The Past Few Months

Maybe if I work on this synopsis of the last few months a few minutes a day, I will catch up.

1. The move: As you know, my mother bought a house and we both moved in mid-August. It has been non-stop activity since and it is still on-going. I am very tired of moving!
2. My mother's townhouse: We decided to tackle moving my mother's stuff out of her townhouse first because it was smaller than my house and close by. When we had removed most of the personal items, we asked our realtor how much stuff to leave for "staging"and what to take out. The realtor came over, gave some suggestions (less is more) and commented that another realtor in her office had some out of town clients looking in the area the next day. My mother gave her permission to show it even though it hadn't been cleaned and was still in disarray. Surprisingly, the people liked the townhouse and made a full price offer. We were thrilled and made plans to move the rest of the stuff out. It was hot and a lot of work but with a rented Uhaul truck and two rented guys, we got it done.
   
   Unfortunately, ALL of the stuff, including the trash, was now at the new house. We are still sorting through it.
3. My house in Tucson: It has been very hot and finding the time to drive to my house, 45 minutes away, has been difficult. I have made a few trips, car loads, pick-up truck loads.
   
   What remains is the miscellaneous, most of which can be given away or taken to my property. These things are most tools, gardening items, fencing, anything I won't be needing in the suburbs. The new backyard has very little garden space. I've been throwing old seeds out by the drip system emitters. That's the extent of my gardening, at the moment. The new house does have roses and citrus trees so keeping those alive is enough responsibility for now. This week, my handyman has begun the repairs I need to do before I list it for sale. I do want to replace the kitchen cabinets but haven't figured out exactly what to replace them with. Maybe IKEA cabinets if I can take a day off.
4. The dogs: I got Francis adopted the Saturday before I moved. That was very fortunate as she was the most energetic and the loudest barker. I brought 4 dogs to the new house and talked to all of my neighbors who were home to let them know to tell me if the dogs bothered them. Everyone was fine...until last week. The snowbirds who live on the corner came back and the dogs barked like crazy when they heard new voices. The neighbors complained to the homeowner's association and we got a visit from them. Turns out the neighbors like to eat breakfast in their backyard. So, out came the bark collars and I had a nice chat with the neighbors and gave them my number in case the dogs start barking again. BUT...I also got my last foster dog adopted last week and we finally got solid gates on the fence so the dogs can't see the people who walk down the alley. Big improvements.
   
5. Living with my mother: It's a work in progress. Between moving, selling my house, my job, and regular life stuff, I don't have a lot of time. My mother wants to watch movies and I just want to take a nap. She does the grocery shopping and the dishes, which is very nice. I make dinner on the weekends and try to have enough leftovers for the week.
6. Rental house #1: I got a notice that the tenants were moving out in August. Almost immediately, I got a notice that new people were moving in. There are always repairs and cleaning bills so I waited for the email. The second week in September, I got an email from the management company that said I needed to authorize $2500 in expenses so that the tenants could move in in 3 days. I was like, um, no, you're fired. They were apologetic and re-did the estimate.
   
   I looked at the property and decided to pay for carpet replacement, got my handyman to clean up the yard, and took a day off work to paint the walls with my handyman which only cost $350 rather than the $1,100 that was quoted to me. I also took down the old window shades and put up shear curtains.
   
   
   The tenants decided not to move in but I got to keep their $850 deposit and new tenants have since signed a lease. Hopefully, Rental house #1 will be stable for a while.
7. Rental house #2: My tenant, the one that was living out in my mobile home and then I bought this little house in town for him to rent, has decided to move to Brazil at the end of the month. He wants me to help him re-home his 2 dogs and 2 cats. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to foster so I can only help with advertising them. Soon, I will need to find a new tenant. I've had a few inquiries but the area of town that it is in isn't the greatest and I don't think either of the single women who inquired would want to live there. Someone will appreciate it though. Hopefully, a responsible person who always pays their rent on time.
8. My mobile home property: It's being totally neglected. I go out there to collect the mail once a month. The weeds are taking over. I hate seeing it like that but I don't have the time or money to work on it yet. Once my house sells, maintaining the property will be easier.
   
