I am using the computer in the library of my little town. It's a bit noisy today, as there is an Easter egg hunt underway. The level of cuteness is high.

I am really uncertain how to plan my April budget. I suppose I should plan to receive no rent and pull from savings, and then if I do receive rent it will be a happy surprise. I have mailed some deposit slips for my Wells Fargo savings account to the tenant, so will be checking my phone app instead of the mail to see if I have been graced with rent money.

I have decided that April 10 is my cut-off date, no matter what excuse is offered. I am not going to attempt an eviction from 3 hours away. I have a particular attorney in mind who has handled many evictions and other landlord-tenant disputes for clients (at my old job) who have rental properties. I may have to take a half day off work to meet with and retain him, but he should be able to handle everything from there.

An eviction and then listing the house for sale will almost certainly mean more debt. However, I am fairly certain the house will sell quickly as the market is hot and it is an entry-level home. I have enough equity to take care of all my debt and then some. (What a pleasant change from when I started this blog in Dec 2010 and was upside-down about 80k!) I intend to gift a small but helpful chunk of the "then some" to each child for their Roth IRAs, and invest the rest for myself.

Other than that, life is moving along contentedly. I have reached the point at my new job that I feel very competent, have a large work load, and enjoy my hours at work. I am looking forward to the family cruise that we will be booking soon. It's a lot of money, but I'm doing it anyway, even though I am not entirely sure at this moment how I will be paying.

This coming Thursday is SB's birthday. We have plans Friday evening with friends. The plans include dinner and a night at a local bed-and-breakfast. It should be a lot of fun.

Today is March 25 and I am still waiting for the rent which was due March 1. When I contacted my tenant on March 9, I was told that the rent had been mailed on the 5th. When I contacted the tenant on the 12th, I was told that the envelope had been returned for lack of postage. Oops, so sorry. This past week, I was told that the money order has been cancelled and now I will receive a check from Wal-Mart (where the money order was purchased).

Update: When a Wal-Mart money order is cancelled, Wal-Mart sends a refund to the purchaser. This makes sense, but is not what the tenant told me. I conclude he either misunderstood or is being less than truthful.

As it happens, my son and daughter-in-law gave a 30 day notice to the tenant and are moving shortly (they were sub-letting a room).

So I am left unsure if this is an honest mistake or if a decision has been made to move and this is a stall tactic while unpaid rent accumulates. Either way, I am considering how much I want to tolerate before retaining an attorney and beginning eviction. If I need to go that route, the house is going on the market. I will not look for another tenant.

We are in early planning stages for a family cruise. Probably Mexico.