Unemployment Day 48

1. Woke up.
2. Took Anna to dance class. Got her officially transferred from Wednesday to Saturday.
3. She not only went to class but apparently forgot about the offered bribe of stopping at Victorian Bakery afterwards.
4. Went to my parents’ house.
5. Did laundry.
6. Colored eggs.
7. Came home.
8. Submitted my last two assignments for informatics. All work for the semester has been submitted. Now I just wait for grades…
9. Trying really hard not to imagine what life would be like if I get the job I applied for yesterday.
10. Tried to catch up on podcasts. The Mueller Report greatly increased the number of timely podcasts in my feed. (I try to listen to all my news-related podcasts and then go back to the oldest non-news ones to listen in order. My name is Beth, and I have a problem with podcasts. Currently just under 900 in my unplayed list…)
11. Showered. Colored my hair.
12. Anna came home.
13. Snuggles, screen time, and colored pictures.
14. Next up, a little telly for me and then reading my book. Hope all of you had a nice, quiet day, too!

Unemployment Day 47

1. Took Anna to school.
2. Stopped at Meijer to pick up a few last minute things for this weekend.
3. Came home.
4. Checked on my schoolwork. Still waiting…
5. Got a call from my mom about friends stopping for a visit.
6. Tidied up the kitchen.
7. Drove to my parents’ house so that my car would be handy when it was time to pick up Anna.
8. Had a lovely visit with Sue, Manu, and Natalie. Saw Natalie back in January, but haven’t seen her parents in a few years. Love my family of choice!
9. People started arriving for the annual Good Friday Rusty Nail Party. It all started several years ago when joe told a story about back when he was a bartender and determined that a rusty nail was the appropriate signature cocktail for Good Friday… (1 part Drambuie, 2 parts Scotch, and a hazelnut, if you want to make one for yourself. I always have plenty of ice with mine.)
10. Had lunch, talked, laughed, slowly drank one rusty nail.
11. Had dessert, talked, laughed, drank coffee.
12. Picked Anna up from school.
13. Went back to my parents’ house.
14. Submitted the last time log for my practicum. Other than whatever is assigned during Summer I, I am DONE with my practicum!
15. Applied for a job. First one that is actually in my field. Fingers crossed!
16. Played a game.
17. Came home.
18. Played with Playmobil.
19. And now I’m here. Not sure what all will happen next this evening. A little telly, read my book. Hopefully sleep. And we’ll see how dance class goes in the morning!

Unemployment Day 46

1. Took Anna to school.
2. Came home.
3. Did it Debbie’s way. Or at least the first part of it. If you haven’t seen this video as it’s been going around, do yourself a favor and at least watch it. It is delightful.
4. Went to Trader Joe’s and Costco with my mom.
5. Came home.
6. Remembered that maybe I should check on my schoolwork since I still have two assignments left. Both are still in the hurry-up-and-wait stage.
7. Cleaned out the fridge.
8. Took the bin to the curb.
9. Picked Anna up at school.
10. Stopped at the library.
11. Ran things to the dropbox because at some point between going to school and getting picked up from school, Anna decided she didn’t want to go to the library. She did suggest I go in and check out a movie. She was told that if she wasn’t getting out of the car, we weren’t going to be able to check anything out.
12. Came home.
13. Dinner, screen time, snuggles, and bedtime stories.
14. Called my mom to finalize plans for tomorrow.
15. Anna just figured out that her play kitchen is gone. She is not amused. But at least she seems resigned to the fact that it’s going to Baby Edward. (Who isn’t exactly a baby anymore given that he’s one, but, you know…)
16. Now I think I’ll see if there’s something on PBS that I’ve missed, and if not, I might watch a Chopped or Cutthroat Kitchen. Something mindless. (A dichotomy, I know. Must be the gemini in me.) Then off to bed to read for a bit.

Unemployment Day 45

1. Took Anna to school.
2. Chatted with one of the teachers who is contemplating getting her MPH.
3. Went out to KVCC to study.
4. Edited and submitted my practicum portfolio.
5. Applied for two jobs.
6. Stopped to pick up a coloring book for Anna.
7. Came home.
8. Ate lunch.
9. Attempted a nap.
10. Applied for another job.
11. Picked Anna up.
12. Stopped at the student union on our way home because Anna said we needed to hurry home so that she could use the toilet, and we were a helluva lot closer to the student union than we were to our house. It was definitely worth the quarter for parking because she held it all the way into the building and used the toilet.
13. Had dinner.
14. Power flickered during a thunderstorm.
15. Anna got a flashlight so that I could read her a story. I pointed out that the lights were back on.
16. Story time and snuggles.
17. Anna took the flashlight and her new coloring books to bed with her.
18. Called my mom to check in.
19. Texted with one of my nieces.
20. Took a shower.
21. And here I am. I’ll watch a little telly and then take my book to bed. Hopefully Anna will already be asleep. She’s been staying up until I go to bed of late. No matter how late it is. Last night I was almost asleep and she was still talking to me. Then she tried to use my head as a pillow and got booted back to her own bed. She slept through the transfer. Anyway, hoping to have my bed all to myself tonight!

