Stupid economy

For the last couple of weeks, we've been painting, cleaning and generally fixing up our house. And last Thursday it had never looked better — which was good because that was the day the house was appraised.

We decided to take advantage of the low interest rates by refinancing our mortgage and taking out enough cash to get our bathroom remodeled and splurge on a much-needed hot tub.

Wha? Hot tub manufacturers and dealers need to be bailed out, too.

We increased the size of our back patio, making room for hot tub and imagined soaking away our aches and pains.

So we were more than a little bummed (understatement) when the appraisal didn't even come close to the amount the house appraised for several years ago. We've done several upgrades to the house since the last appraisal, most notably we finally landscaped the backyard.

Yeah, I know, lots of people's houses are losing value all over the country and we are lucky to both have jobs. So I shouldn't whine about the reduced value of our house, especially since it's still worth quite a bit more than we owe.

But dang, we've been working our bums off on this house for years now and it sucks that the bad economy and falling house prices means we can't have a hot tub.

I know, I know, we're lucky, blah, blah, blah. But sometimes after a day of working two jobs, keeping a house and raising a kid, it's nice to reward oneself with an extravagance like a hot tub. It's not like I want a new car or trip to Europe.

Oh well, easy come, easy go. I guess we'll have to continue making our regular trips to the hot springs. Yeah, our life is tough.