Surprise Notice From My Cottage Tenant

On Friday, I had a meeting with another Festival committee member to once more try to get the Fields Park measured so I can place the booths and begin to figure out where artists and sponsors and our Info Booth will be placed. I realized that I needed to use the cement pad that had a picnic table on it and was surrounded by trees as the focal point for measuring form both sides to other objects in an attempt to have one reference point that never changes.

I had deposited a couple of checks at the bank before going to the park. I knew I needed to get some groceries on the way home. I easily convinced myself that I deserved more than just some eggs that I was running low on, but some other treats with the surprise check from Diamante. So I bought some Salmon, ground turkey and a couple of containers of ice cream. I had been craving ice cream when walking through Manitou Springs seeing everyone with ice cream cones walking around. The two containers cost less than one cone bought on the avenue, and will give me many more servings and treats these next few weeks.

I had decided to skip my morning shower as I knew I was going to get hot marking the park. I was determined to vacuum my house which is very dirty work. Then I wanted to plant the Chocolate Mint plant a friend had brought me weeks ago. Plus it was time to get the boxes of dirt from the chimney and raccoon adventure off my porch and up the hill in the back. I was pretty gritty by the time all these things were accomplished and it started to sprinkle just as I was doing the planting, but got it all done.

Next I tried to put the measurements to work. The pad as a reference point did work pretty well. Still, some things just will not match up properly. Those sloped areas and the treed areas with sidewalks that are not straight, just make it challenging. I printed it out, and put it in my car to measure one more time after the Celebration of Life I was going to in the morning. I had bought a large container of blueberries and some Vanilla Yogurt to take to that gathering.

I got my shower and washed my hair and dressed to go out dancing after lovely dinner.

I did go out dancing at Stargazers and Tiny Barge and the Big Chill did not disappoint. As always, had some great conversations with many other dancers there. And met a gentleman that was very interesting. He seemed to be attracted to another dancer, but we did dance a bit. Then at the end, we sat and talk after the band quit. He has known them for a very long time, and the drummer came up and said hello while we chatted. He was very convincing about the many reasons I needed to get a new phone, an iPhone in particular. Lots of reasons for business that I would easily come to love having one.

Long time since I have any thoughts about wanting to get to know a man. Just too many bad relationships in my past, but I have not given up on the possibility of finding a partner that actually is worthwhile and loving.

We texted a few times about various things, but haven’t heard from him recently. I may text my rental resolution when I get a confirmation from the person I am hoping will next rent the Cottage . . . but getting ahead of myself here.

I did stay out longer than I had planned that night, but I should have known it would be hard for me to leave a really good dancing band.

Saturday morning I had to get up early enough to go the Farmer’s Market for my weekly grocery shopping trip. And I decided I needed to go there and get the food back to the house before going to the Celebration of Life for JeriAnn at 9:00 am. I am not a morning person, so that was challenging. But I got it done. I will never forget the sight I saw on my way home from the Farmer’s Market. A car was parked in the Shuttle Loading Zone. Two shuttles were waiting to pick up the more than 40 people waiting to get on. A vendor was having a shouting match with the shuttle driver, and as she got into her car, flipped off the Shuttle driver. Do wish I had had my camera out at that moment to have captured that image.

I arrived at the Hillside Gardens just a little after 9am. Proud of myself. Lots of people, lots of stories to share, lovely music and songs sung in her honor. Wonderful food and cooling drinks. I wore a sparkling pin that JeriAnn had given me at my 55th (no presents please) birthday party a friend had held for me. At that time, my leg was just healing enough that I could dance the night away. And that is where the picture I use for all my books and other reasons got taken by a friend. That pin resides on my dresser where I see it everyday and am reminded that I am a shining star.

I talked to her sister about an idea that came to me of creating a book from all of the poems and songs JeriAnn wrote so they would not be forgotten. We will talk again in September after both of our big events are completed.

As I was leaving I stopped to take a picture of a metal sculpture that looked like they were celebrating life. I had a bad hold on the bowl with the remaining berries and it slipped and fell to the sidewalk and shattered into many pieces. I had been part of a couple of conversations about downsizing, but that wasn’t really what I wanted to downsize, but there it was, out of my life. Hope some birds enjoyed the blueberries.

I stopped by the Fields Park and did some more measurements. There were lots of people enjoying the park, and I tried not to disturb the family gathered at the picnic table, so might not have gotten all the measurements I needed, but I am now done with the measuring part of that project. Just gonna say it is good enough and work with it the best I can.