   Maybe I will even have some money for more improvements like bringing electricity to the barn-shed and building more fencing or walls to keep out the snakes.
9. My job: It is going crazy. They let one person go from our office and they have asked me to go to out plant in Mexico twice a week. So far, I've only been going once a week because I get so behind on my emails when I go down there. I want to take some time off to work on the house that I will be selling but I just seem to be getting more and more behind every day. I think I will take a half day every Friday anyway because I have some vacation time to use before December. Since I'm going to the Mexico plant, I've finally started trying to learn some Spanish. I downloaded the Duolingo app on my phone and I have practiced every night for 2 weeks. The beginning stuff was easy because I did have Spanish in high school but it is quickly getting harder. The most of the people at the plant speak English but I tell them all that I am trying to learn so they teach me new words. Todays word was carrots: zanahorias. 

There you go. The quick synopsis. My home computer is still dead and I don't have the new laptop they are supposed to be buying me yet. Maybe next month.

Few Days Left

The gift buying is winding down.  Only a few more gift cards to mail off to nieces and nephews.  Last Friday, I took my nephew to Target to buy a few things for his relatives in Minnesota.  He wandered off to the toy section and I ended up picking the gifts.  I told him this was the last time that I would be buying gifts for his relatives since he will be in college next year and going directly to his grandfather's house.  He claimed poverty and when I reminded him how much money he has in his computer fund, he looked shocked that I would suggest that he use it.  Ah well, I was only suggesting that he put a little thought in to it.  He doesn't need to spend a lot.  It's just nice to bring a little something when visiting someone else's house, especially if you are expecting to receive gifts yourself. 

On Saturday, the weather was finally chilly by Arizona standards.  I think the high was in the 50's.  The leaves decided to fall off the trees and I picked the last of the green tomatoes.  The weather change gave me a sinus headache so I took a long nap which was very nice but I still had a headache when I woke up.  In the afternoon, we visited the cat shelter again and I went to my company's dinner.  It was small, only 12 people, and over by 7:30pm.  We have a new-ish boss.  I think he's been around for 2 years.  He just announced that our Chicago office will be closing at the end of next year so everyone is a little sad and nervous.  I don't think they will close my office unless they sell the company but that has also been a rumor going around.  I just need 2 more years and then I could put my semi-retirement plan into action.  If I lost my job today I would need to get another job, at least part time.  I would rent out my house and hopefully have enough money to finish off my barn-shed tiny house on the inside.  I don't think I am going to lose my job soon but I like to have contingency plans just in case.

Only one and a half days of work left this week and then some much needed time off.  I can hardly wait.

DaNiece Returns

I only wanted to quit my job 6 or so times this week.  I can't quit though.  I have to support my nephew for the next 2 years and then fix up my property enough to be self-sufficient for the most part.  That means gutters and water storage, extra roof from patio covers and other shade structures, more fenced in space, a new culvert for the driveway, maybe solar panels or something like that, garden space.  I must keep working.

My niece came back!  My coworker likes to call her Da Niece because he is from Chicago.  I didn't think she would return but I am willing to contribute to her education in exchange for her help so she came back for the next 7 weeks.  I want her to get a part time job too if possible.  We have been looking for places to apply, Petco, Cold Stone Creamery, Taco Bell, a summer horse camp.  On the other hand, I don't want her to be too busy to help me.  It was nice to see temporary and part time jobs that I might be able to do such as office help or drafting.  I would not be opposed to some part time or temporary work once I leave my current position.

This evening we got a nice gentle rain which is very unusual for June.  May was unusually cool and I was gritting my teeth for a scorching June until the July rains start.  It was a nice surprise.  Saturday is still supposed to be 95 but that's better than 105.  I bought the rest of the trim to put up in the mobile home and I hope to get the other 2 skirting panels installed in front of the door.  Maybe we will clear a space for the water tank if we aren't too tired.  I bought more bungee cords for the pool cover.  It would be nice to go for a swim if the wasps haven't taken over.  Maybe I can put a bowl of soda out for the wasps so they won't bother us swimmers.  But, really, we should be working, not playing.  

Looking Forward

My dad is a huge football fan.  At least, he was.  He isn't able to follow the action anymore.  Growing up I was never interested.  I wanted to talk through the boring plays and was only quiet to watch the commercials.  Of course, this annoyed my father who was trying to watch the game.  Some of my siblings became fans but I would not have known the super bowl was on today except for people talking about it on the radio.  Facebook posts have told me who the winner was and if I want to see any of the commercials they will be on the internet.