Unemployment Day 44

1. Woke up.
2. Texted Nicki to let her know I was okay. She finished watching Call the Midwife after I’d already gone to bed. This week’s episode was hard to watch. In true CTM fashion, it was both heart wrenching and perfect. But it cut close to home this week. I may be crying a little bit just thinking about it…
3. Took Anna to school.
4. Stopped at Costco for gas. It was 15 degrees warmer than yesterday. Definitely much nicer weather for pumping gas!
5. Went to Starbucks.
6. Wrote and submitted the summary paper that I forgot we needed to do for my informatics class.
7. Worked on the portfolio for my practicum. I think it’s just about ready to submit.
8. Came home.
9. My mom came over to help with spring cleaning. We started with Anna’s room.
10. My dad came over to help, too. There was a large branch that came out of one of my trees, so he brought a saw to cut it into small enough pieces to go into the yard waste bin.
11. I supervised while my dad hung several pieces of art. Now, I’m perfectly capable of driving a nail, but it turns out they don’t build ’em like they used to. Multiple nails were bent trying to break into my solid plaster walls. I think it was probably a good thing that someone slightly taller than I am was tackling the task. And this means that there’s art on the walls in Anna’s room, art on the wall in my room, and I’m currently sitting on the sofa and looking up at the painting I bought because it reminds me of this hotel my friends and I stayed at in Milan.
12. My parents went home.
13. I ate lunch, watched a little telly, listened to some podcasts, wrote a grocery list, and looked up WMU’s current job listings to see if there was anything new that might be of interest.
14. My mom and I went grocery shopping.
15. Came home to find Anna and my dad watching the opening of Star Wars. Be still, my heart! And Anna was explaining to my parents who everyone is. Sure, she still insists that C3-PO is a robot, but we’re working on it.
16. Watched a bit of Star Wars while we ate dinner.
17. Played with Playmobil.
18. I asked Anna what she thought of the changes to her room. She said she liked them. I’m not sure how she reacted to the fact that her toy kitchen and shopping cart have disappeared (they’re being handed down to a younger cousin) when she first got home, but she was cool with it just before bed.
19. And now? I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do with the rest of my evening. Read, definitely. And try not to stay up too late. We’ll see how that latter part goes…

Unemployment Day 43

1. Woke Anna up ten minutes before it was time to leave. She was still so sleepy that she mumbled, “I don’t want a snack.”
2. Opened the curtains to discover a half-inch of snow. I knew it had snowed yesterday. And I knew several friends in other parts of the Midwest/Great Lakes region had seen quantities of snow. But when I closed the curtains last night, we’d only seen a dusting. At least this was a nice “clean” snow that had melted as soon as it hit pavement.
3. Took Anna to school.
4. Decided to wait until tomorrow to get gas. That way it might be above 30.
5. Went to Water Street.
6. Worked on my practicum.
7. Came home.
8. Finished my last required practicum hours.
9. Walked laundry down to my parents’ house.
10. Went for a walk on the trail with my mom.
11. Came home.
12. Watched the first hour of Les Miserables on PBS.
13. What I expected to happened has happened. I’m going to need to reread the book when the series is over. Fortunately my copy is a paperback, so it only weighs a little for a 1500-page book.
14. Picked Anna up from school.
15. Had dinner, snuggles, screen time, and bedtime stories. (She started to ask for Star Wars for screen time, but then opted for DC Superhero Girls instead.)
16. Cried as I watched this video of the Notre Dame de Paris fire. I’m still in shock that it has not only burned but been so damaged by the fire.
17. Called my mom to check in and figure out our plans for tomorrow.
18. Showered.
19. And now I’m going to watch Call the Midwife and then take my book to bed.

