Well, it's been busy the last couple of weeks. The buyer of the property I managed had made a number of demands for work to be done prior to the sale. My boss made the seller aware of it, and let him know I was attempting to meet the demands but that it was unlikely they could be met on the timeline I was given (they were unreasonable and there were a lot of them). Eventually the buyer was told he was purchasing the property "As is" according to the contract, and I would get done what I could, and he could take it or leave it. He was also told to stop contacting me outside of the normal 9 to 5 hours. I was appreciative, I was sick of getting requests at 10 p.m. I wanted to leave on a high note, so I set my own standard of getting as much done as possible. I had only been sleeping 4 or 5 hours a night anyway, but I worked 30 straight hours the final two days. The deal was sealed about 1:30 in the afternoon, and I was officially laid off. I came home and got some work done on applying for unemployment, then decided to lay down and take a nap. Instead I slept until my alarm went off the next morning! Since then I've applied for unemployment, registered for school, and started my job search. For the moment I can be picky, but soon enough I'm going to need to find something with medical benefits. I had thought to return to working for myself. But I was told last week by an insurance broker that because of Mary Ann's medical issues no company would offer her private insurance at any price. I was advised to accept Cobra, and once that is exhausted there are government programs that can be applied to. Yeah, $750 a month just for Mary Ann. If I could afford that, I wouldn't bother to get another job!

In the meantime I'm trying to get the house we moved into a bit better organized. Things have been sitting in boxes for over 6 months, but because of my workday I wasn't getting to it, and because it's specifically my stuff that needs to be sorted and downsized, I couldn't really assign it to the Ladies. So at least now I'll have the time for that.

Mary Ann has traveled out of state with her parents to see an aunt she is very close to. The Aunt had to have open heart surgery. She's still weak and has a host of medical issues (She's 80 years old, so no surprise, but it doesn't make her recovery easier!) but she came through the surgery better than anyone could have hoped. She has chosen to move into assisted care though, so Mary Ann will be taking advantage of her unemployed status to stay a while and help with that. She's likely to be gone another month, which absolutely sucks since I may well be back to work when she returns, but with the house being empty during the day I do tend to get stuff done a lot more efficiently. No sweet distractions! Now that I'm sleeping more than 4 hours a night though, my strength is returning and Ginger is walking, well, let's say gingerly. lol.

I'm trying to stay focused on what we have as opposed to what we don't have. I admit though, this is a place I haven't been in for awhile and would rather not have returned to. Although actually it's a little like a new place, or at least has a new factor. I grew up really poor. I worked my ass off to climb out, and I accomplished that. Don't misunderstand me, we were never rich by any means. But not so long ago we could afford extras pretty easily. We ate out once or twice a month, went to the movies almost as often, and pretty regularly attended events of one type or another out of town. After the assault we were forced to repel we were left with some serious debt, and of course my business all but shut down and Mary Ann's illness, not to mention all the legal costs we had to borrow to pay. Two lawyers fighting two battles in two states gets pricey to say the least! With my lay-off we're lucky to rent a movie, much less see one in the theatre. Mary Ann can't even drive any longer, much less ride a motorcycle, a result of the stress she was subjected to. And Ginger is a lot less bright and bubbly, and a lot more cynical than before. I hate to see those changes. I don't know if any of us will ever be as happy as we were once. But, despite all of this, we have remained loyal and dedicated to one another. There was an obvious and deliberate attempt to break us apart by both the state and by Ginger's disapproving family over the last few years, and they each failed utterly. While there have absolutely been extreme negative consequences to us by their efforts, there was little more than a hiccup caused by any of it in terms of the strength of our relationship. That at least, I can be grateful for.