Tag Archives: wasting time

Taking Some Down Time

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I am watching Paula Deen doing a “Fried Christmas” meal right now.

Seriously. Fried Christmas.

Oh Paula. If I was her husband I’d be sneaking spinach salads every day. She’s pretty much trying to kill everyone she loves. This meal includes a full-on fried ham, loaded mashed-potatoes, fried asparagus with cream sauce, and red velvet bread pudding.

Holy Lord.

courtestypauladeen

This in-between-holidays period is kind of a dead time for cooking for me. John has been/will be out of town for two weeks in December, and when he’s gone, I stick to easy meals like opening up a can of soup. In fact, I’m probably keeping Amy’s black bean chili on the shelves. I love that stuff.

I guess I’m just resting my culinary muscles for the big things, the pies, the casseroles, etc. Oh and for those of you wondering, the chocolate hazelnut pie for Thanksgiving was a huge hit. Will be my new pie for sure. Anyway, yeah. Just resting the culinary muscles. Gotta be well-rested if I’m going to attempt to another pie this month. Two pies in the span of two months. Wow. Makes my stirring arm hurt just thinking about it.

It’s not that I even have that much cooking to do for the holidays, because mostly the older generations in my family still own those duties. I think it’s just the idea of the holidays that exhaust me. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but the decorating, the list-making, the cooking, the dressing up, the parties, the mad dash to the mall, it’s all just sort of exhausting. It’s like every meal, every night and weekend, are scheduled down to the last minute. And for a girl who hates making plans in advance, it can really put a cramp in my down-time.

So tonight, because I can, I guess you’ll find my curled up on the couch, watching Paula Deen fry a ham, and eating a cup of black bean chili. This is what the holidays are all about people.

How to Wait

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Searching for a job is difficult work. It requires diligence. Perseverance. And most of all, it requires patience.

As each day turns into the next, we wait. Wait for that phone call, the email telling you yes! you have a phone interview! Or yes, you’ve made it to the in-person round! Even yes, you’ve made it to the second, third, or fourth interview. And the elusive grand-daddy of them all – yes! we want you! for this job! Please, come work for us. Join us. Be our expert in this field. (And hopefully, that comes with yes! we will pay you lots of money, but that’s just the cherry on top at this point.)

But until that call comes, it’s how you pass the time that matters. What can you during your (non)working days?

  • Rework your resume: Yes, back when you left your last job you updated your resume. But have you updated it this quarter? This month? This week? It pays to take a look at your resume as often as possible. Tweak wording, add new content. Nothing says “throw it in the pile” like an outdated resume.
  • Network: I know, sometimes it can be tedious, but networking really does help. And it doesn’t have to be just attending events as some anonymous job-seeker. Often it can be as simple as reconnecting with an ex-colleague over lunch. You don’t want to be a vampire do you? So get out there and make some friends!
  • Learn  your industry: Of course you know your industry, you’re an expert, right? But things are always changing, so it’s important to keep up with the latest news and trends while you’re out of work.
  • Follow up: Sent the resume, but haven’t heard anything? Follow up. Had the interview, but haven’t heard anything? Follow up. Always follow up. And write a nice, hand-written thank-you note while you’re at it! It’ll help you feel proactive, and it beats waiting around, that’s for sure.
  • Do something else: I know for a fact you can’t spend all of your time job-searching. And you can only cook, and clean, and do other housewife-y things for so long, so do something else. Perhaps some reading? Or taking a class? Anything you can do to stay sharp is going to help you in your search. Or, you can check this out. You know, just to pass the time.

Snow Day

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Oh the weather outside is frightful, and it’s only October! So what to do on a deliciously snowy day?

snow day

  • Stay in your pajamas all day
  • OR, bundle up and shovel the walk (and your neighbor’s too!)
  • Bake something, anything (I’m going to try my Grandma’s brownie recipe, coming soon!)
  • Tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch
  • Learn to knit
  • Think about learning to knit
  • Build a snow fort in the backyard
  • Eat all the Halloween candy meant for the kids this weekend
  • Try the matte nail polish (again)
  • Drink a bottle of wine with your girlfriends
  • Catch up on the New Yorker
  • Love EVERY minute

Hours of Entertainment

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It’s been brought to my attention that I’ve been talking about YouTube a lot lately. What can I say, it provides hours of entertainment. And, as an added bonus, it’s pretty educational too. What am I talking about? Well, last week I learned how to do my eye makeup like Lady Gaga from a wonderful young lady.

And, not so much educational but still ABOUT education (okay it’s tangent but I still like it) – this group of elementary school kids do an awesome cover of Jay Z and Rhianna’s “Run This Town.”

