Sunday wrapup

Good evening,

Its been a wet one today here.  I managed to walk early this morning long before the rains started.  Then while I showered the rain started outside.  I have this wonderful radiant heater that George and Yvonne brought us years ago when our furnace was not working.  I use it every morning for that brief time when I'm out of the shower and the air seems very cold.  What a difference that makes.

This morning I build a fire and have kept the house warm all day with a few pieces of scrap wood.  Its been great.  I've worked in the office most of the day cranking out appraisals and have done pretty well.  I'm also fully researched for the ones I'm seeing during the week ahead.

So work is good, now if clients would just send money that would be very nice indeed.  Its always a struggle to be in balance financially.

So tomorrow I see three properties and will do a bit of driving, I really would rather not measure in the rain but I'll just do what I need to do to get my work done.

So I send love to all tonight,

Tim

Nice day

What fun
This morning I did the 3 mile walk around the lake with Pooka, then breakfast of oatmeal and banana, then picked up the girls for SS.  They enjoyed themselves very much and then we came back home.

I managed to be invited to join Jason, Jo, Timothy and Mia along with Julie, Jo's mom at lunch at a Korean place in Cupertino.  It was my first time but I enjoyed the food very much.  A lot of variety and the kids ate so well.  Then I followed back to visit at their home for awhile and then headed to a home in Cupertino where I needed a few more interior photos.  Then I headed home and between family and friends managed to talk nearly the whole way home.

Home to a very lonely house, cold since there is no heater that works and just miserable, so tired of being alone all the time.  Not my favorite part of life to be sure.

Tomorrow I'm work long hours trying to get caught up before the new week hits hard.

Sending love to all.

Tim

So ends another week

Dear friends and family,
Finally home for the evening after a late afternoon appraisal in the Oakland hills.  Nice lady and great house with a view of the bay and all of Oakland below.  Traffic going in was a mess, all over a couple cars crashing, why a care crash that is off the main lanes causes a total slow up I will never know but people are very strange behind the wheel.

The week has been challenging and I'm very thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed on this little household.

Tomorrow morning I've been told by her majesty Nikki that I can take the little princesses to Sabbath School so at 9 I'm be there to pick them up, that is a nice blessing for sure.

Thanksgiving was so fun, spending time with a very special family in Tracy and then on to meeting a new family in Stockton where Jason and Jo were visiting.  Very nice.

I enjoy talking to my brother every day and he mentioned having a turkey sandwich today for lunch.  I think many people did the same today between shopping trips etc.

Thank you for your prayers, my life remains challenging with a couple health issues and trying to get the work written up and out the door.

Love to all,

Tim

Thanksgiving

What a blessed day.

Worked this morning, walked to the park

3;30 caught up with Nikki and Steve in Tracy where Jill was hosting a very nice Thanksgiving celebration.

Then Kallie went with me to Stockton where we caught up with Jason and Jo and kiddos at a great Thanksgiving Celebration at a large home, relatives of Jo.  Her mom Julie was there so it was a great evening.

Now home and heading to bed.  God is good and is helping me through challenging times.

Love to all

Much to be Thankful for Kallie reminded me tonight.


Tim

Rough day

Good evening family and friends.

Some days one just needs to ask for the prayers of his family and friends, this is such a day.  I'm working with so many orders to keep in order and I'm not always up to the task it seems.

I'm thankful for health, for a home, for a wonderful family filled with real individuals and unique personalities and for a host of very good solid friends.

I do ask for your prayers that God will continue to be close to me, guiding me every day in all that I do.

Thank you for your friendship

Love

Tim

mellow day

Lunch with Bob and his son Ron today at the Olive Garden in Stockton, a great experience.

Christmas parade with Kallie this evening in Brentwood, what a treat.

New kitties at Steve and Nikki's house today, one happy household while they get acquainted with their new friends.

So much work its hard to see how I'll ever catch up, blessing I guess.

Love to all,

tim

nice warm fire

3 mile walk in the rain this morning but I survived it fine.

