Bob B.'s Financial Soundingboard

Last week I blogged that DW was denied 0% financing on some book purchases, and we ASSUMED it was because our short sale had been reported to the credit bureaus.

DW checked our credit reports. Mine was fine. Hers had a big ding on it, but not related to our short sale.

The credit report showed that an $85 bill from a local hospital had gone into collections. The date was this last March. We've used the hospital a handful of times over the past five years, so it was not out of the question that an unpaid bill had slipped by. The weird thing was that her address was listed in a local town in which we've never lived.

So, DW went to the hospital yesterday to get it all sorted out. She was prepared to pay the $85 if the hospital could show that the bill was ours.

It turns out that the bill was not ours. It was a bill for a hospital stay for our now adopted 4 yo son. He was in the hospital when he was about 1 yo when he was under the "care" of his birth parents. We've taken him to the same hospital, so his old name is now associated with us.

The weird thing is, we've never been contacted by the hospital, or a collection agency about the bill. The hospital stay was more than three years ago, and it simply went to collections under her name this past March.

I ran in my first of two planned summer 5K's Saturday. It cost $15 to participate. The group of runners/walkers was much smaller this year than last time I ran this race three years ago. Maybe the heat? Saturday was the warmest day we've had in a while.

I finished with a time of 34:38. Not great for a 5K. I'm hoping to run the August race in less than 30 minutes. But, it was great to get back into a race again. I just settled into a slow and steady pace, and ended up running the whole thing.

My daughter's doe Zoe (female goat) died on Friday. She had the doe for three or four years. It was pregnant with twins, and one of the fetuses died in the uterus, and killed the other one. The uterus became toxic enough to kill Zoe, too. Very sad.

We called a veterinarian out to treat the doe. He gave a shot of penicillin, and a shot to help expel the placenta. The Zoe ended up dying about 30 minutes after he left. DD went out to check on her, and found her dead. The vet visit cost $103.15.

On Sunday, my two nieces and nephew were baptized. They were adopted from foster care by DW's sister and brother-in-law about a year ago. My two girls were baptismal sponsors for two of the kids, and another cousin was a sponsor for the third. DW bought three picture frames on clearance for (I think) $1.75 each. Cheap, anyway. She took a picture of each of the three kids with their sponsors, and printed them off, and gave them as baptismal gifts.

We also stopped by a goat farm to look for a new doe yesterday. No doe will replace Zoe, but it's something we need to do. The place we stopped at had only one breeding age doe that she was willing to sell. It's not a pure bred boer (the breed of goats we raise), so we weren't interested. We've got names and numbers for other breeders, so hopefully we'll find another one. Our hope is to buy a doe that is old enough to get bred this August or Spetember, so she'll give birth in time for goats for next year's fair.

So, it was a good weekend and a bad weekend, but it was spent with family.

Our bank is undergoing a complete destruction/reconstruction this summer. A temporary trailer/mobile bank has been set up, and only drive-thru service is offered. I've never been one to use the drive-thru, so this is new to me.

So, I was thinking that as a drive-thru teller, you could get a real feel for the correlation between one's bank account and the vehicle one drives.

I'm sure that there are many people on both ends of the extremes - those who have plenty of funds in their bank accounts, and drive very nice cars, and those with very few funds in their accounts and drive very inexpensive cars.

But, I would guess that for many in the middle there is a reverse correlation between their bank account balance and the value of the vehicle they drive.

Just one example of some of the off-the-wall things I think about sometimes.

They shared a firm handshake, exchanged a fine "How are ya?", and our credit score promptly fell on its back.

It's not as if we weren't expecting it.

DW home schools our girls. The company that she buys curriculum from was offering 0% financing for six months, so we decided to take advantage of the offer. The rejection message stated that our scores were less than 620. So, that means that they fell by a minimum of 85 points.

In October 2010, my score was at 580. I had built it back up to 705 by August 2012. So, we'll keep doing the right things, and hopefully in a couple of years, we'll see daylight again.

