Month: November 2018

It’s one of those ah ha moments. It’s Saturday morning and I did not blog yesterday. I may have been really busy or I just couldn’t squeeze it in. What the hell ever. This is gonna be a Friday post and I will do my best to strike all keys firmly, like an old Royal, so all are clear and thoughts cogent. Good luck to me.

Yesterday morning Marika was home. Having spent the night. Normal morning mostly. Marika decided we should attempt the big switch this morning. That would be, going from ATT to Verizon, after 25 or 30 years at ATT. It’s a big deal. So after we got loses up we went to the Verizon store and started the process.

Turns out, not so difficult but it took an easy 2 hours. We only have 2 of 5 phones with us so he sent me home with several SIM cards for all the tablets and other phones. Besides that they had a lot of things to do that I did not understand. When finally done, we were switched. Though ATT has no idea yet. They are not worth a crap anyway.

After the big change Marika headed back to home and I went to work. Work was thrilling. I did not get there till 130. Turned out I had to leave by 430 to get to Dixon bank to get safe deposit fixed. As mentioned yesterday, the lock broke on my box and the bank did a temporary switch. I had to finish the process and they wanted me in today. I am obliging.

Went home. Went out for dinner. A fine meal, no big deal. Went home. Went to bed.

That’s it. Memory and ability to care are stopping me from memorializing the day. On to the future!

So we have a houseful. That would be daughter and grandkitty in addition to our four fur covered beasts. It’s about as houseful as we get here in the apartment. Soon, we hope, move to new place in Auburn.

Had quick contact with agent. The seller acknowledged getting the offer. Step one. Now I need seller to accept. I’m ready to go.

The weather today is not so great. Gale force winds which brings extreme fire danger. Temps are high, in 70’s. I hate the wind. Auburn is at an elevation that gets very little wind. Yay.

Breakfast was back to usual. Back on track. I have moved to transition which means I get more calories and carbs. Actually all I get is one extra cup of any vegetable every day. But that’s a big change. I get a new add on every week for four weeks. Then I get to eat real meals after that. It’s so awesome.

Marika and I are going to the bank and maybe phone store this morning. Gotta get cash for house downpayment and still trying to unlock all phones. It’s taken two weeks so far. ATT is a bunch of cheating bastards. And not in the good way you are thinking.

Realized I have an appointment in my office at 11. Change plans. Do less now. I called client and moved it a half hour. Should be ok.

Marika and I left the house and went to Starbucks first. Her idea. After that, having realized I forgot my safe deposit key, we split up and she went to get gas and wash and I went home for key. I drove to Em’s bank to make a deposit and then to the bank. Where I met Marika in line to cash checks.

Now the fun starts. We went into the safe deposit area to access each of our boxes. I needed something and she was putting her crap in mine. Save money. This type of action inside a bank really bothers the bankers. Fuck em. We each took seperate cubby rooms to get our box opened and she passed her stuff to me over the wall. See, thats something banks hate. No cameras in here because box contents are protected. No one saw. Then we step out and tell the key gal that she was closing hers and I was returning mine to the vault. Problem, the lock on my box broke sometime after it was opened. It could not be locked. Since my stuff was in it I had to wait while they tried to repair it. 20 minutes. Now I will be late. After 20, one of the three working on it realized the box Marika closed out was available. So my crap went in there. And I was released from hell.

I went to get gas because my light came on. Always when in a hurry. Then went to office. 45 minutes late. Great. Was a new client and a referral so she really was ok with the debacle. We had a speedy conference about her deceased mother’s taxes and she was off. Nice.

Hey, just an aside. Yesterday Marika found the exact chair I was looking for in a consignment shop in Petaluma. And about $500 cheaper than in Restoration Hardware. Deal!! I want it. She called the store today, and called to tell me, they actually order them if you want one. Not really a consignment shop. But I get my chair cheap!!

Next appointment came in on heels of first. Long time client Robert. In the middle of a divorce. Still filing jointly with the ex because she is not an ex yet. We were able to catch up on things and finish one of his past due income tax returns. A good day for him.

After last appointment, nothing. Paperwork. Which you all knew. That never changes. And I can never remember what I did. Boredom does that to you.

