What a Friday!

It started off just great, instead of the house being a nice 68 it was 63 and no coaxing would make the furnace ignite.  So I built a fire and that kept the house a nice 70 most of the day.  What next?

The business phone line had been turned off.  Yep the same one I had given as the number to call for about 12 people last evening when making appointments for the next week.  After wading through nearly an hour of voice tree messages and being hung up on I finally reached a hapless individual, poor guy, he was nice but he was informed about how angry I was over the phone line being turned off.  I had checked the bank register yesterday and saw a payment had been taken out of the account so I assumed that the bill was covered.  Well wrong, somehow they can draw money out for the fax line but not for the business line, same account, same number etc.
Once I had paid the $31 I was told that it might be back on by Sat morning.  so after thinking that over I waded back through the voice tree and once again finally landed a real human.  I tried to press the urgency of getting the line turned back on and he told me by Sat, that it was out of his control, that a computer did it.  Funny thing in 10 minutes the phone rang and it was back on!
By now its 10 am and I've done no work yet, just tried to give myself a heart attack.  But then it turned nice.

A lady called who lives nearby and wants to rent the motorhome to use as a bedroom for a wedding weekend coming up in a bit.  She asked if she could drop by with a check for 4 days so the next thing I knew I was being handed a check for $200, just what the bank needed to cure both accounts for the day.

However the morning was not going to go well for long.  A Steve called from Meineke Auto Repair, Reno to say that no they would not pay for labor to fix the mess their shop had caused.  Of course for 7 months they have been saying they would cover everything, now they decided they would only pay for a broken part if one were found but they would not pay for labor.  We are talking hundreds of dollars so that sealed the deal.  My renter who had the motorhome when it broke and who actually paid the repair bill has been urging me to let him reverse the charges, all $1,440 of them because of the horrible work they did.  So I got a letter from the local repair guy stating what he found when he took a quick look at the motorhome to make sure it was safe, how he found a pair of large pliers and the wires to the fuel gauge squeezed between the motorhome frame and the fuel tank.  I got his letter, wrote one of my own, included my photos taken of the pliers and the pinched wires and have sent everything to my renter who is going to have the charges reversed.

A nice thing happened while I was on my way to the local shop to get the letter, the radio in the beetle suddenly came to life, its been silent since December.  That was great news and saved $100 which is what a radio costs on EBay.

This afternoon I drove to my appointment in Antioch and realized when I arrived that my measuring stick was safely in the Civic.  What to do?  Well sure enough they had a floor plan from a prior appraisal done about a year ago.  Wow what a day!

On my way home from Concord where I had to confirm that a thermostat and CO detector had been installed I drove through Clayton, suddenly I remembered just how good the pizza was there and the salads.  The salad was a piece of work, filled with garbanzo beans, beets and great lettuce and tiny croutons.  What a feast and I even brought some of the pizza home in a cute little box.

Now I'm home in a cold house but at least I'm home and this day is O V E R.  I think our loving Lord has a great sense of timing and humor, a lady at the door with the money I needed, a phone line back on in 10 minutes instead of a day, a homeowner with a sketch.

And so it goes, life that is.  Oh the challenges. Sometimes I envy the little guy who has lived in a tiny tent next to the local highway going to Brentwood, he is always there sitting by his tent, does not concern himself about cable TV, mortgages, fuel costs, insurance and on it goes.  Of course I'm not really ready to join him and leave this "good life" behind, not yet.

Tomorrow Kallie and I will be coming to Sabbath School.  Keanna has basketball.  From noon on I'm in charge tomorrow as Nikki and Steve and getting away for an afternoon and evening of fun.  Keanna goes to party at 4 so then I'll just have Kallie who goes to bed mid evening.  It will be a wonderful change from today!

Love to all, enjoy your weekend, take time to say loving things to your special someone.  Do it!

Tim