2011 The year of HORRIBLE

I must have been Hitler in my past life. You laugh, but let me first begin my list of why 2011 was indeed, the worst of my 31 years on Earth. Well, we may as well start at the beginning.......

January 2011----Early on in the month we get a visit from the Sheriff with a 24 hour notice to move out of our house, thankfully he was in a great mood and gave us till Monday! This was not a total surprise, long story but we lost our house. From here we move with our 2 kids (14 and 7 girls) into a room at The Value Place. A hotel that is now a vivid memory etched into each of our respective brains. We lived here in a room smaller that a normal living room, and one bathroom with a Kitchenette. It was such an adjustment!  We were forced to become very good at finding multiple uses for things. Who would have ever known you can rice in the coffee pot! This lasted until March 16th, 2 and a half months. We almost didn't make it......

Feb and the beginning of March were pretty much an extension of Jan, with very serious teenager issues going down at the same time. On her last day of school Abby got her records and saw her birth certificate for the first time. Not good. We still can't openly discuss it.

March 12th   My Birthday!!!!!!!!!!! Moving Day!!! And the Tsunami :(
We wake up ready to drive to see Derek's mom at the beach before we head north. The news keeps us in bed till checkout waiting for the wave to hit California. This is not enough to keep us from leaving the state of Florida though!! Just interesting to watch. Little did I know this would drastically affect my income in a few months.

****  Noteworthy*****

It is now Jan 2012, somehow too much bad stuff happened for me to have time to finish!! I still feel the need to notate events of the past year however, just so that I can look back and remember how bad it can get.

So, after March the car biz started to drastically suck. We could not get cars to sell, and my income took a drastic hit.  My income has always paid our bills and provided any "extras" that we had. Derek loves his job dearly, but unfortunately did not choose a high paying profession. I have all of the respect in the world for him because he does truly love what he does. I go to work, bust ass, stress out and make money hopefully. Anyway, in recent years my confidence at being able to provide for my family has been shattered. This did not help by any means, and started the ball of momentum rolling once again.

The summer went bye pretty fast. When we moved we lived with mom for a few weeks until we found our house. We enrolled the girls in school bye her house so had to drive an hour every day to pick them up once we moved. In August school started back and we had to switch the girls one more time. It sucked for Abby who had to start high school with lots of strangers.

Around October we have more money going out than coming in. I was at the time paying a thousand dollars a month to insure everyone. We had not really used it and could not afford to pay rent any longer, so I cancelled it. Now my thought here was that we could get a lesser personal coverage outside of work, just didn't quite get around to it..... 2 Weeks later I get a call from Payton's school. She fell jumping out of the swings and broke her arm in 2 places around the elbow.  We go through 2 hospitals and lots of visits. Talks of surgery, though with no insurance no one was volunteering to help us. 6 weeks in a cast that was very trying, and shes good as new now.

In the same time that the drama with Bobo's arm was going down Derek's transmission died in the Murano. He picked Abby up from play practice, then it just wouldn't move. We owe 13k on it and it's worth maybe 4 not running? 3500 to get the tranny fixed, 18,000 miles out of warranty. Well, this did make my decision to file bankruptcy easier. I did get lucky here and bought an old Jeep we traded in for 1500 bucks. Just really sucks to let the Murano go back. We loved that car, but then again we used to really value all of our "things". Not so much anymore. A car is transportation, not horsepower. At this point in my life anyway. Maybe that will change one day, maybe not.

Around the same time Uncle Major passed away in Alabama. I really wanted to go and see my family I haven't seen in 10 years, but couldn't afford it.  Mom got super sick in this time and was in the hospital over a week. She had to have several blood transfusions, and we were pretty scared for a while. She made it out and has been doing much better.

Then December comes and Big Mama dies. I really had a hard time with this one. My Big Mama was not your typical grandmother by any stretch of the imagination. In fact she called me little heffer until I was grown. Again, I couldn't afford to go. Sarah took Payton so that she could meet her family there. She had no idea so many people are kin to her! She also met my dad, which was bittersweet. He doesn't deserve to have her in his life, but she doesn't deserve to not know her grandfather. So they met, and dad and I have actually been talking a bit. I think he's clean, but been there done that. I guess only time will tell. Is Payton the thing that will be more important to him than crack???? Worse yet, what if she's not????

So, I wish that I could sum it up here but I had one more disaster! The week of Christmas Derek woke up to get ready for work and  walked into three inches of water covering the floor. A pipe burst in our wall in the middle of the night and the house flooded. I had just spent HOURS the day before wrapping presents all of which were ruined. It took the City an hour to get there and shut the water off. We just watched it pour and swept as much as possible out. We did get new carpet out of the deal, but I am still unpacking boxes in the garage. We had to throw stuff together and move it fast, now I am putting the pieces back together. 


2011 is over and 2012 is here!! I am blessed to come home to my kids and my best friend every night. In July this year, on Friday the 13th I will have been married 10 years. It's crazy to believe, and the topic of another blog for sure. Here's to a new year, new hopes, new dreams, and lots of cash!!!!!!!!!!