Running the Gauntlet

At T minus 14 days and counting, we're looking pretty good.  The dining room chair with the wobbly leg that has sat in the corner for nearly a year has now happily joined the rest of his tribe at the table.  The guest bathroom shower handle has been tightened; its threats of breaking toes by hurling itself to the floor now silenced.

I straightened the kids' myriad bookshelves, organizing by genre, author, and reading level.  This means either the boys will not be allowed to read anything for the next 14 days, or I am going to be the Crazy Mom Book Police, hovering over their every selection to make sure it is put back properly.  But really, who am I kidding?  They don't reshelve books on their own anyway; the floor/coffee table/car/kitchen counter is their bookshelf, so I should be able to manage the organization from here on out just fine.

I weeded out the stray toys from the playroom and, because Kenyon will be nearing 5 years old when we return, sold the babyish ones at a garage sale.  The boys need to decide what items are keepers on their personal shelves, and those will be boxed up until our return (i.e., I don't think the Aussie kids want to be greeted by the random animal bones found on hikes that currently grace Jackson's shelf.  Or the tanned squirrel hide.).  I think I'll make an executive decision and sneak that delightful little keepsake into the garbage.

You might be thinking that these minute details mean we are all prepared, but there are some big things still looming over us.  I liken the remaining tasks of the next couple of weeks to running the gauntlet, after which we will hopefully emerge victorious, boarding the plane to begin our adventure.

entering the gauntlet...

Where to park our minivan for a year?  No easy task.  The Aussies will pay utilities here, so I need to make sure certain bills are switched to online billing and switch utilities back to paper billing (which means countless phone calls, which means running the gauntlet otherwise known as Automated Customer Service).  I have never before yearned so steadily for a personal assistant who I could pass this off to with a wave of a manicured hand while languidly sipping my cappuccino.

Since I didn't have anything better to do, I decided at nearly the last minute to refinance our mortgage at a lower interest rate and take out a little cash so we have some money to do a couple of really memorable things during our trip.  Our mortgage is through our credit union, so I figured it would be straight-forward and relatively pain-free.

Ha!

When the bank guy analyzed my credit report and started asking me about my second and third mortgage and my credit line with QVC, I knew something was terribly wrong.  An address listed in the residential history shows a PO Box in the mountain town of Gypsum, Colorado--I have never lived there.  And there, under my aliases, was the name of someone whose name closely resembled my maiden name.

Somehow, my credit report has been intertwined with this other woman, and I know I will spend the rest of my life trying to disentangle myself from this mess.

The good news is that she is paying her bills regularly, but this error is still negatively affecting my credit because of the sheer amount of credit she carries.

In other words, lady, lighten up on the 'quality diamonique' QVC bracelets.

My bank guy understands the situation and is working to at least clear up the credit report internally so the refinance can proceed in the most favorable manner.  We'll see if it all happens and we can eke out a closing by late next week...cross your fingers.