A to Z Challenge: W is for Waiting Game

 Waiting is no one's favorite thing, me included.  Although i usually work to wait patiently, there are times when the waiting starts to grate on my nerves.  Like now, for instance.

A few years ago, when interest rates for homes began to go down, Sweetie and i started talking about refinancing the house.  We looked into it a few times, as it would be great to have a low rate, but something intervened each time, taking our attention away from it.

Then, about 8 months ago, we decided to go ahead and try.  Our mortgage company had been sending offers left and right, so we went through it all, just to have them decide we didn't have enough in the checking account on the day they checked!  It was frustrating.

The lower rates kept tantalizing me, though.  We could cut our interest by half and lower the number of years we have left on the mortgage.  We decided to try again.

This time, it's been worse.  We've had to wait for them to accept that yes, FEMA has left our flood zone as is, and our current insurance is good enough.  Wait for them to agree that, yes, my husband really is employed where he says (the "statement of employment" only lasts just over a week, then they have to reconfirm that you  have a job!).  Wait for them to decide that yes, the person with whom each of us filed taxes every year for the last 28 is the same one with whom we are borrowing the money (sheesh!).

Finally, the culmination of the waiting, and they set a closing date.  It was supposed to be yesterday.  If you guessed we are still playing the waiting game, you guessed correctly.  After i showed up at Sweetie's work, where we were to meet with the notary and sign the documents, and waited over an hour, they finally told us that they are still waiting for one HUD document, and the underwriting part of their business didn't send a message to their processing part to tell them it wasn't finished until after close of business the day before.

Therefore, we are still playing the waiting game.  We have rescheduled for next Tuesday.  Again i will make the early morning trek to Sweetie's workplace to try to get this done.

Note the sarcasm as i say, i can hardly wait.


 Today is

Arbor Day -- US

Audubon Day -- birth anniversary of John James Audubon

Austin Food and Wine Festival -- Austin, TX, US (superstar chefs and sommeliers, over 40 cooking demos and wine seminars, private grand tastings and more; through Sunday)

Bob Wills Day -- Turkey, TX, US (celebrating Western Swing music and its king; through Sunday)

Cape May Spring Festival -- Cape May, NJ, US (ten days of spring activities highlighting the Victorian lifestyle)

C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo) -- Chicago, IL, US (through Sunday)

Dandelion Day -- University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, US (annual celebration used as a respite to diffuse tension around exam time)

Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy -- Belarus

Delphinia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (festival of Apollo; date approximate)

Fairy Laughter Convention -- Fairy Calendar

Festival of Individual Sovereignty -- an internet holiday that i think is a good idea!

Festival of Renenutet -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (as Lady of the Robes, who invented the bandages in which to wrap mummies; date approximate)

Global Youth Service Day -- annual campaign to mobilize children and youth to make a difference; www.gysd.org (through Sunday)

Hairball Awareness Day -- sponsored by Furminator (which product actually does work, by the way) and Hills Pet Nutrition

Hug an Australian Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays

Interstate Mullet Toss / The Gulf Coast's Greatest Beach Party -- FloraBama Bar, Gulf Shores, Alabama, US (fish flingers stand on the Alabama side of the property and toss them onto the Florida side, with proceeds going to charity; through Sunday)

Mayan Rain Festival -- to honor the rain gods and welcome the fruitfulness of the earth; date approximate

National Kids and Pets Day -- sponsored by the Animal Miracle Foundation & Network

National Health Day -- Kiribati

National Pie Championships and Great American Pie Festival -- Orlando, FL, US and Celebration, FL, US (three days of celebrating the best pies anywhere)

National Pretzel Day

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival -- NOLA, US (the best music and food festival around! through May 5)

Panoply® -- Huntsville, AL, US (comprehensive arts festival, including music, theater, dance, and a juried art show; through Sunday)

Remember Your First Kiss Day

Richter Scale Day -- birth anniversary of Charles Francis Richter

Sacrifice to Zeus Epacrios -- Ancient Greek Calendar (date approximate)

Shuffleboard Day -- on the adopted birthday of the game (no exact date of origination can be pinned down, and fans want a day to celebrate, so here it is)

Store Bededag -- Denmark; Faroe Islands; Greenland (Great Prayer Day)

St. Rafael Arnaiz' Day (Patron of diabetics and against diabetes)

St. Stephen of Perm's Day / Old Permic Alphabet Day -- Russian Orthodox Church (inventor of the alphabet used for Russian before the Cyrillic was developed)

Union Day -- Tanzania

International Food Expo Utage / Utage Food Festival -- Osaka, Japan (through May 6)

Vallenato Legend Festival -- Valledupar, Colombia (one of Colombia’s most important music and folk festivals; through the 30th)

Workers' Memorial Day

World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition and Art Festival -- Ocean City, MD, US (carvings and sculpture of all sizes, for competition and for sale; through Sunday)

World Intellectual Property Day -- UN


Anniversaries Today:

Prince Albert (future George VI) marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon


Birthdays Today:

Jon Lee, 1982
Jason Earles, 1977
Tom Welling, 1977
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, 1970
Kane, 1967
Jet Li, 1963
Michael Damian, 1962
Bobby Rydell, 1942
Duane Eddy, 1938
Carol Burnett, 1933
I.M. Pei, 1917
John James Audobon, 1785
Marcus Aurelius, 121


Today in History:

Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn, 1514
William Shakespeare is baptized, 1564
English  colonists of the Jamestown settlement  make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia, 1607
Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, 1802
Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election  to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic, 1925
In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections, 1963
Tanganyika  and Zanzibar  merge to form Tanzania, 1964
A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting, 1965
The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force, 1970
A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster, 1986
Physicists  announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle, 1994
Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country, 2005