled, and that I could have it at my own dining room table at home at a time of my choosing that day. A notary would come with all of the paperwork for me to sign, and the notary would take it from there.
Great!
The day before the closing, I got a phone call from the notary. "Ms. Brown?" I corrected her, but she didn't seem to notice or listen. We confirmed my appointment.
A little while later, she called again... "Mrs. Brown? I didn't realize you are married. I see here your spouse's name is ____" and she spelled it out.
I said "Yes, and that's MY name, too.. it's NOT BROWN. I'm not sure where you got that."
She also said that my husband would need to be present, and provide two forms of I.D., for the papers that HE would have to sign, blah blah....
?? No one had said anything about him having to sign anything, since this is a property that he has no ownership of in any way.
But then....She paused. As if she suddenly heard what I had said about my name.
Then she said "Oh my, they have your name all wrong on this paperwork."
I about went off, even though I knew it was not her fault.
We hung up (this is all happening while I am at work mind you), and I got onto the closing agent at my mortgage company, while she got with her third party company supervisor and told them what was going on.
My mortgage company rep apologized, and said she saw the errors right away, it was being corrected, and they were scanning the new documents over immediately.
As it turned out, they had my name three different ways, one of which was COMPLETELY incorrect!
Okay, so we thought everything was fixed and ready to go.
Closing day came, and the notary arrived right on time. She brought the paperwork out, and started to go through it.
She asked us for our copies of our I.D.s, and Dave asked "Why do I have to sign anything on this?"
She tried to explain it, and said that because we both live here in the house, he would have to sign, too.
Dave and I looked at each other.
I interrupted her, and said "This loan is not for THIS HOUSE! It's for a property that I own on my own in Illinois!"
This time, the error was her fault.
She looked totally confused, and started going through the papers. Dave and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
She exclaimed "OH, I had not even noticed that!"
REALLY???
She got on the phone with her supervisor, and explained that we were questioning Dave's having to sign anything, blah blah blah.
She also demanded that I get on with my mortgage company, even though I explained to her that they were already all closed up for the evening. I sent an email that I knew would not be answered.
Ultimately, it was explained that BOTH Illinois and Oklahoma are what's called "spousal states," and that, even though he is not named on the loan, he DOES have to sign certain forms for ME to be able to get the loan.
Okay, whatever, let's PLEASE just MOVE ON.
She started handing me papers.
First was another copy of the mortgage disclosure. She said to review it and make sure that the name was corrected. It was.
She never had me sign it, or hand it back to her.
Dave and I signed everything we were told to sign, I had to correct my name myself on two forms (!!), and she MOVED THE MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE FORM off to the side, packed up the rest of her stuff, and left.
I was told that I would be receiving a check for $250, for the difference. Cool!
FINALLY!!! It was all over. The whole process took about six weeks, and was kind of a pain.
Well, first thing the next morning, the notary called me.
"Do you have the mortgage disclosure I handed to you last night? I must have walked out without it."
I said "You gave that to me first, to make sure the name was corrected. You never told me to sign it or hand it back to you. I even watched you move it to the side when you packed everything else up."
"Oh, no. I need that, too! How can I get it from you?"
"Well, I am at work until the same time as yesterday, you can come by and get it at 5:15."
Within minutes, her boss called me and asked to email the documents to me to sign and scan back to her. Sheesh!
SO I did.
FINALLY DONE??
Nope. At 5:15, the notary knocked on the door. She said she still had to have the forms with my original signature on them, the scanned one was not sufficient.
I am glad we came home instead of doing an errand first, because no one told me that this was going to happen!!
I went and got the papers, signed them, and handed them to her. She said that she HAD to get them to UPS before 6 pm, or the whole thing would fall through.
It was Friday night, too, and we were out of time. Dave and I, once again, looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
As she left, she called over her shoulder, "Thanks, Belinda!"
BELINDA?!?!?! Oh my EFFING GOD!!
Anyway, I heard on Monday that all was well.
FINALLY DONE!!!
A week later (this past Friday), I got the check in the mail.
It was made out with... you guessed it... the WRONG middle initial.
As if that was not hysterical ENOUGH, my name was also on the check STUB, and THERE, it was correct!!
I just endorsed it, and took it to the bank without pointing anything out. They took it, and deposited it.
That story is just too good not to tell. Thanks for sticking with me to the end of it!
Apparently, I am Belinda H. Brown!!
The only other news is that we had a great day yesterday. We trapped our first feral cat in over a year! While Dave was taking him to get fixed/vaccinated/ear tipped, I went out and did errands.
I went to the weekly (all year!) Farmers' Market over at the OSU/OKC campus.
We had gone when I first moved here, and I was disappointed. A friend of mine has been talking about it lately, though, so I went to check it out.
Oh my goodness, our weekly shopping process just changed completely. I will be going every week.
We also tried the online shopping offered by the grocery store we usually go to. That was amazing...order groceries on line, go pick them up. Done.
The only drawback is that they charge a fee (first time is free).
But with the Farmers' Market, we may very well not need much from the grocery store anymore. Maybe just for packaged goods. Either way, this makes our drawn out Friday night errand routine MUCH easier.
I've been fighting a virus most of this past week, thanks to the stupid attendance policies at work. Co-workers come to work sick, because they have no more "occurrences" to use, and the person with the compromised immune system gets sick.
Every. Time.
Thanks, puppet master!
Feeling better today, but still dealing with annoying congestion and a cough.
I still have only lost 2 or 3 pounds. It's aggravating, but I am not giving up.
Have a good week!
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