How it went

On Wednesday, once the money from savings landed in my main account, I set about to do a wire transfer to the mortgage company…only to discover there was a limit on how much could be sent in one day, which would mean I would have to send wires over five days, which meant I would be past the date of the payoff quote amount. I decided to mail a cashier’s check instead. I had a lot of misgivings about sending a check of that magnitude off in the mail - I figured I’d send it FedEx with every insurance/signature required/return receipt protection possible, BUT STILL. When I asked for the check at the bank, the teller looked skeptical and said, “wouldn’t you rather do this by wire?” Apparently if you go to a bank they don’t have the same daily limits. Phew! So there was a lot of verifying of identity and signing of papers and double checking of information, and then it was done, all in just a few minutes. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “this is what rich people get to experience all the time.” Paying off debts. Freedom. Transferring large amounts of money like you’re buying a latte. No big whoop. For the first time since I was probably nineteen, I am completely debt free.

This won’t last, of course. Odds are I will need to dip into this house’s equity again someday, whether it be to support me in retirement, pay boys’ school or housing or business start up costs, whatever. But I can enjoy having a “free” place to live for the time being.

Then, of course, there’s the car situation. For nearly three months now, my car has malingered at the Kia dealer, and as of now there is no end in sight as far as when or if it can be fixed. Over a week ago a “case” was opened for me by Kia USA and they said I would be contacted; as of today I’ve heard nothing. So I have no idea if the car can be fixed, or if they’ll just offer me some low buy out of my now useless car, or if they’ll put me in a new(er) Kia. If all of this involves having to get a new car, I’m a bit torn. I hate that this is happening right as I have no money for a down payment to keep a payment relatively low; but I also don’t want to settle for some shitty used car that I never would have chosen for myself under different circumstances. I would like 4WD for desert purposes, but I don’t know if I’m willing to give up the Niro’s spectacular gas mileage for something I’ll rarely, if ever, use. I had hoped to jump over to Subaru next, but they only offer a hybrid in the Forester which is just too much car for me. And expensive. Sigh. The uncertainty of all of this is really getting to me. I’ve not been bothering to contact Kia USA myself because the next three weeks are impossible - I leave Wednesday for Chicago; then the following Friday for northern CA for a jazz festival, then the following Friday for a wedding in Vegas. I have zero time to do any real research or work on this, and I’m only home a handful of weekdays and no weekends for three more weeks. I’m completely overwhelmed and just want my car back so I can drive a free car for the next 5-7 years. But that’s the least likely scenario. Most likely I’ll be out my car and be stuck with a $500-$700 car payment. Ugh!

Add into this stress, the fact that Theo has a diorama to be made by Friday that we haven’t even started, and I leave Wednesday morning. The H and I both freaked out about this this morning and I spent all day and $60 at a craft store buying supplies; now we just have to build everything (thankfully I did have Theo fill out the 12 3x5 cards for his presentation about it, so we know what things need to be depicted). Can I just say how much I despise these projects? Last time - 3rd grade? - Theo’s teacher, bless her soul, had the kids make them in class so the parents couldn’t take over. He didn’t do particularly well, but at least it was an even playing field. When the kids have to work on them at home, it only means one thing - the parents end up doing it. I’m expecting to spend pretty much all of my remaining time this week working on this, and I hate it so much. I so hope this is the last one we ever have to do.  

In other news, Bobby is doing well in school - all As and Bs, apparently - and I’ve set up a plan for a “big boy bedroom” that I figure we’ll implement over Thanksgiving week, a week for which we had no plans anyway. It’s going to involve stripping everything out of there, getting rid of tons of stuff, painting, installing new light fixtures, and all new furniture. It’s going to be a huge job that will probably take about 4 days and cost about $2000. It’s a huge change - the biggest since I first had them move into that room together at 1 1/2 and 3 1/2. And most likely this will be the last configuration of that room until they’re adults. When they’re gone, it’s going to be my fabulous vintage dressing room.