Well, I worked things out with my mother and she has agreed not to talk to my brother about our finances. I'm not going to discuss it with her anyway. But it turns out she was thinking of giving me part of my inheritance early so I can buy a car. Unfortunately there would be too many strings attached so I declined. Many years ago (about 17) she helped us with a small debt when my husband lost his job. She told EVERYONE about it including my husband's family whom she barely knew, and my brother. Also it kept coming up and still does. It's not worth it honestly. Too bad because it would be nice to have a newer-model vehicle without a loan. Oh well. Not gonna happen.

I'm really debating whether to go back to school and finish a medical transcription certificate. I would have to have a clean bill of health first (I have a number of conditions, one of which could be serieous). I'm 54 and have 10 more years to retirement and I would like the opportunity to work from home. I can't go to school now because I'm on disability but once I'm off that, if my mental and physical health are in better shape... The thing making me hesitate is that it would take at least 10K of debt for tuition and living expenses while I do the certificate. So I would have to be able to work for at least 5 years as a transcriptionist to justify that.