Which box is the oxygen mask in?

In January I declared that 2019 would by the year of putting on my own oxygen mask.  What have I done lately?  Well, I haven’t done the money stuff that I talked about in this post, because… MOVING!  Ugh!

Ok, let’s recap.  My February goal was to “Go on Patreon and sign up to support at least 2 creators whose work I appreciate.”  I did that!  It’s running automatically for the foreseeable future.

My March goal was: “Eat down the pantry and freezer.  Defrost those noms.”  I have sort of done that, but not on purpose.  See, our apartment complex needed to renovate our apartment.  They offered to let us move all our stuff out of our place for 2 weeks and then move back in, but that sounded like the worst thing ever.  Or, they were going to just not renew our lease when it ended this summer, which would mean we’d have to go searching all over the damn place for a new apartment.  OR, they said, if we could move right now, they’d let us have a new apartment in the same complex, same floor plan, just 2 doors down from us, already renovated, same rent.  That’s what we did!

It turns out to be a good deal.  But March is pretty much subsumed in moving.  We’re in the new place now and the cats are calming down.  We paid people to pack and move for us, but we’re still unpacking.  The new apartment is actually the mirror image of the floor plan in the old apartment, which is deeply discombobulating.  I keep banging into things; the bed is backwards, the shower is backwards; the kitchen is missing a shelf, where does our stuff go?  The sofa is backwards.

My new meds haven’t had bad side effects, but I’m not convinced they’re better than the old meds, either.  Gonna give it a little more time.

In April I should be able to get myself back on track with the appropriate goal of: “Clean up my damn room.  Put stuff away and keep it clean-ish.”  This will require unpacking those last 3 boxes in the middle of the floor.

How is project keep-yourself-sane going in 2019 for you, Grumpeteers? 

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Dispatches from the Year of the Oxygen Mask: January

I talked about my 2019 hopes/goals in a previous post.

Except for that one slip-up I noted early on, I have done a good job of noticing my spending and of not spending money on anything except food and mental health.  I should have said “(and mental health)” in my original post but I forgot to spell it out.  Of course I’m not going to *not* pay my therapist or psychiatrist.

So now I’m getting new meds (again).  I have been on almost every kind!  This one’s new.  I’m looking forward to finding out what fun side effects it will have!  (Narrator:  She was not looking forward to it.)  Currently I am in a 3-way fight with the insurance company and the pharmacy (and the shrink) to try and authorize the drug so that they’ll pay for it so that the pharmacy will fill it.  I cannot project-manage this situation and my job at the same time, so I’m sucking at both.  #SinglePayerNow

My lovely MIL continues to have Teh Sad.  She too has a therapist and medication, and she also has various bereavement groups.  Have I mentioned that my dad and all 4 of his kids are on psychiatric meds of various sorts?  (Some of us off-and-on.)  We’re doing better, though!  My family is looking forward to positive changes this year.

I almost went through all of January without spending money to fill my car’s gas tank.  I didn’t quite make it, but it was pretty close.  I think that’s pretty good!

Also, I spent like 85 minutes on the phone with TIAA-CREF yesterday and the upshot is that I need my husband to sign some forms in front of a notary.  Because my previous job set up their retirement accounts in a dumb way that means my spouse has first claim on what I do with my money, somehow.  So in order to move the money into an account that he doesn’t have to approve every transaction on, he has to sign some forms saying it’s ok for me to close my accounts with my money in them.  You can possibly imagine my reaction upon learning this on the phone: “That is some bullshit.  Get rid of that!”

I never thought the uni where I had my crappy tenured job would be good for much, but their retirement accounts are actually set up way better, so I’m consolidating everything I can into that one.  Like we effin’ have time to go to a notary during business hours, goddamn.

As a reminder, in February, I will go on Patreon and sign up to support at least 2 creators whose work I appreciate.

What giveth and/or taketh away your oxygen recently, Grumpeteers?

Wednesday we’ll talk about #2’s February challenge!