Life, the Universe, and Everything... or maybe just life.

We realized a few weeks ago that we are, to put it mildly, in dire financial straits. And that's putting it mildly! Anyway, over the past two weeks, we've been meeting with different leaders in the ward to help us get back on our feet. Our Bishop has been especially gracious with his time, taking about 5 hours over the past week or so to meet with us, sit down with all of our bills, and help us figure out exactly where the money coming in should go. He's also worked with the Relief Society president to get us some commodities from the Bishop's Storehouse which will get us through the next couple of weeks, as all of our money is earmarked to getting our delinquent payments caught back up. Members of the ward have also been bringing by dinner for us for the past week to help us stay as focused as possible on getting life into a routine around here.

Bishop's made some suggestions, like me getting a second job to cover the car payment(s) until we can sell one or both of them. I don't mind getting a second job, although obviously I won't be home that much if I'm working one. I'm thinking of expanding my bass lessons, or even teaching French to the one or two people in Arizona who might want to learn it. :-) I can do either one of those from home, which would be a good thing as it would keep me off the road and at home where I ideally would be if we were, you know, financially solvent.

Another option is to get a job nearby, at a place that I can walk to if absolutely necessary. That would mean something like Fry's, Golden Corral, or another fast-food restaurant on 22nd between Broadway and Alvernon. I seriously doubt that Beaver's would take me back, and besides, I probably wouldn't want to work there, seeing as how I've developed a lot professionally since then. I can, however, put up signs there and at Guitar Center advertising lessons.

So, some changes to the blog will come soon. I'm going to work on doing some bar graphs to fill up how much of each debt is paid off, to motivate me when I come here. I might start up a "teaching bass" blog as well, although to tie it in with the website that I would have to develop for the "school", that would be different. I don't want an e-mail address, plus two separate website addresses cluttering the bottom of my business cards, you know?

So, let's give the bass school a shot. You never know. And I feel the best about it, and I hope and pray that the Lord will bless me with students enough to be able to support my family.

In the meantime, I've got a budget to work out. Dave Barry wrote a few years ago that what his family was on wasn't strictly a budget, it was more of a modified version of the Bataan Death March. I can completely relate, as we are literally counting pennies to get where we need to go.