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Archive for August, 2018

Just Another Crazy Week

August 22nd, 2018 at 07:07 pm

I thought I had a bit of a reprieve yesterday. I got final medical results back and everything looks pretty good. Putting a pin in that, at least. No follow up for another 6 months. I wouldn't have been surprised if I needed surgery. It's just been that kind of a year. So it's a huge relief to know that surgery is not a consideration at this point. Phew! So, I had a few hours of relative peace and calm? We then got the news last night that a close relative of MH's had been in a horrible accident. No one told us Monday, I think because they weren't even sure if he would make it. They told us last night. It sounds like he is doing a lot better. I have very few details. This year just won't let up! I think we were just in shock. MH was re-arranging his schedule to be available this weekend. I told him this morning that if he needs to go, I can cover for him (kids/household). I do have a 3:00 appointment today, and so we agreed to just discuss it more tonight. Maybe we can get more info in the meantime. The work front is another post for another day. But I did already mostly clean out my office (16+ years of crap, took all day Saturday). Trying to decide if I even bother giving notice to my "fake employer" ~ the one who does absolutely nothing but pays my paycheck. & it's an absolute miracle that our new receptionist remains. Any sane person would have walked out by now. I actually texted "awesome admin" today and she is absolutely blowing up my phone. No one's talked to her since her last day? I am kind of like, "Okay, so it's not just me? My life is totally insane right now?!" Because I think I left out about 95% of what has happened, and we are only talking what's happened in the office since she left. I am meeting her for dinner tomorrow. I met "twin" for lunch last week. I think that is part of my current ZEN with things. "Twin" absolutely loves her new job. The job is not my first choice, but it is a solid backup plan (for me). I would value her opinion much more after she's been there for more than a week. It feels good to have a backup plan, but I am also a little skeptical.

The Year I Aged 10 Years

August 17th, 2018 at 01:04 am

Yesterday a car blew a tire and careened across like 5 lanes of freeway, right in front of me. By some miracle no cars were hit and they managed to keep control and steer the car to the shoulder. This is like the third time I've seen a car do this during this year. I remember like -0- times ever before that.

This year is going to be the death of me!

Heart Attack #2 was when MM(15) Was at gymnastics and MH called me sounding panicked and asking about the emergency room. I am just waiting for him to break his head, so I had a little heart attack. In the end, he broke his toe before class really started. He said he just jumped up onto the tumble track, hit his toe on some ledge, and broke it. You don't know how relieved I was to hear it was just his toe. In the end, no one was in the emergency room and they took him right away.

He did actually need it reset, and I think this probably worked out for the best that we rushed him to ER. It would have been easy to presume he could wait until morning. Or maybe another Doctor wouldn't have felt an X-ray was necessary. We've already maxed out our deductible, so I feel *shrugs* about it financially. I had kept my crutches specifically for him.

This is my complete daredevil child. He is also completely charmed and this is his first bone break. I can't believe he wasn't even tumbling when he got hurt. Phew!

About 5 minutes after that my parents called me because they were worried about family friend. He fell and wasn't found for several days. This was a couple of months ago. He just got home from rehab on Saturday and we got him settled; he lives an hour away from all of us (half way between my parents and us). Anyway, no one had heard from him for a couple of days and my parents were feeling all sorts of guilt about things they didn't do to help him. (They didn't charge his phone and remembered they should have left it more within his reach. Stuff like that). In the end, he was okay. Phew!! But my nerves were pretty shot by this point.

It's not any one thing this year. It's the constant emotional roller coaster and barrage of bad news. The work situation wouldn't be half as bad if everyone was actually healthy and well and not all out on bereavement and everything. It's just so heavy and emotionally exhausting.

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On the work front...

**deleted due to pending legal actions**

For context, post deletions, I will add that "useless employee" was diagnosed with cancer and is out on medical leave. The way that "fake employer" handled this is what made my decision to leave. To the point I could not even wait to find another job first. I gave a few weeks notice to "workaholic" and "old employer" (who are trying to salvage the business). At the time, I was unaware of pending legal issues. The ship was already in the process of a deep dive, but I just didn't know. 3 weeks later, I feel I am not getting out soon enough! But, thankfully I am out.

