Silver Linings - or not so much

They say that clouds have silver linings. Well, at least that is what they say when bad stuff happens and you are expected to find the good in it.

I think that sometimes the silver is tinted a dull gray, but perhaps I need to get into a better mindset.

Today I'd say is a dull gray with a glimpse of silver tint on the other edge of wherever I'm located. How is that for trying to be positive?

Actually, I'm not as down and out as I'm portraying myself.

The real title of this post should probably be - "Condos, FICO, stocks, and too high fillings." But, that doesn't sound too interesting.

Right now I'm at home trying to figure out if the soft ceiling above my master bath is my problem or that of the person upstairs. This is when I wish I was renting. I would just call it in, get to work, and someone would appear and repair and I would have no bill. But, alas, now I get to deal with neighbor (which is fine), condo association and a leak that most likely isn't mine. Of course, this turns into a feeling of why do I have a $300,000 mortgage for a little two bedroom, two bath house anyway? And, why is there wind coming through the window when I have thick blinds and curtains and do the people really need to vacuum the hallways right exactly when I start my conference calls?

See, one little crack in the ceiling creates all these emotions.

And, here we have a FICO score coming in around the mid-600s when I am one of those people that always has a high score and creditors love me. Somehow I was double billed on an X-ray a year ago and one bill was sent to a collection agency. I won't say how much, but most of my creditors have lowered my accessible credit by thousands of dollars citing my bad credit. The neglectful radiology center says "we apologize and we are sending a note to the three credit bureaus to correct the situation." Um, thanks? So, I'm out of thousands of dollars of emergency credit AND have a low credit score because of your mistake? I'll pretend to not be mad.

Oh, and not to blame anyone in my cube farm, but a dear co-worker had a candy bowl out the last few months that I walked by and ate from in times of stress. My lack of self-control caused a couple of cavities, not just from the candy, but also because I've started clenching my mouth in times of stress and it has broken down the sturdiness of some of my teeth. A few days ago I got two taken care of after multiple shots of numbing medicine. Second day, not so lucky. Multiple tries and their efforts still caused sharp pains to rip through my gums. So, off to work I went with a sideways mouth and raging headache. To top it all off, I'm not really someone who likes candy. I just ate it because it was there and to quench possible bad breath.

On top of this, the dentist hasn't quite filed down one of the fillings to the original tooth's shape. So, as we all know, little changes in teeth, gums or tongue feel like huge boulders or disturbances even if something on them is ever so slightly off.

Did I mention I still have a headache? It must be all these Arctic weather fronts moving through our area?

Stocks I just threw in because the news talks about how much they went up last year, but that is only a gain if you bought all of your stock last year. Goodness, all the dollar cost averaging in the past means that all the gains last year just put my portfolio where it was at in 2006. I should be happy why?

I'm already a sign of bad luck this week.

Or, am I?

Here's the silver part:

1 - Got to go into work late two days in a row and so I actually saw the sunshine those two days.
2 - Today I'm at home working (except for this 10 minute break) while I get this plumbing issue straightened out. I'll probably get ten times more completed outside of the cube farm.
3 - My credit score should only go up from here.
4 - I have a job.
5 - If I need to, I can go lay down and take a nap to get rid of this headache.
6 - My neighbors are wonderful.
7 - I'm not in foreclosure.
8 - I ate pancakes for breakfast.
9 - My bathroom is now clean, because you always have to clean when you know people are coming over to fix something in your house.

And, the 10th of the 10 ten reasons this messed up week has silver linings is:

10 - You are either happy that I have a life like yours or happy that you don't.


Which reminds me of a quote - "The only good thing about being imperfect is the joy it brings to others."

Have a joyous day!