Day 3: Friday

I made myself sleep in this morning--I've had trouble getting to sleep lately (something I've never really dealt with before; I've usually been able to fall asleep when my head hits the pillow). Not long after I woke up, my mom called. She invited me out to lunch. It's become a bit of a thing for her that when a family member loses a job, there's a "celebration of a job well done!" It's a bit odd, I suppose, but I think it's a positive spin on a bad situation. Anyway, I drove out there and had lunch with Mom, Dad, and Big Brother (who was laid off the beginning of March, but recently was re-employed--he'll start probably a few days after my last official day).

So, needless to say, I didn't accomplish much on my list of things to do today. I did finish Dan Miller's 48 Days to the Work You Love. I think I need to re-read it. I started it before I was laid off, so I don't think I got as much out it as I need to now. (When I started it, I just wanted infomration. Now I want an action plan.) I also serged the edges of a bunch of fabric. Before fabric can be sewn, it needs to be pre-washed. Before it can be pre-washed, the edges should be serged (or something) to keep the fabric from unraveling in the wash. I also unstacked and re-stacked the dishwasher, which doesn't seem like much. However, it's a task I avoid doing because I also think how long it's going to take (even though it only takes a few brief minutes!).

Interestingly, I'm on a list of 365 things to do in Minnesota. Today's item was "Volunteer", and included a link to a source of volunteer opportunities. This makes me happy. I really think it would be great to volunteer--not just now, but to build a relationship with a volunteer organization that I can continue working with. I like to feel like I know what's going on, so right now while I have a little time (hopefully not long!), I can build a relationship where I feel comfortable jumping in in the middle.

Tomorrow will be a long day. I feel a little guilty, because it's all having fun. I'll get up early, bike to Bobbi's, and then we'll bike together to Target Field for the Twins baseball game. We'll bike home, drive to St. Paul for the Swarm lacrosse game. (The Swarm, apparently, just clinched a playoff berth. Who knew? I thought they were all but mathematically eliminated when they lost last week. I suppose it's possible the stars aligned, or I could've simply been wrong about how well their season was going.)

In financial news, today was payday, so I logged into my bank account. I was immediately weirded out by the five-digit balance. Apparently my tax refund was added to my account this week--it was particularly high because of the first-time homebuyers tax credit. This was really nice to apply to my credit card balance... (I ran into some difficulties with some personal issues in the last two years, so I had a high balance. I should be in much better shape. I actually would be fine, but I want to set aside a good ammount to potentially pay for a new roof in the next couple of years. Or, have a little extra in case of emergency.)

Day 2: Thursday

Not a lot has been accomplished today. It started with not being able to sleep last night (surprise? Not really. Life is stressful right now). I did manage to finish reading The Last Song last night. I'm still a bit undecided about it. I didn't hate it as much as a few other books I've read lately, but there were some parts where I think the author was toying with our emotions for his own amusement. Not cool, in my opinion, when it was completely unnecessary. (Beth's hint for those wanting to right: If your book needs to have "I'm going to try to fool the reader!" bits of text, it's probably poorly written. It's okay to try to fool the reader, but you need to have a good reason.)

When I got up this morning, I pretty much needed to get dressed and pick up Darcy and head to Target Field for the Twins/Red Sox game. It might seem like an unnecessary expense, but I bought the tickets in October. I may as well use them. Although I'm happy to find out that my tickets DO sell for Thursday afternoon games. I put them for sale online for next Thursday's game, hoping against hope that they'd sell...and they did. For face value, even! That's just relieving to me because I don't want tickets to go to waste; especially right now.

I vaguely considered going into work to pick up my personal stuff, but I'm not ready to face co-workers quite yet. Hopefully next week some time. I want to get it out soon, so people can get whatever information they need. (I'm not sure they'll be able to use anything, since I'm the only one who did my job, and they said straight out they're not doing that anymore. But just in case someday they decide to hire someone again, the information will be there.)

Darcy and I stopped for ice cream on the way home, which was nice. Then we were going to go look at paper, but the store had closed already, so instead we went and got Darcy's cell phone replaced. When I finally got home, I read a bit in my career advice book. There are a couple of things running through my head. Firstly, I'm considering seeing if I can get a volunteer job. Really, I'd looove the chance to work with children--or rather, play games with children. Set me at a table with a four-year-old and a game of Candyland, and I'm good. I think I'll start researching that tomorrow.

I know I should start looking for jobs, but I really feel paralyzed by this. I would like to find a job where I'd feel like I was doing something I wanted to do. I want a job where there's a chance for advancement. But, frankly, I'm just not sure what that is, yet.

Tomorrow, I have nothing scheduled, so I have written out my plan of attack to start working on things I want to get done.