Work

I'm sure there are more than two types of people when it comes to work, but off the top of my head I can only think of two. 1) Live to work types . . . they love their jobs, found their calling, or are simply workaholics. 2) Work to live types . . . they do the job and go home.

I've always been a type 2. I'm glad that when I got into the corporate world and began my life in a cubicle, I had a boss that didn't want us staying late. First it was because we got paid for overtime and there was no budget for that. Then it was simply because we should have been able to get our work done and go home. There was not enough work to become a martyr.
I work to live. I've often wondered if this is just who I am or if it's because I've not found my calling yet. I was undeclared in college. Then I proceeded to get a workstudy job in the career center where I took every personality test I could. I met with each advisor in case I'd have an epiphany with one. It never happened.
As we graduated, everyone seemed to have such a clear idea of the path they were taking. Jobs were secured, and graduate schools entered. I took a part-time job at a veterinary clinic to get the hours I needed for vet school. I ended up hating the job and moved on to the before mentioned cubicle job within 6 months.

I'm lucky to have had the opportunities I have. I call it luck because I have never and still do not know what to do when I grow up. So the fact that I ended up with a skill set that allows me to work from home while raising baby J can only be luck. Maybe it's divine intervention, the universe taking care of me, something other than luck but I guarantee you it's not my own grand plan.
With that being said, finding work is proving harder than I'd hoped. I've seen plenty of people move on to freelance. Many of them secure work immediately and that first contact leads to more and more work. I had hoped the same would happen when I got a job right away. So far it has not led to another. I'm not desperately in need of work, but I may be soon if the dry spell continues.

All in all, I'm trying to look at the bright side and take this slow time as an opportunity. It's an opportunity to do all the things piling up on the back burner that work would not afford me the time to do. Mainly (on the work front at least) my t-shirt business. I have all the specifications done. I've also found a number of artists by asking people here and from hubby D asking at his work. I even had the radical idea to contact a blog writer in the Caribbean (the theme of my line) and ask for referrals - he gave me two! So now I need to contact them. I'm being a bit skittish about it because I really feel like I need to meet with a lawyer first. I need to know I will have no issues owning the artwork produced. I'm not sure if I can copyright artwork I commissioned but did not create - or is that a trademark or maybe it's neither. See, I need legal help. I called someone but they never got back to me. That's on my list of things to do ASAP.
I'm really excited about the shirts and I wonder if years from now I'll look back and see that this lack of work was another bout of pure "luck."

Past is Prologue (modified)

I come from an extremely small town in Western PA. We have a single stoplight at the junction of two state roads, and a blinking light to warn of a blind spot on a busy road. That's it. There is a DQ, and 7-11, and a handful of small businesses. It's no Mayberry - well, maybe a grungier, redneck Mayberry. Many of the residents are former steel workers, at least a generation removed from their farming ancestors.
I graduated with 86 people in my class. Our high school has grade levels 8-12, with no A/P classes and virtually no options to explore ideas, activities or fields (with the exception of Home Ec and Shop classes I guess). There was an uproar when I was a junior I believe because they were restricting who could take Chemistry II. You had to be in the gifted program. Many of us had taken Chem I, did well, were college bound and wanted Chem II but were told no. Why would educator say no to kids who are eager to learn? Why hold us back like that? It's beyond me. I had two teachers that were wonderful. My biology teacher really prepared me for college work, and our English teacher was extremely difficult but taught me a ton (She made me actually like diagramming sentences!). I could fill another blog on the other teachers and their less than stellar teaching.

Needless to say I was in for a culture shock going to college, in a "city." (Well, Erie is technically PA's 3rd largest city though by most standards it's tiny. My college was downtown though and it was still drastically different than my little town.) I went to a small Catholic college and continued along a pretty conservative path.
Senior year I had an honors class with a Jesuit priest. He'd been an activist for pacifism for decades. Our class was essentially critical thinking - that's it. How awesome is a class that just wants you to think . . . think critically, think outside the box, think for yourself, THINK. Father Susa changed me. I did start thinking. I started to become the Shannon all of you know. I took my Catholic upbringing and used that sense of right and wrong to think about the world.
Surprisingly (well, to me then - not to me now) I ended up moving farther and farther from conservative politics. I was seeing the conservative message in our government not mirroring the Christan teachings I'd been raised with. As I neared my first "real" presidential election, I was really torn. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time I could not vote for the lesser of what I thought were two evils so I voted 3rd party. Ugh. So my vote helped OH go to Bush because I voted for Nader. And pair that with the state of FL handed to him by his cronies, and ouch we have the last 8 years of horror.
This election had farther reaching effects than forcing me to be more aware about politics, the politicians, and the decisions I make regarding them. Seeing the family values tour of the Bush Administration made me question Christianity.

