MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:

The original plan:
-Refinance the house for a lower interest rate
-Get on a 15 year loan for only $30 a month more to our payments
-Save loads of money and live happily ever after

The glitch:
- As of 2010 financing has become much more selective
- NO ONE will finance our house with an unfinished addition on the side
- If we back out we loose the $500 we spent for an appraisel AND our low low pre-April-hike interest rate that we're locked into.
- The add-on garage with a master bedroom/bathroom/office up above it is only rough-framed in at this point.

Our Mission:
- Three weeks to finish both the inside and the outside. It has to be up to code and ready for occupation before we can get our financing
- Three weeks to do brick, siding, insullation, the garage door, plumbing, electrical, heating, painting (LOTS of painting), lighting, flooring, bathroom fixtures, drywall, cupboards, shelves, and doors.

We are STRESSED! Mike has taken off work this week and is using his paid vacation to work on the house from about 6:00am until 11:00pm. I can hardly get him inside to eat. He's not sleeping. He's so fixated on all these to-do lists running around in his brain that he wakes up at 3:00am and can't get back to bed. I'm trying to take care of the kids and keep the rest of the household responsibilities going single-handedly (how do sinlge mom's do it???) as well as help him out whenver I'm able. We're trying to hire some of the work out, but finances are limited (especially because it wasn't something we budgeted for) and he's probably going to be taking some upaid leave as well.

The end result:
- Have a wonderful addition to our home that will give us more room and FINALLY more than one working bathroom (hallejuah!) as well as a garage to park the vehicles
- Refinance, get our house paid off sooner, and save tons of money doing it
- Take a vacation.....I'm already planning a weekend away for the two of us when this is all done.
- Live Happily Ever After!