botias

Yup, another one.

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( Chapter 23Collapse )

OMG a chapter!! Y'all can thank ZWM for this. Bribery works wonders...

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( Chapter 22Collapse )

I just lied my head off for my current tenant. I don't believe I answered any of the questions truthfully.

Did she pay on time? Yes. [Maybe once or twice]
Did she ever keep unreported pets? No. [If you don't count a cat as a pet]
Did you ever hear complaints about her dogs? No. [I think I just complained to other people]
Would you rent to her again? Absolutely. [Not]

Landlords with obnoxious tenants have a powerful incentive to give them glowing reviews, sadly.

Hello Moderator,
May I offer you the following announcement for your group to take advantage of? It outlines a wonderful opportunity for students to go to the museum Friday April 3, and take in the fine art and a band concert geared to please and stimulate our younger community members. Please consider announcing this for your group. If you reject it, maybe just a brief explanation why this is not considered a worthy offering for your group. Thank you.
-Joan


Hi Joan,
This group is for homeschoolers to connect with one another. I regularly get people who kindly want to connect homeschoolers to their excellent goods, services and causes instead, but that's not the purpose of this online forum so I do not post them. You suggest in your message that rejecting this announcement means that I don't consider the event a worthy offering (which insult I am invited to make explicit by condemning it to you in writing!). Some people suggest such things as a way of pressuring others to do their bidding under threat of hurt feelings, but I feel sure that's not the case here. It just didn't occur to you that there might be a completely different explanation for the inaction on my part. Please be assured that I consider this event to be worthy, and I hope it's successful.
Sincerely,
The Moderator

The boys and I got our Wednesday chores done and then went to the beach and made s'mores with vegetarian marshmallows. I'm regretting the two I ate, but otherwise the day was spectacularly lovely. The neighborhood is still in a uniquely law-abiding mode. Totally Awesome 11YO is now Totally Awesome 12YO. Spike and Buffy are apparently together again for the first time. On the down side, two of our three incomes decided to go on vacation at the same time. To keep us company while they were gone they left an unexpected $3K tax bill and the discovery that a pricey king-size futon was needed stat as an unreported spill by one of the kids had quietly turned the current one into a biohazard. I have never tracked a package as closely as my new futon. Until it arrived we slept on an air mattress that needed to be re-inflated every evening and tended to find ourselves almost on the slats by morning.

I should see the earliest dahlia goodness arrive by the end of this month!! Good thing I had long since made all my dahlia orders as we are in super frugal mode for the duration. I even bought the kitties' Feline Leukemia vacs down at the feed store so we could do them ourselves this year. I haven't done that since we first moved out on our own.

I've been busy. The Apartments of Doom are vanquished for now. I had no idea how much traffic and noise was issuing from thence until it was gone. The task took an entire posse from the Sheriff, and a multi-department sweep from the city, but the bad elements have been found accommodation elsewhere, and repairs and clean-up have commenced of a like never before seen.
Apropos perhaps, during this time the Mister and I finished up a marathon of all the seasons of Breaking Bad. I anti-shipped Mr. White and his poor wife. I understand that many people thought she was a horrible bitch for not understanding that her meth-cookin' lyin' woobie of a hubby was just showing his love in the best way he was able. I wonder if that is how it was for Spike haters watching Buffy.
Went to the Interfaith Gospel Choir concert for the first time. Had no idea they were such talented folks, and who would have thought a spectacular gospel singer from the deep South would ever tolerate our soggy weather? Right now, as it rains without end, it's hard to imagine that Summer ever was, that my garden was full of buzz and blossoms and warmth, but this rain is such a blessing. May it continue for many weeks more. In the mean time, it's time to order new dahlia varieties. I ordered a WHITE dahlia. A BIG white dahlia. Still not quite sure what came over me. We'll see if I actually plant it or not. In other news, I started doing the Jujitsu warm up with the kids, and then I started doing the entire class. It is actually super fun! And I can do forward rolls like a champ. I would never have guessed, and I must look like quite a nut in there with the kids. I just need to stop apologizing for punching people.
I've been reading the kids the Dragonlance Legends, favorites of mine from when I was 14YO's age. The prose is sooo clunky in a way I never appreciated before, 11YO cringes every time someone 'flushes' from some emotion or other, but the story moves right along, and Raistlin Majere is just as delightfully evil and white-haired as ever. The kids and I are all loving it. I can't resist the occasional dialog insertion: "Master, are you all right? You seem to be monologing..." I find myself easily coaxed into reading late into the night.
Also, kinda in love with Detective Gordon from Gotham. Likin' that show. I keep watching Elementary though it puts me to sleep without fail.

Just broke up with a prospective tenant. I've been trying to work with her long distance. And then it turned out she had only $2K in verifiable assets, and no job lined up up here, she's going back to school, and no proof of grants, etc. So I agreed that her mom could cosign and I sent a lease I drew up with both their names, and instead of signing it she made changes to it and sent it back. Now, this is totally reasonable and fine for her to do, but dude, I was just suddenly done! Done I tell you! Now she wants me to call her. I could. Or I could go read fan fiction and rent it to someone else. Hmmm, what to do?

It's weird to have people applying to me. My instinct is to be helpful, but I have to keep reminding myself that if they can't read the ad, or follow the instructions on the application, or have a job, it might not bode well for their desirability as a tenant. And you learn about people like the young couple working three minimum wage jobs between them, trying to find housing while owning a pitbull dog and expecting a baby in a few months, and the 93-year-old WWII vet and his caregiver trying to get out of a roach motel.

And then there's the lady on my board who keeps trying to siphon money from our organization's coffers into other causes. This time she was trying to drum up business for a leadership seminar she's affiliated with to the tune of $1800 per person to be paid for by our organization. NO! JUST NO! *stomps feet*

I'm only 40, but I'm beginning to understand why there are housing developments that are seniors only! No boom cars and kids on your lawn! Bah!

The Mister and I recently went through all the steps to move a land line phone number to Google Voice and ditched the business land line. Not only does this save us about $70 a month, it also gives us THE POWER. The power to program the phones to only ring during certain times. No more East Coast customers ringing before the birds awake, no more robo call hiccups in the middle of the night, etc. It's not like this has been a big problem, but still, it's sweet to know it will never happen again.

Neighborhood is still blissfully, almost eerily quiet. Surveillance cameras were the best $300 I have ever spent. Got the graffiti painted over and the giant hedge trimmed, complete with ladder climbing and power tools, all in one day. I felt very productive.

We installed cameras on the alley a couple days ago. And yesterday the new apartment manager put up one sign telling people to behave and another warning them that there was 24 hour surveillance now. The difference is astonishing. I didn't realize how much of the traffic noise around here was due the the AoD until it was gone. It's like night and day.

Also, I talked to Mr. Gold Chains' replacement, Mr. No Features of Interest, and he says Mr. GC died while out of town visiting family with no mention of homicide. Shows you neighborhood gossip in action.