I’m so Fancy!

Man, I need to start waking up earlier. Now that I gotta dress up for work and shit, my get ready time has ballooned from ten minutes to like an hour. Holy fuck.

On Tuesday, I had my appointment with the fancy pants loan officer, the one who invited me to the country club. Shiiit, I must have changed three times, bc I was trying to style my recent Schoola items and then they felt a little too quirkly or not formal/professional enough… then I had to wear hose bc my fucking legs are still riddled in flea bites. Jesus fucking Christ. I know, that shit is never ending.

I thought our daily vacuuming and borax treatment resolved the issue, but I dunno. Our daycare client has fleas even though he’s on the flea meds, and honestly, I think bugs are coming in just whenever we go outside and come back home. I dunno.

I got that silk sleep sack (after I had to deal with those scratchy sheets at my parents’ house), and that was working pretty well (supposedly, the fabric is so tight-knit that fleas can’t penetrate. And for a few nights, I was wearing my silk long johns, but a few days later, I got new bites and holy fuck, a flea had gotten into the sleep sack. Argh!! Sleeping with the goddamn enemy! I know, I’m sure you’re feeling itchy now and getting kinda grossed out. Let me just say: Bubbey still has not gotten a single fucking bite!!! Goddamn white privilege, man. Haha! And I don’t believe any visitors have gotten bites (Please inform me if otherwise). So really, it’s just a problem for me bc of my annoyingly weak constitution and apparent allergies to bug bites. Sigh.

I will say, that sleep sack is amazing with how much warmth it adds. Silk is no games, man. Light and thin as fuck but wow, it packs a punch. That shit is going to save my ass next week in Montana.

But back to playing dress up. It’s nice to look polished and such. I’ll just need to speed up my morning routine so we can get that prep time down to something reasonable. My skin was having a shit storm earlier this month, but I’m finally getting back on a consistent routine with taking my BCP and my complexion is getting better. Whew.

Incidentally, my meeting with fancypants went really well. He totally got it! The whole symbiotic realtor-loan officer relationship? I didn’t even have to explain. He just said, yeah lady, you’re gonna have to give me way more business cards than that! I help you, and you help me! He was cool. After that meeting, I was feeling encouraged and energized, so I drove down the main strip and hit up three more credit unions and three more banks. The rest of the day was hit or miss, but at least I ended up with two agents who are definitely keen on working together. Yay!

Making Time for Fun

Now that my hustling has kicked into high gear, my calendars are starting to look a bit unruly. I have so many appointments, trainings, and events in there that I now use timeblocks to show my open lunch and dinner slots. I know, this sounds like a humblebrag. It’s not, but you know how I am about my Google calendars. I’m subscribed to two feeds for the office, so there’s a ton of shit that auto populates. Thankfully, I don’t go to everything single office activity… I go to A LOT, but not all.

For  MLK I took some time out to chill. I spent most of the day with my bud M in her neck of the woods. We grabbed lunch (she found a delicious Mexican taqueria via a walk-by– I know, I can’t even recall the last time I did that! I’m all OCD with using Yelp!). Afterwards, we hit up a Chinese foot spa… a decent spot with good ambiance and only $25!! We’ll need to patronize both businesses again.

I enjoy learning things from my friends. Even though I’m constantly researching shit for myself (J calls me the Tea Researcher– the name of a tea shop from back in the day in Shanghai) and now I also do it for my job (vetting contractors and vendors and such), I like discovering new spots from other people. I mean, sometimes people have different standards or criteria (esp with restaurants), but these two places were solid. MK also turned me on to voice-activated Phillips Hue lights, which I thought were interesting in their technological advancement…

On learning about them, I made the mistake of mentioning to Bubbey and shit, Bubs isn’t about to get behind on the home automation trend… So now we have the Hue lights, controlled by our Alexa. Sheesh. How extraneous can we be!?!?! Ah well, live it up while we can, I suppose.

