Ok, I have been a bit bad this past week about getting on here and posting but I have a reason.

I have not put this on here yet as we were trying to figure things out but my wife lost her job 2 weeks ago which once again put us with no income. Having just started recovering from when she had to leave her job to take care of me (after my surgery) we were not really in a great position. We are ok as we did have a bit in the bank as well she was paid all her vacation hours which was almost 15 days worth as well as some other separation pay. While we do not have a ton of money we had enough to get through a lean spot.

She started the job hunt with a great lead and 2 great interviews with the company. It would have been a 20 minute drive rather then the 5 minute drive she had been making but it was a 25% raise which more then made up for it. The 1st interview was with the GM and the 2nd was with the owners and the GM and she was told they would call in 48 hours to arrange the days to come in and do the paperwork. That was 2 weeks ago and all they have done is avoid her calls. Interestingly enough they are doing it to someone else we know who just applied as an hourly employee and not as a manager. So while the lead started great and the offer was more then we were expecting apparenlty it is not going to work at all.

She had some other interviews in the meantime and while there were some decent jobs it came down to either the driving and/or the pay. She does not mind a small pay cut some of the jobs were an hour drive and a paycut meaning by the time you factor in gas we would be screwed.

She is on an interview right now here in town and if all goes well it will be a great job. It has benefits and is less then a 10 minute WALK from the house and while the pay is a bit lower then she was at we have a plan for that.

However should this be something that does not work she was hired at another restaurant last night. It is not management but that is because they are staffed right now and will not have a position for about 60 days. At that time they will re-evaluate their situation especially since they have only been open for 2 weeks. The job is about 15-20 minutes from our house and while it does not have any benefits we have 18 months of COBRA so I am ok.

So what is the plan to make up any short income? ME! I go back to work here in about an hour and a half. For those who did not know I am a brewer and I love the job. Iwas running a small brewery when I got hurt and it is all I have wanted to do since then. Yes, some people laugh and say things like "It's just for the beer" and so on but the truth is that as a brewer you drink very little during the work day. Brewing is a labor of love at the pub level because it is all you. Designing, formulating and making the beer. It is a VERY manual job and the satisfaction you get from taking something like barley, water, hops and yeast and turning it into a worldclass beer is unbelievable. There was no such thing as a bad day in the brewery IMHO.

Anyway, while my back does hurt and I am limited in some of the things I can do I decided I wanted to try and go back to work part time. I love being at home with the boys and will continue to do so but I also need something to do, to exercise my mind.

Obviously brewing jobs are not going to fall out of the sky and unless you are willing to relocate for low pay (brewers are very underpaid) you are out of luck. However while my wife was looking for a job the other day she came across an ad for a local winery needing someone to run their bottling line and filter, so I gave them a call. The owner and I talked for a bit and then yesterday I went over and talked with him for a bit about what they needed and what I could offer and I start this morning.

I did disclose to them about my back so that they understand I have physical limitations as well so that if I find I am unable to perform the job as needed they know why I would have to leave the position.

This is starting part time but they said I can work as much as I feel like up to a full week but again I told them that right now this is part time to me. It is a bit for the money but mostly to have something for me to do outside the house 2-3 days a week. We will have to see how it goes, so please wish me luck!