Not Even Cold November Rain
Maybe it’s the weather or maybe it’s due to dwelling on the current domestic challenges but whatever it is, it has me in a bit of a funk. Might as well write about the rain. November ended the drought and wildfires of the past few weeks with a blaze of glory. Heavy rains with tornadoes in some areas ended a 66 day stretch of dryness.
In a way, I almost feel like my personal life needs a tornado to blow through and kick things up. The routine is wearing a bit thin. Granted, I’m being extra complain-y for someone that just got to go out hiking last week. but it’s deeper than a day trip is going to fix.
I was not cut out to be a housewife (no offense to housewives, totally tongue-in-cheek self-deprecating humor here).
The Job Thing
I feel like I’ve been constantly behind the curve for the month. We’re reaching crunch time before the year end freeze and I only have two weeks left to make some key deliverables. It really bothers me that personal life has impacted my business life. I’m somewhat competitive in the workplace and have not been on my A game.
I’m going to focus on spending more days in the office in December (even though I hate intentionally commuting). Hopefully this will help break the cycle and some of the assumptions about the domestic items that I should be able to accomplish during the work day.
Yeah, sometimes working from home sucks.
Let’s Focus on the Positive
There are a few things going in the right direction. So I can’t be completely grumpy. First of all, after the year-end freeze starts at work I’ll be able to take some time off. Right now I’m planning at least the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
During the break, I’ve already made plans to meet up with some friends in Nashville to catch the Predators game against the Blackhawks. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve made it to an NHL game so I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll probably fly this one solo so I can’t get some ‘me’ time as well.
Share Granted
Today another RSU grant vested. The tax withholding shares weren’t quite as drastic as I expected so we got a little bit more than originally anticipated. This will give us around $4500 dollars to allocate in the following way:
- 20% to Savings Account
- 20% to my IRA
- 20% to Mrs. CB3’s IRA
- 20% to 529 plan
- 20% to Charitable donations
We’ll be having a family meeting Sunday night with the kids to discuss which Charitable organizations that we want to support. I really want to make sure the children are part of this process.
New Focus on Investing
Another positive from the week was a suggestion to check out Bigger Pockets to assist with my research into Real Estate Investing. What a wealth of information! I’ve only just started to scratch the surface.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be working on more research as well as putting together an investing (business) plan for this area. I also need to revisit my investing plan for stocks and update that as necessary. Most of my money is managed in that arena, but I do dabble a bit.
Focus on the Magic
The last bit that I’ll leave this week is about the magic of the holidays. My daughter is nine this year and it occurred to me that there will probably come a time soon when a certain truth comes to light for her. Whether it’s from her peers or because she sneaks around and makes a discovery like I did, I know the time will come.
It’s interesting to think back to before I had children. I never thought that I wanted to participate in such a deception. I used to think it was a silly thing to do.
Now I realize how important it is for children to be able to have that kind of magic in their lives. I wish we as adults were able to hang onto that and still have it in ours. It’s unfortunate that it comes to an end and we allow ourselves to be consumed by the dictum of society to conform.
We need more magic in this world.
How will you add a little magic?
Cheers!
-cb3