It’s never simple

This is an example of the stupid situations I've been getting myself into lately:

Every year, I have someone from PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) come out and inspect the furnace heater thing that runs the forced air heating in our house.  (Until kinda recently, I thought it was called "four star heating" but then I thought about that some.)  I'm not entirely afraid of the heater, but it does live in a tiny closet in my hallway, sharing a wall with my daughters' room.  I just want it to be working right before I turn it on for the first time each year. 

Right now it's 53 degrees in our house and I haven't turned on the heater yet, because I hadn't, until about two minutes ago, scheduled an appointment for a service person to come and make sure it won't explode or gas us or whatever else it is capable of doing. 

I hadn't made the appointment because I'm really behind on my bill.  I am behind on my bill, because last month I had to pick a couple of bills to skip (because OMG, the daycare money killed me dead) and I chose to skip the phone company and utilities over insurance and food and the van payment.  Fun times!  Anyway, this month I am all set to catch up, BUT I have one little problem. 

That part goes like this: 

My bank will not let a customer turn a joint checking account into a one-person-only account.  You can't just remove someone, you have to close the account and open a new one.  So, okay, that part is done, but I did something stupid when I was at the bank.  I opened my mouth and told the woman helping me set up my new account that I was going to go back to my maiden name, which is, at the moment, my middle name, and I asked her if I'd then have to make ANOTHER new account, because I think that is just too much adhersion to the rules for me to take given the other multiple stresses in my life right now, kthanksverymuch.

And so when I was ordering the checks, she was all Oooooooh, I'll just put that name on your checks NOW, and then we can change the rest later, and I was all OKAY! Thanks!  And then I told my mom (she's helping me do my divorce doing my divorce stuff for me) and she was all, Well, that's nice, and also not really legal.  You can't have your name back until the divorce is done.  And, so, then I called the bank back to tell the woman, but she wasn't there and the only message that they'd take to give her was that I called.  Of course she did not call back, and then I forgot all about it until a) my box of checks came in the mail and b) I had a shitload of bills to pay.  By check. 

So, I went online and set up payments for my van and I paid half of my late phone bill (which I already did online) and I made an account so I could pay for half my utility bill (now we're back to the relevant story).  And so I scheduled a payment for half my utility bill and then I went back to the bank and got a cashier's check to pay my rent and ordered MORE checks with the acceptable name and everything was well and good and also it was warm outside, so, Yay! happy times! 

Except.  Then it got cold and rainy and I was wanting to turn on the heater, but was stopped by my fear of exploding.  So, I checked my account and saw that the PG&E payment didn't go through.  I went back to the PG&E website and saw that I still owed a shitload of money, so I tried to schedule a payment and it said, Sorry, you can't do that because your login name isn't the same as the electronic bill payment name.  And I was all, Hmmmm, I better take care of that.  But then I got overwhelmed with other things and didn't do anything and now we are caught up in time to this morning, when I woke up to a 53 degree house.  It felt like that part in the Little House on the Prairie books when Mary and Laura are sleeping in the loft and their quilts get frozen.  So, I got back onto the PG&E site and saw, to my huge relief and delight, that I now only owe them a half a shitload of money, and the balance isn't due for three more days, so I felt like I could schedule an appointment without getting hassled to pay up.  So, a week from tomorrow we will once again have our Four Star heat system keeping us warm. 

The End.

This post brought to you by too much Peet's coffee and by the new steriods my doctor put me on that make me hyper, edgy, irritable (which is not *exactly* the same as edgy), unable to sleep, several pounds heavier, acne-ridden, and hairy, but otherwise well.   

5 thoughts on “It’s never simple

  1. tAMI

    I know all my husband does to prepare the furnace for use is replace the filter. It would save you the cost of having the company come out every year. I would also suggest getting a CO2 detecter for the peace of mind of having a furnace that wont kill you in your sleep.
    Sorry for all the stress that seems to be on your plate. We are all in this together!!

    Reply
  2. jenijen

    hi tami! they actually come out for free, which rocks. i change the filters every year, and have a CO2 alarm in the hall, right by the furnace. I just worry that because it’s so old it will explode. Probably not rational, but someone has to worry about unlikely things happening, right? 😉

    Reply
  3. Melissa P.

    Sorry to hear you are having such difficulties with everything right now.
    Gosh, can life get more difficult?
    I hope things will calm down financially for you soon.
    I am so sad and frustrated that No on 8 did not work out. What are people thinking? Who is it going to hurt? Just so sad for many people right now.

    Reply
  4. Liz D

    Sorry things are so tough. Miss seeing you at coffee.

    I think you mom is incorrect — you could change your name at any time — go here for details.

    http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/ObjectID/D9B42678-323B-40BC-8178BFC9255F64CE/118/

    It may be simpler to wait for the divorce, incorporating the name change into the divorce decree.

    Also, you don’t have to finalize all the financial/childcare issues before the divorce is granted. It’s called bifurcation. Eight years elapsed between my divorce and final settlement.

    http://family-law.freeadvice.com/divorce_law/bifurcation.htm

    Reply

Leave a Reply to jenijen Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *