One small step for womankind....

I paid my house taxes today! And I think the woman in the assessor's office suspects I am altered, because I had such a big smile on my face as I did it. But here's the thing -- **I** paid the taxes on my house today. I was looking over my pay check stubs from my job, and I realized that the amount I made last year pretty much completely covered the tax bill. I had said, back when I was looking for work, "oh, if only I could make enough to cover the taxes!" and then - I did!

Now I know what you are thinking, and I am thinking it too. Going forward, I absolutely need to make more money -- and I will. The financial burden of being on my own and the gap between what Mr. Hate SHOULD have given me and what he was ORDERED to give me is huge. I know this. I have a lot to learn about money, budgeting, bill-paying, and life. I know I do. And I will. Friends have suggested very good books (Your Money or Your Life, The Worth of a Woman, etc.) and I have faithfully taken people's advice (and taken in sewing) and set up spreadsheets and organization systems, etc. I could be doing more, because I could ALWAYS be doing more, but at least I am doing something, which is more than I usually do.

But I am not focusing on that today. Today, I am feeling proud. Today I am choosing to celebrate that after 15 years of being at home with my children and just working now and then, I am a working mom. I am getting it done, at least at some level. We are far from flush, and in a lot of ways we are juuuuuust at the poverty level, but I am getting it done.

I paid my taxes today. It's one small leap for Womankind. I look forward to the journey to come.