Working from Home
- Dec, 31 2008
- By Heather Kate
- Entrepreneurial
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Last night I let the kids stay up late coloring at the coffee table while I sat on the couch proofing my latest web project. Most of my work I do after they go to bed, but on this Christmas vacation schedule, we’re not so pressed to get them to bed at a reasonable hour. When they’re occupied every now and then, I’ll pick up the computer and do a little work.
After a few minutes of my chatting, working, coloring, working, watching a video online, then working some more, Will was curious about my work. “Mom,” he asked, “do you have to do that?”
“Well…no, I don’t have to. But I make money when I do,” I answered.
“How do you make money when nobody sees you do it?” he asked.
I could just see his little wheels turning, trying to process how Daddy has to leave the house to go to work, but Mommy can just sit around and “play” on the computer and still earn a paycheck. I explained to him that people could see the work that I do on their own computers. He totally got that, because he likes to play games online himself.
It is really, really cool to be able to work from home on a freelance schedule. I would imagine that there are lots of folks out there that would love to be able to earn income whenever they want to just by sitting down to the computer. It does have it’s cons, though. Not all of the work I do produces income, and none of it is steady. I can’t budget from my job or rely on it, because I maintain it at an arm’s length. I do that on purpose, because managing my household is my main priority, and I choose to spend my daylight hours with my children and other household duties rather than working. That means that any down time I have in the late evenings takes away from my work hours. That’s okay, though. I could change the way I work at any time, but I really like treating it as a bonus. It’s something that fills in the gaps of my schedule and allows me to earn extra income when I really need it, without causing me undue stress and grief in order to get everything done.
The pros of my job? I LOVE it. (Except for the mundane tasks, of which there are plenty.) I only do it when I want to. When the kids are out of school, I get to sleep late and stay home with them, and it doesn’t interfere with my work schedule. In fact, it helps it, since I can stay up later. I can do my work from anywhere, and I usually do a little while on vacation. (That’s a con too.) And most of all, the sky is the limit on what I could do with it. Given enough time, creativity, and elbow grease, I could earn a small fortune. I probably never will, at least not while the kids are little, but the potential is there. And that dream in itself is reason enough to keep me going.
Our 2008 Tree
- Dec, 24 2008
- By Heather Kate
- House, Motherhood
- No comments
I’ve always admired people who have a Christmas tree in every room. I personally find it far too difficult and time-consuming to put up more than one tree, although I have been known to put up maybe one big tree and a couple of small ones. After all, we don’t usually finish our tree until the day or two before Christmas. We start early enough–don’t be mistaken. The day after Thanksgiving, I’m usually banging my head on the attic rafters while the rest of the world risks being trampled to death in public places. Bill drags out the Christmas decor (less and less each year, at my request), and we get the pre-lit tree put up and re-lit. But we don’t always put the ornaments on it just yet.
This tradition started about three years ago when Hunter was just a wee one. With a two-year-old and a vomiting baby, I just couldn’t bear the thought of decorating the tree with fancy ornaments and then roping it off with a baby gate, or, worse, leaving it out in the open and spending every waking minute scolding curious fingers. And with Will being such a project-lover (where did he get that from?), I thought it would be a good idea if we spent our Christmas season at the table making indestructable Christmas tree ornaments. Well, some of them are fairly destructable, but it that happens, we just plunk them in the trash can! He absolutely loved the season of perpetual projects, and our tree became a source of great pride and joy for both of us. When Christmas finally arrived, we could stand back and look at all of our handiwork, knowing we had done it all together. It was wonderful, and Will had free reign over decorating the tree and touching it afterwards.
The next year, we actually downsized and put up only a 4 1/2 foot tree on top of the console table to keep Hunter’s mischievous little self out of it. We did a mixture of the glass ornaments that Will adores and our handy dandy homemade ornaments. Then in 2007, we went back to the big tree and filled it with all of the ornaments we had made two years prior, and the kids developed the neat little game of UNdecorating and REdecorating the tree. All day, every day. It was cool at first. It gave them something to do together besides argue. But then it just became one more mess for me to manage. We decided to let that tradition fade right along with the construction paper chain.
