3/23/15 Spring Break Is Done, Back To Reality?

    We had a busy spring break, I think overall it was very good.  We vacationed in Galveston, saw some sights, imagined ourselves living there on one of those beautiful pier homes, came back with a couple days left to celebrate Boy's 21st birthday, and now back to the grind.  I am now back at work, being productive, while Wife was cutting the grass in the backyard, felt a little bad for her, grass was up to her knees in places.
    It finally felt like spring today, rain is out of the area, there were some blue skies, and I do believe that is what we needed to start getting the yard/pool area in order.  I will start the slow process of getting the green algae/ dead leaves out of the bottom of the pool.  Hopefully, I can turn the water blue within a couple weeks.  What I really want to clean is the hot tub, it has been a good 4-5 months since we've gotten in it.  I took parts off the pump to make sure it or the heater did not freeze, so it will take more than cleaning the water to get it going again.  A couple years ago, we had a hard freeze and it cost me the heater pump, so I don't take chances anymore, that was a $1000 lesson.  I do believe we are done with hard freezes though for this season, anyway.
    Another pain in the butt problem to fix will be to decide whether we sell our rental house, move back to it, or simply get new tenants.  Our current tenants just told us they are out come end of April.  We have been feeling a bit of a pinch, financially, our current house payment went up $300 a month last year, we are absorbing all the overflow costs of Boy so he can go to college, which means anything above $3500 (max loans per semester) for his tuition and books is going on credit cards, we got him his Jeep, lost my brother's rent money $600, so we are seriously thinking life would be easier if we sold in this hot market our big house, and moved back to our starter home.  Rent would drop by almost $2400 to $850.  Plus we stand to make a tidy profit from selling our newer house.  If we sell older home, we no longer have to put up with renters, plus we'll make a good amount of money to free us of some credit debt, giving us some needed breathing room.  If we get renters, it is high time to stop being so generous and charge an appropriate rent, it's not like people appreciate what we do for them.  I keep losing money on the house because I always want to help friends in need.
    Big Mando will grow a hard outer shell, like that chocolate you pour on ice cream that hardens with the cold.  No more Mr. Nice Guy, unless you want to put some boobies in my face.  Then maybe.