(Mostly, I knew I would be left covering admin duties on top of doubling my workload already. But I was also appalled by the way they treated cancer employee and how they delayed a good hire so long she couldn't train them. & I mean they "hired" new employee and said, nevermind they didn't really hire her, and then asked her to come back a week later, the day before the surgery. What are the odds she would even accept the job at this point? In the end, no one knows how to do her job, there is no one to train her, and it's totally insane. Things have devolved pretty quickly from this point).

Where I was at when "twin" gave her notice in late July, was just, "I am not going to stick around for tax season." It was not anything so crazy and dire at that point. I really thought I could take a few months to find another job.

Back to School

August 13th, 2018 at 12:36 pm

Final vacation tally ended up being right about $2,000. I've already paid off all the charges. I usually enjoy the float a wee bit more, but paid everything off while trying to figure out next job steps. The extra $2,000 balance would have just stressed me out, and I wanted a clearer idea of where our cash stood. I needed to pay off the (travel) reward credit card anyway.

Our road trip was 2300 miles. 8 days, 7 nights.



After that, kids went back to school. I would say we have done about nothing for that. Last night I frantically signed forms very late. I passed everything else off to MH. Absolutely nothing has been purchased. It sounds like the kids don't really need anything. DL is Year #3 at his school and MM is year #2. School before that provided all supplies in exchange for $25 every year. So we did buy a lot of supplies the last two years as they transitioned to new schools. No one needs new PE clothes or anything like that, this year.

DL has two music classes and a free period this year. I think the break will be good for him.

MM attends the polar opposite school and has to take an extra class in to get in his one elective/art class (needs an art class for college prep?) We were relieved to find out the first day of school that he got the art class. So that we don't have to figure it out later or scramble for summer school one year. Phew! He is taking a 0 period class so that he can squeeze in the extra class. The timing is good for me. As I am considering a longer than 10-minute commute, or an employer who may not be super flexible, etc. I told him I thought the timing worked out pretty well, even when discussing this many months ago. It really frees me up. He starts school at 7am every single day. Next year he will be driving himself.

This is all well and good unless I end up in a job situation where I can't take him to school. In that case, MH will murder me. Big Grin (He is a night owl and I am an early bird). MM(15) is an early bird so this is no big deal to him.

The Well Timed Vacation

August 4th, 2018 at 12:41 pm



I don't know if I have ever been happier to get the heck out of dodge. Big Grin

Just checking in. Will be driving home today.

I questioned our sanity doing a road trip in a small car because DL(13) has had a rough time on the mental health front. Which translates into super moody and not talking a lot of the time. Anyway, it hasn't been all sunshine and roses, but he has enjoyed our road trip 1,000 times more than I would have imagined. So maybe this is just what he needed.

I think I was envisioning a more frugal road trip. We probably squeaked by ($1,500 budget) with $500 in hotel expenses, $200 in gas, and about $800 in food spending. But we did do a few expensive museums (or, adds up with 4 people, even if not expensive). & it will be about $250 to board our cat so long (dropped him off a day early and will pick him up tomorrow, just to allow for extra time and also their hours).

The hotels were only so expensive because our last two nights were on the coast. We had to scramble to even find a room. What was left was beautiful but more than I'd spend otherwise.

One funny thing about this trip. Well, two. The first entire day was cancelled due to wildfires. Not funny funny. But our last attempted road trip was mostly cancelled due to government shutdown. So it was a little deja vu on day #1. & given the year it's been I thought this might just be a total disaster. I was really wary like what the hell are we doing?! We should stay home... #2 funny funny is on average once per day our food orders have been wrong so we keep getting tons of free food (keeping the food we didn't order and also being given more food to compensate). It's kind of hilarious. It keeps the teen boys happy and is probably why we've barely touched our road trip snacks.

As to canceled day #1, we had to cut out a couple of things due to time regardless, and so we may just make a day trip of it at some point in the future.

Highlights of our trip: Crater Lake (actually could see it on Day #2, but was hazy). AMAZING. I put it as #3 in the most amazing views I have ever seen, even with the haze. MH wants to go back and do it right on a clear day. Mt. St. Helens (which really awed my moody DL). Olympic National Forest. Except for Seattle we mostly stuck to the great outdoors.