Not much is new in my world. We had heavy rains and high winds Monday, an offshoot from Katrina, but no damage and we never lost power.

Left work early yesterday to close on a home equity line of credit. I have mixed feelings about this. I didn’t want to further encumber the house with debt because I (still, despite all indications to the contrary) have hopes of selling it in the near future and I’d like to realize a decently large chunk of money out of that sale. But over the last year, many things have happened that put me further and further from my goals. The nasty, skanky carpet is still on the floors because of the roof replacement, the septic tank disaster and most recently, the heat pump disaster. I’ve spent so much money just to remain even; I feel like I’ll never get ahead - and month after month, the cycle just perpetuates. So, I decided ‘enough is enough’, called my mortgage company and asked, “What is the most money and the lowest possible interest rate that I could get without having to pay for a survey, without paying for an appraisal, without having to send you ten years of tax returns, without paying closing costs and without having to take two days off from work to sign several hundred reams of paperwork? In other words, what can I get if all I’m willing to do is promise to repay you?” Oddly, they responded with a decent amount and favorable terms, so I signed the papers yesterday and soon there will be funds to improve The Hellhole. I’m trying to look forward to the nice new things I can do to the house, instead of being bummed that I had to increase what I owe on it.

My interest rate is prime minus .385%. What is up with that? Why is it not prime, or prime minus .4%? What kind of weird formula determined that I deserve a discount of .385? Bizarre.

Sorry today's post isn't funny...I hate it when my routine is disrupted and my schedule is erratic. That's been the case for so long that I've become too disgruntled to find much humour in life these days.