Sprinkles of joy

And so it comes to an end, another week, thank goodness it is over.
This morning I bounded out of bed, perhaps that is a bit optimistic! I slowly came to my feet and waited while the room stopped spinning. I showered and weighed, not a good thing, scales are weighing heavy lately, must be the damp weather or something.
Once I was downstairs I tackled the tough relo appraisal for a nice home in Brentwood. All went well until I did the sketch. For years Nikki did my sketches manually and then faxed them back to me. No matter where she lived she helped me with thousands of sketches of house layouts. Now I do it using a little cad program in the computer and Nikki does much more important work keeping the government honest in how it uses its money, can we say amen to that.
I started the sketch and found my finished product to be about 300 sq.ft smaller than that reported in public record. For the next precious hour I worked over the program trying to figure out where I was wrong. Finally in desperation I emailed my contact with the relo company and asked him if the other appraiser came in low. He replied immediately that the other appraiser came in over 200 sq.ft. below what public record shows. I was so relieved and then proceeded to complete the appraisal. As I was putting the photos into the appraisal a glitch appeared and that cost me 20 minutes. Now I was past the time I had to leave for the Vacaville appointment. Oh the stress level was raging but the appraisal was emailed to the east coast and I hit the road. I also called my contact to report my status and was told to relax, no problem.
The house is located out in the country north of Vacaville and has many fine features. How nice to experience the quiet of being in the country, quiet well except for the goat herd behind the back fence. The little ones were so cute and bleating for their mother.
I started to drive the comps and would you believe it took two hours to complete. When comps are located over a 5 mile radius and you have no way of knowing exactly how their locations relate to each other, well it takes some time. By they I was pretty hungry, breaking out in a sweat which I know means low blood sugar so I ate my backup granola bar and found a Subway in Willows, a tiny town in the middle of no where.
Finally I could turn toward home and I did enjoy driving back. Everything thing is green, water is in the streams, the air smells fresh and I got to talk to Sharon part of the way back. She is holding up well in Texas and feeling pretty sassy like usual.
As I was nearing home Nikki called to see if I could collect the girls so after making a deposit at the bank which by the way brought me into the black, that was until something else came through late this evening and now I'm upside again. Oh that Chevy Chase would send a check.
I picked Keanna and Kallie who were in great spirits and happy to see me. For the next hour I smiled a lot as I watched Kallie play with Barbie dolls, the Barbie airplane, move the 5 gallon water jugs around and eat popcorn.
Finally Kallie approached me and said peepee. That means a diaper change so we headed upstairs to the guest room where we have a supply of diapers and the special wipes. When I removed the diaper I was met with a sight that would knock over a mother of 12. Wow it was a special moment. 5 or 6 wipes later I had her roughly clean and we slapped on a new diaper. Of course Nikki thought this was very funny when she arrived, she would, she managed to miss that one.
This evening I went to Safeway and CVS to pick up meds but since its the beginning of a new year I have a $1,000 deductible to cope with. I had called earlier and discovered that two of the meds that have no generic alternatives were going to be very expensive, one was $178 and the other was $140. Well I don't know the effects of not taking them but I can tell you I won't be taking them for some time, not until money once again appears. That was another first in the forced belt tightening experiences.
Well I smell my loaf of bread that has been baking for a few hours. In about 15 minutes it will ding and I hope for a good loaf of bread. The last loaf was so good, amazingly good really but having the baking bread scent in the house is great.
In the morning Keanna and I will head to church. She will go to her class and I will attend a special seminar on finances. Do you think this is timely?

Love to all

tim