Still Breathing

I can't believe it's been three years since I accessed or updated this blog, but it's still here! Thought I'd write a little update.

The kids are all doing well and getting on with the business of being grown-ups. They're all working and seem to be happy. We're proud of them all. Sad that three of the five of them live in another province, but at least we're all still in the same country!

Don and I are still working endlessly on home improvements and have a long list of projects on our to-do list. In the past couple of years we've enlarged and improved our gardens, landscaping the front yard and adding some grow boxes for vegetables. We're replacing some windows in the house this month, which will allow us to check off a to-do item that's been pending for about ten years! And we're hoping to renovate the master bedroom next. The only problem with all these projects is that if you have the money, you don't have the time, and if you have the time...well...there's no money!

I changed jobs since my last post.... I decided I really like the slower pace of an elementary school and was ready to take on an easier job. (Slowing down in my "old age -LOL) It's only six hours/day, but the pay rate is higher than my previous position so I make almost the same take home pay. The District had it's budget cut this fall so the province can pay for the Olympics on the backs of the people (who exactly is going to benefit from this again? I think I'm confused....) so there have been job cuts. The dust hasn't settled yet so I don't know if I may be bumped out of my position, but there will probably be quite a bit of movement as people vie for the best they can get.

Meanwhile, Don has lost his job at the paper mill due to cutbacks there. He retrained at one point as a home inspector, but the government brought in new regulations requiring inspectors to buy really expensive licensing and insurance, so he felt it wasn't feasible to continue. Now he's doing handyman work, minor construction, landscaping, home maintenance, etc. But....it's nothing steady that you can count on.

So here we are - at a point in our lives when we should be paying off the last of our long-term debt and preparing to retire, but we're scrambling around, just trying to make ends meet from day to day. And a number of our friends are in the same position. There's something very wrong here.

We have to wonder where it's all going to end. How much worse is it going to get before it gets better?

I guess the good news is.....We're Still Breathing!