I know, I know...

It's been a super long time. Sorry.

So what's new? Something weird happened and I started really liking my job again. What happened was that I went on an interview. And I really really loved the clinical director- she would have been a great boss. She was raving about the parts of my personality (namely, my honesty) that have been criticized at my current job. Unfortunately, the job wasn't for me. Although it'd be close to home, the building was much more run-down than my current facility, and the therapy rooms were small, dark and shabby (but not shabby-chic). And... all the the therapists shared one office. I wrote her the next day and turned down the position, siting the longer hours and reduced pay from my current set-up as the reason (which was certainly a large portion of my reason). But even when she dropped my hours and increased my pay rate to more than what I'm making now, I still just didn't think it was the right move for me. Yes, I have issues with my boss, and yes I really really hate my commute. But, damn would I have to have a really awesome opportunity to give up my own office. I have a nice office. Large. Huge window with a view. Privacy to do what I want when I'm not seeing clients: be it eat, take a quick cat nap (shhhh), do yoga, talk to Gerard, play on Facebook, etc. I'm realizing 1) it would take a lot to give that up, and 2)there apparently aren't that many places that give you your own nice large office with a view. Another major consideration is my ability to set my own schedule. While scheduling clients myself is often a huuuge pain, and greatly increases the emails and phone calls to and from parents that I otherwise have to deal with, I've come to rely on it as a deal-breaker for being an almost-single (what we wives of men who work long hours and who are the obligatory go-to parents call ourselves), FT working mom. So, if my 9oclock cancels for next week, then I can schedule a doctor's appointment for that time, and not have to worry about it being filled without my knowledge or consent. Or if I want to go look at a preschool I just reschedule my morning clients and go do it. If my 4 oclock client cancels then I go home. I don't have to get anyone's approval or permission. No one really knows when I'm at work or not, and no one really cares. As long as I bill enough people at the end of the month, when I come to work, and when I cancel or reschedule people is entirely my business. And that's kind of freaking awesome. That would be really, really hard to give up. Basically the only way I'd give that up at this point is if I found a place really close to home that paid well enough to allow me to work significantly reduced hours to the point where I didn't have as many conflicts needing to come in late or leave early, because I'd have short work days. Unfortunately most job postings don't advertise salary or flexibility, and it can be so variable in this field, so if I have any hope of finding something, I have to keep going on interviews. I have another this week; we'll see how it goes.