Right now I have a pretty good idea of what my realistically ideal life would be like... {enter hazy dream sequence here}

First I need to finish this darn PhD-thingy.

Then there's a minor fork in the road: any of these paths will get me to my final goal, although some are obviously preferable to others. In order of descending desirability:

1. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 6 or higher. Yay, I win at life.

2. Get a permanent teaching job that's in close proximity to a L0ckheed that's in gardening zone 5. Okay, a little chillier than I'd like, but I'll deal. We'll take tropical vacations in the winter and I'll get a big greenhouse.

3. Get a short-term/interim teaching position in the Philly/NJ area. That will give me a little something for the resume. And we can stay in our current house for a little longer. Then apply for jobs as seen in 1 and 2.

4. Kill time with non-career type job (substitute teaching, etc) for a year or two until well-situated short-term or permanent job is attained. Resume doesn't get as padded, but I have plenty of time for gardening and kitties.

5. Get a short-term/interim teaching position that's outside of commuting distance from Ryan. Also a resume-padder, but based on how much I miss Ryan just being away for the summer, I don't know if I could handle it. Get a cheap apartment, pay my dues, then reapply for better-situated jobs.

Okay, at any rate, eventually Ryan will still be working for L0ckheed and will have advanced a few pay grades (associate manager?) while I have permanent teaching job at a small (i.e. non-research) college. I don't want to do research...too much time is spent on grant applications and manuscripts that get rejected. I enjoy teaching, and at the right school I could just teach and have a light load in the summer, which leaves more time for gardening.

If and when we find this ideal employment locale, it will be time for a new house (unless it happens to be right where we are now, in which case we can stay put for a couple more years, then upgrade). Based on the effort/time it takes to start a new garden of epic proportions, we'll probably live in that house for our whole working life (and possibly retirement too, if we still enjoy it). So...we'd better make it a good one! I really like our current house, but the things that would be big improvements are more land, larger rooms, and a separate dining room.

Ideal second house:

• 3-4 bedrooms
• 2.5 bath
• large kitchen
  
• master suite with walk-in closet and room for king-sized bed
  
• separate living, dining, and family room or den
• finished/finishable basement (bat cave)
  
• 1+ acres of non-wooded land (additional woods okay)
• super bonus: pond

We should be fine affording this unless my teaching job lands us in California, in which case we'd have to commute farther and scale back the lot and house size. But the climate there would allow year-round gardening, so maybe the reduced lot wouldn't be so tragic.

After living in this house for a few years we should have enough money to pimp our roof with solar panels...and if we live in the house for 30 years they should more than pay for themselves. Totally random, I know, but something I've always wanted to do. Oh yeah, I want Lasik too, so I'm not so blind.

What am I going to do with all that land? Epic garden! I'd like to grow more than enough food for both of us (give away extras to friends, donate to food bank, etc). We'll get a chest freezer and food dehydrator to help keep my bounty sustaining us through the winter. I'll have sufficient quantities to can stuff, too. And for the holidays everyone will be delighted to get baskets of homegrown jams, jellies, dried fruit, nuts, etc (score! no more racking my brain for gift ideas!).

With all my land and large greenhouse, I would grow:

• Apple, peach, pear, cherry, apricot, hazelnut, plum, lemon, lime trees (2 each)
• Everything that's in my garden now, but in much larger quantities so there's enough to preserve
• Blueberries
• Asparagus
  
• Leeks
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Beans (additional types)
  
• Peanuts
• Sweet potatoes
• Tomatoes (for homemade tomato sauce)
• Rhubarb
• Grapes
• Chickens! Just a few hens for eggs.
• Corn (extra to feed to chickens)
• Flowers (just a few, for decorations)
  

So pretty much a farm/orchard. Hopefully after a couple years teaching the same courses it doesn't take too much work so I'll have plenty of time to garden.

We will fence in a large part of the yard with a very tall, attractive fence so that the cats can play outside without worry of getting lost or hit by a car. Maybe if they're good they'll even get a kitty door to the outside.

That's "all" I want. A mini farm, nice house, and 4-5 cats. I don't really, really want a job but should probably do something with my degree. A tropical vacation each winter would be nice but otherwise I'm not too big on traveling. I'm happy with the type/quality of cars we have now...maybe in the future I might splurge on leather seats as an option in my next small Japanese sedan but don't aspire to drive a BMW/Mercedes/etc. Don't want kids. What else do people spend money on? Guess we'll have to start making large donations to charity with all the money we will have to burn!

Addendum: What does Ryan want? He doesn't really know. A year ago he might have said a big-screen TV, but we got one. He's very career-oriented so all his future plans are about advancing there. I'm sure he'd like more open roads to go biking. So a farm in the country works for both of us.