Well, here I am at the beginning of my fifth week after being laid off and yes, still unemployed.  Here are some updates:

• Unemployment seems to be calculated based on the last 18 months of unemployment, and since I worked in Kansas at some point during that period I was able to claim unemployment in Kansas which will pay me about $100 more per week than Missouri - wohoo!
• I still haven’t gotten paid and I had some problems when I went to file for my third week of unemployment, some how my claim became inactive.  After days and days of trying to get through to the unemployment office I finally got through and straightened everything out.  I also have a tip for anyone else trying to contact the KS unemployment office: There are 4 phone numbers you can call to speak to a claims specialist, if you can’t get through on one try another.  I was instructed to call the Topeka number, but on a whim I decided to call the Kansas City area number (after all, I do live in the KC area right?) and was able to get through on my first phone call.  I did have to wait on hold for quite awhile, but at least they let me wait on hold instead of disconnecting my call.
• I have had 3 interviews for a position at Principal Financial Group in Overland Park, KS.  Since they’re still conducting interviews for the position I’m going to play it safe at leave it at that.
• I had another interview on Monday November 2 for a program assistant with a non-profit in Kansas.  Again, for now I’m going to leave it at that.
• I’m getting a little tired of being at home, essentially alone all day every day, and I think it’s starting to take a toll on me emotionally.  I don’t like to sit around and do nothing, but while I like to be busy I can only do so much housework.  I kind of struggled with this when I was working too because even when Dustin is home he spends most of his time doing homework and I had to find ways to entertain myself alone - not always fun.  Now I’ve added 8-9 more hours in my day that I need to fill and that’s quite a bit tougher.  Luckily, I’ve been able to fill many of my week nights and week ends with friends and family and I know that’s what is getting me through; I could not be more grateful for this support.
• Despite the above I have been enjoying some of the free time I’ve had.  I love being able to sleep in and take naps and I love being able to enjoy our dogs during their calmest time of the day.  I’ve also had the time to work on a few crafts as well as some other projects around the house I’ve been meaning to get to.  I even got to take a trip with my dad and my nephew Hayden to the the Children’s Museum - we had so much fun playing and now Hayden also wants to take me to Science City.  And if it weren’t for unemployment I would not have had the time to make my dog’s awesome Halloween costumes!

Since we don’t have kids of our own yet Dustin and I kind of think of our dogs as kids.  We (I?) like to take them wherever they can come but because they are so big it’s not always so easy.  This year we decided to take a chance and try taking them to our church’s Trunk-or-Treat.  But what kid goes trick-or-treating without a Halloween costume?  So after months of brainstorming (over a year really since we failed to come up with anything cool for last year) and some help from Google here’s what we came up with:

Gus as the Headless Horseman

Clover as Batdog

Ready for the trunk-or-treaters

The girls!

The dogs were surprisingly well behaved and seemed to make a good impression on kids and adults alike.  The best part, and proudest moment for mom and dad was at the end of the evening a little boy named Vaughn René asked if he could walk one of the dogs.  We gave him Clover, but after about 10 minutes he asked for Gus.  At this point his sister Savannah asked if she could walk Clover.  It was awesome to watch them with our dogs.  The kids were good, the dogs were good and we just sat back and watched to make sure no one left our sight.

Stay tuned for next year, we’ve got another great idea in store!

The Kansas City Marathon has come and gone and I survived.

My training did not exactly go as planned though - I took a break for a couple weeks in July around my Aunt Bette’s funeral and in September I developed some tendonitis in my right foot that prevented me from running more than 2-3 miles at a time.  Luckily my team was nice enough to give me the first leg of the race, a whopping 3.3 miles, so I didn’t feel too stressed about my lack of preparation.

I woke up at 5:45 am on race day hating myself (just a little bit) for agreeing to do this.  It was early, cold and rainy and I don’t really enjoy running that much.  As I was driving to Crown Center to meet the rest of my team the rain started pouring down and I just about burst into tears.  I was already nervous about running in the cold but I was NOT AT ALL prepared to run in the rain - I’m not that hard core.  As Dustin later told me, the “storm system” was a speck on the weather map so luckily as quickly as it started, it stopped.

I met up with Team Warren around 6:40 to pick up my bib, time chip and to meet the woman I’d be exchanging with.  We also took some time for a photo op (from left: Anette, Me, Elaine, Aaron (my brother).  Elaine’s husband is the fifth team member but is dropping their kids off at the baby sitter’s.)

After the photo I was off to find safety pins to attach my bib and to find the right pace to start the race.  The news said there were about 10,000 people there so soon after I made it to the marathon pace teams I decided to stop fighting the crowd - I’m not that fast anyway and I was past the walkers so I figured it wasn’t worth the effort to move up further.

