Another Day 30 through 35: Life Goes On

 

written 06-25-24

Holidays and weekends don't count, so I'm holding at 21 days unemployed. Considering I'm getting paid, am I really unemployed ? I guess so. It's going to continue to be a scary place until I have a job and after losing out on the Accenture job, I don't know when that's going to happen. For now, I consider this time off to be an extended vacation. I check everyday, but my severance pay hasn't shown up yet. They did say 45 days and it's only been 30, so we'll see. This past Friday marked 4 weeks without a job. I haven't been unemployed since 1985, so this is a hard adjustment.

Today is Tuesday and I resolved to shower this morning and get some things done. I didn't get much more than putting out the trash done, but that is a start ! I spent the entire weekend and all day yesterday on the couch feeling sorry for myself. I did apply for a job with Infosys on Saturday and another with a recruiting company for a similar role at Axiom Consulting today. Both jobs are similar to the Accenture job and I'd be a great fit for either. We'll see if I even get an interview.

Weather yesterday was cooler (low 70's) but today we're back to 80 and a bit humid. I didn't have to report for jury duty this week but I got a text yesterday after 1 pm telling me to report at 2:30 ! WTF ! I was in my nightgown and hadn't showered since Thursday, so there was no way I'd ever be able to get there by 2:30. I decided to just ignore it, and if they called me out on not showing up I'd just tell them I wasn't at home and didn't have my phone. Just after 4 they texted again to say they'd been able to seat a jury and I didn't have to report this week. So now I have to call Thursday to see if I have to report next week.

I spent the last 3 nights sleeping on the couch and since I showered today I'm looking forward to sleeping in my freshly made bed tonight ! I reinstated my 7 am M-F alarm to start tomorrow, as I need to get on a schedule that is compatible with work. I also plan to shower every morning and get dressed. Sitting around in my nightgown is not good for my mental health. I was thinking yesterday that I've become my mother. Watching YouTube and playing games on my tablet. That was what my mom did all day. I just feel so lost without a job to keep me busy.

Rich texted last night to let everyone know they had to put Lola down. It's so sad because we all loved her and I know they are devastated. I remember having to say goodbye to Taylor, Hailey and Atlas. It's never easy. Keno passed in her sleep and Blackjack was hit by a car, so I didn't have to make the decision for them. Our first cat Sparkles passed at home while I was at work, but Alex was with her. Lucky and Pooh passed during the night or when I wasn't home. Tigger, Princess and Abby all died in my arms and I was glad to be with them. All that is left of my menagerie is Minnie, who is 15 now. She is the picture of health so I hope to have many more years with her. No matter when it happens, we are never ready and it is always too soon.

The auction for the house next store is coming up on 7-6 but I saw online they are showing the house on 6-29, so it'll be interesting to see how many people show up to go through the house. I know Doug is interested in buying it and he'd be a great neighbor ! I looked at the pictures of the interior on Zillow and the house is really dated and needs work. The kitchen floor is hideous and the bathroom looks pretty old. Most of the house appears to have no carpet, so they either tore it out or it was never carpeted. Doug said he looked around the exterior and both the house and the garage need a new roof. That's a huge expense ! I'm wondering if he got a big insurance payout when his wife passed away, as not long ago he was complaining about a small increase in the water/sewer bill we get. Roofs are not cheap ! My house would look similarly dated (even worse) if not for the fire. Bill's house does have a nice family room that was added on, along with a 2 car garage that would be great to have. I think Doug mentioned the garage doors need to be replaced. I'm not sure why. It could be a beautiful home if you had the money to remodel. The kitchen needs flooring and updated appliances. The bathroom should be gutted and redone. The only bathroom is on the 2nd floor, so adding one downstairs would be great. Entire downstairs needs the floors either refinished or carpeted. Stairs need to be carpeted. The exterior siding looks to be in good shape, I'm not sure if it's wood or vinyl. There's a screened porch that looks to be in decent shape, but I wouldn't be surprised if the floor has some rot. Stray cats live underneath it now. Some of the yard is fenced but it's not completely fenced, so Doug would need to fully fence it so his dogs don't escape. I think my house and Bill's were pretty much the same until both were added on to. The additions on my house were the full width of the house (kitchen & office, then the pantry & laundry room) while Bill's appears to have 3 different additions, none of which are the full width of the house. His house is over 1800 square feet while mine is less than 1500, so his is a little bigger. They value his house at $125k, so I can only imagine what the value of mine is. I just hope whoever buys it actually plans to live in it. I don't want to see an endless revolving door of renters. I know darn well the funeral home owners will want to buy it and turn it into another rental on the street. I think they were mad when I bought my house. I suspect they were trying to wait out the former owner and steal the house for a super low price. I only paid $63k, so I can't complain.

