It's been since 'Nam

Yeah, I've been slacking on the posting. I apologize. I have way less free time when I'm home with the kids than I do when I'm working! That's an anomaly, isn't it?

Christmas was very nice. I have no memory of most of it. Wait, I do remember a few highlights...
First, mom's cell phone present was fun but the unveiling didn't quite go off like I'd hoped! I put her phone in the box (first mistake) and set the ringtone to a song. So when we were done opening presents and there was one bag left on the coffee table, I called her phone. Well, you really couldn't hear it because it was in the box. So I had to shush everybody (not easy with two kids screaming over a Tonka truck) and then I basically had to show her what it was. But she liked it! And now she's learning how to be a texting fool like the rest of us.

Neil got me a really cool cruiser bike for Christmas. I took the boys out for a ride yesterday and it was really fun. Now I'll be able to ride up to Bread Company for breakfast. My legs were protesting the entire trip, but that's ok.

Cooper's favorite presents were the two tents he got. He got one camping tent from us, complete with backpack, flashlight and waterbottle. It was $20. And he got a super cool huge shark shaped tent from Brett & Jericia. That one was awesome! So we could have saved hundreds of dollars and not gotten anything else, because Griffin really only wants to play with whatever Cooper is playing with, and Cooper only wanted to play with his tents. He napped in them two days in a row. Two hour naps.

Let's see.....Griffin got sick on Christmas Day. He started with diarrhea and then threw up in the night. Then we took them both to the ENT on Friday, who proclaimed "yeah, he's sick" (they get paid a lot of money to make these diagnoses, you know) and scheduled his ear tubes surgery for Monday, the 5th.

So the diarrhea. The diarrhea. It lasted until today. Seriously, every. single. diaper. was diarrhea for five straight days. I was pumping the kid full of pedialyte whenever I could. You see, Griffin doesn't so much have veins as not have veins (we think he's a spider). There is no way anyone would be able to find a vein in that child to rehydrate him if he were to be admitted for dehydration.

I finally gave up yesterday and took him to the pediatrician so she could make sure he wasn't dehydrated. He wasn't. In fact, there is something about actually giving up and calling the doctor that make all illnesses suddenly go away. The last poopy diaper he had was at the pediatrician's office. The downside is I had to take both kids and expose them to the petri dish of germs that is a pediatrician's office. I could have taken them to the Public Health Department on TB screening Day. It would've been about the same.

So, that brings us to today. I'm desperately trying to organize and put away Christmas. It doesn't help that I went to Target with the boys this morning, and all Christmas was 75% off! I bought the LED village, house, and river scene, an LED teddy bear snowman, and an LED train. Next year, Christmas is going to be awesome! I think the most expensive one was originally $59.99 and I paid $14.99 for it! I bought a really darling little pottery nativity scene that'll be nice on a bathroom vanity. I bought two potted trees with clear lights that would be great on a front step. So now all we need is the house!

I can't even bring myself to talk about the housing situation right now. Maybe later today. Maybe on New Year's Day, although I hate to bring that negativity into the New Year.

This has been quite a year, I'll tell you that! On New Year's Day, 2008, Neil woke up to Binnie having pooped on the bed. He put his hand in it. It's been downhill since then. 2009 is going to better. Or else.

I'm moving, again (and a teaser)

I know, it's irritating. But I have decided to Get Serious with my blog and I started my own dedicated hosting site. OK, my brother started it. Actually, I have no idea what I'm doing so he's doing most of it.

But it is kind of cool to have my own url! And in case anyone was ever curious, Heatherty Featherty is a nickname my Grandma Clare used for me. So it's near and dear to my heart and thus is why I reveal to you.....drumroll please.....

www.heathertyfeatherty.com

Taa-daaaa!!!!!!

I transferred my Blogger posts over there and as soon as I have time I'll be creating a snazzy new "look" for the page. In the meantime, please bear with the digusting blue theme. I appreciate your support.

Oh, and for all of my loyal readers, if you go check out the website you'll see what my darling husband bought today. Aren't you just dying to see it?

Freaking J Crew website

I want to curse at the laptop right now. I love the styling at J Crew. I've recently been accumulating new clothes for the fam from said store, courtesy of their sales and enticements to buy.

I got an email today that they're having a new sale, 30% off all sale items and free shipping. Sold. I have spent the better part of the day trying to get their crapbag website to work! Half the time I'll click on an item only to have a message that says Oops, we've sold out of this item six months ago and we're too cheap or too stoopid to hire IT people to update our website... or some such crap.

