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Days just go by right now. The stifling heat is mostly keeping me indoors. I do go out and tinker around with things - but I don't last long. When the month of August disappears, then I will have a little more hope for cooler weather and an end to temps that are so incredibly high, really, there is nothing to do but wait around until it's gone.

One thing we are looking forward to is the trip to Wet 'n Wild on Friday. That's the beginning of my 4-day weekend. The place stays open late - I told Caleb I probably wouldn't last THAT long. It will hopefully be fun - but - like anything, a point comes to where you've had enough, let's move on.

I am definitely looking forward to having 4 days off. I would like to say I have grand plans beyond going to a water-park - but I do not. It is very difficult to make any plans until I get beyond this loan modification decision - though certainly, I should have a clear picture about that by the end of tomorrow. The "promised" it wouldn't take any longer than Monday to come to a decision. I am not necessarily "bracing" myself for a bad decision - which would only mean for me that they are going to nothing and I will have to pull myself out of this on my own - somehow. I have one month's payment sitting in the bank right now, they told me not to pay it until after the decision is made, so that's what I'm doing.

But it will not wait any longer than Monday.

I have too much on my mind, which is why I'm writing the second entry for today already - one on KCL and one here. Besides the loan mod and whatever is going to happen at work, I also have a tenant that's wearing thin on me as each day passes. The man simply doesn't clean up after himself and expects everyone to do it for him. The bathroom, the kitchen, everywhere he goes. He refuses to empty out the dishwasher if he does, indeed, happen to be the first one to come along after the cycle is done and the dishes are dried. He will take a glass out of it - but will not empty the machine. He leaves bread crumbs and other such laying around kitchen counters. I have been fighting cockroaches in here for a while now - admittedly I haven't seen one in a couple of weeks. That MAY have to do with my renewed determination to get rid of them - but they may just be hiding and I am not seeing them anywhere.

I don't ask much from tenants.........pay your rent on time or let me know if there's a problem that we can figure something out. Clean up after yourself. Don't mess with other tenants if they don't want to be messed with. Not too terribly much. No loud music after 10:00pm. Help with the dishes; cleaning the main bathroom; keeping the place clean. I do most of the cleaning work - it IS my house after all - in the kitchen and living room areas, but I have completely stopped cleaning in the main bathroom. The newest tenant declared that he would take care of it - and that he has. That bathroom is always clean now.

The thing that irritates me most about this individual is the fact that my Craigslist ads - every single one of them that I write up - has a short list of the kind of person I do NOT want in my house, and in capital letters, I put SLOBS on that list and a disclaimer: If you, as an adult, find that you cannot clean up after yourself and take care of the messes you make, then PLEASE move onto the next ad, as I don't want you living in my house. We are not the Kings and Queens of clean, but we DO try to keep the place clean and presentable. If you are a slob and want to live here, it will cost you $200 extra per month for minimal maid service.


That's something of what I write in the ad. I have had no takers on the maid service - but that because I'm not really serious about it (though for an extra $200, I could deal with someone's else's slobbishness) - it just makes the point. I also write on that list: NO MOOCHERS and then write next to it: Self-Explanatory. Soooo, I have sat here for weeks now trying to decide whether I want to keep him around or give him the 30-day, thanks for playing see you in the next life notice. It could be risky business right now - the last tenant took over 2 weeks of ads to get him in here.

I dunno. I just let it ride for the most part just because of the financial situation, but I have decided at the very least I am going to write up some notices and place them in various places around the house.

"Notice: The Dishwasher Fairy does NOT live at this house. The dishes do not clean themselves and the do not remove themselves from the dishwasher when they are finished being washed. If YOU - whoever you are - come along and find the dishwasher full of clean dishes, that means that someone turned the thing on, probably me, and now they are ready to be put away by the first person that comes along. If you - whoever you are - do not want to put them away, then please DO NOT USE MY DISHES. Go out and buy yourself paper plates and disposable cups and leave my stuff alone.
Thanks. Management".

Something like that. I suppose that sounds a bit in-your-face and maybe even rude, but - I end up doing 99% of the dishwashing around here, yet EVERYONE uses the dishes. I give the new tenant an exception - he keeps the bathroom clean, that is more than enough for me.

How about this one?

"Notice: The garbage does not take itself out. There is no robotic devise in this house for trash removal. If you find the garbage can full, PLEASE just take it out and dump it in the container!
Thanks.
Management"

I do not expect them to vacuum the main floors or sweep and mop the kitchen area. I wish they would clean up after they have had exploding food in the microwave. I am willing to live with some discrepancies for the sake of getting that money in every month - but - this is a bit beyond "some discrepancies". The other thing that gets me are tenants that pay late and give no explanation. I am rather amazed that the newest tenant has not offered the rent check yet. No explanation, it just hasn't materialized. I am not amazed that the female tenant has not produced such - she does it every time. Waits 3 days, usually, before handing it over. I DO have it written into the rental contract for a $5 per day late fee for every day the rent is late. I have not enforced such - yet. I probably won't, either, if it gets THAT bad, the person is going to get a 5-day notice, not a fee imposition.

And then there's Mary. I am still solidly determined to take her to court. I have a little extra money now, I could offer a small amount for a contractor to come over and give me a written estimate on how much it's going to cost to fix everything she damaged. I don't have to do that right away - I'm just trying to get things moving along here. I could wait up to 2 years to sue her for all of this stuff. I have too much on my plate right now, it's going to have to wait.

Soooo - what to do? I dunno. Take a day at a time and let things work themselves out. Basically, if rents are not paid after Monday, both parties will receive a notice. I'll give it 3 full days before doing that. Why? I don't want to rock the boat too terribly much - these 2 tenants are normal people that are not an imposition - but I won't wait forever for at least an explanation of why the rent isn't being paid.

I would have to call this a low-ebb in my life here on this planet. I'm not really doing much of anything that I would call fulfilling - my version of it may be rather radical in terms of my religious beliefs. I don't feel like I'm just existing - but I may not really be doing much more than that, in reality. Just "living" is not enough for me. There has to be some reason connected with it. I fully identified - for myself, not for anyone else - what encapsules that reason - and I am mostly not doing that. Well, I take it back. I have been helping people with food for quite a while now. That particular activity has been greatly reduced with my financial situation, but I wouldn't turn anyone down if I were asked.

I put that all on hold after my AC broke and I went broke along with it. Still, it's good to help people - especially when you identify a person or family that really needs the help, and God knows this nation is FULL of people right now that could use something to help them along the way. If it weren't so blasted hot, I would be doing dinner "parties" every weekend. Who wants to stand outside and eat? Heat just makes your appetite go away, really. So I'm not doing that, but I still entertain people coming over for meals and occasionally from someone that makes such a empassioned plea for food, I will take $20 or $30 worth of groceries over. Again, that is not happening but maybe once a month on the free food stuff - but I read the Bible and I cannot find it within myself to turn a person down after reading about all the miracles with food the Lord created and all the passages that speak of feeding the hungry and giving to those that ask for it.

Well, this entry has grown into a book, talk to you later.
ben