More changes

The bishopric in the Whitney 2nd Ward was released & a new bishopric sustained. Released was Bishop Brandon Stephenson; 1st counselor, Tim Golightly; 2nd counselor, Daren Cole; executive secretary, Donnie Sanderson; ward clerk, Bill Ponciano; financial clerks, Brett Bloom & Matt Gleed; & membership clerk, Burke Burns.

New bishopric: Bishop, Jim Summers; 1st, Jon Reese; 2nd, Darren Kelley; Executive secretary, Bill Ponciano; Clerks, Stanley Butler, Brett Bloom & Burke Burns. Everyone is commenting on how different Bishop Summers will look clean shaven. It will be a change. Since he was released as a counselor in a bishopric several years ago, he has worn a neatly trimmed beard.

The carpet was installed today. It looks better than I expected it to look. They expected it to take 2 days, but one man installed it today. They picked up the baseboards today.

I'm still not sure we'll keep the house, but we're working on the assumption we will. I certainly look forward to moving home. If I would just remember to get Mother's money so we can start working on the house itself.

A quick update

1. It's Thursday, another cloudy day, but instead of the percentage of snow pack going down, it's going up. Don checks the percentages every day. Yesterday it was over 1,000 percent. Yes, you read that right, ONE THOUSAND percent.
2. Still not dressed. I took Mother to her hair appointment in my pajamas. Good thing no one knows they are my pajamas. I went into Cuttin' Curral like this too, sigh. Gotta get dressed.
3. Nick has a doctor appt this afternoon.
4. And the forms just keep coming. I've got to start kicking them back out. Need $$$ to pay the postage though. Here's a funny. Yesterday we got a packet from CitiMortgage with a Hardship Affidavit to fill out. Don was listed as the borrower. But the co-borrower should have been me. It wasn't. I asked Don who this other chick was. He didn't know, but asked me if I had called Citi. No, I hadn't. Another interesting thing. I had already filled out & faxed a Hardship Affidavit on Friday, June 10. AND called to let them know I had faxed 35 pages of forms. THIRTY-FIVE!!

And here's the problem. I forgot why I was making this quick update anyway, sigh. My CRS is getting worse.

Another reduction

But at least it's not a reduction in force (RIF). I was caught in that at the Church Office Building in 1982. But … it almost might as well be. We were cut from 20 hours a week to 15 hours a week or 25% cut a year or so ago, to 1 day a week effective today. I MUST be there at 8 a.m. on Monday. The reduction could be as much as 50%. I no longer do the legals. I no longer print out the final copy for the editors to mark off.

I just barely filed the bankruptcy forms yesterday using the last months wages. Arghhh! Well, I will need to amend the wages won't I? We are also trying to refinance our house. That will probably have to wait six weeks for the paychecks to come through & we see just how much the cut will be. One nice thing about it, I will be able to use my accrued vacation & not lose it like I did last year.


Nick is having a very hard time. It couldn't be anything to do with the full moon? Could it? Maybe, maybe not. I tend to think not. Mother is also having a hard time, sigh. And as for me, I've been cocooning more & more.

A young man who grew up in our ward committed suicide last week. I think that is something every mother fears, if their child has a mental illness. Let's face it, depression is a mental illness, too. It has left our ward family reeling, as well as probably the whole town. I feel so sad for him & for his family.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

The addition, fall 2010

I know I made an entry on filing bankruptcy on Wednesday, May 11. I saw I had a comment on it last night & clicked on the comment to see what it said & it said Blogger was unavailable. So, today, I went to gmail to put an appt on the calendar & there was the comment in gmail. I clicked on the link to come over here & the entry is GONE!!

That has never happened to me before. I need to make a hard copy like Sheila has done. I put very few pictures in my blog though.

The foreclosure sale was today at 11 a.m. We've been calling Citi Mortgage Company & three different people told us there was nothing we could do. I KNEW they could do something, but they were just as adamant there was nothing that could be done except pay almost $7,000 as a down payment to stop the sale. Don took the day off on Wednesday & we drove to Pocatello & filed chapter 13 bankruptcy "pro se." Which is Latin for "by self."

Yesterday I had a man from Citi call. I had just sent a fax informing them we had filed bankruptcy, so I asked him if he had received the fax. No, he was calling to help stop the sale today. I told him we weren't getting anywhere with the people we had been talking to at Citi Mortgage, we'd been working on this since August 2010. I told him I did not have $7,000 to stop the sale & this was the only way we knew how to do it.

He said the "down payment" wasn't the only way to stop the sale. I said I knew that, but I couldn't get anyone to help. I told him it is an old house, it was built in 1904, we are building on & that was what the mortgage was for. He said we wanted a modification. Was our mortgage payment too high? I laughed & said no we had got behind. We wanted to refinance & put the arrears onto the mortgage. Now we are almost $7,000 behind.