The week grinds to a halt but now we rest

Dear Family and Friends,
A very busy week with many blessings and high points to remember.  I've seen some nice places and some dumps too but all deserve an appraisal.  There are so many decent people out there in the world, life is good and its a pleasure to meet them.

I'm thankful for another week of safety as I drive and have appreciated the excellent help of Jessy and Steve this week.  Together we have gotten lots of work out.

Sending love to all tonight

Tim

big day

up at 6,  walk to the park at 7, prepare for the day, leave for Brentwood at 8:45, see house, leave Brentwood for Concord at 10, see house at 11 in Concord, leave Concord at 12:30 and see house in Petaluma at 2.  Drive home through horrible traffic and eat at Olive Garden at 6:30.  Traffic better and home at 7:30.  Work the evening and now to bed.

God has granted a safe day, couple hundred miles, helpers doing write-ups tonight, busy as can be again and so thankful for work.

Love to all

Tim

8:50 Kallie gets perfect attendance award tomorrow at her school, Papa will be there for the award!

What a long day

Blessed with work, so thankful, have bills to pay but the days are certainly long, When people ask if I'm retired I just smile a lot.

Not quite.  Today I went to San Jose and say a house that a church had purchased, then updated and now has sold.  It was perfect, everything new and nice.  Then I drove to Tracy to see a very nice tract home and a very kind Asian man, then to Costco for Mocha and home to work until now, just about midnight.  Life is so good but I hardly ever sleep any more, since dumping the weight I can get by on a lot less sleep, thankful for that.

many new orders today which bodes well for the next week to come.

Love to all

tim

At last Friday night

Dear Friends and Family,
so glad we have all made it through another week.  not sure about you but my week has been crammed full of long days, short nights, seen so many properties that they tend to run together and blur a bit.  in one afternoon I might see a 900 sf condo worth $385 and a 4000 sf custom home with high end construction and sitting on an acre, worth nearly 2 million.  yes it is enjoyable to see what people come up with in their homes and most people who worry that they home won't be clean enough don't need to worry, their places are fine and the people who never even mention that their home is a mess really should take a harder look around, my favorite is the dogs that don't bite, well its true they don't usually bite but sometimes you got to wonder how they know for sure that the dogs won't take a chomp out of the appraiser.

driving in bay area traffic is always interesting and every night when I drive into the garage I thank a loving God for another safe day, yes I try to be safe and I don't drive too fast, I do tend to watch what is going on around me and I try to think for the person who is driving too close, too fast or weaving back and forth. still traffic is a huge waste of time but sometimes a good book or XM radio gets you through the boredom of sitting on the freeway hardly moving.

I'm really busy still cranking out orders.  today I climbed out of bed into a cold room at 5:30 and showered, no walk today, yesterday it was the treadmill for 30 minutes, I came down to a cup of decaf with creamer and a spenda in a cup with a lid so it won't grow cold too fast.  then to work on writing, by noon two were completed and out and I was in brentwood seeing a property, then to lathrop to see a big one for a relo company, man is being moved to Oregon for pepsi company.  then to Livermore to shoot comp photos and to by diesel for $3.55 a gallon, filled for $41 instead of $52, that felt good.  then home to find no money in the mail but pets that welcomed me with open arms, someday perhaps there will be a nice woman to welcome me home with real open arms and a porch light turned on, we will see about that!   

Sending love to all

Tim
tomorrow Keanna does a 5 K right here around my lake so I guess I'll be urging her on as she does this for some charity.

Dr. George has wonderful birthday party

Talk about fun!  Today Yvonne threw George a surprise birthday party in Tracy at a Thai café.  It was such fun.  Yvonne did a super job of planning everything and actually got it through as a surprise for George.  A real nice group of family and friends gathered to celebrate this milestone in their lives.

There are some people in the world that just make you glad you are alive and you know your life is enriched because they are here.  George and Yvonne are that kind of people.  They have made things a little better for so many dozens of people and they really hold the Tracy SDA church together in a special way.  George has done so much for the school over the years and as a result hundreds of lives have been enriched and blessed through its ministry.

So it was just very enjoyable to be a part of this delightful day and celebrate as George blew out 80 candles on his huge and delicious cake. 

