5C's Que Pasa

A full eight hours of go go go.  New tires done and seem great.  We managed to pick up all the cheques, had to go back to one place twice as they were not ready.  I even got the one cheque in the mail that I was hoping for.   All went smoothly until we got to ICBC which is the only place that you can get insurance on your vehicles here in BC, Canada.  They have a monopoly and no one seems able to understand the new computer system ( ?? 2-3 years old ) 😥

Those of you who live here in BC will understand.  We had five items to deal with.  Knowing the system, I asked to be able to sit down with an agent rather than stand.  In the end we were there for well over an hour 🙄  First off we put my car into storage effective midnight tonite.  However they needed an exact date to end the storage.  How do I know, so we chose June 25th, a few days after we are back from Europe.  I will then insure the Lexus for four months ( it was only three months this year  😕 ), guess we are traveling too much.

Next off was the Jeep.  We downgraded from full insurance to senior insurance as Colin is no longer going to job sites and doing business.   We were credited $65.00.  Once the paperwork was done, I had to think about that for a bit, as in fact we also needed to renew the senior insurance on the Jeep for a full year effective November 10th which I thought that she was doing.  However she said no, you can’t as you can only renew 55 days ahead and we did not have that.  Colin quietly and calmly pointed out that we were legit.  So she had to add that on and was not happy about that.  Meanwhile the new paperwork from now until November 10th was printed as the ink was running out in the printer and I could not even read the dates nor the license number.  She was not impressed that I asked that it be re printed ( going thru the US/Mexican border – hello !! ).  She had to change the ink cartridge.

Last up was the RV.  The Aviva portion was up for renewal October 1st but she had to reread the entire policy to be sure it was correct 😡   At this point I politely mentioned that I had another appointment ( to get my new glasses adjusted ) in about 10 minutes ( they were closing in 15 minutes ).  Instead she started to help another agent who had no idea what to do with her client.  I simply sat and fumed quietly.  Colin later told me that I did good not reaming her out.  Finally the Aviva portion was complete and then we had to do the ICBC portion of  the insurance for the RV.  Another long and drawn out event.   Finally after over $1800.00 total for all of our transactions or so, we were done.  I of course missed getting my eye glasses adjusted as they were closed.

We got home, unloaded and put stuff away.  Colin immediately ( about 3 hours ago ) got back to photoshop and I got caught up as much as I could.  I still have not finished off on the final invoice.  Great news is that we only have ( other than the direct deposit payments ) two outstanding invoices and those will be taken care of  by the end of the day Tuesday :-D. So many phone calls with clients today and one very very long one with our accountants assistant.  They really do not like me shutting things down so very early.  Tough 😆

I got a twinkle of excitement today.  Yeah, we are hitting the road for a full six months, only six sleeps.  Once I get through tomorrow I only have to pack, load and store the RV.  Not too may brain cells required.  One of the stops today involved purchasing wine until we left, and some for the RV and even two bottles for when we return home in April 😛

My only complaint is that I am freezing cold.  We have had full on rain for almost a straight 24 hours.  Someone today, made a comment on how I was wearing winter clothes today.  I was and I was/am still cold.  Yup socks in my sandals again.

Thanks for following along…..off to warm up in the tub along with a book and a glass of vino.  Eventually it will be time to make dinner.  Gosh,what am I to do with all of my tomatoes and carrots?  We can’t bring them into the US and we certainly can’t eat them all.

Yes bright and early, one week from today, we will be on the road.  Oh how my soul craves to be in the RV sweeping down the open road mile after mile after mile.  Soon, but first so much to do.

I had to have a strong talk with Colin this afternoon and insist that no he could not do yet another job for a client tonight.  Yes it is nice to want to help your clients but it is time to help ourselves.  He still has two full days at his computer.  Meanwhile I can’t quite close the books as I need to get the final two invoices ( based on the amount of photoshop time  as well as photography time ) in order to sort out the GST and the PST.  I can’t pay those taxes until the invoices are done.   Tomorrow we have sixteen errands to run 😯  Likely it will take most of the day.

Almost beach time 🙂

Three of those stops include picking up cheques and then later doing a final deposit.  I do have one large cheque coming in the mail from Edmonton.  If it does not get here tomorrow then that means another run to the bank next Tuesday.  Our mail comes late in the afternoon.  I have three cheques coming by direct deposit within the next month.  These last two invoices will be easier, one will be an E-transfer. ( ASAP I hope ) and the other client is very graciously going to take the cheque to a branch of our bank early next week and deposit it for us 😀

Tomorrow at midnight the insurance runs out on my car and it will go into storage till the end of June.  That also means that we will only have the one vehicle from now on.  We also need to insure the RV tomorrow.  Once that is done we can finally order our Mexican insurance.  So many details.

