Income

According to my lawyer, it would be in my best interests to get a job that pays minimum wage or not get one at all until the divorce is final.   The more I earn, the less support I get.  If something happens that undercuts my ability to work, I will be financially in trouble.  

The other point he made is that support will only be good until my husband hits 65.  He is older than I am.  My support would be cut off, and I will be on my own.  He has retirement pay from two government jobs.  One is in effect now.  The other will take effect at 65.  I am only entitled to half of the first one.   I have no other retirement income, and I'm running out of time to get it.

The bottom line: I need all I can get now to prepare for when I lose it.

The other problem is this house.  It is highly doubtful that I will be able to continue renovating it.  The upkeep is costly.   The kids and I are fully aware that we will have to sell.   If we can sell it.  It isn't in very good shape, and a flipper isn't going to want to pay what we owe.

Other than moving away from my grandsons, this idea doesn't bother me much.  We've been investigating various areas.  We have narrowed them down to 3 states: NC, VA and TX.  We all want to go south.  Like now.  Okay, more like 9 years ago.

The first year here was, "Yay! Snow!  Look at all the snow!  We have a white Christmas!"  

The second year was, "Oh crap, it's snowing again.  Kids, get the snow shovels."  That was always followed by major objections and whining by the kids.  Okay, some of it may have been mine.  All right, a lot of it may have been mine.

*kicks the rabbit off the trail*

My concern with getting a job is that I won't be around the house to watch what happens.  I do not want to be at work, come home, find that the kids' dad took my stuff or whatever, and the kids got stuck in the middle of it.  I do NOT want to put them in that position.

My only option, that I can see, is to do something from home - for now.

I could do childcare, but my house would never pass the state's inspection.  I'd have to limit it to two children to avoid having to be licensed.  It's not that it's dangerous.  The water stain on the living room ceiling is enough to fail, even though the roof was replaced several years ago.  I've done childcare in the past, and both times I've had waiting lists.  I guess I was doing something right.  :)

(sidenote:  I first wrote "I've done children in the past...", realized it could be misconstrued and changed it.  Hey, I'm not taking any chances.)

I also don't have a room I can dedicate to it right now.  Once the bedroom upstairs is done, I can play Ring Around the Bedrooms and clear the one down here out for the computers. I checked Craigslist and there are 4 other homes in my town trying to do childcare.   Two are charging below "market value".  Not a good sign.

I could be a "private preschool" and advertise myself as a Christian/Messianic preschool.  I do have the Horizon curriculum, an extra "kid" computer, and lots of craft supplies.  Stored in one of the upstairs bedrooms are boxes of preschool items.  Again though - room to do it is an issue.

My writing is not the caliber certain websites require to try to generate income.  Honestly, I don't even know what I'd write about.   Divorce?  Weight loss?  That one is hard.  I keep finding it instead. Trying to adjust to a (an?) MSG Free lifestyle?

The final choice: crocheting, the knitting machine and sewing.  I'm still mulling that idea over.  I don't have room to set up my machines.  I can find room if I completely declutter the basement. Fabric is so expensive that I'm not even sure it would be worth trying.  I know my youngest DD would help.  She likes to sew.  Animal hair is a problem, because of Jonah (Boxer) and Dillinger (Garfield cat).

I have things I can sell like old curriculum, clothes, patterns I'll never use, etc.  I could sell my violins, but I don't want to.  I want to play again, but I need a teacher to help me get back to where I was when I stopped.   If I got back to that point in a decent amount of time (iow - practice for hours which gets me yelled at) I could do beginner violin lessons.

A home-based business would be great. (Not like Tupperware.  BTDT.)  It could move with me.  I could set my own hours.  With my youngest being 16, I don't have to worry about being interrupted very much.

I have been praying about which direction to go, but nothing is coming to me.   I'm running out of time.  I need to decide soon.