I decided to go to bed at a decent hour last night and as a result I woke this morning at 5 am and jumped up, had two appraisals written this morning, both were sorely needed so it felt good to get them completed and out.  Then this afternoon after coming home I have written another one. Tomorrow I have a series of appraisals to conduct on high dollar homes in San Ramon, Danville, Alamo and then back to San Ramon again.  It will be a fun but challenging day for sure.

I am so very thankful to a loving God for the work He has entrusted to me.  I feel blessed and I want to make sure I give him the glory for what He is doing.

Thank you Dr. George for the life you have lived and the lives you have touched!

Love to all

Tim

This was some week

To go from September with the 4 or 5 orders per week and nearly no money coming in to this week with over 20 orders, perhaps 25 and finally yesterday and today money pouring in, what a emotional rollercoaster.  But I'm very glad to be finishing this week with bills being paid and accounts solidly in the black again.

I'm very deep right now in work that needs to be completed, thankful for the work but really hate to be behind at the same time.  Orders are flooding in, sometimes 5 or 6 a day and its a challenge just to keep up with the setting up of the orders and getting them scheduled. 

The challenge is this, it takes from 1 to 4 hours to write up a report once it is started and providing there are no big time wasters on the phone so one can keep focused.  It takes research time, driving time, inspecting time and then return time for each field inspection.  keeping it all in balance is a challenge and of course getting people to take my calls, return my calls agree to see me at a time that makes sense, all of that is a challenge and of course now the lenders want the finished reports back in 4 days from when they send the order and for this the fees they offer are about 1/3 less than they paid 5 years ago.  No I would not urge anyone to join this profession but I'm so thankful that Vogels taught it to me years ago.

So on this Friday night I'm very thankful for God's blessings and His active involvement in my life.  He is doing some really terrific things that I'm very pleased with.

So tonight I'm sending you all a Sabbath Blessing,

Love to all

Tim

Long day, safe and sound

Hi
Started early and included setting up many orders, then research and finally a trip to Oakland, then the San Anselmo over in Marin county and then Lodi.  Finally a quick meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory and home at last.
Finally checks arrived both direct deposit and in the mail so I can go to bed with some relief on that front.  I don't do well when there is not enough funds to cover basic bills and now that problem is removed.

I am so thankful to God for work and payments too.

I'm thankful for safety when I'm on the road, for great homeowners who I enjoy meeting, for help from Jessy who does a super job of helping with write-ups.

I pretty much just work and sleep with very quick meals, I take peanut butter crackers in my little lunch box along with a mocha, an egg and an apple, That helps a lot as I'm traveling.

So far the weight is holding pretty well at 180 pounds, soon it will be time to take it down to 170 and then be stable there for awhile.

Sending love to all


Tim

A day of disciple and productivity

Some days are just meant to work out.

Jumped up this morning, walked the dog for three miles, downed my oatmeal with a banana, made some decaf and settled in to work.  the office is heated by the computers if the door is kept shut so I did.

I just settle down to work and the work flew out the computer door, some was very hard, Dublin relocation one for 1.3 million, high value Discovery Bay golf course one.  The nicest thing was Jessy came to help today.  She had to use the little laptop since the computer that is 10 years old has finally developed a terminal problem and Jim can't make it work no matter what magic he tries.  So I hooked up the little laptop with the big monitor and the keyboard and Jessy made it work perfectly from about 2 pm on.  She wrote up two reports and they are now at the lenders already, one is 3 days early if you can believe that.  Could someone be trying to get yet one more report on the pay sheet?  You bet.

Jessy really cranked out the work and fixed mac and cheese too for dinner.  It was a nice change from my lonely world and we even listened to her country music, the place rocked!

Now I'm heading to bed.  In the morning I'd like to ask for your prayers.  I have to give professional testimony in a divorce case where the husband is in the wrong I think.  But my testimony will just be about the work I did and why I did what I did.  Still I dislike being in court very much and I'll be so glad when I have my cash and am out the door.  so pray for me about 10 am please.

Good night one and all,

Life is good and God is great. 

Love


Tim