The other half of the time I'll be able to successfully add an item to my cart only to have the entire site go down and I get some lame error message that even the best sites have problems.

Jeez louise.

I actually got an email from J Crew a few months ago apologizing for their crappy website and promising changes. Nothing has changed. The same items that were sold out and still listed online a month ago are still there, luring unsuspecting shoppers with the promise of cheap corduroy pants or a dreamy soft sweater.

If my son didn't look so stinking cute in their clothes, I'd boycott them! Instead, I'm waiting patiently for their site to reload so I can give them money and they can send me things. Fair enough.

By the way, I ordered these boots last month during their previous 30% off sale and they are to die for. Everywhere I go people compliment me on them! They're cozy and styly and I'd sleep in them if it was legal. The best part is they're called the Chamonix boots (that's shah-monee for you 'Mericans) and we skiid Chamonix when we lived in Geneva. Sweet. Now if I could only find a basement creperie I'd be set.

Would you like a house with your pizza?

I had such an interesting lunch today. I took an office day, which means I didn't dress up today. I have a lot to finish before Christmas. OK, I have one expense report due tonight that I haven't started yet, but whatever.

So I took myself to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. As I sat there.... wait, I better back up.

Last night Neil and I put together our latest and greatest best offer to Countrywide. We faxed it to our agent Sue this morning. OK, now you're caught up.

So as I sat there, my phone rang. Yes, I carried my Blackberry into lunch. I like to play BrickBreaker and read my emails while I'm waiting.

It was Sue. Apparently Countrywide had received an offer for $100k (yes, that's a K) higher than ours this very same morning, and they flat out rejected it. So Sue wanted to know if we even wanted to submit ours. I said uh...no. We're dumb but we're not that dumb. I turned to my bubbly fountain Pepsi (CPK has the best fountain Pepsi) in dismay. My Blackberry rang again, this time I didn't recognize the number.

You know who it was? An agent for a house Neil and I had looked at last fall that he loved, that was supposedly under contract! He said he had a strong feeling the deal was going to fall through and not close, and are we still interested?! Can you believe the timing?

So I told him yes, we're still interested, as a deal we just tried to do just fell through. I mean, it sounded better than to say "hey, we were just shot down by Countrywide and we'd love to buy a cheaper house, sure." So yay! This house is lovely. It's new construction, about 98% complete. It still needs carpet and paint and landscaping. The builder was foreclosed on when he ran out of time to sell it before his loans were due. It has a five car garage, Neil was in love with that. It's not in a neighborhood so I didn't like that, but the land is beautiful and I could live there for a few years. Ideally, we'd finish it, live there for two years, and then sell it and build it again in a residential area. That's ideally, of course.

So, keep your fingers crossed for us if this is Meant To Be. The agent wanted to know what price we could close at, which makes me suspect that he's fishing for the highest bidder? I don't know, but I will not be hosed by some yahoo. Hah!

Fishface from the Viral Family

I've decided we are renaming ourselves the Viral family. Heather Never-Gets-A-Virus, Fishface RunnyNose, Griffin Virus and Neil ChronicCough. It's digusting, I hate virus season! I can literally see Griffin's immune system working. Last winter he stayed home with Jean and he never got so much as a sniffle. This winter, he's in the petri dish we call daycare and he's been phlegmy since October. Develop your antibodies, son! Mommy hates the chronic sicknesses!

I was walking the floor at 2:00 a.m. with Griffie, cursing the current cold that is racking his poor little lungs and keeping mommy awake at night. Good times.

I posted these funny pictures of my oldest son, Fishface, on his blog, but I thought I'd copy them here for my loyal reader who doesn't read his page (you know who you are).

Before you ask, no he didn't have anything in his mouth.

These photos will go in the box labeled Future Bribery When My Son Turns 16.

The Green Hornet

My husband is obsessed with anything that runs on a gas engine, especially a two-stroke engine. He was in Springfield this past week and the DICK'S Sporting Goods store had this deal on hot green minibikes that he just couldn't pass up. I put the emphasis on Dick's. I mean, if you had the choice of names for your retail business, would you choose Dick's?

So he snuck it home and put it together and tried to pretend he's had it for a long time. I knew better. I caught him in the garage working on it.

This morning the weather wasn't horrible (50s) and Griffin took a good long nap so Cooper and I came out and played.

