Warming the Bones - Physically and Metaphorically

Since early 2008 my employment has been less well defined than at any point since pre-college. I left a 19-year run with a company just before it did what it said it was not going to do (leave Madison). I opted then to open eyeDance Studio Photography (LINK - Not Safe For Work) and had a tenuous connection to income for the next three years as I built that business. In January of 2012 I stumbled into another day job, a contract ing, rent-to-own position doing software quality assurance for a company that closed its Madison office 8 months later. Three months later I chose a job that I think will be a good choice, though it too is a 3-month contract, try-before-you-buy and there is no guarantee of an actual job offer (though the outlook is favorable). Clearly the idea of permanent employment has gone the way of the dodo bird.



Living with intermittent income means minding the money much more carefully. We are in good shape financially, so there was never worry of missing a meal, but it did mean we pretty much ceased non-essential spending. No fun, new things. No new (or used) motorcycles came or went, magazine subscriptions were cancelled, books and movies came from the library instead of the bookstore or Blockbuster. No Netflix, no upgrades to the DSL line. Nothing non-essential.

Two weeks ago I said "Screw it!" and moved a half dozen ugly vendor-provided coffee cups out of the cupboard and went to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art's gift shop and bought what they sell as a tea service that I use for coffee. I loved the stark simplicity and the clean lines. It is from PO: Collection The set appears to be discontinued, but can be seen here. (LINK)

It felt pretty good to splurge a little bit. I have never been very promising as a monk, and moderation was killing me. It is true there are still no plans to go wild and spend a bunch of money, at least not until this job is "permanent", but this little treat has been a sign of a financial springtime. A little celebration of imagined security.