Well, I'm still waiting to hear back about the interview I had with my orange-striped hair. I guess there's not as much urgency to fill the position as I thought, since everyone involved with the hiring is on vacation until next week!
I did manage to find a sale on the hair coloring I normally use, so on Monday I picked up a box, re-did my hair, and was elated when it came out the way I wanted it to ... back to my original color at last! Some people would (and have) said that coloring my hair is an unnecessary expense when I'm trying to save money, but I see it as an investment in my job search ... the alternative would be to go to interviews looking as though I'm almost ready to retire, and nobody's going to hire someone who seems that old.
On Wednesday I was back at Mom's place. I got all her books re-shelved, but when I offered to do the china cabinet she said no, she was too tired. So that will get done some time this coming week. I'm sure when it's finished, she'll think of something else she wants done; I don't think she'll ever admit that she's just lonely and wants company, because that would be admitting a "weakness". It's too bad, really, because I do enjoy her company and would go and see her every few days even without being manipulated into it.
Thursday there was a big "Hiring Fair" over at the Rec Center. I borrowed my daughter's transit pass, since she didn't have to be at work until 5:00 p.m., followed the website's instructions to take lots of resumes and dress professionally, and was there at 9:30 a.m. since the doors were to open at 10:00 a.m. There were already hundreds of people in line ahead of me; I heard later that almost eight thousand people showed up! I was surprised to see most of the crowd in jeans, shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops - yes, it was a hot, sunny day, but some of us (myself included) made the effort to look professional ... As it turned out, we probably needn't have bothered. Of all the exhibitors, there were only three that were offering anything I'm even remotely suited to, or interested in, and none of them were taking resumes, only giving out the website addresses to apply on-line. Still, I don't regret making the effort.
I got home to find a message to call a shipping company I'd applied to a couple of weeks ago. I called them back and was offered an interview for Friday! It was quite a pleasant surprise, since I'd pretty much resigned myself to not hearing from them. So I freshened up my other suit, polished my shoes, did my nails and eyebrows, and lay awake half the night thinking of all the questions I might be asked and how best to answer them.
The interview itself was rather short - about twenty minutes - and they did say it would be "a week or two" before I heard back from them. So I'll give it two weeks and then call.
After the interview, I walked a block up the street to see two former co-workers who've been kind enough to be references for me. We had a really nice visit, and one of them offered to call a friend at another shipping company on Monday to see if they were still hiring for a documents position, and if they'd be interested in seeing me. That was really heart-warming, and I told her so!
Friday night, as always, was movie night at Mom's, with my sister. We watched an episode of "Rumpole Of The Bailey" and thoroughly enjoyed it, and then Sister helped me carry the books Mom was getting rid of down to my car, where they went into the trunk with the rest of the stuff I'll be dropping off at the local thrift/charity store tomorrow.
The weekend has been fairly lazy, for a change. I finally got to dig into my latest acquired-with-gift-card Robin Hobb trilogy ... I think I may have to go back and re-read the trilogy that precedes this one, just to refresh my memory of everything that leads to the events in these new books. Funny, I always thought that if I lost my job I'd at least have time to do all the reading I wanted to, but it hasn't worked out that way. Between the daily job search, the housework, the much bigger vegetable garden, the things I've taken on to try bringing in a little more income, the changes I've implemented at home to save money, and the frugal expand-the-office-wardrobe tactics I've adopted, it often feels as though I have less "free" time now than I did when I was employed full-time!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Playing Catch-up
Where was I? Oh, yes, my"launch party". It went pretty well, considering most of the people who said they'd be there suddenly had "something" come up to stop them from showing up. About what I'd expected, though. It's too bad more people can't just be honest enough to say "No, thanks, not my kind of thing." The ones who did show up had a great time, and so did I.
A few days later I had my older daughter help me re-dye my hair, as my roots had grown out almost an inch and I had a job interview scheduled. Problem was, it was originally scheduled for four days later, but they bumped it up on a few hours' notice, which gave me the morning (the interview was for 2:30 in the afternoon) to get the hair taken care of, instead of doing it over the weekend. Panic time! Rushed out to get the hair dye, found the store was out of what I usually use, so I picked another product by the same manufacturer that was, supposedly, the same colour. Well, not so much ... with two hours to interview time I rinsed out my hair, looked in the mirror, and ... I looked like a tiger cub. Yes, my dark brown hair now had ORANGE roots. Too late to do anything but comb it, braid it back, and act like I'd done it on purpose. I have my faults and shortcomings, but I'm not unprofessional enough to reschedule a job interview just because I'm having a bad hair day!
