busy weekend?

So, we had a handyman over to our rental property to fix a board that appears to be missing off of the townhouse back fence.  The handyman arrives and sees no missing board and takes it upon himself to fix twelve other boards.  He took them down and replaced them with non-painted boards and made the fence look nice ... except I didn't ask him to do that.  And now I get to go over and paint the unpainted boards.  I'd skip it all together but we've already been warned four times to get it fixed and, uh, I know they're watching us now.  

New chore for me ... painting a fence.  In December.  Not that I have anything else to do in December.  Not that I'm directing a play or anything.  

I couldn't yell at the handyman, either, because I thought Rick had told him what to do and fix and it turns out that Rick hadn't.  Not sure what Rick did tell him though.  Grrrr.  While Mr. Handyman was still there, he and I walked around the property and found no missing boards.  So, I stopped him from fixing anything else and I sent him on his way.  Well, after I paid him nearly $300 first.   Then I sat down and wrote the HOA a nasty letter saying that they sent us a picture of somebody else's fence and now look what's happened ... and I expected them to pay for part of this mess.  And I threatened that Rick would be calling them today to demand some action.

Note to self:  It's best not to write nasty letters to the HOA unless you are dead certain that there's no missing boards and completely certain that a missing board is truly what they were talking about.  Yeah, best not to write such letters, dear Kris.

BECAUSE ... Upon closer study of my tenant's back fence, I have now realized that the photo I was given, which shows a missing board, is not of the fence on my property, true.  But the description of the problem mentioned in my four letters (that I tried to ignore) DOES IN FACT pertain to my fence.  There is a board that's broken ... and that's what I should've paid attention to, not just that there was no missing board.

I'm hating that I yelled at the HOA.  I'm hating that I wrote a nasty letter.  And I am especially hating that something's about to come back around to bite me.  Yep, something is a-coming.  And it's not just an HOA that's gonna be after me...   Details tomorrow.

Oh, wait.  I'm supposed to be thankful.  I took a vow, remember?

I am thankful for my townhouse.  I am thankful for my townhouse.  I am thankful for my townhouse.  I am ...

Actually, I truly am thankful for my townhouse.  I bought this rental property outright when my brother passed away in 2008.  My mother had just passed away as well and my brother and I were to split her house and share the profits.  He died just days after she did and never did get to see his portion of the money.  And when I travelled to New Mexico to clean out his house and collect his belongings ... I saw how he had been living and I saw the struggle that he had endured just to survive.  And I knew, with the money I was left from my mother's house, that I had to do this for him.

And I am forever grateful that I was able to create this in his memory.

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