Unemployment Day 42

1. Got up and listened to a couple of podcasts while waiting for Anna to wake up.
2. Finally figured out that I couldn’t log into a few apps because they’re linked to Facebook and Facebook was down.
3. Anna finally woke up. (She slept in until about 7:30!)
4. Quiet morning, consisting mainly of Anna asking for another thing to eat. Rice cake and peanut butter, orange, bowl of cereal, juice, sardines…
5. Scrapped the original plan to walk to my parents’ house because of the rain and subsequent flooding of the sidewalk for a good third of the walk. Drove instead.
6. Had lunch.
7. Went to the library for the Second Sundays Live concert.
8. Came home.
9. Anna asked for screen time as we were pulling in the driveway. I reminded her of a video she’d asked for.
10. We watched Star Wars. The first one. And by that I mean the original first one. Episode IV. And by watched, I mean, well, she was in the room for the whole thing. I was about her age the first time I saw it at my uncle’s house. I probably was aware of about as much of it as she was. She decided it was too long about two minutes before Luke blew up the Death Star, and she asked if we could turn it off and watch something else. She was told no. That scene is somewhat anticlimactic when you can’t hear the dialogue over the whinging four-year-old. But nevertheless, she (read I) persisted.
11. She then ate another sardine, a cup of frozen blueberries, an apple, some pretzels, a slice of cheese, a few chocolate chips, and two and a half tomatoes. Hobbit or very hungry caterpillar. Not sure which.
12. Read bedtime stories.
13. Played with Playmobil.
14. Now I’m off to watch last night’s SNL and then take my book to read in bed.

Unemployment Day 41

1. Got up.
2. Ate breakfast.
3. Walked home because I forgot to pack a leotard for Anna to wear to dance class today.
4. Anna had a brief meltdown on our way out the door because she wants me to watch class, which is against studio policy.
5. Scored a parking spot right in front of the Epic Center.
6. Anna was very clingy. I whispered that we could stop and pick up a treat at the bakery on our way home if she went to class.
7. We told the teacher her name and that she usually goes on Wednesdays, then Anna walked into the studio.
8. Walked to Caffe Casa with one of the other mums to get a cup of coffee. We had a lovely chat.
9. Class ended, and Anna said she really liked it. Success!
10. As I buckled her carseat, I asked if we needed to stop anywhere on our way back to my parents’ house. She said we didn’t. (Sorry, Victorian Bakery! If she’d remembered the proffered bribe, we would have stopped on our way home!)
11. Dropped Anna off at my parents’ house.
12. Came home.
13. Put the laundry away, tidied the kitchen.
14. Watched Solo. (I missed it when it originally came out.)
15. Anna got home.
16. A little screen time, some snuggles, and a couple of bedtime stories.
17. Now I think it’s about time for me to go read my book in bed.

Unemployment Day 40

1. Cried while listening to today’s StoryCorps. This is what it means to be a Rambler.
2. Took Anna to school.
3. Went to Starbucks to study for a bit.
4. Finished this week’s informatics assignment — one of the “hurry-up-and-wait” things I mentioned yesterday.
5. Worked on my practicum.
6. Remembered that I hate writing minutes.
7. Went home.
8. Went to Trader Joe’s and Costco with my mom.
9. Ate lunch.
10. Watched The Orville (season 2, episode 12). Really well written episode. Never would have expected Dolly Parton singing “9 to 5” would make me cry.
11. Changed my clothes and gathered up the laundry.
12. Went to the Interprofessional Expo at the College of Health and Human Services.
13. Chatted with one of my profs (whose mom happens to have been my kindergarten and first grade teacher) and a few other students.
14. Talked with one of the first-year MPH students for an hour.
15. Was only a little later than normal picking Anna up at school.
16. Went to my parents’ house.
17. Did laundry.
18. After her bath, trimmed Anna’s nails and gave her a mani-pedi while watching Superhero Girls.
19. And now it’s just about time to get ready for bed. Tomorrow, Anna tries dance class on a different day with a different group of children. We’ll see how it goes.

Unemployment Day 39

1. Took Anna to school.
2. Called my mom to figure out our plan for girls’ night (aka tonight).
3. Went out to KVCC to study.
4. Wrote my recommendation letter for the pre-application Brenda and I discussed yesterday. Emailed it to Brenda.
5. Applied for a job.
6. Messaged with Mary Ellen about job hunting joys (woes?).
7. Worked on my practicum.
8. Decided to double-check my numbers. Disappointed to discover that I’d noted four hours on my spreadsheet that weren’t on any of my time logs. So I started the day with nine hours to go, and ended the day with nine hours to go… Guess I won’t quite finish this week…
9. Checked out the International Fair that was supposedly happening in the Student Commons. The Russia table was the only one set up. For something that had supposedly been going on for more than 30 minutes, there was not much happening…
10. Ate lunch.
11. Went to WMed for a meeting related to my practicum project. I almost texted Komal to suggest we walk in together. Turns out she almost texted me the same thing. Kindred spirit in so many ways.
12. Chatted with Annette on my way out. (Hi, Annette! Welcome to my blog!)
13. Went home.
14. Gathered the library books.
15. Walked to my parents’ house.
16. My mom and I ran out to Meijer to pick up a few things, stopped at Bankok Flavor to pick up pad thai, and dropped everything off at my house before picking Anna up at school.
17. Went to the library.
18. Came home, took the bins to the curb, and had dinner.
19. A little screen time, some snuggles, and bedtime stories.
20. Anna just reminded me that tomorrow is wear-purple day at school. Here’s hoping we remember in the morning!