So Marika stayed the whole day. I had thought she was leaving today. It’s more fun when she is hone. She called late in the day so I finished up and headed home.

With a refrigerator full of leftovers, Emily decided to have steak. Just like last night. I bbq’d them. They were great but I have lamb, chicken and fish leftover in the fridge. My wife just hates leftovers.

Emily got a migraine so I did all the dinner prep. And after dinner Marika and I went shopping for essentials like dog food and jello.

Now back home we are laying around. Emily is in bed asleep. She is always claiming sickness. Cryer of wolf. Marika is here watching TV. I am not watching, just typing. TV is destructive to the soul. I am going to bed.

147.6 and 149.4. Amazeballs. 151.7 153.4 last week. On the much lauded two scale system. I have reached the Holy Land. Nirvana. Final Destination (not the movie). Yes, I weighed in today and the lead in of this paragraph is current weight. Thank you, I am amazed as well. No, really you are too kind. But, yes I do look fantastic. Thank you. Stop, you’re embarrassing me. Jeesh.

I have been on a diet forever. And that’s how long it took to lose the weight. Lose it twice really. I did spend six weeks in Europe during which I ate and drank what I wanted. And gained 10 lbs. Oh well, sue me.

So, where was I. Oh yeah. Dropped all that weight. So I had a fun size Payday bar for breakfast. And a handful of chocolate covered pretzels. Then a second handful. I was doing all my usual chores while shoving he goodies in. Don’t think I just stood there and ate. I would have but I need to take care of everyone else. After all was done and all fed and coffees and lunch packed I ate some peanut butter cookies. A mans gotta eat. But that was it. I got ready and went to work.

I got all the way to he German bakery, 2 blocks. Stopped and got a pastry. Ok, that’s it. No more junk. Till later. There is a cocktail in my future. Short term future. Tonight.

Made it all the way to work without another junk pitstop. I am strong willed, right?

Worked all day. Again. Boring, isn’t it? Every day it’s wash, rinse, repeat. Sucks had a client stop in to get a tax election prepared and filed. That was a blast. Not. Nice guy. I went to the bank to deposit some checks and it was closed for lunch. They actually close at lunchtime. From 1 – 2. Does anyone know of a bank that does that? I hate them. Flamed them on Yelp. Went back an hour later and they were done eating.

Back to work. I did the dance of the wild realtor. Our agent is getting the offer in today. I had to work with lending to get written pre qual. Done. Had to go back and forth with agent via docu sign to get offer finished. Done. Agent sent it to the other agents broker to take care of. Sellers agent went to New Zealand a couple days ago. But, done. Now we wait. I hope not long. I’m ready to move. In before Christmas, we hope.

Still working here. Funnest part of the day. Because it’s close to quitting time. Of course, I could just get up and leave. I do own this pile of wonderfulness. And a wonderful pile it is. It’s 430. Do a few things and hit the road. Ok. Did nothing. Had a conversation with some employees. Now gonna leave. Happy time!!!

Drive home traffic was bad. Very bad. Slow. And plenty stupid drivers. Which is not new.

Marika called. We had a nice discussion about dinner. Where to go or should we bring home? Or make dinner? Or go out for drinks. Or whatever. We ended up deciding to go to Winters and eat at the Buckhorn. Which seems to always be a good choice. Since today was off diet day o ordered a cocktail. Ate a whole bunch of warm sourdough with butter. Nice. Had a potato with dinner, first one in a year. So filling I couldn’t eat the whole thing. A hunk of halibut and some green beans. Mostly a diet dinner except for the booze and bread. We did not have dessert.

After dinner we walked up the street to Turkovich for our wine club pick up. We got the wine and had a few samples as well. And a taste of the dessert there. I really don’t like their wines but what the hell they are the local winery. We did not stay long. Emily left first, worried about the dogs. We have two cars here. Marika and I left a few minutes later. Drive home from there is under ten minutes.

Time for bad TV and some ice cream. With fudge sauce. Not good ice cream but I don’t care. After all this I gotta get some sleep.

