Livin' Life On a Roller Coaster (Yet Again)

Kerrappp!

Last night I thought I had it all figured out.

This morning I placed my daily call to my mother and, wonder of wonders, she answered. During the trade of what's-news, I told her I had found $30K to borrow and was still looking for $10K. (This was after having to explain to her yet again why I'm having to pay $40K to sell a house. I've explained this twice already.) She said, "I can send you $10K." It's a good thing I wasn't on the freeway yet or I might have driven off the road. I wisely thought to ask, "Is this a gift or a loan?" She said, "I'll lend it to you." "Oh, thank you, Mother," I breathed. She said she would put a check in the mail today and I suppressed my skeptical thoughts that she might forget once she hung up the phone.

So here's a tip of the virtual hat to those of you who have e-mailed me and told me to "just ask her." I didn't actually ask, but I did open the door for her to display her latent generosity.

So that was the high of my real estate roller coaster for today.

Now the low.

I had to call USAA again this morning. I talk to a different representative in the investment department. It turns out what I thought I could do with the babies' mutual fund was not actually legal. Yes, I could close out the funds. But if I didn't use those monies for the benefit of the named beneficiaries—in this case Boston and Ridley—and the IRS happened to audit me, I could be subject to big penalties and taxes.

So poof! The $15K I thought I had located last night just dis-located itself.

Silly girl. You're the one with the law degree. Next time do your own damned research!

Now the count is at $25K, maybe $31K if I can work something out regarding another account. And at lunch I'll be running to a local jeweler to get the diamond solitaire cleaned so I can photograph it tonight.

Don't tell me. You don't want my life, right?

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As I was preparing this post, I searched my blog on "roller coaster" to see how many times I had written about living on a roller coaster. Ummm, too damned many times! Would somebody please push the button and stop the car while I'm at the platform and can get off‽
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"I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries."
-Jules Renard
(From Real Simple, July 14, 2008)
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