Bubbey is doing well. He’s really getting into that leatherworking intensive course he’s taking in SF. He came home last week with a leather wallet he made, all hand-stitched. I was impressed. Since he started the class though, Amazon has been to the house nearly every. damn. day, dropping off leatherworking tools, materials, and supplies. The Houseboat is running out of space!

In other news, we are still meeting with contractors for the bathroom remodel, bc the job kinda takes us down the rabbit hole. The bathroom work will involve plumbing work, potentially all new gas lines for the house, and then possibly a new roof (gas lines puncture through the roof). Yup, 2017 might just be the year of the Houseboat Money Pit. And with all this torrential rain we’ve been getting, we’re lucky the drought is over but shit, I need to be reminded (really soon) of the reasons why we’re paying a premium to live here! In other words, bring on the sunshine!!

What else. My animal shelter drive is going well. It’s been great too for reconnecting with my old Rover clients. Last weekend, I made two house calls to pick up gifted goods. I reunited with Bubble Boy (Sparky) as well as Cody. In both cases, it was really nice to catch up with their mommies too. That’s the cool thing about Rover: I’ve met some really nice people. Speaking of which, my current daycare client is a legit regular. I think his parents are seriously seeking 20 days/month for daycare. If I continue with this doggie and also resume daycare with my former (whippet) client, that’s a decent small stream of “passive” income! Yup, I’ve been attending a lot of networking events lately, and shit, I want a better handle over my finances. That’s what the experts say: too often women just obsess about saving, but they don’t really think about growing their money and about passive income streams… that’s how you really build a cushion and generate wealth. More goals. More to dos!

Hustling Hard

Over the long holiday weekend, I toured a number of homes… this was good practice bc I took Bubs along on Saturday to be like a sample client and well, I learned a lot about logistics. This work is really keeping me on my toes. It’s not enough that I filter out the open houses and input them into my Google maps. Oh no, there was a whole host of deficiencies revealed with my car organization and work flow. First, my devices are like perpetually low battery. Not only am I now using an app to track my car mileage, but every real estate app plus mapping and gps sucks down the juice fast! I had a few external batteries on hand but then for some reason, my iPad would charge with one but not the other. Then, I had my devices mounted on suction cups in the car so I could use them hands free. The fucking suctions kept falling off the window or dash. Seriously, it was one thing after the other. My keys now are clunky as fuck bc I have a fob for lock boxes and then when I’m dressed up in fancy clothes, I don’t have pockets. So like my devices were falling off the dash and then my keys were in my lap but fell into that console crevice when I made a hard turn. I have my monster purse that I put under my legs when someone is sitting in the passenger seat. Then, with all the flyers and papers from the open houses, I had no file tote or anything to gather them. Bottom line: the Saturday dry run was a fucking god awful disaster.

I took Bubbey to see three places: a new construction model home (two models open) and two single family homes in more “affordable” parts of Sunnyvale. Of course, the new construction was nice, but then the single family homes were very shabby and super sketch. Both were clearly inhabited by Chinese hoarders AND they were converted to operate either as a worker dorm or as a brothel. I mean, I have seen a lot of hoarder, dirty, dingy places in my life and these two gave both of us the creeps. It was a very good reminder that location seriously matters. If you buy, squeeze yourself into the smallest place in a good hood before buying anything in a shady community. It was eye opening for reals.

I also learned a lot that day about what NOT to do as an agent holding an open house. One agent couldn’t shake my hand, bc she had just done her nails– tour traffic was slow, she explained. Another agent was super rude and distracted, on the phone handling another property matter. Sure, shit happens but she really could have been a bit more polite to people coming in. She didn’t even try to thank people for stopping by. Weird.

We only saw a few places, but by the end of these two hours, both of us were freaking exhausted. And I mean, it was very clear that I needed to implement a system!

Thankfully the next day, I got organized. Hit up Office Depot and got a portable file box plus sticky pads to replace my suctions plus plastic pockets for both console crevices. The latter is my fav so far bc holy crap, now I have a place for my keys and external batteries and I no longer have to smash my hand into that tight spot trying to fish shit out of there. I have also decided to use Google offline maps to get around the lack of service issue. Hopefully the second dry run will be a better experience for Bubbey.

