I QUIT! Here's to new beginnings!

"I am going to quit my job!”  Never would I believe that those words would come out of my mouth and within the past six months my husband has heard me utter these words twice!  Being a full-time working mother has finally taken its toll on me.  Due to circumstances that I had no control of my teaching position was eliminated and I was forced to take a middle school special education teaching position if I wanted a job.  Already having spent a year teaching 5th/6th grade students and coming home stressed and in tears, (I applaud all of you middle school teachers!) my husband and I decided together that it wasn't worth it for me to put myself through that again.  I resigned from my teaching career at the end of the school year.

So being the worrier that I am, I felt that I needed to get another job immediately.  What do I do, when teaching is the only career that I've really had?  I received my Masters in May and was in the classroom that September. 

Healthcare seemed like a good choice.  It's a field that's always in need of workers.  But where do I begin when I have no experience? So I got an entry level job in a local physician's office.  I spent a little less than two months working long hours which basically covered the cost of my 5 year old daughter's before and after school care and my 3 year old son's daycare.  Ultimately, I felt like I was sacrificing my famiy life for a "job" that I didn't feel was helping to prepare me for a new "career."

So here I am halfway through my first week of being a stay-at-home mom.  I got to attend my daughter's Kindergarten music show on Monday.  She gets to ride the bus to and from school which she's so happy about.  The kids don't have to be woken up at 6:30 in the morning and as a result are more well-rested and don't have before bed melt-downs.  I'm able to get the house cleaning and errands done during the day and we'll hopefully be able to enjoy more family time on the weekends now. 

Best of all, I don't have to stress about dinner. I've always tried to cook healthy dinners and I've always loved to try new recipes.  Working full-time it's always been difficult to do.  We finally got a nice camera that takes awesome pics so I can showcase some of the recipes that I've been trying out!