You Don't Have A Due Date Yet

 Years ago that only meant one thing. Either I wasn't pregnant or it was too soon in the pregnancy to establish when the baby was due. 

Well, first, I'm 75. Need I go on? Seriously? OK then: I had my tubes successfully tied around age 40. There was a long period of time afterwards while I was taking care of my own head and healing from my own history that there was absolutely no cause to be suspicious of a pregnancy even without a tubal. When I finally "got back in the game" it was after having all the rest of my baby-making parts removed for medical reasons. I still joke with my doctors that if I'm pregnant you'll have to change my name to Mary.

I'm confident I'm sticking with Heather.

So no, I'll never have that kind of a due date again. Even were it physically possible, those due dates were all off by a month. My kids were all 10 month babies. No, not counting errors, long gestations. Still, when I see that phrase, my mind inevitably pops over into that meaning of it.

This time it's about my electric bill. In Arizona of course. I'm legally required to keep all the utilities on and paid for while the house is empty and on the market. Potential customers need to know that the water runs clear, the lights and climate control work, the stove cooks, etc. There's just one little problem: the house isn't empty. Therefore it hasn't been put on the market yet. And yes, Steve and I are both pissed off about it. And yes, we're in the process of a legal eviction, at the recommendation and with the assistance of our realtor. She's been a real source of information, assistance,  and strength during this time. She's the one who served the initial papers. She'll be talking to the judge this week. She keeps us informed, sends photos of "progress" on a regular basis. She also provides transportation of boxes of - let's face it: junk - to a storage unit, which she's also paid for, even though I'd already shelled out the money to do so. It just never made it to its destination. Yep, something else we're pissed off about.

She insists that her extra costs will be getting paid in the realtor pay split upon sale of the house. She will, because of her extra expenses, change the 50-50 split to something closer to 60-40, keeping track of all her extra expenses to justify that of course. I have assured her that any larger expenses will get covered upon the sale should something be needed, say, to cover damage. In such a case, of course, our "pissed off" meter will climb accordingly. I already shelled out over 12 grand for a bathroom repair/remodel, long overdue and reducing us before the repair to a single usable bathroom. Can't sell a house when the plumbing doesn't work, or at least not without a severe financial penalty, and since color choice was the same price regardless of what was chosen, I made it beautiful! Not plain white, but white/grey/turquoise! Very Arizona! And hopefully a major selling point.

            Shower floor piece leaning against wall.                                 
 

 So where does that influence the electric bill? With solar on the roof, I should be getting money back for all the time we're not in the house. With our unwelcome tenant in the house, I have a bill due each month instead. I presume he's using lights, the refrigerator/freezer, and the AC, which means, since we turned off the thermostat and the fridge when we left, and left the lights off, he's turned them back on. I can go to my account page online and follow the daily changes in the electric bill. They're all increases, of course. As somebody who likes to be sure what the budget has extra room for after the bills are paid, especially on a fixed income, it's good to know what's going on.

The bill for last month will be final in a couple more days. Meanwhile, each time I check its "progress", when I log in the first words to catch my eye are: "You don't have a due date yet" ...in any sense.