Layout:
Home > Archive: September, 2014

Archive for September, 2014

What a difference 5 months makes (3 of 3)

September 16th, 2014 at 03:24 am

So my job and home life changes have been covered in my blog entries parts 1 and 2 of 3. And I figured out that it's the day to day things that I need to get together. Panic! So I've spent the last 48 hours writing down my thoughts on working from home, new activities I need to pursue to get me out of the house and away from the computer, and how all of these changes affect my finances. Looks like it will be a financial windfall. No gas costs, no big grocery shopping trips. We'll see how it pans out but so far I am feeling like this is a good start to my new empty nest life.

Hug your kids

September 15th, 2014 at 03:06 am

I found out that an 18 year old girl was killed by lightning last week at my son's school. My son was 900 feet from her. It was totally random - it wasn't raining. But the sky started rumbling, she took cover under three trees. All of the students in the nearby residence heard the lighting strike. It's so horrifying and my heart goes out to her family. I told my son that that was the most important lesson of his first year in university. Carpe Diem.

What a difference 5 months makes (2 of 3)

September 14th, 2014 at 01:56 am

I've been working on contract for more than 4 years for a stable company. Unfortunately the pay and the benefits are terrible, and the contract could be cancelled at any time. I really loved my job. Since I started there I've been able to take as much time off without pay as I needed. This year the amount of time off was cut back to 10 days. Having already taken 5 days this year I was in a real bind about going out of the country for my son's wedding. My request for an extra 5 days without pay was turned down. It's unfortunate that the policy changed after I took 5 days but in a way I understand that if they let me take extra time it would open the door for all the other contractors to have extra time.

In the meantime I have been working part time for another company doing the same thing as my day job. This was fully disclosed to my contract employer when I started last fall. I started doing about 2 or 3 hours a week and by June of this year was doing 60 hours per month. So with only five days of vacation available in my day job I knew I had to put family first. My last working day was in mid July. Now I work fewer hours for the same pay. I work from home. I was offered another part time job for 10 hours per week as well. Perfect!

So far so good. I couldn't have done this last year.

Stay tuned for part 3 of 3 tomorrow.

What a difference 5 months makes (1 of 3)

September 13th, 2014 at 01:09 am

I last posted in May 2014. So many changes! Most significant is that we are now empty nesters. My oldest was married last week on the 5th, my youngest off to university on the 1st. The wedding was in South America (I'm in North America). We returned home today after a 23 hour door to door trip. It was very sad that my youngest had classes that he couldn't miss. But these things happen and we're all trying to support each other. The wedding and festivities were beautiful and we were fortunate to be able to participate. Paying off my debt last year made this a relatively stress free trip (except that I hate flying and both my babies have moved out :-))
Part 2 of 3 tomorrow.