Just after the morning rush, so I thought I would get a quick few lines in. I think I have done a lot on William but there are still a few things to cover. Not that I will do them all but there are some interesting things to talk about.
This is the first year he will be doing taxes. I tried to start it last night but could not get him registered with the ATO, Australian Tax Office. It seems you have to prove who you are by providing information on documents you have previously shared with them. Since he has never done taxes before, he has no shared documents. So I spent a couple of hours going round and round trying to get past that. No luck. So now, I have to contact them directly and try to do it over the phone. That always goes well. I don't really have time since I am working and I don't want to leave it up to Juanita and him, so I might have to take a day off just to go to the tax office. And to add to it, I don't think there is a tax office anymore, I will have to sit on the phone, during tax season, and wait for someone to help me. Not looking forward to it.
I think he has a couple of hundred dollars that he should get back. He didn't earn that much so he should get it all back. He has been expecting it for a while and has been trying to get me to do it since the 1st. By the time I get home, there is not a lot of time to do it so I might take a look this weekend and see if I am missing something.
I won't go into the taxation office over here. I don't understand it and it might get too complicated. Basically, you can do your own, which I have always done anyway, but now your earnings are all sent to the ATO, and you do not get anything anymore. Could be a good system but this year is the first year it is fully automated. Since I have always done it myself in the past, it makes it easier if you just have normal income and no deductions. I did it that way last year and I think the year before. I actually had deductions, but this year I will not. Haven't looked at mine yet.
I keep getting interrupted with people wanting things. Hard to keep track of where I am. Maybe trying to do this at work was a bad idea. I'll give it a go for the rest of the day but it's not looking good.
Let's try to get in a few things about Maeghan.
She finished her diploma. All finished with school now, or maybe not. She decided at some point that child care or working in the nurseries was not really her thing. The kids kept making her sick. She was having to miss work a lot and it was affecting her finishing her course. She had to get special permission to allow her to go beyond the allotted time to get her hours and assignments in. She manage to do it but I think they allowed her several shortcuts to get it all done. But now she has it and while I have not managed to get her a frame for it, we will do that as soon as I can remember to do it.
Now a diploma is still not something I understand about the education system over here. It is above the certificate system but not an actual degree. That requires a couple more levels before she gets a degree, and from what I here, it is expensive. Something like $12000 to complete at a university. I probably have that wrong but I know it will cost a lot more money if she wants to go that far.
At some point, she wanted to switch to a graphics arts degree, but that is also expensive. I am not sure if she is going to pursue that or not. She is taking the rest of the year off and not doing any school work or work for that matter. I think the current plans are, and they change frequently, is she wants to get her teaching certificate. For that, she only needs one more class and she might do that next year. To get a full teaching degree, she would then have to enroll in university and get her bachelors degree, so that would be more expensive and more years of schooling. I am not sure if she will commit to that yet. She probably will, but we will see what she wants to do. I can help her out now that I am fulltime, but there are other priorities for me, like a new car, that take precedence so I am not sure how much I can help. Since it will take me a year to get the money for a new car, we have some time to think about it.
I did hear her say the other day that she might try to get a job. I think she was going to try at Boost juice or Bobba tea place. I am not sure she knows the amount of standing that is involved in one of those jobs but I am all for her getting into the workplace. It shows future employers she can do the job and doesn't have to rely on the wheelchair. It will be tough on her but if she can work it out to only work a shortened number of hours, it might be good for her. It will certainly help her social life.
I am really worried about Maeghan and William in that they do not have any close friends around here. William might have some friends at school, but he never sees them outside of school and never goes anywhere unless it is with us. Maeghan is the same way. Not through lack of trying but with her being in the wheelchair and not being able to drive or have a car to drive, it really limits them on what they can do outside of seeing us every day. I will hate it when the time comes for them to have outside lives but, the way things are now, they need to have some kind of time away from me and their mother. It is just not healthy. And I repeat, I will absolutely hate it when it happens but it has to happen sometime and I am going to try to encourage it whenever I can. Maeghan and I have a good time together but I am tired and grumpy all the time these days and don't have the amount of time needed to stay with them, nor should I as I need to let them go, but we will do what we can.
Too much depressing thoughts, let's move on.
What else with Maeghan. I think I need to make more of a big deal about her getting her diploma. As far as I know, she is the first one on her mother's side of the family to do so. Karen has a number of qualifications and I think she might have something like that or higher, but I know no one else on that side has achieved that. She has done great, and a lot of it on her own. She had her friends in high school but since we moved here, she has had to be her own motivation and her own guidance. I have helped where I could but not understanding what is needed and what she needs to do is a hindrance. But she has done exceptionally well.
Good job Maeghan, I love you.
Been getting interrupted a lot lately so I am going to call it a day. I am sure there is a lot more to say and I will get to it when I can, but for now, I should be going. Have a couple of computers to build so I am busy for a while and if I don't sneak in a lunch when I can, no one comes out to relieve me, so I generally miss out.
So it is good bye from me and good bye from him.
Until next time,
Later
Remember
It will all be ok in the end, and if it's not ok, then it's not the end.
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