Adventures in Unemployment

I have started and restarted this post about 83 times now, and nothing seems right. I am over 2025. It was exhausting. As if surgery and being laid off from work wasn't enough (it was, by the way), navigating this through the current political landscape has only magnified the challenges. The lack of work due to the tariffs and an uncertain economic outlook. Needing insurance through the marketplace, only to have the subsidies not renewed for next year. Worrying about unemployment running out in 8 weeks, and trying to figure out how to budget with increasing utility costs and grocery bills. May the memory of 2025 fade and never come back. With that in mind, I have tried to find some things that might increase my luck in 2026. In case you don't know me in real life (or you do, but you are learning something new today), I don't really believe in superstitions or magic. If you think "everything happens for a reason," I say sometimes those reasons are bad decision maki...

I treated today like a snow day from school. If you're in the WNY area, you know that the weather was awful today. Despite having a bachelors in meteorology, I haven't checked the weather across the state, but I think it was awful across all of NYS. Out here, I'm talking wind gusts at nearly 80mph, an unreal amount of rain that froze as the temperature tanked throughout the day, and snow that you can't even measure because it hasn't accumulated at all because of the wind. So I read, played on my phone, watched GBBO, and started a puzzle. A delightful day. But between this and the holidays, I'm reminded of how I felt on the weekends when I was first laid off. I'm feeling guilty for taking some time to relax, or to do things I enjoy, or not be productive. Why would I need time to relax? It's not like I'm even working. Why would I need time to do things I enjoy? It's not like I've made progress on anything productive recently. So much for gettin...

What even is time during the holidays? I didn't post for like, 5 days last week because of being sick and the holiday and then hosting, and now I'm posting only 17 (or so) hours apart. Mostly, I'm just trying to get back into a "daytime" routine with these, so I was either going to have to skip a day, or post them back-to-back at some point. But since the time has been so short, not much has changed. Ok, that's a lie. My office has enough space for me to work at my laptop again, and everything I need to host next year is packed away nicely in its little tote. My SEAP paperwork was submitted, a whole day early, and I ran a load of dishes. Truly, the only thing that hasn't changed is me 😂 I am still in the very comfortable pajamas I was in last night! There is obviously still lots to do, but this is a good start. I'm going to keep an eye on the weather, but I'd like to hit the gym tomorrow morning, finish cleaning around the house, and then get to w...

It is 8pm on the Saturday after Christmas, and I am having the epitome of Girl Dinner right now. My alarm went off at 6am today to get up to get the dogs up and fed so they could go to doggy daycare for the second time this week. Once the dogs were out of the house, I could finish setting up for hosting a family party. We do brunch, which is why we were up so early. It can be a little challenging to get up and moving that early (not just us, but also the families with kids), but everyone was gone by 2pm, which means we could tidy up after, and that everyone has the rest of their days to do whatever. It requires a little bit of prep to make it work, but our house has a great set-up for hosting, and everyone brings really delicious food and a festive attitude where they're just happy to hang out with each other. It's a delight to host, and I'm not just saying that because a lot of my in-laws read my blog! Of course, when I say that we have the rest of the day to do things, wh...

Wow, did I really go a whole weekend without writing a blog? I mean, I guess that's what happens when you're recovering from the flu and celebrating Christmas. Both my husband and I have pretty big families. Our immediate families are pretty small - mine was originally only 4, and now that we're blended, it's 6. My husband's was 5. But now everyone has partners and/or children, so even those events are getting pretty large. And the minute you extend them, they explode. I'm going to get it wrong for both of my in-laws, but I believe they're each one of 5. My dad is the oldest of 8, and my mom was the middle of 7. You just can't host small holidays with this math. Our families both had Christmas parties this weekend, and Saturday was the smaller of the two events with only 15 people. There was wrapping paper everywhere, a lot of mac and cheese, and a lot of very similar gifts for all of the kids. Does that have anything to do with the fact that we gave eve...

I wasn't going to post today. I'm still pretty moody today, and I didn't think everyone needed to read that. I took a second at-home test, and it turns out I have Flu B. I am unsure how this is different than Flu A, or if there are any other flavors of flu out there, but I have the B side. I also didn't get a second interview for that supervisor position I talked about a few days ago, so. You know. Moody. But, my husband and I did our annual holiday tradition tonight (before running to the pharmacy for my Tamiflu). We get hot chocolate and then drive around and look at Christmas lights. Cute, right? Wrong. We judge. Hard. We're looking for aesthetics, not whimsy. Holiday cheer? Only if it has clean lines and a defined color scheme. Why are the lights on your fence different than on your house? Embarrassing. I started this by myself before I met my (now) husband, and I don't know why. I'm sure at some point during grad school, I needed some holiday cheer, and...

I'm feeling a little off today. Not just because I'm still dealing with the congestion from whatever this sickness was from over the weekend, but because I'm still unemployed. I think I just don't know what to do next. I had an interview yesterday for a departmental supervisor at a local store, but it didn't go great. I was very out of practice for the interview, which was a surprise to me, and the interview was weird. It was clear that the interviewer had a script that needed to be read and answered in order. None of my jokes landed, and they were funny. I'm funny! Or at least witty. And when I asked some follow-up questions about one of their questions, they didn't have an answer for me. It made me question if I even want this job, and that's the first time that's happened so far this job search. I've also only had 4 interviews (out of 80+ applications), so I guess I haven't had a lot of say in what position is right for me. Today, I was, a...