How to cut a pineapple:

And finally, how to cross country snowboard. Gotta love this stuff.

Fall TV Yipee

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So, not sure if you noticed, but over the summer, TV has been ALL reruns. I’m not a total TV junkie or anything, but I’m not going to lie, I am really looking forward to some refreshing new mind-numbing entertainment. Even daytime TV is ALL NEW! although I try to avoid watching that whenever possible. Except Oprah sometimes. And Ellen. And sometimes the View. Oh and daytime Food Network. But that is it! I swear.

This year I think I’m doubly excited because last fall we were in Singapore, meaning reruns of the Ghost Whisperer were about the closest I got to must-see TV. That’s not true actually, but most of the shows were old seasons of American TV, and even then it was only what was deemed fit by the censors that made it through. The Amazing Race was broadcast via satellite, so John and I looked forward to that every week, but aside from that my TV watching was pretty limited. I was a little obsessed with Gossip Girl, so I watched bits and pieces of that on YouTube. (aside – Did you know that you can’t access shows on network Web sites if you aren’t in the US? I almost broke down in tears the day I tried to watch the season finale of The Bachelor and found I couldn’t).

Anyway since we’ve been back in the States I’ve watched tons of reruns and the like, but now that fall is in the air and the season premiers are mere days away, I find myself getting excited.

But here’s the problem: John has decided he only wants to watch three hours of TV a week. I think this is totally commendable and I’m thrilled he’s choosing to use his time more effectively, but I will not be participating in this little experiment.

Oh no. I have shows I want to watch. And by “watch” I mean “tune in regularly.” We’re currently watching True Blood and Entourage on HBO as well as Top Chef and maybe Project Runway. Those seasons will end soon though. Fall shows I will definitely (unless they become totally unbearable, at which point I reserve the right to veto) watch include:

House, The Biggest Loser, 30 Rock, The Office, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy. That’s not so bad right? Only about five hours all told.

BUT then comes the shows I may be interested and would like to check out:

Glee, Community, Private Practice, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, Modern Family, CougarTown, Melrose Place (I know, stop it) and all the random CSI’s and Law and Orders just because I like cop shows.

Holy crap that is a lot of TV. Most of this will go on the DVR, but I’m sure quite a few of these shows will be watched in real time. I will pare down and figure out what I like and what makes me laugh/keeps me riveted but for now, I’m just pumped. I can already feel my eyes rolling back in my head. Oh dear.

Butterscotch Bars

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Part of being a shut-in means I get to do all those things you working folks wish you could do. Like try out new recipes or new and exciting ways to destroy my kitchen. Now I’m not a terrible cook, but I’m not amazing either. I’m kind your run-of-the-mill, everyday chick just trying to make sure we don’t live on Chipotle (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) I mostly cook basic, easy dinners, and I try to stick to the healthier options, but hey, once in a while you need dessert. What can I say. You won’t find me making any fancy wedding cakes or anything though. I’ll leave that to my friend Martha.

Anyway, now it’s time for a little segment I like to call, cooking with Jeni, or Housewife-y Cooking 2.0. In today’s segment I’ll be making these Butterscotch Bars from CookingLight.com.

Why did I choose them? I dunno, they got four stars on the site, and I was bored. Typical housewife pores through her recipe books to find Grandma’s prized recipe. I on the other hand, just google that shit until I find something good.

Usually I choose a recipe based on the ingredients. Do I have them? Yes, okay then I’ll give it a shot. No? Screw it.

On this day though, I decided to branch out, even though I did NOT have all the ingredients I needed. Which meant a bike ride to the grocery store. Does anyone really keep condensed milk anymore? I don’t.

Once home I assembled all of the ingredients for easy access:

ingredients

Let’s see, starting in the back we have whole wheat flour (I ended up using all whole wheat instead of white, which may have caused a problem, but more on that later), regular flour, salt, baking soda, oats, and the butterscotch chips, and then in the front is the vanilla, walnuts, brown sugar, one egg, butter, and of course our condensed milk.

Next up, bring the laptop in the kitchen for easy access to the recipe. No cute little cards for me. Although I do have those and I’m not against them.

The first step was to mix the butter, sugar, vanilla and egg together. It turned out like this:

buttersugar

Then, we combine all of the dry ingredients: oats, flour, salt, baking soda

oatsetc.

Looks like a nice little bowl of oatmeal doesn’t it?

Next up, mix the two together. Not so hard so far right? I should be on Top Chef.

mix

As you can see, it turned out to be this dry, crumbly sort of mix. I thought that was fine because that’s what the recipe called for, but I think the use of the whole wheat flour made it a little dryer than it would have been otherwise. Next time, I would definitely use more butter. As Paula Dean says, “WE NEED MORE BUTTER!”

