Thinking about what I'm going to do, professionally, when the kids are both in school full-time has been on my mind for a while.
For a long time, I've wondered what I could do to bring in an extra $1000 per month to the house. I figured that, even if I was a fast-food manager, I could make around $40k per year, working 40-50 hours per week. So couldn't I make $12k per year working from home, putting in 15-20 hours per week?
But the reality is that employers want some structure to their workforce and I can't provide that. As a homemaker, what are the hours that I could put into a job?
I figure I could put in at least 1-2 hours per day in the afternoon while the kids are napping. I could get up early and put in another hour before they wake up. I could put in an hour after they go to bed. So, conservatively, that's 12-15 hours before infringing on my weekend time.
What I've learned about being a work-from-home professional is that you have to have some entrepreneurial drive. For us homemakers, that probably means a home-based business.
What about consulting? I don't have enough professional experience to be much of a consultant. I'm an expert EA Sports NHL series video game player. I've got a BA in Creative Writing with a minor in Business Administration. I've got some Spanish. My most developed non-video-game-related hobby is cooking. But I have no interest in cooking in a restaurant.
Since graduating, I've waited tables, have been a line cook, tire and wheel sales, and managed the garage at an auto service center.
But I've also done a couple of other things that have interested me. One is investing. The other is business writing.
Part of my homemaking duties is to watch the money. For our IRA & 401k accounts, we have a professional financial adviser. He is great. But I'm not the kind of person who will just hand over money and let things happen. I've educated myself on investing terminology and strategy so that I can understand why he's making certain moves.
Since then, though, I've started making some investments. Some went well, some tanked. What I have learned, though, is that I love researching companies. (It was when I didn't do the research that I got my butt handed to me.) So I'd like to learn more about investing and finance. Not only to invest for myself, but perhaps to help others do so.
Occasionally, my brother sends me letter for editing. Sometimes they deal with the hockey team he coaches, other times they are for business. I have found the I like business writing. Sales and marketing have always been interests of mine, but have not pursued them with focus. I enjoy learning about the business and the project for which it is intended. To properly write something like that, you have to do what attorneys call 'discovery'. You have to learn about the company, not just about project. It's interesting and fun.
Since I have a degree in writing, a writing career would require less training. Both writing and finance would require a great deal of entrepreneurial drive. I would be able to start writing sooner. Finance has a greater potential for income.
I'll let you know if I decide on one or the other.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Kid Updates
Toodles is 8 months and JD will be 3 tomorrow!
Wow, how time goes crazy when you're not looking.
Toodles is a great joy to us. At 8 months, her favorite things are finger walking, playing with action figures and blocks, and eating real food. I don't recall whether I blogged about this, but at about 10 weeks or so, she was creeping, as much as 10 or 12 feet at a time. I think that stopped when she got too big to push herself easily. Or it became boring for her. She is doing it again, moving to get toys she wants or to face her mother, brother, or me.
At the table, she went from pureed baby food to finger food in less than six weeks. As soon as I started giving her Cheerios she was hooked. Back to pureed carrots, squash, and peaches. No way! So I've had to change my routine to having various veggies and fruits ready to go. This becomes challenging in two ways. First, having the things on hand while keeping a variety. Second, the time it takes to prepare. I went from pre-packaged food to having to cut everything, every time. Green beans, grapes, banana, avocado, nectarine, blueberries, carrots, zucchini . . . But in the end, when I'm putting a piece of food up to her mouth and she attacks my fingers gums first, well it's all worth it!
JD is a typical 3-year-old. He loves attention and misbehaves when it doesn't come his way. He knows his ABC's, single digits, and his way around the keyboard. We used Fisher-Price's website to help teach him the alphabet. This morning, I asked him to find each animal, from Alligator to Zebra, and he got the letter on either the first or second try. I've learned that counting to 10 every time there's a countdown is bad. Now, he only knows to count to ten. When I'm being extra-conscious, I will count to 7 or to 13 or any other variation. The next step will be to count to 100 by tens.
