A year and 2 apartments later.....

My home was sold for way under the asking price and all I had left to show for it was $32,000.00! Most of it went to pay off debts, bills and loans. I guess I should count my blessings that it didn't foreclose, my health is stable and my kids still love me. I've been away for quite awhile and I missed writing. So much has happened in the time spent away from being online. So far the drama in my life has NOT gone away and I am still very much in the thick of it all and trying to take a step back and separate myself from my children's, (young adults) problems. I moved into a small one bedroom apartment and supposedly, I am only supposed to have one other person, my mentally challenged daughter, Pua, living with me. My 16 year old son, Manny has been delayed with going to the Honolulu Job Corp due to improper paperwork and has caused him to be in limbo. In the meantime his new residence is the living room (uncomfortable) futon where he has been observing life living with the women folk. My oldest daughter Nani has temporarily taken up residence in my apartment. She was in a car accident a few days ago after coming home from a party and doesn't really remember what happened. She was sleeping in the back seat and luckily she was buckled up and I'm sure it would have been worse or tragic if she were not. She does remember the driver looking in on her and the other passenger and running from the scene. The police caught and jailed the driver that morning. Wouldn't you think that if you run from the scene of an accident and the car is registered to YOU, don't you think that the Police would find you? I swear, young people and their nonsense thinking.

Open House

My house is finally finished, paint, Spackle, vacuum, vinyl tile replacement, tons of cleaning, mopping, scrubbing, caulking, garage repair, install lighting, overhead stove fan, fix a broken toilet, donate stuff I wont' use anymore, frequenting Lowe's and Home Depot, store stuff that I need to still sort out, kicking out my brother that has moved in at his convenience, telling my oldest daughter Nani that she needs to grow up and go live with someone or anyone and go on her own, having two of my very good family friends, Mama Diane and Beatrice come over and meticulously clean my daughters apartment, shuttling out my son to his cousins for an unknown amount of time, getting rid of clutter and pretty much a major overhaul of my home. That's what I've been working on since the end of May to now and I'm finally finished. In between working and home, I've been so tired that I've been falling asleep as soon as I sit down for a break or any spare amount of time that I get. Today was the first day where I didn't lift a paint brush, box cutter, tool of any type. No errands to tend or any important tasks to get done. It is finally done. I rested until 11:00am and that is the longest time that I've taken out for myself. It was nice to rest and have this now beautiful house all to myself. My open house was yesterday and from what my realtor said is that the foot traffic was good and there was quite a bit of interest. She thinks that the asking price is a little high and we may need to lower it. I was in agreement. Anything to get the home sold and pay off my bank and hopefully have a little money left over for me. I don't want to be a homeowner anymore. The taxes, monthly allocation of monies that are needed to go to repairing the home and the daily and weekly upkeep and all of this on my own. I'm not a two earner family but a single mother of a 15 year old son who thinks I'm an ATM! I could very well do without all of that. My dream is not to own a home but to enjoy my life. With my RA now is check and medication working to make me work, it will be a matter of time before I really become disabled. I'm hoping that the time will be further along in my future or maybe not. I want to travel, take some time off from work and see all of the things that I've read in books and readings. But for now, it's work and more work. But today, I'm at rest.

Pua is MIA (missing in action)

again and called me to tell me that she had broken a window at her facility (again) and had her boyfriend Adolpho waiting in his car to pick her up to bring her back to the bay area. Those two remind of a modern day "Bonnie and Clyde". Now she is Redwood City living with her boyfriend who is living with his Aunt and some odd children in a crowded two bedroom apartment. I'm not sure she will last long in her state without her medication and I'm sure she will start to wear as the week goes along. A few days later she called to tell me that she was arguing with Adolpho and wanted to seek refuge at my house. I told her "no" and that she should work out whatever problems she has with him and to communicate her concerns. Eventually they worked out whatever it was that bothered her and seemed content on staying where she was at. I'll have her over for a visit at another time.
I'm still cleaning and multi-tasking my home and very much doing most of the work by myself. It is an arduous task to get a phenomenal amount of work done under a deadline. Aside from working, I come home to work on the house. I wake up and work on the house and then go to work. I've curbed my working hours and have slacked off at picking up hours to get my house done before the Open house next week Sunday. Once that is all finally done, I will resume my work hours by picking up more to pad my paycheck. I am planning a long awaited International trip to Dublin, Ireland and London next month for my two week vacation. It will be a much needed time off from everything and everyone. I'm so looking forward to this journey. While my home is on the market, I'm crossing my fingers and hope that it will sell well and hopefully I will have a buyer by the end of summer. I'm optimistic about that, I have to be. My home looks great, I staged it well. It still needs some work, painting the front and back. Not huge monumental tasks but easily done in a few days time. Aside from that, I will be done with everything and I can finally sit back, take a deep breath and have an ice cold beer! My home will be on the market next week.

Where have you been?

It has been some time since I have posted here. I have many half written and almost finished posts that I need to set up to send out but have not had a chance to do that. Work has been tremendously busy as well as my life. My taxes were sent out on the due date online only to be rejected by the IRS due to the father claiming my son on his taxes as a dependant and for what? The boy hardly sees that dead beat anyway. After re-submitting the paper and extra documentation by snail mail, I will again wait for their decision.
Also, I am trying to work out a lower payment factor in my mortgage in the hopes of NOT being one of the millions of homeowners who are walking away from their properties and mailing in my keys or the so called "jingle mail" syndrome. Gas prices are high, food prices are even higher. My grocery bill has gone up by at least $50.00 more than usual and we've scaled back on our buying strategies and sticking on what we really need or are going to cook for the next few days. I'm stocking up on soups since that is relatively cheap but loaded with sodium and only for a raining day to fill in.
I've been picking up lots of hours at work and padding my paycheck to counter the rising prices of our economy but it's a no win situation. Just try to stay afloat and surviving.
My RA has been easy to work with as long as I am taking my medication. Granted, I missed my Humira by three days and I'm hoping that it won't be a big deal when I take my second dose this month, on-time!
Beatrice finally got her annuity rolled over into an IRA and is very estatic about that but in the same breath, she found out a very good friend and choir sister has passed away today and is feeling very sad about that. I'm hoping that my life will start to unwrinkle the numerous bumps in the road as I go along and trying hard not to think the worse.

New Work Schedule

for the month of March and I'm loving it. So far I only work Tue through Thursday with four days off. I'm picking up as many hours as I possibly can to help pay my monthly mortgage. I have to talk to my bank and have them do a "workout" loan for me and lower my payments to something that I can afford and not live paycheck to paycheck. My last resort is that I would have to put my home up for sale on the already overburdened housing market and hope for the best. What a stressful situation and I'm trying very hard not to think about it. I have yet to do my taxes and am hoping to get that done sometime this week. Only a miracle will get me out of this and so far, I have lived on the whims of my good luck and fortune to ride me through most of my life and now, it's a waiting game.