Five More Days

 I moved to the Houston area right before I turned 24. Now I’m coming up on turning 48. That means I’ve lived in the Houston area for exactly half of my life. In five more days, I leave the city I spent exactly half my life in. That’s daunting, but my mom was also turning 48 when she left Chicago, and she’d been there her entire life. She used to guilt me about that, too!  

I’m ready to go right Meow.  I’m actually thinking of calling the leasing office and paying from my own checking account for two more days of “pro-rated July”. It would just be nice to have the weekend to be doing all of that. I also do not want Kevin to think I’m trying to get rid of him. I’m not. I just want to get moving activities out of the way. He is off this weekend and can hang with me over the weekend regardless. He’s staying until his Houston manager hires new people. I have a feeling he will not hire anyone just to make it hard on Kevin to transfer. 

I worked Sunday with a new client. When GCboss asked me to work with a brand new client, I cringed all the way to McCringey town. I’m leaving!  Why!  But it was ok. The lady suffered from sundowning, which made it a challenge. During her sundowning episode, I asked her if she needed to use the restroom. She told me, “Feel free to use the restroom any time you’d like!”  “Thank you, I will,” I replied. “But what about you, do you need to go?”  

“What business is it of yours?” She asked. This is common with dementia and sundowning. I gently reminded her that I would help her in the restroom. She cursed me out. That’s fine. Once it was time to leave, though, she didn’t want me to. She said, “Thanks for a lovely visit.”  After that, I decided if GCboss asked me to work with anyone else except for the “usual” 89 year old that I was scheduled with M-F, then I would not. Friday is my last day. 

Unfortunately though, Monday she had to enter the hospital. I went to Starbucks by her house, had a coconut Ube Macchiato and worked on my spiral notebook. She texted me asking me to come early because she wasn’t well. Her nurse was there when I arrived. She took a nap after the nurse left and then wanted me to call EMS to take her to the hospital. The nurse also said to go. So I’m just staying home now in the event she gets home before Friday morning. I am not responding to GCboss unless it’s about her. I think she’ll be ok, but honestly I’m not sure. 

I’m going to work in a group home, and this is what this 89 year old told me (mostly because she’s upset I’m leaving.). She said, “Now listen! You Be careful of those mental cases!  You be careful of those mentals!”  I had to stop and laugh because of her Boston accent and the way it sounded. Then she caught herself and said, “I know!  I’m also mental!”  I reminded her that I, too, am “mental”.  It’s fine. Who isn’t? 

I will be working M-F from midnight to 8 am, which likely means Sunday night to Thursday night. I have a feeling I’ll end up working with Kevin again, but we’ll see. It’s more of a priority for him to transfer. But working at a facility is going to be wayyyyyyy less stressful than going to different peoples houses all the time. 

0.8 miles from my new place is also a quilt shop with lots of classses. When Kevin and I checked it out, they were holding a long arm class. Long arm machines intimidate me. If I ever did piecework that needed to be quilted I’d find someone to do that to them. 

And as much as I have been to Austin in the last five or six years for retail audits, I must say that the slight cultural differences between Houston and Austin are more apparent to me now. It’s only the closest major city to me now, but it still seems like a whole new culture. I’m going to have to adopt some “when in Rome” mentality, but not sure what for yet. 

Our New Apartment

Kevin and I just walked out of a nice leasing office of a nice complex on the north side of Austin with an official move in date of Monday July 6. 

Well, for me anyway!  I’m moving in by myself for a couple weeks so that I can start a new job on 7/7 and he wraps up with the Houston crew of his job. The apartment has a built in desk! 

Some other things it has that his parents’ guest house doesn’t have: Bath tub (guest house only has a shower stall), central air (guest house has window units), a dishwasher, washer and dryer, pest control services, a pantry, a whole fitness center, and walking distance from this beautiful park. 

I’m so drained from the anxiety. 

Kevin is now taking me out for margaritas. 

It’s also 0.8 miles from a quilting store with tons of classes. 

