Before I get into more catching up, I do want to take a moment to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas. Hubs took vacation time, and so far, we have spent most of our time just being home. Initially, we had hoped to use some of this time to bring back items from his mom’s house, but with that part of the estate still unsettled, we couldn’t make that happen. Time off with Hubs never goes to waste. He has been working on organizing his shop, and later this week, we have errands to run in town. We’ve also had several days of snow. Although I don’t mind clearing the snow, it has been nice having Hubs home to help.
Now back to more catching up.
The change in job status is mine. In September, the kiddo’s mom asked if I would consider wearing a mask whenever I would be out and about. I’m not going to turn this into a discussion of who is right or who is wrong, as we all have our own opinions. Although I don’t go many places, I also don’t tolerate wearing masks for any length of time. I respect that this kiddo is their child, and they need to do what they feel is best for him. I believed, too, that this would be a very slippery slope with them wanting me to wear a mask in their home as well. The choice was 100% mine. The kiddo’s mom had tears in her eyes with my objection. It took a couple of weeks to find my replacement, but I feel at peace with my decision. The hardest part (still is) is that I miss this little boy, something fierce. We parted ways on good (but sad) terms. The family has kept me updated with pictures and tidbits about how he is doing.
My mini-job came about before losing my job with the kiddo. When paying our property taxes, I saw a posting on the township door saying they needed a member for the Board of Review. I inquired about it and figured it could be interesting. The supervisor presented my email of interest to the township board, and I got the position. Being small-town politics, I’m pretty sure that the only real requirement was having a pulse. Haha. The board only meets three times a year, plus has a yearly one-day state-required training held at the township.
I had my first official meeting last month. We are still short a member, so just one other person and I represented the board. The other person had to be in his 80s. Like I said, small-town politics. There was only one item to be addressed, a clerical error from a prior assessor. Sure, go ahead and fix it. Haha. The meeting lasted less than an hour, with a lot of it having nothing to do with the board.
While I was there, I asked the township assessor about combining our parcels of land. Doing so will save us on property taxes, as then both pieces will receive the homestead exemption. I expected there to be some form to fill out, but all he needed was for me to write a note asking to combine the parcels. Easy enough.
What about my loss of income from caring for the kiddo? With all of the current mandates, working in healthcare is (at least for now) out of the equation. Admittedly, this was a blow for me, too. I struggled with losing a huge part of my identity. I did look into a few retail jobs, but the math isn’t there given the low pay for the distance I’d need to drive. For the time being, I am staying home. And when I say staying home…I mean, rarely do I go anywhere! Good thing I’ve always been a bit of a hermit. Doing so is saving us a lot of money on gas. I’ve also been saving in other areas such as groceries (cooking more from scratch), utilities (our Dec electric bill was down by $30 compared to 2020), not buying any new clothes, spending less in general, etc.
Hubs is also playing his part in my ability to stay home. His company gives a bonus of $500 if he works the 6th day of a workweek. The extra pay is in addition to what he earns for the day. Since he is doing the extra work, I am leaving it entirely up to him how many of these additional days he works. At first, I felt a bit guilty about him picking up my slack, but there was a time in our marriage when the situation was reversed. Still, I want him to “see” something for his extra work, so we decided to set aside $100 per additional day he works. What he does with the money is entirely up to him. In December, he worked two extra days.
What I have found surprising is that, even with my loss of income, plus the added expenses of dealing with MIL’s estate, we are managing just fine. Another surprising thing is that I have been able to keep busy. Although I do have the luxury of doing things at a slower pace, that isn’t all bad either!
Good for you. Take care.
Thanks