Those of you who know about my ill-fated near fatal experience on the Honda Trail 90, will be greatly impressed at my ability to ride this 50cc minibike. I love it! You practically have to push it with your feet to go forward, it's perfect for me.

I don't want my boys to be grease monkeys. I think I'm losing the fight on that one. I may even be joining them.

This photo shows the magic of Photoshop Elements. The "before" shot included some very dark circles under my eyes a la my baby Griffin who hasn't slept through the night in two months. Yesterday alone I took two naps. But with the Magical Undereye Concealer Tool (I'm sure it has an official name, I just don't know it), you can't see them anymore!

Then after Griffie got up we all went down to the New Highway 40 Celebration (yay, the happiest day of my life will be tomorrow when the highway opens again!!!) to try to catch a horsedrawn carriage ride. No luck, Santa was firmly ensconced in the sleigh but we did get to walk on the highway with twenty thousand other people and their dogs. Binnie would have hated it.

Oh, and there were lots of firetrucks, so Cooper liked that. He got a red plastic fireman's hat, and on the way back to the car he said "that was nice of the firemens to give me the firehat." Sweet boy. And then he cried for twenty minutes until he crashed.

Now both of the boys are passed out and I am off to fold thirty five loads of laundry before they wake.

The word UBER

In case you missed it, I don't like the word uber. It's uber irritating to me, I have no idea why. I am even unclear as to whether or not it is its own word, or is it a modifier? Is that even a term, modifier?

I just heard the ultimate reason why you should never use the word uber in written or spoken communication again. Always (you know, the company who wants us all to have a Happy Period) has a new commercial on teevee for their Infinity maxipad. The lady announcer actually says "it's uber-absorbent." That should be enough, right? To never use the word or whatever it is ever again?

Ah well, I tried.

We had a cute little Christmas party at the boys' daycare tonight. Santa even came! Cooper was so excited to see Santa, he sat on his lap and told him he wanted a fast race car for Christmas. And Griffin wasn't scared.

I'm not sure whether fear is in Griffin's vocabulary yet or not. He spent most of the night practicing his walking skills and walking independently around the school cafeteria. This included focusing in on the microphone stand as a shiny target and attempting to bring it down again and again. I ended up with a plate of mostaccioli and green beans on my legs and down my red boots at Griffin's hand, that was fun.

I was so proud of Cooper tonight! Each class did a little song for the crowd, and he did so good. Miss Aislinn's class did some rhyme about Christmas complete with hand gestures, or maybe that was sign language. Anyway, Cooper did all of the little motions! He was the only one I noticed who didn't miss a beat, or a line in the song. Or poem. Whatever it was, it was cute! I wish I'd unpacked my new videocam for the event. Who knew it was going to be so cute?

What's a bindle?

Oh, the tears are still streaming down my face. Tears of joy! I just finished reading an excellent write-up on Wonkette about the Mensa level activities of Rod Blagojevich. Seriously. This is the funniest material to come across the desk in quite possible forever. If this guy is a governor, I can be Queen!

Here's an excerpt for your reading pleasure....

At this point Blaggy started running around the mansion, naked,
carrying a bindle of live rats over his shoulder, screaming at the wall, asking
the kitchen chefs and dogs why they wouldn’t give his wife $150,000 or however
the f*ck much they always should be giving her...

I have a new idea?

How about a weekend in Cancun? Neil was really bummed that we had to cancel our Hawaii trip when his new job scheduled a meeting for the same week. I could spring a three day getaway on him at Christmas, leaving on New Year's and see if my sister in law Leslie could watch the boys? I hate to travel, but he'd love it. Hmmm.....

Vote for Neil's Christmas present

Yeah, I'm stumped. I just don't know what to get Neil for Christmas, and as you can see by the date, it is two short weeks away. Here are some of my better ideas....

1. A puppy. This actually tops my list because I love dogs and we've wanted a puppy forever. But, we have a puppy. His name is Griffin. He's still not housetrained. If I were to get one, my neighbors could keep it until we spring it on Neil, who has been begging me for one for two years. I'm on the fence about the breed, though. He wants a chocolate lab. I want either a golden retriever or a Bernese Mountain Dog. Time is running short and then of course, there's the issue of the many weeks of work travel we both have in January....
2. A new flash and lens for the camera. BORING. Let me reiterate...BORING. But useful and something he'll like, just not exciting.
3. A shotgun. This is on the bottom of my list for many reasons, not the least of which is I Hate Guns. I see no use for them, as I find great usefulness in my local grocery store and I don't want to die at the end of a gun barrell. But recently Neil has revived his interest in guns, and even bought a cheap rifle this weekend. He's been talking to my brother-in-law about shotguns, and now Greg thinks he should take me shopping (no doubt to Cabela's, again) to pick out a Binnelli shotgun. Yuck. Please help me come up with a better gift than this.