JD continues to love playing hockey, but his sports repertoire includes soccer, bowling, golf, and baseball. When I take the time to figure out posting video, I'll show you. He's a big boy, too - when asked what size clothes to buy him for his birthday, I'm telling people 5T shirts and 4T pants. Crazy! He sill loves playing peek-a-boo, though in more sophisticated and high-energy ways. Some of those include the beginnings of hide-and-seek, while others are more like meteors colliding. He also loves when I throw him in the air (we get about 2 - 3 feet of separation, much to my wife's dismay) and wrestling.
When we take the time to read and write, he's made his first intelligible drawing and, for a while, was obsessed with drawing people riding skateboards. I don't understand why, but he would always tell Wife or me, "Draw Mommy riding skateboard. Draw Uncle Matt riding skateboard," etc. He would try, too. Markers over crayons, unfortunately, is the preference. He loves reading, though we have inadvertently made it a bedtime thing, not an anytime thing. He's memorized about 15 books, including Dino Hockey by Lisa Wheeler and Barry Gott, Too Many Toys by David Shannon, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss, Thump, Quack, Moo, Click, Clack Moo, and Giggle Giggle Quack by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.
The kids are great and give me great, big headaches. Well, I don't get headaches, but if I did, they would be great big ones! But when they wake up and are talking to each other (JD talks, Toodles coos) it's so sweet, I forget about the nagging, the crying, and the messes and can only think of hugs, kisses, and laughter.
Wow, how time goes crazy when you're not looking.
Toodles is a great joy to us. At 8 months, her favorite things are finger walking, playing with action figures and blocks, and eating real food. I don't recall whether I blogged about this, but at about 10 weeks or so, she was creeping, as much as 10 or 12 feet at a time. I think that stopped when she got too big to push herself easily. Or it became boring for her. She is doing it again, moving to get toys she wants or to face her mother, brother, or me.
At the table, she went from pureed baby food to finger food in less than six weeks. As soon as I started giving her Cheerios she was hooked. Back to pureed carrots, squash, and peaches. No way! So I've had to change my routine to having various veggies and fruits ready to go. This becomes challenging in two ways. First, having the things on hand while keeping a variety. Second, the time it takes to prepare. I went from pre-packaged food to having to cut everything, every time. Green beans, grapes, banana, avocado, nectarine, blueberries, carrots, zucchini . . . But in the end, when I'm putting a piece of food up to her mouth and she attacks my fingers gums first, well it's all worth it!
JD is a typical 3-year-old. He loves attention and misbehaves when it doesn't come his way. He knows his ABC's, single digits, and his way around the keyboard. We used Fisher-Price's website to help teach him the alphabet. This morning, I asked him to find each animal, from Alligator to Zebra, and he got the letter on either the first or second try. I've learned that counting to 10 every time there's a countdown is bad. Now, he only knows to count to ten. When I'm being extra-conscious, I will count to 7 or to 13 or any other variation. The next step will be to count to 100 by tens.
JD continues to love playing hockey, but his sports repertoire includes soccer, bowling, golf, and baseball. When I take the time to figure out posting video, I'll show you. He's a big boy, too - when asked what size clothes to buy him for his birthday, I'm telling people 5T shirts and 4T pants. Crazy! He sill loves playing peek-a-boo, though in more sophisticated and high-energy ways. Some of those include the beginnings of hide-and-seek, while others are more like meteors colliding. He also loves when I throw him in the air (we get about 2 - 3 feet of separation, much to my wife's dismay) and wrestling.
When we take the time to read and write, he's made his first intelligible drawing and, for a while, was obsessed with drawing people riding skateboards. I don't understand why, but he would always tell Wife or me, "Draw Mommy riding skateboard. Draw Uncle Matt riding skateboard," etc. He would try, too. Markers over crayons, unfortunately, is the preference. He loves reading, though we have inadvertently made it a bedtime thing, not an anytime thing. He's memorized about 15 books, including Dino Hockey by Lisa Wheeler and Barry Gott, Too Many Toys by David Shannon, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss, Thump, Quack, Moo, Click, Clack Moo, and Giggle Giggle Quack by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin.
