Still busy

Here is an example of how my days have been going.

Originally I had planned to skip playgroup but go to they gym as soon as the kids got on the bus and get done in time to meet N's speech teacher at 11:45 a.m.

This morning, the phone rang while I was in the shower. I never heard it, and Jessica, who did, didn't mention it to me. It took me about 20 minutes after I got out of the shower to catch on that I had a message.

It was the plumber, who was supposed to go to one of my rental houses this morning because Wednesday I had found that the part of the ceiling in a vacant (downstairs) unit had fallen on the floor due to water leakage from above. I had just got a tenant into the upstairs unit the previous week so the water and drains hadn't been in use much upstairs since last November when our previous tenant left. (I've had a heck of a time finding a tenant for that unit since it has fuel oil heat, a tiny bedroom, and an even tinier bedroom. It does have a lovely master bedroom, though.)

Wednesday I left the keys at the plumber's office so he could get in to the apartments, and I let my new, upstairs tenant know he was coming.

My plumber called to tell me that a) he wasn't comfortable going to the upstairs unit because people were screaming and shouting and b) the key didn't work in the lock of the downstairs unit.

I told them I was very surprised about the key since it was not a duplicate, but one that came with the lock. I told them I'd run another key over there and hid it in the basement. They had a key to the padlock for the basement along with the other keys.

I decided to go to playgroup because there wouldn't be enough time to go to the gym after running out to the rental. I called my playgroup friend and told her I was coming but that I'd be a little late. She said the church school was closed today, so we could use the playground. K loves that. I told her as a bribe to get her into the car for another run to the rental house (we've made a lot this week).

I saw my tenant while I was there. I told her screaming had run the plumber off. She had no idea what it could have been except she yelled at her (middle school-aged) children to get them to leave for the bus, and they might have argued in the yard.

I hid the key and called them to tell them where it was. They told me the plumber was on the way and they had me leave on my cell phone so if there was any problem, they could reach me.

K and I made it home to pee and get a quick snack on our way to playgroup. I left the cell phone in the car so I wouldn't forget it in the house. A few minutes later, I returned to the car to see that I had missed a call on the cell phone. I called the number back to find out it was the plumber. He couldn't get the basement key to work, either. I told him I'd be there in about 20 minutes to sort out the key problems. As I was leaving, the phone in the house rang. It was the plumbing office. I didn't get to it in time, and I didn't check their messages or call them back so I could get to the plumber as fast as possible.

We got there, I took the key from him that I had left for him to use, put it in the lock, and the lock opened with no trouble. I don't know why he hadn't been able to get it to work. I had emphasized it was a "deadbolt" key. I don't use the knob lock. Maybe he didn't know the word
"deadbolt." His English wasn't great. He might have been Greek.

I let him in and checked the basement key. He was correct; that one didn't work, but had he made the door key work in the first place, I never would have tried locking another key into the basement. I made sure he got in upstairs, too, and I left.

We had to hurry. I had an appointment with N's speech teacher at 11:45 a.m., and I was hoping we could make it to playgroup by 11 a.m. so K would have 15 minutes on the playground before we had to leave.

It was rushed, but we did make it. It seemed like I barely got there, and we had to go. I met with N's speech teacher, signed the paperwork to keep him in speech another year, and then we went to Mr. K's office.

Mr. K's office manager's mother had died yesterday morning so she wasn't going to be in, but she had a deposit ready for me to take to the bank today. We went to the office so I could pick up the deposit. We got it and took it to the bank.

Finally K and I were home. We had lunch and she watched some TV while I called a tenant to let her know how much the late fee and bounced check fee were, and I called another to tell him I still have not received the rent (last time I was told the check was in the mail), and that his wife never called me back about it.

At some point in the afternoon, I sat down to try to catch up on my blog, but my kids have now come home from school, and I need to start dinner.

Let me just say that I've been running around and getting nowhere for a number of days now.

ETA I figured out what accent my plumber had. I called him this afternoon to find out if we can try to fix the ceiling this weekend (no), and after talking to him, I've concluded he's English, so he must have known what a deadbolt is. Too bad I can only make out three of five words he uses.