Note also that Fair Isaac is changing its scoring formula for 2008 and your score will likely change under it. [link]

I just have a hard time not freaking out over the unknowns.

This will eventually eat you alive. I had some behavioral therapy to deal with that sort of panic that worked pretty well. I don't feel as sick about what may happen tomorrow, next week, or next year and kind of enjoy the serendipitous things that occur to iron things out. Plus I learned how to go through a list in my head, when I started feeling panicky about being a loser with no husband, kids, little in the way of financial planning...

I used to assault my friends with that particular worry, that I was all alone, and owned nothing, and in case of zombie attack, I'm screwed.

I work out the mantra of calm this way: I will never be homeless, I will never be hungry, I will always have a warm bed to sleep in, I don't have to be lonely, I am loved...all the way down to: there's bacon in the fridge, I have enough money to cover at least a month's expenses, my education is paid for, I can jump in my car and go get a pizza whenever I want, Noah and Grace are right here if I want to hug someone who won't tell anyone I was feeling crappy and needed to hug someone...

So you know, credit score will get ironed out. It just will. You're a responsible human being who manages to pay her bills and get out of bed every morning to ensure another human being is fed and comforted and healthy. It's no small thing.

Try and coast on that for exactly fifteen minutes without worrying about anything else in your world.

Then you can worry for five minutes.

It doesn't work for me all the time, but I'm less likely to find myself whipped into a frenzy of panic about shit like, "I WILL NEVER OWN A HOME AT THIS RATE."

I feel your pain, Susan. We were hemorrhaging money this year, and while that particular financial drain is stopped up, we've had unavoidable expenses that made me not even look at how close we were to our credit limits for a while because I would still have to spend the money and not looking kept me from being too stressed.

Well, yesterday I started paying attention again and it is not pretty. Thinking about how long it's going to take me to get out of debt makes my brain hurt. But I will get there, and so will you. You are doing everything right.

It doesn't work for me all the time, but I'm less likely to find myself whipped into a frenzy of panic about shit like, "I WILL NEVER OWN A HOME AT THIS RATE."

Allyson, you are awesome. I mean that very sincerely.

Our Dream of the Hadrian's wall walk would be wonderful at 4 weeks.

Hey! That's my dream.

I've got Muppets on the mind (bought Season 2 of the Muppet Show and have been watching some episodes), and I followed this link to a tribute song to Jim Henson by Tom Smith, "A Boy and His Frog." If you watch it, be prepared with some Kleenex.

Oh, man, Kathy. Waterworks.

~sniff sniff!

I love the Muppets. Jim Henson was a master.

in love with Allyson.

So....my actual panic for the day? We're supposed to meet my mom in Vegas tomorrow night, Monday morning at the very very latest. A snow storm just started in Boise about 3 hours ago.

GAH. That will make getting to my mom unpleasant and scary, especially with an almost-nine-month-old in tow.