For the love of writing.

I have a confession to make.

Ugh. It’s not one I want to tell you but I have to. Otherwise this post is pointless.

I’m still in school. :/

Like, not as getting a Master’s (yet). As in getting a Bachelors.

Now, if you’re wondering how on earth I taught school with no degree, the answer is: It was a private school. So they knew me, how far along I was in school, and that I’d already taught at a Pre-K level and offered me the Kindergarten job when it opened up.

And I’ve never bothered to mention it on here because it seems as though everyone has already done this, and that’s just the way it’s supposed to happen. School, marriage, career, babies.

I’ve never been very good at playing by the rules. I’ve never wanted the perfect suburban life, not really. I wanted adventure and to see new things. Which is great because in the Army the chances of being settled in one place for long are not in my favor. :p

So I went back to school after years of being a nanny, and chose teaching. For a while, I loved it. But after I got pregnant with Bella, everything changed. I didn’t feel the same way about teaching I had before.

Then I started to blog. And the thought of teaching was even less appealing. I still had to student teach, which I put off as long as I could. But it was scheduled for this winter. 3 months in which Bella would be in daycare, I would be a slave to a school, and I wouldn’t have time to write. I dreaded it every single day.

Dreaded.

After I wrote the post “I think I know” I realized I was on the wrong track. I did not want to teach. I want to write. Desperately. There has been no way for me to make writing all I want it to be with the degree I was in. I wanted to throw my whole life track to the wind and start over.

So I did.

I talked to my (ever patient) school mentor and we switched my degree to one without student teaching. It was such a huge decision that I felt a little sick doing it (I’ve been on this track for so long), but then like a huge weight had been lifted off me.

Then came the next decision; our family size.

Sam and I had been talking about more kids – adoption, pregnancy – for a few months now. We could never agree about having another and when – we both went back and forth since I had such a hard pregnancy and first year with Bella.

We decided in order for me to write and really throw myself into freelancing and networking, we needed to wait. There is no way I can see trying to do this and either having hyperemesis again, or trying to deal with the ups and downs of adoption, or dealing with 2 little ones vying for my attention. It’s not fair to them either. So until next year, that’s on hold so I can focus on writing and find a path in it I feel steady on.

I’m excited. I have blogged on a consistent basis for 18 months, I’ve written since I was a little girl. This is what I want to do. I don’t know how to go about it but I bought a few books, sent off a few work samples to the magazines I love, and hope that by going to BlogHer I’ll learn even more about it.

I’ll (of course) be updating how it’s all going. And I’d love to hear any suggestions on how to go about freelancing, writing, being published, or just networking (which I am terrible at) in general.

And? I get to tell people I’m a writer. For reals. Finally.

I can’t even explain how that feels. I’ll be a WAH mom. Maybe I’ll need to update my Twitter name. ;)

Now to get down to the real writer deal and past the excitement of just “being” one. You can’t use excitement to buy groceries.

 

El Paso has two speeds: Slow and Off

Not only is this about the driest place on earth (maybe the Sahara is drier. MAYBE.) it’s also the slowest. And I don’t mean that insultingly. It’s simply a fact. Everyone moves at a snails pace around here.

Every time we need something, call someone, set an appointment – Sam and I add 2 hours to a full day onto the time span. We used to do it as a joke, “The movers said 12 so maybe 4?” until we realized that it truly was 4 that they showed up.

Our property management office is the same way. “We’ll swing by this morning to fix that window!” That was Friday. Today is Monday. The window latch is still broken. [Read more...]

Shhh, don’t tell anyone…

but in all honesty, I’m getting a little excited about moving.

::hears multiple head explosions::

I know, right? Because I’m trying to cram packing and moving into >3 weeks and doing it all by myself, but it’s kinda fun. Yesterday I threw out 4 trashbags full of crap we never use. I had such a rush, such a feeling of joy. Somehow this feels so familiar to me…

And here’s the other thing.

Are you ready?

Hold on to your chones.

Tight. [Read more...]

2011 – the year my blog changes

Part of me doesn’t want to blog anymore. After almost a year of it, I’ve realized how therapeutic it is, yet I feel myself trying to post things that won’t offend or hurt people’s feelings. This is my own fault. Sam reminded me yesterday that it’s my blog, I should be able to write what I want.

But I’m having a hard time doing that. There is an idea in my head of shutting this one down and starting an anonymous blog. Never telling anyone, just blogging for me. This is a very freeing thought. [Read more...]

Army Wife

That’s me! Here’s what happened:

After Sam went to MEPS for his full physical and to get a job, he was wondering if he would be placed in infantry like his recruiter had told him. At an E4 – a lower rank than what he had gotten out of the Marines as. It was a big blow to both of us, because infantry is terrifying.

When he called that night, he simply said they had messed up his paperwork and put that he needed to go to boot camp, so he would need to go to MEPS again the next day to sign the corrected papers. I asked him, “What about your job? What did they tell you?” He told me we’d talk about it when he came home to get another change of clothes (the military makes you stay at a hotel the night before MEPS). [Read more...]

Working Girl

There are a lot of things going on in our life right now, but I’m not really sure I can or want to discuss them at this point. Even privately. So for right now, I’m just going to focus on some of the upcoming stuff in our lives.

I am going back to work – part time. I’m pretty excited about it. Yes, I adore being at home with Bella, but I don’t know anyone here, and I’d love for her to be around other kids. I’d also love to earn a paycheck again. So I’m looking into being a nanny with her.

As you may (or may not if you’re fairly new) know, I was a nanny for about 3 years in San Diego. Loved it. I have thought about opening up our apartment to a family, but the tax stuff I have to deal with, along with our home being a business and not a place of relaxation, and to try to deal with hauling kids up and down three flights of stairs to go anywhere really turned me off to that idea.

I’m going to start searching Craigslist for nanny positions. The hard part?

Bella. :/

Not that I don’t want her along (because I do), just that most agencies won’t work with me if I bring her, it lowers the amount of pay I can get, and it eliminates a lot of jobs. About 70% of families looking for a nanny don’t want another child in the mix.

But I figure, it only takes one family to want us as a package. I’ll just wait until the right one comes along. I will not put my child in daycare if it’s possible for me to work and have her with me.

I’ll be posting about my interviews, the ups and downs and all the fun (and crazy) stuff that comes with it. If you want to know what it’s like, you can search for “nanny” in my search box and up will pop all the stories from before, or click the “Life as a Nanny” tag below this post.

And yes, I worked and interviewed with some crazies. Rich people tend to be a leetle bit more insane than most. :p