Both days, I stopped at Memorial Park to see the juried art show that was just filled with “crap” and a few artists. There was no where near the 75 artists there. Maybe 30 tents with at least 9 jewelers were set-up. It was sad to see the few legitimate artists among the imported items, including a booth of Egyptian Sheets, huh? Not one of the vendors had a Vendor Permit. I got 2 different answers when asked how they would be paying sales taxes. And one jeweler from Oklahoma very rudely informed me I didn’t know the law and she would be paying her sales tax with her own number after the event was over. There were no porta-potties. The Face Painter had come into MAC looking for the bathroom as the promoter had told her he had made special arrangements with the MAC for artists to use their bathroom. The Director of MAC replied, that “no special arrangements had been made, but you may use the bathroom.” Other vendors I asked about potties directed me to the ones on the side of City Hall. The only trash cans were the City’s. No bands ever played. And the poor musician trying to play under a small tarp like tent, was having real problems with his equipment the second morning. I chatted with one vendor who had done Commonwheel shows long ago. None of the vendors were very happy. The promoter obviously was relying on getting traffic from the people who were parking near the park and riding the shuttles. Two banners at the front of the park proclaimed “Art Festival”, a listing in the Bulletin’s Calendar and one small ad in the Gazette was the extent of his advertising.

That evening, my cottage tenant rang my doorbell and wanted to return the diffuser and some oils she had been using on Louie, her kitty who we had cat sat and was not in totally good health. I told her to keep using the diffuser a while longer and hold onto the oil and get him healthy. Then she told me she needed to move out of the cottage. The vet bills and a few other things were going to make it hard for her to afford the space. She wouldn’t break her lease, but if I wanted to find a new tenant sooner, she would be able to move out very quickly. I told her I had to think about it, as I had so much on my plate at this m0ment, showing the cottage wasn’t in my plans, but understood her plight.

I gave myself most of Sunday to work on other things and think about the Cottage. I bought the YouTube Training and the Content Training programs. My friend who I am helping with books had looked at the YouTube training and thought it interesting enough to invest the $27 in, but needed me to walk him through the steps. I was glad he called, as there was a better link with better bonuses than the one I had originally sent him, so that worked well.

My Inner Health friend wanted to see the cottage, but it wasn’t right for her. I took advantage of that showing to take some photos of the interior and exterior, as I decided I should just get it advertised as quickly as possible. And her telling me about other places she looked at and was living in currently and what people were paying for rent, I bravely decided to raise the rent not just $25, but $50. That was a really good choice, as it did not deter people from wanting to rent it.

 At about 9:15 I posted the Cottage for rent on Craig’s List. By midnight, I had had 7 or more requests to see it. So I set up showing times for Monday and Tuesday.

Festival emails and a conversation with the accountant at City Hall distracted me this morning. Plus replying and setting up showing times filled my morning. Then I had 3 showings. The first two were both really good candidates for the cottage. The person who delivers all the Festival printed items showed up perfectly between these showings and my last one for the day. We chatted and need to get together after the Art Festival to talk about web sites and books. We both have skills and knowledge the other can use. and we both need better income while still following our hearts and helping people.

Most fun moment of my day was catching a large beautiful moth that was in the house and releasing him back to the outside world. Holding him in my hands was a very special moment. Seeing him fly away made my heart sing.

And tonight on my way home from a Board meeting, I ran into the massage therapist who I have a disagreement with about whether she owed me one more massage from a trade last year. I told her I was wanting to just let it go, after all, I have given away many Essential Oils in the past, and was doing so that very day. I did want her to look at some of the new products introduced by Gary Young this year and learned she had forgotten she was a Young Living distributor. She had immediately removed her email from the web site after signing up, as was getting “too many emails”, and didn’t know how to access it. I told her I would send her that information. Then she suggested she could give me a half hour massage and we would compromise in the middle ground of our different interpretations of what was owed or not. I gladly agreed, as I had been ready to let it all go and move on to just being able to talk to each other again when we saw each other. And she does now live on Ruxton in an apartment between my home and Manitou Avenue, so that will make walking past her much more comfortable in the future.

I decided to see if the young man that is my first choice for the cottage who grew up in Manitou Springs, knows my upstairs tenant and his parents know an old friend of mine, wanted to sign a lease tomorrow and pay part of the deposit and would want to move in mid-August. Just then the phone rang and it was the current tenant. We discussed the timing and that would work well for her. I told her to keep the Eucalyptus Oil for Louie and in the near future before she leaves wanted to talk more about the Young Living oils, especially since the Purification had worked so well keep mosquitoes at bay on their camping trip last weekend.

I took the Craig’s List posting down, and emailed the young man. He just emailed back that he could meet with me tomorrow at 2pm and give me a partial deposit and sign the lease. One thing that was also in his favor is he likes squirrels. Learned that when I stopped to feed the half blind one before showing him the cottage.

It is late, but now I will go and email cancellations to the people scheduled to see the cottage tomorrow afternoon. I hate wasting people’s time and it will save me time also.

This is the fastest I have ever rented a space.

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