Maybe you remember that we bought some chicks last January. We bought some broilers and a few layers. The layers are producing now. They have been for two or three weeks.

The first eggs are small, sometimes have no shell, and can be double yolked. And, laying is sporadic at first. But, now they are laying more consistently, and the eggs are, for the most part, getting bigger.

We have about a dozen birds, and some of them are roosters. We're getting 6-8 eggs each day. The fridge can fill up quickly, unless you have buyers. We've sold three dozen this week. We're selling them for $2 per dozen, that seems to be the going rate locally.

We'll provide my parents and in-laws with all the eggs they want, and we'll have more than all the eggs we want. Hoping to sell some to people at church and work as well.

This is very much not a money making opportunity. Just trying to offset feed costs for the chickens, ducks, peafowl, pigs, cats, and goats. That's a tall order for a few laying hens.

DW went shopping this weekend at the local grocery store. She looked on the cork board and saw three ads for cleaning services.

I called each of the three this morning. The first charges $10/hr. She doesn't have her own supplies, and it sounds as if she doesn't have reliable transportation, although she assured me that she could get to our house, six miles from town. It also sounds as if she doesn't have much experience. She will mail me references.

The second charges $15/hr. She has her own supplies, including a Kirby vacuum cleaner she prefers to use, because she's familiar with all the attachments. She does have reliable transportation. She has 20 years experience, including jobs in California and Colorado. It sounds as if she has moved here recently, and is trying to get another cleaning business going.

The third did not answer the phone, so I left my number, and asked her to call me back. I'll give her a while to call me back, but I'm leaning toward #2. Unless #3 is cheaper, and is just as experienced, and provides her own supplies.

Hopefully we line someone up for this week. My sister watches our boys on Fridays, and DW can take the girls out of the house for a few hours to allow for cleaning.

CCF - last time I blogged about this subject, you commented that it sounded as if I already had a lead on a cleaning service (the same lady that cleans my co-worker's home). My co-worker and I work in the same office, but we each drive 20 miles from opposite directions, so her house is far enough away that her cleaning service is not available to us.

snafu - thanks for the tips!

I was talking to a co-worker the other day about general house stuff - I'm not really sure at this point exactly what we were talking about, other than I mentioned something about people who hire cleaning ladies, assuming that my co-worker didn't hire a cleaning lady.

It turns out that my co-worker does hire a cleaning lady. She comes in twice a month for three hours each visit. My co-worker pays her $10 per hour - or $60 per month.

We have four kids - two of whom have special needs. Let's just say that we find it very difficult to keep up on house work. The serenity that $60 per month would buy (or $75, or something in that range) seems very worth the cost. So, we're considering it. Needles to say, DW is all for the idea.

Not so much on the financial end - except for possible future health care savings - but I've taken up running again.

I've had an on again off again relationship with running. I ran during the summer 5 years ago, and again three years ago. I ran a 5K race each of those summers, and my running habit fizzled out after each of the 5Ks.

I started running a week ago Monday, and as of this morning I'm up to about 1,300 meters (0.8 mi.) of constant running without stopping. Then I walk for about another quarter mile, turn around and walk back toward home, and jog the last tenth of a mile. I aim to get in 30-40 minutes of exercise in the morning before I go to work. My littlest guy is usually up between 5:45 and 6:15 in the morning, so I put him in the jogging stroller and go. Occasionally his older brother will join us.

I've targeted 2-5Ks this summer. One will be the weekend of July 4th, and the other is the second weekend of August. The July race may have to be a run/walk for me, but if I'm aggressive with my morning routine, I may be able to run all of it.

I'm really busy with work in May (thus the lapse in posting to this blog). The work is fairly physical, and between the work schedule last month and the exercise this month, I've lost about six pounds since the beginning of May. If I lost another six or ten pounds by the end of the summer, I'd be a happy camper.

