Where I’m At

One of these days, I’ll post an entire post that’s about just one thing. Today is not that day.

We found out something yesterday that made us laugh. We still know one recruiter up in Vermont that the Mister worked with while we lived there. Interestingly enough, this Marine’s grandparents live at the end of our road and are acquainted with The Tenants. He and the Mister talk about once a week so he’s all up to date on our drama. He told the Mister yesterday on the phone that The Tenants have been telling his grandparents that we all of a sudden, out of the blue decided to kick them out a month before Christmas. LMAO!! I seriously got a good laugh over that. He also told the Mister that Peter, one of the tenants, used to work for his grandpa at a maple syrup factory in Vermont. He had to fire him after a week because Peter was lazy. Fine, upstanding people, aren’t they?

Another funny:  That picture in my post from the other day, well, it was the notice I received from the youngest child’s school about her attendance. I thought it was an 8 in the tardy slot and really flipped my lid. I called the school and after they did some investigating, was informed it was a zero with a line through it. Either I can’t read or they can’t write on top of not being able to spell or use proper grammar.

I finished up my work with my new client. It was just a temporary thing where I helped her put together a holiday gift guide for her blog. It was very satisfying to help out another mom and to have the project completed. It was also a little bit strange to have access to someone else’s blog and to get paid for blogging, lol. Strange but good.

If you need gift ideas for girls or women, specifically moms, I highly recommend that you check out her guide. It has lots of fabulous ideas. She also runs MANY giveaways. Here are the links:

Get Your Briefs On

I have a brief update for you all.

First of all, after I received that rather interesting voicemail from those people, I worried a little bit about the last e-mail that I sent them. So, I forwarded the whole conversation to my attorney and she assured me that I had done nothing illegal. That’s what I thought, but in situations like this, you can never be too sure.

Secondly, our property management guy, Ed, was able to get into the house through a window this morning. He reported that there was no major damage to the interior of the house. He said it needed a major cleaning, minor repairs, and paint throughout though. He also said that the yard is still a massive mess. They even left either a snow mobile or a 4 wheeler (can’t remember what Ed said it was) there. It also turns out that those people have a weird idea of what “vacated” means because Ed said that there was still wood smoldering in the fireplace this morning. Whatever. I’m waiting to hear back from my attorney about what I can do with their property that they left at the house and how soon I can have the locks changed. I’m hoping that she says today because Ed is on standby. If not, he’ll do it first thing in the morning.

Cleaning, repairs, and trash hauling isn’t cheap. You’re allowed to sue for up to $5,000 in small claims court and with court and legal fees, we’ll be pushing, if not exceeding, that max. I’ve never been to court before. I wonder if I can add a new outfit to their list of expenses, lol.

Now that I have a more complete idea of what I’m dealing with, I’m in a much better frame of mind. I haven’t cried since Saturday, lol.

Now, I’m off for lunch and then back to work. Oh. Did I mention that I’ve taken on a third client over the weekend? YUP! I was pretty excited about that and it’s wonderful to have something positive to focus on.

Again, I Spoke Too Soon

I spoke too soon, yes, but I was trying to be positive and optimistic. See what optimism gets you? A swift kick in the ass that you didn’t really see coming.

Our realtor sent us pictures of the outside of our house that he took yesterday. He didn’t take any interior pictures because the key that I sent him wouldn’t work. I’ve spent the last hour crying like that solves anything. What I’d really like to do is go and beat the crap out of something…or someone.

The front of our house when we lived there:

The picture from yesterday:

The end of the driveway:

The backyard when we lived there:

Backyard pictures taken yesterday:

If this is how they left the outside, I can only imagine what the inside is going to look like when we can finally get in to see it. And I have no idea what those wooden structure things are in the backyard. It’s no wonder they needed a dumpster. How much CRAP did these people have?!?!

There’s no way we can show the house in this condition. At this point, we are trying to sell a piece of crap and in today’s market, nobody wants to fix up houses.'

UGH!!!

