*Stress*

So we're refinancing our house. Now is an excellent time to do it - our credit scores are good, and we can seriously cut our interest rate and our monthly payments, which will mean bettering our ability to work on our other debt.

But apparently the financial institution (well, any of them would but ours does) requires an appraisal of the house. I guess to make sure we haven't trashed the place in the 10 years since Chris bought it. (Jeez! 10 years!) The appraisers are coming at 10 a.m. Monday (that's right - a.m. - *dies*).

While many things dissatisfy me about our house, I am now freaking out about the stuff I overlook on a daily basis because it's what we live with:

- The flooring is the worst - it's decent, but far from good enough for selling the house, thanks to the cats and ferrets. The ferret room is atrocious. Our stairs are totally torn up in places. If only Empire Carpets serviced our area, we'd take care of it! But no: the fuckers torture me with their commercials on a daily basis, but they apparently won't come to my home for a consultation OR next day installation.

- The paint: we haven't touched it up. In years. Our ceilings have marks from my clumsy attempts at assistance. We have moved/replaced fixtures like the doorbell and thermostat, and never painted the newly-exposed areas. There are chipped/stained spots from my clumsy behind smacking into walls with furniture and pretty much anything else. And with all the critters, we can't just paint willy-nilly. Being psycho about my babies, I just don't trust those supposedly "safe" (no/low VOC) paints out there.

- The banister going down to the basement has been off the wall for *years*, since removing it to bring our old and oft-missed burgundy sofa and loveseat down there. And I don't want to put it back up, since we'd just have to take it down again to get Toaster's cage out of there.

- Oh Lord, speaking of Toaster - what will they think of our quarantined kitty and her freakish gigantic cage?

- And again on her - the trim in the door jambs we had to take down to get her cage into the master bedroom and then into the basement!

- And Dolly! - what will they make of my funny little hate-bird and her sprawling empire that takes up a good bit of the living room?

- Our lame attempt at amateur crown molding should probably come down, but then there would be nail holes. Soooo many nail holes.

- The crack in the foundation - that's a biggy. We can get it epoxy sealed, and were planning to do that this year, but how will it look in just a few days? What will it do to our home value?

- We still have just too much STUFF. I have been de-cluttering like a madwoman, but it just doesn't feel like I've made much headway.

- The porn! Where will I hide the porn?!? And the whips and chains?


Ok, I'm kidding about the last bit. But seriously it's just so overwhelming. I still have up our wreath and a random decoration I forgot about from Christmas! At the same time, I know our house is in better shape than many, especially around here, so I'm tempted to just clean and say "screw it". But with housing prices being what they are, I'm afraid that attitude (and the market fluctuations) will manage to price our house so low that somehow things will end badly. Mostly excessive worry on my part, but sadly not *totally* unrealistic these days.

So for now, I will swim in my stress. Bathe in it. And hopefully, eventually, emerge on the other side renewed and clean. Hopefully.

Cross your fingers for me!