Muddling along

[jhetley]

Wednesday is neither fish nor fowl nor good red meat.  This is one of the problems with self-employment, a warning to any who aspire to that status.  Either weekends don't exist, because you're sunk in the swamp so deep you need SCUBA gear, or you are sitting idle and wondering how you'll pay the next electric bill...

So midweek loses its distinctive character.  The other half of our household lives on an inverted schedule anyway, working weekends.

And people wonder why we're out of touch with "reality."  Well, as fantasy and SF people are known to say, "Reality is overrated."

Speaking of which, if Elder Son is reading this, he should check his email and report if it is empty.

Comments

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

This is one of the problems with self-employment, a warning to any who aspire to that status. Either weekends don't exist, because you're sunk in the swamp so deep you need SCUBA gear, or you are sitting idle and wondering how you'll pay the next electric bill...

Ah, yes, the electric bill, curse of freelancers everywhere. Second only to the vexed insurance thing.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

The electric bill, the gas bill (UK gas not US gas), the insurance and... just lately... the groceries are all the curse of the self-employed. I filled my cart up a couple of weeks ago and it was £180.00 - that's UK pounds not US or Canadian or Australian dollars.

Let me say that again: one hundred and eighty pounds for a cart of groceries. And it wasn't as if I'd bought a load of expensive cuts of meat and luxury items. The bread my Best Beloved likes is now £1.67 a loaf. It's not that long since I could buy three loaves of cheap bread for £1.00, but the cheapest I can buy now is nearly 70 pence.

Bacon is £11.50 a kilo. Chicken breast is around £8.00 per kilo (or more for the organic stuff). Potatoes are between 80p and £2.99 a kilo. Tomatoes are between 89p a kilo and £7.56 a kilo... yes that's right £7.66 a kilo for Pomodorino organic tomatoes. I'd want them gold-plated for that price. Even mature cheddar cheese is around £9 per kilo. Sheesh!

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

"Electric bill" as a placeholder for the entire set of vexing costs inherent to continued life...

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

I don't know about over there (not crossed the Atlantic for a couple of years) but over here prices for all those vexing things are rising so fast it's dizzying. Just grateful we haven't still got a mortgage.

Are you still architecting as well as writing? Number One Son finished at the Cooper Union last year and has got the Rome Scholarship from October for nine months.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Still architecting, although that suffers greatly from our slowdown in the construction industry. Like, a couple of projects on hold, no money coming in from that _either._

Our Younger Son allegedly gets his PhD this Saturday. Holiday traffic, dammit.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

UNH?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Want to come down early? We can offer a queen sized bed in a cat free zone that's only about 30 miles from UNH.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Arrgh. Wife has to work Friday. Then there's stuff.

I'm afraid that driving in the dark Saturday morning is going to be it.

Thanks for the offer.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Stop by on your way back? I'm planning on making a chocolate orange cheesecake this weekend to test out my new stand mixer. Neighbour across the street gave me her Hobart C-100 because she's got a KitchenAid stand mixer and doesn't need its capacity but does need the space it was taking up.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We have a command performance at some kind of graduation lunch, pre-scheduled without consultation by Younger Son, and then we load a buncha stuff and hit the highway. By that point, I expect to be thoroughly anti-social and interested only in miles consumed. In holiday traffic.

I'd like to be friendlier, but. This weekend is _not_ my idea, and we're just trying to survive it. Hell, I didn't even attend my own graduation.

The shortest distance between two pints is a strafed lion...

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

I know that sort of situation. Which is one reason I suggested stopping by here. A chance to unwind a bit, get nourishment, and avoid some of the holiday traffic.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And no matter how churlish I may sound, we appreciate it. However, right now we have tunnel vision...