Between big steps down in my career situation, flash-moving to Temple from Georgetown, dealing with the death of Brian's grandmother and settling of her estate, various health issues on Brian's end and what seems to be the ultimate death of Squirtle, I'm hoping for better things from 2015.
The first three months of the year were just fine. I was working at Community Impact, striving to become a better connected reporter and be on time with my assignments. Then management decided my efforts weren't good enough and cut me.
This was partly a good thing. I was not happy there, especially under my editor (who had four reporters under her in about three years, myself lasting one year), and it has given me a chance to step back and realize reporting may not be what I want to do with my life.
However, that doesn't mean my next steps were obvious.
To ensure I had income, I took a waitressing job at a barbecue restaurant where Brian had recently gotten into a part-time cleaning gig. Following the loss of my income, he managed to get more hours working the pits as well as cleaning. For the first time, we were both bringing in money and not doing too badly.
And you really get to where you can't smell that smoked brisket aroma any more.
Then his grandmother got sick.
Around April she was admitted to the hospital. For two months there was a lot of back and forth about whether she would go home or to assisted living or to Burleson to be near her only living daughter. Ultimately, she decided she wanted to go home, so Brian told her he would move in to help take care of her (he had quit the barbecue job in June and gone back to working on air conditioners).
So in July, we moved to Temple. And it was functioning. While we worked (I was still commuting to Jarrell to work at the restaurant), a family friend helped take care of his grandmother, with hospice workers visiting daily to make sure medication was being taken and comfort was maintained.
When his grandmother started having trouble keeping her oxygen levels up, things fell apart again.
Powers of attorney and wills were changed. Arguments occurred. Then on Saturday, July 19, I got a phone call to go back to Temple. Brian needs me.
He'd just spent an hour laying with his grandmother, talking, before she died.
It's amazing how the end of a life sets off the start of a slew of new, legal-themed adventures.
After we almost had a funeral planned, we learned about Texas' Appointment of Agency, which essentially means Brian's aunt had to plan the funeral. She delayed it, changed everything about it (and probably tripled the cost), but the funeral happened and everyone moved on.
Except Brian. We still had to get the will probated (in August-ish), inventory the estate and notify beneficiaries. I started working at a restaurant in Temple at the end of July and quit working in Jarrell in early August with the thought that, even though it would be a cut in income I would be motivated to get into a better job faster.
I applied and applied and applied to jobs for months while working less than 20 hours a week on waitress wages ($2.13/hour). Good jobs with big companies, entry level jobs with grocery stores and the like. No takers. I had one interview with Fikes, but was turned down for an ATM customer service position.
Something good did happen in August though: Brian and I got engaged. Using a ring his grandmother left him to give to me, we discussed marriage and he convinced me that we would stand a pretty good chance at making it work.
And I keep getting so many compliments on the ring...
Around that time of year, I'd also lost about 25 pounds from the pure stress of little income, stressed fiancee and, honestly, not eating very much. Having J.W., a friend of ours through aikido, move in as a roommate around the end of September helped with some of the financial burden, but as he was dealing with divorce and depression in his own life, sometimes it just added to our stresses. We love the man like family though and feel like we probably ended up in the same house together because we all needed one another at this point of our lives.
Then more good news: Brian was diagnosed with kidney stones about the second week of November. I was sick the weekend before (right after Halloween), then he finds himself doubled over on the floor one Sunday morning, screaming in pain. We thought it might have been the hernia he had diagnosed a month before but the pain was too much. We went to the ER and were eventually told he had two kidney stones.
We visited the ER about four times that week, along with about two doctor appointments and one walk-in appointment with the doctor for various pains and drug interactions -- yes, we were at the hospital literally every day for a week straight.
The day they removed the stones. He'd be very displeased that I uploaded this photo.
It was a very difficult, sleepless time for us both, but we eventually got the stones removed and were even told we qualified for level one charity with the hospital because we made so little money. I guess the struggle for a job for me and seasonal joblessness for him played in our favor there.
I'd dropped Brian off at the hospital to talk to his doctor one day when I went in for an interview at Hobby Lobby. It was the one job that I'd called and followed up on several times after applying (at Brian's insistence). When the manager offered me a seasonal position, I agreed to start the very next week, despite the short notice I'd have to give at the restaurant. I didn't want to leave them shorthanded, but I was tired of living hand-to-mouth and losing almost all of my bank savings just to pay bills each month.
Hobby Lobby: where the floral department is way more popular than you'd think
Then Acer joined the family. We started hanging out at Brian's former stepmother's house on Sunday evenings to watch Walking Dead. She is part of the Austin Boxer Rescue and one of her fosters, a senior boxer named Acer (a.k.a. Methusela) was having trouble with another male in the house. We'd fostered some other boxers this year, just when Jacque needed a little help, so we had some idea what to expect with them. Brian offered to foster him so Jacque could keep an eye on him, but also not have to referee fights in her house, and here he stays. He's got some itching problems, but I feel like he's really helping Brian like only a dog can.
He doesn't look like it here, but this dog loves Brian.
Jacque has also been good for us this year, giving us a break from estate work and our everyday stress once a week when we go over to hang out, eat some food and watch some TV. That's at least one thing I hope we continue in the new year.
I was leaving a shift at Hobby Lobby when my car bit the dust in late November. We were looking at having to buy a new vehicle and dig up $1,200 for property taxes on the house we've been living in since July (until we learned estates must be settled by selling items from the estate. No out-of-pocket action, even with property taxes due this month).
In a way, the law requiring settling the estate this way was a relief; that money won't be taken out of my savings account, like we were anticipating, but it still has to come from somewhere, so we are jumping on selling things for what we can get for them. Already some furniture and the flatscreen TV are gone, and we're going through other things with the help of some friends in preparation for a garage sale.
Currently, on the first day of 2015, we have someone interested in the Volkswagen, so we may be able to get a little money back in the bank. We are making one-vehicle-two-jobs work as long as we have to. Brian may have a new job by mid-month, and I will know by the end of January whether I will stick around at Hobby Lobby or be moving back into the job hunt arena.
Not everything about 2014 sucked, obviously, but here's hoping for more positivity to reflect on this time next year.
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