I washed and hauled rocks for the big half-barrels of lillies on the side of the house--in the sun. And talked to the neighbors. Well, two of them. And dead-headed my petunias. And smelled my herbs.

I will gladly fold and put away your laundry. H did whites this morning, and I folded and put them all away--well, for values of folding and putting his on the bed so he can put them where he wants them.

My neighbor's lilacs are blooming, exactly the same shade of deep lavender-y pink as the rhododendron in front of them, and I see a sea of gorgeous pink every time I look out my front window.

I wish you all had the same view--it goes a long way toward balancing the grimmer stuff, I tell you what.

But Ginger, the pony would just mess up the floors more. Poor floors.

And for all that I want a scone, I had a small helping of wheat pasta for dinner last night, so I'm going to go spread some black raspberry jam on a rice cake instead of toast or a biscuit, and enjoy the heck out of it.

Posting from my phone, and bed. Sick all day. Mostly stress I think.

Strix, I'm late but if you want another ear to rant at, you have my email.Sorry for the bad thing. And the rash. I hate itchy rashes.

Ugh. I hope the rest served you well, Zen. Feeling better?

Following in Beverly's footsteps, I crushed a mad sugar craving (like, count the money in the wallet and plot on a map the closest sugar delivery options, kind of craving) by whirling up some frozen berries, meyer lemon/lime ice cubes and Designer Whey into a light, frothy pudding.

Then consumed it while indulging in my Wednesday night ritual of watching Arrow from the bath tub.

TOTALLY SATISFYING.

I win! Take that you dastardly craving.

Strix, here if you need another ear.

In meme news, after six months of dicking us around, asking for the same pieces of paperwork over and over again, lowering my credit score 40 points due to checking my credit 14 times for no good reason, and charging $600 for an appraisal, Bank of America (heretofore known as Fucking Evil Bank, FEB) has decided that in order to qualify for a $50,000 15-year refi mortgage on a condo worth almost twice that, we need to have $15K, that's right, fifteen-thousand fucking dollars, in our savings account. This is for a loan that would have a monthly payment of $350.

I am livid and defeated and so depressed I don't even know what to do. We had borrowed $4250 from a family member to make up the cash reserve they had originally asked for, and we were counting on the refi to pay that back this month rather than in July when ND gets the first Universal check for Halloween. Now not only can we not consolidate the debt we were trying to consolidate, we also can't pay back the family member for at least 6-8 weeks.

I hate them. I fucking hate them. They embody every corporate stereotype about Big Banks that make people despise them so much.

And one more post because I just don't know what to do.

JFC Pix- that is beyond awful. I can't even wrap my head around it. I hate them too.

Pix, that is awful. I'm so sorry. Have you tried a credit union?

Because the property is not our primary residence and is out of state, no credit union will fund us. We are stuck with the national banks.

And thank you both for the sympathy. I can't remember the last time I felt this helpless.