 

Five Free Sub Sandwiches

Today I did five mystery shops at five different Subway locations in about two hours’ time. Four of the jobs I did paid $8 plus the reimbursement of the sandwich, and one paid $23 plus the reimbursement of the sandwich. I guess they needed that one more, which makes sense. She was extremely rude!  (The other four were great.)  When doing these on the field agent app, you have to order an all American club and make no modifications. 

The sandwich comes with turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and American cheese. 

I ate one for lunch and came home with four.  These mystery shops were in Brenham(2), Bellville, Chapel Hill, and Hempstead. There were no homeless people to give these to. 

I also did a separate field agent job in Belleville that paid $13. 

They put way too much mayo on these to justify saving them for later. They’d be too soggy. So here’s what I did. First, I took off all of the bacon and fried it. Lord knows it doesn’t seem like Subway cooks their bacon. It really seems like raw bacon. That’s why I always asked for toasted. But two locations has non working toasters, including rude girl’s location. So I fried it myself and used whatever mayo I couldn’t scrape off as the fat to cook it in. 

Then I chopped up half of an onion I had in a ziplock in the fridge. I cooked it with the bacon. Then when those looked soft, I added a package of refried beans. I let it cook a little while then added all tomatoes and lettuce from the sandwiches, minus whatever had too much mayo left on it. 

I added the cheese on top after I turned the heat off. Then I set the bread aside, wrapped in foil for Kevin to make his own sandwiches if he wants to. He’s a vegetarian, so I cut up the ham and turkey for my three cats. 

 

Austin Tour Day

Thank you all for all the lovely comments of support regarding Kevin and I and our three cats moving to Austin. 

I went there the other day (Wednesday) to look at rentals. 

I drove by a mural that said Black Lives Matter. That’s wonderful, and Austin really is a blue dot in a red state, but let me say Houston is pretty blue and actually very diverse. When I first moved here in the early 2000’s, I was surprised to find out that 90 languages are spoken here. 

It’s a beautiful place, but time to move on. I was almost 24 when I moved here by myself and I’m almost 48 now. I’ve lived here half of my life! 

One thing I noted about people that I talked to in Austin about rentals. Every. Single. One. Asked if any of our cats are emotional support animals. This is because if they are, then you do not have to pay pet rent, and I think you get out of the deposit too. 

They are not-not officially- but, they do the job. 

I kind of chuckled, because that seems like a blue city thing. No one in Houston asks that. In fact, if they were ESA’s, and I brought it up to a property manager or landlord and said “This is my emotional support animal,

I’m not going to pay the deposit” I think most of them would laugh me out of there. 

I did ask a shrink once if Alex could be consider one. This was the shrink that got me hooked on gabapentin. We went through the whole conversation with her thinking Alex was a dog. It seemed like she was about to do it. Then I corrected her that Alex was a cat, and she said, “Oh a cat?  Oh, then no.”  Lol. Immediately no!  

I’ve shared that story online with cat people just to hear their reactions, and it’s always negative. 

We looked at this little blue house. This house is only 600 square feet and somehow has two bedrooms!  

We haven’t seen the inside yet, but drove past it. It’s cute. But idk yet. 

Also, gift card boss seems to have cut my hours because I told her we are moving. My schedule next week looks abysmal. It’s actually only 6 hours with the 89 year old that’s going to be super sad that I’m leaving. This 89 year old asked me to come on my free time to help her out with her paying me under the table so she doesn’t have to pay gift card boss. I had to decline. I signed a paper saying I would not do that. She understands. Not looking forward to telling her about the move. 

 

Special Announcement

My husband and I are moving to Austin! 

I suggested it a few months back.  Kevin liked the idea, but the rent is too cheap here to really try and leave. 

Then, my in-laws announced they are selling their property, and we will need to move out of the guest house. 

 

Austin has started to grow on me the last couple of years. I’ve been there a lot, due to my daughter going to college in San Marcos and my side jobs (apps) having more lucrative opportunities in the area. 

