Day 910

Today was a disaster. Things started out normally enough. I walked the dogs and ate breakfast. Then I made the mistake of turning on the computer and opening my e-mail. The first thing I saw was a letter from my real estate agent. He said that we had a problem. Bear in mind that I am supposed to close on the sale of my rent house in less than two days. Evidently, Fannie Mae told the lender that they needed some additional information before they would approve the loan. What? Why did they wait to the last possible second to drop this bombshell? I submitted all my information weeks and weeks ago. At any rate, the rest of the day was spent calling and e-mailing the lender, the buyers agent, the title company and my own agent trying to see if there was a way to quickly resolve this problem. So far, no luck.

The whole situation is very frustrating. First of all, Fannie Mae should have told the lender and the buyer exactly what they needed weeks and weeks ago, when this whole process started. This is no way to solve the housing crisis. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA basically control the lending market these days. You can't get a loan without them. They have made it so difficult to qualify for a loan that I probably couldn't have qualified myself if the same rules were in place when I bought the place. The sad thing is that it is all out of my control. I just have to sit and wait and see if all the parties involved can get their ducks in a row.

While was waiting, I took Dash to the vet for his bi-weekly antigen shot. At least that went smoothly. The antigen shots actually seem to be working. Dash has a full, thick coat now and his skin condition has dramatically improved. With his newly cleaned teeth and a nicely spotted black and white coat, the little guy is looking pretty spiffy. If only the rest of my problems could be solved with a shot every two weeks.

Isn't the little wild rose I photographed this morning pretty? The flower looked so optimistic, but I guess that goes to show that you shouldn't trust a flower to forecast the kind of day you will have. Probably the only good news today was from the sewing machine repairman, who called to tell me that the old machine was fixed and ready to be picked up. I'm not even sure if this is good news, since Janet is still puzzled about why I even bothered to fix the old Singer right after she bought a much better brand new sewing machine. 

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 893

Lots of errands today. There were the usual things, like grocery shopping and doing the laundry. Then, there were the unusual things, like looking for a sewing machine repair shop. Granted, there are still more places that repair sewing machines than repair typewriters, but these places are getting kind of rare. I finally found a shop that got good reviews off in an obscure industrial area of North Dallas and took the old Singer in for service. Yeah, I know that Janet just got a fancy new Viking machine, but I knew that if I didn't get this one fixed soon, she would just throw it away. I still haven't conquered my Gemini obsession with having two of everything. It's easy for me to rationalize fixing just about anything too. Hey, it's always good to have a spare sewing machine, isn't it?

On the way home from the sewing machine repair place, I stopped by my rent property to pick up some tools and touch up paint that I'd left there. A couple of neighbors saw me and congratulated me on selling the place.  How did they know already?  I doubt that these people are blog readers and the real estate sign out front didn't have an "under contract" banner on it yet. I certainly didn't tell them. I guess it all comes down to gossip. Neighbors everywhere gossip about everything. In my own neighborhood, I'm the last to know anything, because I don't keep up with the neighborhood gossip.

I do keep up with when the dogs have had their rabies shots and get their city registration renewed. Apparently, the city doesn't keep up with things quite as well. Every year about this time I get a letter from Code Compliance telling me that Dash's city registration has expired and that they are going to fine me form non-compliance. I always call them back and tell them that I renewed Dash's registration at least a month ago and then read them his new tag number. They apologize, update his records, and then I don't hear from them again for another year. This has happened now for four years in a row. You'd think the city would get it right by now, but they haven't even come close.

I thought I'd play a few tunes on the old ESQ-1 synthesizer I uncovered yesterday. When I hit the first chord, I heard nothing. "Damn," I thought. "I've gone to all this effort to uncover this thing and it doesn't even work." I eventually discovered that the keyboard was just fine, but that the powered speakers it was connected to were broken. One more thing to fix, I guess. I don't know why I even bother. I'm certainly not that good at playing the piano. Of course, I'm not that good at sewing either. I just like to be surrounded by working tools.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day