After having half the tar paper ripped of the back by the wind last week, we decided to put a hold on any papering and just cover the whole thing with tarps until we get the money for the roof. Which I hope will be soon. But who knows...

It feels like an odd situation. When we sold out house, we were eligible for the 2nd-time homebuyers credit the goverment decided to offer to try to help stimulate the economy. Now, to be honest, I thought the credit was a dumb idea, especially when the economy had tanked and the government was (is) so far in debt I can't think of an appropriate analogy... but, hey, if the government is handing out money, and we qualify, and we'll do something wise with it... why not get in line?

So when I filed our taxes, I sent off all the paperwork they said they would want to prove that we were eligible for the homebuyer's credit. A month later, we got our tax refund, minus the money for the homebuyer's credit. Then we got a letter in the mail asking for more documentation. I sent it in. We got another letter from them that said they got our stuff and would review it and get back to us in a month. A month later, we got another letter saying they would get back to us by the next month. Then that deadline passed, and then one evening, I got a call from some poor, overworked guy saying that they needed proof that we had a contract on the house before the April 30th deadline. Great, I said, let me fax that over. So I did. The guy called back 10 minutes later saying that he needed proof of residency at our old house. Apparently, even though I sent the info they asked for when I filed taxes, and even though we'd been filing our taxes from that address for the past 5+ years, that still wasn't enough for the guy's boss. I pulled some other documentation outand faxed that over. Two days later, I got another letter saying they'd get back to us in the next month or so. Great.

So in the meantime, until we save up some $, or the govt. ponies up, tarps. Definitely won't be ordering blue metal for the roof.