Help me decide if I should take this job!!!

I'm thinking over this job offer. The reasons to take it equal the reasons not to. 7 hour day instead of 8 hour day. But an extra 25 to 40 min of travel each way so the time saved is negated, and worse if there is a problem in the commute.

Also, there is the travel cost. I drive 4 miles each way now, and I can walk if my car dies. If I take this job, the drive would be an hour at best. Public transportation would get me there in 25 to 40 min but it would cost me $34.50 per week and the company only reimburses $60.00 a month. So I would be spending an extra $1,000. a year in commuting.) More money RIGHT NOW... but I'll get that with my next raise. Same Health insurance. The accounting department is royally messed up so I'd have a lot to post in the HOH. But do I really feel like being hateful?

I'd have the same autonomy as I have here. It is a family owned business...the same as here. The children are curently training to take over from dad...same as here...but their dad is younger than this dad.

The job is in Downtown Washington D.C. (nuff said) Right now I work in the burbs and my office window overlooks a park with animals and a stream. The woods provide a buffer from traffic noise, walking around at lunch time is pleasant. I don't know if I WANT to stroll around K street at lunch time...do you KNOW how many PEOPLE are down there?

I might meet a nice guy if I work in a larger building with more people. But why would I want to do that when I've just been stompped on?

I can wear dress jeans to work. But when my boss is out of town, I can wear dress jeans to work, as long as I don't wear sneaks and i do wear a 'business' jacket.

I have time to post on AW during breaks. Dunno about the new place, but chances are it is so messed up, no one here will 'see' me for months.
But I can always post at night. But I write at night. But I don't write every night.

I can get from work to my daughter's school in 10 min flat. I can get from work to my Dr. or dentist or optometrist in 10 min flat. I can get home in 10 min flat. That means I can run to the school, dr or whatever, on my lunch break, and still get back to work to finish the day, maybe losing an hour at most. New Job...even an 8:30 am Dr appointment will have me at work at 11:00. If daughter gets sick at school, it will take me 45 min to get there.

It IS a nice company. This IS a nice company.

The clincher is, If I quit and go, I lose 3 weeks of vacation that I NEED for sanity's sake. That means working for 17 months before I am eligible for vacation, and it would be at entry level ( i/e 1 week as opposed to 3)

So Is $7,000. more per year NOW ( actually netting the travel costs $6,000 more per year.) worth giving up any vacation except federal holidays until July of 2007, when I expect to get a $5,000. raise in January?

Also I have a lot of drama in my life now. My current boss knows this and we are working around it. How to explain to a new boss?

What should I do? I was planning on putting my resume out there right after I take my vacation, any way...but that was right after, not NOW. (If I could quit and write full time I would.)

What should I do? I'll be hiding under my desk waiting for advice.

Money or my soul? I'm still trying to decide...help!

I still don't know what to do. I'll be doing the same thing (accounting) no matter where I go. I just don't love accounting. But it pays the bills, people tell me I'm good at it, and many times I can put my brain on auto pilot and think creative thoughts.

Part of my 'family and friends' group keeps trying to impress on me that I should jump on the upward career track and go for more money, because 'writing' is just a 'hobby' and since I am not Dan Brown (last year I was NOT J.K. Rowling and for 3 years running before that, I was NOT Stephen King) I should forget it and tke the job and build up some savings so I can do something with it and I'll have plenty of time to write after I retire.

I did not go out and look for this job! Nope! This is one of those job leads I got from a friend who wants me to do it, because she thinks I am organized and bright, and having me there will make her job 1,000 times easier. ( we've worked together before.) I feel like I'll let her down if I don't go in and say yes. She's talked me up to her boss.

I was planning to look for something else beginning in August, anyway, after I'd taken my vacation.

The money IS a nice thought. It dances in my brain! My daughter is capable of starting dinner on her own, and until he transfers to another University, my son is home 3 days of the week when she gets home from school.

The cat don't care, as long as he can climb on my shoulder when I get home, he's PURRRRRfect with anything!

So I'm making this decision based on if I want to stand in a crowded subway car 80 min a day ( chances of a seat are slimmy slim slim so there go the chances for reading and writing) and on if $134.62 a week BEFORE taxes is worth giving up vacation leave....Hmmm more figures If I go, I make $134 more a week. But if I go, for the first year, everytime I take off a day unpaid I lose $200.00, so for every day I take off for mental health (writing), I have to work 2 weeks to make it up.

So I guess the question is 'Money or my Soul'?