Lots of things going through the old mind lately.

Trying to get our house ready to attempt to sell again. Going to actually get a realtor this time as it seems nothing on our street sells easily even though it's a quiet, tree lined street in a quiet, family oriented neighborhood. Shrug. I guess I'm second guessing myself because, as I've mentioned before, we're going to downsize and our next abode will likely not be as big or as "nice" as our house is now. But it will free up lots of money for things like travel and homeschooling adventures and things we really want to do (as opposed to continuing to be skint every month and having not one penny of extra money for things we feel are important).

So I see the pros and cons evenly lined up and am not sure if we're doing the right thing. It sounds good but the reality of it might be a bit different.

I guess I'm wondering if the reality of trying to live off the grid and be more environmentally aware is something I can do. Intellectually, I want to do it but knowing me, am I going to physically want to do it once I have to do it, you know?

Just the thought of being able to live off of one part time income really interests me. The amount of time it would free up is just insanely exciting.

Time is a big issue for me of late. Even though I'm only working 18 hours a week it seems it's much longer. I suppose it's because the hours are mid-day and it really takes out the meat of the day. Either I'm working or Scott's working and it's just getting crazy. I don't feel like we have any time together as a family. If I were making a lot of money it would be a different story as well. Since Scott was just offered some off-the-record construction/painting work for one of the higher-ups at his employer it makes sense that I might want to think about leaving this job. I enjoy it, it gives me surfing time, but the scheduling is getting crazy. I know I probably sound nutty to families where both parents work full time, but that's just not our priority or reality. And weird as it seems, we likely get less full-family time than dual-income families because usually, those kids are in school or day care while the parents work. Anyway...due to the amount of time this seems to take and the low pay it just makes sense for us to free up more time for Scott to be able to work more thus making more for the family. I know, I sound like I'm trying to convince myself. It's because it just seems strange to be thinking of quitting this job I've had for the past year when we're not in great financial shape and the job Scott is looking at is temporary...but it really does make sense in many ways. I could always watch a kid or two or clean houses and those wouldn't entail leaving the kids.

I sound like one of those parents who thinks you should never leave your kids...and I don't really believe that. But I'd like to be able to choose when I have to leave them and use that time more wisely than a part time, low pay job if that makes sense. I 'd like to choose to leave them with someone when Scott and I can get time together, or when I'm volunteering or whatever.

Speaking of volunteering, that's another time point. I've just agreed to help out our local WIC office by volunteering to help with their breastfeeding advocacy program. I feel this is really important and something that would feed my soul better than other ways I could spend that time. Scott agrees with me that volunteering is really important and something we have to do more of. So if I were to stay where I am, this would lead to even more schedule clashes obviously.

Anyway...I'm rambling. Just a lot of thinking going on. It helps to keep my mind off other things...