Old house

I drove down to the Home Depot near our old house to meet the new renter. He said he would paint if I bought the paint. We agreed on the color selections. I figure if it helped him love our house to the point of wanting to buy it in a year or two I didn't mind allowing him to pick the colors as long as I kept right of veto. He didn't pick anything horrible. His choices were fine. The main body was a grey mocha and the bedroom just a little different from that. For the children's rooms he chose a pretty soft yellow.

Tom wouldn't like the color yellow, ever, but I have no bias towards yellow and was sad when Tom made us paint the exterior of the house a different color just because it was yellow. Tom said he could never live in a yellow house (Go Beavs).

They are going to keep Riley's room the soft blue. My friends did such a nice job on that room when Riley was sick. It is the only room he will probably leave untouched. He has daughters, so he will probably be repainting the bathroom from the manly steel grey to that perky yellow.

I bought two cans of yellow for the play room, two cans for the master bedroom in the softer grey, and a five gallon bucket of the other grey for the whole house coverage. The renter also asked for ceiling paint, so I went with an egg shell in a soft white. I don't care for flat ceiling paint.

He is going to wait on the kitchen as he likes our red color, though I did try to patch curtain rod holes and my job looks amateur. He said he will get to it eventually. It kind of gives the kitchen wall depth like a stucco with the tone on tone color streaks. He has so much painting to do he will tackle it last.

He said he had renters moving into their home so he would be homeless without ours. I like that commitment. I like that it only cost me the paint to have my house redone. I was a little worried when talking to my property manager. The official contract is not signed yet. I asked her what was the delay. She said she had another family (personal friends perhaps) in the wings waiting to see if this deal fell through. There was some question on income to debt ratio on my renter. She thought it had to do with their paying for a mortgage and renting our house. As long as their old house is rented so they aren't trying to come up with both payments they are good.

They have to prove rent ability on their old home, turning it into investment property from primary residence before they qualify for a mortgage on our home. Up sizing from a three bedroom, one bathroom 1300 square feet into our four bedroom, two and a half bath over 3000 square feet. I think his significant other and his daughters are going to melt with glee over their new house.

The one draw back is he has three dogs. He will be paying the full deposit as a result, that and the questionable income to debt ratio, but that should resolve itself in a year with rental history. Meanwhile he will also be proving his capacity to pay the mortgage on our big place for his future mortgage to purchase. Banks like to see that kind of financial dedication also in the loan aplication process, at least they used to before everything went whacked.

I had turned off the heat to the house this month as the bill was just another hole gobbling up funds. The house was too cold to paint. The renter called and got the gas to be reinstated in his name but the gas company couldn't be out until Monday to restart service. It got me off the hook for helping. The renter also said he has a landscape service he uses to mow the lawn at his old house and will use it on ours so I need to take my lawn mower. I loved it. The only problem was I had driven down in my fun sporty car and didn't want to cram the lawnmower into the back seat for the drive home. I will come back at the end of the month to give the house one last mow and bring the jeep to haul home the lawn mower. I also have the little eco friendly push mower which will also need to come home. I also am looking forward to seeing the new paint job at the end of the month.

The truck the renter drove was newer and clean. He has a side business with his brother renting equipment and hauling. He also has his regular job. Tom would probably like him as he is ambitious and energetic and young, and trying to break out as a self employed in control of his own fate. I haven't met the rest of the family. But he seemed a step up from our last renter with her smoking and her old beater car that kept breaking down. He looked like he was ready to go to work and was forward thinking. He had already knocked on our neighbor's, across the drive, door on another visit to introduce himself and let them know he was going to be renting the house. I loved that positive outlook also. My neighbors were happy about the changes when I spoke to them.

After the house inspection, I left to swing by my old job. Trevor needed new black shoes for school. He likes black better than the athletic look Riley wears. It was an excuse to stop by and just say "hi" to everyone. I walked in on a shoe show display from a New Zealand Company brand that the store carries. I asked to sit in and listen. You know me, I love to absorb information.

It was fun listening to my old boss lecture the sales rep on what they ought to be making versus what they are making and showing him. He has been in the shoe business longer than I have been on this planet. He knows shoes and the customer market. He knows his customer base. It tickled me just to hear his sage wisdom. He hopes it doesn't fall on deaf ears.

I enjoyed the brief time and treated myself to a new pair of shoes, getting the ex employee discount, missing the old whole sale discount the employees get so they can afford to wear the products the store sells. These are incredible shoes that you can wear for hours without pain or discomfort and they can be pretty also. The boss struggles every time the sales reps come to the store to explain that healthy shoes don't have to be made to look ugly. There are some basic needs that can be met without making a shoe look hideous and bulky. There are also some needs that must be met on the flimsy strappy shoes so they don't cause permanent damage to a woman's foot or be too uncomfortable to wear at all. My old store didn't carry shoes that weren't comfortable to wear. That is the policy, aiming for healthy feet first and then fashion.

I found out the store is moving to a new location, bigger and newer. They want a newer mall. The one they were in had an awesome location, just off the freeway, but the mall itself and the other stores located in the mall were not drawing in enough traffic. The mall was dated. The new location will hopefully encourage more traffic and interest.

I left the store having also warned my old manager she may be getting reference calls as I job hunt. I have an application in somewhere right now that I hope will call for a fun job working in a clothing retail store.

In the parking lot I found the New Zealand sales rep and his employees stuck with a flat tire on their rental. I felt so sorry for them. Having just been in a two hour meeting with my old boss can be exhausting enough, working through lunch, let alone coming out to a flat. They had all these big suitcases of shoes to schlep around, that had to be unpacked from the trunk in order to reach the spare tire. I was just glad it wasn't raining at the time. I looked around the parking lot and noticed the tire store located just on the other side of the mall in the parking area. I suggested they drive with the flat still on to the tire store. The tire store can change the flat fast without hassel. The sales rep physically melted at the thought. Everyone looked so grateful at the idea. I figured they may not have recognized the tire store for what it was, being in America as a foreigner, and the tire store would be a lot easier than trying to figure out how to change the tire themselves.

I started to drive away then stopped again and went back to suggest a couple of restaurants in the mall for them to get some good lunch while they waited for the car tire to be changed. Not that the tire store would take more than a couple of minutes, but I figured they must be starving having had their meeting during lunch hour. I was hungry, but I had just blown my lunch money on a new pair of shoes and would have to wait until I got home to eat.

On the drive home a friend called. I had left her messages that I was in town. She had been working so unable to meet me. But she was free to talk and keep me company while I drove home, with her on speaker phone. The ride home always goes faster with company in the car. It was a satisfying day. The day could only be made better when we finally get the contract signed and the security deposit so I am not stressing anymore the old house and I know for sure it is a done deal.