I haven't written in awhile, it's plain to see. It isn't that I haven't wanted to. I've thought about it quite a bit. But never long enough to compose a post in my mind that is worth putting up. I even started this draft a month ago. Why so busy?? Well.... (drumroll...) I have ventured out of my safe haven home and into part-time work. I'll back up and explain briefly.
After taking several months to get settled in to a routine with married life, and to try to work out the major kinks in getting adjusted to living with another person, we decided it would be wise for me to find some part-time work. After spending some time searching, I found a perfect fit with a job nannying for a little girl. I started in February just before her first birthday.
I only go in a few days a week, and my hours aren't very long and the job pays a good wage. She's a sweet girl and just getting to know all of the world and learning so many new skills and slowly learning words as well. She can almost say my name now, and this week she said "Drink please" all together, without prompting, for the first time! It was a great day. :) We have a good time together, but she still naps so I get a break or two most days. The job works great because it doesn't drain me as much as my previous jobs have, which means I still have some energy left to give when I get back home. It also leaves me with enough days, most of the time, to take care of all the household responsibilities and occasionally volunteer for other things. My employers are also flexible and often able to adjust my days if I request it.
While the decreased time at home has been challenging, it has also been good at forcing me to learn to take my settled routines and now make them more efficient. I'm learning how to plan ahead better, amongst other things. I also try to cook 3 days in a row when I'm at home, and usually those leftovers carry us through the other days of the week, so that simplifies the kitchen routine quite a bit by reducing the prep work AND by reducing the guesswork -as I can spend alot of indecisive time figuring out a meal every night. :-P After working out that routine, our habits were upset again when the Professor's job transferred him to a different location that is open longer hours, including nights and weekends. His schedule now varies every week, sometimes opening at 5 am, sometimes closing at midnight, and most weeks the schedule is not steady. Meaning he will do both of these schedules within th same week.Trying to figure out how to adapt to THIS routine has been more challenging and is still one I'm working on. But it's stretching me, and that's always a good thing, right?
Overall, the job has been a blessing as we have been using it primarily to build up our savings, and secondarily to add a little extra "fun money" into our budget (once we offset the expenses in gas and occasionally some 'convenience expenses' that have been added by taking on a job). I still feel like my house is always undone and needing more attention than I can give it, but part of that will be a neverending battle as long as we live here because we don't have enough room to store stuff properly. I just try to remind myself that I'm practicing for the day when I have my own children filling much of my days and I won't have the opportunity to spend my "full time" on maintaining my household. :)