I was very active in the 2004 campaign. I was shocked that Bush was re-elected. I didn't understand how his lies, ENORMOUS government (and debt), and destruction of our constitution was okay with so many people. My mom said 'you can't change presidents in the middle of a war.' Well, since we didn't we still have a war now and guess what - we're changing presidents one way or another. Yes we can! :) It's amazing how Change, which has been the cornerstone of Obama's platform since the very beginning, has now been adopted by McCain. Hmmm.
Last night I watched the Biden/Palin debate. I have to say I'm insulted by Palin. They call Obama an elitist but I find Palin and her group the same. They look down their noses on those of us who worked hard to educate ourselves. Maybe we really like to learn, really like school, or simply followed the rules our parents put forth and continued with our education. Again, I'm brought back to my small town where it was deemed the right thing to do to keep students from learning and advancing by denying them opportunities. I guess then the fact that our schools rank so low compared to other countries isn't a big selling point for the Palin fans. Who needs education!?!?
Sometimes I feel like common sense no longer exists.
Rich Republicans call Democrats elitist. People using government programs vote for the party that will reduce or remove those programs. People in favor of a small government and fiscal responsibility create the largest government & debt ever. Christians traditionally vote Red, a party that breaks the commandments AND wallows in the seven deadly sins . . . not to mention their complete disregard of the greatest commandment. Love your neighbors as yourself.

I had not planned to end the original blog in such an angry and Palin (vague) manner. And my issue here isn't actually with common sense. I'm really confused and upset over the idea that education is not good. That education makes you an elitest who thinks you are better than others. I resent that. And I don't understand why we want our president to be Joe Sixpack. Do we want our doctors to also be Joe Sixpack?
I used to naively think these politicans were just crazy. I knew no Joe Sixpacks who hated educated people or education in general. But then I realized not only did I know them I was related to them. A few years ago I responded to a political email (one of those forwards) that was sent to all my family from a family member. While the email was mean spirited, I didn't take it that the sender was and neither was my response. I simply said, hey! I fit most of those catgories guys. The response I got (not from the sender) was vicious. I was attacked in part for being educated. What? I was floored. My attacker was really blood related to me? Did they not realize I was following a rule set by their sibling, my parent?
So I don't take kindly to being made to believe as an educated person I am an elitist, that I look down on people, that I want my government to tax everyone to within an inch of their life. I care about my family, my friends, my neighbors, my fellow citizens . . . of the world. I only want to see people everyday people like my friends, family, coworkers and neighbors get what they need and have a chance at their idea of the American dream. Every single Democrat I've ever met shares those ideals.

Rent or Own

I'm a follow the rules kind of girl. I never wanted to admit that but it's true and everyone who knows me know that. So I did well in school, went to college, got married, got a job and then a house. It's the American dream, right?
So here I am. We've been in our home for over 9 years now. Fortunately that was before all the predatory lending, though even then we were qualified for more than we could afford and would have been encouraged to spend.
We looked at fewer houses that we probably should have and fewer than we would have liked. We also didn't see houses in some areas of the city that we now wish our agent had introduced to us. Sometimes we second guess our choice, even 9 years later. Sometimes we still get frustrated that for this to be our dream house we'd have to pour even more money into it.
Don't get me wrong. We've done a lot of work and we love our house. We'd love it more on a quieter street, farther from a railroad crossing, or without our current neighbors. Our house has become a warm, comfortable and relaxing home. The first few years it was a house, but yes now it is a home.

Earlier this week, I received a link to an article touting renting over owning. I have to say it was food for thought. Can a rental feel like home? I think so. Can you find one roomy enough? Of course, and isn't simplifying a good thing too?

