Kevin is so much happier working on the Austin crew of his job. He said that for the first time in months, he isn’t “dreading” going to work every day. I understand what that’s like, and that is huge. It’s huge to not dread going to work. I actually kind of dreaded working for gift card boss, whom I worked for in Houston between February and June of this year. She was a great person, but she considered me her damage control (because I’m so wonderful 🤣) and sent me to people who were pissed off from a bad experience with another worker. That was rough. I also had one pervert client working for her. Ugh. 

Kevin’s mood is awesome. He loves this apartment too. He said he thought living in a large complex would mean hearing loud noises all the time and partying. But, the only thing we really hear regularly is the man upstairs walking around. That’s it!  

This guy (upstairs) is a personal trainer. He didn’t tell me that, I can just tell. He’s always doing hardcore stuff outside on the sidewalk of the parking lot in front of our building. I think he wants to show off, because why wouldn’t he do stuff either in his apartment or in the fitness center? 

Sunday morning, I saw him carry two cases/ 24 packs of bottled water up the stairs at the same time. Immediately I thought omg what a show off. Not two cases of water at the same time. I would bring a plastic bag and carry half a case or less and make 4-6 trips if I bought two cases of water. I told Kevin. Then later on, we heard him walking around upstairs and Kevin jokingly said, “I think he’s walking around his bedroom with both cases of water.” 

Lol I can’t with my husband sometimes. 

Who Knows

 What were you doing on 9/11? 

Well back in May of this year, I saw a therapist who didn’t believe key parts of my story. She would literally ask me if I was sure that happened or something else?  She even second guessed me on the year something happened. 

Ever since then, I seem to not know what’s true and what’s not. I have all but given up on the book I was writing that was based on my experiences working with kids. This is because I had to change names, characteristics and circumstances of the story. As long as the main point got across, it was all good. You need to do this to protect identities of people. This combined with the therapist not believing me about some stuff has thrown me off. My biggest fear now if the book got published is someone coming forward and saying “I knew her back in the day, and I worked with her, and that’s not how it happened!” But I have a pen name to reduce the instance of that. 

What does this have to do with 9/11?  Because why even share what I was doing that day if I am not believed?  How Do YOU know that is what I was doing that day? I don’t have proof. The camera wasn’t rolling. 

I just feel like there’s no point in me telling my story anymore. This is very difficult as a writer. I posted my dilemma in a facebook group for “women writers”. They were all great in their responses. I’ll post some screenshots later. 

On a happier note, today is Kevin’s first day working with the Austin crew!  He lives here now!!!

Chicken and Dumplings 🥟 🍗

 

I took my coworker’s advice and used my bread recipe to make dumplings. I cooked the chicken in the crockpot first. I seasoned it with lemon pepper. I then cooked onion and celery in chicken broth and stock and mixed it all together with the chicken and dropped dumplings balls into the boiling broth. It was really good!!!

30th Reunion

 Remember in the 90’s when panoramic photos were all the rage?  I remember having to line up to go onto the football field to take this picture and thinking, who would want a panoramic photo of over 500 people?  Little did I know that I’d be pouring over it 30 years later. This is my high school graduating class in 1996. I’m towards the front center with a white t shirt, shorts, and skinny legs. 

The girl next to me on my left was a good friend of mine. When my aunt stayed with my family on and off and was very abusive, she was very supportive. She would even joke (at least I think she was joking) about taking revenge on my aunt herself. It was funny to me, but some other kids said she actually wasn’t joking 😬 

Our 30th class reunion will take place this October 17th at a popular restaurant in the Phoenix area. I would love to take Kevin, but I’m not sure if it will happen. Kevin is a big travel hater, despite having to travel for work a lot. Besides, I feel like it just might be a handful of people I didn’t even know or care about back then. 

It’s easy to look at your 18 year old self and think of what you’d tell her. Honestly though, if you followed that advice then different things would have gone wrong. It’s possible you wouldn’t even be alive today, and if by the grace of god you were, then  you might be looking at this pic wanting to give her even different advice still. 

Cat Surgery

Alex had surgery today!  This cyst on the corner of his mouth was surgically removed. 

He was a good boy

HIPAA doesn’t apply in veterinary care!  And two Lunas!

Alex was a trooper. He also had a tooth pulled, ears cleaned out, and claws clipped

 

Honor Flight vs Honor Walk

 I was scrolling TikTok the other day and came across this lovely video of a person who just happened to be at Austin Bergstrom Airport when they saw an honor flight. I didn’t know what that was at first- it’s to fly veterans back and forth to DC to visit things that honor them. 

I got it confused with an honor walk and thought they were going to walk by with a casket. However, an honor walk is a bit different. This is when someone is either in their very final moments or has just passed away, and they are an organ donor. The hospital staff lines the halls to honor the person donating and show support for the family. The family walks behind. If the person is still alive during the honor walk, they are extubated when they reach the operating room and allowed to pass naturally. I think most of the time though, they are already gone. I’m not sure. 

If the thing in the airport was for a deceased person, the bagpipes would have been playing amazing grace and not that cute upbeat song they were playing. That’s why I got confused and did some googling. 

I do have one gripe, though- the three people holding the flags in the front were not stepping in time with the guards and the bagpipers. I did color guard very briefly in high school, as well as a couple other flag holding things, and if it’s a military thing, you should coordinate your steps. Oh well it was very nice and would have been nice to see in person!!

No Classes Were Wasted in the Changing of this Major!

My daughter Anna texted me last night to announce that she’s changing my her major. It’s only her second year of university, and she hasn’t taken any upper level classes yet.  So everything she took last year and is taking this semester still “counts”. 

 

Anna on her first day of university sophomore year ⬆️ 

When I went to parent orientation over a year ago now, they told us how normal and expected it was for young people to change majors. It wasn’t considered normal when I was Anna’s age!  I remember older people shaming the hell out of us for changing!  We were expected to pick one thing at age 18 and stick with it until about age 65!  

I’m glad things are different for Gen Z. 

Anna went through a phase a few years ago where she wanted to be a genetic counselor. At the time, I was following a lady on social media who had three children- one older daughter who was healthy, who was from her first marriage. Then two little ones who had a severe genetic disease. They both passed away, and her older daughter went away to college. She ended up becoming very depressed. Anna was inspired by her family, but also had a high interest in genetics. I remember when she was about 12-13, she made her own comics about fantasy cats. She made entire family for the characters she made up. Each one had a slightly different characteristic. If I can find these drawings, I’ll post them. 

Here’s Anna this past summer in Alaska when she went with her step grandmother and dad’s side of the family-