2021 in Brief
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
I have a longer post started… but, figured I would just do a brief one for now because I promised you all a year in review and it’s now the 5th of January. I’m not sure how that happened…
The Good:
My kids. OMG guys, I love them so much! The laughs we share on a daily basis (every other week) are incredible. We have a great relationship. Largely because I still have a very juvenile sense of humor! LOL!! The last month or so we’ve all been stuck on this TikTok Video/Song: bigmerla https://www.tiktok.com/@bigmerla/video/7042872649743158533?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=7031934368025265669&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0
So the word “sharted” has been thrown around a lot lately!
2021 was the year I bought my third car but picked it out all by myself!! I couldn’t be happier with my car! My first car was a 1989 Subaru Justy! Probably the best car I ever had (until this one!). I ran that fucker into the ground!! AND it stood the test of my horrible vehicle maintenance!! I stand by Subaru after that experience. My mom helped me buy that car, brand new. First and very likely the last time I ever buy new.
This one is a 2015 Subaru Forrester. God I love it! Still!! I bought it in March I believe. It was just traded in the day I bought it! One owner, all maintenance done at the appropriate times, and in excellent condition! I got my free Subaru badges from the Subaru website! I still couldn’t be more thrilled with that purchase!
This year, I also formed a relationship with a local writer, and we are currently working on at least two book projects together. One is my first ever book contract!! It’s an awesome book project and I can’t wait to see it through! We are still in the middle of it, and it will likely come out sometime next year! The other is a sci-fi book we are co-writing that we will almost surely have a publisher when it’s finished. Those have been such inspirational and awesome things that happened this year!
I also published my first self-published book on Amazon! I’m super proud of that, and have at least one more self-published book planned.
Through my relationship with my co-writer, I will also be seeking publication for a book of essays-memoir style on pop culture. I just haven’t had the time to work on it much lately with so many other things going on.
I gained a couple of new birds this year! Not that I needed any more LOL!! But, We kept the one hatch that lived out of the 6 clutches a pair of cockatiels laid. Bob. He’s awesome! I bought a beautiful green opaline quaker (Polly) to be a mate for my gray quaker Benjamin. He hates her LOL. But, my greencheek Jaden loves her! We were looking for a female turquoise or blue Indian Ringneck as a mate for Ozaawi, but my breeder had several clutches of only males, so we bought him a brother LOL. Charlie is a wonderful addition! He just started talking last month and it’s soooo darn cute!! Ozaawi loves all of the other birds. I got a rehomie just before Christmas - a regular green Quaker named Kevvy or Kevin as the kids would prefer to call him. He’s quite the character and fits in so well. When Ozaawi saw him he said “come here good boy, gimme kiss!” I love my birds so much! Kevvy is doing well and slowly getting along with the other quakers and Jaden. I’m hoping either Kevvy or Benjamin will warm up to Polly and we can breed some quakers. So, now we have a total of 11 birds. 2 Indian Ringnecks, 5 Cockatiels (Billie, Chicka, Javelin, Elvis, and Bob), 3 Quakers, and one Cinnamon/pineapple turquoise Greencheek. Pretty much all but the cockatiels talk (Polly and Kevvy JUST started saying their first words this week! Polly said “good fart” and Kevvy said “good boy” and “step up”). The three male cockatiels love doing the wolf wistle and whistling tunes!
I’m sure there’s a million other good things that happened this year, but those are the highlights!
The Bad
Obviously the divorce/custody issue has to be at the top of this list.
The worst was November 2020-July 2021 when it was finally finalized. I’ve said a lot about it in the past, so I won’t rehash it here. It sucked super mongo donkey balls!! And after my experience, I don’t blame the two close friends I have that are suffering through emotionally (and financially) abusive relationships because they don’t want to have their kids spend time with their dads… and don’t want to lose properties and pets, etc… Shit really sucks in this area and is really stacked against mothers and victims. I was fortunate in so many financial ways as I had my ex removed and served with a protective order with .24 in the bank. Due to programs I knew nothing about prior, I was able to get a housing voucher, which saved my ass so much. We had been on a VA housing voucher, but they have a program in place for domestic abuse situations where the wife automatically receives housing assistance.
The other challenging situation I faced (am still facing) is under-employment. I just finally started teaching my first class yesterday since my last one ended on November 28th. Enrollment was down and full time faculty got all the December starts. My last paycheck was December 3rd, and my next will be January 14th. I was able to do Christmas between Child Support and the Child Tax Credit. Also, with the help of one of my siblings who made my December car payment. That was the only bill I couldn’t do in December. Now, I am counting on getting caught up with tax refund money at the end of this month - hopefully!
I’m sure those aren’t the only bad things, but those are definitely the two biggest. I also don’t want to spend too much time on the bad because I want to try to be positive! LOL
The Ugly
So much. LOL!!
I will pick one though.
My freaking cute ass dog Pinot going into heat.
OMFG.
So, it was my year to have the kids for New Year’s Eve. I was really looking forward to spending a night playing games, watching movies, and partying with my kids.
We had our BHIS (behavioral health intervention services) therapist here during the day, from like noon to 3. She works with Beatrice and Dustin for 1-1/2 hours each.
The whole freaking time Snoopy would NOT leave Pinot alone! He was following her around, licking her, and just trying to be with her… at one point Beatrice stuck her foot out to keep him from getting to Pinot and he actually bit her foot!! I put him in my bedroom and he barked the entire time!! Once the therapist left, I let Snoopy out and took both of the dogs outside while I smoked. They wanted in before I was done, so I let them back in. Next thing I know Beatrice and Dustin are screaming and crying and saying that the dogs are stuck together. Ugh!!! OMG. Beatrice tried getting them apart by whacking them with a magazine… I told them that there was nothing we could do and we just needed to let them get unstuck by themselves… My oldest came up and was trying to get them to stop… again, I was just like “they just need to be left alone to do it themselves.”
Then - Beatrice told me I had ruined her New Year’s Eve. She was traumatized. Since then, she won’t have anything to do with Snoopy. She also accused me of getting Pinot just for that reason! Hahahaha!! That wasn’t the reason, but I wasn’t ruling that out.
But, wow.
So, my new year’s started with two days of spending the entire day keeping dogs apart! I was finally able to get out and get a male dog reusable diaper = weiner wrap! That alleviated so much… I still have to take Pinot with me when I go places in case Snoopy is able to wiggle out of the weiner wrap (which he’s done a couple of times). Pinot LOVES picking the kids up from school!! She’s so funny. She knows the turn to the high school, elementary and Jr High because she will start getting all excited and barky when we get to them. She goes back and forth between all kids getting all the attention and loving every minute of it.
I’m sure there are a million other ugly things that happened in 2021, but I will just let this one recent one suffice.
I’m soooooo hoping that 2022 will be better. I am certainly NOT holding my breath.
I went from an essentially empty calendar to one full of things…
Today was a 10:45 virtual therapy appointment, a 12:15 virtual IEP meeting… then when we got home from school, Dustin slapped Dylan’s phone and it landed in dirty mop water… then one of them spilled an entire glass of wine… and now they are busy “busting nuts” in the kitchen…
The only way from here is up right???
Hahahaha!!
I hope I at least entertained you a bit.
I also hope you are all staying safe and being kind to others.
Love, Kristin