Sunday, May 24, 2009

Mary

"I'll do it, myyyyyyyyyaaaawwwwyyyyyyy wayyyyy".
As always, Mary does things her own way.
In this case, completely ignoring the directive of the judge.
The judge issued the directive, via a modification of the Order of Protection, that we email each other about when she is to come and get her stuff.

I emailed her 3 times on 3 consecutive days.
She replied NONCE.
She was supposed to show up, originally, at 1:00 pm today with a U-Haul and several people to get her things out of here.
I didn't put it past her to do such a thing without notice, even though a court ordered it.
At 1:30, I figured a done deal - she ain't showing.

Wrong.

At 3:00 pm, the police are at my gate.
I go out there.
I inform them of the judge's directive.
It is, rightfully, left totally up to me.
Get her stuff out of here, that's what my head was screaming at me, and that's what I allowed.

But looking at the pickup, it was quite obvious that was NOT going to suffice.

There was only contention about a coffee cup and silverware. The coffee cup I gave up on - just take it, go ahead, have the coffee cup, I have a dozen more. She said no, I could "have" it, and left it. Silverware? Geeze. I had no clue where mine starts and hers ended. I offered that she could take out what she thought was hers and then I would look at it to see if I agreed with it or not.

She decided to leave ALL of her silverware, at my behest. I countered - you have a lot of stuff in there, go ahead and take what's yours. No. She left all of that stuff. She did, of course, take everything else. No problem there, but her bedroom is STILL - FULL - of her stuff. They took some things out of there, yes, but to look at her room right now? Totally full.

I did not want to have to deal with this tomorrow - I have yet another BBQ planned, this time a Memorial Day get together. Not with strangers, either.

The police asked if they could come, I said no, I have plans, they will have to try some other day. Then Mary's friend asked again - if she and some "male friends" could come without Mary to get the rest of it - no need for police since Mary won't be there. I thought no - again - but my head said - what are you thinking? Get that stuff OUT of here.

So, I said yes, at 8:00 am, you can come over and get the rest of this stuff. I'm already well awake by 8:00 am, and this gives them time to undoubtedly make at least 2 trips, cause' I don't see it happening in one. I was rather critical of them not just renting a U-Haul or similar and getting it over in one fell swoop. It becomes apparent that Mary has blown her money yet again and can't pay for a U-Haul.

The objective: get all of it out of here and get that room rented out again. I had 2 stipulations. 1 - the entire thing is video taped by surveillance and that you agree to it, and 2 - no-one in the moving party has any weapongs on them, especially hand guns since Mary has a friend that carries what looks to be a .45 caliper around with him everywhere he goes, including in my house. I had asked Mary a couple of times to tell the dude to check the gun at the curb.

So that's it. The kitchen part is over with - all of her stuff is out of there as well as my storage shed and whatever she had outside plus some stuff from her room. My greatest contention was the kitchen part - the stuff in her room, none of that is mine and I don't NEED to inspect it, as I don't note that anything of mine is missing.

I will be much more aggessively attempting to find a roommate after tomorrow - providing all her stuff is out of there.

Done.
ben

More

Okay, hanging laundry about the 4th load starts to get old. Not the biggest ordeal on earth, but - not exactly Sunday afternoon fun, either.

Also continued the deep watering I started yesterday. Should be completed by the end of the holiday weekend.

Went to Fry's. For me, Fry's Food Stores are becoming notorious for issuing ads with product that they don't have.
This time - 88 cents per pound chicken breast, bone-in. None. Tude Dude was back there, I avoided him like the plague - he gave me a long stare - so - I decided it only fitting to - completely ignore him.

When done with shopping, I asked the guy at the front about when there will be more chicken coming in. I knew the answer before he called the meat department: tomorrow. I decided to ask them to call another Fry's down the road - the man disappeared. When done paying for my stuff, the printer wasn't working and it did not give me my receipt. I ALWAYS check my receipt to make sure the computer hasn't over-charged me. It happens frequently enough that it warrants me to stand at the front of the store and go over the entire receipt.

I ask the lady 3 times to print the receipt - she never does. I finally get word back - no meat at the other store. Now, I really don't take pleasure in making life difficult for these people, but they also should not be luring people into their stores by having these "wonderful" sales for the customer to find NONE of the product on their shelves. I was definitely not the only person back there looking for the chicken - there were 3 other people standing there with rather bewildered looks on their faces - looking at a giant sign that says 88cent chicken breast, bone-in - the sign was planted in the middle of a bunch of whole fryers, there was definitely none of the sale chicken breast anywhere on those shelves.