Just this past Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We visited a state park, about 35 miles north of our house. It was our first family vacation since 2009. Part of the reason it has been so long is finances, but a bigger part is that we now have two boys with special needs, and we haven't felt comfortable taking them away on vacation until now.

We stayed in a cabin at the camp grounds, $80 per night. It was at the very end of the camp ground, so lots of privacy. We took our bikes, and bike trailer for the boys, and biked a lot. DW did some massive grocery shopping, and had meals all planned out. The girls had lot of fun, the boys limited their melt downs, and mom and dad were exhausted by the end. It was great.

Like maybe a single crystal? Or maybe a water molecule?

The reason I ask is that I stopped by the bank to cash in some coins yesterday. The total came to $22.57. We have an auto loan with this bank (actually, a credit union), and we used to have a credit card.

What I normally do when I cash in the coins is take the bills ($22), and put them into my wallet, and take the change ($.57), and put it toward my credit card, or now my auto loan.

My thinking is that the $22 in cash puts me $22 further ahead until I need to visit the ATM again. And, I cashed in the coins, so why would I want to leave with any? So I use them to pay a very small amount against my loan. Not really a snow flake, but something smaller. I'll call it an H2O molecule.

Sure, I could put the whole amount against my auto loan, and maybe I should. Again, assuming I don't spend it foolishly, I'd rather have the cash in my pocket, and the change not in my pocket. So, that's what I do.

You may remember a few weeks ago that I blogged about going to an auction to buy fair goats for the girls, and the average price per goat was somewhere around $400. And,we went home goatless.

The local auction was this past weekend. We were more successful there. Each girl got a goat, and each spent $110.

DS1 was at a church retreat, so she entrusted her mother and me to choose and bid on her goat. Actually, DS2 did all the bidding.

I think the high goat went for $180, and the low goat went for $100.

The herd owner is also a feed dealer, and he was selling bags of feed for $10, less than his cost. We usually pay $14 or $15 for a bag, and he was offering two bags of feed for $10 per goat purchased, so we left with 4 bags of feed.

He also offered lunch to bidders. Bratwurst made of goat meat, and regular hot dogs for those who are less adventurous. The brats were good, but a bit dry. Not as much fat on a goat as there is on a hog.

All in all, a successful weekend. DS2 named her goat Rosetta, and DS1 named hers Cleo.

DW and I have filed our taxed jointly for 17 straight years. We have filed schedules A,C,E,F, and SE. We have submitted forms 8812, 8880, 4562, 8283, 8839, and others. We have never hired a professional to prepare our taxes. We have always used Turbo Tax.

This year may be different. I'm not sure yet. This year, we disposed of a rental property. We took a loss on the property. We have claimed depreciation on the property. And, we were forgiven debt on this investment property.

We also claimed an adoption credit in 2012, and have unused credit to claim. My estimation is that the tax liability from the forgiven debt, and the adoption credit will approximately wash each other out.

So, it seems to me that Turbo Tax *should* guide us through this maze adequately. But, I don't know. We might feel more comfortable if we hired a professional to prepare our 2013 return.

Our goal will be to minimize tax liability, and file an accurate return as inexpensively as is reasonable.

What do you think? Of course, all are welcome to weigh in with their opinion.

About a month ago DS2 had an EEG and an office visit with his neurologist. You may remember that we didn't have a prior authorization from his doctor for the visit, and thus couldn't get approval from our insurance company for the procedure, so we paid with a credit card.

The reimbursement check arrived yesterday. The original estimate was that we would get the check within the week. And I called two or three additional times, and each time, the person on the other end assured me that the check would be on its way shortly. I called back again this Tuesday, and the person said that they couldn't pay me until after they had received payment from the insurance company. Also, our son is on Medicaid since he was adopted out of foster care. Medicaid acts as his secondary insurance.

