I was a stay at home Mom for 10 years. There was a little break in there for 6 months where I took a contract for great money because my husband was going back to school, but it's been pretty hard core parenting for the last 12 years.

Now that all the kids are in school full-time, I spend the hours they are gone at an amazing store in the next town. It's a creative outlet beyond my expectations, and although I don't make much money my soul is nurtured. The lack of pay is not because my contributions aren't appreciated but because, as in any small business, there isn't a lot of extra to pay employees.

Ideally I would find another way to augment this job I love, because really money is unfortunately an important part of being happy. You'd think at my age I would have this all figured out. So many ideas roll around in my head and then I watch another more brave individual put those ideas into reality.

*I started this post in November. It is now January and I'm going back to my blog. Some things have changed that I am very grateful for. My amazing boss gave me a raise, and changed up my hours so that I have a couple of days off a week! This will give us time to work on the handmade business she and I have been brewing for some time now.

So here I am back at the store today, very excited for 2010.*

There once was a store near my first apartment called Pennies from Heaven. It was owned by a young lady (but a wee bit older than me at the time) who made everything in the store. Everything. And the store was FULL of beautiful, funky things. This was in the early 90's, and if I could find that girl again and go back in time and look at everything she had created I would be very happy.