I’m glad to be done with the COVID quarantine. Only the remnant of a cough, which is probably more asthma than virus, anyway. I’m still wearing a mask, though these days they say you need to get a mask on steroids or not bother.
I’m definitely over the entire pandemic, in all its life-screwing-up iterations.
The assorted and sundry autoimmune garbage always leaves me tired, but I usually manage to function after a couple of good swigs of caffeine. The last few days, leaving my bed took a supreme level of willpower, and it’s all I can do to keep from nodding off at work when things get quiet.
This morning was doubly rough. We finally said good-bye to our furbaby last night. The vet agreed. He hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in 48 hours. He was in and out all day and all night, not doing anything, just standing in the yard and staring up into the sky, even at 3am. The vet said that was an advanced case of doggy dementia and agreed it was time end his misery.
Having the fuzzball put down last night left me more affected than I expected. (No rhyme intended – it’s brain damage from sleep deprivation.) I was bone tired and couldn’t sleep until about 2am, then had to be up at 6:30 for work. Thank goodness today is my “Friday” and I can sleep in tomorrow. The likelihood of yard sales on Christmas weekend is zilch, and I couldn’t be happer about the fact.
We did very little actual Christmas shopping this year. Most of the kids are getting cash. The little ones are getting cash and a stuffed animal. I bought three the little dragons from the Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon – bought them a few months ago and put them into the back of our closet to hold for Christmas. Got them for a song on Amazon just before the movie was released. Same little stuffed critter now is more than five times the cost!
One granddaughter got clothes from us this year, which she desperately needed. We spent more on her than on the other kids. Necessity trumps toys. We ordered her some dresses through Amazon and had them sent to her mama’s house. (She prefers dresses to leggings and tees, or I’d have ordered those.)
One of our grandsons is getting ready to move cross-country and expressly asked for spending money for the trip (which he got.) I also sent a small amount for his little half-brother. His half-brother isn’t related to us, but imho it’s unfair for one sibling to get spending money while the littler one gets bupkus.
This is the 11-year-old grandson with both Cystic Fibrosis and CMT. The move is for his health. Much as we’re going to miss him, we will never begrudge him the opportunity to live a better – and hopefully longer – life. It also means his dad and stepmom are buying a home, and a nice place, for substantially less than they could rent a dump here in the worst part of town. The picture is their house, under contract. What the photo doesn’t show is how much land it includes, and that it has a swimming pool. It’s an awesome thing for a couple of little boys to have space – and weather – to be able to play outdoors all summer. Here the summer temperatures make it impossible for kids to play outside.
The location was dictated by his stepmom’s job. She’s able to transfer to that specific location, which is a win-win for them. Dad is fully disabled with CMT and unable to work, so her job was the deciding factor.
My daughter (grandson’s mama) is understandably ambivalent about their move. She wants her son to be happy and healthy, but not so thrilled it means he’s moving 2000+ miles away. She’s still battling her own way through the disability process, and dealing with a whole lot of other not-so-happy crap on the side. Frankly, she needs to move into cooler realms for health reasons, too.
It’s something we’ve discussed. Once she gets approved for disability, it would make a lot more sense for her to move to the area where my oldest son lives. She can buy a house and live there for about a quarter of housing prices here, and she 100% needs to leave her toxic relationship – but in order to leave, she needs income and a place to live. We’ve told her to come over here. This place is tiny, granted, but it’s safe.
She also has a daughter here with a different ex, and the daughter understandably comes into play. My daughter doesn’t want to go across the country from her little girl, and I can’t blame her.
G and I realistically need to think about moving, too. No, I don’t love the idea of snow and brutal winters. But we could sell our home here and come out with enough to pay full cash price for some of the places we saw in southern Iowa – nice little houses, around the proverbial corner from where my older son lives. If we were up for a fixer, you can pick those up for peanuts. And while yes, there are a couple of miserable months, the rest of the year is beautiful. More importantly, it’s the difference in me potentially retiring in three more years, vs. working into my 80s. That’s kind of a big deal. I’m already too old for this shit.
My younger son and his family are heading for Denver. Gorgeous but too rich for me to retire there.
There are tornadoes in the midwest, though in the specific area where we’re looking they’re far less frequent than further north. Besides, I grew up in Iowa. I know the drill.
It’s a complicated situation no matter how you slice it – but a lot can happen in three years.
It’s here! It’s here!
Y’all, my hands have been so bad this year, my little hand-cranked can opener wasn’t do-able any more. I finally caved and ordered a new electric can opener. I hoped I’d get it before Christmas.
It was delivered a couple of days ago, dropped on our front porch by Amazon, less than 24 hours after I ordered it.
Thankfully, porch pirates aren’t an issue for us. I’m sure it helps we’re home all day, but even so – it’s a quiet little corner of the world. On a busy day, we’ll see maybe three or four cars on our street. Not at one time: that’s altogether, throughout all day and all night. It’s doubly ironic because our itty bitty community has wider side streets than main roadways in most big subdivisions.
A few sections of town are a bit rougher, on the opposite side of the main drag, but none of them are a tenth as scary as some of the areas where I’ve lived.
If I don’t talk to y’all before, have a wonderful holiday season, however you celebrate it.
Lots of moving and relocating in your family’s future. I do hope you and G can do the same. It would be so nice if you could find a home you love near the extended family. I’m sure all the Christmas gifts will be appreciated. I wish you and G a very Merry Christmas.
Thank you, Terri. I hate the process of moving but we’re technically already priced out of the market here. With the higher home values come higher taxes, too, which I’m sure will factor into future mortgage payments. Housing prices have always trended upward – but not upward to the point of more than doubling in two years’ time, like happened to us here.
I don’t mean to be ungrateful for what we have here, either. Our house payment, especially after the refinance, is dirt cheap. Of course, NO mortgage is always better than dirt cheap.
G lived in Canada for a couple of years and hated it – said he literally shoveled snow for six straight months. This was a good 25-ish years ago, and Iowa isn’t Canada. I’d have to calculate in the price to have somebody shovel snow for us, but I still think it would be worth it.
I hope all the moving parts settle in to a happy future for all.
Have a merry!!
Thank you, Joyce. I’m sure things will settle out in time. It’s always a challenge in the interim.