They are back in school now. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. I think they like it but it is hard getting back into the routine. They both come home really tired.
The weather turned hot that last couple of days. It is supposed to get back to cold again tomorrow but for now, it is very hot, about 30 degrees here which is unusually warm for this time of year. Tassie normally only had a hand full of days that are that warm and that is not until around Christmas time or late in the summer. I have considered turning on the air conditioner but have managed to avoid it up until now. Maeghan wants it on but since this is the last day of it being hot, I think I can leave it off until the next time. Power bill is really high in this place so I try to avoid using it whenever I can get away with it.
The kids stay with me now, after school. Juanita is working her new job and I pick the kids up from school and bring them here. I take them back home most days to their house around 7 so they can be there when their mother gets home. Since she has just started and it is a physical job, cleaning a school, she comes home exhausted so they don't get to interact with her all that much.
They normally stay at my house on Tuesdays, Maeghan has scouts, but I think they might be staying more than the one night a week from now on. It might just be too hard to drive them home each night. It is good now because we stop and get a frozen coke on the way but I think it will be easier to stay here a couple of times a week.
Juanita is still looking for a new house. The one she is in is going to be renovated and they will raise the rent. She cannot afford it now so she has to move. That is the main reason she has gotten a job. With the loss of income from Sydney, she can no longer afford the expensive places she has been living. Even my place would be too expensive for her so she is looking for something cheaper.
The problem is, there are no places cheaper. None at all. All the rents have gone up and there are no longer cheap places to rent. Plus, it has apparently hit lots of people the same way. Each house she looks at and applies for has 50 other applicants for it and so far, she has not been chosen for any of them. I think it will be too hard for a single parent with little income to get an approval from most landlords but she has to keep trying. A couple of new places opened up this week and she will apply for them as soon as they are available. They are close to me so that will be good. She has the added problem in that in order to get her pension, she is limited to the number of hours she can work. Too complicated to go into here but she has to stay within thirty minutes of her work in order to qualify for carer pension for Maeghan.
I have offered to let them stay here so they can look for a place they want instead of taking the first place that accepts them. I don't know if she will do that but it is an option for her. She can't move back with her parents as they would lose their pensions or carer packages and it is too far from her work. Another option would be for the kids to live with me and she stays with her sister but that causes problems as well. Just all a bit too complicate for me but it is how she has to do things to allow her to receive her payments.
My job keeps getting weirder and weirder but that is how is supposed to be since it has been that way for 14 years now. Can't say what is happening as I don't really know anymore but it keeps changing and I keep getting lost in the shuffle. Don't have a boss or anyone to report to so no one takes any responsibility for what I do. At times, hard to work that way but I live with it and have gotten used to it I suppose. The Australians have no idea if they have a job from one day to another. A lot of their jobs have moved to Melbourne or oversees so they are just waiting for the hammer to fall. I have no idea what that will mean for me as they sign my paychecks but we will see.
Maeghan had to chose her classes for next year. They are no offering some of the classes she wanted as not enough people showed an interest but she has most of what she wants. She chose IT work over drama this time. I hope it is not because of me. She loves doing the drama but she was afraid she would miss out on IT if she chose drama and then they did not have it, which I think they are not going to have it so she would have been without a class if she had gone there.
We ran into the guy who does the plays here in Huonville. Maeghan has been in one, was supposed to be in two and missed out on the last one. He says they will be starting a new one soon but he does not know when or what it will be. He will notify everyone on the mailing list when they decide. She missed out on the current one because they had 150 people apply and only 60 parts were available. Her friend did not make it either but she will try for the next one when it comes.
Going to have to go now. Have to take the kids home and make Juanita's dinner. She gets home around 8 although I think it is flexible. It is whenever they get done which usually takes about 3 hours and she starts at 4:30 after all the teachers have left school. Hope things turn for the better soon.
Until next time
No comments:
Post a Comment