So we come down to this year. Will is in school, and man–that takes it out of us. For a couple of minutes I even thought about leaving the big tree in the attic again. Since we traveled to my parents for Thanksgiving (yes, 20 hours one way), we went ahead and got the tree up before turkey day and let it sit there dressed with nothing but lights for a couple of weeks. I thought it was beautiful that way. One day…
When we got home, I was faced with the big decision. Do we put the glass ornaments and shoo the kids away all month? or try to salvage the handmade ones? By this time, those original handmade ornaments weren’t looking too adorable any more. We went for a happy medium, reusing the best of the old ones and making a bunch more new ones. And what fun memories we’ve made in the process! It started with an idea for a felt mitten garland I found in the Land of Nod catalog. I bought a truckload of felt while on a fabric shopping trip an hour away, and one night I sat up until the wee hours cutting out twenty-something brightly-colored mitten shapes and coordinating stripes and shapes to decorate them with. Then the kids and I spent Veteran’s Day gluing them together and then gluing buttons all over them. I sewed on ribbon hangers and let them hang them all over the tree.
The only problem was that Will really likes the glitz and glamour. Felt just doesn’t sparkle enough for him. So I picked up a cheap box of shatterproof silver balls, half of them solid and half of them glittery, and together we tied red and green grosgrain ribbon on them for hangers. Even after adding the bright red celophane lollipops we made in ‘05, the tree was still looking a bit bare. So we took the plunge and started on a paper chain that took us all the way until yesterday to complete. The whole family has been in on the process, and on any given day of the week, you might have found two or more of us sitting around sharing double-sided tape and strips of brightly-colored cardstock. It was great fun. For me and the kids anyway. 
Now our 2008 tree is completely finished, and I must say, it is our cutest one yet. With all of the bright pinks and oranges, yellows and blues mixed with traditional red and lime green, it has a flavor all it’s own. The best part about it is that it’s chock-full of memories from the precious little hands that made it. I cry every other time I look at it, because I’m already sad about the gaping hole that will be left one day when the little hands have grown big and there’s noone here to cut and glue with me. I know that raising young children is only for a season, and despite the hardships and challenges, what a joyful season it is. I thank God every day for choosing to give me this joyous season of motherhood. May our little felt mittens be a symbol of our praise as we lift our hearts and hands to worship the King of Kings this Christmas season.
Foolproof?
- Dec, 15 2008
- By Heather Kate
- Cooking
- No comments
It’s inevitable. When I get in the kitchen, there is going to be trouble. And that’s a problem, because I practically live in the kitchen. If I’m not in the bathroom (tending to kids, of course), I’m probably in the kitchen. As long as we’re moseying along doing everyday sorts of things, though, we’re all pretty safe. But mix in some baking products and a little holiday cheer and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster.
Back in October during a girlfriends’ weekend in Southlake, I treated myself to the holiday edition of Martha Stewart Living. Another problem. This wonderfully creative and “simple” magazine always gives me a false sense of ability when it comes to making and baking. It all looks so easy to do. And with names like “Foolproof Holiday Fudge”, Martha’s projects appear to be right up my alley. I showed Bill the picture of the Foolproof Holiday Fudge and asked if it was okay with him if I made that as Christmas gifts for his office staff. He let out a big “HA! They don’t know you, do they!” I was a little offended and almost got my feelings hurt, but I had to agree with him. I have a certain knack for messing up that which cannot be messed up. So I set out to prove him wrong.
I’m sorry to say, that all the while I got out the very few ingredients to whip out this quick white chocolate fudge, I was quietly wondering just how I would mess up something so easy. I thought it was impossible to ruin a quick and easy recipe, as long as I used the right ingredients and quantities. Well, leave it to me find a way!
I think where I went wrong was cooking a pot of chili at the same time. The temperature outside was 16 degrees this morning when I did my grocery shopping, and at a feels-like temp of 2 degrees, I decided impromptu to make a pot of chili for lunch. Nevermind that I didn’t have the recipe. I just grabbed up the stuff I thought chili would need, and I put together a one-day-award-winning chili. So, while the chili simmered, I threw together the fudge, and Bill called. I sat there stirring cream and sugar, butter and marshmallows while telling him on the phone how yummy our lunch would be. I stirred and stirred, and then all of a sudden I yelled. “Oh my GOSH! I just ruined my foolproof fudge!!” “What did you do?” he asked.
I had used my chili spoon to stir the fudge.
