2020-06-02 — Happy Gratitude Day!!!

Hola, my lovely peopleses. 😊

Happy Tuesday. 😊

Soooooo… I was thinking, “Why not do a gratitude day?” So here we go. I’ll share my day in spurts of gratitude. 😁

#1. I’m grateful that from the beginning of the day, I was able to get out of bed and get headed to my first job while also getting David out on his first job–both of us before nine. (as opposed to me doing logistical things until 11 before I can even leave).

#2. I’m grateful that my first job was an easy one–just needed a battery and a the battery main fuse (his battery was low, and he hooked up the jumper cables backwards and blew his main megafuse).

#3. I’m grateful that Autozone delivered the megafuse to me in the Walmart Distribution Center trucker’s lot.

#4. I’m grateful that though my second job was an absolute bear (I had to find a way to route the starter and ignition wires after Ford did a terrible job of designing where they went, and they shorted out, and after another person had tried to re-route them but ended up shorting them out immediately), I’m glad I was able to find a way to do it that I think will be even safer than the original factory way, and I was able to do it with the cable they’d used to replace the old one. The new one was super fat and thus even more likely to come into contact with hot exhaust parts. I ended up unbolting a bracket and sticking a thick shim under the bracket so both the starter wire, ignition wire, and heat shield could go under the bracket and thus be tucked pretty safely away from the exhaust manifold and catalytic converter.

Yay!

That one was so hard and so frustrating, but I figured it out!

Sometimes it’s the small triumphs. 😊

I was way out in super spotty cell phone range, so it was important to get done quickly, missing calls and unable to have reliable communication with my tech. So it was stinky that it took so long, but it was awesome that I managed to find a way to do it.

#5. I’m grateful that the next job was also pretty easy. It was just a battery replacement, and then I realized she had about two quarts too much oil in it (too much oil being just as dangerous for an engine as too little because believe it or not the same issue happens, the engine gets starved for oil. In the case of too little, it’s obvious. In the case of too much, the crankshaft whips the oil into a froth, and the oil pump ends up trying to suck up bubbles instead of oil. No good.). I drained out the two extra quarts, fired it up, realized it was misfiring, and then diagnosed that as well, finding two bad ignition coils. I’m also grateful it was such an easy misfire diagnosis!

#6. I’m grateful I was able to find a set of six coils online with fabulous reviews for the same price as one coil locally. She’s an old lady (with a cockatoo and the most gorgeous and huge husky. Boy I love that dog! Huskies are my favorite, and that one is an absolute sweetheart, and huge! I think she said 70 lbs?) on a fixed income, so it was nice to be able to find a way to save her some money. The parts will be here Thursday, so… win win 😊. win!

7. I’m grateful that my version of Android on my phone lets me do split screen apps (one app takes up half the screen another app takes up the other half). It speeds things up quite nicely! I’ve been meaning to add that one as one of my gratitude items ever since I accidentally triggered it the other day. Good stuff! 😊

8. I’m grateful that I’ve developed a super good relationship with the people at the Bentonville Autozone. I brought them popsicles again today, and it’s just nice to be in there. Such a change from where that store was maybe even a year ago. I was super uncomfortable going in there. Now it’s great.

9. I’m grateful that I’m buying so many parts. Through May I’d spent over $26,000 at AutoZone for the year to date on just parts and supplies. Two reasons I’m grateful–one, that means my labor claims are paid out at 100%; two, I get 2% cash back from my credit card company…, and since I never carry a balance (I pay my credit cards off twice a month [5th and 20th, if I remember specifically]), it’s all free cash money. 😁

#10. I’m grateful that my last paying job went really well and was quite easy. A company called me up to look at a vehicle they’d just delivered for a customer. It had overheated and wasn’t running right, and they’d just delivered it. I went over and found an oil leak at the front main seal, metal shavings in the oil 😬 (was a brand new motor), low coolant, and lots of rust underneath an undercoating that looked like it had been haphazardly sprayed on. It was an easy job, and that was nice.

#11. I’m grateful that the lockout job I had to go back to went fine. I had a customer request lockout assistance, and I was able to successfully break into their car with my air wedge tools and whatnot, but I forgot to check the door afterward to see if or how much it was bent (easy to bend them, and you just need to bend them back). So, I went back and lined it back up again the way it was supposed to be, and it went fine.

#12. I’m grateful that David’s jobs went relatively well today as well.

#13. I’m grateful that I was able to easily take care of my nephew’s tire. He’d gotten a piece of metal wedged in the side wall, and I was perfectly in the right place at the right time to get him taken care of. Because the damage was to the side wall, the tire needs to be replaced, but I was able to follow him home and make sure he was good to go.

#14. I’m grateful that we’re so busy. I thought perhaps we might break a record today (we didn’t, and not even really close, but that’s okay. Things are going well right now in terms of number of clients.

#15. I’m grateful that the work I did today with actual cars was a decent chunk of what the business brought in as a whole. I think I brought in about half today, so that was pretty good, considering I also probably got 20 calls today I had to handle, along with parts ordering and whatnot. It felt good to actually be contributing on the car fixing end of things a bit more today.

#16. I’m grateful that my $100 dinner is still feeding me. I’ll probably get another few meals out of the meat, so that’s something 😁.

#17. I’m grateful that I had the courage to go running again today. I can’t tell you how much I dread running. 🤪 But I know it’s good for my body, and I want a healthy body, so… gotta pay my dues. I do need to find a way to do it in the morning instead of at the end of very long days when I’m already exhausted.

#18. I’m grateful for the fact that I think I’ll be in bed right around midnight tonight! It’s 11:57, and I’m almost ready to wrap up this journal entry.

#19. I’m grateful for another day added to each of my little counters. Can you believe I’ve written 66 journal entries so far since I restarted?!?! It’s amazing.

#20. I’m grateful for the fan I have to blow on me at night and after I get home from my runs.

#21. Thanks, to y’all for your comments. They are appreciated more than you might know 😊.

Top 3 Things to Improve:

1. Put my health in top priority (if I were some other person I cared about, I’d be like, “Hey, I’ll pay for you to go to the doctor. Let’s go!!! It’s just money and time. Come on! You’re worth any effort, and you’re worth every effort.” As one of my readers commented to me, quoting someone else: “Treat yourself like someone you care about.” (something like that anyway)
2. Get up the courage to finish my business boundaries post (I’ve gotten a lot written. Probably another 15 minutes, and I’d be done. But I’m afraid to implement it. I sort of shrink back at the thought of imposing a limit on how late I work, thinking about all the jobs that I won’t do and how much money I won’t make. It’s not the best attitude at all, but it’s my reality right now. I want to have more time. I want to get going on other things. I want to visit family and friends all over. But the money is coming in so quickly right now, that my goals seem just a stones throw away (obviously, a long stones throw away, but years, not decades. That’s… huge. But I need to take care of my mental and physical health, and I’m not doing that very well. I’m just running myself into the ground, in a state of perpetual burnout.
3. I need to get all the rest of my business paperwork taken care of–get ready to submit federal, state, property, sales, and all the other taxes I’ve got to figure out and get paid. I think this is one of the months I’m supposed to pay my estimated taxes? Thinking about an accountant as well, as some of my readers have commented.

Well, my lovelies, may you sleep beautifully and happily tonight.

It’s been another good day. 😊

Lift the World.

~ stephen