Remember yesterday? Offer day? Well, no offer going in yet. Sellers agent on vacay for 11 more days. 11 more days of torture and waiting which are the same. 11 more days of worry we won’t get the house. 11 more days of worry we will get the house. 11 more agonizing days of being unsure of everything. 11 more days of looking at listings “just in case” even though I don’t want to look. I have picked the girl. Now time to dance with her. I hate how this is working out.

Woke up an hour early, daylight savings crap, again this morning. Laid awake listening to the dogs snore, the cat snapper, the wife snore, the clock tick, damn this place is noisy. Finally got up. Screw it.

Does everyone know what happens in my morning already? Good. No need for a repeat story now. One new thing, I used the new “bread” to make Emily’s lunch. It’s made with cauliflower so it’s basically a zero carb alternative to bread. We have been making our own for at least a year. Including making pizza size cauliflower crust. For homemade pizza. And, just gotta day, cauliflower bread is better than any crust or bread. Seems weird but I say you gotta try it before you reject it out of hand. Especially the pizza. It’s shockingly good. So, back to where I was, Emily got a bbq chicken sandwich on cauliflower bread. I will wait for end of day for the report.

Emily is out of the house to work. I have been working (texts, emails, etc) and now getting blog started. Very important to blog while all is fresh in the head. My brain goes stale quickly. I am not sure if that’s good or bad. May be neither. But, fresh is good for displaying my my lack of knowledge and ignorance in greater detail. That’s important.

Time to review emails on the computer, accounts I don’t access with my phone. I do this so I can tell people hey I don’t have access to email, when they call. Gives me an excuse to ignore them and not do work when I’m out and about. That’s a good thing.

Hey something funny just happened. I jumped up to unstick Roomba from a corner. Not that. But my right foot had gone to sleep while sitting and I didn’t notice. So I managed to go splat in a rather painful way when I attempted my first step. Left tripped on dead right foot and bang. Nothing broken. Left big toe in some pain. What fun. I would say be more careful but who knew that could happen?

Off to shower and get ready. Ok, I’m ready. Off to work. What fun. Another day at work. I love my work. If by love you mean dislike.

Spent my day…. working. Surprise. I did get a call from a client who wanted to meet up at end of day to go over the tax plan his dad had setup. He has been trying to finish up the plan. Requires specialized insurance. His dad hired an idiot who placed him in an unworkable policy, plan-wise. Not sure what we need to talk about. Except the insurance, which is a thinly funded term policy and total crap. But gives the agent a big commission. Not such an idiot.

So anyway, worked all day. Then came The Meeting. Which was an interesting event. Frank, the patriarch, whose health is failing, used his walker to arrive. He has lost 30 lbs. His middle aged son who is taking over the business. Me. Hal my associate in charge of all things insurance. And the idiot insurance agent Frank hired, Steve Bertino. Moron.

Thanks to Steve we basically had a 45 minute brawl over why Steve the idiots policy choice is not workable. What fun. Steve yelled a lot. I did not add to the heat and stayed quiet. Or spoke quietly. Frank sat and did not move or talk. Hal tried in vain to get Steve to not be stupid. I could see that was pointless. So with nothing really finalized, we adjourned. And I went to the carniceria. Which is a good end to a bad day. Arrachera combo, costillos con nopales.

Also had a chance to call our agent. She is working the other agent problem. Other being still out of town. She made valiant attempts to contact her. Tomorrow she goes to the broker to get this thing moving. Yay. In new house by Christmas.

Now I sit here, days end, typing. And watching anything but election results. Mostly reruns of bad comedy. Election results are worthless. And they annoy me. Obviously Emily too. So we get Tim Allen on TV. Which is funny.

So I blog and watch TV. Seems fine. Gonna go to bed soon. None of these things annoy me. Happy things.

I have a daylight savings hangover. I woke at 4am and could not sleep. I fell asleep again just before the alarm went off. Love it.

This morning lots goin down. Not just breakfast. I have a dr appointment at 830, and it’s a 20 mile drive. You know what that means. It means I will be driving very fast if I am not out the door by 8am. Even then, I will need to make good time (speed).

Well, go figure. I was done with all morning duties by quarter after 7. I can be fast. Went to shower. Got dressed. Ate brekkies. And, wait for it, left by 8am. I am surprised too.