The next step is to press most of the mixture into the bottom of a well-greased 9×13 pan, as it will form the base of the bars. After that, we’ll add the butterscotch goo, which is a mix of the butterscotch chips and the condensed milk. Oh and the chopped walnuts, which I of course forgot to toast. Oh well it was too late at this point and we were going for broke.

butterscotch goo

Now that looks appetizing doesn’t it?

After the layer of butterscotch goo goes into the pan, it’s time to add the rest of the oat mixture, “gently” pressing it down into place. It looks like this before it goes in the oven:

preoven

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, and it looks pretty much exactly the same coming out:

postoven

Sorry I didn’t plate them or anything. I guess that would have looked a little nicer. Maybe next time.

These turned out – okay – I guess. Not great. I’d give them 3 out of 5 stars, but that may very well be my fault since I used all whole wheat flour. According to the recipe, this pan makes 36 servings at 138 calories per bar. Well that is one tiny bar, so I’d say our servings have been more like 300 calories per bar. That said, they are relatively healthy due to the oats and of course the minimal amount of butter and sugar used.

WE NEED MORE BUTTER.

John likes them, and I guess that’s all that matters because he’s the one who has to eat them. Or gets to eat them I should say.

I think the main reason I don’t like them all that much is because they don’t have any chocolate. And what’s a dessert without chocolate?

If you do decide to try these out, make sure you click on the link above and follow the actual CookingLight recipe and not mine. They have a lot of additional instructions (like pre-heat the oven) that you’ll want to be sure and take note of.

Until next time…

One Car Family

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As a one-income family, we’ve done a number of things to cut back and try to spend a little less. As of yesterday, one of those things was becoming a one-car family. It’s something we’ve been talking about for a while; selling the nicer car and maybe replacing it with something four-wheel drive, something mountain-friendly that we can beat up and “haul wood in.” Apparently John sees a lot of wood hauling in our future.

Anyway, the plan was, sell the car, put some of the money back into a cheaper vehicle, and then save the rest. But, after selling the car this week, we’ve decided to maybe hold off on purchasing that new vehicle and see how we fare as a one-car family. John works from home often, and, in my current jobless state I’m pretty flexible when it comes to my driving activities, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem right?

And in theory, it should save us money, not only on gas, but on insurance, maintenance and the like. It’s better for the planet, and hopefully it will be better for the size of our butts, because we’ll be forced to ride our bikes when the other person has the car.

Today is my second full day at home without access to a car though, and I have to say it is not going exactly the way I planned. I did get up and ride my bike to the gym and even stopped off at the grocery store for a few items we needed, but pretty much ever since then, aside from a quick walk with the dog, my butt has been planted firmly on the couch. That’s mostly okay though, because one of the hardest things about being jobless is the tendency to want to go out and DO something. SEE people.

And inevitably, DOING things and SEEING people involves spending money, whether it’s on coffee or lunch or a trip to the mall, and that is sort of missing the point, so I guess sitting at home on my butt is okay for a little while. I think it’s mostly just the psychological issue that I’m dealing with – it’s feeling trapped in my house without any way out. My bike is nice, but it doesn’t allow me that feeling of freedom that getting in the car and just driving does. The radio blasting and the wind in my hair and the feel of the open road and all that.

So will it be worth it, or is this just another sacrifice I have to make as a rank and file member of the unemployed? I am dedicated to giving it my best shot, and if that means I have to sit here and watch Top Chef all day, I think I’m okay with that.

Free Time

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For me, today is pretty much the epitome of why it sucks to be jobless right now. So much time on my hands, and so much mundane shit to fill it with. And yes, yes I know I am one of the lucky ones. Well that’s what they tell me at least. I’m lucky, we can get by on John’s salary. I’m lucky, I have so much free time to pursue my dreams. To find out who I am. What I want to do. What is my calling. All those things. And I don’t have to worry about scrounging for food or etc. And that’s all nice, in theory. But it doesn’t make the current problem any easier.

And that problem is: I don’t think I have a calling. I have been jobless for 18 months. EIGHTEEN MONTHS. And what do I have to show for it? Well, not much. My house is clean, the sheets are freshly laundered and the dog has been walked. Yes, we lived in Singapore for six months and yes, I’ve traveled to six countries in the last year, but in terms of day-to-day life, I haven’t got a lot to show for myself. And everyone thinks I must just have so much time on my hands.

In a way, I do. That’s true.

But people, it is easy to fill your day.