My weekend was spent helping my mother organize her closet, dispensing medication and goat's milk to my dogs and puppy, and taking naps as much as possible.  Last week my job was very frustrating because my boss gave me a project that took most of my time which meant my other work piled up.  By the end of the week I was contemplating quitting again.  Hopefully this week will be better because I need to last at this job at least 3 more years in order to have a big enough financial cushion.  But sometimes I start thinking, what if I left now?  I can't think like that until my nephew is 18 and I am no longer his guardian.  3 years is not that long.

Now, what can I look forward to this week besides Friday?  Hmm...I can't think of anything.  Well, then, I will have to take it one day at a time.  Tomorrow the weather will be nice, my lunch will be leftover beef tips and roasted potatoes (which was very good for dinner tonight), I have a piece of chocolate pie to bring for dessert, and I am bringing my tiny puppy to work so that I can feed him so I guess I am glad that I have a job that lets me bring dogs to work.

TGIF

Working from home was awesome.  I got work done, the floor swept, laundry done, and took the dogs and kittens to the vet, then did more work!  I wouldn't want to do it every day though.  I'd rather make money another way or have a more enjoyable job.  Today I got up early to taxi my boss to work and then to the airport.  There was only one other person at work so we were planning on leaving a little early but at 3:30 my boss called and he was still at the airport.  His flight was delayed because of high winds in Chicago.  He rescheduled his flight for tomorrow and asked me to take him back to his apartment.  That was fine with me because I got to leave at 3:30.  It seemed like a really long week and I am glad it is over.

Tomorrow I was thinking about going to my property and doing some clean up but people keep posting pictures of rattlesnakes on Facebook so I think I will wait a little longer until they are asleep.  Next week it is supposed to be in the 70's finally which means the nights will go down to the 40's and make the snakes sleepy.  Go to sleep little scary rattlesnakes.  I don't want to disturb you.  I have plenty of projects to work on here at the house.

Another Work From Home Day

My boss is always traveling and he relies on us to get him to the airport and pick him up.  On Tuesday, I went out to lunch with a co-worker for her birthday and then on the way back we swung by the airport since my new vehicle can now hold more than 1 passenger comfortably.  I had to un-fold the back seats which had been folded up for maximum dog cargo space but that was easy to do.  After I was sure my boss was in a good mood and while we were waiting in the drive thru to pick up something for my boss to eat, I asked if I could work from home on Thursday and he said yes!  I am thrilled because working from home is still a novel thing to me and it is so much easier to work from home when I have errands to run like getting my blood drawn for our health insurance (I hate that) and taking multiple animals to the vet.  Now, instead of getting to work late after getting my blood drawn and then leaving early to collect the animals at home which is in the opposite direction from the vet and then driving all the way back, I can get up early, do some work, do the blood thing, work some more, (take a nap), take the menagerie to the vet, and work some more.

The only problem with working from home is that I don't have Autocad on my home computer yet but our IT department said they would fix that for me soon which probably means next year.  I even remembered to attempt to log in to the remote server tonight in case I needed to run a full computer scan which I did so I started it now.  Maybe next year I can work from home one day a month and take one vacation day a month.  That would make my job a little more tolerable.

Back To Work

I was expecting yesterday to be busy at work but I forgot that our other office was not back yet so I had another lovely slow day. Today, though, reminded me why I long for the weekends. The phone calls, emails, requests from people in the office, all started piling up. I didn't get enough done because I had to sit in on a meeting and get assigned more duties. At least I'm not bored!

I send my realtor an email to check on the house status but she said that she wanted to wait until Friday before asking about it again. She doesn't seem concerned. I hope she is right. I really wish I knew the bank's answer. It is less than 30 days until closing. We are going to have to scramble once we hear the answer or ask for another extension. It just has to work out!

'

End Of The Year Slow Down

I felt better today so I went to work and tried to accomplish everything that I had planned to do this week. That means all of the end of the year filing, cleaning, shredding, etc.... Well, I got a lot more done than I expected. My desk is half clean. I got half of my filing done. I dumped all my emails in to a 2011 folder and I even started to organize one of the customer folders that I just haven't had time to do. I wish I had another day but on Tuesday everyone comes back to work and we will hit the ground running for another year.