I made Davis and the dr office with two minutes to spare. I need to buy a lottery ticket, I think.

Dr Thomson was in fine form. And we had a nice chat about things happening, as we always do. I got to keep everyone Up to date, including the doc. He does not read my blog at least as far as I know.

After the doc, I drove down Russell Blvd, toward 113. I stopped at the University Mall and parked. At which point I made three overlong phone calls. One to my agent, Kary for an update. We are still on for offer, but now at least she has all info. Then on the horn to Karstin, the loan broker of all brokers. My go to gal for the last twenty years. Trust her with my life. And she already has the loan package ready. I sent it last night. I love her. She can make anything work, almost. If she says it’s gonna happen it happens. She amazes. And she is super hot and blonde. That’s not important but damn, is she blessed or what? Last call, to Dad, to discuss what’s going on. He has to be up to date too. He may live here one day.

Into the breech, walked the one, to Starbucks. Large ice coffee, room for cream. In Starbuckese that obviously meant don’t leave any room for anything. Cuz thats what I got. But I can deal. They can’t make me cry, did the usual and dumped some in the garbage. Don’t you wonder how full those cans get? I saw three more dumps while I was doctoring mine. Or maybe a new drink, garbage can brew. Sounds yummy.

Back to the bat car, and off, except not, made two more calls. Then off. To the office. I got there very early and no one noticed. Something special happened and no one takes the time to care. Normal.

Today I have no appointments until the end of the day. So I just work all day. Doing what you may ask? Well, I am asking the same question. It’s 9 pm and I have already forgotten what I accomplished. Sad. Except for a couple things.

Associate Hal stopped by. What e went over the clients plan we are working on at this moment. I had to call the attorney. I also got a call from them, totally unrelated to mine. Funny lots of things are coming up. Mostly since client is paying the attorney the $60k in legal fees that kicks this all off, tomorrow. Which means I get paid for my plan design services as well. Not $60k. Not hardly. But I get fees.

Best news of all, I got two brand new iPhone XRs from Hal. He has a friend that gets them cheap and I got worked into that plan as well. Nice. When we switch providers in a week, I will be using the new phone. Should be a blast. My old i6 is a POS. This is looking like a good day.

At 5, client Greg finally showed. He drives in from SF every day and gets to town late. He got here at 430. I had to reprocess his tax return to a paper file since his wife lost her efile PIN and can’t manage to call the irs and get a new one. They can’t efile without it. Pain in the ass clients. And he’s a Dodger fan. Loser. Oh, wait, Dodgers are losers so their fans are too. Lol.

We also discussed the insurance policy his dad is trying to put in place on his tax plan. Against our advice. He is going to send me an illustration later tonight. Seems dad did not want to pay the price necessary, for him too high, for the required policy needed to complete the tax plan. Instead he hired a complete moron to get him insurance. I have little faith in his guy to get it done correctly. Not all insurance policies are the same. We parted company after trading insults about our favorite baseball teams.

I finished up some work quickly and headed home. This time remembering all the things I was sposed to take with me. Traffic was light and I again made good time.

Emily had dinner ready by the time I arrived. Nice. This is why I married her. And she’s hot. Another good reason. She chopped some of the left over lamb, respiced it and fried it warm. Made a tzatziki sauce and put it in pitas for dinner. I also had some of the lamb on the side. Very good. Friend Cissie showed us this recipe. She makes it better but this was good.

Not much doing after dinner. Bad TV. Emily went to bed before nine and I shut the TV off. So quiet, so nice. I finished up blogging. Had some cherry jello. Put up with the cat being in my face. A pleasant evening.

Time for bed children.

On Tuesday California gets to vote on whether to get rid of daylight savings time. I already voted absentee. I said get rid of it. I hate the way they screw with my circadian rhythms. Government can not control time.

Today, Sunday, is the day the hour back hits. That’s because last night we turned the clock back. It doesn’t do much for you the night before.

So, Sunday morning, we are heading up the hill, yet again, to see another house. Even though we already have one we want to make an offer on. Our agent came up with this new one she thought was so spectacular we had to see it.

