Need...More...Chocolate

Life has taken a sudden stressful turn at the moment. (Where's the chocolate?) Not the best of timing really -- given the fact that I'm nearly 8 1/2 months pregnant with our third little person.

I'm a fairly relaxed person most of the time... I can get hyper (ask my hubby), but I like to think (or hope, at least?) I've mellowed over time. Kids have a way of doing that to you. Life goes entirely too fast to sweat the "small stuff."

That was last Monday a week ago...

Then came three days later.

We are usually really good at reading the small-print stuff that comes with loans and credit cards and anything else financially related.

But somehow we managed to miss the small print on our car loan that said something about the terms and payment being based on how much we borrowed...so that when I went online to check to see whether our payment scheme had been set up I got a complete shock. The payment due was half-again as much as we originally thought. [Insert scary Psycho music and screams here.]

Hmm...

That put a crimp in an otherwise darn fine plan...and it was too late to return the car.

Okay. Okay. So we need to move around our finances a bit and eat beans on toast only cut way back for awhile.

That was last Thursday...

Then came yesterday...Tuesday.

The doorbell rang, and the mail-lady asked me to sign for a certified letter.

That was a bit of a surprise in and of itself...but it was even more shocking when I saw it was from our borough. [Insert theme from an even scarier movie here.]

Hmm...

Upon opening it, I saw a letter citing us for all sorts of codes violations.


Huh?

Let's back up a minute.

We own a 90-year-old house that we bought in very poor condition. Anyone living around us knows that we've been doing our best for five years to make it better. We've replaced all the windows and painted the front porch and replaced the front steps and planted flowers and kept the lawn mowed. We shovel the snow in front of our house, even though we don't go out that way since our cars are in the back of the house.

It's slow-going, but all the repairs take money. (The windows alone cost over $11,000. We did them in two phases.) It's a "work in progress."

And now this?

We knew our gutters and eaves still needed to be painted, but we hadn't figured out how to do that without a contractor. The money simply wasn't there. But the letter mentioned flaking window paint and an on-site inspection. I'm not sure how an inspector could see "flaking" paint that far up from the ground level but...

So I guess we will have to be find the money now since we have 30 days to make this right -- slap on some paint and fix a downspout -- or we'll be fined $1,000.

The funny thing is...we got a flyer on our door for a roofing/painting contractor...only a day or two before this letter.

Hmm...

I'm off for more chocolate...or maybe I should make that beans on toast? It's cheaper, I guess.