So there you are. The first and the third gift involve a lot of work on my part. The puppy will undoubtedly be mine to raise, train, groom, walk, and otherwise care for. The shotgun will mean giving Neil even more free time to go shoot guns. And there's the added risk of A) my life ending, and 2) my sons getting interested in guns.

So, weigh in with your votes, or feel free to throw in another idea.

Big Sale heads up

Tomorrow (December 10) Banana Republic is going to have everything 40% off. Just a heads up...

Holiday rage sets in

Do you have a moment each year, in your holiday shopping, or the endless cooking and cleaning, or the wrapping, where you just want to go a little postal and tell someone where they can go?

I had that moment this morning.

I went to Borders to get a book for work. I got the front parking spot! I found said book, and proceeded to the checkout. The line was fairly long, with two checkers. Finally, a third lady stepped up to her register and called me down. The following conversation ensued (she is L for lady)....

L: Will this be all for you today?
H: Yes
L: Do you have a Borders Rewards Card?
H: No, thank you.
L: Would you like one?
H: No, thank you.
L: They're free, if you sign up you can get benefits back.
H: No, thank you.
L: Do you need any gift cards today?
H: No.
L: Do you need a gift receipt?
H: No.
L: Is this debit or credit?

Seriously. Can we make a law whereby people have to use the least amount of words possible to complete a transaction? I mean, is it necessary for every single stinking transaction to harass the customer about your stupid Rewards program? After years and years of it being in effect don't you think if I wanted it I would have already signed up for it? I wanted to buy one book. One business book, no less. Clearly, not a gift.

Here's how this conversation could have gone...

L: Will this be all for you today?
H: Yes, thank you.
L: Your total is $24.97, please sign here.

My God. This happens to me every year at Christmas, where I want to shake someone for something. It'll be called Shaken Salesperson Syndrome.

On a much lighter note, BabyGap and Gap Kids is having an awesome sale! Stuff that's already on sale is marked down at least another 25%. I bought Griffin a darling little toggle coat for $14, Cooper a black corduroy blazer for Christmas for $6, and plenty of other things. I may even go back later, after I finish the dreaded Business Plan I'm procrastinating on working on at this very minute. Apparently this sale is not going on online. Boo hoo.

Busted

My own son, Griffin, barely one year old, has busted me on a Christmas present already!

My husband bought a new rifle this weekend. I know, I'm anti guns. He's pro guns. It's a wonder we ever got married. But we did, and now I live in a home with guns. And a massive gun safe.

So he mentioned that a good Christmas present for him would be a nice gun cleaning kit, one that would work on many different types of guns, and also a "scope cover." My mom needed a gift idea for him, so I passed along the cleaning kit idea, and we decided to meet at Cabela's over the lunch hour yesterday.

We wandered aimlessly among the dead mammals and murderous hunters until we found what we were looking for, and we checked out. Oh, and I also snagged an adorable North Face jacket, since I didn't really have a winter coat anymore...long story.

So this morning, Neil says to me, "Soooo...did Cabela's have any nice gun cleanings kits?" I did a head whiplash. "I know what you got me for Christmas...I know you went to Cabela's." What?!

"How do you know?"

"Griffin brought me the receipt."

Sure enough, that little ankle biter had grabbed the receipt from the floor somewhere and handed it to Neil. Luckily it was the receipt for the $20 scope cover and not Mom's present. And apparently, that's not the type of scope covers he was talking about, so I have to return it.

Dang it.

Blondes like me

Have you ever had one of those moments where you realize your brain has played a trick on you? Over Thanksgiving I was around my sister in law (SIL for my BZ friends) and we were talking about hair color. My boys are relatively blonde. For many years of my adult life, I was relatively blonde, too. As you can see from my childhood pics in previous posts, I was relatively blonde as a child.

For whatever reason, the Gods of Hair Color have played a cruel trick on me and while I was blissfully highlighting 90% of my hair from the age of twenty to thirty, the underlying color was getting darker and darker and darker.

