2019 Year in Review / Farm Sale Deadline! / Christmas on Thin Ice / Hardware Hobbies
2019 is gone so it's time to take stock of some of the things that went down!
In January, my late aunt, Diane, was laid to rest. February was full of being stressed out from changes at my job including the slashing of my team from seven people to three. In March, Nicole and I escaped the stress with a vacation to the Oregon Coast.
April was the beginning of rough times with my mom as she revealed that she couldn't take care of our dog, Chip, any longer than a week at a time. May saw the beginnings of real progress into the sale of distant farm land inherited by the entire family. In June, Nicole's best friend moved to Montana after one last weekend with everyone together.
In July, the family had an Independence Day BBQ planned but my mom cancelled at the last moment; another symptom of a rough patch of anxiety. August saw Nicole and me take a week-long road trip around Washington, Montana, and Idaho to stay with friends, explore the mountains, and finally show her where I went to college in Eastern Oregon. In September, my coworkers demanded of management and succeeded at getting us all promotions to being real engineers.
October was crazy as Nicole and I got serious about shopping for a house by getting two loan offers and a realtor. Trouble continued with my mom as we fought over Chip and ultimately stopped speaking to each other. In November, things at my workplace were fun as we spent the entire month working off-site on a new project far from normal stressors. Nicole and I also spent a pleasant Thanksgiving with her family in California. Finally in December, a quiet Christmas came and went with relationships between the siblings and my mother still strained.
Looking back at it, 2019 really was a strange stressful year. So much drama. Well, more drama than I'm used to anyway. Nicole and I remain a solid pair with the lovable Chip at our sides. I think we both were expecting to be into a house by now, but we're totally confident that 2020 will be our year.
Expectations for 2020:
Alright so with that out of the way, I'll dish out a quick rundown of December.
The North Dakota inherited farm land sale continues but it's been slow and full of drama. Several months ago, my mom sought out and hired a lawyer based in North Dakota to help fight for our interests during the sale. The guy she hired turned out to be somewhat of a flake and took until December to tell us that dragging our feet on the sale as a tactic to negotiate better terms with the buyers' lawyers wouldn't work. He told us that if we delayed any longer, the others in the extended family would just sell their slices and leave us behind. If we didn't all sell as a complete family, our chunks of the land would decrease in value. While my mother and sister have been furious about this, it's been my mother especially so as she sees this as just another successful tactic from the extended family to rob us of our grandfather's inheritance. That's not the case but we are a little disappointed that the lawyer we hired ultimately did nothing and now we're stuck going along with the rest of the family. In the end, we spent December getting contracts signed and mailed off. The upside is that we should all receive the first land sale check any week now.
The situation with the land sale and my mother being mad about us not leaving Chip with her for Thanksgiving made my mom snap at all of my siblings and I. All December, none of us were talking to her in any normal capacity. My mom was very short with us and deflected any attempt to ask for apologies for the behavior. Eventually, my two siblings just let it all go and started talking to my mom normally again, but I'm not going to so easily forget the last few months and the insults that my mom has thrown our way. She needs to learn that her behavior has consequences and we're not going to put up with being belittled and dumped for us making adult decisions about our adult lives. We're not kids anymore but I see that my siblings yearn more than I do for harmonious relationships with my mother. That's cool and all but I worry this will all happen again and my mom will have learned nothing. Nicole and I spent Christmas morning by ourselves opening up gifts before spending a nice afternoon with my sister. We'll see how things go...
Outside of all that drama, I've been nurturing a few hobbies of my own. Lately I've been tinkering with hardware projects involving tiny Raspberry Pi devices. I got this touchscreen and stand so it acts like a little portable terminal for controlling things. I also picked up a retro video game console that plays a bunch of old school games. These projects seem to keep me busy but I think I need to simply finish them before taking on new ones!
In January, my late aunt, Diane, was laid to rest. February was full of being stressed out from changes at my job including the slashing of my team from seven people to three. In March, Nicole and I escaped the stress with a vacation to the Oregon Coast.