The race started at 7 am, just north of Pershing heading north on Grand.  I knew there were a lot of people there but as I crossed the start line and everyone spread out, there were people as far as I could see headed up the hill in front of me.  I don’t consider myself an emotional person but I could feel my eyes welling up again as I took in this image.  For a moment I wished I had a camera because it was so awesome and so inspiring and I was so proud to be a part of that - even if I was only running 3.3 miles.

I felt fantastic as I ran!  As I was approaching the 3 mile marker I felt like I wanted to keep going, which was good because I still had to face what is probably the steepest hill of the race - the hill from Union Station up to Liberty Memorial.  For those of you not familiar with this hill, it’s about a 100 foot change in elevation in less than a half mile.  It took all I had left to make it up this hill.  I even tried to walk for a few seconds but it didn’t really make it any easier.

The plan for the rest of the day was to meet back at the finish to cheer Aaron on, but since my team still had 23 miles to run I figured I’d go home to eat breakfast and take a power nap.  On a normal day it would take me 10-15 minutes to get home, but after 45 minutes of trying to get around the marathon I gave up, went to Starbucks and headed back to Crown Center.  I wondered around by myself for about an hour before meeting up with Elaine after she finished her leg.  Together we watched her parents finish their SECOND half marathon together with an amazing walking time of 3 hours, 45 minutes, then the four of us waited for my brother.  After seeing other relay teams finish together Elaine and I decided we’d run into the finish line with Aaron but when we popped out of the crowd Aaron says “I’ll race you!” and sprinted away.  NOT what either of us expected, although in hind sight I’m not surprised - that’s TOTALLY my brother!

Our team finished in 51st place out of 107 teams with at time of 4:17:22, 9:50 mile pace.

From left: Jeff, Elaine, Aaron, Me

To be honest I’m actually quite disappointed in my split but it probably explains why I was feeling so fantastic at the time.  I felt like I was going at my normal pace and I was passing people the whole time but I figure that’s probably because I started with a slower pace group.  In the end, it was probably a good thing because I was not at all prepared for that hill.  I can’t imagine feeling how I normally do when I run and then having to face that hill.

With that said, the whole day inspired me to do better - to run further and faster.  Some day I’d love to do a marathon all on my own, but I have to work on finding a passion for running that I don’t currently have.  I’ll do what I can to keep running on my own and to increase my milage using the feelings I had at the marathon as my motivation for as long as I can.  But I’d also like to join a training team because it was evident to me on Saturday that I do well drawing from the motivation of others.

At 5 pm on October 5 I found out that my company could no longer afford to employ me - effective immediately. I was actually given two options: I could take the lay off and they would pay me two weeks severance plus any accrued and unused vacation and sick time, or I could work part time until a) I found another job or b) they couldn’t afford to do that anymore either.

While I was shocked, I was not surprised - my company has been in financial trouble for a few months and I believed it was only a matter of time before I was let go, however I was hoping to have found a job before that time would come.  After a lot of thinking and discussing with Dustin I opted for unemployment, so as of today October 6 I am officially unemployed.

I went into the office this morning for the last time to clean out my desk and turn in my keys and as I walked to my car with my boxes and bags I was a roller coaster of emotions. Relieved to not have to go back to a job I really didn’t enjoy, scared knowing we only have so much money to tide us over, and determined to find a new, better job.

I already have the rest of this week planned out, hoping it will set me up for “successful” unemployment. Today will be dedicated to filing my unemployment claim and learning as much as I can about my responsibilities to the state of Missouri while receiving unemployment. I also hope to get a handle on my emotions and get it out of my system. Tomorrow will be a day of recovery - I expect today to be exhausting so I’m giving myself permission to sleep in and relax before hitting my job search hard and heavy. Thursday I have a 7 am meeting arranged with someone from a local advertising agency that I hope to be helpful and informative. I will take everything I can from this meeting and hit the ground running.

No one ever expects to find themselves in my situation, but I know I’m not the first nor will I be the last. If you’ve been in my situation I welcome your stories, suggestions and lessons learned. Also, please don’t be shy about telling my story to your friends and colleagues and if you hear of any opportunities please pass them my way. Prayers would be appreciated too.

I am determined to make the best of this situation but I know I won’t get anywhere alone. Thanks in advance for your love and support.

I’m unaware of how other blogs work, but with tumblr you can make a post by choosing from a number of formats - text, photo, quote, link, chat, audio and video.  Previously, if you wanted to include a photo in a text post (like what I often see in blogger posts like this one) you could only upload it from a site like Flickr.  Tumblr is now testing a new feature that allows you to upload photos directly from your desktop.

So here’s my test:  Pampered Chef Snowman Appetizer Plates.

And now some self promotion:

The set of 4 can be purchased for $21.50, or if you book a show with me between now and October 31 I’ll give you one of these plates for free.

Feel free to visit my Pampered Chef web site to browse the products or make a purchase and contact me if you’d like to host a show or know anyone else who might be interested.

Introducing…..

