"This little light of mine..."

Well, I can see a little light at the end of the tunnel. It might just be the flicker of a match, but it's still some light.

For the past two weeks I've been calling banks, mortgage brokers and checking online for refinance options. Some way to get our payment lower so we can ride this thing out without losing the house. We could make the higher payment, but we would have absolutely no money to spend. And, with two teenage boys, you always need money to spend. The problem is, our rate with Chase is very competitive and we wouldn't be saving any money by refinancing...only if we went interest only....and we really didn't want to do that with our mortgage.

I talked to the nicest mortgage broker yesterday. He is a little familiar with this case, as it's been in the papers and on the news since September. He said he feels very strongly that Chase, our mortgage company, will wind up offering some type of settlement. They've done it in the past for cases that while not like ours, the end results were the same. He said that it would be much easier for Chase to forgive part of a loan they already have, than to get them to cut a check for us to pay off a loan that's with another lender. I told him that I agreed, however, it won't do me any good if my house is in foreclosure, or I can't afford to heat it.

He suggested a low interest home equity loan to consolidate our other debts. We have enough equity to get one to pay off my Pacifica (even though it's a lease) and our two small credit card balances and the four wheeler we bought. He recommended that I call a banker he works with. I called her and she had an amazing offer. An interest only home equity line of credit. With what we need, the payment on the interest only loan would be a little over a$100 a month. Well that's a saving of about $500 a month. We only have to make up around $300, so we can apply $200 to the principal each month and our payment will go down down down. Then, if something comes up and we have a tough month financially, we can just pay the interest and it won't reflect poorly on our credit.

I got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in a long time. I love that man, and I've never even met him. Oh, the lady at the bank was very nice too.

Wish me luck!

I'm bragging just a bit

Okay, I'm not the least bit impartial here....but, isn't this the most adorable baby ever????

"Heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who..."

The pool party went off without a hitch. The friend's mom rearranged her schedule and got there about 2:30. The height of the action. No one tried to sneak into the woods. No one except Braden and his girlfriend. Twice I had to put the kabosh on a little "sneak away". I can't believe Braden is going to be in high school next year. Where does the time go?

Tonight's my book group meeting. I decided on my appetizers....roasted red pepper bruchetta, sweet and sour chicken and mini rosemary potato pancakes. Plus assorted crackers and dips.

I started the summer program this week. What an interesting bunch of kids we have. They're all high school kids in the partial hospitalization program. Serious mental disorders. And, get this....now try to keep up it gets a little confusing: There's one girl in my class who has dated three other female students in my class and one male student in my class. The male student has also dated one of the female students (who happens to be one of the three females that dated the first female). This female has never gotten over the serious relationship she had with the male and stares longingly at him all day long and cries when his bus gets called. Oh, and their relationship lasted a total of 4 days. And the first female is currently dating yet another female student in my class and all day we're either telling them to keep their hands off each other or counseling one of them after they get into an arguement. My days are just filled with FUN FUN FUN!

"I'm takin what they're givin cuz I'm working for a livin..."

Yesterday was JJ's last day of school. Today is Braden's. Some of you may know what that means....it's the famous last day of school swim party. This year, since it's his last year in the middle school, he wanted to have a huge party...over 50 kids. I told him that was too many hormone driven teens for me to watch at one time (let's face it....it was easier when he was 8 and I only had to worry about skinned knees and the boys dunking the girls. Now I have to worry about trysts in the woods, alcohol and lord knows what else). So, we decided that he'd go in with one of his friends. We'd split the food costs and his mom would come and help chaperone. Yesterday the boy and his dad dropped off their share of the food and told me the mom was out of town on business so she wouldn't be available today. So, that means it's going to be me and all those kids. I'll probably have a nervous breakdown trying to make sure no one gets pregnant or wasted.

Friday night I'm hosting book group. We read "Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". I loved the book. I need some appetizer ideas. I'm tired of all mine. So far I plan on making roasted red pepper and gorgonzola bruchetta and for desserts I'm making custard bread pudding with brown sugar sauce, a lemon cake and coconut blueberry cheesecake bars. Any good appetizer suggestions?

Tomorrow I start working the summer program. I'm kind of looking forward to it...except for the getting up in the morning part. We'll see if I feel the same way in a couple of weeks.

"thank you for being a friend..."

I called Chrysler Financial today. We are leasing our Pacifica through them. You know how whenever somone is on a talk show talking about credit counseling, they say "call the people you owe money to and explain the situation. They're often able to work with you." Well, I explained our situation and how in the very near future I might not be able to afford the payments on the van, not to mentin the $70 a week in gas. The very nice woman I spoke with told me, optimistically, that they had two options for me.
She went on to explain that I could find someone to make the payments for me, or sell it.
Thanks. Thanks a lot.

"More than meets the eye..."

Today's my last day of work. Yesterday was our last day with kids. We can go in a half an hour later today (which is why I have time to blog) and wear shorts. I'll take advantage of the half an hour, but I wouldn't wear shorts to work if my life depended on it. I was invited to a little get-together after work today, so that should be a fun way to unwind.

They're filming part of the next Transformers movie near here. There's an old steel foundry in Bethlehem, and they've transformed (haha..pun intended) it into a Chinese city. I took the kids over the other night to see some action. Even Joe wanted to get in on this little trip. We got to see the set...the fake Chinese signs, helicopters....but no action. They don't start filming until the middle of the night....and we had to leave around 9:00. But, at least we got to see enough that when the movie comes out we can say, "I was there."