Social Security

99% of the time I'm really happy and grateful to be able to stay home with my kids. I feel fortunate that I have this opportunity that so many people would love and I am thankful that I have the patience to be able to do it. There are times though when I wonder about the working world. Mostly those times come once a month when I get the e-mail notification that my student loans are being taken out of my checking account. I feel like if I'm still paying loans, I should be working. We could have these paid off by now, but my financial planner dad is advising we keep them and pay the minimum because my interest rate is 1% or something close to that.

The other time I feel the need to get out and work is that time of year when I get the social security pamphlet in the mail that lets me know how much income I've earned in the years since I have worked. It's fun to see how much I made when I was 16, 17, 18, etc. It's also fun to see how much I made in my first few years of teaching when I was teaching, coaching, and working at the tennis club. I was rich! However...when I got my latest social security update...there was a big fat ZERO for 2009.

Well, my blogger friends, the ZERO won't be there for 2011! I recently took on a very part time job at the local tennis center. I'm teaching some lessons Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. I've gone 3 times now and the first two times were a little rough, but yesterday morning I felt so great when I walked out the door. I felt like I taught some great drills and the people really responded to me. It's not a lot, but it's something. It's fun to use some of my teaching skills and also get out and play a little tennis. Chris can benefit from me working there too as we now have a family membership to the club and he can go to drills and work-out there too.

Max and Mya aren't thrilled about the new job. Mya's exact words were..."I don't want you to go to work ANYMORE!" They will someday benefit from this as well because starting at age 4 they can come to lessons with me too! (only if they want to of course:) And one more thing...the extra cash I will be making will NOT be going towards my student loans. Instead I'm getting a cleaning lady!!!!!! By far the best part:)