It's catch up time!

 
 

Well, to be fair, it was actually catch up time over a year ago, but life has been life-ing, and my brain wasn't really braining, so I'm running a bit late. 😜😆

When I last posted here, we were in the final days of a hellish move. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, did. But on the bright side, many of those "wrong" things turned out okay in the end - for example, the whole POD fiasco ended with the company giving us extra time and a deep discount for our troubles. And shortly after the move, we were able to get our second vehicle back on the road... just in time for our Jeep to break down.

 
 

 
 

I did write a post back in early December 2024, detailing everything that had happened, but somehow only one sentence was saved of about a dozen whiny paragraphs (and I only remember that because I found another draft in my PeakD folder complaining about it, lol). At that point, I decided to take a break until after the holidays, and start again in the new year.

And now the holidays are fast approaching again.

 
 

 
 

All things considered, while the move was extremely difficult, it wasn't the worst one ever. In our first twenty-five years together, we ended up moving well over twenty times, and some of those times were equally stressful and challenging. However for some reason, this one really broke my brain threw me for a loop. But I'm slowly unbreaking my brain, and getting back into the groove of... everything.

 
 

(See? I'm even creating gifs again, although I couldn't remember the login to the Hive GIFS Tenor account, so I used my Giphy one for now - on my to do list for another day, 😁)

 
 

So, where to start with my catch up? I suppose it makes sense to begin with the photo in my thumbnail picture - I took it early on the first morning we spent in the new house. It still took (if memory serves) at least another week to be completely out of the Durham house (especially since it went from, "sure, you can leave that stuff" to "every last thumbtack needs to be gone" over that time - not dissing our former landlady, because she tried to be accommodating, but the realtor kept vetoing her decisions). Then it took even more time to unload our storage pod. Now, a year plus later, and we still have bags and boxes we haven't unpacked, because, of course. 😆

As challenging as it was, I do have to say we ended up in the perfect place for us. And a short time after we got settled, our landlady asked if I could do her a favor, and work at her gift shop that's right next door to us. Long story for another day, but I've now been the shop manager for just over a year, and while the pay is more like volunteer work (I mostly get commissions from sales, and as a new, small shop in a somewhat small town, those are fewer and father between than we'd like 😜), I'm surprised by how much I love it.

 
 

Small sampling of what's in the shop & one of my favorite displays - our desk that hubby & the eldest refinished years ago, with a handful of local authors on the top shelf. It's expanded a bit since I took this, but that's another post for another day.

 
 

Last bit for now, before I end up writing a novel - as I've before, back in November 2023 my husband injured his left shoulder at work and ended up needed an operation. Since I last mentioned it (so in the past year), he's had an additional operation, lots of PT (physical therapy) and a few cortisone shots. Currently, it's still not completely healed and pain-free, so now the doctor is shifting from, "let's make it better" to, "let's determine what degree of permanent damage there is" so our lawyer and the workman's comp people can hash out a settlement. Our lawyer has been very upfront that we won't end up with life changing money, but it should give us some breathing room for hubby to figure out where he goes from here.

Oh, and his company sent us a letter back in March (or maybe May... too long ago for my brain, lol) of this year, saying that they were sorry, but they'd have to fire him so they'd be able to hire a new tech. Understandable but a bit funny, seeing as most of the techs that were there when he was working are gone (fired or quit), and they had a hiring freeze going around that same time. 🤷‍♀ Not to mention, even though they picked up his work van just before we moved (it was the thing that finally got them to get it), he still has all his equipment and stuff, and no one's contacted him to retrieve it... and he has asked a number of times... 🤔

 
 

 
 

Okay, okay - enough of the sour grapes stuff. And while there's still loads more to catch up on, but I think this is a good place to stop for now. And now that I'm bringing my laptop with me to work every day, hopefully it won't be another year before my next post.

I've missed you, Hive community, and I'm happy to be back here. 💜

 
 

https://x.com/TraciYorkWriter/status/1991999309806698847

(I'm even shilling tweeting again, lol)!

 
 

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