Vulnerability

So my father called me this morning about mom’s MRI results. Not good. While the contusions appear minor (at less than 1 cm2), there is definitely white matter that, coupled with her failed results on the cognitive tests, suggests something is def abnormal. The doctor suggested doing another MRI with contrast dye in another month to see if anything changes… At this point, there are further tests that can confirm whether this is Alzheimer’s or “regular” dementia (80% of dementia cases turn out to be Alzheimer’s), but Alzheimer’s seems to be the likely scenario (my maternal grandmother has it right now). There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s, just meds to slow its progression. And of course, those meds have side effects. My dad didn’t say specifically what those are… Dad’s doctor friend suggested that giving mom more things to do and handle would be good for her brain. I’m trying to think about what puzzles or such she would even have the capacity to do. I dunno.

Both dad and I were kinda matter-of-fact about everything on the phone. I suppose a part of me isn’t that surprised, but now I’m feeling regretful that so many times in the past, I reacted so angrily to her confusion. I really am the worst.

As soon as I got off the phone, J asked if she was afraid. I don’t even know. I didn’t ask. When I talked to her, it was our usual distant, random conversation. Forty years later, I still don’t know how to have a real relationship with my parents. And that makes me sad. I spend all this time and effort trying to build my emotional/social intelligence so I can connect better with friends and strangers and yet I am completely unable to exert the same effort for my parents. Why? I have interacted with them using frustration and anger and contempt for so fucking long, I don’t even know how to find the other emotions!

This evening, I was on the phone with dad doing tech support. He seemed more energetic than usual about learning how to do stuff… maybe he freshly motivated knowing he’ll need to step up his game to take care of my mom, or maybe he’s trying harder so as to not doubly frustrate me. Despite his new verve, I sensed a vulnerability in him that I hadn’t noticed before. I wonder about this process of spending your entire adult life loving one person, building and raising a family together, and then knowing that slowly, that person will become less and less recognizable. What must that decline and growing distance feel like? The loss of the mind. The loss of your best friend and life companion. It’s a very scary thing.

Earlier today, I did some weird mental exercise where I ranked possible illnesses and diseases for my mother. Would it be better if she had cancer? A stroke? kidney disease? I worry about my capacity for kindness and compassion towards my mother, especially since our communication has always been tenuous. If I can’t communicate with her, or she can’t grasp what’s happening, or she doesn’t know who we are… what do we do? And how incredibly lonely and harrowing a journey that will be for her. I don’t know how to be warm and loving. How will I dig deep and become the daughter I need to be?

Getting Down to Business

Well, I did it! I had my inaugural meeting with a loan agent, and honestly, the first one went ok! Not stellar, but ok. The lady was a very experienced pro, and we chatted for about 30 minutes. She seemed a little hurried, with appointments on both sides of mine, but she was knowledgeable and sharp. Sadly, since she was formerly an in-house loan processor for a realty office, she already had her list of go-to agents. Still, it was a worthy exercise, if anything, to break myself in. And my popcorn cone gift was decently received. Thankfully, it’s something that I can cram into my monster handbag and not show up to these meetings with a shit ton of stuff in my arms.

Afterwards, I was very relieved the meeting was over, but at the same time, I felt a headache brewing. Still, I decided that since I was already all dressed up (that shit is taking longer and longer these days bc my starting canvas is a mess and you know, the final presentation has to be fancier than before), I might as well take advantage. So, on the way home, I pulled over at another bank and did a walk-in. No appointment, and oddly, there was no service person tending to the queue. WTH? After a few minutes of awkward looking around trying to figure out the system, I had no choice but to get in line for the teller. When I told her I was a realtor looking to speak with a loan officer, she was all confused, like are you getting a loan for yourself? Guess my coach is right: realtors hitting up lenders for cross-referral business is a rare thing.

