Well, I still can't find a job but I did get into grad school!! I'm going to be a teacher! I'm really excited about it and school starts tomorrow. I'm also still looking for employment but at least now I feel like I am moving forward towards something. At this point, I have no idea how we're going to get through it financially but I have to have faith that things are going to work out.
It has been nearly 4 months since I lost my job and in that time I have probably submitted my resume to around 50 different places. I have only had 1 call back for an interview and it turned out to be something different than what they portrayed and I didn't get the job. It's frustrating and a little depressing but I keep at it.
My daughter went back to school last week and so far she loves it! She loves her teacher and her class. I just can't believe she's in 4th grade. Since kindergarten, her preferred lunch has been a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We've tried different lunch meats but she always goes back to pb&j. This past week I finally found something else that she eat for lunch, a peanut butter & banana wrap. I was so happy to finally find something new for her to bring to school for her lunch.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Looking for a change
So I've been searching for a job for 2 months now and so far...nothing. I have an appointment with career services at my alma mater in a couple of weeks so I'm hoping it will be helpful in my search for employment. The jobs I have applied for have all fallen into the realm of what I know and what I've been doing for the past 11 years. I realize that as much as I need to find something, I also have this fear that I'll wind up in another desk job feeling just as miserable as I was before.
Many moons ago, when I transferred from community college to university, I wanted to be a social studies teacher. Once I transferred, I decided that political science was my thing which then led to legal studies and ultimately becoming a paralegal. For the past few years, I have regretted that decision and wished that I had become a teacher. Unfortunately, we have not been in a place financially where I could afford to go back to school to pursue teaching. Since I am not working and not having much luck in the job search, now is the time to return to school. I have applied to a Master's in English and Language Arts Education program. I expect that it will still be a couple more weeks until I find out if I was accepted or not and the suspense is killing me! This way, even if I find a job, I will still be moving forward toward something I will truly enjoy.
We're learning how to entertain ourselves without breaking the bank. We've spent a lot of time swimming in my parents pool, visiting the beach, going to the park, checking out books at the library and just being together. We stopped eating out and we're getting much better at buying only the things we need. I wish we had figured this out a long time ago, but I guess it's better late than never!
Many moons ago, when I transferred from community college to university, I wanted to be a social studies teacher. Once I transferred, I decided that political science was my thing which then led to legal studies and ultimately becoming a paralegal. For the past few years, I have regretted that decision and wished that I had become a teacher. Unfortunately, we have not been in a place financially where I could afford to go back to school to pursue teaching. Since I am not working and not having much luck in the job search, now is the time to return to school. I have applied to a Master's in English and Language Arts Education program. I expect that it will still be a couple more weeks until I find out if I was accepted or not and the suspense is killing me! This way, even if I find a job, I will still be moving forward toward something I will truly enjoy.
We're learning how to entertain ourselves without breaking the bank. We've spent a lot of time swimming in my parents pool, visiting the beach, going to the park, checking out books at the library and just being together. We stopped eating out and we're getting much better at buying only the things we need. I wish we had figured this out a long time ago, but I guess it's better late than never!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Summer Time!
So tomorrow will mark four weeks since my last day as an employee! I'm continuing my search for something new, but so far...nothing.
Yesterday was my daughter's last day of 3rd grade! I just can't believe that the school year is over and it is summertime. As I thought about today being my daughter's first day of summer vacation, I realized that this is actually gearing up to be my first summer vacation since I was in high school. Wow!! It got me to thinking about how I spent my summer's as a child and about how my own daughter has spent her previous summer's. My brother and I would spend every summer playing with friends, moving (because my dad got transferred) and/or going to visit my grandparents. Sometimes I really only had my younger brother to play with because we would move and neither of us knew anyone at the new place yet. As for my daughter, she was in daycare year round until she started school then once she started school she went to a combination of camps or to a relative's house. Until I lost my job, I was completely stressing about summertime as I had in previous years. Each Spring, I stress out about how to cover daycare expenses for the summer. I'm sure that any working parent can relate to this...childcare is expensive! We are fortunate to live near lots of great summer camps, but unfortunately most are so outrageously pricey that they are out of our price range, especially to do it for the entire summer. The last two years, we have been able to do a mix of camp and having a family member watch her. This year we had already committed to a couple of weeks of camp and now she'll be home with me for the rest of the summer. I hope that I can make it special and memorable for her.