April was the beginning of rough times with my mom as she revealed that she couldn't take care of our dog, Chip, any longer than a week at a time. May saw the beginnings of real progress into the sale of distant farm land inherited by the entire family. In June, Nicole's best friend moved to Montana after one last weekend with everyone together.
In July, the family had an Independence Day BBQ planned but my mom cancelled at the last moment; another symptom of a rough patch of anxiety. August saw Nicole and me take a week-long road trip around Washington, Montana, and Idaho to stay with friends, explore the mountains, and finally show her where I went to college in Eastern Oregon. In September, my coworkers demanded of management and succeeded at getting us all promotions to being real engineers.
October was crazy as Nicole and I got serious about shopping for a house by getting two loan offers and a realtor. Trouble continued with my mom as we fought over Chip and ultimately stopped speaking to each other. In November, things at my workplace were fun as we spent the entire month working off-site on a new project far from normal stressors. Nicole and I also spent a pleasant Thanksgiving with her family in California. Finally in December, a quiet Christmas came and went with relationships between the siblings and my mother still strained.
Looking back at it, 2019 really was a strange stressful year. So much drama. Well, more drama than I'm used to anyway. Nicole and I remain a solid pair with the lovable Chip at our sides. I think we both were expecting to be into a house by now, but we're totally confident that 2020 will be our year.
Expectations for 2020:
- The farm sale will continue and the first checks will be cut any month now...
- February is traditionally when raises are dished out at my workplace and I'm expecting good news.
- Best of all, Nicole and I will buy a house and give Chip the back yard he deserves.
- Once into a house, Nicole and I might finally be able answer for ourselves if we wish to start having children.
- Although it seems unlikely right now, there's always the possibility of reconciliation with my mother.
Alright so with that out of the way, I'll dish out a quick rundown of December.
The North Dakota inherited farm land sale continues but it's been slow and full of drama. Several months ago, my mom sought out and hired a lawyer based in North Dakota to help fight for our interests during the sale. The guy she hired turned out to be somewhat of a flake and took until December to tell us that dragging our feet on the sale as a tactic to negotiate better terms with the buyers' lawyers wouldn't work. He told us that if we delayed any longer, the others in the extended family would just sell their slices and leave us behind. If we didn't all sell as a complete family, our chunks of the land would decrease in value. While my mother and sister have been furious about this, it's been my mother especially so as she sees this as just another successful tactic from the extended family to rob us of our grandfather's inheritance. That's not the case but we are a little disappointed that the lawyer we hired ultimately did nothing and now we're stuck going along with the rest of the family. In the end, we spent December getting contracts signed and mailed off. The upside is that we should all receive the first land sale check any week now.
The situation with the land sale and my mother being mad about us not leaving Chip with her for Thanksgiving made my mom snap at all of my siblings and I. All December, none of us were talking to her in any normal capacity. My mom was very short with us and deflected any attempt to ask for apologies for the behavior. Eventually, my two siblings just let it all go and started talking to my mom normally again, but I'm not going to so easily forget the last few months and the insults that my mom has thrown our way. She needs to learn that her behavior has consequences and we're not going to put up with being belittled and dumped for us making adult decisions about our adult lives. We're not kids anymore but I see that my siblings yearn more than I do for harmonious relationships with my mother. That's cool and all but I worry this will all happen again and my mom will have learned nothing. Nicole and I spent Christmas morning by ourselves opening up gifts before spending a nice afternoon with my sister. We'll see how things go...
Outside of all that drama, I've been nurturing a few hobbies of my own. Lately I've been tinkering with hardware projects involving tiny Raspberry Pi devices. I got this touchscreen and stand so it acts like a little portable terminal for controlling things. I also picked up a retro video game console that plays a bunch of old school games. These projects seem to keep me busy but I think I need to simply finish them before taking on new ones!