Horror Happenings During the Year.

During March, a mini-tornado ripped over my home and took the roofs off my house and shed.  In both instances, the tornado sucked up the entire roofs, trusses and all, but with the shed roof, it lost its punch, and put it back on top of the walls again.  The house roof landed over 100 metres away.

This happened at nearly midnight on the 22nd March, and luckily I was insured, as the cost to repair the damage was immense.  I decided to take a settlement, and sell the property "as is".  The settlement took four months to finalise.

During those four months, I was fortunate to have a good friend who invited me to live in her house, in one end of the house which was almost like a flat, except we shared the kitchen. 

This event impacted my life severely, as I suffered shock for weeks after that first night.  My life is back to normal now, however, and I have a nice, new home to enjoy, which is central to shopping in Bundaberg.

Success at Impact!

I finally reached the end of the course I was studying.  I have passed Certificate III in Home and Community Care.  With a lot of pushes and support from both trainer and other students.  I particularly had difficulty with the job placement, missing much of it through illness - a virus hit in the middle of the placement.

Nevertheless, I was in a placement on the last day, and was ticked off on all my competencies.  I receive my graduation certificate at an event on 7 June, and will have a guest, Roscoe, who is coming from Bridges. 

I am having difficulty fitting back into my old patterns, as I have been so busy up until now, with work and study.  Settling in at Bridges again is taking some doing, although it is still the friendly and welcoming place it was.

Studying Home and Community Care on a Budget

The last six weeks have been tough, as I worked hard to keep up the hectic pace at Impact's course on Aged Care.  There is a lot of homework to do, and many corrections to edit on the papers.  The class is made up of about 12 people, with a couple pulling out early on.  There are two men in the group, who are quite cheerful in the face of so many women.  The trainer is new to the job, although she has worked in Aged Care for 25 years or more, so she knows the industry inside out.  Time will tell whether I can keep on with the course, but at present it doesn't look all that hopeful.

A Poem to Share

Undone.

I am done and undone,

I wonder if I can write a poem,

I hear a breeze sigh,

I see eagles,

I want peace.

I am done and undone,

I pretend to be smart,

I feel lost,

I touch my reality,

I worry that I am not ready,

I cry for lost youth.

I am done and undone,

I understand that night follows day,

I say truth is in the eye of the beholder,

I dream about my mother,

I try to live at peace,

I hope to be productive,

I am done and undone.

Studying on a Budget

Now that I am regaining my mental health, it's time for me to start a plan to return to the workforce.  It is obvious that at my age, it is hard to get employers to put me on their payroll, as traditionally, older workers are handicapped both mentally and physically.

The best way to counter this perception is to find a field of employment so heavily used that there are many vacancies in it.  I think that the field of aged care is one of these.  Therefore I have put my name on a list at Wide Bay TAFE, as an expression of interest.

One of the problems with beginning study, is the cost of the course.  The concessional fee of over $800 is nothing to be sneezed at, when one is on just a pension.  It is just as well that I have a cushion amount in my savings account which will let me afford the payment in one instalment.  It will take time to recover the cushion, which assists my budget to stay balanced.

I am concerned that I will be unable to cope with aspects of aged care which require me to tolerate toileting procedures.  I guess there must be a lot of other carers who were worried about that as well, so there must be ways to cope with it.  Time will tell.

Christmas Shopping on a Budget

I want to buy an easy recipe book for my son, Travis, for Christmas.  I worry that he doesn't eat well enough as a bachelor.  He needs to use new ideas for cooking good quality meals for himself.

I have budgeted $50 to spend on the book, which should give me something with a bit of substance.  I shall probably try Dymock's Book Store first, to see what is available there.  Then I will look at Chippendall's selections.

There's no time like the present to have a look.

Budgeting Helps

It's amazing that because I have looked into my budgeting techniques, I have started paying off my debts at a much faster rate than I had been doing.  I am now well on the way to paying off my Visa Card.  I will then be able to start saving for either the unforseen that may happen, or spend up big on Christmas, when my son arrives home for a holiday.

I have thought long and hard about Christmas presents - who should I buy them for, and how much should I spend.  I already have my son's presents worked out, and have purchased the first one.  The others are harder, as my friends have everything they need.  I consider it is time I started my Christmas window-shopping, to see what's out there.

Also important in the scheme of things is my Christmas card list of friends and relatives which I use to send Christmas cards out.  It's time I undertook that as well.  I usually write a letter with each card, as I often don't communicate with people apart from Christmas time.

It's obviously time I got busy.