Today is a new day. I’m still not in the best of moods, but much improved. Gotta forge ahead.

I have a ton of stuff to do today. I’ve got to finish up on the scholarship research I’m doing for SuperCollege. I need to get my Foreman Grill review done. And I need to get something done around the house.

I had planned to use Pumpkin’s MP3 player to record some audio for the video review of the grill. But it appears that she has lost it. Wonderful. I’ve been trying to come up with a Plan B, but so far haven’t figured anything out. I don’t have a microphone that will work with my computer, so using Sound Recorder is out of the question. I guess I’ll be going through the house with a fine-toothed comb trying to find that MP3 player.

I also need to find some pens. Every time I’ve needed to write something down for the past few days, I’ve had to hunt high and low for one. Most of the time I end up using a Sharpie, which I hate to do because they’re not cheap. Maybe next time I go to town I’ll stop by the bank and grab a handful of their promotional pens that they keep on the counter. Then I’ll bring them home and hide them from everybody else.

But despite all that I have to do, I’m going to try my best not to make any actual plans. I’m really a go-with-the-flow kind of person anyway, but it’s hard to get anything accomplished that way. So I’ve been trying to be a little more structured. But in this house, structure is absolutely impossible. I might as well learn to accept that.

Maybe you’re wondering where I’ve been since I posted that I was feeling better. Or maybe you were under the mistaken impression that I had a life away from this computer. Anyway, in case you want to know, I started feeling cruddy again. I’m gonna live and all, but my body has been worn out and my mind in a fog.

I think I’m getting another sinus infection, or maybe it’s just a cold. But whatever it is, all I’ve felt like doing has been sleeping. True, that’s par for the course lately, but I had a couple of days when I wasn’t so tired. Then my head started getting all stuffy, and I was tired again.

Besides feeling rough, I’ve had a bunch of work piled up (par for the course again). I’m working on getting it caught up, and hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in a couple more projects before the month is out. I need to have at least a decent month this time to keep us afloat.

Other than the same old same old, nothing has been going on to write home about. So that’s all for now.

Do workplaces actually offer mental health days? I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never worked anywhere that offered them. Although at a few places I’ve worked at, it’s probably a good thing they didn’t, since the workplace itself was detrimental to the mental health of all employed there.

That’s one of the good things about working for yourself I guess. I didn’t get paid for it, but I took a few days off to regroup without having to listen to a bunch of B.S. from a boss. I figured it was the best thing I could do, since I was getting absolutely nothing done. I had plenty of work lined up that I probably should have been going ahead and getting done, but no looming deadlines, so I just stepped away from the computer for a while.

I didn’t get much done around the house like I had hoped, because I have just been in a serious funk for some reason. But today has been slightly more productive, so I’m hopeful that it’s coming to an end. I think taking that little breather was helpful, and maybe now I can get back to regularly scheduled programming.

Today my DSL was down yet again. This is becoming way too common lately, and it’s really cutting into my work time.

This time it was down almost all day. I came home from a side job this morning to find it non-operational, called the phone company, and they said there were no reports of when it would be fixed. I kept checking to no avail until about an hour before I had to make a quick trip out of town.

I got cleaned up and had a few minutes to spare. I checked again, and was able to get my email and check a forum. The timing sucked, but at least I would be able to get some work done when I got back. Or so I thought.

I got back home, turned on my computer, and the DSL was down yet again. Lovely. I called the phone company back, and they told me the same thing. So I proceeded to try to do a thing or two around the house, checking intermittently. Nothing.

It finally came up sometime before 10:00 pm. And now I’m too tired and frustrated to work. Deadlines are creeping up on me, and I was supposed to go back to the side job tomorrow morning. I may just have to skip it and work on my writing. If the DSL is working, that is.

Hubby just filled out an application for a new job. I hope he gets it, because I don’t think it would be as physically demanding as the one he has now. And the pay is better as well.

The whole process brought back memories of my job hunts over the years. They’re certainly not fond memories, because I have always despised job hunting. I hope I never have to do it again. Looking for freelance gigs is much more pleasant.

Shortly before I met Hubby, I was doing some very serious job hunting. The low-paying part-time retail job that I had just wasn’t cutting it, and I was having to travel a long way to work. So I as much as I hated to, I put in application after application after application. For the first time in my life, I started getting a substantial number of interviews. I guess my low-level management position at the store helped with that. But I had no luck finding anything.

Then one day I got a call about a resume I had sent in for an assistant manager job. They asked me to come in for an interview. I did, only to find out that it was a job selling Electrolux vacuums. Now, I know some people who have sold them and made a good amount of money from it. But it was commission-based, and something told me that it would just be a waste of my time and the company’s time, so I passed on it. And given my later track record with direct sales, I think that was a good decision.