The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back

I think we’re pretty close to a finale with the VT house drama. Well, at least where the tenants are concerned. Throughout the entire thing, I have not addressed any of the accusations that our tenants have made against us. Not to them anyway. You poor people have had to “listen” to quite a bit of it. ;) After the e-mail I received last night, I could no longer keep my mouth shut. I do believe that I showed herculean restraint up to this point. I drafted a response last night, sat on it all day, and finally (after reading it to the Mister over the phone) hit send just a few minutes ago. I feel amazingly better. Holding that much anger and bitterness inside just isn’t good for one’s mental health. I am so proud of my e-mail, that I decided to share it with you all. You’ll have to take me at my word, but I assure you and promise that I copied and pasted our e-mails word for word. Like I have the imagination to make this crud up anyway.

Jenn and Peter,                                    11/18/08

According to my lawyer, you are not legally able to use your security deposit to pay November's rent. The purpose of the security deposit is to ensure that all rents and utilities are paid and to ensure that there is no damage to the property and to pay to have the house cleaned upon your vacating the property. If you'll refer to your original lease, it states that the $1300 you paid in February 2007 was a security deposit and not last month's rent. I also have a letter from Morningstar Properties that defines that payment as a security deposit that I can scan and e-mail to you if you'd like. Furthermore, you would be responsible for not only paying the $500 that you still owe for November but a prorated amount for the eight days of December that would get you to the end of your 30 days notice which would total $335.00 ($1300/31 = $41.94 x 8 days = $335.52).

By December 8, 2008, which  is the last day of your 30 days notice, you will owe the following:

Sewer/Water:  $704.39

Returned Check Fee for October:  $20.00

Late Payment Fee for October:  $25.00

My Bank’s Returned Item Fee for October's Returned Check:  $5.00

Balance of November's Rent:  $500.00

Late Payment Fee November:  $25.00

December's Prorated Rent:  $335.00

Total Due by December 8, 2008:  $1614.39

This amount does not include any cleaning or repair charges that will be deducted from the $1300.00 security deposit.

Sincerely,

~

Trisha

 

Trisha,                                        12/2/08

Just letting you know that the house is vacant.  There are some things that are in the yard that will be picked up this week.  When we moved in there was hardly any oil in the tank and we had to have an emergency delivery made, therefore you should know that there is very little oil in there now and you should probably arrange for a delivery so that you don't have problems with the pipes.

According to my attorney the $1300.00 security deposit should be in an interest bearing account until such time as the tenant vacates the premises.  The money should be available to you to pay the utilities of $704.39.  When we reported to you the loss of our belongings that were in the "dry" cellar, you never responded back to us.  We didn't pursue it because we thought you had enough on your plate and we could address it at the end of the lease.  The house is in the same condition it was when we moved in so instead of returning the balance of the $1300.00 which equals $595.61, please apply it to the balance of the $910.00 you claim we owe and the $314.39 left doesn't come anywhere near the loss of personal property and the cost of dumpster to clear the damaged property.  I'm really sorry it has come down to this.  I had hoped that we would be able to end this relationship amicably.

Sincerely,

Peter and Jennifer

 

Jenn,                                12/3/08

I suppose after all these months the things you say and do should no longer surprise me but wonders never cease. You continue to pass blame and not take responsibility for your actions to the point where it is laughable. I will never understand how your bouncing four rent checks and paying your rent late consistently and habitually is my fault. If you are honest about this situation, you will admit that out of the 21 months that you bothered to pay your rent at all, we could probably count on one hand how many of those months you paid on time and with good funds.

You would be wrong if you think that I don’t accept responsibility for my role in this soap opera. I allowed you and Peter to weave stories, make excuses, and take advantage. That was my fault. I was too trusting, too kind, and allowed for you to get away with too much. Something else that we should be honest about here is that if you had pulled the stunts that you did on any other landlord, you would have been evicted many months before my husband and I evicted you. However, if you were an honest and forthright person, you would pay the money that you owe me and stop making excuses which you clearly aren’t capable of doing. Instead, you will most likely turn tail and leave my husband and I to clean up after you and sink further into debt without the least bit of regard for what you have done. Maybe it was easier for you to take advantage of us because you don’t have a face to put with the name, but let me assure you, we are real people, with real children, and real problems, a good portion of which you have caused. It would be a small thing if you could acknowledge that.

