Physically I'm not doing so well lately. Stress sits in the pit of my stomach and runs up and down my gut daily. I keep waiting for some sort of resolution with my condo repairs from the flood that was oh, August 4th and it's taking a toll on me. Meanwhile I literally live in a slum condo in River Heights where I continue to pay mortgage payments and condo fees while tripping over the boxed contents of my kitchen. I think I'm going to nickname my condo EKG (east kildonan condo) because it LOOKS like it's from EK and plus it NEEDS an EKG to see if it has any LIFE left in it!!!

This whole insurance process is ASININE. For weeks I have had the Condo Board, the property manager, the condo insurance adjuster and their contractors arguing about who is responsible for paying me out for damages. Everyone points fingers at everyone else and plays telephone tag with me, assuring me that "they'll get back to me by the end of the day". Do they?! Oh, noooooo. I suspect it will be somewhere around Christmas that I am even able to START working on the repairs and see any money from WHOEVER it turns out is responsible for paying me. The good news, I try to tell myself, is that when completed the condo will be worth "so much more" and the equity will soothe my financial woes. It's just that until everything is done and my place re-assessed I can do nothing further financially. I can't refinance my mortgage and assimilate my debts. I can't invest if I wanted to in any of the fantastic deals that are available in the real estate market anytime soon either. I must sit on my hands for the winter. At least they'll stay warm...!!!

Little concerned about the markets this past week, eh? I wonder how much of my RRSPs are left now- I hesitate to look. I was just reading on Garth's blog about the impact of the market failure on the average person applying for loans and credit products. He says there will be "far tighter restrictions on loans and mortgages to new borrowers, to builders, for renovation and lines of credit". It may well be a time to sit tight, fix what's broken, have fun painting and putting up new light fixtures from IKEA. Meanwhile I'll put the cash in the mattress until (as Garth puts it) this "financial nuclear winter" is over!!