The arm went off at 630, the appointed hour to get out of bed. Emily realized first, we forgot to move the clock back. We get another hour sleep! No, I am not sorry for my vote.

I couldn’t sleep anyway. Extra hour be damned.

We managed to get up, get ready, get our crap in the car and get to Auburn in time to view the other house. I am amazed.

The other house. Agent advertised this one as better in all respects over the one we chose to make an offer on. It’s also almost $200K more. So I want to see $200K more on the amenities. We spent an hour going through the new prospect. The kitchen, as advertised, was amazing. The best part of the house. The rest of the house, good to very good. There was a very nice pool. With the usual nice concrete decking and outdoor area for grilling. Nice but not excellent. There was a barn which with some improvements could hold three cars and maybe two workshops. And that’s it. I see it as $200k for a pool and a slightly nicer kitchen.

So we made the big decision. Stick with Ellen Ct and make an offer. Should go in to the seller tomorrow. Of course, her agent is on vacay so it could be a week before we get a response. We like the house, and seller pulled it off the market. She made an exception for us. Seems positive.

We discussed with agent and headed down the hill. Again. We had decided in advance to do a little shopping on the way home. Advent is upon us and we would prefer being ready for it rather than the alternative. So we stopped at a couple different stores and found a few things. Nothing crazy but we are now a few days into advent so we were able to buy a few days.

For those of you unfamiliar with advent, you get a small gift every day of December leading up to Christmas. So twenty four gifts. We do this for the kids and each other. And it’s plenty of work. And you have to be done by the first of December, at the least. So em and I both spend a lot of time each year on this. We are crazy, as you have already ascertained.

After the stops in Rocklin? we toodled on toward home. The siren song of shopping would not quit. So we stopped in Woodland for our weekly grocery stop. Why Woodland? It was on the way home. Nothing special, just convenient.

Back home, the big unload. Then I cranked up the bbq and got the leg of lamb ready. Dropped it on the grill at about 250 with some hickory smoke. Should be ready in 3 hours.

Over the next three hours we sat around. By that I mean Emily cleaned the house and I did laundry. And washed my car. Watched a little good TV (and you thought it was always bad) and that’s about it.

Dinner was excellent. A bottle of Pinot, some spicy curry cauliflower and the lanb. Just great. Now we sit and watch the awful TV portion of the evening. It comes by every night. Kinda sad.

I am enjoying it. No one home but me. Amazing how quiet it can be. I ruined it a little by starting the washer. Not noisy but when all else is quiet, it seems noisy.

At this point, it’s 145, I am relaxing between chores. Laundry being the biggest one. I have not stripped the bed linens because the cat decided to work it’s way under the covers and go to sleep. And I am nice so I have not disturbed her. I should say, made her more disturbing. Last night she went to sleep next to my head and then rested a paw in my face. I woke to the very warm pad on my mouth. Cat is a freak. But, I left her to her nap.

We slept in till after seven. Though I was awake a couple hours last night. Still nice. Dee is coming by at 10 this morning to pick up Emily and head to Sonoma. Lunch with the folks. They will have fun. I get to stay. I like that.

We had a lot of time till Dee showed. So, I did all morning tasks with skill and vigor. It’s Saturday so I got a paper. Thin as hell. But that’s ok. Got to try out the gift of java that Cissie sent me. Very nice. Enjoyed by all. A nice morning.

Emily and Dee left just after ten. I mowed the lawn. It’s been at least four weeks since I seeded it and the lawn is really filling in. So I mowed the whole lawn. Looking ok. If we buy the house we saw, I will pull the stakes out to. Otherwise, I am waiting on that.

After my landscaping duties I went inside for a little domestic tranquility. I need to marinate some chicken. If I can get a good enough marinade going I will slow roast/smoke the little birdies for three hours. That should make them perfect. Or perhaps close to.

Now back to other chores. Saturday is bed linens and towels. So cleared out the dirties and put up some clean. Still no sheets due to the cat. See above. Did one basket of clothing. I don’t like clothes because you actually have to be careful with them. Or you get yelled at. What else is new?

