How about some far less significant and heavy topics today?
Well, for us, the first has been our garage door opener. I thought the motor finally seized a couple of days ago due to the cold weather. Frankly I wouldn't have been surprised because it looked old when we bought the house 7 years ago and had made a mental note to upgrade it but decided to wait until it died.
Truth of the matter was I was so engrossed back then with all the landscape, fireplace, chimney and appliance improvements, I had no energy for yet another contractor at the house. Looking back, if we were new owners now, I wouldn't have bothered with as much stuff. I had spent way more money than was absolutely necessary.
It managed to open so I got my vehicle in, but it wouldn't close so I had to use the emergency pull to disconnect and manually closed it. That's after frantically calling D who calmly reminded me what to do. And no, he didn't need to come home early for this...That if I can handle all the logistics of my next trip, I can handle this no problem...Felt pretty silly, I must admit as I knew what to do!
D braved the cold that night and managed to get it working again. It wasn't the motor but the chain that somehow slid over a little? He will need to tighten it a bit more as I noticed it sagging when in operation. Dodged an expense there. I had already looked up a company to call.
Second topic relates to my office. The building was put up for sale in the fall and is in the midst of being sold and all the tenants have been verbally notified by the existing owners as to what the new owners are looking for with respect to rent. In our case, it will mean just over double. What we are currently paying is below market rate.
My name isn't on the lease so I've spoken to my colleague who isn't happy about it but because he's a bit of a pushover, doesn't want to negotiate. So what that will mean is that increase cost will obviously trickle down to me unless I can help it.
The commercial mls search and assertiveness coaching has started as I've found that the proposed rate is above market. The timing for the takeover is end of Feb if the deal gets firmed up so we are checking into all the legal stuff too. As I will be gone most of that month, we need to get a move on now. Of course I would like an idea of what the next steps will be before I depart.
I believe I am not as stressed about the office news because of my trip planning. All the work I've done has broadened my stress reaction range. I'm chuckling at what I just typed because it obviously didn't stop my garage door reaction. It's the dealing with other people as moving parts that I seem more patient and better with.
As well as with money. If my rent does go up (and I'm pretty certain that it will), then I'm confident that what I accept will be because I can and will accept it. See the difference? It's still my choice. I'm not and far from being backed into an impossible corner, like a lot of people I've been reading and learning about.
I'm also at the stage where random Khmer phrases will pop into my head and I'll say it and not immediately (or ever) remember what that means without looking it up. D's like, "What did you just say???". My accent's not bad, if I do say so myself. The problem has been it has been popping up when I ought to be concentrating on other things, like playing my pieces during violin class. Makes for a far more difficult lesson than it already is.
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