Where to begin!  So much has happened in a short amount of time, it’s hard to even have enough recall to post anything here that isn’t dizzying!  But, I will try!

Probably as no surprise to my regular readers, Dupar’s was getting worse and the owner was escalating his questionable behaviors. I can’t really get into the details of it, but I left on 11/20 knowing pretty much I will never be paid again from them.  It went south from there, but I was determined to focus on the positive things that had been scheduled in my life; an important celebration, Thanksgiving, and my trip to England and Scotland with Deana.  I was freaking out on many levels, but kept that at bay at least through the listed items.   (On a good note, BB kind of acknowledges the crap I put up with because he is paying for my insurance through February, which I do appreciate very much!)

About a month before this all happened, Edgar asked if I would be willing to move to Texas. I was agreeable, but said I would not until my lease was up at the end of July. I gave him permission to move earlier with the boys if he needed to (he has been struggling financially due to the CA economy). With the change of my job situation, I contacted my landlord and said I needed to break the lease, that I would be moving to Texas by the end of the year. The day before Thanksgiving, I sent out 5 resumes to Texas companies, just to get my feet wet. For comparison, I had sent over 300 resumes out in CA over the previous 8 weeks, with only 5 calls back and the offers were pathetic. Anyway, before even boarding the plane to London that Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), I had one interview set up. In Scotland, I received a call for another! So I had two interviews scheduled for the week after I returned from my trip.

Long story short, I got the job I wanted in Texas! I have been here in Texas since one day after returning from Scotland and Deana has been frantically packing in my absence. Edgar’s last day of work was 12/15 and he will be leaving after Christmas (which is when I originally had planned on driving out).  I started my new job 12/15 and on the first day went to Oklahoma for an on-site client trip!  I was in Oklahoma for four days, drove back to Dallas on that Friday, then flew to LA early Saturday morning…..only to turn around and drive over the weekend with Deana, Kenny, Zack and Sophia back to Texas. Josh chose to drive out with Edgar. Kirstie is staying in California to finish school and then who knows what will happen.  We are staying for a few months with Deana’s Mom, who has a big house, and hope to settle down once I get my savings back up.

Christmas was a bit different but very pleasant.  And, for the first time in my life, I watched snow falling on Christmas Eve.  The snow remained on the ground for half of the day on Christmas, before the sun withered it away.  Kenny, Zack, and Sophia got a kick out of that for sure!  It was weird being apart from Kirstie and Josh though!

I LOVE my job though!  I am replacing Joe, an 82-year-old brilliant man!  I will have to share some tidbits of Joe soon as he is truly a wonderful man.

Until then, Gina is OUT!