As for the “damage”, your selective memory continues to amaze me. I repeatedly asked you to send pictures of the supposed “damage” which you never did even though you said you would. I’m not sure how you expected me to take you at your word when you couldn’t manage to pay your rent on time. Even so, you never once implied that the “damage” was hundreds of dollars. Furthermore, as I told you before, repair requests were supposed to be made in writing which is something else  you never did. This is just one more thing that you’ve dragged out of the muck to muddy the situation in your favor. One more thing to pass blame on, one more thing to lessen your guilt. I have to shake my head that you would try and say that I’m responsible for your renting a dumpster. There is nothing in your lease that states that you had to rent a dumpster in order to vacate the premises not that you ever read your lease, apparently. If you had read any of the three leases that were given to you, two of which you signed, you wouldn’t have been able to try and accuse me of slipping things in on you. I specifically remember urging you to read the things before signing them.

This whole ordeal has tired me and I am as done with it as I can be. I expect you to mail all keys to me within a week. If you do not, I will bill you to change the locks which is just one more thing you will run from, I am sure. Your concern for the pipes was touching, by the way, and you can save your insincere apologies for the next poor schmuck you rent from.

~

Trisha

And there you have it. I doubt she’ll have the courage to reply and even if she does, like I said, I’m done. I’m, as I type this (I’m actually on hold with the oil company, heheh), making arrangements to winterize the house until we can get it sold. The last thing I need at this point is frozen, burst pipes. Luckily, I’ve been told that the winter up there has been mild up to this point. Since it’s looking like we won’t be able to get an oil delivery until January, I hope the weather holds out. I sure picked a bad time of the year to put my foot down.

I’m off to nurse my killer headache.

Hrmph!!

I am not believing this, but we are getting snow flurries here right now!! Can you believe that trash?? And it’s COLD. It’s only 41 with a wind chill of 34. Brrrr! I haven’t seen snow in almost two years so I guess I’m due.

Other than that, I don’t have too much to report. I ran some errands this morning, bright and early, so that I could get home to do some work. I worked, took a lunch break, worked some more and now I’m pausing for a potty break and a quick post. So much fun, right? Oh, and I heard back from my lawyer, got the okay on the e-mail, and sent it off to The Tenants. We’ll see if I get a response or any money for that matter.

Sorry so short, but I gots things to do.

Changes: They Are A-Comin’

I woke up this morning dizzy as all get out. I have no idea why I’m dizzy. Maybe I need to eat some breakfast.

Anyway, you may or may not be curious as to what is happening with the Vermont house so I’ll give a little update.

With our vacation, listing the house took a bit longer than it should have. I’m sending the listing documents to the realtor today and the house should be listed by the end of the week. He said that houses are sitting on the market for an average of 7-8 months which is really not good for us. I’m also working with our mortgage company to try and stave off foreclosure on the house as long as possible. It really makes me feel like a loser, but at least I’m trying. As for the tenants, I really have no idea what they are up to at this point. They are trying to get away with paying November’s rent with their security deposit (which means that I got the privilege of paying part of November’s rent out of pocket) and it turns out that’s illegal so I have a rather surprising e-mail that I’m getting ready to send them. I’m just waiting for my lawyer to review it before I hit send. Even if I did use their deposit, with all the back utilities that they owe combined with the prorated rent they’ll owe from December, they still come up approximately $300 short and that’s not including cleaning and repair costs. They suck, they’re bigger losers than I am, and I hate them. A pox on them.

As for work, that’s pretty much the same unfortunately. I’m still waiting to hear from that second client I mentioned a few months ago. They were supposed to give me work this month but the economy is hitting everyone where it hurts, so I’m still not getting any hours from them. I understand, but it still sucks and waiting patiently is not a quality I possess.

We’ve already started telling family and the girls know, so I suppose I can mention it here now. The Mister is going on a deployment in the spring. No, we don’t know where yet but Iraq is not on the agenda. At least not at this point. He’s an airwinger and not a grunt so he’s safer than some. I don’t sweat deployments so neither should you.

Oh and one last thing. That friend of mine that I mentioned nine months ago that was having the baby, she’s scheduled for a c-section this morning. She’s 12 days overdue and pretty uncomfortable at this point. They nixed the weird name and went with something that sounds presidential but hopefully won’t get his ass kicked on the playground. I was relieved.

More changes are on the horizon but I’ll mention them at another time.

A Summary of My Weekend

Day 2: NaBloPoMo

We had a busy weekend which is very unlike us.

