U is for Unemployed.

Do not fear, family, I haven't been sacked. You may resume breathing…now.
The end of the alphabet is tough, but Mike has helped me come up with topics for the last few letters (thank you, honey).

This little guy is what I did in my 1st period of unemployment…after I graduated for college. It became really easy after Bray was born (to my sister, not me!) to put off getting a job. My sister needed the help, and I was at a point in my life where I could volunteer my time and efforts towards raising the wee one, thanks to mom and dad, who let me free-load for awhile…a long while.


Once Lonny was off maternity leave, Bray and I settled into our routine. We'd eat, we'd read the papers together (see below), we'd have tummy time, he'd nap most days of the week, but a couple days a week, he'd go to a babysitter. So when I eventually had a job, he would be completely use to it, and I did hold a couple part-time jobs, so that allowed me to make money to pay for my student loan, car and the impending wedding. And as the weather got nicer, we took daily walks. To the Square where we would sit in the grass and listen to Cubs games on a little radio. To the library where Bray was the best baby the librarians had ever seen and not heard. And just around the neighborhood.

It was during this time that I also became really interested in crafting. Before it was something I would do on a rare occasion, but with the wireless hookup in my bedroom and late nights still leftover from college, I discovered things like Craftster. The first couple of projects that really got me intrigued were a suit jacket purse and paper/packing tape wallets. And I was a goner.

Now don't think of me as some bum who played with a baby a couple days a week and surfed the internet constantly (though I'm pretty sure that's what my mom thinks that's all I did). I read a lot. I planned a wedding. I cooked dinner every night which was probably the most fun. Mom let me experiment as much as I wanted - like completely homemade lasagna complete with hand rolled lasagna noodles. And challenging with I had to adhere to the rules of the South Beach Diet (hello 'Same Ole, Same Ole' a dish that consists of ground turkey meat, green beans, diced tomatoes and a bit of mozzarella). I even cleaned, though that is my mom's bread & butter so things were never quite right.

And as a year rolled around, I even started to sneak job interviews. I'm very superstitious. I didn't want to jinx any chance I had at getting a job. Once again, lucky we had a babysitter who would let me drop Braydon off if I managed to secure a meeting. As wedding time approached, I was no nearer to a job or at least I thought. Until I received a call from a place I'd interviewed at a couple months before, twice. And then I had a job. Starting 2 weeks before the wedding. Talk about stressful. Having not been sick since I got over some mystery illness that even the doctor couldn't diagnose at graduation time, I was knocked down just in time for my first day of work. They even told me to go home at a half day. There was no way that was happening on my first day. It cleared up in time for the wedding.

Unemployment period number 2 was technically by choice. You may remember it…only a few months ago. From January to April of this year when we first moved down here. I really became accustomed to being at home doing my own thing this time around. I was able to whatever I pleased, whenever I wanted. I had my routine again - sleeping in, reading a couple blogs, making lunch for Mike, crafting, reading, making dinner. I'm really surprised how not bored I was. Some days, when work is stressful, I find myself wistful for those days.

Mike kept me somewhat diligent on trying to find a job. He let me relax and get used to the new surroundings, but after about a month he started making sure I would look in the paper every day and apply for anything that was design related, not wanting to miss an opportunity. Now that I think about it, I must have been a little bored because I did look in the classifieds every day without Mike bugging me. But I won't dwell on that, you always only remember the good times, right? I did do some freelance work in this time, about a month straight of work (out of our apartment - even better when you can get paid to work in your pajamas), so I wasn't a complete slacker.

But man, I did get a lot of knitting done in that time.

That makes me wistful now, I've been in the middle of a project for about a month and a half and I'm desperate to finish and move on. I've been knitting in every spare moment, but that doesn't amount to much when you're working 9.5 hours a day.