Well, I haven’t exactly figured out what I’m going to call it yet - but be patient, it’ll be good decent mediocre at best.

Since beginning this blog in July, I’ve really enjoyed reading other people’s blogs.  There is a curiosity inside me that enjoys delving into a person’s personal life - not in a gossipy kind of way (well, maybe in a gossipy kind of way, I do follow E! Online on Twitter) but I really mean in a more This American Life or Story Corps kind of way.  In my short lived life in the blogsphere so far, I’ve come to appreciate that blogs allow people to express themselves in a myriad of different ways within the confines of a template used by many.  I find myself in awe whenever I come across a new blog - in awe of creativity, sincerity, and hilarity just to name a few - and it inspires me to do more with this haphazard blog.  So, I’ve decided to start doing some posts about these blogs I come across and why I like them and if you have any others to share I’d love to take a look.

Also, if you have any ideas about what I should call these posts you can go ahead and share those too!

When Dustin left for the summer I promised him he’d come home to wood floors in our rooms instead of carpet.  Well he did, but not in the condition I was hoping to have them in.  My dad agreed to help me refinish the floors but as he was helping me rip up the carpet he said he’d give us some money to have it professionally done if that meant he didn’t have to do the sanding.  So instead, I started asking around for referrals and Dustin came home to this (minus the carpet, padding and tack strips):

Although hiring a contractor meant spending more than we had hoped, we decided this was the best thing to do since we know we’ll be selling the house in a few years and we want to know the floors will be done well.    And lucky for us, the contractor we choose had an opening the very next week!  Here are some pictures of the floors in progress.

Day 1:

Day 2:

The closet in our bedroom had been moved, so there were parts of the floor that did not have the nice wood planks, so our contractor added some new pieces.

Day 3:

I don’t have any pictures of days 4 and 5 because we were asked not to walk on the floor.  But here are some pictures of our bedroom makeover after the floors are done.

From the doorway, you get a good view of the floors:

This is from behind the chair:

Since we’ve been married I have complained that I will never be allowed to have a “girly” room because he is so adamantly against pink and purple.  We received the gray duvet for our guest room for Christmas this year and as a compromise Dustin agreed to let me have purple accents and let me do what I want with the room.  But before leaving for the summer Dustin asked if we could use the bedding in our bedroom instead.  I told him “you know that means the walls will be purple, right?” And he said yes!  Well, he didn’t expect that ALL the walls would be purple but he is growing accustom to it.  We still plan on getting some gray curtains, a gray area rug, gray (to match the quilt) pillow shams and gray/black/white art for the walls to tone the purple down.  And who knows, in a few more months we might end up painting one or two walls gray as well.  It’s still a work in progress but I’m happy to have a room that’s a little more girly and beautiful wood floors.

Sarah alisema ni bora niandike kitu kingine kwa Kiswahili, lakini sitaki. Hata hivyo, yeye ni mke wangu, kwa hiyo ni lazima ili nifanye alisema. Sina kitu cho chote kuzungumzia, lakini nitaendelea kuandika hadi anasema kwamba ninaweza kuacha. Nimemaliza.

Dustin started his last year of classes (woo!) a couple weeks ago and now has a night class on the same nights that I volunteer at The Nelson.  Since we’ll both be gone all day we decided to try taking the dogs to daycare.  We decided to take them to Dog’s World of Fun because a) it’s on my way to work and b) it’s the cheapest daycare around at $11/day per dog.

Although it is on my way to work, it was still slightly inconvenient to take them to daycare because I had to get up a little earlier (I am NOT a morning person) and I have to pick them up by 5:30 pm, take them home, feed them and kennel them and get back to the Nelson by 6 pm.  But regardless I was still very excited about it, and daycare did not let me down!

When I went to pick the dogs up the woman at the front desk told me “If you didn’t know better, you would think they have been coming here for years!”  She told me they both got along really well with all the dogs and played all day - and boy were they tired!  They both laid down as soon as we got home and they didn’t even follow me when I went to get their food.  And they were still sleeping when I got home from volunteering.  It was a great night.

Gus did come home with a battle wound, but I probably would not have noticed if the workers didn’t point it out to me.  As you can tell by the picture, Gus didn’t seem to notice either.

All in all it was a great experience for all of us.  We wish we could afford to take them more often but we are grateful to have found Dogs World of Fun so we can take them when we need to.

I received this video today from my friend Elaine and found it energizing for my quest to learn more about social media.  The creators packed a lot of information and statistics into a 4:23 minute video but for the most part I thought it was well done - although I did find portions of it a bit over the top.  It really makes you wonder what businesses are doing if they aren’t taking advantage of social media, and I think that’s the point of the video.  So well done @equalman.

Favorite stat: Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama.

Most shocking stat: In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing email addresses to incoming freshman (because Gen Y and Z consider email passé).

Most disturbing speculation: In the near future we will no longer search for products and services, they will find us via social media.