A few years ago I said "Hey, how cool would it be to go back to my natural color? Wouldn't that be cool?" Yes, well, I was shocked to find that my natural color is about sixteen shades darker than I imagined it was. Which means my roots were eighteen shades darker than I thought they were while they were growing out (because of a neat little trick of the eye where your roots look darker than they actually are next to the brightness of highlights). But I digress.

I stuck to my plan, and retained my natural color with a little chemical help here and there. Hey, highlights do more than lighten your hair, you know. They add texture and help it have a style, too. So I would highlight a little, and then have my Girl put a little gloss over that to make it Reddish. The whole process would take twenty nine hours over two days and I'd end up looking remarkably like I did when I came into the salon. And my wallet was $200 lighter.

Well, apparently my brain never got the message that my hair is now Dark. Because whenever I see women with blonde highlighted hair, I think "oh, she looks like me." And when I see brunettes, I think "oh, look, a brunette." So do you remember my SIL that I mentioned at the beginning of this long-winded story? Well, at Thanksgiving I believe she said something to the effect of "Austin's hair is so dark. It's almost as dark as Heather's!" I was so confused for a minute. Maybe there's another Heather in our family?

Ahh, gotta love families, right!? Nothing like your family to remind you that you're old, or fat, or dark-haired, or poor.

One hunert

Happy one hunert posts to me, la la la la! I thought and thought and thought about what to write for my centennial post. And I can't think of anything. So maybe I'll just do some random lists and pictures or something, like the way my brain works on a regular day.

Here is something I really like right now, at Target. Yes, I would marry Target if I could.

They have new wedding invitations - you can make your own super modern and cool wedding invitations and not go into debt for it! And none of your guests would know the difference. They even come with the reply cards that match, and the paper quality is really great.

I also just found Etsy. My friend Christia is a new avid knitter (she's also new to the midwest, can you believe it?) and she's selling her work at her Etsy shop. So I wandered over there last night and WHOA! What a plethora of cool things on Etsy! I thought my mai teis were cool, but there are people on Etsy selling way cooler baby carriers than mine. Oh, well, I'm not selling them, I guess that helps a little.

I'm trying to find a blog/html designer who can put my blog design idea into action. So if any of you know of a graphic designer who can do this sort of thing, please have them email me at heathertyfeatherty@gmail.com. The job pays tens of dollars. Just kidding! I know what I want, I just don't have the time or talent to use Illustrator and learn how to write html code.

I found this picture of me as a four year old skiing prodigy in Tignes, Switzerland. Circa 1976. So that got me thinking about how I want to raise my sons, and now I'm adding SKI TRIPS to our list of things to do each winter.

And last but not least (yes, this post will surprisingly be shorter than my usual ramblings), here is a list of ways you can help someone else this holiday season.

• Toys for Tots
• Compassion International
• Heifer International
• And you can always call a local church and ask how you can help a needy family this Christmas. That's what the season is all about.
  

And I leave you with this. A photo of myself at Christmas in 1976, the same year of the skiing championship. This photo is a plea to parents. Don't do this to your child's hair. Merry Christmas and Happy Blogging, everybody!

TAG! You're it!

Oh, man, is Angela ever lucky that she tagged me for my ninety-ninth post, and not my 100th! Plus, this gives me time to work on the Big One Hundred.

So apparently, how this works, is I will list six things that really make me happy. Then I'll "tag" six people that I know who blog (uh, I don't know six bloggers, but whatever) and they'll do the same on their blogs, and so on and so forth and so on.

SO, here goes...

Things that make me happy, in no important order:

• Sleeping through the night!
• My kids - Griffie's great hugs and Cooper's heart-warming compliments are to die for
• Boots - I am in love with boots right now. I am trying to figure out how to wear them with sweatpants.
• Hats! There's nothing better, in my mind, than a great stocking cap. Or newsboy. Or one of those Elmer Fudd earflap beaver hunter hats.
• Sewing - I love to make things, anything really. Right now I'm obsessed with baby carriers but some day that will change and I'll be on to something else.
• Gardening - even in the dead of winter I am envisioning what I'll be planting next spring, and what my containers will look like. I eyeball other people's gardens and steal ideas from them, too.

So here are my six lucky bloggers who get to tell us all what makes them happy.....drumroll.....

1. BRETT
2. GINGER
3. JERICIA (she needs to start a blog anyway, here's a good reason to)
4. MARCI
5. MELISSA
6. MARY JO (ah-hah! you have to start one now)

And now, I'm going to partake of the first thing on my list that makes me happy. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It's Just. Getting. Interesting!

