Well, the Shed is FINALLY painted (and we did it with the help of a family friend). =)

It took TWO years, but the Shed is finally completely painted!!!!!  WOOHOO!!!!  =)

Now we just have to install the maroon shutters (that we got 2 years ago).

 

This is the before picture (a few weeks ago).

A family friend's son came over to paint the upper part of the Shed (he used a power paint sprayer that Penny received from her father a couple of months ago). It took about 2 hours, but the paint went on pretty cleanly (and we gave him $50.00 for his effort). We normally would have done it ourselves, but Penny cannot climb ladders anymore due to her had knees and back (and I can't climb ladders anymore due to my gout), so this has been needing to be done for a while now. Very frustrating when one used to do everything up to a couple of years ago.......

Our Insurance Company's independent inspector also came over around 3 pm as well and inspected our home regarding our claim. He confirmed we do have a 30 year roof, but both it and the garage have "Organic" shingles.... and the shingles on the house are disintegrating quickly (especially on the south and west sides of the home). The roof was installed in 2002/2003 by the previous owner,  and 2003 is when they stopped being sold. Lucky us. Apparently there was a class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of  this type of shingle and we didn't know about it as we weren't told we had an Organic Shingled roof. So now we are on pins and needles waiting to hear the decision of our Insurance Company within 2 to 10 days. Also, the hail damage is inconsistent (so we don't know if the siding will be dealt with in addition to the roof issue). Ugh........

We'll try to keep positive about it, but dealing with home repair issues gets very frustrating the older one gets.

Tomorrow, we will finish painting the shed..... after starting on it 2 years ago...

It has only taken 2 years for us to get this done (d'oh). A family friend has "volunteered" to help as it is the 2nd floor gable area that still needs to be painted (and Penny and I are no longer able to climb a ladder without major pain).

We are exited to finally get this task complete (and we will be giving the volunteer a stipend for helping us).

One thing that happens when dealing with adversity that we learned from my mother's battle with Cancer, things that one used to be able to do basically goes by the wayside when dealing with the treatment along with the paperwork plus the physical weakness associated with it. It hasn't helped that my gout has gotten worse either during the past 18 months.

With adversity, comes the inevitable inability to get physical things done. We are so ready to downsize, I can't even begin to describe how happy we'd be at a condo or mobile home park (where the mowing is minimal or non existent along with home repair). We are 5 years away from being able to be allowed into an over 55 mobile home park, and I for one am looking forward to the possibility.

In the interim, we have a bunch of things to get done and are quickly running out of Summer in which to get them done (so we are hopeful that we will feel good enough to actively clean out the garage and have enough days without rain to make that so. 

Well, that didn't work out that well. The Mitsubishi dealership can't do a thing about our situation.

We had to deal with our Insurance Company today regarding the Hail/Wind damage to our home (and the claim that we had to open to deal with the roof leak due to the shingle damage, the escalating shingle problem on the west side of the roof plus the damage to our porch windows which we had to replace). This will be at least a 4 week process (we hated to file a claim as our deductible will certainly make things even harder on us, but after the contractor looked over the home... it is evident we need to initiate repairs before the house gets any worse... especially before winter). The Insurance Company will be sending an independent contractor (rightfully so), I just hope that they are realistic regarding the issues noted by our contractor.

I emailed the Mitsubishi dealership at about 4 am this morning (with pictures of the 2006 Uplander attached to it). As I was working outside this afternoon along with taking some items back to Menards, I had received no response to my email. So I went to see them this afternoon.

Not only did they indicate that they "can't" contact Mitsubishi Credit for us, but the amount offered for the Uplander was a horrendous $2,000.00 (despite KBB.com estimating Private Party worth as $5,500.00 and trade in value as $3.500.00). Apparently, dealerships now go by auto action prices (funny thing, a 2004 Pontiac Montana with 96,000 miles, 2 rear drum brakes, and some rust is on their lot for $5,995.00). That being the case, the 2006 is almost mint condition and should go on their lot for at least $6,500.00. I think the auto dealerships are so desperate for profit, that they had gone "mad" and lost all sense of what could even be construed as fairness (and are no longer capable of compromise in the effort to exploit naïve people). To be sure, we will never be purchasing a new or used vehicle from a dealership ever again (this only reinforced my opinion of them). I wasn't expecting them to be able to resolve our issues, but I was at least hoping they would be reasonable with us (being long term customers of theirs). An absurd thought in hindsight.......

So we sat down with a family friend tonight and we discussed the Auto Auction idea (we should know more by tomorrow night if that is even viable... she will be getting with a few different dealerships she knows to see if there are.... options). I also have to contact a 3rd party negotiating company to discuss our handing over the Mitsubishi so tomorrow is a very important day in dealing with that final financial albatross.