This guy was very pleasant. Right off the bat, he told me his bank is different in that it offers home loans to H1B1 visa holders, which is mostly tech workers from overseas. Still, who knew that option even existed? He also was very amenable to working together and co-hosting open houses and homebuy seminars and such. Very positive experience. Another thing I’ve learned? These officers are on call,  man. Their turn around times for pre-approvals is speedy– like hours and even outside business hours. I like that hustle.

Man, by the time I got home, I was wiped. All that mental anxiety and shit… it beats the body down! But I def patted myself on the back. Nothing more satisfying than a Vix getting down to business!

On Friday, I had another appointment with a loan officer in swanky downtown Los Altos. I had a great rapport with this lady. She was a gracious about my chintzy popcorn and then we actually sat down and did an exercise, with like some client earning x, saving y, blah, blah. Just a sample case scenario. It was so helpful! And then she turned me on to options to increase down payment. For example, for some people, they can use money from their 401k for downpayment and then pay themselves back later. Another secret, right? I think too she was quite impressed that I was just starting up and building my business and going around introducing myself to loan agents. Haha. My coach knows his shit! As I was wrapping up, her new hire came in (I had already scouted out that lady’s profile online too) and we introduced one another. My coach has mentioned before that sometimes when both sides are new, they create a strong partnership bc both parties are building their client list.

As I left there, I again wanted to keep the momentum going, so I then did a walk-in at the bank across the street. Well, I went to my car first to get another popcorn cone out of my trunk, THEN I went into the other bank. That place was a totally different, very casual and familial vibe. I chatted with two agents (though the home loan specialist was out) as well as the branch manager/VP. She was super psyched to see me bc apparently, she had just had a meeting with her staff telling them they needed to reach out to Realtors. Haha. She was super friendly and immediately suggested lunch next week when the loan dude gets back. She also mentioned having a budget for homebuying seminars and hosting community events at their branch. Yay!

So I ended the week pretty happy. Got home and hunkered down with the program: followup cards in the mail to the people I met. And the cycle continues.

I’ve been continuing touring open houses, going through exercises using the apps/tools to evaluate the market, etc. I went to lunch with some former colleagues and figured out a way to ask them to join my email list for periodic updates…. so things are moving in the prep/training up stage. I’m enjoying all the variety of work!

 

Stilettos and Clubs

Oh my, it’s been another hectic week. Things started off kinda crappy bc of my lingering cold. At Bubbey’s urging, I called the advice nurse line at Kaiser to see if 10+ days with a sore throat seemed right to them. The nurse was super nice and she said she was battling the same nasty cold herself… there is nothing you can do except continue with the honey/lemon/hot water concoction, suck on throat lozenges, bundle up, and protect your throat from exposure to anything extreme like cold outside air or blasts of dry hot air from indoor heaters. Then, she specifically said, wear a scarf and cover your mouth from these extremes. Omfg, my parents and their constant nagging were right about everything once again! Wtf. I said that to the lady and she cracked up. I mean, every time my parents tell me all this shit, I just roll my eyes. Now I waited on hold for ten minutes to hear the same info from a professional. SMH.

Meanwhile, our poor friend A who invited us to Pasadena… she’s on two different inhalers plus two different antibiotics and she was ordered to stay home on bed rest for another week. Really bad.

Work wise, I tried really hard to get back on track this week. There were a host of trainings and meetings. I met another newbie who was one month in and she had already started meeting with loan officers. And then I realized that, in some way or another, I was procrastinating with that shit. Oh hell no, I am not going to be outworked by another newb. So that afternoon, I reached out to several loan officers and booked appointments. It’s Gou time, mother fuckers.

I scheduled five appointments for the next seven days, and then I’m also planning random drop ins too. One super high producing loan officer at a credit union called me back and invited me to either meet at the office and get a tour and meet the underwriters, OR we could meet at the Capital Club after work where he could book a booth for us. Don’t get the wrong idea: I wasn’t creeped out by it or anything, but I was thinking to myself: what the heck is the Capital Club? Holy crap, that’s how real power players roll. Shit, I am NOT ready!!! Thankfully, I was able to think fast and just opt to see the office and meet the team. After I got off the phone, though. The CC is a country club… like members only kind of place. Oh man, another reminder that real estate can be a fancy world. Shit. I gotta step my shit up!