One of the big issues we are dealing with tomorrow is getting two new tires on the Jeep.  You might recall that last year we had to get two new front tires in Mazatlan.  Colin went to two different tires stores here last week and apparently the back tires have cracks in them and the heat of Mexico will only cause more problems so they say.  I did some online research and it is actually cheaper for us to buy the tires here than in the US and tomorrow is the day.

I am still behind a day in my to do’s but if I get through the day tomorrow and put in another two hours afterward, then I just might be able to start some packing on Saturday.  I have visions of next Thursday morning coming and not being loaded.  I do have one small appointment on Saturday and another major one on Tuesday and then I am not leaving here unless I am in the RV 😛

There is a bright light coming.  We have two days of rain ( not showers ) to deal with and then the sun is going to come out 😎  That means loading the RV in sunshine with a bit of heat ( 18 – 21 C/64 .5 – 70F ).  Perfect.  Looks like our Indian summer is a non event this year and fall is early.  Can winter be far behind?

I leave you with this fun graphic about beer prices around the world.

Colin has been gone over 14 hours thus far and I have been at my desk for 12 hours plus.   Certainly not trying to win any prizes but I have to do what I have to do.  The last two jobs have gone very well weather wise.  Tomorrow is our last photo shoot before we leave and the forecast is 40% chance of showers in the morning and then clouds.  Fingers crossed.  Likely we may only be able to invoice for the actual photography and the photoshop etc next April.

Despite the cool temps, someone was out just before sunset last night in his wet suit.

Hmm my eyes are crossing as I type this.  Colin is inbound, about 35 minutes away.  Somehow in the last few days he has misplaced his gate ( to our park ) swipe pass.  We each have one from back in 2003 when we moved here.  Tonight he will have to summon security to the gate to let him in.  I had planned to go to the office earlier today to get a new one for him but I ended up spending over two hours on balancing the month to date ( and ran out of time ) and then forgot about it.  Human input error 😳   I plea simple exhaustion.  He can use mine tomorrow and I will get another.  When one is chained to ones desk, it is difficult to think of life three feet away 🙄

Yesterday I had to go out and get my new eyeglasses adjusted.  Don’t think I told you about those, too busy.  Well, you will see them eventually.  At the same time I did some banking and safe deposit box stuff.  I also decided on the spur of the moment to get $1000.00 USD cash.  Guess I should have waited until today and I would have saved $8.80CAD.  We like to travel with some cash.   Markets are up.  Oh well it is all a guessing game.

Today was a crazy day and Colin needed to hire an assistant for the last four hours of his shoot.  He couldn’t be front and back of the home at the same time, so he set it all up and needed this guy to push the camera button.  Of course as well as carry equipment, wet down the driveway, etc.

A quick snap of our sun setting tonight.

Ahh, Colin is home…..time to sign off and get dinner going,  now just after 9:25PM.  Hopefully Colin will be good with fresh tomato sandwiches.  Likely not, as he has been eating sandwiches all day.  Gosh I haven’t even had my bath yet….onto dinner 😯

Hasta manana 😎

Because the sun appeared for a bit, Colin was able to get a job done yesterday.  He left at 9AM and did not get back until almost 11PM.

At the end of my very long day I relaxed with a book in the tub.

Still unusually cold here for this time of year.  It feels like the end of October when we are preparing to leave. The weather guessers are saying that this might be it, no more hot days.  Glad we are leaving shortly.

So today Colin spent the day doing photoshop and blueing up the sky and the lake.  The photos look great and the client is happy as he needs the photos for a high end magazine article on his business.   I finally finished all that needed to be done re the new will we just finally signed.  But really two months and lots of stress is not normal and I did let the lawyer’s office know.  I won’t go into the back and forth but bottom line is that I started long ago to avoid this last minute hassle.  Now onto other things that need to be done before we can start loading the RV.

After 8 hours of  doing photoshop on his computer today,  Colin went out to do some physical things. like cleaning the Weber BBQ in preparation for our departure.  He also put some patio furniture away.

It rained off and on most of the day so our plan to put the garden to rest was thwarted.  We have no idea how tomorrow is going to go.  If a client can get her home owners willing to accept last minute photography because the forecast looks pretty good, then that is what Colin will do tomorrow.  That will change all of our planned events for tomorrow including a meeting and lunch with our financial advisor as well as a few business stops and working in the garden. I am simply going with the flow.  My list of to do’s is so long that I just go from one list to the other.  Poco a poco.

Off to another bubble bath and than a late dinner.  Colin is back doing photoshop for another client.  Gosh is is almost 8PM 😯   Once we lock the door and hit the road in eleven sleeps all of this will be forgotten.