Since I don’t feel like doing anything else, I am gonna sit for awhile. Blog some. Maybe have a snack. Or a shot of whiskey. I don’t know. When Em finally gets home we will go grocery shopping I think. The excitement is quite palpable.

I am sitting here with the black cat. I need to mention this. The cat does like a shout out once in awhile. It goes like this, I walk into front room and sit in one of the two comfy chairs, check my watch, and within 10 seconds, usually much less, Prince joins me. Next to me in the chair. This is not a joke. Under five seconds is probably closer. I don’t know why she does it, it is annoying, and I get black hair all over me. And it’s only me. It gets old.

Emily is supposed to be home by 330. I just checked my spy ware and she has not left Sonoma. I figured her for late in the day. Looks like that is the case.

Checked on Emily’s drive. Tracked her. Stalking I think it’s called. She was going to be home at 330. But I watched her take a detour towards shopping. Gotta love cell phones. Ok. Looked again. At the Nut Tree outlet stores right now. Hope she. Buys me something nice. I am still sitting here finishing laundry and keeping and eye on the slow roast chicken. That will be good.

So Emily just called. She wanted me to know she was in town but Dee wanted to stop and shop the outlets. I knew that. No worries. I can wait all day. When I am here alone I can set the house as I like. No TV, no radio, sit and read or write. Very peaceful. Just me, my thoughts and the chicken on the grill. Should I bother with the sides or just eat chicken? Emily will want a side.

Just texted a little with friend Cissie, the one who sent an awesome care package. She likes to know if her baked goods are as awesome as she hopes. They are. And she sends some to me. I’m lucky that way.

Checked up on the old lady. She switched stores. I don’t see the big thrill from shopping. Does nothing for me.

Well they finally got home. Dee here long enough to pee, and off. Emily did not have too much to say about the day. There was a text stream going so I got the jist of it all. They went to sonoma. They had lunch. They shopped. And shopped more. Then home. See, I do to pay attention.

I checked on my chicken. Still at 200 degrees. So Emily and I went to. the green grocers. The expensive one I don’t like. I hate them because they cost to much. But they are closest to the house. But I won’t shop there for moral reasons – I am anti theft.

So, off to the den of thieves for veggies and salad. Three minute drive. Wandered the aisles looking for cauliflower bread. That’s bread made from cauliflower. Actually very tasty so don’t make fun of me. The rest of the basket came from the produce aisle. 23$. Rip off.

Back home. I finished making dinner. Steamed some asparagus, mixed up a salad. Pulled the chicken thighs off the grill. I opened a split of fumé for Emily. And there you have it, dinner. Dinner was good though not fabulous. Still enjoyed it.

Now we are relaxing with terrible television. I had it off all day. I think that raised my IQ even. And turning the TV on causes a loss in IQ. I can’t win.

I am sure this is the balance of my evening. Then bedtime. Up early tomorrow to see the LAST home we are going to look at. Probably. I look forward to this. If we like this one, we offer. If we don’t like it we offer on the last one on Ellen ct. Whatever happens, we offer. See, last home. Sooner I go to bed, sooner I get up and sooner I have a new place to live. I hope the day goes very well tomorrow.

It’s friday which has little to do with anything in my day. Except I will probably go out to dinner tonight in honor of Friday.

The morning was he usual with addition of cleaning up he poop. It’s the first, or close, so I paid the bills today. Always fun in a strictly masochistic way. Fortunately it is only one day a month. But, still, I spend the entire paycheck in one move. Just like 30 years ago. Some things never change.

I called our agent Kary. I let her know we had made a decision and I wanted to firm up our offer. Kary told me to hold on and she would take care of it. I will call her later.

All the work I did at home did push me late into the morning. I got to work around 1130. Which is early compared to the rest of the week. So I will pat myself on the back. Not so hard I break my arm though.

Usual crap all day. Work is work. I can’t remember what I did. Not much. Went to the post office and mailed a box. Made the deposit. Paid my employees, beyond their worth I think.

I did receive a large box from my friend Cissie. Inside was 4 lbs of coffee beans from her friends roasterynin Texas. She also included a signature spill prof mug and homemade cookies!! It’s like my birthday. Cissie is awesome. And she bakes great goodies.