I haven't written much lately as life has been pretty boring. I really miss the hustle and bustle of working all day. Once I have a new job (God willing) I will probably miss all this free time ! Yesterday I played through over 100 levels on Cookie Jam. If nothing else it keeps my mind active ! I haven't been able to find the motivation to get on the treadmill and it doesn't help that I'm still coughing some from being sick. My goal right now is to get back on it July 1, which is a Monday. If everyone is going to bingo tomorrow I will probably do that, just to get out of the house and be social !

written 06-26-24

Holidays and weekends don't count, so I'm holding at 22 days unemployed. Considering I'm getting paid, am I really unemployed ? I guess so. It's going to continue to be a scary place until I have a job and after losing out on the Accenture job, I don't know when that's going to happen. For now, I consider this time off to be an extended vacation. This past Friday marked 4 weeks without a job. I haven't been unemployed since 1985, so this is a hard adjustment. My severance pay is in the bank today and will be available Friday ! I got a little over $27k. I'll be able to start using that to pay my village tax items and my car & house insurance, along with my July bills. I wasn't worried about being able to pay but I didn't want to have to take money out of my savings. In other news, my cell phone bill only increased about $30 with the change from employee discount to retiree discount. Turns out the active employee discount isn't that much better !

I ended up sleeping on the couch again last night as I stayed up too late and was falling asleep and too lazy to go upstairs. I was awake and up before 7, which is good since I had turned the alarm off .. lol ! I forced myself to get dressed instead of sitting around in my nightgown all day. This makes a huge difference in my outlook on the day ! Having my severance money in the bank also helps ! I was never worried about being able to pay my bills but the more I have in the bank, the more secure I feel. 

Tonight is rock & roll bingo at Point Place and I'm going with Kim and Joe. I guess Rich & Barb aren't up for it, which is understandable since they just lost their dog and I think they're heading to Canada for a ball game with Michelle & Mike.

written 06-27-24

Holidays and weekends don't count, so I'm holding at 23 days unemployed. Considering I'm getting paid, am I really unemployed ? I guess so. It's going to continue to be a scary place until I have a job and after losing out on the Accenture job, I don't know when that's going to happen. For now, I consider this time off to be an extended vacation. This past Friday marked 4 weeks without a job. I haven't been unemployed since 1985, so this is a hard adjustment.

I had fun at rock n roll bingo last night, even though we didn't win anything ! I've been able to avoid the temptation to spend any money at the slot machines, which is good ! I got home around 10 pm and managed to make it upstairs to sleep in my own bed shortly after 1 am. Despite going to bed so late, I forced myself to wash my makeup off before I got in my nice clean bed. I was awake and up around 8 am. I got dressed around 1 pm after spending the morning watching YouTube and playing Cookie Jam. I went out in the garage and picked up the trash on the floor and swept some debris off the floor. I also went out in the side yard and picked up trash that had blown into the yard. After lunch I did a little searching on LinkedIn and applied to another open role at Infosys. I think I'd be a great fit for either job but the salary is unknown - I think the first job I applied for has more responsibilities and likely a higher salary. We'll see if they even consider me for either role ! So far all I've gotten is "thanks but no thanks" from all the jobs I've applied for. I keep working on my resume and cover letters in hopes of having better luck. I'm also lying about having a Bachelor's degree. That could backfire, but it's a risk I need to take.

