It's Saturday morning, and I am doing nothing. The sun is out and I have the door open for fresh air to come in. Yeah I'll get flies, but soon we'll break down and get a screen door for this spot. We have 2 doors, the "front" door is at one end of the house, in the kitchen, and then there's another door that opens into the little living room. The house is long rather than square, and I like this extra door cause like I said it lets in fresh air, and light. The kitchen door sort of looks to the street, and so would be noisy, and this one just looks into our little yard. Everardo left an hour ago to go down to the malecon; he really isn't making shit for money down there- the "season" starts this month- yeah I can't believe it's March! But he's trying to get something going. I know he doesn't want to just sit at home, and he has done a very good job with his "honey do" list ha ha- the house is paonted, the roof is fixed, the doorknob got added to the weird door at the back of the dining room- that leads to a weird hallway and a room we made into an exercise room. He put up all my pictures and the maps- it sucks for me cause the damn walls are concrete blocks- I can't just put nails in, he has to drill. Not only do I hate having to ask for everything I want done, but I have to decide how I want it, and then stick with it since drilling is involved ha ha. I have my world map and a map of Mexico up in the dining room on the one huge wall- the US map I haven't decided what to do with. Might put it up in the exercise room....
So I had a nice cup of coffee, and I'm not dressed. Been reading for about an hour and then decided to check my email and FB, mostly because of my nutty landlord. I guess I hope she never reads my blog- cause I just gotta write about this...so she gave in at the end of Jan and emailed us telling me to go ahead and paint. Well our little house belongs to her mother and the tiny "bungalow" across the little yard belongs to her. It's really small, no oven, hot plate stove, tiny bedooms with curtain for doors..it's kinda cute I guess for one person, for a vacation. (But we just lived somewhere for 6 months with no oven, and even tho' I'm just starting to cook- I need an oven). Anyway when we moved in, the price was right, and the little yard was good for Sam, the street is pretty quiet, and right off a main street, so it was "acceptable". But the inside was pretty gross. It was dirty, she hadn't cleaned at all after the previous tenants moved out. And the "furnished" furniture she left was disgusting. We second hand shopped, altho' we are using the mattress- ugh- but we put a sleeping bag on it, then a blanket on top of that. And the matress frame sits on concrete blocks- actually kinda funny. And the curtain rods in the couple windows that had rod- they're STICKS! Like from outside ha ha. And the curtains were old sheets. Sp pretty pathetic right? Anyway I told her we wanted to paint- that we would do it but she had to pay for the paint, and she said no, that her mom didn't want to spend the money right now, and I said well I'll ask you again in a month or two. I knew that either we would just pay for it ourselves, or move somewhere else cause it looked so shabby and bad. Anyway she moved out of her bungalow 2 weeks after we moved in and went to Phoenix. She had someone come to clean her place, and Everardo was talking to them and he said something about we were looking at another place cause this one was too dirty and she was too cheap to pay for paint....
The next day was when I got the email telling me she talked to her mother again and that mom said it was ok to paint ha ha!!! Guess she wanted us to stay.
Anyway- we started painting in Jan, but didn't finish until mid Feb, and we did not paint the bedrooms; just kitchen, living, dining rooms and the short hallway. The difference is fantastic. It's like a home and I'm so happy. But....ha ha...of course now I want to paint my bedroom. And the landlord asked if we painted the bedrooms (there's 2 not counting the exercise area which none of that secret hallway & room is painted) and I said, no, did you read my email and look at the photos? So she said well I left a can of paint you could use. ha ha ha ha ha ha "a can of paint"...These walls, with the dark dirt colors she had, have taken 3 coats each! So one can of paint, and by the way- it's a can of...wait for it.....brown paint, is not enough to paint anything, and I wouldn't use that color of mud brown anyway...Ok so- with the expenses from Jan- fixing the roof, a broken water pipe outside the kitchen and somehing else...she ended up owing us money..but she wanted at least $100, so we carried over about $75 into Feb. Then we bought paint, paid her water bill for the bungalow, and re-imbursed her renter (3 months in the bungalow) for something...and now our expenses were $277! Our rent is only $200! So she tells me she still wants $100, so would we pls carry the expenses again. At first I say, ok. I give her all the receipts, and write out the expenses. Then 2 days ago she says she wants me to put he money in her Mexican acct. Oh let me say this- we pay her mom in the states- I transfer the money from our account in Calif to her mom in Arizona, and it's in US dollars. So she wants me to put the money in her Mexican acct- so I still say, ok. But it's going to be in pesos, cause we don't use dollars here. Then she writes again and asking me to use this certain exchange bank where you get a better rate....uh I thought I said I'd pay in pesos here.....