Oh, some interesting news. My agent texted and she has a new place for us to see. I called her and reminded her we picked a place already. What are u doing? She said the place she wanted us to see was too perfect to not tell us. She got a delay on our offer on he other place. This new one, per her description is better in every way than our pick on Ellen Ct. And it’s not on the market. We get first shot at it. So it’s great and exclusive. We see it Sunday morning.

I did manage to head home by 6. Home at seven. The drive was smooth and easy and fast. If only every day, would be cool.

I tasked Emily with finding someplace new for dinner. Strangely, she actually found a new place. We have never seen it or eaten their food. Wow. Who knew there was such a place in Vacaville? Well, Emily for one.

The joint was a pious as place, which is El Salvadoran, but they also had Mexican food. Place was packed, service slow, but food excellent. And we have a new place to go. Till we get bored at least

We are back home. And going to bed. Finally. Emily has to be up early to head out to Sonoma with her sister for lunch with their parents. Fun. I’m not going.

Today I have a busy schedule. Not at work. I have a meeting at 11am in Auburn with fire and planning. On my side my architect and engineer. And me. I am there to agree to final plans so we can be done with this part of the process. I hate the process and processors. It’s bullshit. I believe there are people in the background of this putting pressure on decision makers. Small town, old boys, usual shit. I am not giving up.

This will not even rise to level of ruining my day.

After the meeting, a better outing. RE agent Kary and I are going on “2nd dates” with four properties. Em and I viewed them last week, this is the second look or date. And you all know that second dates are a little more personal than the first dates. More up close touching and feeling. A much closer look to know if the big third date is warranted. And we all know what the third date is, either full acceptance or permanent rejection. I say consummate. But, there are two sides. Today is a step forward.

I have to be ready to get the hell out of here by 9am. And it’s 825. I am on the way to the shower. It’s time to move.

Side note, anyone want a couple bags of Halloween candy? It’s the good stuff. We did overbuy.

Well I got packed up and headed out by 905. No stops. Direct to the county offices in Auburn. Very nice building but why so nice? Shouldn’t these government offices full of bureaucrats be built inexpensively since our tax dollars pay for it? I think granite in the bathrooms is excessive. And the building dept no less. They deserve Quonset huts and pit toilets.

So, the meeting. Here we go. We had planner Bennett, fireman Ryan, two gals from other planning depts, and the good guys on my team.

Mike, my architect, tried to run his strategy but it did not work. Mostly because fireman Ryan is a complete asshole. He was complete, not part way. For two hours we argued back and forth about code and what’s allowed and grade and all sorts of pointless things. I just want a variance. And these fucking idiots want to discuss end product and all sorts of things that come later in the process. I can’t get there without the variance. What a waste of time. It took an hour and a half to get somewhere where they stated out loud what we need to do to get back to a meeting where we can get the variance approved. I hate these morons.

Finally done at one. Two hours of my life wasted.

I called Kary and let her know I was on the way. We have four houses to see, in detail, by days end. Same four as last weekend. 2nd dates for each. The second time you see a place is different. It’s a different time of day so all looks different. You notice things that were missed the first time around. Probably because you are really looking more earnestly. Walking around in a different direction helps to show things at a different angle. Still not able to see all flaws at this point but you can start to imagine yourself in this new place.

First up is a house that has received an offer today.not pending yet though. After walking through it a second time I know I could live here. But, I have thought on this one for four days. And what I thought on, like the low production well and large lot to take care of and then seeing all the dried up areas on the parcel, all say don’t buy it. Would end up too much work.

Number two is a mini mansion. A vanilla house. Though it is very pretty. I discovered new found parts of the parcel we did not see first time around. That alone makes a very compelling argument to pick it. And I might. It fulfills all that I need, with added out building, though I still find it boring. Too much a tract home.

House the third. My initial favorite. This place has improved in the last four days. It actually looks better inside and out. Last Sunday I felt the yard looked barren. I see now it really isn’t. I like it more. Also, discovered more space on the parcel for additional buildings to store cars and camper. There is road access close by too. A plus. The house is unique inside and in back. They have a beautiful natural swimming hole pool. A big plus. This is still my favorite. Although it is too large.