I'm pretty sure that what happened is that our insurance company reimbursed relatively quickly, but they didn't cover a $90 deductible on the EEG and a $20 copay on the office visit, and Medicaid was billed for the balance.

I can understand that the neurologist office wouldn't want to reimburse until after they were paid. I can also understand that these things take a while. In fact, I'm kind of surprised that Medicaid reimbursed within a month. What bothers me is that the people at the neurologist clinic kept telling me that the check would be on its way shortly. But, we have the $705 reimbursement check now, and all is well.

On a related note, I had talked about how the EEG was inconclusive, so we were taking DS2 to get an MRI and some blood work. Turns out that the MRI and blood work didn't answer anything either. So, we still don't know what caused the stroke like symptoms, other than it wasn't a stroke, it wasn't a seizure, and his mitochondria work just fine.

I started this blog on April 18, 2011. So, today marks the first entry of my third year. This is also my 205th entry. It really seems as if I make an entry more than once every third day, but I hardly ever post on a weekend, and there have been a handful of "blogging droughts" on my part, and numbers don't lie.

A lot has happened in the past two years. We've eliminated A LOT of high interest, unsecured debt. We had A BIG chunk of secured debt forgiven (house short sale). And, my retirement fund has reached a respectable level (119K). Things are definitely a lot less stressful on the financial end.

So, thanks to you, SA blogging community for the words of encouragement and general cheering on. I'm looking forward to my next 2 years, and 200 posts, and also keeping up on your activities.

I've spent so much time blogging about our formerly "for sale" house, that I've not talked much about our primary residence.

As a reminder, we live in my family's centennial farm house. We completely gutted it, and hired a contractor to finish the inside. We borrowed a total of $70,000 - 30K from my aunt, and 40K from DW's parents.

A year ago January, we began paying them back. We paid a token amount at first - $90 per month to my aunt and $120 per month to my in-laws. Nothing was recorded, nothing was official.

When we started talking with an attorney this past fall about the short sale, he asked about our current housing situation. We explained to him what I just described above. The attorney suggested that we get those mortgages recorded with our county register of deeds. His reasoning was that if our bank did an asset check on us, they would find that (on paper) we owned this house 100%, and they could force us to take out a borrow money against it.

So, we wrote up a couple of mortgages, took them to the register of deeds, paid $20 each, and recorded the mortgages.

The mortgages were amortized over five years, at 2.25% interest. At the time that the mortgages were written (Nov. 2012), 2.25% was about the what the best mortgage rates were, not that we would have qualified for the best mortgage rate. We began making the new payments this past January. So, our (now only) mortgage payments are as follows.

Aunt M. Loan

Original Borrowed - $30,000
Monthly Due - $500
April 1 Balance - $26,164.66

In-Law Loan

Original Borrowed - $40,000
Monthly Due - $650
April 1 Balance - $34,953.06

We plan to have them both paid off Dec. 1, 2017.

For the record, I have no idea if our bank ever did an asset check.

We'll probably buy a lawn mower by the end of the week. With all the rain we had last week, and the apparent heat we'll be getting this week, the grass will start growing.

Our budget is $4,000. Remember that DW and I will be sharing this mower with my folks. There are three new models available at local dealerships that fit the budget. Or ... should we buy a used commercial grade model for the same money? That's the question we're trying to answer. New residential vs. used commercial?

The commercial grade is better built, sturdier, etc. But, it's used, and the previous owner traded it in for some reason. Maybe because always want a "new" mower. Or maybe because it was giving them problems.

We'll probably end up going new residential. That's the direction DW and I are leaning (I think), but if we seem to find the right used model...

It's done. I just got word from our Realtor about a half hour ago. The house is sold!

Big relief. Five long years. We were tempted, and almost walked away several times, but we held on.

Our renter left some trash behind. She left a table that we left, and she left a stove that doesn't fit into her new apartment. But the new owners also got a piano that we left behind, and we know they wanted that piano. They signed the papers and took possession.

Whew!