I got an email from the people that adopted my poodle a few months back (she's the white one). She looks like she has settled in to her new home nicely and she has a friend to play with. I'm so glad it worked out. Tomorrow is another adoption day. I am bringing my foster and my friend's foster dog. I'm hoping one of our dogs gets adopted because they don't get along and I am supposed to dog-sit for the next 11 days.

Quiet Time

It's that time of year again. The time when I send out an email at work to many recipients and get back automated responses telling me they are on vacation for the next two weeks. It is going to be a very quiet end of the year. Our Mexico plant closes for vacation on Wednesday and half of the people in our US plants seem to be taking vacation for at least a few days. And for those who have been with the company since high school (yes, we have quite a few of those) and have a boat load a vacation days, they will most likely disappear for a few weeks except for the work-a-holics who just can't stay away that long. My boss is leaving on Monday so that means I can just roll out of bed and go to work in my pajamas if I want to. I wouldn't do that...maybe a sweatshirt and jeans though.

I think all but one of my dogs has learned how to use the new dog door. My little terrier still doesn't like it but he will do it if he has to. I haven't seen my scared dog try it on her own yet. I wonder if she just stays inside all day and looks longingly out the window at everyone else. Since I didn't get the door panel that blocks off the door for nighttime, I tried to make my own. My cardboard version only lasted 1 day. My vinyl tile version lasted 2 days. Next I will see if my extra wall paneling is thin enough to use. I think that would work. I would just need to get out my circular saw to cut it. That is an annoying chore that I will put off for a while. Maybe I will tackle it during my up coming long weekend. I'll put it on my list right after fix the shower faucets, repair the stairs, move the washing machine in to the mobile home and set up a water system for it, and build a snake barrier around the yard. Ok, I think I am being a little too optimistic. For the time being I am removing the dog door every night and closing the sliding door. Inconvenient yes but it works. No dogs running in and out all night and keeping me awake.

A New Look

My newest scruffy dog got a haircut and a bath today. I think he cleaned up rather well. Maybe he will get adopted this Saturday. I have someone who wants to come and meet him already. If only he wasn't so jumpy. He doesn't seem to have any training. I am trying to teach him 'sit' but he isn't the smartest dog in the bunch.

Work was really slow today. People have been bringing in holiday food and peppermint bark seems to be a popular choice this year. It is quite good but I am eating too much of it.

Only one more day and a week until my 4 day weekend. That doesn't really seem long enough for a holiday since I usually have 10 days off. I might take an additional day off but I am trying to save my newly earned 3 weeks vacation for as long as possible. Usually I use 1 week right away at Christmas and then I only have one week to stretch over the entire year. This year I have 5 extra days. I hope they make the year a little easier.

Everyday Things

I keep coming back to my blog every day and trying to think of something to write. Work has been busy and I am just taking it one day at a time. No news on my short sale house and I don't think I will ever have enough money for my back up plan which was to build a garage and block wall fence on my property. When I add in the cost of moving the electrical service and probably having to dig a new septic system, the costs get too high. At this point my only back up plan seems to be buying a manufactured home because they will finance it. I hope my house comes through so that I don't have to implement plan B...or C.

I've been trying to get my Christmas shopping done in between the rest of my duties. I know what to get half of the people but the other half have left me clueless. I hate to do it but it will just be cash or gift cards if I wait too long. I suppose that is better than a gift they don't want but it isn't as much fun to give as an actual gift they really want.

One more day of work and then Saturday is our company dinner. I bought a new top a few months ago to wear. Too bad I didn't buy new black shoes. I do this every year. I have the top, try on a skirt (hate it), try on black pants, look for shoes, and wonder if I should wear my old flats or my stiff burgundy heels. I usually go for the flats and hope no one looks at my feet. One of these days I will buy new black shoes. Maybe next year.

Donut Day

We had a salesman visit and he brought 2 dozen donuts. There were only 7 people at work today. I tried to do my part and ate 3. I think there were a dozen left over. Too bad I don't like day old donuts. Maybe I can re-heat one in the toaster oven.

