luna acres

heirloom ballerina ornament - my very favorite Christmas is just a few days away!  It's always a stressful time of year,  but this year has been a real struggle for me.  Jonathan and me are both in the middle of changing jobs, which comes with it's own set of challenges trying not to get behind financially. We are doing okay, but there was no extra money to spend on gifts, and while our families are loving and supportive and insist that it's fine- it is very hard not to feel guilty when listening to the lists of everything they have bought. Society has made the holiday so materialized; tainted it with piles of stuff and wishlists and somehow the love of family and friends and being grateful for what we already have gets lost in the chaos. I see it most in kids, spoiled to the point of being upset because they were given the wrong version of a toy, the wrong barbie, the wrong game system, and throw a tantrum despite the Mount Everest size pile of expens...

When you work in the service industry, every day can be a challenge. Now that I have started a new job at the cutest little mom and pop place, Chip and Jo's Restaurant, it is becoming clear each day how much I have been taken advantage of by my last employer. One of the most frustrating challenges I faced was working with a ladder of management and paperwork. I completed tons of computer training and learned the finer tasks of restaurant management. Jonathan and I started coming in to open the store each day, because the shift manager at the time ("Rita") was slowly slipping, coming in later and calling out frequently.  Fast forward one year. The store has changed general managers three times, with the most recent one quitting after eight days in charge. There is no assistant manager, no general manager, and only two shift managers. Jonathan and I have been opening the store five days a week. Rita has become incredibly lazy and unreliable, arriving up to an...