Time drags

Well. In less than 24 hours, I’ll be on my way to pick up the lad and time is beginning to seriously drag. It’s not as if I don’t have plenty to do, but every time I look at the clock, it’s only two minutes since the last time I looked. This is what little kids feel like two days before Christmas and while I appreciate still being able to feel like that, I can sympathize with their lack of appreciation for the way time utterly comes to a standstill. So I play little games with myself, forcing myself not to look at the clock for what seems like an interminable length of time and, when I finally can’t stand it another second, I look and...yep...only two minutes since the last time. Sheesh.

Guess it might be a two way street, too. So far this week, the lad has called me three times with each phone call beginning with, “Is it Saturday yet? I SO can’t wait to come home.”

When he called last evening, he sounded horrible. He’s picked up that respiratory bug that everyone seems to have or have had. I asked if he’d gone to the infirmary yet and he said that he hadn’t, he hasn’t had time, being finals week and all. He said it’s starting to hurt to breathe, which doesn’t please me at all. If he doesn’t get himself to the infirmary before I pick him up, seeing the doctor will be one of the first things we do after we get back home. I think he’s totally out of juice and really, really needs this vacation to recharge, sleep, and fill up with nutritious food.

Meanwhile, today...my phone has been ringing incessantly. The caller id says that they are mostly finance companies of the mortgage variety. Just out of curiosity I answered a couple of them to see what they were pitching. The 1% ARM mortgages still seem to be the hot item these vultures are pushing. They sound surprised when I tell them that I am very happy with my 5.25% fixed rate mortgage and that no, I don’t have any debt to consolidate and no, I don’t need to refinance anything. And no, I don’t have any desire to take out a loan against my equity to take the nice vacation I’ve always dreamed about, fercryingoutloud.

To be fair, though, one call was curiously from a local bank who actually wanted to help. I wanted to hear the pitch. Evidently, there is a new program through Fanny Mae which can help those with high mortgage payments and ridiculous repayment contracts (like the 1% ARM mortgages that adjust to very high rates) to turn their mortgages into a reasonable fixed rate contract with some leniency from the gov’t to help get out from under the onerous conditions they’ve found themselves in. The woman I spoke with was genuinely glad that she couldn’t offer me anything I needed. But there was that hint of surprise when she exclaimed, “How wonderful! What a good girl!” (which made me laugh a little ruefully because I’m not sure “good” has anything to do with it.) It leads me to think there must be a *huge* number of people who have been suckered into these ARM mortgages and who are now in trouble. It makes me wonder what I would find if, were I in the position to do so, I cold-called 10 people randomly out the phone book to inquire if they needed help to lower their mortgage payments.

Okay. So I’ve made about 20 minutes pass now. Think I’ll go run errands and make some more time go away.