Saturday, we took the Scion in for an oil change, tire rotation, and its yearly state inspection. While we waited on the car, we went to the commissary for the first time in two weeks. No, we don’t go grocery shopping every two weeks normally, we were just too lazy to go last week. While we were in the commissary, I got a phone call from the car place but reception is really bad in there so I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I thought they were calling to tell me the car was ready to be picked up so I had the Mister drop me off and go on home with the groceries. Turns out they were calling to tell me they were done with the oil change and were getting ready to start the inspection and they hadn’t done the tire rotation either. As a result, I had to sit in the shop with nothing to do but watch Dinotopia, or whatever that show/movie is called, on TV. Luckily, an elderly gentleman loaned me his landscaping in the south book to read while I waited.

Saturday afternoon we had to take the oldest child shopping for a birthday present for her friend and then to the friend’s house for a sleepover. Once we got her dropped off, we went and did some shopping of our own and then headed home.

Oh. And somewhere in there, we cleaned out the Mister’s car from all the stuff we had left in the back when we moved. How lazy are we? Funnily enough, all of our liquor was stored in the underneath storage compartment. We’re such party animals that I didn’t even realize it was missing. Good thing he never got pulled over for anything because that would have been a LOT of open container charges.

Today, I was repeatedly called by my tenants despite the fact that I told them not to call me anymore. I ended up turning off my phone for four hours and then when I turned it back on, they called ten minutes later which tells me they had been trying to get a hold of me that entire four hours my phone was turned off. My lawyer told me not to take their calls since I tend to be soft-hearted on the phone. Well, we’re to the point that the reason why I won’t take their calls is because I’ll end up yelling and cussing at them. Either way, I’m not talking to them on the phone anymore because it’ll end up being bad for me. Also, if I get everything in writing, they can’t accuse me of anything else like they did in their e-mail yesterday.

The oldest child also had volleyball today. The way it works is that they play two games every Sunday. Today, they won one and lost one. She had a couple good plays too. We were very proud parents.

Now, I’m working on my homework. The topics for my Lit paper have me a little stumped so I will be putting in some hard work on it tonight.

6 days until we leave on our vacation.

Cue Ominous Music

Day 1:  NaBloPoMo

I wouldn’t say that the shit has hit the fan, pardon my French, however, we came pretty darn close.

I received a rather nasty e-mail from our worthless tenants that contained unfounded accusations this afternoon. Fun times. I have documented proof that her claims are false; it’s not just our word against hers. Our lawyer has advised that we offer no compromises, stick to our guns, and boot the bitch out. I paraphrased a bit here, lol. I responded to the aforementioned e-mail, following my lawyer’s instructions to a “T” and the house will be going on the market Monday. There’s no going back.

After I stopped being unbelievably angry at being accused of CRAP, I am really pleased with the results of our communication with the shiftless tenants and the advice of our lawyer. It will all work out in the end.

7 days until we leave on our vacation.

11 Days to Go

Things are progressing with the house in Vermont. I would go into detail, but it’s pretty boring if you’re not living it. Bottom line, they have until Nov 7th to pay November’s rent and the $700+ late water/sewer bill or they will be served with an eviction notice. I’m not holding my breath.

In other news…

Geez. I have very little “other” news. Between the Vermont issues, work, and the kids, I do very little else. In the 20 minutes of spare time I get a day (this is the time I sit in the carpool lane of the oldest child’s school waiting for her to get out. I deliberately leave that early so that I have that quiet time in the car. Pathetic, right?) I’ve been reading a certain book. I would tell you all about it, but it’s not time yet. No, it’s not a book telling me how to best take over the world. That one is in my TBR pile. ;)

School continues to be a drag. Big. Giganto. Un-fun. Drag. I have my Lit midterm this week which means the semester is half over thank GOODNESS! Weirdly enough, I’m just chock full of weirdness, I’m looking forward to next semester. I’m taking marketing and finance classes. One is a basic marketing class that’s a pre req for a upper level class I’ll take the next semester. The other is a finance class for entrepreneurs. I never saw myself heading in this direction before, but my work has opened new doors for me that I want to pursue. I half-wish that it wasn’t too late to change majors. But I’m so burned out that switching would be a very bad idea. Bad, bad, bad. I’d never make it.

And I’m tired and starting to ramble. Gonna hit the sheets.

11 days until we leave on our vacation.