In reviewing their HUD paperwork, and the fact that they got USDA Rural Development financing, we've gotten a clue that they can't actually afford the house. Hopefully they hold on. The house is too nice to get trashed.

I called our Realtor this morning to see if she could find time to drive by the house to see if there was move-out type activity. Turns out she was thinking exactly what I was, and she was a block and a half away when I called. Her report - there is a moving van and a bunch of cars parked there. Great!

I dropped our family mini van off at the mechanic's this morning. There is a laundry list of minor things wrong with it. We trust our mechanic to not charge us for things that don't need to be done.

You may remember that we bought a new washer/dryer set a couple weeks ago. You may also remember that we opted for a large capacity set. I can report that we are keeping up on laundry very well now. The extra spent for the large capacity was well worth it.

It's been raining here nearly non stop since Monday. Our sump pump has been running nearly non stop since Monday. The back porch project that I've been talking about for a while also includes rain gutters. Hopefully those will help alleviate the problem when the project is completed this fall.

Friday is the day. We have assurances that the renter will be moved out by Thursday. I think she will. We'll see.

We got the paperwork (9 pages) for our end of the close. On most of the documents, our electronic signature works. On two of them (title transfer and owners affidavit) our original, notarized signature is required. We'll go to the bank this afternoon to get our signatures notarized.

So, the close is scheduled for 10 AM. We hope to get word from our Realtor when everything is completed. If we don't hear from her by about noon, I'll bug her one last time. Then we do a happy dance.

Our girls show and sell goats at our county fair. They've always bought their goats from a local breeder. The problem is that that same breeder's children also show goats raised at his farm. He, of course, holds the best goats for his own children.
We've decided that if our children are to ever win grand champion in goats, we'll have to buy from another breeder.

We went to the Michigan State University campus this weekend for "Vet-A-Visit". The students in the College of Veterinary Medicine host a program where they introduce children to some of the basics of veterinary medicine.DD1 is interested in becoming a veterinarian someday. It turns out that another goat breeder was having a sale not too far from the MSU campus on Saturday. We thought we would stop by.

I should preface this part of the story by stating that we pay about $125 - $130 for fair goats.

This guy had about 45 goats for sale. They were clearly a cut above in quality as compared to the local breeder. It turns out the were very much superior. The first goat sold for $500. It's typical that a breeder will sell their best animal first, so I thought - OK the best has been sold, things should level out now. #2, 3, 4 ,5 sold for about the same. Some goats brought as much as $625. Most in the middle sold for $200-$300. The cheapest goat sold for $135. We were so shell shocked that we didn't even put a bid
on it.

The final 4 or 5 goats were the poorest quality. But, and this makes for an interesting study in human behavior, there were enough parents that were hellbent on leaving with a goat, that those (relatively) poor quality goats went for $400 to $500 apiece. The average goat sold for $410.

Needles to say, we went home goatless. The local sale is in two more weeks. So, the girls will again buy a $125 - $130 goat. We may spend $150. We'll see.

April 1, 2011 Total Debt - $202,374
April 1, 2012 Total Debt - $187,077
April 1, 2013 Total Debt - $178, 952

$ Change - 2011 to 2012 = $15,297
$ Change - 2012 to 2013 = $8,125
$ Change - 2011 to 2013 = $23,422

I borrowed money for a pickup purchase in December; that's the major reason total debt didn't go down as much 2012 -2013.

April 1, 2011 CC Debt - $18,980
April 1, 2012 CC Debt - $8,931
April 1, 2013 CC Debt - $914

$ Change - 2011 to 2012 = $10,049
$ Change - 2012 to 2013 = $8,017
$ Change - 2011 to 2013 = $18,066!

This shows that we moved a lot faster when there was a gun to our heads.

