A few months ago, I started playing Farm Town in Facebook. I got bored after awhile because I didn’t log on often enough to harvest my crops and they would die between visits. So I finally decided to move out of the farm. Since then, all of my in-laws have become obsessed started their own farms. During a recent visit, Dan’s mom described to me in great detail what her farm looks like. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, she logged on to give me a visual tour of her farm. I have attached it here for your viewing pleasure, with the major tour highlights. The trees are not visible because she doesn’t want visiting harvesters to steal the fruit – the trees look prettier with fruit on them. Other than that, everything is there.

While viewing this, please keep in mind that A) her daughter’s family lives on the East Coast, B) she discusses in great detail the gardener and his kids and C) she discusses farm layout problems as if they are real-life issues that could effect the grandkids’ safety. Click on the image for a close up.

I now present to you my husband’s farm. For the record, he doesn’t have any trees because (this is a direct quote) “banana trees smell.”

 
All of the them log on at night to harvest their farms, chat together and talk smack about their pretend farms. When Mom saves a crop of pineapples for harvesting, Jen and Dan bicker over who gets to do it. At night, instead of seeing WOW on Dan’s computer, I see Farm Town. This is often accompanied with him giggling at something one of them has said or grumbling about how long it takes to plow.

I could not make this stuff up, if I tried.

I apparently jinxed myself with the last post. As soon as I state that life has been good to me, I was thrown a curve ball. I have become a victim of the economy and was laid off. The rest of my week was spent taking it way too personally and eating cookies.

I also managed to work five consecutive 12+ hour days on the set of a short film. But that is another story for another day.

So after demanding that Dan let me feel sorry for myself and cry for a full 24 hours, I realized something. Being unemployed is kind of a blessing right now. I can focus on school, the store and upcoming craft fairs. I can finish all the projects that had to be abandoned due to my stress level the past few weeks. I can clean the house. (Not that it’s a distaster zone… Hi Mom!)

More importantly, I can take some Me time. Dan wants me to look at this as the reinvention of Sara. I originally took this to mean that he doesn’t like me the way that I am. After we got over that fight, I realized that he was right. It was time for me to figure out what I want to do when I “grow up.” I need to figure out what I want to accomplish after school and what my long term goals are for the store. I need to decide if the film industry is calling my name or if a stable business job is the way to go. I need to figure out what I want.

This led to more cookies, but it also led to the realization that I may need to blog less often. I need to focus on the here and now. I need to fill the store with oodles of cards, stock up for the craft fairs and begin production on my stamp line. (3 designs so far!) I need to catch up on school work and put my resume out there. I need to catch up with family and friends and take my phone off silent mode. There’s dogs to groom, cats to play with, gardens to tend to and one house plant left to keep alive. There’s Christmas cards to make and birthday presents to ship and Halloween decorations to put up.

Life goes on, even if this particular career will not. I think it might be life’s way of telling me not to settle for a job that I liked but didn’t love. It was time to find the real me, find my calling and figure out the future.

For the record, I love being a Lady of Leisure. I could see it being my future if Dan wasn’t such a fuddy duddy. He’s rolling his eyes as he reads this…