And the Saga Continues

I’m sure you all are as tired of hearing about this as I am of talking about it. But you know what, it’s either get it all out or sit here and cry until I puke. I don’t like throwing up so this is how it’s going.

My renters bounced their rent check again. For anyone keeping tabs, that’s four times in 21 months. Too bad for us is that we had already paid our mortgage and as a result of the two events colliding, my checking account is very much in the red and my savings account if frozen. YAY ME!! I’ve never had a frozen bank account before. I feel like one of those crooks you see in the movies. Anyway, luckily, I get paid the old fashioned way and we were able to cash my check so that we could do things like, oh I don’t know. EAT!!! Also, for those of you that keep up with the drama in my life, we are set to go on our Outer Banks vacation a week from Saturday. Good news/bad news is that the house is already paid for but it’s also non-refundable. So, we either go and have no money to spend while we’re there and spend extra money on gas and food, or we stay home and we’re out a nice chunk of change. Yeah. It’s a conundrum.

Oh! And you know how we found out her check had bounced? We were in Target trying to pay for the oldest child’s knee pads for volleyball when my debit card was refused. Nice. Real nice.

You’ll be happy to note that I’m done being walked all over. There’s nice and then there’s being a doormat. I’ve engaged a lovely lawyer who said that she’ll collect her fees when we close on the house. She’s reviewing our case today and will be sending out a notice to pay or quit tomorrow. It’s the first step in the eviction process. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that we won’t get some bleeding heart idiot judge who will refuse to evict a family in the winter. Either way though, they either leave by eviction or they leave when the bank forecloses on the house. Because if they don’t make it so that we can sell the house, it’s getting foreclosed on, plain and simple. If we’re REALLY lucky, and I mean REALLY, we’ll be able to scratch our way out of this hole without having to let the house go into foreclosure. The plan is to put the house on the market as soon as they are served their eviction notice. If they don’t trash the house too badly, and I’m not a big enough idiot to think that they won’t trash the house on their way out, we should be able to get it sold before things get way out of hand. The realtor I talked to said that Vermont hasn’t been hit as badly as some other places in the country economy and housing market-wise.

I just don’t understand people like this. It’s not as if I forced her to move into the house and THEN told her how much the rent was going to be. Why do you move in somewhere that you can’t afford? And if you can’t afford your rent, why do you buy four ATV’s and shell out for a huge SECOND wedding??? Despite the fact that we are in serious financial SHITE, my rent will still be paid on time. This is how life should be:

1. Pay rent/mortgage.
2. Pay electric/heat and water bill
3. Pay renters/home owners/car insurance
4. Pay car payment
5. Buy food somewhere in there
6. Everything else

Am I the only one that thinks this is the logical and RESPONSIBLE course of action? You have to have somewhere to live. That somewhere has to have heat and running water. That somewhere needs to be insured and you have to have an insured vehicle to earn the  money to pay for the above. HELLO!!! If you are old enough to get married, have kids, and vote, you should be mature enough to figure out how to manage your finances. It’s also not as if she is making less money than when she moved in either. She works and has worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont. That job is the whole reason she moved to Vermont in the first place.

Grrrr!! People suck and you can’t tell me that they don’t.

Feels Like a Monday

This is me being an unhappy camper. I was having a fantastic day yesterday until a certain bill arrived in the mail. It’s the sewer bill for the Vermont house. It comes to us but our renters are supposed to pay it according to their lease. I should also be more specific and say the bill is a “Collectors Delinquent Notice”. Turns out that the sewer bill hasn’t been paid in five months. I know it’s hard to believe that a mother with a good job could be so freaking irresponsible and STUPID. Wanna see for yourselves?

Can you figure out the total amount due? Don’t worry. I’ll tell ya. It’s $698.43. How in the WORLD can people be so freaking…I don’t even have a word for it. What’s worse is that I’m a complete and total idiot where this whole situation is concerned. I’m too freaking nice. Wanna pay your rent late? SURE go right ahead and stick it up my butt. Wanna burn the house to the ground? SURE, just send my some nice photos. I like a good fire. Wth.

I told the Mister that I am going to send her an e-mail because I’m done being Mrs. Nice Guy and he told me to be firm and professional. I don’t believe I’m in the right frame of mind to be professional and my firmness might smash her face into the ground. If I were to call, it would get ugly. She’s been renting from us for 21 months and out of those 21 months, I think maybe THREE of them didn’t give me high blood pressure. I’m having a hard time seeing why I have to be nice.

