In a condo in boulder creek

After a busy day and a 4pm wedding rehearsal things are calm. With lammerdings in a quiet little condo. Nice to be away from the office. Praying that your weekend will be blessed. Love Tim

Another busy day

My prayer each morning is that I will do good work, be careful with people so that they feel cared for, be safe, be polite, be healthy, that the little car will hold together, the my family and friends will be blessed.
Today I started early knowing I had to be in Pittsburg by 8:30.  I made it and found a family unprepared to have me there, Indian family, only the ladies were home and of course the husband had not told them I was coming, it all worked out ok.  Then I left in a hurry for San Ramon where I arrived early.  the home was incredibly beautiful, on the top of a hillside with a panoramic view of the valley below, wow.
Then it was on to Livermore where the home was surrounded by vineyards and was perfect.  Once that was over I left for Antioch to complete my day, then it was time to see Amber, she is my hair cutting friend in Brentwood, she was happy to see me as business was slow today.  Then it was home to begin work, the house was crazy happy with four cousins all trying to outdo each other in noise and activity. Dana and boys had been to the zoon today but found it small, they are from Texas you know where everything is large!
Plans are developing for a couple days at Jason's, the boys will enjoy the ocean and it will be nice to have them enjoy their other cousins.

Well I still have more reports to write so I'll see you later.

Tomorrow night I'll be writing from Felton where the wedding of Tim and Jeni is taking place.  I'll drive down tomorrow afternoon for the wedding rehearsal, a quiet night of rest with the Lammerdings and then a full Sabbath culminating in a wedding at 5:30.  Of course I'm nervous as I've not done one since Costa Rica.  Just want everything to be right for the kids.  its their big day.

Love to all

Tim

Bad day

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been one awful day.  Woke up with chest pains, muscle I think, not angina and the chest has continued to hurt all day.

Wrote an appraisal, took about 3 hours and lost the entire report on the last keystroke, totally lost, has not happened in years.  I planned for a house of 1820 sf but when I did the sketch it turned out to be less than 1500 sf.  Some nitwit who purchased the house decided to take off the back 1/4 of the house and just keep the foundation as a patio, of course he did not mention it to the listing agent who sold a house to people that is actually 350 feet smaller than what they thought they were buying.  Lawsuit time!

Every call has been a demand for an appraisal and then as soon as they get it they ship back a boat load of conditions.  Appraising is not fun today, not at all.

Steve took the boys to the track and they rode for several hours, that let the house be very quiet for awhile and that helped.

No matter how hard I've worked I still have a stack to finish yet.

So sending love and I appreciate hearing from friends and family today to give me a lift.

Tim

Life is interesting

Good evening,
I just took a break and mowed and edged the lawn, it was nice to do something different from pushing paper, now I'm grateful for the paper to push, it pays pretty well but after a long day of sitting its nice to do something else for a change. Anthony has taken on the task of cleaning the paddle boat, tonight he has it sitting full of clean water trying to soak off the dirt.  Caleb meanwhile is dripping soda everywhere, dropping popcorn and asking a million questions.  Dana does a good job of keeping them out of my way so I can work, that helps.

Just now I took Caleb with me and we backed the motorhome in to the storage area beside the garage.  No reason for it to sit out front where the risk of someone doing something to it is much higher.

Its been a cool day here today and after going shopping this morning Dana and gang have sort of just hung out this afternoon.  I think they are zoo bound in the morning to the Oakland zoo.

I managed to get some reports out today, one was very tough and a heart breaker.  A good solid sale of a 4 plex in antioch for a good price but there were no comparable sales to support the sales price so I had to end up cutting it by quite a bit.  We have rules and we have to abide by them no matter how we feel.

Steve's help was great today. Two of the reports that are out were because of his help.

Well its time for sleep now. 

Love to all

Tim

Just home

Dear Family and Friends,
Another long one, not sure how long I can keep this up.
Up at 6 and sat down to work a few minutes later, left for San Jose at 1, then Fremont, Then Sunnyvale and then Antioch.
The way it works is I take drinks with me and some snacks, honey and oat bars, peanut butter crackers, water and diet snapple, once that runs out I grab something when I have to make a pit stop.  Today the weather was perfect, the homes easy to measure, the people nice.  Sunnyvale was a bit strange.  The guy has about 5 bedrooms which he rents to individual men, some looked a bit shady, perhaps wards of the court or recently divorced, very strange, I was actually happy to leave that house.  But the area in Sunnyvale is really nice, one corner had 7 cop cars parked in a line, not sure what that was about but I drove slowly since my tags are out of date, I have a brakelight that has not worked in 4 years.

Tonight my head hurts, I'm overdue on several reports so tomorrow I don't leave the house, just crank out work, as many as I can to try to get a bit closer to being caught up.

Dana and the boys have had to fend for themselves.  Dana has coffee ready in the mornings, eggs or waffles for breakfast, tonight when I got home she had lasanga and spinach, so good.  Spell checker not working so sorry for any misspelling.

Just glad to be off the roads, a couple hundred miles today and the beetle just keeps running along, turned 270,000 the other day.  So thankful.  I look at newer cars and drool but for now I like having no car payment.

Love to all

Tim

Keeping it real

The happiest moment of the day, the week came this evening when Keanna and a group of dancers her age raced out onto the stage and Keanna took the lead, did a free form dance she had created herself and then proceeded to do a one handed cartwheel across the stage, turned and did it coming back, she had stage makeup on, her hair looked great and she was smiling through it all.  We were so proud as we watched and, well I just cried, that is what I do when I'm really emotional and it was a grand moment.  Really grand.

The entire program was top notch, the little Brentwood group joined a larger group based in San Ramon, the leaders are sisters and so the resulting program was really excellent.  I was set to video tape but a sign on the door said no so I took it back to the car.

Then we went to California Pizza kitchen, Keanna's choice where Kallie eventually fell asleep.  Unfortunately the tickets sold out weeks ago, long before we knew Dana was going to be able to come out.  She and the boys went to the Tracy mall and saw a movie and played there.  Now that I'm home they are already in bed.

I rose early this morning and have generated 4 and 1/2 reports today, I'll finish the one I'm on in the morning and then try to get another couple done before I have to go to the field.  Still busy, still stressed.

I wish for you a good week, one with touches of humanity, of grace and of peace.

Love to all

Tim

A busy day

Up at 6, in the paddle boat with Dana and the boys at on the lake, in church listening to our pastor at 11:15, home soon afterward to empty house.

Using the quiet time I settled in to begin working on the upcoming wedding for Jeni and Tim.  How I enjoyed reading the history of their discovering each other, well written and very touching.  So for several hours I buried myself in preparing what I will say a week from today as they marry. 

This evening the local REI store and other companies sponsored a camping night in the park just up the street from my home.  Hundreds of campers are settling in for the night as I write.  I spent some time up there this evening with Nikki and the girls, the Texas cousins were there too and enjoying them selves.  In fact Anthony just came home, met some kids and was having a good time.

Tomorrow afternoon Keanna will dance in a recital in San Ramon.  I can't wait to see her in action, she has progressed a lot over the years and loves to do her moves.

This morning Steve hosted the family out at the track that he has built for riding motorbikes, the boys are used to riding and the girls are getting used to riding, they had a blast, it was a very nice thing for Steve to do and everyone enjoyed it a lot.  Dana has scrambled to find clothes in the Goodwill stores including boots, long pants so they would be safer as they rode. 

This afternoon the kids all swam in Steve and Nikki's pool so its been a big day for all.

Sending love to all,

Tim