New beginnings

This past year has been a crazy one - notice the lack of posts, right?! - and I've been struggling with the demands that part-time lecturing has on my time. Marking, marking, marking for an intense six months of the year, then no work and no pay for the remaining six. It's been great not working in an office, not doing admin, not managing staff, but actually the lack of stability, and regular income have been problematic. Not to mention that marking hangs over into your home life so much... I miss being in a job where I can close the door at 5pm and leave my work there. So, this week I start two months of temporary administrative work at the University of Southampton, three days per week. And hopefully, if the interview goes well, I might get this gig permanently (if they let me stay part-time). The money is not as good as it needs to be to pay all my bills, but it's regular money. And hopefully what this job will give me is a bit more time. Sounds illogical, but it's time in the evenings and weekends that I need, to be able to write, research, make music and do all the other things that I want and need to do.

When these new sorts of beginnings come, I find it a really positive time to look at my life overall and see where I think things are going. This first spring in our new house has been amazing, and we've been doing so much in the garden. It's starting to look good now - though there is still masses to do, there *is* progress! - and we have a lovely seating area and some wonderful flowers starting to bloom. E has really been enjoying all the space and now has a climbing frame and slide, which keep him busy. So, this side of things is great. The woodsman, the boy and I are happy here.

There are two areas I'm not happy about. One is time - too many things to do, too many deadlines, not enough time. Hopefully the one job that I can leave behind at the end of each day should solve this. The second is health and diet. I've been so busy that I've been eating loads of junk, and it's really starting to show. So from next week, I'm trying to get back to some of my old good habits. Less booze, less caffeine, more fruit, veg and grains, herbal teas - basically more fresh food. None of that 'argh I'm at a train station and have 5 mins to eat, grab a bag of crisps!' thing that has been going on. And definitely no pain au chocolat for breakfast at the station any more!! To be honest, I won't miss it much. I'd rather make time to eat breakfast at home and have something tasty. E is up at 5.30am most mornings at the moment, so there should be plenty of time before I leave the house to get my breakfast. Novel thought, but perhaps I could get mine whilst he has his?! Oh, and also I've just found this site - 101 Cookbooks - with these delicious veggie recipes for some inspiration.

Finally, this Simple Living Manifesto has been providing me with some great ideas.

Now for watering the garden.... lovely job at the end of a hot, nearly-summer day

Photo by beauty that moves

Free at last!!!

So... I quit my job!!! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Honestly, I can't tell you the liberation! And actually the prospect of frugal - and more mindful - living is kind of exciting me too.

Why I'm pleased:
Not having to do the 9-5 grind, not having 'an office'. Not having all those associated office politics (of which there were A LOT in my place). Not having to travel on trains and buses for hours and hours to get there to do something I don't even really enjoy.

Focusing on my family, creative pursuits - knitting, drawing, playing, learning - just living life at a more local level, a slower pace. Yes, I'll still be doing the lecturing, with it's associated piles of marking etc. but that's something I can control. I can choose which days I want to work. I can choose how many hours I want to take on. I can take on more one term, less the next. And if I run out of money I have to be creative about where I find some more.

I'm thrilled!!

Picture by Picasso, which I'm thinking of having as a tattoo to mark this occasion!

Life on the edge

I'm about to take a big leap of faith. After being fed up of my job for some time now, I'm thinking of handing in my notice to spend more time at home with E. I will still need to do my part-time lecturing, but as that's neither all year round nor totally reliable that they'll have hours for me, it's a big risk. Particularly in these financial times. I'll have to find some bits and bobs of work across the year to make sure I can pay for E to go to nursery one day per week.

But to be honest, even if I end up selling all my stuff, busking in town every day, trying to live more frugally and carefully, I think it will still be a reaaaally positive thing.

Photo via rockclimbing.com