In the next year, we're scheduled to pay off:
$914 CC Debt
$11,947 Mortgage Debt
$3,790 Truck Debt
$16,651 Total Projected Debt Payoff

I'll take a look in a year to see how actual compares. We're not planning on any new borrowing this year.
It might not be any different than what’s projected. After CC debt is all taken care of, my big question will be whether we should accelerate truck payoff, or beef up savings. I'll address that later.

I got an offer from Discover yesterday.

I picked up a Discover card a year ago January. It's one of the cards I used for a 0.0% balance transfer. I transferred (I think) $2,700, and had it paid off by time the promo period was up. I've also used the card along the way, mainly for gasoline purchases, but also groceries and an occasional dinner out. I've paid each new purchase off every month, and haven't paid any interest on this card. And, it's a rewards card.

So, the offer yesterday was for a "personal loan" of up to 25K at 7.99% APR. They even had a set of nifty tables that detailed my expected monthly payment at varying loan amounts and payoff periods.

There was that fleeting moment when I thought about how we could borrow "just" 4K, and get that porch built this month or next, and my payment would be "just" $125 per month for three years. That sure would be nice. And easy.

Thankfully that thought lasted just a moment, and it passed as quickly as it came. And, I threw the letter away!

DS2's MRI is scheduled for tomorrow. We still don't know what time, this hospital is busy enough that they don't schedule until the day before. Since patients aren't supposed to eat before the procedure, they schedule diabetics first, and children second. We've been told to follow up by phone with the neurologist one week after the MRI.

Our renter talked with our Realtor yesterday. She gave her assurance that she would be out by next Thursday. We've begun the eviction process. She's behind on rent - no payment in March, and no payment yet for April, and she was (very) late several times over the past year.

We've opted to do the house closing by mail, rather than make the trip. Part of me wanted to make the trip, just to see the old house again, and to meet the new buyers. But, for practical reasons, we're staying home. No reason to make the three hour (one way) trip.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this close being the real thing. It really sounds as if it's going to happen. The bank hasn't asked us to bring any money to the table (yet), and the buyer's inspector didn't come up with any repairs. And, the buyer/inspector has presumably been in the house recently enough to confirm that the house hasn't been trashed by renters. All that's left is move out on the renter's part. It's possible that a wall could get dinged up during move out, or that a piece of furniture has been masking some damage, or something like that. It's also very possible that the renter could leave without adequately cleaning the house. So, we would either have to make a trip, or hire a professional cleaning service. I guess that if these are now our worst case scenarios, we're probably OK.

Our house closing is scheduled for a week from Friday. Buyer's financing is approved, and our bank has approved the sale. All is ready except for one major detail - our renter. She has not yet found a place to move to. Apparently her boyfriend has moved out, and she can't afford the rent by herself, and she knows she has to move out for us and for her. But, she hasn't found a place yet. My gut tells me she'll be out in time, but it's a little hairy right now.

I talked to my folks about going in together on a lawn mower. They are all for it. I looked at some models on Friday. We're at about the 4k price point - a 52-54" zero turn model. Each of the models has a "good" "better" "best" version. We're looking at the "better" style. We'll probably have something picked out and purchased in a couple weeks.

We bought the girls each a bike this weekend. They were actually their Christmas presents, but we waited until Spring to make the purchase. They are Schwinn models, of high enough quality that we expect them to last many years.

We also bought a washer and dryer set this weekend. Our 15 1/2 year old washer gave out. A repair may have been possible. But, we have six people in the household now, where we only had two when the old units were purchased. We needed higher capacity units to keep up on laundry better. Even though the dryer was still working, we switched that out too, to match capacity.

With March (and now April, too) as cold as it was, we will probably need to buy heating oil again before the heating season is over.

So --- with the lawn mower, bikes, washer/dryer, and heating oil purchases, our savings will be wiped out. We'll keep $800 in the EF. They porch project will have to wait. We hope to have enough saved up by September to get that done before the snow flies again.

