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Day’s Verse:
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew 21:21-22 (context)
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I thought that after my League Cycling Instructor seminar was finished, I would have a lazy week of picking away at packing, reading books, and lazing around. That could hardly be farther from the truth. I cannot believe how busy I find myself, even unemployed. Take yesterday as an example. I slept in (so far my very favorite thing about not having a job: Not having to get up at the crack o’ dawn) until about 7:00.

Click here for run-down of yesterday. I got up and almost immediately started preparing lasagna. It went into the fridge, waiting to cook later in the day. The lasagna used up our last two eggs, and my sugar cookie recipe calls for some sour cream, so I had to walk to Price Chopper to obtain those items. Once I had turned those plus a few other ingredients into sugar cookie dough, I put it in the fridge too, since it requires 2 hours of cooling. Then I washed all those dishes, took the garbage out, put clothes on, and rode my Xtracycle to Westborough, where I met my ex-coworkers for lunch. It took about an hour to get there, we spent a bit over an hour shooting the breeze, and then I spent about another hour getting home. I rode leisurely and tried not to sweat too much, since I wore jeans and a T-shirt. When I got home, Ian and I rushed to Duck Soup, where we bought orange sprinkles and an egg separator thingy (to separate the yolk from the white). Then I cooked the lasagna while rolling out, cutting, and applying sprinkles to the sugar cookie dough. As soon as I pulled the lasagna out, I upped the temperature and popped the first batch of cookies in. Three batches of cookies and one scarfed-down lasagna dinner later, we zipped out the door and arrived at life group with the fresh-baked cookies ready for munching.

I made pumpkin ones because the mandate was to bring something pumpkiny for life group on Wednesday. Not being a wild fan of pumpkin, and not wanting lots of leftover pumpkin food around the house, I took Mom’s brilliant suggestion to make something pumpkin shaped. Everybody seemed to like the mini-pumpkin cookies, although the big pumpkin cookies languished a bit.

Anyway, by the time life group ended and we got home, it was closer to 9:00 than 8:00, and I was pooped after being on the run all day. Now I can see how my previously-laid off coworkers say “I don’t know how I had time to work, I’m so busy!”

Some things I like about not working:
1. Waking up naturally.
2. Going for bike rides whenever the weather is nicest (see side picture, taken this morning on my ride to Boxborough).
3. Working out with Ian in the weight room.

Some things I do not like about not working:
1. Trying to talk to somebody at the Massachusetts Unemployment TeleCenter. Every time I call, I go through the entire menu, and then it says, “All our people are busy because we are experiencing an unusually high volume of calls right now. Please call back later. Goodbye!” -and then it hangs up. No option to wait on the phone until they’re done or anything. I’ve called 3 days in a row with no success so far.
2. Not being forced to ride my bike. I have so little internal motivation, actually getting out and doing it — even on a gorgeous sunny 70°F day like today — really takes serious effort.
3. Feeling like I always have one more responsibility. Call the unemployment office again, if nothing else. Speaking of that, I suppose I might as well try again…