Hi All! I just wanted to drop in and give you an update. I have been making some serious financial decisions lately. I have decided to refinance my house and roll all of my other debt(except for student loans) into it. I have consulted a financial advisor as well as a banker to make sure this made sense for my short term goals. By the end of the year, I hope to put my house on the market and move closer to my kids. I have been looking at condos in the area and can afford a really nice one. I could shoot myself for charging up my credit cards because I could have really gotten a nice house if I hadn't done that and still had all the equity in my house. As it is. I will have about $40k in equity in my house when I get ready to sell. The bank did an appraisal and it came back 16k more than we had hoped for. So that was excellent news. I figured my net worth and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It is a negative number, but not one I can't climb out of, less that 18k.

I am almost at that point of not being able to make my payments each month...again. I am working with my therapist to try to figure out my shopping addiction. I just lack that self discipline to say no. I think this time I am ready to do that. I am thinking about closing my credit cards, all except the one with the largest credit limit. That way I remove the temptation. It might affect my credit score, but I think it is worth it to remove the temptation.

My mom isn't doing so well. She is showing signs of dementia and confusion. I am not going to like watching her go through what my dad did. It was horrible.

Anyway, that is an update on me. I am sorry I am not around more often. I am taking college classes plus I am the main caretaker for my mom and sister, doing all of their grocery shopping and other tasks. It just seems there is never enough time for anything. I hope you are all doing well.