14 Years

Next week during our fabulous European vacation Carl and I will be celebrating 14 years of marriage. This weekend we will also be celebrating the 13th birthday of our oldest son. He will be turning 13 on the 13th in the year 2103. Pretty darn amazing.

So obviously Carl and I have had kids almost our entire married life. We don't get too much time alone. We don't take weekends away as much as we used too since the economy took a dump. We steal afternoons shopping here and there and a few nights out every once in a while. Next week I will have him all to myself for a full 10 days. I can't think of a better way to spend an anniversary. I can't say it's been hard being married to this man. It all comes pretty easy for us, so I can't say it's been hard to get to 14 years. Its been like the blink of an eye and here we are bigger, better and stronger, with three beautiful children.
I don't know what I'm more excited about... going to Europe or getting to go with my best friend and not having to share him with anyone the whole time. We get to be Emily and Carl instead of Mom and Dad.

Life is good.

Self Employment

So we own a couple of businesses.

It's a real bitch. Most of the time things are good. We are in charge and no one can fire us. But other times, oh I don't know, like when you have a vacation scheduled and someone quits with no notice... it blows. The stress that that asshole created last week was ridiculous.

But then I thought, "No. I'm not going to let that tool make me feel that way. He does not have that power." And instantly I felt better. It was really strange and really cool at the same time.

We are still dealing with the aftermath of that employee's cowardly actions, but we are moving forward.

All of the good guys at our FedEx terminal are willing to pitch in and cover us while we are on our trip.  

There really is a difference between people who are self-employed and those that are employees. If you have your own business you work your ass off. If you are an employee you show up, do your work and go home. There is a real difference in mentality. I'm not saying all employees are bad, but good ones are few and far between.

I'm starting to get frustrated at my job and want to branch out on some more entrepreneurial ideas. I'm always thinking of stuff I want to do and try and my 35 hour a week job keeps me from doing most of those things. I really only make about $275 a week after taxes. That is not much and such is the state of our educational system that I can work so much and get paid so little. Of course I feel my time is worth more than that.

I've figured out over the past 14 years of my working life that I cannot work a full 40 hour week year round. The past 3 years working for the school district has been perfect.. almost. I get weeks off here and there and 8 weeks off in the summer. I'm done at 3:30 every day and can time time as I need it. I'm taking off 2 weeks for the European trip and then another 3 weeks in August for our road trip. They could care less. It sounds like the perfect job, but I still feel stifled sometimes. I want to take more time off to write and to learn. Somedays the last thing I want to do is referee 5 year olds and 11 year olds that act like 5 year olds. I have time to read books at work and I know all the people and feel fully supported but, I feel like I could do more with more time to myself.

We'll see if I stay for the next year. Maybe I'll take a year off and come back. Maybe I just need a break to explore other things.