Capital of Texas Updates

Almost 8 weeks in, and I am loving Austin. Just as it has been, the only problem is that my husband still can’t move here permanently. He did get a transfer to the Austin crew of his job, but said he would stay until they were staffed. Then the manager wouldn’t call back anyone that the Austin manager hired for Houston. Then one or two stuck, but are problematic. There are officially three solid seeming new people, and it seems like Kevin can finally join me here permanently and start working on the Austin crew. I mean you would think that three people would be adequate to replace one. It was even to a point where they didn’t have enough scanners for people. So one of the new guys was doing “pre counts” with stickies on high quantity items. What a waste of time. The new people have to learn the scanners, my husband doesn’t. Have my husband do the stickies or just let him move here. I can tell they are fucking with us because they’re mad about our move. 

My mom’s narrative is that Kevin won’t join me here permanently, because “he secretly just doesn’t want to be with me.”  Because of course that is what my mother thinks. Why would my husband be paying for this whole ass apartment that he only gets to crash at on the weekends?  His parents’ guest house has crappy AC and ants. The only financial contribution I made to this apartment was $150 towards the move in costs/deposit and then yesterday I paid $400 towards September rent. My husband only said “I’ll get us an apartment there if you get any job” just to get me into a better situation. The place in Hempstead is falling apart, and I didn’t like the job I was working at, and we knew we wanted to end up here anyway. Kevin had kind of an emotional crash out when he found out that the Houston crew has jobs scheduled this Saturday and Sunday- so he wouldn’t be able to come to Austin for the weekend. My mother’s interpretation was “Maybe he actually crashed out because he’s tired of you.”  

This caused me to blow up at my mother, which caused her to act oblivious. She didn’t do anything wrong and just has no idea what she said wrong!  

She has always, always created this narrative that stars me as the root of all the problems of everyone else around me. I sometimes explain it as having been born already canceled. It’s funny, because it’s her generation that hates “cancel culture.”  

The day after my blow up at my mom, Dolly Parton died. Damnit. Now I have to call her and be like “Dolly Parton died.” Aretha Franklin died the last time we had a major fight. I refused to call her about it at that time, and then she was like “You didn’t call me when Aretha Franklin died!” As if she was her relative and I owed her condolences. So about 12-14 hours after the news broke, I simply sent a text saying “Dolly Parton died.”  I knew she must have been watching it on tv all day, so it was a little funny that I sent that text as if I was announcing it. In fact, she was probably channel surfing whenever one network stopped talking about it, in order To see if another network was talking about it. She does that when there’s major news, and then she complains that there’s too much news coverage. 

She responded as if the fight never happened, so I guess we are cool but I’m being distant. 

It’s now looking like Kevin can head to Austin this weekend after all. I agree, because three new people can make up for it!  Especially with not enough scanners because what the hell!  I’m glad because Kevin was kind of depressed that he couldn’t come this weekend. 

The only other new city woe is my $186 toll road bill. I paid that yesterday. 😓. Austin freeways have a habit of not being a toll for several miles, and then all of a sudden they are. So as soon as I paid that yesterday, I decided to drive around the city all day (doing side jobs of course) and really really paying attention to what’s a toll and where- that way, if my navigation tells me to go one way, I know not to. I do not even think Siri knows which Austin highways are tolls, because I select avoid tolls, and it still sends me on them. I had lived in Houston 24 years, so I had it memorized what was a toll and what wasn’t. The one that does this the most is highway 183. It’s a toll, then it’s not, then it is, then it’s not. RM620 is free for like 20 miles all around the perimeter of the city and then once it gets to the area where I live, bam it’s a toll. I really have spent the last couple days making note of these things so I don’t have to pay $186 again. 

Other than that things are great. I love having an easy night job and lots of side jobs to do locally during the day. I’m going in tonight at midnight and would be getting off at 8 am but agreed to take one of the ladies on a doctor appointment at 8:20 am. This way, the day staff doesn’t have to take everyone to one person’s appointment. I wouldn’t want to have to go to a housemate’s appointments either. After that hopefully I’ll see Kevin!!