Good news Thursday

That's an understatement!

Sweet Baby Jesus, today has been a good day. I feel a little uncomfortable getting too excited about it, because I have that superstitious side of my brain that feels like if you openly acknowledge something good, then it will end up going away.

But after such a long string of struggles and obstacles and bad news and letdowns, today was a breath of fresh air.

So first of all, our new mortgage guy did our official credit pull yesterday in order to start our financing paperwork. I was a little nervous, because he said he would call us first thing this morning to give us the update on it, and he didn't call...

But it turns out that he was just busy with a couple of closings today. Phew!

The Husband spoke with him early this afternoon, and our credit is... well... quite wonderful! Not only did our scores jump up fairly significantly since the first mortgage guy pulled our credit in May, but that stupid credit reporting that gave us so much grief a couple weeks back is GONE BABY GONE!

My guess is it fell off due to its age.

You know, just like it was supposed to. Just like we told the previous mortgage guy it was supposed to. Just like we told the collections company itself that it was supposed to.

So suck it, Alaska!

Muhaha.

I think they already did...

So the new mortgage guy has several more closings tomorrow (lucky bastards), so it looks like we will have to wait until next week to sign our disclosures and lock in an interest rate. But our paperwork is good to go. Which is an indescribable relief.

Then after that little tidbit of fabulous news, I spoke with our builder. I had been trying to get in touch with her to see if she had ordered the carpet we picked out last week, and she's a tough lady to get ahold of. But I did, and while she hasn't ordered the carpet yet (apparently she's doing it tomorrow), everything else is ordered and we are totally on track to be done by the end of October!

She also said that the only potential snafu is the well. The well water has to pass very strict regulations (apparently some of the strictest in the country... which I guess is good for water quality) and it takes at least two weeks to complete the process. If they pass the first test, we're good to go. If they don't, however, it can be as long as six more weeks to get it re-tested.

It's like a government regulated Punxsutawney Phil.

Anyway, if the well fails, that pushes back our closing date several weeks, which sucks in an unbelievable way and totally screws us over.

BUT!!!

Being the blessed soul that she is (or decided to be today, anyway), our builder said that in the unlikely chance that the well fails the particulates test and has to be retested, we can go ahead and still move in and just wait until our new closing date! She knows had badly we hate our apartment and how badly we want to be in the house, and I guess she felt sorry enough for us to grant us early occupancy.

And I'm more than willing to take her pity if it means getting in my house on time! So that was excellent to hear.

And then, to make a good day even better, we found out that The Husband is getting a 2% raise! I mean, nothing life changing by any means, but more is more, and we're more than happy to take it!

So, like I said, today was a good day.

Seriously?!?

So I've been having... well... a rough day, today.

To say the least.

You know those days when things go pear-shaped the second your foot hits the floor?

Well take three or four of those, roll them into one 12-hour period, and you've got my day.

First, I'm sick. I have some lovely flu-y bug, I didn't sleep a wink last night, and I feel like utter crap.

Second, there is a potential for our mortgage to not make it through underwriting. Turns out we have one last remaining medical debt on our credit. This medical debt isn't huge, it is over 7 years old, and we didn't know it was there until just recently. So you'd think that, when we made the effort to call and get the debt cleared up, the holders of the account would be willing to work with us, right?

Nope.

Not only do they flat out refuse to deal with us, nor can they even prove the debt is ours, but they even threatened to add other debts to our account that don't show up on our credit.

Let me reiterate.

They cannot prove the debt is ours. And they threatened to stick us with more debt. Debt that isn't on our credit and doesn't even trace back to us in the first place.

Oh yeah, and they refuse to do anything in writing, so even if we paid all of it off today, they wouldn't give us written confirmation we had done so. We'd have to take their word for it.

Not only is that shady, I'm not even sure how legal it is.

Needless to say, I'm looking into it and seeing what our rights are, because my gut tells me something isn't right about this.

On top of this, while I was sitting here this morning Google-ing consumer rights and whatnot, the groundskeepers of our apartment complex were mowing the lawn outside our apartment. I heard the grinding of the lawnmower hitting something, and the next thing I know, the window of my sunroom shattered into a bazillion pieces.

Like, full on exploded.

Clearly it scared the living bejeezus out of me, leaving me really shaken up.

Turns out a hunk of concrete about 5 inches long and 4 inches thick was catapulted through the window by the blades of the lawnmower.

And the dude didn't even stop!!! He just kept truckin' along, either unaware or unconcerned about what it was he had just ran over.

I immediately called the apartment complex office and told them what happened, and they sent the maintenance guys out to help clean up the mess. They are apparently also going to rip into the supervisor of the landscaping company they hire.

