Irony

Well, it’s been almost 2 months since I have written a post for this blog. I am not nearly as prolific as my husband. http://blog.art251.com. But we’ve been very busy evaluating financial models and talking ourselves into going ahead with the business.

One of the main objectives for quitting my job was to have more time with my family. When I was working, we would have family fun usually one day a month – or when we traveled on vacation. This usually involved some expensive event followed by some wind down time (for the adults!) in a nice restaurant. The rest of the time I had blackberry-itis, and seldom “unplugged”.

I’ve given up my blackberry and now have plenty of time for family fun. The problem now is that we’re trying to conserve funds (to open Art251 and to sustain us until we’re profitable). We had a big family discussion about how our lifestyle might change for a year or two, and that we’re all just going to have to adjust. But I can tell you this… family fun is not nearly as fun when you’re watching your money!

So my “almost 13” year old daughter said to me yesterday after a trip to the mall, “Mom, you are doing a great job as a stay-at-home-mom, but I think you were an even better working mom.” Meaning, “I miss the money, please go back to work!”

Quite a change in direction from the child who used to hound me to be like all the other moms and stay home.

when you have the money, you don’t have the time. when you have the time, you don’t have the money. when you have time and money, your kids are all grown.

Getting lost at sea

For my retirement gift, my husband bought me a painting from a local artist. We had visited her studio back in the fall and had both loved this one painting. At the time, I simply liked the calming nature of the colors and how they swirled across the canvas. I thought is was a beautiful abstract of greens, yellows and blues. It wasn’t until it had hung in our entry way for a week that I saw water and spots of land jutting in. How did I miss this? Now I can’t stop looking at it. I sit in our big yellow chair in the library every day and let it suck me in. I never thought I would get lost at sea sitting in my own house.

Is Starbucks Really Green?

With my new employment status I get to spend a lot more time in Starbucks. I don’t know why I automatically assume Starbucks is an environmentally friendly company. You never hear bad stuff about Starbucks… maybe something years ago about coffee farmers but it seems they’ve corrected that and are now advocates for the coffee growers. Anyway, my husband and I were in there last week sitting right next to one of the garbage cans. I couldn’t get over how much recyclable material was being tossed away. All those cups, wooden stirrers, plastic tops, milk jugs, etc. The final straw was when I saw one of the employees pick up a stack of newspapers and shove it into the waste bin. I stopped him and asked, “don’t you guys recycle????” His response was, “I wish we did” and then handed me a comment form to mail back into Starbucks HQ.

Hmmm. Maybe I’ll talk to the manager – surely they aren’t required to wait on corporate to design some cool bins first!

Missing Paycheck

No, I am not missing my paycheck, as in I lost it, or the company lost it.  I’m missing it as in, “I really  miss not getting a paycheck!”   I (voluntarily) left my employer last month to start a business with my husband.  So for the first time in my adult life and in our lives together – we have no income.   It wouldn’t be too concerning except that we have 3 children.  (ages 5, 5, 12)   But really, apart from the lack of money, it feels great.   We’re having a blast starting up this business and getting to spend time together in the middle of the day!   If you’re interested in following the progress of our business, you can visit the blog at blog.artboxmodern.com.