I was supposed to be an instructor for a singing summer camp starting tomorrow and you know, I'm rather glad that I do not have to teach this week. I just finished up "teaching" with the music exams this past Friday and I'm honestly a bit fried. I now have 2 almost full days off before I have 4 students on Wednesday and then an outfoor flea market on Thursday. I will probably go to the Lake on Monday or Tuesday and be better off for it all mentally at least, in the end.
I am going to go in for all day Saturday dress rehearsals and the actual concert as accompanist, so it isn't a total loss monetarily and I still have some "downtime" and I still get to do the outdoor flea market, so I think "everything happens for a reason" is seriously applicable this coming week.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
and so it begins...
and now I am in a quandry because I hadn't made any firm movements or decisions and yet my path is already starting to look rather bomb-riddled in a very short time period.
I knew my time at the church was temporary and that they were going to close, but the expectation is that it would be open until Dec. 31st and that I would be there to see them through to the end. It's $800/month that I couldn't get anywhere else for that little amount of time or effort. news came down after this past sunday's service that it appears that the church will not be open to the end of December 2010. The minister decided to try his hand at politics and is running in the september election. Problem with that is that the church's governing council doesn't think that politics and religion should mix and they have voted to remove him from the pulpit. The bonus however, is that it saves them payign out a minister's salary for approximately 6 months. They also announced after church on Sunday that they have decided to close down 3/4 of the building and onyl use 1/4 of the building, that they would be phasing out the secretary to save on that salary as well and without a paid minister, they would be using lay ministers and lay readers on an interim basis being paid per service a significantly less sum of money. They made no mention of removing the organist, but considering they have removed the other two paid positions, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that they will simply remove me.
the church has 2 more Sundays of regular services before a summer break for the month of July. Several pillars of the church got up after these announcements and said that they are sick and tired of the BS (not those words, mind you) and they would not be coming back and they believe that the church should simply close it's doors at the end of this month, put the estimated $100k needed to close out the sale of the property in escrow and use the remaining monies (if any) to fund bursaries in the name of the church for posterity's sake.
The issue that I am having with this is because I had agreed to the year term in a contract, that I had turned down 2 other potential positions, which started August 1st. Those 2 other positions have now been filled and I may be finished with what I thought was guaranteed money until 2011 at the end of June 2010, right at the start of crunch time for money for me.
Then, the back bathroom (the studio bathroom) wasn't flushing well, so we punged it and 10-second plummered it and it didn't seem to do anything to fix the problem, but the other day, we found water on the bathroom floor - but not around the sick or the toilet. Weird. mopped it up and thought perhaps it was a spill over from draining the dehumidifier.
Then this afternoon, we did a load of laundry and came back to transfer the clothes in to the dryer when there was a fair sized puddle of water in the middle of the floor. looked like it was from under the washer, but moved the washer and we can't see a thing where it indicated leaking or wetness! There was also more water in the bathroom floor at weird spots not near sink or toilet and the back shower that is never used now looks like the pipes backed up and vomited on the floor of the shower. It rained like crazy this afternoon, so we thought it might have been a leaking roof, but again, not a sign of wetness anywhere on the ceilings. Weirdness abounds and there is obviously something going on with the pipes, even if the roof is leaking, so we have to call in a plumber.
Add that to the fact that yesterday was my last official teaching day of the season and the summer students were just enough to tide us through the summer if nothign went wrong and we havne't even started that process yet and things are going wrong left and right. We have no emergency or reserve funds and yet here we are having to call in a plumber whose services are usually $100/hour. Just f-ing great.
I haven't even made any decisions about the other situation other than talking with her and what I wanted to address and look what's happened. Perhaps I dont' need to talk to her after all. perhaps just that decision was the wrong one that cue-ed this cascade of events.
not sure. All I know is I'm already defeated and thinking that I'm not cut out for home-ownership and self-employment.
I knew my time at the church was temporary and that they were going to close, but the expectation is that it would be open until Dec. 31st and that I would be there to see them through to the end. It's $800/month that I couldn't get anywhere else for that little amount of time or effort. news came down after this past sunday's service that it appears that the church will not be open to the end of December 2010. The minister decided to try his hand at politics and is running in the september election. Problem with that is that the church's governing council doesn't think that politics and religion should mix and they have voted to remove him from the pulpit. The bonus however, is that it saves them payign out a minister's salary for approximately 6 months. They also announced after church on Sunday that they have decided to close down 3/4 of the building and onyl use 1/4 of the building, that they would be phasing out the secretary to save on that salary as well and without a paid minister, they would be using lay ministers and lay readers on an interim basis being paid per service a significantly less sum of money. They made no mention of removing the organist, but considering they have removed the other two paid positions, it is not out of the realm of possibilities that they will simply remove me.
the church has 2 more Sundays of regular services before a summer break for the month of July. Several pillars of the church got up after these announcements and said that they are sick and tired of the BS (not those words, mind you) and they would not be coming back and they believe that the church should simply close it's doors at the end of this month, put the estimated $100k needed to close out the sale of the property in escrow and use the remaining monies (if any) to fund bursaries in the name of the church for posterity's sake.