April 1 CC Debt:

CC1 - $457.00
CC2 - $456.59
Total CC Debt - $913.59

March 1 CC Debt:

CC1 - $630
CC2 - $549
Total CC Debt - $1,179

Month to Month Difference = $265.41

We have less than 1K CC debt for the first time in forever.

Debt reduction beyond minimum due = $110.41.

The minimum due on CC1 has plateaued now. It's always been 2% of the balance. Since the balance hit $750, the new minimum due is $15 per month, and will stay there until it's paid off. Not that that matters. I'll continue to pay off well more than the minimum, but it's kind of a neat milestone.

Our progress has slowed. There are a lot of demands for our money right now. I project that in the month of April we'll spend just shy of $7 in interest on credit cards.

We need a new lawn mower. Our old one just doesn't work anymore.

My mom and dad live about 1/4 of a mile down the road. We think they could us a new lawn mower, too. Not sure what they think.

So, we're entertaining the idea of going in half with them on a new mower.

I haven't mentioned the idea to them yet. Not that I'm avoiding the subject, I just haven't thought of it when we've been together.

It makes sense. Why own an expensive piece of equipment in full for once weekly use six months of the year?

Our lawn is about twice as big as theirs is (about 2 acres vs. about one acre), so maintenance could become an issue. So we would probably cover a majority of the maintenance costs.

The only down side that I can think of is that we've each had a back-up mower in the past when one of ours is broken down.

Anyway, getting this typed out may help me remember to bring the subject up this week. Assuming winter ever breaks, we'll need to start mowing in a month.

My parents gave DW and me $550 this weekend. It's our share of 2012 net sales. They really don't have to pay us that much, but it sure is nice.

So, I paid $61 toward CC debt (10% of the balance of our highest interest rate "old" card), and paid off our two active CCs that we pay off each month anyway. (Except for the $705 charge for the EEG/neurologist visit I detailed last week). I'll pay that off when we get the payment in the mail, or just before we get charged interest, whichever happens first.

I'm keeping about $300 in reserves.

This syrup season has been pretty much a bust so far. It's been too cold here in the upper mid west. We've produced about 50 gallons so far, and should be closer to the 120 - 150 gallon range. We consider anything between about 160 - 175 gallons at the end of the season to be successful, and our maximum is 211.

It sounds as if the weather will warm by the middle of this week. We could easily finish off another 100+ gallons if things don't get too warm too fast.

We sold off most of our inventory when we had the open house a week ago, so really, the big priority is to finish off enough for family use at this point!

I'll start this story almost two weeks ago, Friday at about 4:20 in the afternoon. I was at work, and I got a call from DW. She told me that DS2 was "floppy" on his right side, and that he fell down and bumped his head. My sister had been watching both boys at our house, and they had been napping until about the time that DW returned. DW asked me to call DS2's pediatric neurologist for consultation. The neurologist told me to get him to an ER, and to keep in touch with her. By the time I got off the phone, DW had figured out by herself that he needed to get to an ER. He was getting progressively weaker on the right side.

By the time we were settled in at the ER, he was very much worse. No movement or feeling on the right side, and he was drooling heavily out the right side of his mouth. The Dr. ordered a CAT scan to rule out stroke. I took him down to radiology, while DW fed information to the Dr.

That's when things started to get better. He hated the CAT scan, and started thrashing, including movement of his right arm and leg. That was good. By time the CAT scan was done, he was getting back to normal.

The CAT scan results were not consistent with a stroke. The Dr. was stumped, so he ordered DS2 to Children's Hospital in Detroit.

Children's was packed, but we got a room. DS2 was fully back to normal by 8:30. The Dr. at Children's diagnosed "Todd's Paralysis", a condition that can follow a seizure. He called our pediatric neurologist, and she concurred with the diagnosis. Normally, Children's would have kept him for further observation and testing, but they had no room. We had a choice - stay in the ER room at Children's, or follow up with the pediatric neurologist. We opted for outpatient followup with our neurologist.

