April 8, 2008

Fuhgeddaboudit: My Brief Foray Into The World Of Newspaper Delivery

In an effort to boost our income until our business takes off, I began cruising the employment ads in the paper…much to my husband’s dismay. He’s of the “old school” thought that my job is at home with the kids and his job is to bring home the bacon.

And I am SO completely grateful that he supports me in that.

But I believe so much in the business and I know it’s just a matter of time before it can supports us, so I thought I could take one for the team and try and bring in a little extra income to keep us afloat until the business could take over.

So I came across the perfect job. It wouldn’t take away from being at home with the kids or our various commitments in the evenings and would rake in about $1300 dollars a month.

It was a job delivering newspapers on a rural route in the wee hours of the morning.

I figured if I went to bed early I could get a few hours of sleep in before my route and then a few hours after. It sounded so simple for what they told me was only three hours of work, seven days a week, and the pay was pretty darn good.

So a few days ago I called about the job, and they worked out someone to train me on the route.

After much convincing, begging and pleading with my husband, he gave in and decided to let me give it a shot.

And last night I set my alarm to ring at 12:30AM and went to bed by 9, hoping to catch a few hours of sleep.

But I seem to have forgotten that I have lots of variables in my life. Oh, say, like a four year old that just happened to halve 12 bazillion nightmares last night, all between the hours of 10pm and midnight. So when my alarm rang in the wee hours of the morning, I had amassed a whole 30 minutes of sleep.

But I was riding on that $1300 high.

I tiptoed through the house, brushing my teeth, pulling my ratted hair back in a ponytail, and slipping on some sweats. I slipped out the back door with my bottle of water and headed down to my “job”, glad to be helping out and dreaming of the check I would write to get the mortgage current.

But I can tell you this…driving around in the rain for nearly SIX hours, (instead of three) with my window open…in the dark… in the middle of nowhere…with a stranger…needing to pee REALLY bad…and completely lost wasn’t quite what I expected.

And by 6:30 this morning when we dropped that last paper in the last mailbox and I had returned my trainer to her car, all I could coherently manage to say to myself all the way home was….

Fuhgeddaboudit!

14 comments:

Chelle said...

Eesh. I'd forget about it too.

Leanne said...

Oh come one, give it another try!!!!

(or not)

!!!!!!

Leanne

Stacy said...

Oh, wow.

You are SO ambitious! (Getting to bed so early and UP so early, too!)

Didn't it feel great to be home with the kids today? Best job in the WORLD.

~Stacy

Unknown said...

Oh, that is soooo like something I would do. It's very hard to sit back and do "nothing."

Sharon said...

That is so funny.
I was looking at an ad for a paper delivery route the other day too. I had flashes of me bringing in a few extra bucks......

Hmmm I wonder if there is a reason there are many paper routes available???

And yes isn't it a blessing to have a man who appreciates what we do.

Mamas said...

Ooh, anything BUT that! When I wanna make a few $$ or more - I purge, go through closets, books/old home school books, movies, cds etc. Sell on ebay, amazon, garage sale! I've raked in quite a lot of $$. If you're really crafty, try etsy. This way, I've been able to be sane and a sahm - well, relatively sane:).

happyhome said...

The million dollar question - did you go back???

Anonymous said...

12:30 in the morning? No wonder you said forget it!

Halfmoon Girl said...

I always say that the only time I could work outside of the home would be between midnight and 5 a.m.- I don't know that this would be my cup of tea either though. I am impressed that you gave it a go though! I am clapping for you right now for trying it.

Anonymous said...

Great post...great writing. So funny! I can't imagine. I don't know about you, but I'm not really a great person to be around when I'm only revving on 1 or 2 cylinders after a bad night's sleep. I think you're wise to look elsewhere! Sleep is too precious!

Debi said...

Too funny!!! Seriously, though -- take a look at www.incmoms.com They're so great at helping to find work for moms to do from home. Also, I'm just starting to work for www.izea.com.....from home! It's $10/hr! Just another idea. I, too, wanted to be home, but also wanted to help us get out of debt more quickly. So, just a couple more ideas! ;)

The (Almost) Amazing Mammarino said...

Very funny! I enjoy your writing style!

MarshaMarshaMarsha said...

Oi! That is r-o-u-g-h.

Unknown said...

Dear Gayle, what in the world??!!! A newspaper route?? You are not Henry Huggins. It sounds terrible. Forget it fast!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...