Corona Virus Craze

This first three months of 2020 have been anything but normal...where to begin?

January - Started working at Block Advisors for 2020 tax season.
January - ER visit revealed a 11 mm kidney stone.
January - Sarah leave for boot camp.
February - Gatlin has lumbar puncture and chemo at hospital, Aunt Sherry went too.
February - surgery to remove kidney stone.
February - Army cancelled Family Day and Graduation for Sarah's boot camp.
February - COVID-19 quarantine.  Mass paranoia. Stores are empty.
March - Poppy passed away.
April - 2nd kidney stone surgery.

A very serious virus called Coronavirus or COVID-19...it has cause so much chaos in the world!!
Public pandemic is a real thing and I never thought I see it in my lifetime.  This is something that happened in the past, like 1918...

The government has force businesses, restaurants, department stores, nail salons, etc...to close their doors to help stop the spread of this horrible virus.  The elderly, people with weak immune systems or respiratory issues are at high risk.  The virus attacks the  respiratory system and many people have to be placed on ventilators, many have not survived.  Not only are businesses closed, but there is a "shelter in place" order in affect...unless your job is deemed "essential" business you are to stay at home, in your home and not go anywhere.  Please are hording toilet paper, meat, eggs etc...mass buying, panic buying!!!  It is the craziest thing I have ever seen.  The store shelves are empty, no paper products available.  It is so strange to walk into the local grocery store and see empty shelves day after day.  Stores are beginning to enforce two item limits; like only two packages of TP can be bought at a time.  Hand sanitizer is non existent, cleaners, soaps, disinfectant wipes are all gone.
Craziness shear craziness!!

We are all so very sad and upset we cannot attend Family Day or Graduation for Sarah's boot camp, she has worked so and was looking so forward to having us all there to celebration graduation and her birthday, which were the same day.  So unfair everything COVID-19 has robbed us of.  My heart is so sad and hurting for my beautiful daughter, all she talked about for months before going to boot camp was how emotional and beautiful graduation was, we watch video after video of different graduations...she was so excited.  It was all been ripped away. 

The economical impact is going to be huge, so many people forced to leave jobs to help stop the spread of the virus, dentist office are not seeing patience except for emergencies.  Concerts, graduations, weddings, even funerals are all shut down.  So very sad, if I wasn't witnessing it first hand I would not fully understand or believe all that is happening.  Currently the country is under strict "stay at home" orders.  Restaurants are closed except for take out or drive thru services...no dining in...this industry is being hit really hard.  Basically the only stores open are grocery stores, Dollar Stores, Dollar Tree, gas stations.  These are all deemed "essential".   

I understand doing all we can to stop the spread, I really do...but I do believe some of this craze is to the extreme!!  Oh well...

Thursday, March 5, 2020 our beloved step dad aka Poppy was finally at peace and free of the cancer he'd battled for 12 years.  Sunday he took a turn for the worse, he was taken the hospice unit at Baylor Scott & White (formal All Saints) hospital.  I followed the ambulance to the hospital and spent the entire in the ER waiting for the hospice people to come so I could complete the paperwork.  At 5:30a they finally got him in a room.  I sat with him every day for hours and talked to him, he was incoherent and unconscious, but I talked any way.  He was so good to me and my girls, so giving, so loving, so patient and generous to a fault.  We loved him dearly.  RIP Poppy.

The hardest part, was having to send Sarah a message at boot camp that her Poppy had passed away.  She was allowed to call and she called me.  We talked for a few minutes and I told we would not have the service until she got home, Uncle Boo wanted him and her to be in dress uniform to honor Poppy, he will be memorialized with full military honor and his flag will be presented to Sarah.

A bright spot in all this mess, I found an amazing church.  Open Door in Burleson is amazing and the pastor is incredible.  

So much more to write, but will have to finish another day.

Keeping it real!!

Soldier Girl

Well, here we are almost mid February...life has slowed down in some ways, but hectic as ever just in different ways!!

I accepted a position with Block Advisory back in October, since then I've been training and learning about the tax world, scheduling clients, working with tax advisors and learning the ropes at the FW office.  It was been very chaotic and unorganized (in my opinion).  Next week, Feb 10-14 will be my first full week of Mon-Fri 8:30a-4:00p.  I'm a bit nervous, due to the fact the phone system sucks and coupled with my bad hearing and people mumbling on the phone...I struggle with the phone.  I voiced my concerns to my boss, because the upper management has a huge campaign of "mystery callers" and the office is graded, the FW office is behind in other areas and I do not want to be the reason we are graded poorly for "mystery calls"...apparently my boss said something to her boss and I'll be working on a project tomorrow, which I assume won't be on the phone!!  I personally think the whole "mystery call" campaign is a ridiculous, time consuming and a bit behind the times.  Each manager must make multiple calls to different offices plus their own offices, they have to ask questions and see if the receptionist (or whomever) answers the phone will follow a script provide by corporate...offer drop off, online, upfront pricing, MyBlock account etc...I get it is a marketing technique and we should know the information...but I also feel each call should be handled on a case by case bases. Readying from a scrip is not natural and sounds phony...oh well, I'm really glad this is a temporary position...over April 15, 2020!  Whew...lots of responsibility for very little pay!!

