An (almost) half year report

I’ve been living in this house for about five months. The house is nothing, the relationship is everything.
Christmas is just over. My two kids came home for Christmas; one has gone back home and the other has asked to stay with us for a while, until she can find a job or go back to school. This, of course, has changed the dynamic of the household. But it’s not a bad thing. Now that the pressure of the holidays to be “happy” is off things are very relaxed.
Back to the new living arrangement. I feel like I’m settling in and that Christine is getting used to my being here all the time. We have our routines established and we have joint projects around decoration and furnishing. So far we have done one room over and are starting on a second. I’d suggested that we do it one room at a time to make the situation less stressful, and so far it is working quite well. We’ve done a lot of talking about what to do with the next room and have come up with some good ideas. It’s time to move ahead.

See more progress on: settle in one place

It's in the planning stage

I already have a semi-serious blog called Merely-links where I post comments on stuff that I read on the web. Postings are irregular and nobody really reads them. The serious blog that I’m working on will be devoted to writing and literature in Canada. For five years I edited an online literary magazine called It’s Still Winter I stopped accepting new submissions about two years ago, though the five years of work are still online.
The new blog I’m planning will be more personal, more commentary based, and broader in that it will not limit itself to contemporary poetry.
I have a PhD in the field and lots of publications so I don’t lack for knowledge. Time and organization will be another matter.

See more progress on: write a serious blog

Starting early, or am I?

I'm between 5 and 6 years from retirement. I’m starting to think about it now, though. My job is a good one and I enjoy it, but I’m starting to feel the urge to own my time more and to be able to direct my life without having to go in to the job every day.
In 2010 I’ll be 60 and will have 30 years on the job. I’ll be able to retire without any significant penalty to my overall pension.
The pension is calculated on a formula based on years served and average salary over a five year period. Obviously it’ll be less than my full salary, but it will give me enough to live.
At some point I’ll decide that getting up early and driving to work in the winter is not worth the extra few hundred dollars per month that the salary will turn in. I’m not there yet, but I can see myself getting there. This is a change of attitude from, say, five years ago when the thought of retirement didn’t interest me at all.

See more progress on: get ready for retirement

Looking good for the new year

If I can keep up the pace I will have my line of credit paid off by June 1. Not bad. I don’t want to count my chickens yet, and any unexpected expense will be a setback, but it’s certainly likely that I will have it paid off by the end of 2006.
I’m proud of what I’m doing around this goal since I’ve cut my personal debt by about $50,000 in the last two years. There are one or two black clouds on the horizon. With my daughter’s illness I might have to make some payments on a load I’ve co- signed for her, but that will be temporary. And I might not have quite enough salted away for some home improvements, but still, the debt figure is going in the right direction (down!)

See more progress on: pay my line of credit

I"m not sure this is what I was thinking of

My daughter has experienced some health problems and has had to quit her job and move back in with us. She’s getting better and will be able to work in a couple of months. Nothing life threatening, thank goodness. Still, it means that after five years she’s living under her father’s roof. It’s tough on her (not being independent), and tough on Christine and me both for monetary reasons and more so for personal reasons. We are new at living together and still working out our routines and now there’s a third person under our roof. Fortunately there’s a downstairs bedroom and bathroom and TV room, so my kid will have her own space when she needs it.

See more progress on: stay close to my children