So yesterday, I mentioned that I’d started my work boundaries list but hadn’t actually started following anything on it. Well… I did follow at least one of them today, and it started before I went to bed last night–No phone calls during sleeping hours.
As I was lying down to go to bed last night, I was like, “Nope, I’m not gonna take those early calls.” So? Last night when I went to bed, I set my phone ringer on silent, crawled into bed, and just slept. 😴
And guess what I found when I got up?
There were 7 calls (all from the same person) 🤪. The first call came in at 6:39 a.m.
Nope.
Just not gonna do it anymore. People can wait. I can sleep. I need to sleep. From now on, the phone is on silent during sleep hours.
I used to keep my ringer volume up, so that friends who were having hard time could call, and I could be there for them, but I don’t think I’ve had anyone call me in the middle of the night for… years? Anyway, it’s just time to have some quiet, uninterrupted resting time. So from now on… this is the new normal.
It was a super busy day today. Most of it was just trying to keep David going where he needed to go with what he needed to do the jobs that were on the schedule. Lots and lots of calls, too. I only did one paying job today, an alternator on a 2012 Chevrolet… I forget which… Does it matter? It’s a Chevy. By definition, at least with modern ones, it needs to be fixed. 🙃
David did I think maybe 5 cars? I don’t remember. He worked a long day. He doesn’t normally work Fridays, but with Wednesday being slow, he decided to work today, so that was nice. Tomorrow should be another good day. Lots of work to do.
So… there was at least one more boundary I didn’t follow explicitly because I don’t even remember what the boundary is, so it’s not really following it, but I had a chance to, at 6 pm, start a 3-hour job, and I said no!!! I was slightly tempted, because I knew it was going to get pushed into tomorrow, one of the busiest days of the week, but still… I was done.
I probably should have gone home after that, but I decided to visit my friend Miguel at his shop and get dinner with him instead. We ordered from the Mexican restaurant next door, a place we’ve gotten food at who knows how many times. I told Miguel to go ahead and order, and I went over to pick it up–4 different meats, 1/2 pound each, a stack of corn tortillas, some greens, chips, and salsas. I walked over to pay, not knowing how much it was going to be, and the girl was like, “that’ll be $103.xx.
😶
Wait, what?
At first, I was just shocked and didn’t say anything. Then I got back to Miguel’s place, and opened it up, and it was like… only enough meat to make three or four of the normal $10 burritos at the other local restaurants.
I was floored/stunned/shocked… you name it. Miguel was as well.
$103+ for 2 lbs of meat, a few tortillas and some salsas!?!?!
I went back and complained a bit. It’s totally against my nature to do that. I loathe confrontation, but… It was insane. $103 for that?!?!
They probably doubled or tripled the amount of meat, but even at that, You’re looking at $43/lb?!?! Chicken, chorizo, carnitas, carne asada?
That has to be the most expensive meal I’ve ever bought–I think. Needless to say, I won’t be going back there. Too bad.
Anyway, by the time I got home tonight (around 10), I was dragging. Today is 30 minutes, but I didn’t want to run at all. The asthma is a killer. As one of my sisters put it, it’s not just 30 minutes of exercise: It’s 30 minutes of consciously choosing moment by moment to ignore the suffocation, and just keep pushing through. Mind over body. It’s so uncomfortable and miserable.
That same sister was gracious enough to stay on the phone with me, without my even asking, for 30+ minutes, to help me make it through.
And I did, thanks to her. I reached the goal today that I set out three weeks ago. 30 minutes of cardio exercise a day. That’s gonna be the daily number now. No more increments up. Just steady routine.
I think I am gonna decrease to five days a week instead of six, though. Five days is the recommended, I think, so I’ll stick with that. My body will probably appreciate the extra rest.
Anyway, so there you go. It’s gonna be a night. I learned today that there’s no way to submit my property tax assessment online. It has to be mailed, which means I need to do it tonight (it’s due Sunday), so I can mail it out have have it postmarked tomorrow. I’ve been dreading doing my property taxes–listing out everything my business owns, and placing an estimated value on it. It’s so ludicrous. I spend 10 hours of my time so they can charge me $100? $200? Goodness! I’ll give you $300! Just let me go work instead of sitting counting and listing tools! I’ll warm you sales tax revenue, actually contributing to the economy instead of waiting my time.
So, yeah, it’s 12:39 now, and I’ll be doing that until I’m done tonight. I might even still be working on it when you read this.🤪
Ugh.
And property taxes are like the most evil of all the taxes. You never actually own your own stuff. You’re renting it from the government. Evil evil tax.
Anyway, probably about time to do this:
#1. I’m grateful that I had the strength to say “no” today, which I did on multiple opportunities to do jobs today.
#2. I’m grateful to have had another good money day. I didn’t contribute much to it in direct mechanic work, but I am busting my butt to make sure David has what he needs to get stuff done.
#3. I’m grateful to have remembered to grab my little 1/4-inch ratchet today. My other one broke, and I’ve needed it, and it’s slowed me down not to have it, so it was nice to have it today.
#4. I’m grateful to my sisters who’ve been super supportive. Commenting on here, texting, etc. Thanks, so much!!!
#5. I’m grateful to be making steady forward progress at a good pace.
Well, my lovelies. I’m super tired. I need to get some more liquid in me. I’m quite dehydrated, and I need to get on this list. I’m already partially done which is good. I hired my mom to go over a bunch of it for me, so I’m not starting from scratch. So that’s something. I just have to figure out where to start tonight, and get it done and ready to mail off tomorrow.
Good night, folks. Sweet dreams.
Lift the World.
~ stephen
Lift the World 
Way to go on your boundaries! My take on property taxes – we are a community. We all use roads near our property, for example. We all contribute to the upkeep of the services we enjoy. We know that when we call emergency services, they will come. We know that the children of our community will have the chance at an education, which will enrich our community. This is democracy. We vote for people we want to help allocate our share of shared resources. We contribute money to the betterment of our communities. It’s not stealing, it’s contributing to something bigger than ourselves. It’s not a penalty, it’s doing our share.
Thx, Tish! I appreciate having the conveniences that taxes provide, for sure. There are just two problems I have with property taxes: #1. In the same amount of time I spend trying to figure out how much i owe, I could have used that time to help the community directly by fixing more cars, bringing in more revenue *and* paying even more taxes than property taxes cost me as a business. It’s a waste. The only difference is that the taxes the government would collect from me are sales taxes and income taxes and not property taxes. Just choose to allocate the funds differently, and you make the system more efficient and more beneficial–both in revenue for the state, revenue for me, and services done for customers. With the current way, only one of three get benefitted whereas if they would just allocate funds differently, all three could benefit from the same effort.
#2. I say property taxes are the most evil because you never own your own stuff. You can have your property taken away from you if you can’t afford to pay the property taxes on it, so it’s not really yours to begin with. You can’t ever just sit back and live off your own land if you wanted to, unless you use the land to make money to pay the rent.
Charge me more in sales tax. Charge me more in income tax. Whatever, but don’t charge me to own my own stuff. And to have to write down the day I bought a $3 tool, and how much I think it’s worth now–for every tool land bottle of fluid my company owns. It’s ludicrous. The waste is enormous.
Anyway, I’m *all* for doing my share. Hopefully, that’s clear enough. I just despise this manner of it, both for it’s inefficiency/waste and for never letting my property be mine, potentially losing it if I can’t afford to keep it (that would only be on the real estate side). Heck, I’d even take a simple, do you own more than x dollars worth of property as a business? Yes. Okay, you owe X. I’d still despise the tax, but at least I wouldn’t have to waste so much time.