January 28, 2020, baby girl (daughter #3) left for Army boot camp, its 10 weeks.  Her husband, daddy and myself took her to the airport.  She will be in Columbus, South Carolina at Ft. Jackson.  She'll graduate April 9th, which is her birthday...that's pretty cool!! We'll go to family day and graduation, I'm very excited.  She called her husband once and sent me a picture after six days...have not heard from her since.  So hard for this mama's heart!!  On a positive note, there is a FaceBook page for her unit.  I actually got to see a picture of her on FB...so that was cool.  I've sent her a card with a short letter every day since I got the address!!  She'll probably be a little embarrassed from all the mail she'll receive, but oh well...a mama's gotta do what a mam's gotta do!!  LOL!!

Watching her disappear around the corner of the walkway to the airplane just about did me in!!  It was all I could do not to fall completely apart...I'm such a tender heart especially when it comes to my kids and grandkids. UGH!!!  I'm a mama bear and want them all close at hand not half way across the country.  I gotta toughen up!!  If she ever deployed overseas I'll be a wreak, God is definitely going to have to get me through that when/if it happens!!

February 3 my sister turned 65, to celebrate her son bought wine tour tickets for three of us in Grapevine, we visited three wineries, had a nice lunch and stayed in a nice hotel.  My sister, her daughter in law and myself, we had a blast!!  Laughed, cried, ate, drank and thoroughly enjoyed our time together.

I'm still struggling with how I'm going to move out of this house, I'm miserable living here.  Husband is in complete denial and doesn't believe I'll leave.  We've been in separate rooms on the opposite side of the house for over two years, plus the year I was living in Magnolia due to grandson's leukemia treatments.  The only reason I'm still here is because I cannot support myself.  I'm working on a couple of options.  Have a friend that has a three bedroom house and said I could move in with her for low close, I could go stay at my daughter's house, but it is under major construction and the dust, dogs and cats really get my allergies stirred up...I've stayed there before...I always have the options of going back to Magnolia, which is looking like the best option.  If I don't have a permanent position when Block Advisory job ends I'll probably move back to Magnolia.  I want to be with my grandkids.  I'll find a job down there...

I just want to be happy, I'm so full of life and love adventure I just can't settle for sitting on the couch for the rest of my life.  Husband is perfectly content on the couch...he is not a good traveler, everything makes him nervous and he gets very grumpy when out of his normal environment. He can be very self centered, selfish and lazy at times.  Has no imagination, he doesn't even try to find things to do.  I've asked him many times "what do you want to do?  you can do anything you want."  He says he can't think of anything to do.  I just don't get it, I'm not wired that way...I want to live life to the fullest and experience as much as possible!!!

Oh well, enough of complaining for night!!  LOL!!

Keeping it real!! Life is short, live it!!

Holidays 2019

Well, here we are post holidays, YEA!  2019 holidays were the worst on record...no one reason, but a collective series of events.  Already wrote about Christmas and how I felt about it.  New Year's wasn't much better.  No one was feeling good, so it was very low key and all in bed by 10:30 me included, however I didn't sleep until the wee hours of the morning.  Everything just felt off kilter, not sure why...well, that's probably not entirely true I could definitely name a few reasons, but will save for another time.

However, it wasn't a totally bummer we drove to see Emma Jeter who was running 55 hours with a goal of at least a 100 miles with the Snowdrop Foundation and her Snowdrop, Gatlin!!  She was so happy to see us and loved on Gatlin and took pictures with him.  It was a lovely warm day and we thoroughly enjoyed the outing.  Emma is an earth angel, she has dedicated all her runs to Gatlin this year and gives him her medals and buckles. It's an amazing thing.  One day when he's older and fully understands the significance of it all he'll really appreciate it.  At five he doesn't get it, but his parents, grandparents and others get it...simply amazing!!

On another subject, I've been "shopping" around for a new church.  One I could really connect with, I've visited serval in the area and all are good with decent messages.  But, one day I read a post from a fellow classmate who said he had visited Open Door in Burleson and absolutely felt the love, support and warmth.  So I went to Open Door the next Sunday, it was amazing!  Troy Brewer the pastor is really incredible.  His preaching is spot on and relates to modern day life, there are times I think is he talking directly to me.  At one point, I thought "how'd he know what I was thinking and how troubled I am?"  I just knew when I looked up he'd be looking at me...LOL!!!  Anyway, today January 19 was my second Sunday attending.  And again, he spoke directly to me!!  I think I've found the connection I've been looking for.  Plus the bonus is I already have friends there.

Thank God for my friend that cried with me this morning, for no other reason than I was crying!!  God bless you my friend!! 

God is moving in my life, he is giving me strength to do what I have and need to do.  Hurting someone is so hard, I've always put others feelings ahead of my own and squashed my real feelings to avoid hurting others, but sometimes that is not the best way to handle a situation.  I deserve to be happy and so does husband, he is in denial and refuses to admit we're not happy. If we don't talk about it it doesn't exist, that's his mind set!!

I'm getting there and with God by my side He'll get me through it and the other person too, if they'll let him.

Well, gotta go for now.

Keeping it real!!  Life is short, live it!!