The comment made on my now missing blog entry was from Sheila. She said: I am so sorry to hear about your troubles, I sure hope things work out so you are able to keep your home. Hugs and prayers.

I hope things work out too. I don't know if bankruptcy was the way to go, but it is supposed to buy us time to work on saving the house. And cutting our debts in half will be nice too.

New sale date

Citi Mortgage called this afternoon. The new sale date is 5/13/11. I'm glad it was postponed for more than 30 days. My certificate for bankruptcy is only good for 6 months though. We're still waiting on the same thing we were waiting on in September, an appraisal. Nothing we can do though. Just keep checking in every week.

Don reminded me we have a court date on Monday at 3 p.m. I thought it was Tuesday, so now it looks like I'll have to take Monday afternoon off. It's a good thing I've got vacation I have to use or lose again this year. I lost vacation hours in 2010.

Took Nick to the doctor this morning. He has bronchitis. We weighed him, Nick & I. It's the only place we can weigh him. I looked at the weight & told Nick he needs to lose. I've noticed his shirts are showing more skin. I asked Carolyn (nurse) if she wanted to mark the weight down, she said sure. I leaned close & whispered we didn't really want her to mark it down. I did tell her what it is, but don't know if she marked it or not.

I take Mother in to the doctor tomorrow. Her sisters are worried about her breathing. I wonder if she has bronchitis or pneumonia.

Stay of execution

We received a stay of execution today!! It's only for 30 days, but it is for 30 days. That gives us time to regroup.

I have been calling Citi Mortgage every day this week to find out if the sale date of our house has been postponed. Today I waited until 1:55 p.m. to call. I asked how long we were going to have to wait. We were going into a holiday weekend. Were we just supposed to sit back & watch our house be sold?

When she took the time to look it up & told me the sale date had been postponed I could barely wait to get off the phone & scream, "YES!!!" Oh my gosh, what a load has been lifted

I got the certificate today from ACDCA for the counseling I took last night for bankruptcy. I was so worried about Monday, I called & asked for the day off, in case I had to run to Pocatello to file bankruptcy.

I told Mother I had the day off & said they could do just fine without me. She was worried & said, "But you need that job." I told her I hadn't quit, just taken the day off.

I found out "pro se" is Latin meaning "for oneself" or "on one's own behalf." (definition courtesy Wikipedia)

It's a good thing I took Monday off, Nick has a dentist appointment at noon, which I had forgotten about. He has a front tooth with a cavity in it. Medicaid has made it so hard for dentists to follow their protocol, that only 2 dentists in town will even take Medicaid. We will have to pay for this dental appt. out of pocket, sigh.

More legals

There were SEVEN (7) legals again this week. There will be almost 4 FULL pages of legals. At least Don & I aren't in there again for foreclosure. The mortgage company calls at such inopportune times. I know I need to call them back, but it takes almost an hour every time I talk to them.

Today was the Primary program. I got up & left the meeting because it was going longer than usual. My leg went to sleep from my hip to my toes. OMG, I didn't know if I was going to be able to put weight on it or fall to the floor. I knew the librarian from the other ward would be waiting for me in the library.

I didn't notice any water when I went down the stairs, but when Don came a few minutes later he told me there was a wet spot at the bottom of the stairs. We watched the puddle grow until when we left at 4 o'clock, it was creeping into the clerk's office. The Mother's Room is soaked. Someone said there was a classroom upstairs that was leaking too. It's right where the 2nd & last addition to the church adjoins. A rain gutter broke.

This is the part of our climate I do not like, autumn & winter. And cold rain, brrr. I don't think I've ever been in warm rain, but I don't think I'd like it any better.

Just before Don went to bed he said it was snowing in Grace & Thatcher. It's been raining all day.

Men are that they might have joy

I'm still reading the Old Testament, plugging along is the way I would describe it. I have a very colorful spread sheet to keep track of my reading.

Tonight I logged into my email account & went directly to my scriptures folder, clicked on the COMPLETED button & here is the quote that came up:

Sadness, disappointment, and severe challenge are events in life, not life itself. I do not minimize how hard some of these events are. They can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining center of everything you do. The Lord inspired Lehi to declare the fundamental truth, "Men are, that they might have joy." That is a conditional statement: "they might have joy." It is not conditional for the Lord. His intent is that each of us finds joy. It will not be conditional for you as you obey the commandments, have faith in the Master, and do the things that are necessary to have joy here on earth."

--Richard G. Scott, "Finding Joy in Life", Ensign, May 1996, 24

This is good to be reminded of. I decided to put it here instead of Quoghts to Ponder. I remember reading, when my kids were younger, don't always tell your kids you can't afford something.

I guess foreclosure is one of those "severe challenges." I spent 45 minutes on the phone with Citi this afternoon. I feel like we just started from square 1 ... again. I have had such a headache all day.

"... have faith in the Master, and do the things that are necessary to have joy here on earth."