I checked my 401k this week. That was depressing. It was down 10% from 2 weeks ago. The stock market went up today so I guess my 401k will go back up again. No word on my short sale house. Today's plan is to build a block wall around my RV. That is my cheapest back-up plan if my house doesn't come through. I hope I hear something soon.

Today's weather, 70's, sunny, beautiful. This weekend's weather, 50's, rain, bummer. I will be at Petsmart again anyway. My puppy got adopted while I was gone (and hopefully she will stay adopted) and another foster home took my old cocker spaniel because I didn't have a heated place for him to stay this winter. He seems to like his new home already. This means I only have 4 foster dogs plus my 2 dogs. It is so quiet around here. I am resisting the pleas to foster another dog. I need to figure out where I am going to live first and then I have to move. Maybe now I can get some chores done around here.

Eek, Another Bill

Yes, I forgot about another bill. I mean, I knew it was out there, I just didn't know when it would pounce. Right before I left for vacation I got an email notification that my rental home insurance was due. Oops! I didn't have my log in information with me so I couldn't pay it until I got to work today. $450! Wow, that is a little more than I expected. Ok, so now all of the big bills are paid...until the truck insurance is due in January. The rest of my December money gets to be spent on fun things like presents for the family. Too bad there isn't much money left.

Oh, and at work today we took a group picture for a company calendar for next year. It was a nice squinty picture in the sun. I couldn't convince them that an inside picture was a better idea. Oh well, I have a animal calendar every year. I don't want the people I work with to be hanging on my wall. I have to look at them everyday anyway.

A Reason To Go To Work

Donuts!!! Tomorrow is donut day at work. We have our annual health insurance re-enrollment meeting and every year we listen carefully to the presentation about exercise and nutrition while we scarf donuts! I am so excited!

Today was payday, which of course, is another great reason to go to work. I had enough money in my bank account to pay my rental property tax bill of $1400 so I dropped it in the mail. I am glad that is finally paid. I also got a notice that my tenant is late on the rent again. I hope he comes through in a few weeks as usual. I sent him a text to see if anything needed to be fixed but he didn't reply. I hope he didn't skip out.

Two more days until the weekend and then it is a countdown to my Thanksgiving family reunion. I only wish I could bring my 2 dogs with me. I will miss them a lot.

Tuesday Rantings

It has been a while since I have thought about quitting but today drove me to it again. There is one person that I work with that is just really annoying. She doesn't "get" me and I don't "get" her. There are workers outside our building putting up awnings over the windows and she told me I should move my car because they would be painting those awnings. I moved my car to the side of the building. Then at lunch we were talking about their progress and I wondered if they were going to paint the whole building now or wait until later. She just looked at me like I was crazy and said that of course they were going to paint the building first, it would be insane to paint the awnings first. Now, she told me earlier that they were painting the awnings so, I mean, whatever, I really don't care what they paint first. I couldn't see what they were doing anyway because all of the windows are blocked with plastic to protect them from paint.

Later in the afternoon another coworker told me that I should move my car again because the wind is blowing paint spray in that direction. I go out to move my car and the woman comes out and is yelling that she can't believe they are painting the awnings first! Ok, I still don't care. I park my car far away and then she starts laughing at me for parking so far away. I just had to move my car twice and I don't want to move it again. I just ignored her. I have no idea why she has to be so controlling and a know-it-all.

I usually put my lunch together at work because there is more counter space there than in my mobile home and she had to comment that it is a good thing I am not married with kids because they would starve to death waiting for their meals. Now, besides more room to prepare meals at work, one of the other BIG reasons that it takes me so long is that I don't want to sit and be lectured by her for 45 minutes in the lunch room. I didn't tell her that though. She often tells me that I don't have any fun and she can't believe that I don't want to go the restaurants downtown where she lives and hang out at bars and listen to bands and read novels like she does. I would rather eat at my desk than be judged by her.

Anyway, I was daydreaming of building my own home and building a block wall myself. I watched some videos on building a wall and I think I could do it but the permit would cost $300 just to get started and then I would need to rent some equipment to dig the footer. Well, if I quit then I will have plenty of time to build a wall. It will definitely take some time to build.