Fast forward to one week ago, last Thursday. We had an appointment for an EEG with the neurologist. An EEG is the test where they stick a bunch of electrodes to the head to measure brain activity. They get the beast measurement while the patient is sleeping. So, we had to bring him in tired. Our appointment was at 11:00. So DW got up with him at 4:30, and kept him awake. He has a prescribed medication that typically makes him sleepy. I timed that perfectly for about 11:15, the time we figured the test would begin.

That's when the problems began. It seems that the neurology clinic has a new computer system, and they had no history of our insurance information. We need prior authorization from our primary care physician, and we did not have it. So we called our PCP, and asked, can you please send prior authorization. Long story short, by 11:45 DS2 was beginning to fall asleep, and we needed to take action. I ended up putting the $705 charge (EEG + office visit) on my credit card, and he got in and had his EEG.

It turns out that EEG results were not consistent with the type of seizure that would cause Todd's Paralysis. Our highly trained, well respected pediatric neurologist is also stumped.

So, we go back down to the Detroit area again on April 4th for an MRI, and a blood draw for testing mitochondrial activity.

He's been doing absolutely fine since the episode two weeks ago. No long-term effects at all.

What I'm thankful for is that we had the available credit, and EF to cover the $705 EEG/office visit. We wouldn't have two years ago. Things have worked out with the insurance, and we should be expecting a check in the mail within the week.

The impending implosion of our credit scores.

As most of you are well aware, we're about to sell a house as a short sale. That assumes the sale goes through, and I'm beginning to think it will.

I don't exactly know just how much that will hurt our credit score. But my understanding is it's a little better than a foreclosure. Emphasis on little. The only option I'm aware of to protect our credit scores was to hold on to the house until its value matched what we owe. Would that be 5 years? 7? 10? dunno. Also, to cash flow, we would have had to keep paying renters in the house.

Our biggest fear has been the furnace. It was old, and needed replacement when we bought the house nine years ago. Or some other major expense. We have grown weary of dumping more money into the house. But enough on reasons to sell the house. We decided to sell it, and it is done.

When the house is sold, and CCs are paid off, we start building a real EF. That should take care of issues like furnace breakdowns, insurance deductibles, and the like.

The only thing I would see us needing to finance in the future is vehicles.

Maybe we'll have enough in savings by the time a vehicle needs to be replaced. Maybe not. We could probably get financing somewhere, but at what rate? Leasing is always an option, but I absolutely abhor the idea of leasing.

So, we'll take it one step at a time. Sell the house. Pay off the CCs. Build the EF. Nurse the credit score along. We've done enough other "good" things with our credit that it may build back up over the course of the next two or three years. We'll see.

The impending implosion of our credit scores.

As most of you are well aware, we're about to sell a house as a short sale. That assumes the sale goes through, and I'm beginning to think it will.

I don't exactly know just how much that will hurt our credit score. But my understanding is it's a little better than a foreclosure. Emphasis on little. The only option I'm aware of to protect our credit scores was to hold on to the house until its value matched what we owe. Would that be 5 years? 7? 10? dunno. Also, to cash flow, we would have had to keep paying renters in the house.

Our biggest fear has been the furnace. It was old, and needed replacement when we bought the house nine years ago. Or some other major expense. We have grown weary of dumping more money into the house. But enough on reasons to sell the house. We decided to sell it, and it is done.

When the house is sold, and CCs are paid off, we start building a real EF. That should take care of issues like furnace breakdowns, insurance deductibles, and the like.

The only thing I would see us needing to finance in the future is vehicles.

Maybe we'll have enough in savings by the time a vehicle needs to be replaced. Maybe not. We could probably get financing somewhere, but at what rate? Leasing is always an option, but I absolutely abhor the idea of leasing.

So, we'll take it one step at a time. Sell the house. Pay off the CCs. Build the EF. Nurse the credit score along. We've done enough other "good" things with our credit that it may build back up over the course of the next two or three years. We'll see.