Yesterday was my daughter's last day of 3rd grade! I just can't believe that the school year is over and it is summertime. As I thought about today being my daughter's first day of summer vacation, I realized that this is actually gearing up to be my first summer vacation since I was in high school. Wow!! It got me to thinking about how I spent my summer's as a child and about how my own daughter has spent her previous summer's. My brother and I would spend every summer playing with friends, moving (because my dad got transferred) and/or going to visit my grandparents. Sometimes I really only had my younger brother to play with because we would move and neither of us knew anyone at the new place yet. As for my daughter, she was in daycare year round until she started school then once she started school she went to a combination of camps or to a relative's house. Until I lost my job, I was completely stressing about summertime as I had in previous years. Each Spring, I stress out about how to cover daycare expenses for the summer. I'm sure that any working parent can relate to this...childcare is expensive! We are fortunate to live near lots of great summer camps, but unfortunately most are so outrageously pricey that they are out of our price range, especially to do it for the entire summer. The last two years, we have been able to do a mix of camp and having a family member watch her. This year we had already committed to a couple of weeks of camp and now she'll be home with me for the rest of the summer. I hope that I can make it special and memorable for her.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Routine
I've sort of settled into a little bit of a daily routine. I walk my daughter to school then come home, have some coffee and turn on my computer for some job searching. I've decided that job hunting stinks! It seems like you can divide most of the available jobs out there into 3 categories: IT/computer related fields, healthcare or sales. I've come across so many jobs opportunities that are labeled as sales and most of those appear to be companies looking for telemarketers...UGH!! I've submitted my resume to several places but have yet to hear anything.
I kind of enjoy the peace and quiet of the house during the day, but I'm wondering how other not working people spend their days. I can only spend so much time looking for a job everyday so I'm left with the rest of the day wondering what to do. I like to read, but I can't sit and read all the time. I'm starting to feel a bit restless. I think it's time to find a hobby!
I kind of enjoy the peace and quiet of the house during the day, but I'm wondering how other not working people spend their days. I can only spend so much time looking for a job everyday so I'm left with the rest of the day wondering what to do. I like to read, but I can't sit and read all the time. I'm starting to feel a bit restless. I think it's time to find a hobby!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The 1st Week of the Rest of My Life
My daughter will be finishing 3rd grade in just a couple of weeks and last week I found myself sitting in the car line at her school for the first time ever! I've heard other mom's complain about having to sit and wait in the car line, but I really didn't think it was so bad. Her school runs the line rather quickly and efficiently. All of the "car rider" children are outside patiently waiting in the covered sidewalk area of the car ramp and as each parent drives up, a teacher reads out the child's name from the placard that we have hanging from our rearview mirror.
I've been walking her to school every morning and either picking her up or walking her home from school everyday. Twice last week she asked me braid her hair for her. These may seem like simple little things, but these are things that I have not been able to do for my daughter because I have worked.
On another note, I got my resume in order and sent it to a few places. It was little discouraging because I discovered that two of the positions I applied for had over 450 other applicants...
I've been walking her to school every morning and either picking her up or walking her home from school everyday. Twice last week she asked me braid her hair for her. These may seem like simple little things, but these are things that I have not been able to do for my daughter because I have worked.
On another note, I got my resume in order and sent it to a few places. It was little discouraging because I discovered that two of the positions I applied for had over 450 other applicants...
Jobless
It's May 4, 2012 and it's my last day of work at a job that I've had for 8 years. I'm being laid off. What do I do now? How will my family and I make ends meet? Is now the time to change careers? How difficult will it be to find a new job in this economy? So many questions... and so many answers. I'm feeling sort of lost at the moment and I'm not at all sure of what direction I should go. Besides the year I took off to finish school and the couple of months I was off when my daughter was born, I've worked consistently for just over 20 years. I hadn't been particularly happy in my job for last couple of years so I'm trying to look at the current situation not as a loss of employment, but as a blessing in disguise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)