Maybe I should just stop paying the mortgage. We could join the ranks of those who have had their house foreclosed on this year. We certainly wouldn’t be lacking for company.

I need an objective person to write her for me, lol.

Rent, Renting, and Renters

October is turning out to be a rough month and it hasn't even started yet.

I mailed our October rent check to San Diego about 8 or 9 days ago. Our landlords (heheh) left us their forwarding address so that I could do so. However, they didn't get the house they were told they were getting (base housing can be like that) so they have a different address. I didn't find this out until today so I mailed a nice-sized check to perfect strangers. Yes. I put a stop payment on it this morning and paid $29 to do so. Now, there is no way that they are getting rent on time this month.

That's not even the worst thing about October and rent. Our renters e-mailed me and asked if it was okay if they pay their rent on 10/10. Well, no it's not but what can I do? If I say no and they pay me, the check will undoubtedly bounce. It will also whittle away at what little bit of neutrality we have between us since last year's rent check bouncing fiasco. Which leads us to the fact that she started pulling this crap the same time last year which is making me wonder if I'm going to have another round of bounced checks on my hand again this year. The really sad thing is that the Mister and I have already started to sock away some money just in case she does. Yeah, yeah. It's easy enough to say that I should make her move out but the thing is, legally, I can't do that. She has to fail to pay her rent four times in a 12 month period before I can even start eviction proceedings and then, as I've been told by a lawyer, Vermont judges aren't inclined to evict people, especially those with kids, in the winter. She has my ass (sorry) in a sling and she knows it. That's why she bounced three months worth of checks last year and then started paying her rent on time. Furthermore, if we evict her, who the hell is supposed to pay the mortgage? We can't afford to pay a rent and a mortgage and live at the same time. Also, if we were to sell right now with the market the way that it is, we'd probably take at least a $40,000 loss. I don't know about you people, but that's nothing to sneeze at in my book. This is why we didn't boot her and put the house on the market this past spring like I had originally planned to do.

I hate rent, renting, and renters. All of it sucks. All of it. Do I get to blame this on the sad state of our economy?

Fact or Fiction?

I finally got a call from JMT last night. Actually, she had her fiance call me. According to them, they had no idea that their check bounced. And, they've been in Boston all week so that's why she hasn't been returning my calls or picking up her mail. Here's the situation broken down:

• Wednesday, she got a call from the police saying her 9 year old daughter had been sexually assaulted at summer camp. This is why she's in Boston. Who would make up that kind of story?
• She said she had her calls forwarded to her in MA because she's working remotely for her company. If this is true, why is she saying that she didn't know I was trying to get a hold of her for FIVE days when I've left messages at both her home and her work?
• She said that her fiance's parents arrived at her home to check on her dog and the house Thursday night. That's why her phone was off the hook because she's been getting phone calls about her daughter. And that's how she found out that I had been trying to contact her, because they checked her messages. (Hear sarcasm and see my eyebrow raised in disbelief.)
• She says that according to her bank, it looks like I never even tried to cash her check. According to my bank, the check was rejected on her end, not mine. They're sending me a statement to that effect.
• She forwarded me an e-mail from her bank that says the check never came in to them.
• She's overnighting me a money order today that should get here by Monday.

What do I do now? I'm still inclined to boot her out. After 7 months of inconsistent rent payments, I'm seeing a pattern. How understanding am I supposed to be? I just don't know. It's hard to imagine someone would fabricate a story about their child just to have an excuse for not paying your rent. A more feasible story would be: 1.) I didn't get paid on time. 2.) My car broke down and I had to pay for repairs. You know? Stuff like that. But there are so many inconsistencies in the rest of her story that I'm having a hard time believing that they weren't aware that their check had bounced.

I'm sort of at a "wait and see" point. If we evict her and the house doesn't sell right away, C and I will be in a financial bind of significant proportions. But if she continues to live there and doesn't pay her rent, we still have to pay the mortgage and our rent anyway. I was also told by the lawyer I spoke to that Vermont judges aren't inclined to evict people when winter is right around the corner. When I get her money order, I technically don't have a legal reason to evict her and she could fight it and would probably win. Houses sell faster in the spring anyway, lol. I don't think there's a viable solution to this at all.

