Hodge Podge
I've been in sort of a writing funk lately. When many things creep up on me from all sides, instead of expressing myself, I tend to hole up, keep my dukes up and try to protect myself. Where to start? H and I have been looking at houses, which has been exciting, depressing, and overwhelming all at the same time. It's been exciting because I do not do apartment living very well - I hate dealing with noise from neighbors, I detest fighting for a decent parking spot because of all the crap I have to carry each day, and I just don't feel like the place is truly mine. I have no pictures hung on the walls because I just can't get motivated to and because I don't want to be charged extra for that when we move out. House hunting has been a bit depressing because I can't get past how expensive it is here for something decent. For our down payment, we could buy a place almost outright in my hometown. Yet, here in the Bay area, it's only 20% of the total cost of many of the houses we're looking at. I get scared and overwhelmed because of the thought of the finality of mortgage payments.
Last week was very nice - I was on my spring break. However, this week returning to work has been a harsh slap of reality. I can't go into too much detail, but two of my 40 cases are going through probable mediation/lawsuits. On the bright side, I gave my notice that I will not be back at the school district next year, and we're almost to the end of this year (I say almost because the time period after spring break always flies). Honestly, I've had my fill. The two difficult cases have been draining my energy and sucking the life force right out of me, not to mention taking away from therapy time for my other students. I'm so frickin' done with schools. Luckily, my consulting job is going well. I've only had to deal with one pushy parent, who I refused to deal with. They will have to find another therapist for that family - I'm past my capacity for that type of parent. Now that I have the power to say "no", I find that it's very liberating.
The month of May is one of the busiest and I'm trying to brace myself. First off, there are tons of end-of-the-year meetings for my students, most of which will go fine. It's just that they take more time and preparation. Almost every weekend in May, H and/or I will not be in town. The first weekend we will be staying right on the cliffs over the ocean in Carmel at the Tickle Pink Inn, which is a gift from my mother and her husband. I'm very much looking forward to that trip. For Mother's Day, I will be in Spokane to spend time with K, my mother, and grandmother. The next weekend is our friend's son's 1st birthday, which we'll be attending. Memorial Day we're off to San Diego to visit H's family. Whew!!
Oh, and what to get for my dad and H's upcoming birthdays? I'm still at a loss....
Last week was very nice - I was on my spring break. However, this week returning to work has been a harsh slap of reality. I can't go into too much detail, but two of my 40 cases are going through probable mediation/lawsuits. On the bright side, I gave my notice that I will not be back at the school district next year, and we're almost to the end of this year (I say almost because the time period after spring break always flies). Honestly, I've had my fill. The two difficult cases have been draining my energy and sucking the life force right out of me, not to mention taking away from therapy time for my other students. I'm so frickin' done with schools. Luckily, my consulting job is going well. I've only had to deal with one pushy parent, who I refused to deal with. They will have to find another therapist for that family - I'm past my capacity for that type of parent. Now that I have the power to say "no", I find that it's very liberating.
The month of May is one of the busiest and I'm trying to brace myself. First off, there are tons of end-of-the-year meetings for my students, most of which will go fine. It's just that they take more time and preparation. Almost every weekend in May, H and/or I will not be in town. The first weekend we will be staying right on the cliffs over the ocean in Carmel at the Tickle Pink Inn, which is a gift from my mother and her husband. I'm very much looking forward to that trip. For Mother's Day, I will be in Spokane to spend time with K, my mother, and grandmother. The next weekend is our friend's son's 1st birthday, which we'll be attending. Memorial Day we're off to San Diego to visit H's family. Whew!!
Oh, and what to get for my dad and H's upcoming birthdays? I'm still at a loss....
posted by Notta Wallflower at 7:50 AM
8 Comments:
Carmel! Lucky you!! I have always wanted to see that area. Does Clint Eastwood still own that restaurant "The Hogs Breath Inn"? I'm serious! If not, he did at one time and I hear he dines there. He must tire of people walking up and saying "Go ahead, make my day"! Glad you extricated yourself from a hellish sounding position. The future sounds nice. :)
Michael - Long time! I need to come by and visit. For some reason, yours is the only link that I can't get working from my blog.
If you have a chance to get to Carmel, it's worth it, especially for the 17 mile drive. I'm not sure about the restaurant, but I'll give you a report when I come back. I don't remember seeing it, but he still has the ranch/hotel - can't remember what it's called.
As far as the future, I'm looking forward to it! More to come on that as well....
I don't blame you for being stressed. I can't believe the price of houses in CA!!
I realize our area is depressed...BUT, you can get a beautiful 1500 sq ft house, with a large yard, for $90,000. A fixer-upper is considerably cheaper.
Congratulations on your final year in the system!
TSHS - 1500 Square foot house around here is between 650-700 K. :-/ Fixer upper is about 600 K. Thanks for the congrats - I'm feeling good about the decision.
I know; it's outrageous!
L and I were watching a home improvement show, where a dilapidated, black-mold filled house, sold for $500K in CA! Up here, that house would've been condemned, and torn down. UNBELIEVABLE!
Heh. You probably feel the same way about some parents. I used to tutor children with learning disabilities, and some parents drove me nuts, for different reasons.
Good luck with the house hunting. As I probably told you before, your income taxes will go way down when you're paying a mortgage. The other thing is like you said, when it's yours, it's yours. I've lived in apartments where I could hear the neighbors having sex. Yuck! Plus, fighting for a parking spot, like you mentioned...
TSHS - I do have to say that there are some perk to living here. First of all, I make quite a bit more than I did when I was in WA. I will be able to increase that by quite a bit when my business picks up. Also, we pay for the climate. Add onto that that there are enough tech places to keep H employed for a while, which adds to our financial stability.
ZS - Yeah, when you calculate our tax benefit, our monthly mortgage payment will not be much more than our current rent. Rent has gone up each time we've renewed - it's almost 1800 a month now, which is crazy. It's not making as much sense to rent anymore.
Parents? Yeah, I must say that some drive me crazy for different reasons. For the most part, the parents I work with are pretty good. But the uninvolved ones drive me almost as crazy as the super-pushy ones. It's just that I'll be able to control for that a bit more in private practice. I'm looking forward to the day that I don't have to just bend over and take it.
Tshsmom - There's a house in California for 500k? I need to call my real estate agent immediately! ;)
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