I Did Good (1 Month in Austin)

One month ago was Fourth of July weekend when Kevin and I were anxiously awaiting our move Monday the 6th and me starting this job training class on Tuesday the 7th. I must say, we really did a good job. The only problem is that he isn’t here full time yet. They hired one new person on the Houston crew and are training her, but he will move here for good on September 1, whether they are ready or not. 

We really did great. It was honestly starting to suck over there. The AC had gone out in the guest house, except for one specific spot to lay in if you wanted AC (it didn’t circulate). Plus, the guest house had an invasion of ants that Kevin took care of with bait. They bit me all over my arms and legs, which are now scarred. It looks like I was shooting up. I wasn’t. 

My job working for gift card boss was ok, but very stressful to go to different places and families all the time. She was a nice, understanding boss, but it really did wear on me to enter different peoples homes so regularly and have to learn their routines. I would get this dread, like what if they suck and hate me?  Being the “damage control” didn’t help- it sounds like a compliment, but I would go in right after someone had a bad experience with someone else, too. 

Working at this group home is nice. It’s a little bit lower pay per hour, but I have guaranteed 40 hours, so my checks are bigger. Working overnight with clients who sleep well is a breeze- especially clients who are self sufficient enough to do their own house chores. This isn’t to say I’m without messy days. One of them has a propensity to throw up while taking morning medications, and this morning, she basically puked everywhere. I heard that she tended to do that, just hadn’t witnessed it, and she was already puking when I thought of the garbage can. Oh well. I cleaned it up. Then another one of the ladies insisted she was having seizures, but the nurse says she isn’t. I’m keeping a very close eye on her. She was ok this morning except for freaking out when she couldn’t get her shoes on. I simply bent over and loosened them and slid them on and tied them. She instantly felt better and thanked me. So it’s not all easy peasy all the time, but it’s much easier than what I was doing in Houston - because I can get used to these people and care for them on a daily basis. 

Our apartment is extremely nice. I love it. The only noise issue is that the guy upstairs walks around a lot. That’s nothing. My husband thought we would hear loud music and partying. There is also security at night. We have an Amazon locker so don’t have to worry about package thieves. We have a fitness center.  We also have a washer and dryer in our unit. I have only had that when I lived with my parents. Never in my own place. 

It does feel like we are the old kids on the block. We are probably the only empty nesters. Everyone else seems like they are single and in their 30’s at the most. There are only about 3-4 kids waiting for a school bus in the morning, in a complex of hundreds of units. 

Kevin loves it here, too. He literally can’t wait to start working for the Austin crew of his company. I can’t wait till he does either. I did ask him- please don’t volunteer me. I’m not looking to get back into that persè, but a lot of the people on the Austin crew are kind of old and have a lot of physical problems. I told him, if two or more of them keel over, I could help out on my mornings off/come in late on mornings I work till 8.  But don’t say that until/if that happens. If anyone asks what I’m up to, say I’m working in a group home- because that’s the truth! 

Some benefits to living in Austin- for me- being close to my daughter Anna. She’s moving into off campus housing 40 miles away from me in San Marcos on August 15th with five other girls including her freshman dorm roommate. I am so glad to be closer to her, especially since she prefers this area over the Houston area. Also, my side jobs, the retail audit apps, are very plentiful here. I made over $1,000 this month with them. There are probably four times the amount of those jobs here than in the Houston area, and it’s always been like that.  And for Kevin, it’s going to be working on the Austin crew. The couple that runs the Houston crew has become increasingly toxic. Kevin can’t find another job as easily as I can, because this is all he’s done for 30 years. Turns out, my dad was right when he told me to have three careers, and all the other people in his generation were wrong when they said stick with one thing forever. There are benefits to how he did it, but I have more job security. 

Austin is also pretty. Sam Houston called southeast Texas “The Great Thicket” because of all the trees and thick green grass. Austin is the beginning of the “Texas Hill Country”, so the grounds are less thick green and have more white rock under the grass. It reminds me a little of Greece, where my grandparents came from. In fact, Austin kind of reminds me of if a city was “3/4 Houston and 1/4 Greece”.  If that makes sense. 

Now that I’m not “just moved here” and “just started a job”, I can really start to set goals regarding health and fitness, money, side jobs, sewing and writing. Maybe I can do what some bloggers do and recap at the end of each week and month. In the beginning of 2026, my goal for 2026 was to bring my student loan balance under $10K down to four figures by 1/1/27. Well I don’t think that will happen, but it might if the rest of the second half goes as well as July did. Here’s to a good second half of 2026 🥂