The bigger issue, though, is that my children had just asked to play the XBOX, which is located directly in front of the window that was shattered. Had I not told them to wait until after lunch, they would have gotten seriously injured, or possibly worse. It's not something I can really think too deeply on, or I get all shaky again.

So I spent all afternoon cleaning up shards of glass from the shelves that were in front of the window. Shelves that contained the kitchen stuff that doesn't actually fit into the pathetically small kitchen in this apartment. So I had to send every mixing bowl, casserole dish, measuring cup, and so forth, through the dishwasher for a good rinse to clear off the sand-like glass particles. I then had to gingerly sort through the boxes of books and spare bedding that also managed to have glass land in them.

Oh the joys of an apartment that is too small to actually unpack everything into.

All I wanted to do today was lay on the couch, watch trashy reality TV, and drink tea. Suffice it to say, that didn't work out.

Anyone think to bring a parachute?

So yesterday afternoon was "hanging on in quiet desperation".

Today?

Spiraling into a pit of gloom with nary a 'chute in site.

Never felt as connected to Wile E. Coyote as I do today

Everything was just smooth sailing so far. The Husband got the amazing job. Our house sold in one day. We found the house we want to buy down there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right?

Nope.

Not even close.

First, late yesterday afternoon we realized that our real estate agent had screwed up and that we weren't going to be getting back the amount of money from the sale of this house that we had been told and had been banking on as part of the down payment for the Cheyenne house.

Cue the panic.

Then, we find out that while we are "technically" pre-approved, we need to "take care of the medical debt".

Erm.... excuse you? What medical debt?!?

Seven years ago we spent the summer up in Alaska (long story, maybe someday I'll tell it) and while we were there The Husband got severe kidney stones. Well we didn't have insurance at the time, so we walked away with over $30,000 in medical debt. 

Yes kids, 30k. 

Hooray for the American medical system, amiright?

Well over the next few years I worked my ass off to chip away at it, and as of when we bought our house almost two years ago, everything had been paid off or forgiven. No medical debt in sight.

So what the hell happened?!?

I have no freaking clue. This debt popped back up on our credit recently, and we have no idea why. It should have been taken care of years ago, it wasn't on there until recently even though it lists it as being from seven years ago, and the biggest problem is when The Husband called to get it straightened out, the people handling it were complete assholes. And continue to be.

We have been trying in good faith to get it squared away, and they're just being bullies. It's unnecessary. 

We called you. You didn't call us, we called you in an effort to get this taken care of. And yet you're going to be dickwads about it?!?

*grumblegrumblegrumble*

So after a fury of phone calls and scrambling, it looked liked we had gotten everything straightened out. Our agent fixed the issue, so we will still end up getting the amount we had been assured, which was a huge relief. Then the Alaska debt people seemed willing to play ball, and it looked like that was going to be taken care of. 

We went to bed last night feeling like things were back in place.

And then this morning?

Fuck my life.

Everything fell to shit again, and I'm doing everything in my power to not lose my mind and flop in a heap on the floor and cry hysterically. I don't know whether I'm angry or sad or what, my emotions are all jumbled right now.

While we are still going to get the money out of our house, there may not be the Cheyenne house we want after all. The builders won't accept a contingency-based offer, so we can't even offer on the house until our Washington house closes, which is in July. So we may miss out entirely before then. 

*fingers crossed our house closes early!*

On top of that, the deal we thought we had worked out with the Alaska debt people was thrown back at us. I'm sorry, but anyone who refuses to put anything in writing?!? Shady as hell. Bottom line. I don't know what the deal is with this company, but they are not operating on any sort of proper and professional level. I'm seeing a lawyer in our future, because I don't trust these people!

So as of right now, I have no idea where we stand. We are flying down to Cheyenne next week, and the original plan was to make the official offer on the house down there and get the kids' schools figured out and all that.

Now?

*shrug*

We can't offer on the house until this house closes. And our financing won't go through until this debt thing is squared away (which is stupid, because we have really good credit, and clearly this randomly posted debt isn't affecting our ability to pay AT ALL, but whatevs. Yay bullshit government red tape.)

So we're stuck.

I'm at a loss. What do you do when life is out of your control? What do you do when people are being stubborn asshats and needlessly digging their heels in (even though it does them no good and they are clearly the ones in the wrong), simply because they want to be difficult? I don't understand it. 

Sometimes it sucks being an optimist, because then you're even more crushed when people act like douchecanoes. (Worse than a douchebag, less interesting than a douchewaffle)

So now when we fly down to Cheyenne next week, I guess we plan on seeing rental houses instead? There's no telling how quickly this will all be settled, and I'm sorry, but I'm not cramming my kids into an apartment. I can't even fathom that right now.

I still know that moving down there is a good move, I'm not doubting that. I just had a sneaking suspicion that things were going TOO easily. 

I hate that I was right.

So about that parachute...