Tomorrow I'm going to breakfast and Costco with Kim. I also need to pay my taxes & water bill before I go. My severance pay will be available in my account tomorrow so I won't need to move any money from my savings to cover that and my July bills. It came with great timing ! I don't know what I'd have done if I was let go 5 years ago when Syracuse closed. At the time I still had a lot of credit card debt and was going to the casino with Mom every week. I'm glad I got my finances in order ! I'm sad that Mom's death is a big part of the reason I have so much money in the bank. I really wish she was still with us. Seeing how quickly she went from being fine to having a stroke and dying has led me to think more about planning for my own future. I need to have a will done and I'd like to put my assets into a trust so everything is not taken if I end up in a nursing home.

The lack of success with my job success is concerning but I'm not going to stress over it just yet. I have plenty of money and I have medical insurance until 11-30, so I will keep looking and keep applying. I think something will come along eventually. I will land where I'm supposed to be.

In good news, I don't have to go to jury duty next week, so I'm done with that for now ! 

written 06-28-24

Holidays and weekends don't count, so I'm holding at 24 days unemployed. Considering I'm getting paid, am I really unemployed ? I guess so. It's going to continue to be a scary place until I have a job and after losing out on the Accenture job, I don't know when that's going to happen. For now, I consider this time off to be an extended vacation. Today marks 5 weeks without a job. I haven't been unemployed since 1985, so this is a hard adjustment.

My severance payment was available in my checking account today, so first thing I did was move $21k to my savings. Might as well get some interest on the money. That left $7600 in my checking to pay my taxes, water/sewer and my July bills - which includes 6 months of car insurance and a year of house insurance. I'm so glad I got my finances in order over the past 5 years. Had I lost my job in 2019 I'd have had a hard time paying the bills, even with a severance payment.

I stopped at the village office this morning and paid my taxes and water/sewer bill, then headed to Kim & Joe's house for our Costco trip. We had breakfast first and scored a perfect parking spot at Costco, right next to the cart return and very close to the door ! I only bought a couple things as I really don't buy much there. I mainly keep the membership to get the 20% off on Nutrisystem gift cards. I stopped at Walmart on the way home and replenished my pizza supplies and got what I needed to make macaroni salad for the 4th of July. Kim is inviting everyone over so it'll be a fun day. I also bought 2 half gallons of ice cream at Walmart. I can't trust myself with pints of ice cream, as I eat the entire thing in one sitting. They're also very expensive ! I tend to overdo when I buy half gallons too, but I'm going to try HARDER to limited myself to 2 scoops. 

I did some searching on LinkedIn when I got home and started to apply for a job, but the screening process just got too ridiculous so I didn't bother. It asked about being willing to work OT and weekends, which I really don't want to do. It also wanted you to swear everything in the application was true (it wasn't, I don't have a degree) and then it said you have to do a drug test. Too much ridiculousness for a remote billing job. It's not like I wouldn't pass a drug test, but I don't really want to jump through all those hoops.

I decided to send a final email to Kurt just to thank him for trying to hire me at Accenture. I was surprised to get a nearly immediate reply ! He's actually trying to get around the proximity issue, since his entire team is remote and he feels it shouldn't matter. I did not see that coming ! I let him know that I appreciated his efforts and that I wouldn't wait if a great opportunity came along, but that I still really wanted to work for him. We'll see what happens ! Maybe my email will add a little urgency, though that wasn't my intent. I guess if it's meant to be, it will happen. So far the job search isn't going well, so I have nothing but time. I also posted in a telecom expense management group on LinkedIn to let people in the industry know I was actively looking for a job. Who knows .. maybe that will drum up some interest.