There are some other reasons why I’d like to live there, which I’ll get into later. Kevin would also like to transfer to work on the Austin crew of his company due to how toxic the manager and his wife have become. Kevin tried to job hunt and had no luck due to the fact that this is all he has done since the mid 90’s. I have experience in a couple other areas, so it was easy for me. My father always told me to have three careers, even if it means being a “jack of trades”. Turns out he was right.  

Well Kevin got it approved to transfer to the Austin crew, so plans are underway. We are looking at places and have until September. 

I told gift card boss about us moving, and she was sad, but supportive. She said I would be very, very missed and offered me a reference. That company has two offices in the Austin area, and one slightly outside the area. I could get a job there, but it would be a last resort. I’m unhappy as a caregiver, but once I actually do the act of moving and setting up house, I may not be so down in the dumps and ready to take it on again. Like I said,

It’s a great job when the clients are great. 

So wish me and Kevin, and also Alex, Mitchell and Jordan  luck! Anna is also excited about having us nearby. She’s getting a townhouse near Texas state with four or five other girls. I’m very anxious about it, but I don’t show it in front of her. When I was her age, I did the same thing!  I would say, “But that was before Brian Kohberger”,

And it was, but that’s my mom fears kicking in.  

Anna is also not having a great summer. The kids at the YMCA day camp are behaviorally challenged, and a boy is giving her mixed signals. I just want to fix everything for her. The young adult phase is harder than the infant and toddler phase!  Those phases were fun!  

Fake Hair Don’t Care

 I ordered some inexpensive fake hair pieces on the TikTok shop. It’s been a little hard to match the coloring of my natural hair, but this is the closest I have come so far. I love the way this looks. I only had my husband take a picture so I could see the color difference between my real hair and the ponytail. I would think that this slight difference is ok, but any other opinions welcome. And after this picture was taken, I did redo my real hair so that little piece wouldn’t stick out the side. 

I also actually love how my back and shoulders look. Before I lost 20 pounds, they looked way different. I feel like my upper arms have shrunk, and I look more toned although not the most toned person in the world. I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 196, so up a pound or two, but another downside to being a caregiver for elderly people is that the constipation seems to be contagious.i always seem to catch it from the ones who freak out about it the most. I was 212 when I started the weight loss pill, and 215 about a week or two before.  

Tidbits

 I got this text out of the blue from my company. Well that’s helpful. My mom said “Why couldn’t they round it up to $120?”  

Yup, idk. Then I found out that it’s based on how much you drove in April and May. Everyone’s bonus will be different. I’m happy with $119.94. 

My daughter turned 19 on June 11.  I’ve been worried about her, as she’s a little overwhelmed by her summer job. When I worked at the children’s museum, kids from the YMCA day camps had a reputation of being the most “behaviorally challenged.”  I was very worried when she said they added a kid to her group who has a problem with eloping. I was relieved when I found out that kid had his own aide with him at all times. Thank God my daughter doesn’t have to keep this escape artist in one place while having to supervise other kids. She’s often too tired to talk much in the evenings. We are celebrating her birthday this weekend. 

I was thinking back to 2007, I used to be on a website for women called Ivillage. They had message boards for everything, including “expecting clubs” for every month. I actively posted and commented in the June, 2007 expecting club, even though my OBGYN really wished I wouldn’t- it seemed like those women had every complication known to womankind, and they made me paranoid. But, there was one woman in that group who was a “sovereign citizen.”  This means she didn’t believe in government at all. My husband often watches arrest videos on YouTube, and I think of her whenever sovereign citizens come up. She gave birth unassisted to a boy 6 days before I had my daughter on June 5, 2007. She didn’t give him a birth certificate or a social security number. In fact, she didn’t even give him a name, claiming he would choose his own once he could speak. 

I’ve been thinking about that kid a lot lately- how is he doing trying to enter adulthood with no documentation? They lived in Florida, somewhere near Sarasota at the time. I wonder if he is able to work, go to school, get his own place to live, and so on. Perhaps at some point he may have been taken by social services if his parents were arrested and grew up with another family who encourages him in the right direction.