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.