Which brings me to another issue. I have to revisit my style. I mean, I’m certainly not the frumpiest in the lot of agents, but I’m also not A game. This line of work is def dressier than anywhere else I’ve ever been, including the stodgy environmental engineering firm from back in the day. The ladies who look nice have their shit together: hair, makeup, nails, jewelry. I am seeing a lot of expensive bags and shoes– big time heels, like 3-inch stilettos!!! Needless to say, I’m feeling a little stressed and pressured about this image game, esp bc my skin has been super wonky (exacerbated by all the recent itchiness and flea bite sensitivities), my hair is a mess (I’m growing out part of the shaved head), and I’ve been avoiding dresses and skirts due to the wet and cold. I mean, it’s fine. I’ll just have to figure out my own style, which will probably be more casual than the industry standard but dressier than my current. Yet another thing to deal with on an already lengthy list. Sheesh.

In other news, I met up yesterday with my airplane friend L who was in town for work. He used to be the GM of a healthcare software startup in SF, but he left there and is now the CEO of a software company in the South Bay. That’s great news for me, bc when he flies in, he and his team stay in MV bc that’s where their developers are. No more coordinating meet ups in the city. Anyway, I met him and his colleague who’s from Puerto Rico. In some ways, I feel like L and I are kindred spirits. We have a lot of random similarities. For example, we both share a love and fascination with emotional/ social intelligence, personality types, and leadership skills. He’s teaching two classes part time at Catholic University, and he was lamenting about how people no longer care about written communication… how the students’ writing is shit bc longform is dead. I mean, isn’t that just what I’ve been complaining about? How people don’t want to email anymore bc it’s too time consuming. Texting and social media are all about the shortest, punchiest lines. 

Sadly, I also learned that he put down his 16-y/o dog a week ago. Like Marty, his Pomeranian had kidney disease and he and the wife were doing the homemade meals and supplements and subcutaneous fluids… He’s also devastated by the loss.

In a lighter vein, L also has the Southwest Companion Pass, which I suppose isn’t that surprising considering we met on a Southwest flight to Phoenix three or four years ago. Isn’t it kinda uncanny all the coincidences? I will say, I was very happy to be the person clueing him in about Southwest’s reliatively new direct route from SJC-BWI. For all his flights out to California (his family lives in MD), he’s been suffering through connecting flights just to fly on Southwest. Now his trips will be so much easier. Anyway, it was a good catchup and I expect we’ll see each other more frequently in the future.

CT Scan

So mom got a CAT scan done last week, and the scan def showed differences compared with the scan she had done about 18 months ago. The physician says one area looks like a possible contusion (bruise/injury) and the other area seems like grayish matter. Not exactly sure what the term was since I’m relying what he explained to my father. My father tends to get into all kinds of details, but I’m not the greatest listener, esp when I’m sick. The bottom line is, she’s scheduled now for an MRI and they’re hoping the higher resolution imagery coupled with contrast dyes to see brain circulation will give us more information.

I’m feeling pretty frustrated and vulnerable these days. I know how important it is to maintain a positive attitude… I mean, after all those damn courses I’ve taken, I of anyone, know how critical mental toughness is. And yet, I’m just not there today.

For one thing, I’m still fighting this cold. Our friend A during our trip to Pasadena spoke about constitutions– how some people are just more prone to sickness than others no matter how well they take care of themselves. Ugh. And I’m not exactly the greatest to my body and my health.

Yesterday, our neighbors had us over for dinner. It was really sweet of them: we hadn’t seen them since the day before we said goodbye to Marty. I was annoyed that they hadn’t said anything to me after knowing that we had put him down (in fact, when they were over visiting him one last time, the mom kept offering to care for him the one day she would be home over holiday break… after we had already told her our decision). I dunno. People say we all handle death and grief and loss differently.