Then she writes again, and tells me she needs $150 in her Mexican bank right away, so would I please pay the rent early, before March, and use this exchange bank. I tell her, do you remember we agreed I'd pay $100 a month until the expenses are paid back? I mean this is a little crazy right? Oh and during this she has also asked me to pay Tina's electric and water (the renter), and then asked me NOT to pay for her, but pls ask her for the receipts. I starting to wonder if she drinks ha ha. Ok- I say, how about this. I will pay $150 today (this is a couple of days ago), but we will not pay any rent for April and in May the final $20 something wil be taken off. Now I know this sounds REALLY confusing- CAUSE IT IS!! But I wrote it out carefully for her, listing the amounts and receipts. She REPLIES...and says ok Terry, don't worry about paying rent for March, and we'll finish it in April. Ok yipee!! Fixed. So I go about my day...now we're up to yesterday- my rent isn't due until the 5th and we're good. I look at my email in the afternoon- and.....she says thank you so much for your help, you can pay $200 less the $77 in April, and pls put $150 in my Mexican account today, here's the account number!!!!!!! MY GOD THIS WOMAN IS NUTS!!!!! I don't want to move, we painted and put things where we like them, Sam likes it here; he's a great watchdog. But this woman is a nutcase.
Ok- SO- I sent her an email last nite. I told her that I have no idea what it is she wants, but here is what I am going to do. I am not paying rent in March. In April we will pay $122.74 and we will be even. I will not pay any bills for the renter. I have not received a reply.
It's as weird as the lease we never signed. I wanted month to month but she insisted on 6 months. First she gives me one for a broker and a landlord and was surprised when I wouldn't sign it. Then she gave me one in Spanish, which I also wouldn't sign- that was the day she moved and was in this big hurry. She was quite surprised I wouldn't sign something I couldn't read....so she emailed me one from Phoenix to sign, it was already filled out with someone else's name, wrong dates and wrong address. Ha ha and it went on to talk about the pristine condition of the house and how we would leave it pristine when we moved out. ha ha ha ha I had already shown her holes in the walls, termites areas where you could push thru the door frames, etc, and I took pictures. So I sure the hell wasn't gonna sign it either. So I write to her and tell her it's completely wrong and she says her computer doesn't work that good. Did I mention this woman is a REAL ESTATE AGENT?? Yeah and I just saw a pig fly over the moon! So I tell her that I'll fix it up and she agrees. So I import it, revise it, add somethings about the condition of the house and the furnishings, and send it to her to review. Of course we didn't sign it at that point; I expected her to review and approve or revise....but she never mentions it again. I don't know if she thinks I signed it and she just saved it on her computer? Or did she ever open it? Or what???? So basically we can move whenever we want- except we did pay one month rent as a security deposit. So ha ha we could stay a couple of months to use our expense and our deposit...and move.
Ok- we don't really want to move. And my darling husband- he painted the house in Calif before we moved, he painted the house in Playa Ventura, and now he painted this one.....so if we move???? He might have to kill me! The point is, that I'm comfortable with whatever happens, cause we can choose to do whatever we want, and that first house I didn't like...well it's still there....and that house has a great yard. Wow guess I needed to get that out! I think I'll get dressed and go down the art in the park at the Shrimp Park. My friends have a booth selling jewelry, so I'll probly take Sam down and hang out in the sun for awhile with them....
So I had a nice cup of coffee, and I'm not dressed. Been reading for about an hour and then decided to check my email and FB, mostly because of my nutty landlord. I guess I hope she never reads my blog- cause I just gotta write about this...so she gave in at the end of Jan and emailed us telling me to go ahead and paint. Well our little house belongs to her mother and the tiny "bungalow" across the little yard belongs to her. It's really small, no oven, hot plate stove, tiny bedooms with curtain for doors..it's kinda cute I guess for one person, for a vacation. (But we just lived somewhere for 6 months with no oven, and even tho' I'm just starting to cook- I need an oven). Anyway when we moved in, the price was right, and the little yard was good for Sam, the street is pretty quiet, and right off a main street, so it was "acceptable". But the inside was pretty gross. It was dirty, she hadn't cleaned at all after the previous tenants moved out. And the "furnished" furniture she left was disgusting. We second hand shopped, altho' we are using the mattress- ugh- but we put a sleeping bag on it, then a blanket on top of that. And the matress frame sits on concrete blocks- actually kinda funny. And the curtain rods in the couple windows that had rod- they're STICKS! Like from outside ha ha. And the curtains were old sheets. Sp pretty pathetic right? Anyway I told her we wanted to paint- that we would do it but she had to pay for the paint, and she said no, that her mom didn't want to spend the money right now, and I said well I'll ask you again in a month or two. I knew that either we would just pay for it ourselves, or move somewhere else cause it looked so shabby and bad. Anyway she moved out of her bungalow 2 weeks after we moved in and went to Phoenix. She had someone come to clean her place, and Everardo was talking to them and he said something about we were looking at another place cause this one was too dirty and she was too cheap to pay for paint....
The next day was when I got the email telling me she talked to her mother again and that mom said it was ok to paint ha ha!!! Guess she wanted us to stay.
