fUNEMPLOYMENT

One of my friends works on political campaigns and throughout the years has found herself unemployed between campaigns a few times. As I face my first time being unemployed in ten years, she introduced me to the concept of f-UN-employment; the idea that you accept your time without a job to be a time when you allow yourself to have fun between job hunting and networking.  It is actually a hard thing to do because being unemployed I feel like every free moment should be spent looking at job postings, tweaking my resume and trying to network.

I have taken decided to spend my "fun" time doing projects with clear attainable goals so I can feel like I am making progress doing things.  I completed by first small project today.  I painted my childhood dollhouse with the hope that next time my niece visits she'll want to play with it.  The original dollhouse was just plain wood like the shingles, but I thought it might be nice to have it match my parents' house so it will be even more special for her.  Without further ado, voila!

The Elusive Box

A little over a month ago I moved back to the U.S. after finishing my 27 months in the Peace Corps.  I have spent the last month getting acclimated back to stateside life and hunting for jobs.  I have also spent time trying to go through stuff I left in my parents' basement and figure out what I need and what I no longer want.  The good thing about coming back and looking at stuff again is that it gives me a fresh perspective on what I don't need.

The funny thing about Peace Corps is that although the application process takes forever (it was over a year for me), you really don't get much time between finding out when are where you're going.  I basically knew I would be invited in a particular window, but then I only had five weeks between when I found out and when I was leaving.  In that five weeks I had to quit my job, sell my car, pack up and move out of my apartment, not to mention buying supplies for the next 27 months and saying goodbye to all my friends and family.  In short, I was a wreck for five weeks and most my memories of that time period are a blur of feeling sick to my stomach and crying a lot. 

This being said I don't have very specific memories of packing, plus I moved everything from my apartment to various spaces in my parents' house.  I know I also got rid of a fair amount of stuff, but there are some things I thought I kept and just haven't been able to find.  I found all the stuff I need which is lovely, but there have just been odds and ends that I can't find. I find myself in the limbo of hunting for a job and an elusive box which may or may not have a mustard yellow purse in it and one fabulous blue and white striped blouse.