2008's hectic start

I realize it's been a while since I've blogged. A lot of new stuff is happening in my life and I haven't blogged about it yet, so I'm finally getting on the ball.

First of all, our master plan for returning to Florida has, at its core, three major issues. Issue #1: my Florida teaching certificate. Issue #2: credit card debt. Issue #3: the sale of our house in a falling market. Let me tackle those one at a time.

Issue #1: My Florida teaching certificate

A few months ago, when I realized we would be returning to Florida, it occurred to me that I had no idea what the status of my Florida teacher certificate was. I couldn't find a paper copy of it and I couldn't seem to get logged on to Florida's Department of Education site. I wasn't sure if my certificate had expired or not. (For any readers who don't understand teaching certificates, all you need to know is that if you don't have one, you can't teach. They're the MacGuffin of this story, ...you Hitchcock fans will know what I mean.)

I finally got into the system and discovered some much needed information. The good news is that my Florida certificate had not expired yet. Whew. That would make renewal much easier. The "bad" news, if you want to call it that, is that it expires June 30, 2008. You may be asking, what does it take to renew a teaching certificate anyway? Well, there's always a fee, of course. That part was expected. But I had to do a little research to find out what else was necessary. Normally, teachers do a bunch of in-service training. For example, say it's a teacher work day and the teachers are put through a couple of hours of a boring-as-watching-paint-dry workshop on the trials and tribulations of performance-based assessment. Well, all those hours spent listening to this all-important teacher-speak have one tangible, bureaucratic consequence: they add up and make you eligible to renew your certificate. Teaching certificates last for, I dunno, 6 years or so. So during those 6 years, most teachers do enough in-service to easily renew when the time comes. But if you're naughty and don't go to your in-service meetings, or if you, say, have been teaching in another state for the past 4 or 5 years, then you have to go to option B: complete 6 hours of college courses.

Now, let it be known that I am not naughty. I always faithfully attend my in-service meetings. I've done everything I need to do here in Arizona to not only get my Arizona certificate renewed, but also to get all the Prop 301 (state-mandated performance-based pay) money that is due me (Florida doesn't have that). But Florida doesn't recognize my Arizona in-service hours, so I have to do the college courses.

I was afraid at first that I'd be stuck taking boring education classes, but thank God for small miracles: the state of Florida will count college courses in almost any subject area. So long as I didn't choose law, religious studies, or real estate, the sky was pretty much the limit.

We live about a mile from South Mountain Community College, so back in December I perused their Spring Schedule and assembled the most interesting slate of 6 hours that I could.

It just so happens that South Mountain Community College is one of the only schools in the nation that offers a certificate program in storytelling. People who want to study the art of storytelling actually come to South Mountain Community College from all over the place. A friend of ours, Nancy Yaki, used to teach art for SMCC's childcare program. Since she could take SMCC courses for free, she took a few, including one called the Art of Storytelling. She really enjoyed it. Her testimonial, combined with my own love of storytelling (and my use of it in the classroom) made the Art of Storytelling a shoo-in. There's 3 hours.

SMCC also offers a 1-hour course called Storytelling in the Educational Setting. Geared for teachers, of course. That one was an easy choice too. There's 4 hours.

Unfortunately, there were no other storytelling classes that fit around my work schedule. So I chose a 1-hour Spanish class. Since I already understand a little Spanish, it should be fairly easy, but I'm sure I will learn something from it, which can only be helpful in my life. Plus, that one is a pass/fail only, so it should be pretty easy from a grading point of view. That's 5.

And to round out my requirements, I chose a 1-hour golf class. I know what you're thinking. "He doesn't like golf." Well,...I wouldn't exactly say that. I didn't used to like golf. And it's true that I don't care to keep up with professional golf. I rarely pause at the golf channel when channel surfing. But, if you remember, I did coach golf at GHS for two years, even though I'd never played in my life. And during that time, I learned most of the rules, got familiar with the etiquette of the golf course, and totally gained an appreciation for one aspect of the game: it's very relaxing to be on golf courses, which can be quite beautiful places. I'd sit in that golf cart (while the players were doing the real work) on crisp fall afternoons, cool breeze blowing across immaculately manicured greens, everything nice and tidy, everyone relatively polite to each other,... that was a pretty easy gig. It can grow on you.

