Those are great and very helpful thoughts Jim, thanks! As I answered the questions you posed it reinforced what I've been thinking.

The bottom line is, I have to make a living since I'm the only one doin' it. (Hallie just won't flip burgers! ). My "main" job is computer work, and I try to put in at least 10 hours a day on that (doesn't always happen but I try). We are always swamped and on top of it we have just made a deal with a company to do a sequel to one of our computer games we made in the 80's (I feel old!) which is exciting but going to be a ton of work.

Then there is my art "career"...which I try to paint at least a couple of hours a day. I am very driven and love to paint and have all of my big dreams there. I don't know if it could pay the bills alone since I don't have a chance to try it full time, but I feel very grateful I do make a living doing the things I love and get to stay home with the Hallie Child!

So the photography, as far as income, comes third and is pretty dismal in comparison. LOL. I do enjoy it a lot (still talking studio and events...I am not questioning the outdoor photography Hallie and I are out shooting every nice day at some point, mainly to paint from but also just for the joy of taking photos). But life is short and only so many hours in the day so the scheduled photo jobs have to go for the most part. I always enjoy the actual photo taking and the people and dogs but it's been stressful anticipating them and the work of setting up and post processing and the time it takes from other things. Plus I hate having Hallie sit there in the X Pen for hours, even though it's right next to me. I try to make every minute with her literally the best we can have and I'd rather take an hour or two off in a day and take her to class or a show (we do walk every single day too) and be able to focus on just her and enjoy our time.

OK I'll stop now LOL but thank you VERY much for your post, it really helped to talk this out, of course as I am writing this I just got an email from someone from the shoot saying this was their best santa shoot ever..(argh!) and asking me to do Easter and everyone saying can't wait til next year....sigh.