The interview itself, I think, went fairly well. Usually it's pretty easy to tell after the first ten minutes whether or not it's going to go anywhere ... at this one, they kept me there talking for over an hour - a very good sign! And at the very end, the HR gentleman described the tests they ask their "second interviews" to do and asked if they'd be a problem for me. Well, of course I said they wouldn't! But I can't help wondering why he'd ask me that if they weren't seriously interested in bringing me back for the second round ... my mood right now is best described as "cautiously optimistic". It hasn't stopped me from continuing to send out more applications and resumes, though.
June 30th was the day I was really thankful for having no reason at all to go shopping for anything. Apparently all the malls and shopping centres were absolute madhouses as everyone and their grandma went shopping for everything you can think of, to get it all before the HST came into effect the next day. About the only things I can think of that we still buy that might have HST applied are cat food, cat litter, toilet paper and cleaning supplies ... if there's anything else (and I will be checking), well, as far as possible we'll just stop buying whatever it is!
That was also the day our new water meter was installed. It's too bad we won't really know until the end of next March if it was worth it. I find I'm already being much more conscious of how much water we use, and looking for ways to cut it back. The rest of the family thinks it's all about the money, but for me it's also about conservation and respect for our resources and our environment.
Canada Day was croquet party time at my sister's place. Cool and cloudy, but it didn't actually rain, so we all played terrible croquet on her crazy, lumpy, unmowed back lawn and had tons of fun. Good food, good people, lots of lemon meringue martinis, green apple martinis, and raspberry vodka punch (except for me, damn, because I was driving). A very, very good day.
Friday and Saturday were nice, slow, lazy days. The basics still got done, of course - the dishes got washed, animals got fed, and so on - but not much else happened. I spent lots of time on the sofa reading and watching movies and just enjoying a little down time.
Today I was over at my Mom's for a few hours again. All her windows are now clean, all the drapes are washed and back up, all the paintings and photos are on display again. She'll probably want me to go back during the week to help her get all the books back onto the shelves, and her china and crystal back into the display cabinet, but then (with luck) we'll be done.
Tomorrow - Monday - I'll be back to the same old routine again. Check all the job boards and postings, touch base with all the agencies, figure out how to make the money last all month. The rest of the week, once all the housework and so on is done, will be spent looking for more possible ways to bring in a little extra money and maybe even hang on to a little more of what we already have.
A few days later I had my older daughter help me re-dye my hair, as my roots had grown out almost an inch and I had a job interview scheduled. Problem was, it was originally scheduled for four days later, but they bumped it up on a few hours' notice, which gave me the morning (the interview was for 2:30 in the afternoon) to get the hair taken care of, instead of doing it over the weekend. Panic time! Rushed out to get the hair dye, found the store was out of what I usually use, so I picked another product by the same manufacturer that was, supposedly, the same colour. Well, not so much ... with two hours to interview time I rinsed out my hair, looked in the mirror, and ... I looked like a tiger cub. Yes, my dark brown hair now had ORANGE roots. Too late to do anything but comb it, braid it back, and act like I'd done it on purpose. I have my faults and shortcomings, but I'm not unprofessional enough to reschedule a job interview just because I'm having a bad hair day!
The interview itself, I think, went fairly well. Usually it's pretty easy to tell after the first ten minutes whether or not it's going to go anywhere ... at this one, they kept me there talking for over an hour - a very good sign! And at the very end, the HR gentleman described the tests they ask their "second interviews" to do and asked if they'd be a problem for me. Well, of course I said they wouldn't! But I can't help wondering why he'd ask me that if they weren't seriously interested in bringing me back for the second round ... my mood right now is best described as "cautiously optimistic". It hasn't stopped me from continuing to send out more applications and resumes, though.
June 30th was the day I was really thankful for having no reason at all to go shopping for anything. Apparently all the malls and shopping centres were absolute madhouses as everyone and their grandma went shopping for everything you can think of, to get it all before the HST came into effect the next day. About the only things I can think of that we still buy that might have HST applied are cat food, cat litter, toilet paper and cleaning supplies ... if there's anything else (and I will be checking), well, as far as possible we'll just stop buying whatever it is!
That was also the day our new water meter was installed. It's too bad we won't really know until the end of next March if it was worth it. I find I'm already being much more conscious of how much water we use, and looking for ways to cut it back. The rest of the family thinks it's all about the money, but for me it's also about conservation and respect for our resources and our environment.
Canada Day was croquet party time at my sister's place. Cool and cloudy, but it didn't actually rain, so we all played terrible croquet on her crazy, lumpy, unmowed back lawn and had tons of fun. Good food, good people, lots of lemon meringue martinis, green apple martinis, and raspberry vodka punch (except for me, damn, because I was driving). A very, very good day.
Friday and Saturday were nice, slow, lazy days. The basics still got done, of course - the dishes got washed, animals got fed, and so on - but not much else happened. I spent lots of time on the sofa reading and watching movies and just enjoying a little down time.
