Update

April 19, 2011

Update

It’s been awhile since my last post, but life has been hectic and the in-laws’ Internet has been poor at best. The air card was working OK early last week, but the past few days it hasn’t worked at all. Either AT&T is working on its nearest tower or a slew of people are bogging the system down with their last-minute tax filings. I hope it’s the latter and things get back to normal soon because my parents have an AT&T air card, too.

So here’s what’s been going on with us the past week or so. Last Saturday (the 9th) we packed up the apartment in Portage with help from a few family members and friends and made the drive back to Michigan with our Penske truck. I’m glad we didn’t move this weekend when it was so windy and cold.

On Sunday (the 10th), we dumped most of our possession at Gretchen’s grandparents’ house for safekeeping while we tried to figure out what we were going to do for housing. We weren’t sure if we were going to rent or buy, but the truck had to be returned so the stuff had to go somewhere.

Monday (the 11th), we sort of hung around Gretchen’s parents’ house, which is where we are staying for now, because we were going to meet with someone at the bank on Tuesday. We did go to a bakery in downtown St. Joe for Gretchen to grab an application (her aunt works there), but the owner wasn't in and she didn't leave any applications behind.

Tuesday (the 12th), we went to Chemical Bank and "found out" a couple of things from Mrs. Bank Lady: 1) We have a lot of monthly debt payments because of two student loans and a car loan, (tell me something I don’t already know, Mrs. Bank Lady), which made our debt to income ratio poor; but 2) our – or mine, I’m not really sure which – credit score is excellent despite the massive debt (median 775). Mrs. Bank Lady said the ratio was too high to qualify for the loan we wanted, but if we refinanced the loans and Gretchen finds a job (increasing our income), we should qualify for a mortgage. So we worked on refinancing our car loan through Chemical, because they were running a special on car loans, opened a few bank accounts and then went home. I called my student loan holders to refinance my loans and reduce my monthly payments. It means more money long term, but at least the monthly payments won’t be so burdensome.

Wednesday (the 13th), I went over to Augie’s great-grandparents with Augie to find my safe, which had my car title inside. After some visiting, I stopped at the in-laws and then went back to the bank to give them a copy of my title. Then, I visited the managing editor at the H-P to talk about my new job. Apparently, I’ll be the fourth new page designer to start in three weeks. Thankfully, the other three are all similar to me in age, so I’m hoping we can get along well. The H-P is now laying out the pages for six daily papers in Michigan and Indiana owned by Paxton Media, thus the need for more page designers. So while I won’t be writing the stories for the paper, at least I should be able to catch some of the mistakes in the papers. And Wednesday night we went to church.

Thursday (the 14th), I was tired of sitting around so I went outside and picked up some of the dead limbs laying around the yard and trimmed a few trees so whoever is mowing here this summer can clear them on the tractor. Gretchen was inside Thursday doing some more housecleaning. She was cleaning the house all week.

Friday and Saturday (15th and 16th), we didn’t do a whole lot. We went to the bank on Friday to finalize our refinanced car loan, but otherwise took it easy.

So, what’s next? We are kind of waiting impatiently to receive some paperwork from the federal government and Wells Fargo about my refinanced student loans. We need to finalize those deals before we can go back and talk to Mrs. Bank Lady about a mortgage. We have started looking at homes online, but the Internet hasn’t been working, so looking is slow. We know there are a few we want to look at, but until we know how much money we qualify for, it doesn’t pay to talk to our realtor about looking at them. We will probably look at homes out here in Sodus and Eau Claire as well as Stevensville, St. Joe and Benton Township. I’m sure we can find something we like, but it will take a few months. Around the first of the month we’ll start staying with my parents because Marcie will be home from college and space will be tight here.

Gretchen has two interviews this week – yesterday at Bank of America as a teller and today at that bakery in downtown St. Joe. She’d like to find something in the mornings that is full-time. So the bakery probably won’t be long-term if she ends up there, but at least it would be income in the short-term.

I started my new job yesterday. It was kid of boring because they only had me watching other people work. Later this week they should let me do something. If they don't, I will make them let me do something.

As for Augie, he’s been busy tearing apart grandma’s house this week. If something is within his reach it has probably been on the ground in the past week. Photo albums, books, paper plates, toys, Easter eggs, remote controls. He likes them all.

And now, a few pictures of Augie from the past two weeks.