GEEZ!!

Much to Tell

I'm home from my exams. They weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. My English exam was looooong but not hard. I had to write a poem, an intro for a creative nonfiction piece, and a short story in addition to regular exam-type questions. It was a LOT of writing.

For my Mythology exam, it was long also in content but the last 12 questions were definition which were easy peezy.

My business exam was crazy. My instructor is out of her flipping gourd. I got all the answers correct as far as the technical part of it went, but then she wanted examples of out the book, examples from real life that were less than 3 years old and she wanted me to map the chapters that the questions were from. It was ridiculous. AND the stupid thing was only 4 questions long, 10 points a piece, and 25% of my grade. I hope to hell I never get her for another class.

But, it's done and I'm glad to have one less thing on my plate.

As for the house deal in Vermont, JMT isn't taking my calls. She's not answering my e-mails. She's not answering her voicemail. And, she's taken to taking her phone off the hook at night. How ridiculous is that?? It's not as if I can jump through the phone and strangle her. I just want to talk for pete's sake and figure out what the freak is going on. And, of course, to ask where the hell my money is at. It looks as if I'm going to have to involve the sheriff after all which I was trying to avoid doing.

And, lastly...My mother-in-law and her husband arrived last night for a visit from Ohio. They took the girls out somewhere so I have the house to myself for a bit. It's nice. Peaceful and quiet. I was also able to have lunch with C after my exams which isn't something we've done since Vermont. Lunch on his lunch hour from work that is. Not have lunch altogether. Heheh.

Now, I'm off to take a nap. I didn't get to sleep until late and I got up with C this morning because I couldn't sleep. I'm beat.

Considerably Calmer *Update*

But no less panicked and pissed off. I feel better now that we have a plan of attack concerning JMT, our renter. What sucks is that I have to follow Vermont's laws or she would already be out on her ass. Step 1: Mail a certified letter to pay or quit. By Vermont law, I have to give her 14 business days to pay her late rent and all the fees. She's now into us for almost $1500 if you were wondering. Step 2: At the end of the 14 days, regardless of whether or not she sends us the money she owes, I'm mailing out another certified letter which will contain an eviction notice. She has yet to sign a new lease since hers was up July 31st so she's only living in my house on a month to month basis. The next step depends on whether or not she pays us the money she owes, but if she doesn't, Step 3 will be to notify the police that she's passing bad checks which, in the state of Vermont, is a felony offense because they're for over $500, punishable with up to a year in jail, and a $1000 fine. Step 4: List the house for sale and hope for the best. This whole thing has the potential to ruin us financially but what else can we do? I had the worst night's sleep last night that I've had in over 7 months. My hands and feet are swollen which means my blood pressure is high again. And I can't eat which is the only good thing about this. I've been running up my cell minutes trying to reach her and various other people. She had her cell phone disconnected and won't return my calls when I leave messages on her home phone. Big shocker there. She has one certified letter that's been sitting at her post office for 5 days now (we've been having other problems with her for the past 4 months that I didn't want to post about) and another one on the way. I've tried reaching her at work, but I only get her voicemail. I've also been in touch with the rental management company and they're sending me all the background info they gathered on her. I also called a realtor to discuss the housing market in Vermont and the possibility of listing the house. The timing couldn't be worse. Why couldn't her check have bounced on Friday when I wouldn't have found it until after my exams??? This is such a nightmare.

Well, I'm off to the post office to make yet another futile attempt to contact her. Wish me luck.

****UPDATE****

So, I mailed the notice for all the good it'll do me. The first certified letter I sent her, I mailed on 8/7 and it's still sitting in the post office in Vermont. I also talked to a lawyer to make sure that I'm doing all of this correctly and I am. Of course. However, it turns out the the Pay or Quit notice I sent today serves as an eviction notice so all she has is 14 days from receiving the letter to pay or vacate. Receive being the operative word here. Is she refuses to pick up the letters, she hasn't received notice. Legally. My lawyer suggested that I call the sheriff's office and have her served. Are you all believing this? I have to have somebody served and it's not even divorce papers, lol. If this ends up in court, I hope I can get all my post office fees, serving fees, and all other freaking money back. This legal business don't come cheap.