Today I was over at my Mom's for a few hours again. All her windows are now clean, all the drapes are washed and back up, all the paintings and photos are on display again. She'll probably want me to go back during the week to help her get all the books back onto the shelves, and her china and crystal back into the display cabinet, but then (with luck) we'll be done.
Tomorrow - Monday - I'll be back to the same old routine again. Check all the job boards and postings, touch base with all the agencies, figure out how to make the money last all month. The rest of the week, once all the housework and so on is done, will be spent looking for more possible ways to bring in a little extra money and maybe even hang on to a little more of what we already have.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Back At Last
Well, life has certainly been - interesting. As in, "May you live in interesting times." But I did finally figure out what I was doing wrong, so now (fingers crossed) my posts will at least stay posted and not disappear any more. I'm not going to try to re-create what vanished, just take it from here.
When I was first laid off, I fully expected to have another job within a month. But that was ten months ago ... there isn't much out there, though I dutifully go on line every day to do my two hours of searching and applying.
Then I started examining the household budget, looking for ways to cut costs and do without spending money on things. And I realized - there weren't many costs left to cut. We'd already been living pretty frugally, since we really want to reduce our debt load as quickly as we can. We heat with a wood stove most of the time, we turn lights etc off when we leave the room, we don't let the water run, we don't water the lawn, we shop at thrift stores, dollar stores, Costco, we never shop without a list and only get what's on it, my car is twenty years old & we do all the maintenance ourselves, we only do laundry in cold water and hang it all to dry.
I do see myself getting more vigilant about water usage once the meter is installed. Indications are that choosing to go on a water meter (installed free by the city) instead of paying the flat yearly non-metered amount should save us a couple of hundred dollars a year. We won't know for sure until we get next year's water/sewer/utilities bill, but paying almost a thousand dollars this spring was a real eye-opener! I just wish there was a way to reduce the property taxes as well.
So, not finding many areas where we could spend less than we do now, I've been doing whatever I can to bring in a little income over and above my EI benefits. I'm a rep for a well-known cosmetics company (no, not Mary Kay) - have been for years - but business has been pretty minimal lately. I had two local bi-weekly paper routes for a few months, but had to give them up; doctor's orders as I was doing too much damage to my already bad knees. Lately I've been doing a lot of cleaning and other odd jobs for my Mom, which she insists on paying me for even though I'd do them for nothing; things that actually do need to be done, like windows and drapes and cleaning out her storage locker. She's been having some health issues that kept her from doing these things herself, which is why I offered to do them in the first place; I never expected that she'd pay me to do them, but I am grateful.
And I've just signed up to be a consultant for a gourmet food products company (no, not Pampered Chef). Had my "launch party" last Friday night - more about that, and the rest of last week, in my next post.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Starting Over
On August 31, 2009, everything changed.
I was laid off - actually, the paperwork says "Position Eliminated", which amounts to the same thing.
The financial repercussions weren't immediate, thanks to a generous severance package, but the emotional effects were something else.
I went through several stages ... I was determined to have another job before my birthday. Then before Christmas. Then before Easter. Then before Canada Day. Now? Well, before my EI runs out, I hope ... But the jobs just aren't out there. My field has shrunk, as I put it to friends, like a cashmere sweater in a laundromat dryer; every job posted - and there aren't many - gets an average of five HUNDRED applicants. The odds are not in my favour right now, but that doesn't stop me from looking, nor from breaking out of my comfort zone to apply for jobs outside my field that I think I'm qualified for.
It's hard. It's discouraging. It's brutal on the ego. But I WILL NOT let that stop me.
In the meantime, I'm doing whatever I can to minimize expenses, bring in extra income, and increase my chances of getting a new job. And that's what this blog is all about.
Being frugal.
Being determined.
Being adventurous.
Being creative.
And - with a little luck, and a lot of hard work - being employed again.
I was laid off - actually, the paperwork says "Position Eliminated", which amounts to the same thing.
The financial repercussions weren't immediate, thanks to a generous severance package, but the emotional effects were something else.
I went through several stages ... I was determined to have another job before my birthday. Then before Christmas. Then before Easter. Then before Canada Day. Now? Well, before my EI runs out, I hope ... But the jobs just aren't out there. My field has shrunk, as I put it to friends, like a cashmere sweater in a laundromat dryer; every job posted - and there aren't many - gets an average of five HUNDRED applicants. The odds are not in my favour right now, but that doesn't stop me from looking, nor from breaking out of my comfort zone to apply for jobs outside my field that I think I'm qualified for.
It's hard. It's discouraging. It's brutal on the ego. But I WILL NOT let that stop me.
In the meantime, I'm doing whatever I can to minimize expenses, bring in extra income, and increase my chances of getting a new job. And that's what this blog is all about.
Being frugal.
Being determined.
Being adventurous.
Being creative.
And - with a little luck, and a lot of hard work - being employed again.
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