How

How does a family bringing in almost $100k annually wind up still living paycheck to paycheck?

The Real Question

How does one transform themselves from Joe Dirt into Rick Steves while successfully raising a family and maintaining financial solvency?

The Grind is Grinding

I'm taking a break, having a smoke in the alley behind the restaurant where i make pizza for tourists. The prices of everything around me are going up, and the offers for starting wages are everywhere, too. But not enough to provide a living, and not enough to sink an employer. The dichotomy is palpable.

Inspiration From Modern Westerns

I've been getting into an old western drama about a family moving to Oregon from Texas in 1883. It's horrific and beautiful, wild and graceful, brilliant and simple.

I've often revised a fantasy of mine to emulate that lifestyle. While I'm not looking to get a ten gallon hat and work as a ranch hand, i do admire the idea of a relationship with nature, with local people, and with survival in relative comfort while still acknowledging difficulty.

Maybe someday I'll build my own cabin. Maybe someday I'll have animals or a farm. These are noble pursuits, and i will seek them out.

Plans

I feel like calling them Plans instead of Goals or Dreams makes them a little more tangible? I don't know if that's the case, but this weekend is for planning, and we have much to plan for. The current housing situation is the most important thing to address. We are currently paying half to two thirds of our income on rent. It's unacceptable, but i don't fault my landlord. He's been incredible through Covid and everything else, and I'm thankful for having shelter and heat and running water, for sure. But that's a lot of money, and i don't feel well sentencing myself or my family to a life of servitude like that.

Admitting and Grieving the Partial Loss of Christmas

As we wrap up the year, I'm finding myself in the frustrated aftermath of Christmas and what it has become, in my family and in the outside world. My kids have emulated the outside world, thinking only of the things they have received, not working to understand the reason for the holiday season, historically, politically, or in any capacity outside their sphere of consumer bullshit. I seek to put an end to it in the new year.

Christmas Day in the Morning...

Thirty nine years on this earth, and it still feels like magic. I hope you all have something that makes you feel this way in your world! Love abounds!