Alas, I cannot roll over and let Countrywide walk away (or in this case, just sit there like a bunch of dumbasses) with the Saint Albans home. I am going to fight.

I spent the better part of the last few days contacting some people (ok, a couple of attorneys) that might know a little something about buying REO properties, and I've learned a few things. I'll save the details for later...don't want to show my hand just yet...but let's just say it's pretty good! Thank you, Katie G, for emailing me and telling me how you and Andy did it! You were invaluable and now I can't sleep I'm so excited.

On a more bummer note, Neil's grandma passed away last night. For her, it's a blessing. She gets to go Home, and be with Eddie. In going through old photos for her memorial service, Neil found an awesome picture of the two of them kissing, sometime in the forties. She wrote on the back of all of the pictures she sent to him..."I love you best." Isn't that cute? And also, what the heck does that mean?

So her passing has also thrown Neil into a major downward spiral, mostly because he's been forced to be around his mom. I hope he's able to get some closure and peace with the whole situation and move forward. He'll never be close with his mom again, I can see that, but maybe he can let the rawness of his anger subside a little now that Ruth isn't here to worry over? That's my hope.

Tomorrow we have the memorial service and Friday is the burial. This ought to be interesting. It would probably be more fun if it turned into a Jerry Springer smackdown, but you know that isn't going to happen. I should bring my new videocam just in case.

I'm having a lot of fun Christmas shopping this year! Last year I had a three-week-old baby, so everyone got cash or gift cards. This year I'm doing presents again and I'm having a blast. One of my nephews will be getting the Creepy Crawlers Workshop, where you make your own bugs. A friend of mine's sons absolutely love it and have played with theirs for four years now. My niece will be getting faux Uggs with hearts all over them. One nephew is getting a green iPod Shuffle, and two others may be getting them, too, although in different colors. I also bought two of the large dragonfly Air Hogs helicopters. Neil loves his, I'm sure a twelve-year-old will like it, too, right? If not, Brett, it's yours.

I even have a ton of great ideas for my parents, which is totally unheard of! Mom's getting something neat-o (maybe she occasionally reads this blog and I don't want to give it away yet) and so is my dad. Wow, that was a lame paragraph where I didn't say anything!

Oh, and last but definitely not least...I want to give a shoutout to Marci G (formerly Marci D)! She sent me a note on Facebook and let me know that she is a loyal reader. I haven't seen her since college sometime (? summer ?) since I missed our ten year reunion, so it's great to reconnect with all of the girls from high school again. Hi Marci!

Well, kids, that's all for me today. Only two more posts until my centennial! I have to start getting that one ready. Apparently it's a big deal in Blog World.

Is there a lawsuit in here somewhere?

OK, we were denied again on our offer to buy the Countrywide foreclosure. I was not surprised, I'm sure Neil will be. His expectations are different than mine.

Here's where my irritation comes in. I know at least one attorney reads my blog, so maybe someone can tell me whether or not there is a class action lawsuit in this whole mess?

As a taxpayer, I am collectively on the hook for at least $700 B in financial bailout for the lending system. Banks sitting on foreclosed and foreclosing properties are the very reason why we had to rush to pass the bailout package this fall.

Yet, apparently these same banks have absolutely NO INCENTIVE to deal when it comes to selling these properties to qualified buyers. Not only are the representatives who handle the REO office stupid (read my post below about needing the paperwork to match exactly), they are also unmotivated. In our case, we got no counter offer. We got no correspondence whatsoever. We are one of the very few buyers out there right now who can close quickly with a 20% down payment without needing to sell our other residence first. One would think that a mortgage company would want to deal with us? Apparently not!

So let me get this straight...I had to bail out these companies, but they don't have to do anything on their end to rectify the situation with regards to all of the impaired assets on their books? I would think the bailout makes me part owner in their business. If it weren't for my tax dollars (and everyone else's), they would be out of business, bankrupt, kaput!

I know it will sound like sour grapes, that I'm just bitter about our deal not working out. Honestly, I've heard this exact same scenario play out so many times in the past year or two, I can't even count it all on two hands. It doesn't seem to matter what bank owns the loan, they are just not dealing on their short sales and foreclosed properties.

These banks don't seem to understand that the value of these homes has dropped. They are no longer worth what the bank foreclosed them for! They need to write off the loss and move forward with good loans. Loans to people like me and Neil. People with good solid jobs, cash savings, assets in investments, and no contingencies!

OK, now I need to find an attorney, I'm all riled up.