Anyway- we started painting in Jan, but didn't finish until mid Feb, and we did not paint the bedrooms; just kitchen, living, dining rooms and the short hallway. The difference is fantastic. It's like a home and I'm so happy. But....ha ha...of course now I want to paint my bedroom. And the landlord asked if we painted the bedrooms (there's 2 not counting the exercise area which none of that secret hallway & room is painted) and I said, no, did you read my email and look at the photos? So she said well I left a can of paint you could use. ha ha ha ha ha ha "a can of paint"...These walls, with the dark dirt colors she had, have taken 3 coats each! So one can of paint, and by the way- it's a can of...wait for it.....brown paint, is not enough to paint anything, and I wouldn't use that color of mud brown anyway...Ok so- with the expenses from Jan- fixing the roof, a broken water pipe outside the kitchen and somehing else...she ended up owing us money..but she wanted at least $100, so we carried over about $75 into Feb. Then we bought paint, paid her water bill for the bungalow, and re-imbursed her renter (3 months in the bungalow) for something...and now our expenses were $277! Our rent is only $200! So she tells me she still wants $100, so would we pls carry the expenses again. At first I say, ok. I give her all the receipts, and write out the expenses. Then 2 days ago she says she wants me to put he money in her Mexican acct. Oh let me say this- we pay her mom in the states- I transfer the money from our account in Calif to her mom in Arizona, and it's in US dollars. So she wants me to put the money in her Mexican acct- so I still say, ok. But it's going to be in pesos, cause we don't use dollars here. Then she writes again and asking me to use this certain exchange bank where you get a better rate....uh I thought I said I'd pay in pesos here.....
Then she writes again, and tells me she needs $150 in her Mexican bank right away, so would I please pay the rent early, before March, and use this exchange bank. I tell her, do you remember we agreed I'd pay $100 a month until the expenses are paid back? I mean this is a little crazy right? Oh and during this she has also asked me to pay Tina's electric and water (the renter), and then asked me NOT to pay for her, but pls ask her for the receipts. I starting to wonder if she drinks ha ha. Ok- I say, how about this. I will pay $150 today (this is a couple of days ago), but we will not pay any rent for April and in May the final $20 something wil be taken off. Now I know this sounds REALLY confusing- CAUSE IT IS!! But I wrote it out carefully for her, listing the amounts and receipts. She REPLIES...and says ok Terry, don't worry about paying rent for March, and we'll finish it in April. Ok yipee!! Fixed. So I go about my day...now we're up to yesterday- my rent isn't due until the 5th and we're good. I look at my email in the afternoon- and.....she says thank you so much for your help, you can pay $200 less the $77 in April, and pls put $150 in my Mexican account today, here's the account number!!!!!!! MY GOD THIS WOMAN IS NUTS!!!!! I don't want to move, we painted and put things where we like them, Sam likes it here; he's a great watchdog. But this woman is a nutcase.
Ok- SO- I sent her an email last nite. I told her that I have no idea what it is she wants, but here is what I am going to do. I am not paying rent in March. In April we will pay $122.74 and we will be even. I will not pay any bills for the renter. I have not received a reply.
It's as weird as the lease we never signed. I wanted month to month but she insisted on 6 months. First she gives me one for a broker and a landlord and was surprised when I wouldn't sign it. Then she gave me one in Spanish, which I also wouldn't sign- that was the day she moved and was in this big hurry. She was quite surprised I wouldn't sign something I couldn't read....so she emailed me one from Phoenix to sign, it was already filled out with someone else's name, wrong dates and wrong address. Ha ha and it went on to talk about the pristine condition of the house and how we would leave it pristine when we moved out. ha ha ha ha I had already shown her holes in the walls, termites areas where you could push thru the door frames, etc, and I took pictures. So I sure the hell wasn't gonna sign it either. So I write to her and tell her it's completely wrong and she says her computer doesn't work that good. Did I mention this woman is a REAL ESTATE AGENT?? Yeah and I just saw a pig fly over the moon! So I tell her that I'll fix it up and she agrees. So I import it, revise it, add somethings about the condition of the house and the furnishings, and send it to her to review. Of course we didn't sign it at that point; I expected her to review and approve or revise....but she never mentions it again. I don't know if she thinks I signed it and she just saved it on her computer? Or did she ever open it? Or what???? So basically we can move whenever we want- except we did pay one month rent as a security deposit. So ha ha we could stay a couple of months to use our expense and our deposit...and move.
Ok- we don't really want to move. And my darling husband- he painted the house in Calif before we moved, he painted the house in Playa Ventura, and now he painted this one.....so if we move???? He might have to kill me! The point is, that I'm comfortable with whatever happens, cause we can choose to do whatever we want, and that first house I didn't like...well it's still there....and that house has a great yard. Wow guess I needed to get that out! I think I'll get dressed and go down the art in the park at the Shrimp Park. My friends have a booth selling jewelry, so I'll probly take Sam down and hang out in the sun for awhile with them....
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