Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Fresh Start...I hope...

As you can see from the anemic # of previous posts, I haven't been good with keeping up with this thing. This is about to change.

I am in the midst of a quarter-ish-life crisis. In 2 days, I will be submitting my 2 week notice for my current work-at-home job that has left me burned out, and will be going back into a M-F office supervisory position. No weekends, holidays, or evenings...otherwise known as "heaven." There's just one caveat: I'm taking a sizable paycut. Paycut for a supervisory position, you ask? Yes, because my current job is production-pay-based, and I'll be getting those nice cushy hours.

What's a married girl to do who already loves to cook, but has found increasingly little time or energy while slaving over the computer to make big bucks, and needs to rebudget accordingly with a lower-paying job?

Why, you make the idiotic choice to swear off restaurants and throw yourself into the burgeoning "homesteading" movement! Crazy? Maybe. Can I foresee amazing disasters? Magic 8 ball says "more than likely." Will I share all of my trials and tribulations? Absolutely.

A huge part of the reason I'm changing jobs is to *have* time to become more self-sufficient, and to pursue some under-the-table catering jobs I've been asked about.
There is a lot of cooking/baking I'm good at, and still a lot that I've never muddied the waters of. Over the course of the next year (or so, maybe longer), I fully intend to scratch those items off my list...especially since I won't be running out to buy them already made for me. Plus, the way the economy is I think it's going to be a wise decision on my part to hone some skills and save some bucks.

I guess we should make some stipulations. Allowable "cheats" will be: family dinners, invites out for special occasions (birthdays, etc), work-related outings, or if away from home and *must* eat. Also, ice cream. I'm sorry, I have to make that allowable. We're coming into summer here shortly and I don't have the freezer space to be storing quarts of ice cream or sorbet. Beverages also don't count. I'm going to try my darndest to not fall off the wagon.

So, I have 2 weeks to give myself pep talks and prepare for this, because when the new job starts, so do my new food shenanigans. I'm going to enjoy my slackerish ways whilst I may...I have a feeling these 2 weeks are going to go by pretty fast.

4 comments:

  1. Mother Earth News has a great email with tips on homesteading. Here's a link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Preparing-To-Go-Back-To-The-Land.aspx?utm_content=04.28.10+SLCS&utm_campaign=SLCS&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

    Of course, you may have already seen it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good luck Dev in your new endeavors! We stopped eating out so much because of me deciding to stay home and the fact that it is just too difficult to take a fussy baby out to restaurants. I have fallen in love with meal planning and trying out new recipes-not to mention Dan loves coming home to a delicious meal. Have fun and I look forward to reading your posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brenda - oooh thanks! I will be checking this out! I'm bookmarking crazy sites with homesteading info and buying all kinds of DIY books right now. I'm also signed up for a cheesemaking class next weekend, and a canning class the weekend after! LOL I don't do anything by half-measures haha!

    Kristin - thanks! I know, meal planning is definitely fun :) With my upcoming weekends free with the new job, I'm going to need to start disciplining myself into prepping things ahead of time. I'm such a slacker at that kind of stuff LOL. It's amazing how spoiled men can be - Danny will start mewling and complaining if we're eating out too often and how he wants something "good" and "homemade." What would they do without us???!! I know what mine would do: live on popcorn and chicken sandwiches of dubious quality.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay! A new post. I have been waiting for one. I am excited for you!

    ReplyDelete