 

 

Travis and I went on a little adventure..... and picked up the Chevy Uplander. =)

So Travis and I went for a trip yesterday to trade vehicles (the Chrysler Sebring Convertible for a Chevy Uplander) and the other gentleman and I met at the halfway point (Plymouth, Indiana). Of course, Interstate 90 was a parking lot so it took us longer to get there than I had originally anticipated. We met the other owner and his wife. He admitted the Sebring looked/ran better than he was anticipating so they seemed very happy with the trade (I must admit, it was sparkling in the evening light and looked awesome.... but my throbbing right foot from the drive reiterated the fact we cannot use the vehicle anymore due to how low it rides and how uncomfortable my legs are in such a setup). Travis and I enjoyed the endless fields of corn and how beautiful the Midwest is in August and did a lot of talking (we caught up talking about many things, which was enjoyable).

The upside is that this transaction only cost $15.00 (for the gas I put into the Sebring to get to Indiana), that's it. There are a couple items with the van that I will need to address over the next couple of days (I need to have a rear passenger tire replaced as it is cupping on one side of the tire and the front dash cup holder needs to be reinstalled correctly.... I will work on those tomorrow), but otherwise... the van is in fantastic condition (as can be seen by the photos below). It cleaned up very nicely today at the $3 car wash (and the armor-all cleaned up the tires very nicely also).  Now, I will be taking it to the Mitsubishi dealership tomorrow afternoon and seeing if they will take the 2006 Uplander plus the 2011 Outlander to eliminate our loan that is left on the Outlander (we owe $32k and it is worth around $24k... so the difference is about $8k that we need to make up for... which I hope the Uplander will do). Much prayer will be needed in this endeavor.... as it will be a true miracle should we be successful. If we pull this off, the only major monthly payment we will have will be the mortgage (the Town and Country is $204 a month which is still affordable considering how well the vehicle runs).

 

Life is a whirlwind. We have given it to God and are trying our best to avoid complete financial collapse.

So, I am involved in some extensive wheeling and dealing in the past week (in trying to reduce our monthly spend now that it is getting close to the time the unemployment ends). Not having the Mitsubishi payment will give us more freedom to pay priority items. This will allow us to have our costs down to the bare minimum if I don't succeed in getting a job (and if I do find a job, we will have less financial stress).

Our sole vehicle that is paid for (our older Chrysler Sebring with 185,000 miles that has served as a backup vehicle in case we lost a vehicle due to repossession) is now a casualty of our need for the Handicap Van. I am picking up the Handicap Van early this morning and bringing it to our home. Given the real need for this vehicle (to ensure I have the means to get to a future job in case of a major gout attack while using a wheelchair to ensure I can ambulate safely), the Handicap Van will become the backup vehicle (even though it is paid for, it is an older vehicle that only gets 15 mpg on average so it is not a good commuting vehicle for me.... it's purpose is for when I have bad gout attacks and/or to be able to transport Penny's 80 year old father as his ability to ambulate becomes more problematic). I will also use it on occasion if our Church should ever need the service of helping bring a disabled person to the church for services.

And then... later today, I will be trading the 2003 Sebring straight across for a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander LS with 124,500 miles with a gentleman 2 states away. The person who I am trading with was looking for a smaller vehicle that gets good gas mileage for his daughter to use, and he no longer needed the minivan nor did his daughter wish to have a soccer mom vehicle (so this resolves both of our needs). We will then be going to the Mitsubishi Dealership at the beginning of next week to see if they will take both the 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander and the 2006 Chevy Uplander in... in order to satisfy the $32k loan still outstanding on the Mitsubishi. The Mitsubishi retails still for $24k (and that leaves $8k to be covered by the Uplander which is worth about $5,500k retail).  If they took both and then Mitsubishi Credit considered it paid off, we can use the 2001 Chrysler Town and Country as Penny's primary vehicle and I'd use the Handicap Van no matter what.

If that doesn't work, Penny will be using the 2001 Town & Country as her primary vehicle (and the $204 monthly payment on that vehicle is within our long term budget) and I will be using the 2006 Uplander as my primary vehicle and the Mitsubishi will then be handed over to Mitsubishi (and we'll have to take the financial hit since it will be a "planned repossession). At $640 a month, we cannot afford it as long as I am unemployed and Penny is disabled and it has cost us over $7,000.00 so far in payments since I last worked. If we didn't have that payment, we would have more money to dedicate to the basics such as shelter / food / medical / etc..... and given I am still unemployed, the Mitsubishi is a unnecessary drag on our finances at this point. We have perfectly good older vehicles that are well maintained, we don't need a newer vehicle at this point (we need less financial stress).

I will be sitting down with the Church elders and our financial counselor this week regarding the next approach to take. Bankruptcy is much harder to go through now and is a last resort regarding every entity we have spoken with  (and honestly, we are trying everything we can regarding Bankruptcy being a last resort).