That's my ranting for the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I like getting paychecks.

Feels Like A Monday

It's days like today that make me want to quit my job. If I didn't have plans to buy a house I think I would be making 'how to quit' lists again. But I do want to buy a house so I must be nice to the people and keep doing my work.

The highlight of the day was when a coworker locked his puppy in his office. I had a bark collar in my purse and the puppy was in my office so I put it on her neck. My coworker wanted to make her bark so he shut my door and she didn't bark. He walked to his office and said "I know how to make her bark" and shut her in his office. Then he tried the door knob and it was locked. I couldn't help laughing. The puppy started barking and he was running around trying to find something to wedge in the door to make it open. It only took him a few minutes and he got it open. I don't think the bark collar worked. It was on the lowest setting anyway.

I have to get up early tomorrow to take my poodle to the vet and then to get my blood drawn so that my health insurance rates won't go up. I really really hate that policy. If I give them my blood they won't raise my rates. If I don't, I have to pay more. There's another reason why I want to quit my job.

Oh well, one day at a time and one of these days I will be able to quit.

Arbitrary Goals

We had our annual appraisals today. It seems I do an adequate job. It helps that my boss hates doing appraisals. I didn't even remember most of my goals for last year and yet he said I met them all. Then he gave me 6 more goals for next year. Oh boy! Well, if I forget what they are there is a very good chance I will still meet them adequately so that's good.

Tomorrow is another dog adoption day. I was trying to get over to Harbor Freight to buy a furniture dolly to make moving dog crates easier but there was a situation at the air force base and all traffic was diverted so I decided not to go over there. One of the other fosters built her own rolling dog crate platform with plywood and wheels. I don't have any plywood here and it is really expensive so I saw the furniture dolly online and I think it will work. They cost between $20-$30. All I would need to do is attach a bracket and then zip tie my dog crate to it. Then I could wheel my dogs in to the pet store without having to fight them while they get tangled in the leashes and run in circles around my legs. Anything to make this dog stuff go easier is greatly appreciated!

A Little Too Much

We had a downpour at work today. It must have rained for 3 hours which is a lot for us. My ceiling started to leak a little, and then more and more.


I ran around collecting trash cans to put under the leaks. My boss said I could change to another office if the water hit me. It didn't quite hit me so I just stayed put and sang "Rain Drops Are Falling On My Head".


I expected to come home to a mess, maybe even a washed out road but no. It barely rained at my house. It didn't even rain hard enough to wash away my morning tire tracks. And my house was clean. Not even puppy pee. I guess it was such a pretty day that the dogs stayed outside most of the day. That was a nice surprise.

The Wild Life

This morning my friend dropped off 9 dogs and we got them all situated in crates in the RV for the little ones, the dog run for the trouble makers and the front yard for the rest. Shortly after the lady left, one of the dogs comes running around outside the fence. I was able to catch the dog and then I put it in a crate in my RV. I had to go to work so I grabbed my dog and left. A few hours later the lady came and got them and none had escaped so I was relieved.

Time went by fast today, I am not sure why. When I got home I changed my clothes in the RV and then my little dog and I went out to go to the dog house when he ran under a nearby tree. He kept running from different directions like he was trying to get close to something. I looked closer and saw a Gila Monster.


It was relatively small, around 10 inches long. I have never seen one so close to the RV. I called off my dog and luckily he was bored with the slow moving lizard and came to me.

That was the excitement for the day. After that I swept and mopped the floor and tried to raise my standard of living farther away from "disgusting" and more towards "satisfactory". If I can walk in bare feet then the floor is clean. Some days it takes a lot of work to get it back to that level when I am gone for 10 hours for work. Luckily, I have lots of water right now so I can use my mop with wild abandon.

Still No Vacancy

Well, I took my foster dog to work and the first person to see him decided he was too big to be a playmate for their poodle. Then I contacted the second people, a mother and son, who were interested and they were able to make it to my work before 5. They really liked him but the son wanted his wife to meet the dog before he brought it home so he is going to bring her to the adoption event on Saturday. I was kind of hoping someone would take him home today.

Oh well, having a dog at work made the day go a lot faster. I even got some work done. Some good news for me...my tenants paid their rent so I am eagerly checking my bank account for a deposit. Yay!