What Are You Passionate About?

So, Mother's Day...ugh, it's not my favorite holiday. It's actually my least favorite. I know, I know...I have three beautiful, healthy, smart kids and I'm grateful for them every day.  The problem is as kids, they aren't typically grateful for the fabulous Mom that I am on any day, let alone on Mother's Day. It's like busting your butt at work and getting a 1% merit increase only to find out that your insurance premiums are increasing by 1%. Why bother? It's a pointless holiday until your kids are out of the house and can fully appreciate all you've done for them.

With how much I do (and pretty much every mother out there), I should be waited on hand and foot on Mother's Day and fed grapes. Instead, I cleaned the bathrooms while my boys played video games and Emily vegged out on her phone. David noticed and helped, but I didn't birth him.

Ok, ok...I'm off topic.  The point of this post is what are you passionate about? So, David asked what I wanted to do on Mother's Day.  Um, um, I couldn't think of anything.  Sleep in and have coffee waiting on me...well, that's every Sunday because my husband is awesome. Go for hike? But it's hot and windy. See a movie? There's nothing I'm dying to see. So, he pressed more and asked, "what are you passionate about?"

And you know what?  I couldn't think of anything. How is that possible?  I've been a Mom for so long, that's all I know how to do anymore.  So, I guess I'm passionate about being a good Mom; hence the reason I was cleaning the bathrooms on Mother's Day.

Then, I came up with something.  I told David he could make me french toast and we could go out for dinner.  See, I'm passionate about food! Which is why I still have 15 pounds of baby weight to lose and Noah is 8. 

Then, I got in a funk and vowed to find things I'm passionate about.  I talked to Dakri who had some great ideas.  Buy a little cottage in Prescott and do a VRBO. I could clean it and manage the bookings.  Hmmm...that could be fun, but the pickings are slim right now and everything is super overpriced. She saw a personal assistant job for a women with MS who needs someone to cook for her and take her grocery shopping, stuff like that.  Hmmm....that could be fun too, but then I'm really just a Mom, but at least I'd get paid to be a Mom. Join a women's bible group at church she suggested.  Hmmm....that could be BORING.  Ha!  Seriously, I'm not passionate about that for sure. Not that there's anything wrong with bible study, it's just not my thing at this point in my life.

I've been doing my coupon blog for 7 years and it's the same thing week in and week out.  But, I do enjoy it and the flexibility can't be beat. We are going to the beach in 2 weeks and I'll just work from the beach house. I doubt I could ever find a job that works so well with our family and the trips we take.

I have other interests outside of work and waiting on my kids. We like to travel, and I enjoy planning trips for us. I learned the miles and points game, so I can get those trips for at least half price. So, that's fun too. But, the travel planning doesn't occupy a ton of my time.

About 6 months ago, I started learning about the stock market. I opened my AmeriTrade account in April and gosh, I have so much more to learn. I'm risking very little until I learn more, so I bought 5 different stocks for a total investment of $500.  And you know what?  Every single one went down after I bought in.  Figures. But, one of them went up and I actually sold it today and made $25!  It took a month to make $25 and I'm still in the hole about $63 for the other 4 stocks. But, I haven't sold them yet and I'm sure they'll go up. They just need some time. So, I'll continue to learn about the market.  That's fun.

But, if I had a day to do whatever I wanted, what would I do?  I'd love to get in a jet and fly to Italy, but that isn't going to happen. But, I'm vowing to expand my interests. I'm going to work on finding something else I enjoy that doesn't involve being a Mom or eating french toast.