I was surprised by my reaction to the article. I'm always on realtor.com looking at homes in this area and other cities. Could I rent? Is it feasible? Would I be happy? Surprisingly I think I could and would.
The article points out that people pour lots of money into their homes and often the increase in equity only keeps up with spending. So when you sell your home you often do not get anymore than what you put into it. So it's not a good investment. If you rent but put all that money into something in which you earn interest you come out farther ahead. (The article doesn't simplify it quite so much of course.) It's an interesting idea.
After being in our house for 9yrs in a city that avoided the sharp increase (and hence the decrease) in housing prices. So the equity we now have in our house IS almost exactly what we've put into it with upgrades. Hmmm.

Honestly, part of why I'm willing to consider renting in the future is my recent rip to Texas. My sister-in-law recently moved into a brand new apartment complex. It was modern (open concept, stained concrete floors) and beautiful. If it had an additional bedroom and allowed pets (maybe it does) I could be sold!

Focus

I'm lacking focus. I cannot seem to really focus on writing. I've had time over the past few days where I could have been writing here but instead all I did was think about my dear little blog. I'm not sure what to write about. I'm even having trouble writing this.
Trouble. The trouble is not a lack of desire to write but more of a block. I know I'll get here and end up with a little update. I might as well call this a list of lists instead of a blog.
I'll admit part of the problem is audience. I'm not sure I even have an audience let alone who they are and why they're reading. That's only a fraction of the issue though because my posts have rarely been related to or spurred by an audience. I've considered republicizing my blog with potentially new readers. Then I feel like I'd actually have to commit to writing though. And I'd need a focus with which to lure them.
The obvious focus would be J. I spend the vast majority of my day tending to his needs and interacting with him. I could easily write a blog all about him, and I've considered that as a viable option. I'm not exactly keeping up with the baby book so having a blog to refer back to for important things would be nice. Well, because of course someday I'm going to write all that down!
But I'm not just mommy. I've only been mommy in fact for 6 months and while it is all consuming now, I'm still me. Surely I can find grown-up things to write about, but honestly past pop culture and politics I'm not sure what that would be. I have a tendency to drift into whining and that wouldn't increase the size of the audience.
I feel like I've been battling this blog nearly since it began. I loved it when I had my travel blog. It was focused. I felt good about what I was saying though I still don't believe I had much of an audience. But THIS blog has been a horse of a different color. It's not been a source of much of anything positive for me though it has potential. With that being said, I just can't say good-bye to it quite yet. Instead, I will again tell it, myself, and my audience that I'll write more often and better.
Oh yeah, and I should also mention - I take this way too seriously!

Hola Tejas!

Today was our first full day back from our trip to Texas. We spent just about a week there. It was J's first plane ride (he did great). We spent the whole time mainly just hanging out, waiting for Ike to arrive. Little did we know he'd breeze right by DFW and slam into the midwest (including central Ohio here). We came home to power and little damage so we're happy. Now it's time to settle back into routines.
Here are some of the details . . . .


I was nervous. I was worried J would cry uncontrollably. He didn't. He fussed a little here and there but for the most part was great. He was the hit of the second leg of our Southwest Airlines flight from STL to Dallas. He got a 1st flight certificate and a pair of wings. Very cute. They were all super nice to him and J returned the favor by flirting non-stop with anyone and everyone he could see. He loves to smile.
We landed in late afternoon and by the time we got through traffic to D's sister's dinner was waiting for us and J had gotten his late afternoon nap. J was more than a little overwhelmed with excited cousins crowding his space (before this he probably didn't realize he had such a large comfort zone), new faces, new places, and a new bed! He had a meltdown which led to a hasty night ritual but he did sleep all night.
We spent our first day visiting, and our second day at Grapefest (just in the evening). Ike was hitting the coast and vendors were packing up since he was heading through DFW, supposedly. Saturday it rained but not even heavy rain and not all day. We had a group photo and then went to a wedding shower with more family (my side this time). That night was all about Guitar Hero and a quest for D first to beat Slash and later the Devil before we headed home.
J continued to do well, rolling with the punches of yet more new faces, staying out way past bedtime, using a stroller in a new fashion, photos (ugh), and the time change. He was a real trooper. He only really had the one meltdown the first night.

Stay tuned for tales from the second half of the trip, another night.