My life is never quiet or particularly calm. As a full-time working single-mom with no support that's pretty much a given. Add to that that I try to run 40-60km per week, and do yoga at least once a week, and like to get to the gym too (hasn't happened recently though). And rather like socialising *grin*. And then there's the whole dating-game 'relationship' stuff... And well, there's rarely ever a dull moment. But the past 2 weeks have been particularly full-throttle!
I have been browsing the property market casually as I wanted to buy an investment property to rent out as part of my retirement saving strategy - I have no other retirement savings yet. I made a few enquires, and looked around a little and was considering options.
I had also decided it was high time I got around to doing some maintenance and upkeep on my own home so had replaced the dilapidated thatch lapa we had with a more modern, neat and clean flat-roofed structure. After that I had to fix up the pool which the builders had trashed which took quite some doing. Then it was time to get kitchen quotes and get the exterior cleaned up, cracks patched and painted etc.
This afternoon 2 weeks ago at around 3pm I saw a little house on-line. An hour later I left the office to go look at it. Then followed a full week-end of chores, shopping and activities and errands including a Silvermine braai.
Late on the Sunday night I did the sums, ran the numbers and decided to buy the house! I drafted my own Offer to purchase and sent it in. On Monday I met with the agent and submitted a formal offer on their forms. The rest of the week was spent wrangling that and then starting the process to look for tenants and to find a way to finance it and starting the process of releasing fund wherever I can find them (like in my current home loan) and having to pay deposits and deal with the biggest bitch of a conveyancing attorney ever. (Can I just say, that I am never dealing with STBB EVER again!)
Then my sister had an emergency op on Monday too. She went in to GP for what was an assumed minor annoyance, but was referred to specialist, and booked straight to theatre right there and then. So I had to do what I could to help as needed and keep in contact and be supportive (much less than I wish I could have!!). She had a major downswing on Thurs and thought she was dying as she couldn't stand or see and started vomiting etc! It turned out she had contracted the Staphylococcus bacteria!! Which recently DID kill several people in Cape Town. Flippen scary stuff! Yikes.
Then I also worked a normal full 45-hour week. On top of my normal job of managing a team of 20, our UK directors were down for the week to do 2014 strat sessions. So in addition to my normal job we had to sit in 2014 planning sessions for 2-4 hours every day and provide input and report on stuff etc. I also had to prep a presentation for the monthly management meeting and look at hiring and firing a couple of people...
In between I was still trying to juggle the usual running of my personal life, homework, shopping etc and including having a domestic, new gardener and the painter at my house most of the week. And then advertising the new house and looking for a tenant.
That was all during the day. At night I had stuff on every night:
Monday: I had a birthday dinner with A (which I literally rushed to after a hospital visit/drop at home, car retrieval from the hospital exercise for my sister), and had to arrange a gift just before, pretty much on the way.
Tuesday: we had a boy staying over from a Khayelitsha school exchange (same boy as last year, Sandile), so I had to do a decent dinner and entertain them and then Quinn went there on Wednesday (I had to draw the line at being able to provide lifts although I would have liked to).
Wednesday: I had to do a quick hardware store run and get dinner for Griff and get a baby sitter and then dashed to a Gun Run helpers planning meeting, and then I RUSHED to a business dinner with the directors, that turned into quite a shindig and a 2am drinking session.
Thursday: night was thankfully calm and quiet. Just yoga and I crashed into bed as soon as I could after that (still almost 11pm I think)... I was exhausted!
Friday: Was corresponding with about 50 prospective tenants and paying the deposit on the house and working out when I could get keys to start showing the place, than at 8pm I had to go to the school 80s disco party. Honestly I wanted to die rather than go, I was SO TIRED. But I went and ended up staying till 1:30am and had so much fun!
Saturday: I ran 26km and then did a bunch of errands and shopping and stuff, then visited a friend, put together 3x pirate costumes and then we went over to A for dinner and a sleep-over and then
Sunday: we were all up at 05:30 to go Marshal the Gun Run (leaping around and yelling encouragement and waving a flag from 06:30 am till the end) and then dashed home to do a quick run and shower/change and then head to a friend in Kommetjie for an awesome catch-up and braai :) We got home at 19:30 and then had to help Griffin do his oral for monday which he'd just remembered. Then emailed a zillion tenants and made plans for viewings and then had to tell the painter I was not entirely happy with his work and he must come back to finish the job.
Got to work at 7am on Monday morning to hit the ground running. It has been quite a non-stop week again too. Including some interesting new and emotionally challenging teenage issues cropping up and 2x sleep-outs and being chastised from my internet usage being too high at work (oops).
After showing the house on Monday evening and getting quite good interest, I did another showing on Wednesday and it is taken. A tenant is signed up for a year starting on 1 Nov for a year and 1.5 month's deposit paid in cash. Boom!
A is super productive, efficient and good at juggling lots at the same time but even he has been impressed with how much I have done and how fast! If you followed that house timeline you'll notice that I went from first hearing about the house to having bought it and signed up a tenant in 12-days!
So it has been a highly busy, productive couple of weeks, and has for the most part been really successful, but there's only so much of this I can do before I crack. I am not a natural at handling so much and so much pressure with applomb. Especially on limited sleep (and too much alcohol). I am planning to keep the next week as calm and quiet as I can!
I am not bored or lonely anymore that's for sure! :) :) :)
