I Swear We've Been Here Before...

sigh

Some days it feels like life won't cut you a break no matter how hard you try.

Last time we talked about the reno project and last summer's snag with the City's zoning officer and the illogical bylaws that one must abide by, or not.  Since then, I've finished the drawings, had my engineer look them over and give me his seal of approval - literally - (okay, so its a stamp - same idea) and I booked an appointment with the City to apply for a building permit.

And waited.

Waiting and building permits go together like peanut butter and jelly.  Trust me.

This is what I do for a living.  I wait. I wait for plans; I wait for details to be decided; I wait for prices; I wait for trades; I wait for more prices; I wait for the City... I wait.  And wait.  And wait.  And I'm getting rather good at it too, if I do say so myself.  But I don't like it.  That was never part of the deal, but it's the system we have, and it's the way that system works, so deal with it.

But wait! Theres more!

Waiting that is.

I took the waiting time this past week to relax and enjoy the final week of April what with Spring finally returning along with the Canada Geese and nothing seemed to fit the bill quite like doing my taxes.

The fun never ends around here, huh?

Yes Taxes!  Yes, I know they are due on the 30th.  I told you I'm rather good at waiting, remember?  Anyways, I got them done and filed Wednesday and thought I'd finally be able to relax and just be for awhile.  Apparently I've been under a bit of stress lately - or so says the doctor who figures the migraines must have a stress related component to them.  Gee, can't understand where the stress might be coming from, can you?

Let's see, house reno plans drawn and altered and redrawn and finally approved. Check.  Taxes organized and filed, and payments send in electronically. Check  Karen's car in to the shop for its 64000 km checkup and oil change. Check.

Wait.  Not so fast.  Nevermind that this is a biggie in the Passat's service schedule -  to the tune of about $500 - really, can you get out of the service area of the dealer for less than that these days?  No, cuz, K's car has had a shimmy for the last couple weeks - I noticed it as soon as I got in the car one day - she couldn't feel it. It was obvious that the car was not balanced properly - either that or it developed a case of Parkinson's while parked on the driveway - or something, but it most certainly was not normal.

So our service rep from VW dropped off his car on Wednesday morning to take the Passat in - its one of the service perks we like about VW - and we gave it the once over before he departed.  I mentioned the shimmy, and he thought about the milage on the car and we checked the tires - and sure enough the wear bar was evident on all 4!  He said he'd check into the cost of a set of new tires to replace the Conti's that came with the Passat, and have the service rep call me.

Yeah, okay.  That call would end up costing us another $900 what with new tires, alignment and taxes etc...  It's like buying a new roof for the house.  In the end you've spent a lot of money, and it doesn't feel like you got anything to show for it.  Not something fun like a new iPad or anything.  But it is the safety of the car's occupants we are talking about so okay, back to the list.

No, that's it.  No more items.  That's not so bad, right?

Insert ringing phone sound here...

Hi, It's so-and-so from the City Zoning Office calling... (why wouldn't it be?)  ...anyways, about your application, you know you're going to need to apply for a Zoning Variance because of that reduced front yard, right?...

(fade to black, with the Zoning Officer's voice mumbling in the background)

sigh...