WTF Do You Blog About!?

I'm so tired. I spent the better part of 8.5 hours sitting in a chair yesterday. I mentioned a few times before that my mom was going through bankruptcy (Chapter 13). Yesterday was her 341 Meeting of the Creditors and I decided to go with her. So we were at the federal court building from 7:30am to 4pm. Since my mom filed under the new bankruptcy law she had to do the credit/budget classes portions prior to the creditor meeting. This process was to be quick and easy but it took all day.

We started the day by arriving 30 minutes earlier (per her lawyer's instructions) than the scheduled start time of the class. At 8am the class started and it was packed. There were so many people there that the instructors had to break the class up into two groups. We sat there and learned about budgeting money, paying bills, and avoiding the traps set by the credit card and mortgage companies. I found it very informational so I did not mind sitting there for the entire 4 hours. Yes those who were filing were required to go through that 4 hour class.

After the class we broke for lunch which was one hour. I'm so glad I talked my mom into packing some food for us. Her paperwork stated that they would have a lunch truck where we could get food for lunch but after talking to her lawyer I figured that we would probably be on our own. Of course I was right. There was no truck with food and if you wanted anything to eat you had to use the vending machine (no thanks) or walk a couple blocks to the nearest restaurant (again no thanks).

I just realized that time does fly when you are enjoying a break. After lunch we had to go back to the room for the second portion. That was when the lawyers came in and everyone sat in front of the magistrate and answered questions. If any creditors showed up they were allowed to question the people. Luckily for my mom none of her creditors showed up. The bad part was that her paperwork said she needed to be there by 1pm but she wasn't called until 3:50pm. Yes that meant we had to sit there and watch everyone else for nearly 3 hours. She was asked 10 questions, showed some documents, then was told she was done. Once she was called on she was only in front of the mic for a few minutes (less than 5).

They had her practically sit in a chair for over 8 hours. We had all the coffee and crackers we could eat and they made sure to load us up on coffee since they turned in the air on while it was 48 degrees outside. With what I witnessed yesterday I really hope I don't have to go through that process. I would be extremely upset having to sit there for an additional 2 hours when I didn't have to.

So that was my day and I spent most of the day catching up on the sleep I missed yesterday. Now I'm off to do some card dropping.