The kids are great and give me great, big headaches. Well, I don't get headaches, but if I did, they would be great big ones! But when they wake up and are talking to each other (JD talks, Toodles coos) it's so sweet, I forget about the nagging, the crying, and the messes and can only think of hugs, kisses, and laughter.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Best Couponing Blog On the Web!
Want to win a $50 nfl.com gift card? How awesome would that be? Just follow this link to my friend Couponing for 4 and follow the directions. It couldn't be easier! Also, read the blog to find out the many ways you can save money and even make some cash on the side. Fun and informative. What else could a person want? :)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Windshield Nightmare
It started off a good day. I had gone to bed early. Got up to the sound of Wife taking a shower, around 5:15am. Went downstairs, made coffee, started planning my day. Kissed Wife good-bye at 5:45am.
Then the phone rings 10 minutes later. Sobbing. "I've been in an accident." My mind flashes white. Adrenaline pumping. Mind racing.
Are you OK?
Yes. I think so.
What happened?
Something flew into my windshield. I'm stopped on the side of the road. I don't know what to do.
Neither did I. Two kids, sound asleep upstairs. A wife on the side of the road at 6am.
She'd called 911. They told her to move from the left shoulder to the right. Fortunately, there was little traffic, or a little traffic as you get near downtown Chicago. This happened in the Southbound lanes of the Kennedy expressway between North and Division.
I'll cut to the chase. Another car had changed lanes in front of her. Not dangerously or anything. A moment later, something flew up and lodged into the dead center of her windshield. A metal grate about 5 feet long by 1 foot wide.
A state trooper helped guide her to the next exit and wrote up an accident report. I ordered a cab for her. She was home by 6:30 or 7. When Toodles woke up, I took her to see the car for myself and take some pictures.
That's when I got scared.
I was sick. All I could think about is what if . . . what if . . . one more inch; 5 MPH faster . . .
I called a glass place we used when I worked for my family business. Majestic Auto Glass went to the scene, changed out the windshield, and did an admirable job vacuuming the glass. It still needed to be detailed, but it was good. It was ready by 11am. The same day.
But a car wash and a new windshield do not erase memories.
I have, on occasion, thought about my Wife's and my mortality. The sadness. The utter sadness I would feel if she were gone. Frankly, I don't know what I would do.
We have safeguards in place, but I mean, what would I do without her?
At least I know that, for now, I can go upstairs and watch her sleep. I could go into JD and Toodle's room and watch them sleep. The night is wonderfully peaceful.
Then the phone rings 10 minutes later. Sobbing. "I've been in an accident." My mind flashes white. Adrenaline pumping. Mind racing.
Are you OK?
Yes. I think so.
What happened?
Something flew into my windshield. I'm stopped on the side of the road. I don't know what to do.
Neither did I. Two kids, sound asleep upstairs. A wife on the side of the road at 6am.
She'd called 911. They told her to move from the left shoulder to the right. Fortunately, there was little traffic, or a little traffic as you get near downtown Chicago. This happened in the Southbound lanes of the Kennedy expressway between North and Division.
I'll cut to the chase. Another car had changed lanes in front of her. Not dangerously or anything. A moment later, something flew up and lodged into the dead center of her windshield. A metal grate about 5 feet long by 1 foot wide.
A state trooper helped guide her to the next exit and wrote up an accident report. I ordered a cab for her. She was home by 6:30 or 7. When Toodles woke up, I took her to see the car for myself and take some pictures.
That's when I got scared.
I was sick. All I could think about is what if . . . what if . . . one more inch; 5 MPH faster . . .
I called a glass place we used when I worked for my family business. Majestic Auto Glass went to the scene, changed out the windshield, and did an admirable job vacuuming the glass. It still needed to be detailed, but it was good. It was ready by 11am. The same day.
But a car wash and a new windshield do not erase memories.
I have, on occasion, thought about my Wife's and my mortality. The sadness. The utter sadness I would feel if she were gone. Frankly, I don't know what I would do.
We have safeguards in place, but I mean, what would I do without her?
At least I know that, for now, I can go upstairs and watch her sleep. I could go into JD and Toodle's room and watch them sleep. The night is wonderfully peaceful.
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