Unemployed days...

Anyone that leans to the overachiever style of work ethics can imagine how scary it is to not have a purpose everyday.  It has been a month now since I returned from Peru to my newly laid off lifestyle.  Don't get me wrong, I am not sad about my situation, I am just BORED.

I did the visiting with family and friends, the lunches with past colleagues, and tried the luxury of sleeping in (didn't work, seriously, my mind starts working at 6, I can sleep some other time).  Now however, life is starting to get dull, dull, dull.  So here is my survival guide for an executive lady that suddenly has too many hours in her day.

1.  Take a university course.  I am enrolled in my MBA so this was easy.  I started HR Strategic Management the first week I was back from holidays and it eats up 4 hours/day at minimum.  Take a challenging course that makes you think, no basket weaving for you driven woman.

2.  House and yard work.  Not the dusting and laundry but the painting, the cleaning out the storage room, attacking the disgusting gunk in your eaves troughs.  You can do the laundry anytime.

3.  Join the gym.  I know I know, I can hear the whining.  There are a few reasons for this so hear me out.  If you are like me you need to be able to feel in control of your environment.  This is a perfect way to make a difference.  The other reason is a tough one, join the gym because it will make you leave the house everyday.

4.  Everyday get up, shower, get dressed and do something constructive.  Keep your routine of waking time and bed time.  Drag your sorry ass out of the house.  Turning into a depressed Netflix watching, candy eating, lump on couch will not be good for your soul now or your future self when you have to get back into the work world.

5.  Do good.  Help people, talk to an old person, hold the door open.  Make a difference in someone else's life by taking the time to be a friend.

6.  And at the bottom of the list, Look for a new job.  If you can afford to take time off then do not rush.  Research what is out there and spend some time researching what you want to do with yourself.

In summary, in order to continue to be a strong, ethic leader you need to continue to work on your emotional intelligence.  Do not let your feelings of inadequacy drive your decisions any more than you would let them if you were working.   Control the things you can and find a way to accept the things you can't so that you don't end up obsessing about things at 4 in the morning.

This pretty car was my project today.   When I put it away for the winter I didn't clean it properly so I spent some time today giving it some tender loving care.  It also wouldn't start because the battery that needed replacing.  Us unemployed people are really happy when replacing things like that turn into a warranty job, score!

Job hunting hell

Let me tell you about job hunting these days.  Those of you that are laid off like me already know  the special hell this is but let me fill in everyone else.

Now I am not a serious career seeker yet.  If I can swing it I would never work again but I will settle for taking the summer off.  I still go online and check out the offerings though in case there is a job I can't live without.

Here is the process these days
1. Spend hours online looking on LinkedIn, Indeed, Workopolis, Jobbank, you name it.
2. Find a position that is appropriate for your credentials and experience
3. Click apply online (because that is your only option) and get forwarded to the company website
4. Open account on website, don't forget to mention you are a minority, because apparently we women are
5. Upload resume
6. Fill in all the data manually that your resume already has because the upload thingy does not work properly
7. Submit application into the resume abyss
8. Pray that you have put in enough key words for the HR management data sorter to recognize that you are the rock start they need for this position
9. NEVER HEAR FROM THE COMPANY

Company's are actually saying they only accept online applications. This way you type all your credentials into their database for them and they don't even have to read your resume.  I'm going to put statements like "leprechaun riding" and "whiskey shooting" to see if I can at least make someone curious enough to look at my resume.  Maybe some hieroglyphics or dead body pictures.

Selling the Chalet

Ok, so I'm a bit of a perfectionist (insert eye roll here).  When I get a house ready to sell, it is painted, staged, and spotless.  There are cutesy flowers on the entry table and fresh brownies on the counter. So what the hell are, not one, but two trees doing laying in my driveway. 

When I came home from my trip to Peru (and am laid off, don't forget) I decided to sell my house.  I decided this for many reasons; to be closer to my kids, to not have to spend 2 hours every 4 days mowing my lawn, to keep me from having to stand on a street corner in Bonnyville to get money for gas.

This is my rediculously large lawn.  Sure you can come drink beer around the firepit, bring a mower.

In February of this year we had a huge dump of snow and I needed to have the big assed driveway plowed.  This is half of said driveway

When the plow came through they ripped an entire spruce tree out by the roots and left it laying along my driveway.  Being the procrastinator that I am I left it there.  

Then I went on holidays and came back to another tree at the end of the drive laying in pieces.  Upon closer inspection I realized it was the top 20 feet of a tree that had broken off (not sure how, evil minions maybe).  The rest of this very big tree will come down someday soon, another reason to sell.  Luckily I was not here so my neighbours cleaned the tree off the road and piled it by my driveway.  Unluckily I procrastinated on moving it and it was frozen to the ground for 2 weeks before I could get that eyesore cleaned up.  

Now the trees are finally cleaned up, the house is listed, it's painted, staged, and spotless. And boring, so boring..  No more excuses, I have to get my assignments done and maybe start looking for a job, right after I eat a tub of icecream for supper and wash it down with a Rye and coke.

New life, maybe

Hi everyone, so here is my new blog....

For an unemployed woman I have alot of things going on right now, there is the selling of the house, the university studies, the visiting with the kids, the tree laying in my driveway....let start at the beginning.

On March 13 I received an email from my boss giving me a lay off notice WHILE I WAS ON VACATION!! asshole.

Let's talk about the vacation first.  On March 7 I left for a trip to Peru.  I hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, I went alligator hunting in the Amazon at night, I fed Piranhas.  The hike was an amazing test of endurance.  It was 48 kms and 13,750 feet above sea level at the highest point.  Day 2 was by far the most physically challenging day of my life and the most rewarding (aside from my kids of course).  Machu Picchu was anticlimatic after the journey of getting there.  Sure it was beautiful and a wonder worth seeing, but there was way too many people.  I highly recommend that if you want to go to Machu Picchu you hike the trail to get there.  Hey, I did it at 47 years old, that's no small feat.  It was honestly a life changing experience for me, I know there is nothing I can't do.

Let's get back to the asshole.  There I am heaving my carcass up the side of mountains and there is my boss thinking "oh if I lay people off while they are on holidays I won't have to pay them severance".   Right now you HR folks are getting riled up by this I am sure, don't worry I corrected him on the error of his ways. The job was "meh" so it works for me to be laid off right now.

So, to get back to the point, this blog is going to be about my quest for a fullfilling life that will likely include a new job since I haven't managed to find an old rich guy to bump off yet.  I don't know how long I can keep this blog up, us unemployed over achievers are very busy people, but I hope you enjoy it while it lasts.