I arrived in Massachusetts yesterday evening to see about getting my tenant evicted. Uuhhhggggg. I hate conflict.
Anyway, the day went pretty well. I had a direct flight from Portland to Boston. While I did not sit in first class, I sat near it. I never sit first class (except once with my brother a long time ago), but I do always feel resentful about that. Some kind of weird mental thing I’ll need to get control of some day. Yesterday I was glad not to be in first class. There was a young couple up there with twins about 1 1/2 years old who, between the two of them, pretty much screamed the entire flight. Four and a half hours of screaming baby. My god! I felt bad for the parents. I didn’t feel bad for the fussy businessman next to them, who put in earplugs and grumbled about his misfortune. I wanted to tell him, “Yeah! You and your precious private bathroom and your real porcelain dishes and steaming towels to wipe your hands. See how the COMMON people travel – it’s next to fat people and babies. Soak it up, buddy.”
Anyway, I was picked up relatively rapidly by my new cousin Romain, which was nice because the plane arrived 20 minutes early. Romain had the day free and drove me ALL the way out to Fitchburg. What a kind man and a helpful gesture.
He dropped me off right as Shawn was getting off work. Shawn took me to visit Susie while he took their boy Ian to baseball practice. Susie and the other two kids, Lily and Christopher, and I all went for a walk because the weather was glorious!
Shawn got back from practice, I said bye to Susie and the kids, and went to dinner with Shawn and before we knew it, it was late and I was exhausted, and that was that.
The best thing about yesterday was having Romain drive me by my house and seeing heaps of junk piled out front. It does really truly look as though they are moving out. That is the best possible option for me, and one I hadn’t even let myself consider. I have been so sure it would take six months and thousands of dollars to get her and her family out of there. We just drove past. I wasn’t ready to confront anyone just yet. Maybe they’re gone. I don’t know. It doesn’t look like they’re totally gone. But on the way out is pretty good.
I will head over there first thing this morning and make sure my tenant has the Notice to Quit in her hands. Then I’ll see what she has to say. I’ll take my camera and check for damage. I’m meeting with the Realtor there tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I can get her inside, hand her a key, and give her free reign to do whatever is necessary to sell that place.
I’m going to take a huge hit. I bought it for $275,000 and the realtor says we’ll list it at $250,000 and see if we get lucky. That bites the big one. But hey, if I could not have this house anymore, it would sure help finances in Portland. Especially with my tenant not paying her rent. I’ve had to spend my entire paycheck on that damn house.
As long as it remains unsold, I’ll still be eating Saltines and drinking water. However, I won’t be racking up even more bills in court. Hopefully.
Anyhow, that’s the latest.
Conscious Engagement 