I never did find another job, and ended up staying at the store where I worked for a couple of years. But I met future-Hubby and ended up moving to the area, so at least I didn’t have to drive so far.

I’ve hunted for jobs on a few occasions since then, and I had slightly better luck. But only because I set my standards lower. I ended up in a couple of jobs where I could have probably made more selling one Electrolux a week. Maybe I should have given them a call…

I just got a call from a lady who works in personnel at a company I applied at many months ago. Actually closer to a year ago, I think. She wanted to know if I was still interested in a job with them. I said maybe.

I despise the thoughts of going back to a regular job now that I’ve finally made it to working at home full-time. But if the money is good I may take it anyway. With Hubby unable to work, we are in bad shape financially. If I can get a job that pays enough to make it worth my while and continue to write, maybe things will be better.

I went ahead and set up an interview for in the morning. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm won’t show too much.

Today was my last day at my day job. I’m officially a full-time work at home mom! :)

I’ll miss a lot of people there, but I’ll be back around to see them. I’m thrilled that I’m going to be making a living from home, and if all goes as I think and hope it will a better living than I’ve been making working outside the home. I’m glad that I’ll be able to go to work without using any gas and will be available any time my daughter needs me. And I’m grateful that I will have the ability to set my own schedule and be able to spend more time with her and Hubby.

I’m also quite thankful that today was in fact my last day. The restaurant I was working at started each weekly schedule on Tuesday, and my notice actually was up tomorrow. But I was hoping that they would just not bother putting me back on the schedule for one measly day, and they didn’t. That means I have tomorrow to finish up Pumpkin’s school shopping and spend a little time with her. She goes back to school on Wednesday, so I can definitely put that extra day to good use.

Wish me luck everyone! And if you need any writing done, I’m available!

I’ve been having a hard time concentrating for the last few days. Between anxiousness over quitting my day job and worrying about Hubby, there just hasn’t been much room in my brain for anything else.

I’ve been getting my writing done, but I’m afraid I’m not doing as well at it as I could be. The distractions are taking their toll. I’m not letting myself get depressed over it or anything. I think I’m doing a reasonably good job of remaining positive under the circumstances. But I can’t get stuff off of my mind.

I’m hoping that Hubby’s doctor visit tomorrow will bring me some peace of mind. I’d love to hear that it’s something minor that can be easily fixed with meds. But I know there’s a chance that it might require surgery or extended treatment. I’ll be glad when it’s over with, and hope that the doc gives us some satisfactory answers.

If you’re a regular reader, you probably already know what I’m referring to. If not… I gave my notice at my day job. Yay!!!

I’ve been debating on it for some time now, and came really close a couple of times. I went in one morning with every intention of giving my notice, and my boss did something that made me decide to wait a while. Then one day I got frustrated and swore that I was going to quit again. But I thought about it and decided to wait until I got a laptop. Then I started thinking I could probably get one sooner if I went ahead and started writing full-time. You get the picture.

Here’s what gave me a kick in the pants: The past week or so, I have gotten precious little rest. I have had numerous writing projects lined up, have stayed up late almost every night working on them, and I still have yet to complete them all. One of my main clients sent me a message asking for an estimate on how long it would take on the projects she had given me, and in my reply I said that I may have more availability in the near future. She was happy to hear that, stating that she had been considering hiring more writers but would prefer to give me more work instead. That was all I needed to convince me that it was time to make the change.

I’m still a bit nervous, but I think things will work out well. Pumpkin will be starting back to school shortly after my last day at work, giving me time to work on my writing uninterrupted during the day. Then I can spend more time with her and Hubby when they are at home. And the money is getting good enough that I should actually be better off by writing full-time than I was writing part-time and working part-time at my day job.

I kind of feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants, but I’m ready to make this work. I’m finally living my dream, and now I get to do it full-time.

You’d think so as long as it’s been since I posted, anyway. I’ve been insanely busy, as usual.

I finally took a break from it all this weekend by way of a family camping trip. We had lots of fun, even though it rained a lot. It was just what all of us needed- a change of pace and some time together.

Tomorrow I’m taking Pumpkin to see my mom and niece. My niece is a year older than her, and they don’t get to see each other very often. Her parents are out globetrotting (lucky dogs) and my mom is keeping her for the day. She called and asked if I would bring Pumpkin up, and I agreed. So we’re going up for a few hours. Then I’ve got to get back and get some work done.

My poor blogs have been neglected through it all. But hopefully that will change soon. I plan on quitting my day job before too much longer, and then maybe I’ll have time to blog more.