Writing as a job

Yesterday Andrew and I where talking about my work as a GIS consultant. I work for a company that I cant for legal reasons name and I have worked for them as contractor through another company for almost five years now. At first I really loved the job and it has been a wonderful way to have the freedom to work from home. I have been able to really spend time with my son and I am hugely grateful to them for that. Truth is though that when I started the work came thick and fast and they always paid within a week of me sending work off. This year I have done a total of 165 hours work for them and its now August. There was a gap of nine weeks where we didn't hear a word from them. It sucks in a big way. I was planning to fund our overseas trip myself but Andrew has had to put in a lot of money as there was nothing coming to me. Even when work is sent in they have outsourced their finance department so it can take up to four months for them to pay. I will keep offically working for them until the end of this year but then I think its time to close that door. Its sad in a way but it really is time to move on. So for me that is what has been on my mind the most this week. A new door is opening and its time to jump through.

My collection of five short stories called Failed Love will be up on the Amazon Kindle website on the 16 August so if you have a Kindle please buy it:)) I promise its worth reading. If you dont have a Kindle you can download the app for PC's or smart phones then buy my book.

In parent side of the world news... Ewan is utterly refusing to drink from a straw which is hugely frustrating with our upcoming trip. Straws would make our lives so much easier. So any tips on how to get a very stubborn toddler to try a straw please send them. On the cute side he spends a lot of time "cooking num nums" now which is really sweet. Any container can be the pot but if he is allowed to stir the pot after we have finished cooking in the evening thats just a huge bonus in his day. Maybe we have a budding Jamie Oliver.

So we fly in 19 days now. I am looking forward to the holiday but the thought of 19.5 hours in a plane with a toddler is enough to make me want to run away. The way there is not to bad as we leave at 20:30 so hoping he will sleep to London. We then have 3.5 hours in Heathrow for him to run around and eat breakfast then its a 7 hour flight to New York. I have bought him a compact Winnie the pooh activity set for that flight plus Virgin Atlantic gives kids a backpack filled with toys. Hold thumbs that will be ok. I am not worried about flight in the States as both our flights are short and weeks apart and they occur at nap time. So the big terror is the flight back. We only leave NY at 22:30 and after 6.5 hour flight arrive in Heathrow. That means a sleepy grumpy toddler. We then have a 13 hour layover in London and we can't leave the airport not even to go to a hotel to sleep. There was so much conflicting info but if I had know all this I would have got the damn British visa and had a 2 day stop over in London. So yes the flight home is the flight from hell so we will all be shattered and need a holiday when we get back:)

We are off to Durban tomorrow for the long weekend with my folks. I will try post tomorrow but if I dont have an awesome weekend and if you are South African enjoy Womens Day on Tuesday.