Adventures in Unemployment

I'm truly not trying to complain here, but I'm at a loss. I wrote a few weeks back about how I'm not good at cooking. I'm good at following a recipe, but not going at things on my own. And I need to get back into some kind of work/food prep/cooking/gym routine, especially to vary my diet so I don't get sick again (which feels more and more tenuous by the day). But before you say "just throw something in the crockpot!" Or since it's cold, "it is a good night for soup!" You should know... My husband does not like soup. Or stew. Or anything with gravy. Or most vegetables, but absolutely not cooked. He doesn't understand casseroles, and any liquid or sauce that comes in them is questionable. He doesn't like ranch (or blue cheese, but neither do I), so any kind of chicken-bacon-ranch situation is out. He doesn't like Asian foods. You read that correctly. The whole continent. He loves potatoes, but don't give him sweet potatoes. He ...

I lived in South Carolina from July 2016 to December 2016. There are a whole host of reasons I didn't stay longer than that, but one thing I will never forget is how freaking how I was all the time. All the time. The whole time. It didn't help that my car air conditioning broke while I was down there (and the car was too old and we were too broke for me to fix it). It didn't help that it was one of the hottest summers on record (at the time), and that in November there were wildfires to our north in Tennessee. I was working at Clemson University while I was there, and the students I worked with were cute. They heard I was from Buffalo, so they all pulled out pictures on their phones of the snow from last winter. It was maybe an inch of the wettest snow (what I affectionately call "snowing slush" around here) that I have ever seen, but there they were, making muddy snow angels and snow-people the height of my dachshund-chihuahua mix. Then I showed them the picture ...

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My husband told me today that people have been asking him if I like the new job, and yes. I do. I like the fact that they trust me to already do work for them. I edited a video and sent out their newsletter. I created a vacation tracker, and have already started to sketch out what onboarding might look like for future hires or agents. It's great! I also figured out where I exist within The Resistance today. I'm part of a liberal group on a particular social media page, and I used a bunch of old posts to put together a list of Blue businesses in my area. I talk a big game about being an activist, but I mostly just contact my representatives and share stats. I try to make sure other people (women especially) feel comfortable talking about their views. But today? Well, now the group has a list of businesses that match their values. Vote with your money, ya know? Anyway, that's it. I'm a little boring today. Ok, that's not true. I'm not boring. I'm just busy upd...

I have forgotten how to get ready for a job. I haven't worked in, what, 155 days? Almost half a year. Plus surgery and recovery before that. So it's been a minute since I've needed to think about what a workday actually looks like. Assuming the weather holds out (although, I'm not expecting miracles given our forecast for the next 48 hours), I'm going into the office tomorrow for some training and onboarding. Most of my week will look like that, but I'm worried that tomorrow will be the most challenging for me. It's going to be hard to get into a rhythm, remember to wake up early enough to shower, eat breakfast and not just grab a granola bar at the kiosk in the office. You know, be an employee. This afternoon, I'm going to make some breakfasts for me - likely overnight oats or chia seed puddings - and see what I can put together for lunch. I was hoping to bring a salad with me, but it might just be a PB&J and some snacks since I don't have any d...

At 4:30 this morning, I could no longer take my husband's snoring. I have to give him a pass on this one. Only this one. He has a cold, and considering I've been sick 3 times in a month, I'm not picking on him for this. But when he snores when he's healthy? Anyway, his snoring made it into the dream I was having, and when I woke up and still heard it, I was properly done. I put on a sweater and shorts, found my glasses and phone, and brought the dogs downstairs with me to the couch. Since I'm their person, if I had left them upstairs in the bedroom, they would have been antsy and my husband would have never gotten back to sleep. I don't know which god I pissed off, but karma decided that at 4:30am, I needed to be fully awake. I bring the dogs downstairs, let them out to pee (I figured I had to pee when I got up, maybe they did, too), and then I had to fight my oldest dog to come back in the house. Her 3% husky was standing in the backyard, staring at me and eati...

Friends, I have some exciting news. I got a job and it starts on Tuesday! It took 149 days from layoff to signed contract for the new job. The longest amount of time I've been out of work since I started working. 0/10 do not recommend. I applied to 82 jobs - I was ghosted by 42, rejected by 35, interviewed for 5 positions, and was finally hired at 1! I will be working as an executive assistant for a small real estate team. I will share some more details as I become more familiar with my position, but they are really nice guys who seem genuine and work hard. I am so excited to see what I can bring to this team, and can't wait to grow into the position. The fact that they were already talking about growth was honestly a huge plus! I already removed Indeed from my phone, and an app from one of the recruiting companies I was in contact with. It's probably the best thing I've done for my mental health in the past 150 days, and I can't wait until I feel ready to remove Li...