Stress and Money

Funny how these two things go together. Stress -- my husband is still out of commission -- he's on the floor right now, flat on his back. The slipped disk is not getting much better. The muscle soreness is better, but he cannot stand or sit without incredible pain. This may be a recovery of several weeks, not days. Next step will be the orthopedic surgeon -- the Doctor of Osteopathy did some exams and manipulations, but this may have to be surgically fixed. All the household chores that my husband is responsible for -- the dishes, carrying the laundry up and down the stairs, part of the carpool business, the bills and taxes are now falling on me, along with my usual responsibilities. I am trying to get the girls educated on how to do the laundry and dishes, with some pink underwear and melted plastic as the result. The house is slowly getting worse, crunchy floors, pink underwear and smell of melted plastic permeating the air.

As for money, if he goes on short-term disability, we pull 80% of the paycheck. Not too bad, but also since it is the beginning of the year, we have to meet the medical insurance deductible. And my scholarship check for this semester came in the mail yesterday -- it's $4000 less than last year. We were going to have $1000 a month of scholarship money to spend on household expenses. In fact, we counted on it. But because the endowment at the university are "under water" -- that means that they have spent down the endowment to the last penny and can spend no more (a result of the bad years from 2000 to 2002), all scholarships have been cut down to a third of what they were last year. Hence, we will have $333 dollars per month from the scholarship. And my "generous" salary at the church isn't going to cut it -- we have a legal relationship, meaning they pay me $1 an hour. However, since I am on staff and being appointed as of March as a local pastor (Lord willing and crick don't rise), I will not have to have the 5 years of servitude to the conference after I graduate, only 2 years. And I will not have to pay back approximately $33,000 on my scholarship -- it becomes a true scholarship, not a loan. But what are we going to eat? Padre Pio existed on nothing but the elements for most of his life, but I think that the kids want something more....

But and But and But. I did receive a large boon this January. After 3 1/2 years, I was able to close my mother's estate and did receive some money. I had planned to put it in investments, so that I could save for my retirement, but. We may have to live on it. I was debating on going to school this summer, but I don't think that I can afford both the tuition (not covered under my scholarship) and childcare. Funny how un-important that seems now....