Last, not least, number four. Emily’s favorite. Like the last house this is very well maintained. I have met the owner twice and she is also meticulous in what she does. The house is well decorated and shows very well too. Owner has a beautiful eye for things. We walked the house and property not missing anything. Strangely, I had failed to notice the outdoor stairs that travel from the garage that is down the hill behind the house, back up to the house. A huge miss. Emily missed it too. Did not ask Kary. This is why the second date. That had been a big problem. The hill is a steep grade. As with the other properties I need another outbuilding. I think. With this one I may not. A positive. We will see. This one is much smaller than number three but may be equal in useable space. Size may not be important.

We finally left. Drove by another place Emily had seen online. Waste of time.

We got back to Kary’s office. Said our goodbyes and I headed for home. Called Emily and have her a quick synopsis. Saved best for home. Had a slow drive to Vacaville. Had to stop at the hardware store for toilet parts. Mine is not flushing. Then to Boudin to get some dinner. Emily was not at home making it. We need to work on that. Got home and ate.

While eating Emily wanted to hear all. I had prepared a grid that had each site and all attributes so I could make notes and the like. I really wanted to just eat dinner. I was outvoted, 1-1. So I explained. Went through all I mentioned above in the same order as I saw them and laid it all out. In the end it was 3rd vs 4th. They both seemed equal. One had an extra thousand sf. It got down to just a couple things. Big house had a pool. Otherwise somewhat equal. Number four was over $100k less than three. One more thing, number four got pulled from the market today and the owner said she would hold it for us. She likes us, esp Emily.
We chose number four. Offer in tomorrow.

That’s my day folks. I never did call the office to tell them I’d be gone. They did not call me. Well trained.

Either way, bedtime is upon us.

Hey, it’s Halloween!! We have not had Halloween in over 15 years. We just moved to the city, you know, suburbia with its tightly packed houses and densely packed people. On the farm, with 5 houses in the surrounding 10 sq miles, we got zero trick or treaters. We are thinking that here we will get a thousand kids asking for candy. So, we get to hand out candy again. Both of us are looking forward to this. We feel like rookies in our first game.

Weighin. Today. Two scales: old 151.7 and new 153.4. Not sure which to trust. New scale is consistent but higher. Old scale is a little all over. Both are a 1.5 loss, that is consistent.

I am still trying to unlock phones. ATT makes it very difficult. They seem to know what’s up and are trying to stop me. Fuckers. I am working on the last one and have now sent in another request. I hope they send their “special response email” this time. They tend to skip that part and just respond with a try again email. I hate them.

Ok. I am gonna skip a bunch. It’s really late and I never got back to the blog.

Spent time at work on the phone unlock. Also set up my comparison sheet for the 3 houses. Was 4 but one went to offer pending. So now 3.

Can’t remember what else I was doing. Don’t care.

This morning I drove the convertible to work. I am dropping off at auto storage later. Emily is in Sacramento so she can give me a ride home. So I drove over there and arrived at 545 which was when Emily should be there. She wasn’t. My drive was 25 mins for 9 miles. Hers prob similar. She showed by 620.

We raced home because we need to hand out candy and are expecting a good crowd. We got home later than we wanted and missed some trick or treaters. I think we got maybe twelve kids. Which is 12 more that the last 15 years. A resounding success.

After the kids stopped the trouble started. Latte, the 16 year old poodle. Started having issues, quite suddenly. Unable to walk. Unwilling to stand. Trouble breathing. Fast heartbeat. She is 16 so she has one paw in the grave and the other is on a banana peel. Emily mothered her for awhile. Took her out to pee. Sorta worked. After a while she was able to start walking and we noticed it was really her back end that was the issue. Her back legs. And had issues pooping. She does suffer from anal sac disease and this could be a flare up. Vet finally texted back and he said same thing. I am a wise man. May need antibiotics for her. She is sleeping soundly now. Damn dog.

I finished up the home comparison sheet. Got input from Emily. So I have that for tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I hope the last meeting with the county over our variance. Private sit down with planning and fire and all the good guys from my team. I believe the county guys are corrupt. That’s why I’m so far into this crap. I need a good nights sleep.