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Running in place

I suppose I should be grateful not to be losing ground, and even to be able to run, but I so want to move forward.

I'm relieved we haven't gone further into debt since our job losses -- well, not since the fall, anyway -- but the inability to make progress frets me daily, even hourly. I need movement, not just running in place.

My new consulting gig is going well, I think; at any rate, they haven't seemed particularly shocked by my ignorance, nor dismayed by my slowness. I believe my performance may be better than adequate, but I'm not feeling like it yet. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed, too, for Spouse, who's had two phone interviews and one in-person interview with an employer about an hour away. All went well (the recruiter's verdict: "It's your to lose"), but now we're waiting for a decision. The company allows -- even encourages -- telecommuting, so the actual commute wouldn't be daily, lessening its impact. On the other hand, Spouse would need to travel to clients' sites, which could easily be farther away than the office.

But that's minutia! (Though minutia we've been greatly concerned with in the past.) The position, if Spouse is hired, would be an enormous financial step forward -- or do I mean back, to where we were? At any rate, it would bring
  1. A regular salary!
  2. Paid time off! 
  3. 401k! 
  4. Company medical insurance! 
  5. General joy and excitement to my life! As signified by exclamation marks!!
Spouse is between free-lance jobs and collecting unemployment right now, but the monthly benefit is less than last year's monthly 401k contribution. This job would let us go back to both making the max 401k contributions this year, which would delight me. We don't know what the medical insurance cost would be, but I'm certain it can't be more than half what we're paying under COBRA, and likely less than that. Most important, between the regular paycheck and the cheaper insurance, it would allow us to start really paying down our line of credit and consumer debt. 

Am I looking at eggs and counting chickens? Yes I am. But eventually, some of these eggs have to hatch. Right? Although now I have an image of running in place on top of the eggs, which is not a helpful visualization. 

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