It's Been a While

So, I haven't posted much on here in forever and I wish I had. I have so many thought's and ideas that go in and out of my head that I need to document them somehow and maybe get some feedback from others. Plus, I wouldn't end up writing such long posts that people would lose interest in within 5 minutes, lol.

The problem is though, with my new work schedule, I pretty much sleep, get ready to go to work, work, then come home, shower and sleep before doing it all over again. I used to be on a 8 hour, 5 day a week schedule, but since volume was down from last year, we changed to 10 hours, 4 days a week. On one hand, it's awesome because I get 3 days off, but on the other, during the week, I am too exhausted to spend time with the family, and after last week, I have been so worn out I haven't felt like doing much more than vegging out, lol. So, I have either been on the computer, watching TV, or reading while watching the kids play. I've been giving them my attention, but I still don't feel like I get much "time" with the family. And since Ashley has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and before then, she hasn't been feeling like doing much either, but everyday. 

And you know, I like my job as a Walmart orderfiller since it keeps me active and the day goes by quickly, and the pay is much better than anything I could get in Dayton. Which leads to the issues I have with the job now, after 8 months. Don't get me wrong, the incentives we get, free lunches for meeting certain goals, and other "perks" are nice, but like most jobs, there are some down sides. First, my body is just not doing well with it, and the doctor says I need to find something less strenuous or I'll be in real bad shape in a short time. Second, the DC is an hour away, so the time spent getting to and from work is taken away from my family time, and since I'm driving my in-laws Suburban, fuel is costing me over $125 a week. And third, Walmart insurance, for lack of a better/nicer word, sucks! I might have been better off getting on a plan through an agent instead of through the company. 

All of this has me wishing, like everyone else in America, that I could make a decent living doing work from home. I have about a million ideas, but they all require a major source of capitol, building facilities, or improving on the skills I have but I don't have time to do. I would need to find something to do that would continually earn about $20.00 an hour for 40 hours a week on average. 

Things that I have thought of doing include:

• Buying cars at auctions, fixing them up then selling them - but with this economy, not many would sell as quickly as I need and I can only sell 5 in 12 months before I'd need a dealer license. So, the vehicles would need a much higher resale value.
• Call me what you will, but I like baking and I thought I could sell baked goods through places like Etsy and various bake sales. But after some research, I found hat I would pretty much have to build a second kitchen in the house that no one and no pets go into besides me. I would love to specialize in "healthy desserts".
• I started doing graphic design work on invitations and announcements a couple years ago and thought I could do that. But so did hundreds of other home based workers that have way more graphic design experience than I do, and 100's more designs ready to sell. I have about 15, lol.
• Lately, I thought I could build small animal housing using recycled materials and cull lumber from lumber yards. This is still possible, if the demand is there. But, I haven't made a sale yet since I don't have anything built for examples, just designs in my head.
• To go along with the small animal housing, I thought about raising livestock. I'd love to help my family become more self sufficient and save us money on our grocery bill. Then I wouldn't have to try to make so much money, at least a few hundred less a month. But, we plan to move some time soon if we either build or find the right house.
• I also tried being a handyman, but that defeats the purpose of working from home. That just makes me self-employed, lol.

Now, I hate being negative about all of those things, but it's hard when there seem to be so many barriers in the way.

My final thoughts in this looooooong post is this, I would love to have my family and I become full-time RVers and travel the lower 48, seeing new places, doing new things, meeting different people, and teaching our kids about history and important life skills by example, not just some book. I'm so sure about homeschooling our kids that any talk of public and private schools has me space out, lol. Besides, it's what God wants us to do!

Well, I feel better now that I got that off of my chest. Now maybe things will be clearer and I can sleep tonight. We'll see.

God bless you for reading and I hope you practice J.O.Y. - Putting Jesus first, others second, yourself last. Lord knows I'm still working on that.