I was also super disappointed by people who learned of Martin’s death and said absolutely nothing. Like my former boss from the university. She dropped me an email like “thinking of you and hoping all is good.” I replied within hours that we put Martin down and then no response. I mean, are you emailing me and then not reading the reply? Did you feel bad and want to take more time to craft a sensitive response and then just forgot? Honestly, I am appalled by this kind of bullshit and yet, it’s not the first time I have encountered this. And that was like weeks ago. Still not a damn word. Whatever. SMH. People really do irk my nerves.

In other news, I put two more trips on the books for 2017. We’re headed to Cabo for John’s bday in early March. Then, we’re meeting my college friend and his gal in Nashville in May. Meanwhile, I am gearing up for N’s 40th bday bash in Big Sky, MT, where I just saw the temps were -10F last week. I know. I am ordering some serious heavy duty thermals. Granted, I have been in colder temps in my life (Harbin, China at -25F or so for the Ice Festival). But again, that was over ten years ago when I was younger and stronger and probably still of weak constitution but at least more resilient than today. 🙁

Like a Delicate Flower

So we got back from Pasadena on Monday, and then I got John’s cold. Yesterday, I was feeling way better, so I attended the broker meeting and house tours (check out this gorgeous Eichler in Sunnyvale!) followed by a meeting with a title agent and then the Ditch the Bitch Stigma meetup group. Today, I am sick again with a stuffy nose and head congestion. Fucking A. As tough as I always like to think myself to be, I am annoyingly delicate. Fucking bullshit.

The meetup group last night was really excellent. The organizer is a coach and speaker, so we had a really intelligent conversation among eight women about feminism, communication styles, and the whole bitch stigma. Basically, anytime a woman voices her opinion and sets boundaries on anything– be it at work or through personal interactions/relationships– she gets called a bitch. I was really pleasantly surprised by the conversation. Bc the facilitator is super well-read on feminism and on privilege, I felt like I was back in my women’s studies class at Duke. That class was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life, bc it showed me how conservative and self-righteous and closed-minded and sheltered I really was. Yesterday, we talked about power dynamics, societal and cultural expectations, privilege, stereotypes, and “punching up” vs. “punching down”… it was some meaty shit. All and all, I was super pleased until the very end, where I was standing up, packed up, and ready to leave… somehow the conversation turned to the facilitator’s background and specialty: she is a former stripper and dominatrix and as a coach/speaker now, she specializes in sexuality and power and kink. Yup, leave it to me to find the one meetup group where prudish old Vix has to hear about a former dom’s past clients with fetishes in bondage and humiliation… OMFG.

That’s the tricky thing about feminism, right? There are the multiple waves and the newest wave embraces sexuality, sex work, and I mean all that shit STILL makes me uncomfortable bc I am a prude. I always think back to when I used to work for the feminist organization. The older staff were you know, marching about abortion rights and equal pay and such, but the younger feminists did that PLUS they really embraced sexuality and a woman’s choice to engage in sex work. They would run fundraisers on their college campuses selling Pussy Pops (lollipops shaped like vaginas!). Yup. Too much freedom of expression for me!!!

Then last night, one attendee– on hearing about the facilitator’s past work– really got into the conversation and shared that she had attended a sex workshop in SF where she and her spouse were connected to each other by two straps of webbing, with hooks on each end–  one set of hooks pierced into her upper chest and one set into her spouse’s upper chest. Then, both people faced each other and leaned back, held up by the tension of the webbing!?!?!? They say it was some kind of trust exercise. Uh, what??? Yup, I endured that conversation while making cringe faces and then I darted out of there. I mean, had I been a version of my younger naive self, I would have internally and externally flipped the fuck out. But now that I’m a seasoned, more exposed (and composed) adult, the freak out was limited to internal only. I don’t think I’ll ever get to that level of comfort and exploration re: sex, but I am able to stand there and listen… Yup. Holy fuck. I tell ya. I get a LOT of stories from my Meetup adventures!

