This week will have me in the car round trip to Sacramento twice and includes an overnight stay in Sacramento as well. I'm attending a class that is 5PM - 9PM on Thursdays and all day Fridays and (thankfully) I'm going to stay up there. My boss is commuting but he has a one year old to help with at home so - and/or he may stay with his brother who lives near there.
The past few days have been reflective of the constant back and forth with H&R - who required rescuing again when their electricity was turned off. We came up with the payment due and it was (thankfully) turned back on - but the 'stories' around why/how that shutoff happened vary and change like the wind. I think we got a more accurate 'story' this evening when H. stopped by for (literally) 8 minutes to pickup boxes - R. had tried to charge the amount due on a credit card but it didn't go through.
I think they have been living well over their means for a long time.
They think they've found a house to rent and are acknowledging that the cats are going to have to be given to friends. I strongly urged him to have the kids start looking for friends to take them both - because we have decided we don't want them here. I just can't handle felines. I love them - don't get me wrong. Love, love cats. They are often snuggly and sweet and purring is very comforting. They are also sneaky, love to use our wood stair posts as scratching posts and at some point, will likely decide to pee everywhere but their litter box. I speak from experience. So no. We won't do cats.
H. is bringing the paperwork over tomorrow for the rental - they've submitted an application. They need us to co-sign and I feel a lot of trepidation about that. Signing a long-term lease is scary when we're the party that will be responsible financially - and these 'kids' don't have the best track record. I'm going to insist that we won't co-sign until we've sat down together, pencil and paper and sketched out their monthly budget. R. is (please, God, let this work out) starting a part time job she can do at home, assisting a long-time family friend as an admin assistant. He owns a construction company and can use help with paperwork, scheduling, etc. . Once the Mariner is in her name, she can start driving for Lyft again as well. I think having two incomes is imperative to this working out 'cuz there's no way H.'s salary is going to be enough on it's own.
I wrestle with thinking the world of him for taking on 'a wife and two kids' and doing his best to support them financially - and wanting to slap some sense into him. But people do a lot in the name of love so....I try to bite my tongue.
I'm not good at biting my tongue - which I demonstrated earlier today on the phone with B.. He shared that 'I've given up drinking'. He paused - probably waiting for me to cheer! - and then said 'for two months. I'm stopping for two months'. I said 'oh, so just for a couple months'. I DID stop myself from saying 'so you're not really stopping so much as taking a break'. But he was pissed that I said 'only a couple months'. The silence told the story.
He's bored - because he can't go to bars with friends and they do that a lot, I guess? He said 'I know myself and if I go to a bar, I will have a drink'. So better that he stays away. But a four day weekend closed up in his room - even with a nice TV and plenty of video games to play - he sounded 'down'.
I'm glad he's taking a break from drinking and I'm hoping that if/when he starts again, he'll try for more moderation.
Chicken avocado burgers for dinner - yummy! We're using our Hello Fresh recipes to create meals for a few weeks - we'll see how we do. We can always start the orders back up again easily but we have plenty of food on hand and should eat what we have.
We're approaching being just 60 days away from our Disneyworld trip which means we can start making dinner reservations and get our fast passes set up for each day. It will be a whirlwind trip and as first timers, it feels overwhelming. I've been to Disneyworld and Epcot but it was 21 years ago and I was only in the parks for a day...and what I remember most about that day is how much I missed my husband and my kids. Super glad J. will be with me this time!
We've also set all of our cruise excursions and have one port where we're just going to see what we feel like doing that morning - no booked excursion. We may get off the ship and head into the port and just explore on our own, being careful not too venture too far from the port and most definitely not getting in a vehicle for any 'excursion' that takes us away from where the ship is docked nearby. The change in itinerary necessitated by the hurricanes left us with one less sea day so I just might stay on the ship that day and just relax. Sit on the balcony, read, nap, go to the pool or spa. There's zillions of things to do - this ship is far larger than The Jewel we cruised on last year so there's going to be plenty to explore and do.
I need to start getting ready for tomorrow - a super early alarm and a long drive North in what will likely be fog. It's been overcast, cold and foggy here for a few days and looks like more of that this week. Fingers crossed the weather lightens up by February 10th 'cuz I'm booked for two nights at The Atlantis and I really (emphasis on REALLY) want to go -
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