The issue that I am having with this is because I had agreed to the year term in a contract, that I had turned down 2 other potential positions, which started August 1st. Those 2 other positions have now been filled and I may be finished with what I thought was guaranteed money until 2011 at the end of June 2010, right at the start of crunch time for money for me.
Then, the back bathroom (the studio bathroom) wasn't flushing well, so we punged it and 10-second plummered it and it didn't seem to do anything to fix the problem, but the other day, we found water on the bathroom floor - but not around the sick or the toilet. Weird. mopped it up and thought perhaps it was a spill over from draining the dehumidifier.
Then this afternoon, we did a load of laundry and came back to transfer the clothes in to the dryer when there was a fair sized puddle of water in the middle of the floor. looked like it was from under the washer, but moved the washer and we can't see a thing where it indicated leaking or wetness! There was also more water in the bathroom floor at weird spots not near sink or toilet and the back shower that is never used now looks like the pipes backed up and vomited on the floor of the shower. It rained like crazy this afternoon, so we thought it might have been a leaking roof, but again, not a sign of wetness anywhere on the ceilings. Weirdness abounds and there is obviously something going on with the pipes, even if the roof is leaking, so we have to call in a plumber.
Add that to the fact that yesterday was my last official teaching day of the season and the summer students were just enough to tide us through the summer if nothign went wrong and we havne't even started that process yet and things are going wrong left and right. We have no emergency or reserve funds and yet here we are having to call in a plumber whose services are usually $100/hour. Just f-ing great.
I haven't even made any decisions about the other situation other than talking with her and what I wanted to address and look what's happened. Perhaps I dont' need to talk to her after all. perhaps just that decision was the wrong one that cue-ed this cascade of events.
not sure. All I know is I'm already defeated and thinking that I'm not cut out for home-ownership and self-employment.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Excited!
I am rather excited! I got 3 packages delivered today and the big one was a bunch of bottles and spray tops so that I can make room sprays with. I had seen the room sprays in a store in Maine and bought one for my personal use, but they were pricey - $7.50 a bottle. I looked into getting them wholesale, but they weren't willing to ship to Canada, so screw it. I decided I'd make them myself and sell them under "my brand name" LOL!!
Tomorrow will be my first attempt at making them! I'm going to start with a Sage Spray - for those who want to cleanse a room without having to burn sage to smudge the room. Sage smudging is difficult for those who have breathing difficulties or nosey neighbours as the sage smoke smells a bit like pot, so it becomes a bit suspect. Just as effective, but easier to use (no fire needed) and I have found that I use the spray a lot more often than I ever burnt sage!
I want to also make a lavender spray for headache relief and a witchazel spray for bug bites and burns.
I've started once again making bath salts. I had made them a few years ago and used them as gifts for birthdays and xmas, but had stopped making them up due to laziness and an over-staturated market for bath products, but I will make up a selection for specific pure uses. I have 4 already made up and just got the oils in today to make up the 5th one. Very excited by that as well! I'll make that up and that will be the 5th blend. I'll make a special offer to those who buy a package of each blend.
I'm excited! Hopefully that excitement is justified and that others will be just as excited as I am once they find out about them!
Tomorrow will be my first attempt at making them! I'm going to start with a Sage Spray - for those who want to cleanse a room without having to burn sage to smudge the room. Sage smudging is difficult for those who have breathing difficulties or nosey neighbours as the sage smoke smells a bit like pot, so it becomes a bit suspect. Just as effective, but easier to use (no fire needed) and I have found that I use the spray a lot more often than I ever burnt sage!
I want to also make a lavender spray for headache relief and a witchazel spray for bug bites and burns.
I've started once again making bath salts. I had made them a few years ago and used them as gifts for birthdays and xmas, but had stopped making them up due to laziness and an over-staturated market for bath products, but I will make up a selection for specific pure uses. I have 4 already made up and just got the oils in today to make up the 5th one. Very excited by that as well! I'll make that up and that will be the 5th blend. I'll make a special offer to those who buy a package of each blend.
I'm excited! Hopefully that excitement is justified and that others will be just as excited as I am once they find out about them!
Sunday, June 06, 2010
A mistake?
I fear I have made an error in judgement. While I have not had any clear indication for Spirit or the Universe, I highly suspect that I have made a bad decision. It is unfortunately a decision I can't un-do easily. It will be approximately a year before it can be undone. I can only hope that the year is not filled with speedumps and pot holes on the road of life.
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