Old Favs

This week we received Martin’s ashes back. Even though I am crying less frequently now several weeks after his passing, I still have those random moments when the tears flood my face at the drop of a hat. Sigh. Grieving sucks. I’m still not sleeping well. Oftentimes, when I wake in the middle of the night, I swear I hear moving about the house. Mind you, his doggie bed was long moved out into the garage for storage, and the doggie door is all boarded up but I suppose those old habits really are hard to erase.

I received many sweet and thoughtful notes from friends and acquaintances who learned about his passing. One friend is gifting us a commissioned painting of Martin (with Remy if we want). I looked at the artist’s work. Her paintings are lovely. A few times, we’ve sat down to scroll through pictures to give to the artist, but the process of selecting is full of mixed emotions. I know that we gave them good lives, full of adventure and love, but reflecting on so many of our life’s journeys that we shared with them makes me miss that life even more. Sometimes I think about couples who lose a child– so many times, you hear that the marriages don’t survive the loss. It’s weird to think that J and I have never truly lived alone– with just us. From the time that we officially started cohabitation, Remy was already there warming our shared home.

I suppose, if there’s any good news in my pain, my donation drive is going well. About fifteen people have gifted items in Martin’s memory, with more to come. I was really happy too to hear this week from two of my favorite Rover clients. In the next several weeks, I will reunite with both Cody (the corgi) and Ramona (Kidney Bean). In fact, Ramona will stay with us for 18 days in February… a super long stint (and at holiday rates!!). She’s a stinky pup, but I love her nonetheless. I’m thrilled that I will see them both again soon.

In other dog-related news: my Rover biz is heating up in the new year! I met a very nice couple from the UK (London) who have a very young but well-behaved shiba-corgi mix. I actually think he’s more of a chihuahua mix. They have him with me in daycare. It’s funny, bc he really doesn’t need to be in daycare, but they have no qualms having him with us so he gets midday breaks and isn’t holed up in the apartment. I’m happy to oblige. Later this month, the German lady K with the long-haired whippet is also wanting to resume daycare with us. Interestingly, our friend A (who invited us to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl) just started a new job and K is her boss! Small world, right?

So I’ll have a new Rover client for MLK holiday, Cody for a night, and then Ramona next month! Yay for puppies!

Lord of the Fleas

I’m feeling better today from that damn cold. All of yesterday, I did an aggressive combo therapy, alternating between Chinese throat syrup and hot water + honey + lemon. Today is a new (not really) issue: fleas.

You see, I got eaten alive around the time that Marty passed away. That was before Christmas. Then, we figured that being away for Christmas and for New Year, with the temps dropping and the bugs having no warm bodies on which to feed, the fleas would just die off. We got back from MD and Pasadena and my legs are still itching like hell. Maybe I was still suffering from the remnant bites, bc I’d read that sometimes the bites take 2-3 weeks to heal…

Well then yesterday, I saw some live fleas on the new Rover client, a cutie shiba-corgi mix. I checked with the owner, and she said the dog’s been on prescription flea meds (which usually works amazing) since they got him. So is it our house then? I don’t know!

Before, our vet said the flea situation was bad the last few years bc of the drought. Well, our area is almost OUT of the drought now with all the rain we’ve been getting so I don’t know what the deal is now. John was giving me crap about having these dogs in the house, but what do you want me to do? I miss Marty terribly and while these doggies aren’t an adequate substitute, they do offer me some small ounce of joy.

Fortunately, the infestation isn’t major. I mean, J has yet to be bitten. It’s just that me with my sensitive skin… I’m resuming vacuuming daily as well as the additional spraying of lemongrass essential oils. John went to OSH to buy Borax, but the clerk said that shit has been flying off the shelves. All out.

I feel so behind with work and learning… Last Thursday before we headed off for Pasadena, I went to a local credit union to do my realtor intro to a loan officer. Got all dressed up and took my cone of popcorn… the guy was out and is by appointment only. Ugh. Then I tried to schedule something with a different bank, but yesterday I was sick and now she’s out until Friday. I feel like I need to just get it going so I can demonstrate to myself that it’s not that hard. Haha. Mind games to trudge forward.