So, as is my fashion, I ask for the manager. The lady at the front calls for her 5 times. Lol. She then asks for the second in command - of whom I would have rather talked to anyway if I had known he was there. He explains that they have been shorted on all of their chicken orders. I replied that that is the same story I have been hearing every time they have a sale and don't have the sale product. He offers to substitute, I rejected it. I wanted chicken breast with the bones, not the boneless. I think it grills better, and they didn't have another brand on the shelf.

Long story short? Same-o, same-o. One starts thinking at what point do you switch from thinking - Gee, they're just out, I'll get some tomorrow - to - Gee, they're always out, they are doing this on purpose - get people in the store, they will buy something else at a higher price, most people won't go to the trouble of saying something as I do.

Whatever. I wanted to cook the stuff up today for an afternoon BBQ for Caleb - it's his 16th birthday today. Actually, I ended up doing what I just said other people would do - I bought him a fat steak instead and will be grilling that later.

It's an amazing thought that my son is 16 years old. He is my only child - and soon he will be grown up and out of the house. THAT will definitely be strange. At the same time, "only" 2 more years of child support payments. I'm at 4 and a half years of it already. Basically could have bought a car on payments with what I have paid, and then another half of one by the time this is over.

Well, back to the races - I dumped tick killing powder on my bedroom floor - dogs have infested with them and it's been a daily war for over 2 weeks now trying to get rid of them - and it's almost time to vacuum that stuff up.

ben

Sunday

Something seems to kick in internally on Sundays that identifies the circuits within to close and start telling me to clean house.
An impulse that can't be denied, I get moving.
I'm about 1/3rd done - I have a huge list of things I want to get done in here today, as well as more items on the outdoor list as well.

However, I am waiting for the boys to get up to finish the living room. THEY can clean it, and clean it thoroughly.

I have heard nothing back from Mary from the 2 emails that I have sent her inviting her to come get all of her stuff out of here so that I can re-rent that room. I have no intention of waiting forever - she will either come get it or I will put it in storage regardless of the cost. I was thinking a cheaper solution would be to have a container delivered here temporarily - until the time allotted for her to get the stuff expires and then I can simply get rid of it. I do have doubts that I will have to go that far with it - getting rid of it that is - because she most certainly will want all of that back.

They also have those containers they bring, you load it up, and they take it to their storage facility. Just easier, I think than renting a U-Haul and having to unload it again. Just leave it in there. If she NEVER comes for it, have it brought back, unload it, sell it, done.

Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me if she just showed up at the appointed time today without any advance notice - even though she stated in court that she wasn't going to be able to come for whatever reason - she was cut off by the judge and we were allowed no further opportunity to speak. The clerk made up the paperwork, handed it to me and told me to leave immediately, while she went over to Mary and told her to wait a couple of minutes - that's the terms of an Order of Protection, no contact.

Meanwhile, some plants that she transplanted in the front have died. She transplanted them several weeks ago and was not watering them enough. I observed this and started watering them myself, but it was too late. So, I will have to dig those up and think about what I might want to put in it's place. I still have some plants left from the auction that - might - look nice out there, haven't decided yet. Spending money on plants is hardly on the docket of things to do at this point, so, if no plants go in there, I will haul more rocks from the back to the front to cover that bare patch of ground up.

In fact, there is much hauling to do. There are still quite a large number of rocks on the ground in the back and the front could use more of it. So, that's a "fun" project I will at least do some of today as well.

I hung clothes on the lines outside this morning to dry. They were somewhat moist after only 10 minutes out there - the sun is baking that side of the house and those clothes are probably already dry by now. Bring them in, tumbling them on air dry for a few minutes, done. It isn't near the ordeal in hanging them that I thought it might be. I haven't seen either other tenant doing any laundry lately - I am wondering if they are waiting until I'm not here so they can dry their clothes in the dryer.

If it's going to be a sticking point with them, I will not force the issue. I don't think it unreasonable to ask people to help save electricity. But, if they force the issue, I will force back - no laundry to be done between the hours of 10:am and 6:00 pm. Absolutely no good reason to be heating up the house during the daytime.

Ummm, so that's it, for now, as I want to get back to work after taking a little coffee break.
Have a great day!
ben

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