Write or Wrong

I can't sleep. Sometimes writing helps me dump my thoughts and then I can rest. We heard back from the appraisal. It was not the news we expected or hoped for. She valued our house at the same sales price as our neighbors'. Last year they bought the home, a former rental, and spent three months fixing the interior--walls, flooring, light fixtures--and the exterior--retaining wall, drainage, a place where water was threatening the foundation, just to make it "liveable." They also have water pour through their electric sockets when it rains hard, one less bedroom, fewer square footage, and less land. Yet, our house--with its new roof, new garage door, new deck, etc. etc. appraised exactly the same as theirs (the previous owner did not fix the hail damage for the renters, so their roof is not great either).

What does that mean? Well, it means that instead of being able to cash out equity to cover our home improvements--we have no equity to cash out. Not a dime. In fact, we may actually lose up to $3,000 for even trying. The appraiser of course didn't know any of the specifics on the neighbor's house (and our hamster did bite her). Our real estate agent said she could sell the house in a day for $20,000 higher than the appraiser came back with. The lender says it all seems unfair. We're hoping we can stop the refinance process tomorrow and save ourselves some of this money loss. I'm feeling very sad and disappointed. But I'm sure there is some purpose in this that I can't yet see, much like the accident with the van that we now probably for sure will not repair.

And wouldn't you know it . . . as I'm trying to check my tears, a hail storm moved in. Remember that deck we just painted for the fourth time in four years? Yep, covered in hail. It has hailed on the deck every single time we've just finished painting it. And that new van, stuck out in the driveway because the bedroom furniture is all in the garage awaiting carpet installation that our refinance will no longer cover? Hailed on that too.

We did get the van moved in after a frantic rearrangement of garage space, anticipating the second round of storms as noted by the news (which thankfully missed us). There doesn't seem to be any damage to it or the deck that we can see by night. Other cities and neighborhoods around us got much larger (up to egg sized!) hail . . . ours was pea-sized. We could be looking at another contractor summer with a new roof and windows and all the rest--but we're not. I'm really trying to look on the bright side, really I am!

Please pray for wisdom. I thought, we thought, we were making wise decisions, but the results seem to indicate otherwise. It's been a rough day, emotionally. It's been a rough month of highs and lows. Writing makes me feel better, so thank you for "listening." :)

My flower rug is cute though, right?! A little mix of spring, summer, and winter . . .