Ahead....

There is a road in front of me, a new one--at least for me it is new. After Monday, for the first time in many years, I have no job to go to. Not yet anyway. For the first time in many years, I get to just be... be a mom, be at home, be a wife. Not an employee. It's weird to think about. My last break from work was in 2006, when I took a buyout from Safeway to relocate my family.

So what's ahead?

I don't know, to be honest. I don't know how long I'll be unemployed. It could be a couple of weeks, a month, maybe two. I may get a new job very soon, I may get my old job back if the other secretary finds something else. I won't get a lot of money on unemployment, so it can't last too long. But in the meantime I do plan on enjoying my break, taking the time to refocus and rebuild, to figure out what my next step really should be.

I would like to:

Take the kids swimming

Use our (mostly) free family bowling passes

Read some good picture books to the kids

Work in the garden

Clean out more bookshelves

Go see fireworks

Go to the park

Attend some free craft sessions (for teens) at the library

Use the morning all-you-can-ride/play passes at the local mini golf course/entertainment center

Ride our bicycles

Make some smores

Head out to the coast for a day here and there

Do some activities from Family Math, Perfectly Perilous Math, and Totally Irresponsible Science

Rip out the carpeting in The Girl's room (there's a lovely hardwood floor underneath)

Start sanding all the interior doors (we've decided to take them down to the wood, and then stain them... I think I like Brazilian Rosewood). We're thinking about doing the same to the kitchen cabinets, as the old off-white they are now is so hard to keep looking clean, and we love dark-slightly-reddish-toned wood.

I think all that will keep me adequately busy! Maybe I'll do some baking with The Girl, and we really ought to get going on the kids' summer projects (a camera obscura and knitting). I'd like to help my mom finish curtains for the kids' rooms. Whether I have a lot of time off, or a little between jobs, I hope to get to much of what I have here. I'm used to juggling a lot of things at once, so I know I can at least make a dent in this list!

As an interesting bookend of sorts, I end my job Monday, and M starts (we hope it works out) a new one. He was told to come in to [Unnamed] Restaurant Monday morning, with id, social security number, and his Food Handler's card to report for his first day on the job! He'll be starting with prep cooking, and then they want to try him on the line. Let's hope it works out!

Have a good weekend!