I honestly wouldn't mind coaching golf again. But if I do, I should at least know how to swing the clubs correctly. So the golf class should be fun and useful.

When my classes all wrap up at the end of April, I'll have 2 months to submit my transcript, my renewal application, and my fee to the state of Florida. And my path to teaching again in Florida will be all clear.

Issue #2: credit card debt

I'm proud to say that we have pretty good credit. However, in the past 2 years (since buying the house actually) we've slowly but steadily lived a little beyond our means. And before we knew it, we had a pretty significant credit card debt. Since I'll be taking a pay cut to come back to Florida, we knew we had to get it paid off before we moved back. So with 18 months until the move, we worked out a plan.

The lazy way to do it would be to refinance the house and pay it off with the new mortgage. But we want every bit of equity we can squeeze out when we sell, so we'd rather do it the old-fashioned way: decrease our spending and increase our income.

Coincidentally, when I was in Gainesville in November, I heard a snippet of a radio call-in show talking about debt. This couple called in to say how they'd paid off all their debt in about 6 months by working part-time jobs. He delivered papers in the early morning hours so that it wouldn't take time away from their kids. I don't remember what she did, but it was definitely a team effort. I got a little inspired, I must admit.

Cristina was the first to get a part-time job. A friend of hers got hired as a clerk in a toy store and they needed more help. It's an independent, mom-and-pop toy store called Brilliant Sky, not a yucky big box chain. Best part, the owner was very willing to hire mothers with small children. If there was ever a need to bring the kids to work, that would be okay. That was the deal-clincher. So Cristina's been working there since early December. She likes it. I can really tell that she'd be a great manager, but the pay is pretty low, so she'll probably work there less as my part-time job pays more.

I put my resume on careerbuilder.com and got a call from a company that does after-school tutoring. One of the fun things about working at IKEA was that it didn't have anything to do with teaching or kids. So it was a nice palate-cleanser, so to speak. But the tutoring gig pays 3 times more than IKEA, so I'm giving it a shot. I've been doing that since mid-December. It's only a couple of afternoons a week, but it's a little extra money without too much of a time commitment.

Between our part-time jobs and summer school money and our tax refunds, we should be free of our credit card debt by summer of 2009. But it means no significant traveling next summer, which is a bummer. We have a lengthy list of things we want to do out here before we leave Arizona, but it will be hard to do much with most of our money committed to paying off debt. I'm sure we'll find a happy medium somewhere.

There's a chance Cristina could get a paid teaching-assistant job at Desert Marigold School, so if that happens, we'll be that much better off. And it will help pay for Bella's preschool next year, which ain't cheap.

Issue #3: the sale of our house in a falling market

I'm getting tired of writing, so I'm glad I've saved the shortest issue for last. Obviously we're hoping to get a certain amount for our house when we sell it. I had toyed with the idea of renting out the house if the market wasn't where we wanted it, but I've done some research, and renting seems like it could be a potential nightmare.

So we're selling. We can't control the market, so we'll just hope for the best. We can do everything in our power (and budget) to make the house as attractive as possible, which is made easier by the newness of the house and the neighborhood. Luckily, we have time on our side. So around this coming December, we'll start to pack up our non-essential things and move them to a storage unit. We'll repaint the walls to make them more neutral (right now our living room is blue and our kitchen is green, of a brightness that could scare off some potential buyers). And we'll keep just the right furniture and things in place to make the house show-worthy. I guess we'll have it on the market by February or so with hopes to have it sold by June.

Cristina and I will take a little scouting trip to Gainesville around March or April of 2009 and look at houses and neighborhoods and probably hook up with a Realtor. I don't anticipate finding a house then, but we can get a nice head start on looking. When we move in early June, we can (probably) stay with Cristina's mom until we find a house, hopefully no later than August.

So that's the plan as of today. You have been briefed. Only, it wasn't so brief!