Hmmmm, now that's a novel idea.

Quick update

Have I mentioned lately how I dislike Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP)? Luckily, it's not as bad as it has been, simply because I'm almost through with the secretarial duties.

Tuesday was our first meeting of the season. A couple of years ago, I asked that our meetings be changed from Monday to Tuesday because I work on Monday. Well, two of our numbers work on Tuesday at the temple. So, Tuesday, it was proposed we move our meetings back to Monday. I was just going to sit there & let them change it, then Mother & I wouldn't have to go. Jean Carter spoke up & said, "RaNae, you have to work on Monday don't you?" Jeanne Cutler, our captain, confidently said, "Oh, you can come on your lunch hour." I said I don't get a lunch hour. Anyway, we had a brisk discussion on it. I said they could change it to Monday & I could take off long enough to pick up Mother & take her to meeting & pick her up. I said I lay pages out & then I'm the last one to see them before the editors sign them off. If I fall behind on my part of the production, it slows everything down. I stay until 8 p.m. or until the paper is done.

Again, it was stated no lunch hour & no breaks is illegal. I simply stated I am glad to have a job. If they were willing to have their meeting earlier, 11 a.m. on either Monday or Tuesday, I'd be willing to try it. Why can't they come on Wednesday or Thursday? Neither one of those days was even suggested. So, it was decided to leave it on the second Tuesday of the month. Mother & I don't even want to go anymore. Why accommodate us?

I talked to Beth Gunnell, this year's secretary, on Saturday & explained I have not felt well all summer. I have had very low blood pressure, diarrhea & extremely fatigued, we are facing foreclosure on our house ... I just laid it out. I also told her I didn't want anyone to know about the foreclosure, I hadn't told Mother.

Today, since our foreclosure notice was published in the paper, I finally told Mother. Jeanne Cutler had already told her on Saturday!! It seems Beth had called Jeanne as soon as she hung up with me, who immediately called Mother & told her. Argh!

Hopeful

I got a call from Citi, the mortgage company, today. The man I spoke with was calling to see if we had any more concerns about the modification on our mortgage. I said, not really. All we wanted to do was to make up the arrearage & not be foreclosed on. We weren't asking for our house payment to be lowered. We would have to pay rent if we had to move. He said there will be a package coming by UPS next week detailing the modification & they will do what they can to help us keep our home.

Our house payment is around $500. My gosh, $500 is pretty low if you ask me. I know we had a house payment of $291 in 1991-3, but that was because it was a "farm" home & USDA was helping us by making a supplemental payment to bring it up to whatever the total house payment was.

I want to open a savings account for the mortgage once the garnishment ends. Put money into it every two weeks, so we always have money to pay the mortgage. Don & Nick agreed to it. It looks like this next pay period will be the last one garnished!! Yes!!

Foreclosure

Thursday, Sept. 2, was just like any other Friday at work, even though it was Thursday. It was preparation day for the long Labor Day Weekend. I had a couple of legals on email. Vicki (Atkinson, job share partner) had left the legals for me. I did all the normal stuff, printed out the instructions, saved the document, translated the document to be read by our MAC word processor, printed it out & prepared to take it out to the front desk for a number. I scanned down through the document to find out who was being foreclosed on & there, in UPPER CASE, our names jumped out at me: DON RAY BARTLOME AND RANAE MONSON BARTLOME, HUSBAND AND WIFE. I don't usually find the names so fast.

Here is what I put on Facebook as my status

I'm worried. It's kinda hard when you open a foreclosure notice on your email at work for the legal notices, you scan down through all the legal jargon to find out the name to put on the form & your own name jumps out at you! Kind of a kick in the gut. The lump is still there.

I put "kind of a kick in the gut." If you ask me, it was more like I'd been bitch-slapped. And the lump is still there, every time I think about it or see the paper work. I saw it at work before I ever saw it in the mail. Then we got EIGHT envelopes in the mail on Friday. I got 3, Don got 4 & Mother got one. Then, on our way out of the house Saturday morning to run errands, I stuck my hand in the mailbox & there were 2 certified mail slips to take to the post office & pick up some certified mail. The post office is open for 2 hours on Saturday, so I just took the slips to the post office & retrieved EIGHT more envelopes, 3 for me, 4 for Don & one for Mother. I opened them all on Sunday at the library.

Nick & I came home on Tuesday to find the offensive paper taped to the front door. A deputy sheriff brought it by. I thought they had to have a signature. Oh, well, they didn't wait for one. I now have it taped on the back of the door.

I did call the mortgage company & finally was able to talk to a real person. I've been getting more phone calls, but no messages. It is so hard to talk to someone, I had the thought this morning to write a letter & fax it, just like we did the 9 pages explaining why we were in arrears in the first place.

I still haven't told Mother, but know I need to before Tuesday, Sept. 14. That's when it will hit the newspaper. I wish I had some ideas.