I can't believe it is already the end of February. So much has happened since my last update. I am tired just thinking about it all. January was kind of a mess and chaotic. I was trying to refinance my condo all around the Dopey Challenge trip and things totally fell apart. It was complicated for several reasons, the biggest one being that I was working with a friend as my broker. My appraisal came in a lot lower than expected and I didn't have enough equity in my place to make it work. My friend convinced me that I could just pay a big chunk of the mortgage off to bring the numbers up to snuff. So, that was another complication because I just didn't have the funds available to do that. My friend pressured me to continue despite very tight finances and I felt obligated to continue because I didn't want to let my friend down. I scraped together the money needed and then the lender kept dragging it out and not giving me a closing date. With my February mortgage due and approaching being late, I took the personal relationship out of the equation and re-evaluated the decision and backed out. I would have loved a lower interest rate, but it meant I was neglecting other bills and completely emptying my savings account. It just wasn't worth it. My friend couldn't separate the business from the personal relationship and hasn't spoken to me since. I am still hopeful that things will change.
Anyway, it was a huge relief deciding not to go forward with it and it allowed me to get back to living my awesome life. I took a blacksmithing class and made a really cool bracelet out of an iron bar. It was a little scary at first playing with fire and extremely hot metal, but once you figure out that you feel the heat and you are smart enough not to touch the hot things, it got easier and was actually really fun.
The following weekend I did the stair climb for American Lung Association. I climbed 3 times again. It is still one of my favorite events. I just love it. It's so challenging but it's over with so quickly. And of course there's all the fire fighters that show up for the event too. That's easy on the eyes. Plus, my hometown boys from Portland Fire won the fastest fire fighter team again. I think they have won it maybe 6 or 7 times since the event started. They make me proud to be from Maine.
Valentine's weekend the north east got a ridiculous cold snap dropping temperatures below zero and wind chills around -35 degrees. I was supposed to do back to back 12 milers and I managed to do the Saturday run, but decide against the Sunday run because the weather forecast was "life threatening" cold. Plus Saturday night I did my first (and last) snowshoe race. I thought it sounded like fun. Run through the woods in the dark with a headlamp in snowshoes. Yeah, it wasn't fun. It was awful. I know I am not fast and I expected to be at the back of the pack. I was the slowest person and the pack was way ahead of me. I was ALONE, in the dark, in the woods, with a little light shinning from my headlamp and a lot of wind and scary noises. It was terrifying. I did it, I checked it off my list, but I can honestly say I will NEVER do it again.
This past weekend I did back to back 14 milers and tonight I am going to a floral arrangement class. I really hope I can stay awake, because right now I just want to go back to bed. I also have my annual condo association meeting later this week and that is always entertaining. I just hope it's uneventful and over with quickly.
