Joan smiling

Well, I only managed to get one cruddy, washed-out photo of Joan smiling, before John saw the flash and zoomed to the scene. But a smile's a smile! I'll try to get a better one soon. I'll have to find a distraction for John. Not even cartoons can keep him from a camera, so I'll have to find something really good. She's going to look at her baby pictures one day and wonder why John is in every one.

Kids are doing well. Joan's neurology appointment is on Tuesday, so keep those fingers crossed.

A HUGE thanks to Mike's grandma for the clothes! She was down to two things that sorta fit, so it's nice to have a few extra sleepers when she's having a particularly poopy day. I had to dress her in her snowsuit one day, so she wouldn't get cold waiting for the laundry to dry. John won't put on the slippers yet, but he likes to look at them. They have an honoured place in his dump truck.

Jer moves in tomorrow. He'll be here any minute to get stuff in his room ready. Place is a major disaster area right now, because I've been busy with association stuff the last two days. But I should be able to have it more or less clean before his friends get here tomorrow morning. It's amazing how fast the house degrades into chaos, without constant tidying.

I guess the big news this week is with Mike. He's playing with the idea of going back to school full-time in September. He had a look at what yet needs to be done, and he had a whack of courses that must be done in the first term, when his work is busiest, so part-time would be prett impossible. I suggested he look into his company policy of leaves of absence, and take a term off work. That option is still on the table. We also went to the OSAP site, and plugged in our info to the calculator. He can get I think $12,000-$14,000 per year, and all but $7,000 is in the form of grants, because of the kids. It's less to live on than a paycheque, but we think it's doable. Going full-time also opens doors to other funding possibilities, because we'll be classed as low-income. We may be able to get a subsidized daycare spot from the city, which would make our daycare virtually free, but we won't know until we have a bunch of forms together. He actually has to get the ball rolling, and apply to school and OSAP before we can find out if we'd qualify. If he can keep his marks up, he may also qualify for a bursary from his school. It has tax implications, too. Our child tax credit will become bigger, and we'll probably qualify for the GST rebate. I think we could muddle through. It would be two lean years, but then it would be done. The alternative is two years of part-time, including a one term leave of absence either this september or next, and one final year of full-time, to get his degree. He's torn on which way to go. I favour the just-get-it-done scenario, but we need to really look at the numbers before we jump in. We've talked about different ways to use the house to our advantage. We have to renew in June, and I think our broker can do something to help.Maybe stretch the term out. Mike hates that idea, though. He wants as much going on principle as possible, to get as big a lump as possible when we sell, likely in 3-4 years. We also talked about renting it out as a house, for the price of our mortgage, then renting some hole in the wall near school to cut our living costs, while still hanging on to the house. Obviosly not an option for this year. But I may even be able to get a job at one of our niagara papers. It could work out well, if we chose the right tenants, though it would count as income, which would mess up OSAP. It's hard to know what to do. It's going to take a big leap of faith, no matter what we do. But he really, really needs to get his degree. There's no future in Bell. One of the other contracting companies was just dissolved, because the union voted against a massive pay cut. All those guys are losing their good-paying jobs, and frankly, that's the future for Mike's company, too. The telecommunications industry is changing from copper to fibre optics. He said it will require a college diploma to do his job after things switch over. It will be done by new companies, and his will be phased out and shut down. It's not a stable future. He'll be in his late 30's or early 40's, out of a job, and trained in an obsolete technology. Either way he's looking at retraining, so why not retrain for what he actually wants to do?

Anyway, we have a bit of time to decide what to do. But in the meantime, he's still planning to take one summer course, investigate a leave of absence, and also get the ball rolling on full-time and OSAP, to keep his options open come September.

What do you guys think?

Anyway - better go clean!