Life with the Two Crazy Dogs

DB got home on July 16, 2004. Once he was home, he got into business. I told him we have to file for bankruptcy asap before collection agencies garnish my wages. He agreed to my plan, and I called up several attorneys to check out their fees. I settled with a Mr. Radke to file for bankruptcy.

In the meantime, DB applied for unemployment. He was able to now because his severance had ended. It was nice to have the second income to help with bills. DB was also looking for jobs in the papers and applied to them left and right. In the end, he found a job in Bloomington right across the Mall of America. He started work in September. Was I glad and he was still sober.

At the same time we called up our former neighbor who is a realtor to put the house on the market. Putting the house on the market was a pain – cleaned the house almost everyday, pickup my clutter, got rid of stuff displaying on cabinets, and stuff on the counters. We had the house on the market in August and had quite number of showings but no sale. Damn. Our deadline for the foreclosure sale was coming up, January 15, 2005. We had to get the house sold before the deadline.

Finally, early December, the house was sold to a family of young kids. We also started looking for houses to rent. Can’t rent apartments because we have 2 big dogs. No townhomes either. We can’t buy another house because our credit history was down the drain, I mean it was really down. Can’t apply for any credit cards or loans. We saw a few homes for rent but they were in terrible condition. Finally, we saw an ad for a house to rent in Apple Valley. Yeah, called the landlord and saw the house. Rent was more expensive because the house was a newer house and situated right in the heart of conveniences. We moved in the day after Christmas of 2005.

Furthermore, in November of 2005, I started to cut down on my smoking since DB quit drinking….not a drop. I thought if he could do it the hard way, I would do it. Actually, he didn’t really do it the hard way. He was all doped up and could not remember a thing when he was in the hospital. What the heck, I cut my smoking down from 8 a day for a week, 3 for three days and then 1 a day for about a week and eventually I told myself I’m not relying on 1 a day anymore. That was it, I completely got rid of my cigis even the ones I have left in the freezer were given to my step-daughter. Smoke-free but then I had to go through the withdrawals. It was tough, you know, the usual dizziness, cough to get rid of the crud in me, tiredness, the urge to pick a pack when I’m at the gas station or grocery store, jittery and constantly wanna eat!!

The first week was the worst, however, the second week was pretty smooth sailing. I was munching on a lot of celery and apples, but still, I was eating like crazy. I could taste food that are sweet again, and had frozen yogurt with DB every night after our dinner. He eats frozen yogurt to curb his urge to drink. So, we were both on the road to recovery.

We settled in the new house pretty quickly. The boys were lost for a while, ultimately they knew that was their home. The new home was a little smaller, so we had all our unused stuff store in the basement 2nd bedroom. We knew we were going to live in that house for a year, why unpack all the stuff. We only unpacked what we needed.

I continued to run in pain but not everyday because I had bursitis on my Achilles tendon. That was horrible. My knees too were hurting. Had to rub “Jeng Kuat Shui” on them every night. DB said it smells like Bengay factory in the house. Whatever works. The doc told me to stop running and walk. Walking was a drag to me. Too damn slow and no kick to the adrenalin. I was itching for my knees to get well and the Achilles tendon to heal. It took forever, like 2 months. So, the pounds piled up. Could not fit into my size 0s and 1s anymore. Out to the store I went and bought new pants, shorts and sweaters. I detest seeing myself so full of meat. However, everyone told me I look so much better with meat on me. Urghhhhh!!!

Since I was the system administrator for the company’s recruiting system since 2004, my boss sent me to Stamford for a 2-day training for the new version of the recruiting system in May of 2005. My very first business trip out East. I always want to visit the headquarters. I stayed at the Westin and it was totally different from the Westin in S’pore. It was not what I expected. Service was super good, food was so-so, and the gym was definitely superb. I hit the gym the day I arrived since it was raining like crazy.

My next business trip was in July, 2005. This time I was in Boston, supposedly for 2-days for Business Objects training. Boston is a nice, antique city. I didn’t go anywhere because it was raining again. From the day I arrived till the day I left.

In 2006 I was also promoted to HR Coordinator, Compliance. Yeh, a raise and went up a level and a reorganization within the company and my department reported out to Stamford, CT, the headquarters. Boy, things changed because we were not reporting to the market group anymore.. That means no more employee bonus for us and my job responsibilities changed. My system administrator responsibilities were stripped off which I missed terribly. Oh well, at least I still get to use Business Objects and use the recruiting system for writing affirmative action plans purposes.

(To be continued….)

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