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.
2 comments:
Do you have a contract with the Church? What kind of clauses does it have? You may be entitled to your money regardless.
Don't have any advice for the toilet. Not a plumber in any regard and don't have any numbers. If we have trouble, we call M's Dad and he can point someone out to us. If needed, we could ask his advice on a guy and give you the number.
Home ownership is definitely not for everyone. As apartment/condo living isn't for everyone. With your husband's health issues, maybe looking into getting out of the house and going into an apartment/condo is the best solution long-term?
In the interim, breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, slowly. Think positively.
Yes, I do have a contract, which was discussed a bit today with the minister, who really doesn't have any say right now since he's down to his last 2 services currently.
That being said, there may be a new position at a new church, which I'll hopefully know a bit more about tomorrow. We'll see. I'm just trying to be a bit more patient.
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