Wednesday, January 20, 2021

I'm so relieved...

I'm so relieved that we finally took out the trash that was left to fester for 4 years. I've never been more disgusted than anytime I was exposed to the classless, honorless, moral-less piece of shit that held office before today.

And that Poet Laureate, tho. I need a heart ears emoji.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

I need advice / recommendations. I have questions.

I need advice / recommendations.  I have questions.

How do you sell a house?

What are the benefits of going through an agent versus doing it yourself?

If rooms need painting, or the yard needs some landscaping, or whatever along those lines should we do it before putting it up for sale to increase the value of the place or leave it undone so that the new owner can choose how they want things?  If we use an agent do they take responsibility for any of this?  Our house in Anniston is in good shape and we've done some upgrades in the time we've been there, but my living room is not exactly a neutral color and Shaun painted his entire bedroom black.  😂😂😂

Obviously, we will clean the place but how do people get houses to look so perfectly clean in the photos?  Does an agent (if we use one) hire someone to deep clean or is that a thing we just need to do ourselves or hire someone to do out of pocket?  I'm not sure how much time I can personally invest in this because I need to be studying for my certification and looking for a job pretty soon so I'm trying to get an idea of the amount of work that needs to be done and how to best tackle it.

Also, we were planning to let the kids live there until the house sells.  Is that a thing we can do?  Like, say that the house is for sale but that we need a certain number of days to get them moved out?

Thank you in advance for any advice you may have!

Monday, January 18, 2021

I haven't slept well at all tonight...

I haven't slept well at all tonight / this morning; I had a soda yesterday and that was probably enough caffeine to mess me up. But Shaun and Sindar are currently softly snoring back and forth and it's pretty precious. I'm glad I am awake to hear it. 💕

Thursday, January 14, 2021

It's a sad day.

It's a sad day. We took down my nest (super awesome full-sized loft bed with shelves and drawers and storage closet and desk space and roll-out twin bed). I love that thing so much, but it's packed away safely in the basement for now. I can't wait for the day we put it back up. We just have to get ourselves settled and arranged first.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

GTFO and we got some stuff done!

We watched Trump get impeached for the second time and finished cleaning out the basement. It was a good day! 😁

Let me help you spot some abuse.

If you find yourself in a relationship that brings out the worst version of you, leave it.

I'm feeling reflective.  After all of the nostalgia from the past few weeks I have felt like I wanted to write something but I haven't been sure what.  I'm honestly still not but I thought that (much like my approach to college) I would just start, do my best, and see where it goes.  So here I am again.

I guess we all probably have a past romantic relationship that we consider to be our worst.  I absolutely do and it's probably not the one you would think.  It's not the guy who pressured me into sex and then dumped me after I got a piercing he didn't approve of.  It's not the 20-year-old man who knocked up my 16-year-old self, cheated on me (yeah, I know about it), and then peaced the fuck out never to help and rarely to be heard from again.  It was actually probably the most "normal" looking relationship I had (before my wonderful husbang, obvi) and looking back it was awful.  The funny thing is that I didn't even realize it was awful until someone came along and pointed it out.  I guess that's what makes mental / emotional abuse so hard to spot.

I don't care to get into a ton of detail because I've taken my lessons learned and moved forward, not back, but when one person is never happy with their situation, but refuses to put in work to change it - that is a problem because they will never be happy.  When there is potential to build and grow but one person can't or won't commit to building or growing with you - that is a problem because that is wasted time and energy; you will literally get nowhere with this person no matter how much time or energy you invest.  These things (plus tons more; I'm not up for trying to make an exhaustive list) can happen due to being incompatible which is not really the fault of anyone; that just happens sometimes and the sooner you see it the better.

When there is a double-standard in the relationship (I can do a thing but you can't) - that is a problem, period.  When someone dangles carrots of affection over your head like a donkey to get their way - that is a problem because when you love and care for a person you show affection to them whether they went to lunch without you one time or not, for example.  (And yes, that happened.  😂😂😂)  When your partner publicly insults you and not in a jovial, friendly way that you are ok with - that is a problem (even if you don't notice it, it's a problem and hopefully someone will point it out to you).  When you are made to feel like a terrible partner to the point that you are crossing your own boundaries to keep someone happy - that is a problem.  When you start questioning yourself and things you know to be true due to gaslighting - that is a HUGE problem because who can you rely on if not yourself?

Those things are abusive.  In the moment it might not feel like it and due to that they often they go unnoticed so I'm telling y'all:  If any of this hits too close to home you are not in a healthy relationship.  I was in one like this for more years than I care to admit and it made me so ugly on the inside.  I was anxious and stressed.  I was jealous, but I'm pretty sure he liked that.  I was hateful to a couple of women when my anger should have been directed at my partner.  I have since apologized to those women and some days I feel like I should apologize again.  I don't know what else to say except that I wasn't myself because I was being torn down.  It wasn't who I wanted to be and it sure as hell is not who I am now.

I'm going on 13 years with my favorite person - my husbang.  Being truly loved is so healing and I had a lot of healing to do.  I don't think I've ever been better emotionally than I have since I've been with him.  I have had some mental health issues which are not the same and are the fault of no one; nevertheless, he's been there for me through those, too, and I'm better for having had his help and support.  I really think I'm the best version of myself that I've ever been and I am grateful.  Onward and upward, my friends.  Don't let anyone or anything hold you back.  ❤

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

It's been a busy day.

It's been a busy day. As you can see these cats (Bastian and Scar) are exhausted. 😂😂😂

I started my day off bathing Nom (tortoise). I don't know what is going on with him but he's keeping to himself in his humid hide. I'm having to make sure he eats and stays hydrated. It's very unlike him to be so unsocial, but maybe it's just because it's cool right now. I'm still keeping a close eye on him.

After the animals were taken care of Shaun and I started cleaning out the basement. I have a long list of things to do and I was saving that chore for later but we both felt up for tackling it today so we did. Amazingly, we got most of it emptied. We sorted through a lot; we have a trash pile, a donation pile, and a "go through this stuff" pile. I'm pretty excited about our progress and can't wait to see it finished.

I can't say that our day was super exciting. We spent most of it working on the basement. I always like going through old stuff looking for treasure. I found a bunch of old binders and notebooks that I'm happy to add to my stash. Shaun found a ton of things from his past. There were about 20 animal corpses down there; mostly mice and blue birds. I understand that mice get in everywhere, but I was shocked at the number of birds. Anyway, it smells a lot better down there now.

Well, I guess I'm off so we can look through some of these boxes. I hope you all are doing well. ❤️