Job searching for one, takes lots of time. Since the job search began in earnest in Februray I’ve sent out dozens of resumes. Maybe even hundreds. I should have kept track, I even tried at one point, but it got depressing so I quit. I do know that I’ve gotten three phone interviews. From those phone interviews I was three for three for in-person interviews. From there I was 2 for 3 for second interviews. No job offers have resulted from those interviews, but my interviewers keep assuring me that I’m a great candidate. Just not great for them.

Anwyay, lots of time has been spent. Researching companies. Rehearsing interview questions. Buying a new suit. And networking, keeping up with old coworkers, following my industry on Twitter, Facebook, etc. And somehow we’re back to how much time I waste on the Internet.

So there’s the time I spend job searching. Then there’s the time I waste getting distracted by the Internet. And there’s the time I spend making breakfast. Because don’t get me wrong, I value the fact that I have the time in the morning to get up and make steel cut oats. I know lots of people are rushing around in the morning to get to their jobs, and they don’t have that kind of time. Well I do. So I make good use out of it.

And aside from the time I spend making breakfast, there’s going to the gym. There’s showering. There’s walking the dog. Making lunch. Reading books to better myself. Seeing what’s on Oprah. Going to the dentist. Meeting my sister to shop for wedding dresses. Going to three different grocery stores (don’t even get me started on that, whole different post). Tending the garden. Watering the lawn. Trying to find a recipe to use up a million cucumbers that we have grown in the garden. Going to Home Depot to look for cheap chandeliers since John almost electrocuted himself changing a lightbulb in our current ghetto one. Keeping up social relationships. Even with people I’m not sure I like.

These are the things. Yes, I realize they are completely mundane and everyone, even people are lucky enough to have jobs right now, has to do most of these things. But I’m telling you they take up my time. They do. There’s just no way around it. And maybe if I knew what my calling was, if I already knew, then I could be dedicated to spending the time on that calling. But right now, I have to check Monster and then the laundry needs to be folded and then it’s time to dry my hair and make lunch and meet a friend for coffee. So right now, my calling is probably on the back burner.

That is until someone says, oh you’re so lucky, you have so much free time on your hands. What are you doing with it all? Have you found your calling?

My Unchosen Profession

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I’m not sure when it was I decided I’d become a housewife. It wasn’t when I got laid off from my job. It wasn’t when we moved to Singapore, because we lived in a service apartment there and the most housewife-y thing I had to do was the laundry, and oh yeah cook, and sometimes clean but not all that often, but I mostly thought of myself as a lady of leisure. I wanted to be a tai tai, which is a Singaporean woman who spends all of her husband’s money, but we didn’t really have the kind of money you needed to be a tai tai, so I couldn’t really take it that far even though I wanted to. I was eyeing a Gucci purse though, let me tell you. I was eying that thing hard.

When we were back in the States I thought oh, I’ll get a job, and just go back to my life as a career woman (or a fake career woman because I’m not sure I ever really felt like a career woman either) but the problem was, there was no career.

Something about the recession? I’m sure you’ve heard of it. 2008, stock market drops dramatically, housing something, something about insurance companies, etc. etc. and all of the sudden the only thing on CNN is some blond woman telling me how I’ll NEVER FIND A JOB AGAIN.

Okay I think, maybe this applies to some people, but surely not to me. I mean, I will find a job. I mean, do you know who I am? I am a success! I look good in suits! I make jokes (appropriate of course) in interviews!

But fine, maybe it wasn’t so easy. So in the meantime I thought, I’ll just do things. You know, things around the house. At first I hated it. Actually I still hate it. But now, I think I’ve embraced it. I never made the conscious decision to go, okay, today’s the day I’ll be Betty Crocker, or whoever the hell the model housewife is – oh wait isn’t it June Cleaver? Oh I don’t know. Anyway, I never sat down and said to my husband, to John, okay John, since I don’t have a job job, like a real job where money comes in, I’m going to become the perfect housewife.  You know, a real June Cleaver.

But for some reason, maybe it’s my type A personality or maybe it’s just because I still feel like I’m kind of a phony in my own life, I’ve taken it upon myself to start to do housewife-y things. And I’m not even sure what the definition of a housewife is, although I’m sure I could find it on the good old Internet. Because if there’s one thing I do well, it is read things online.

I love reading things online. Blogs where the authors take pictures of every single meal they eat. Every day. Or celebrity gossip sites that detail who slept with who, what movie sucks that who is in, and why her plastic surgery went horribly wrong, and how are they going to make it work for the kids. Or reviews of restaurants that I might think about eating in but then never actually go to. I mean I could go on and on. There is so much to read on the Web. I spent an entire morning reading about fledgling baby birds back in June because we had a few in our garden. Now that’s the kind of thing June Cleaver could never do.

Anyway though, so regardless of the definition of a housewife, I decided to become one at some point in time. I even found a web site that gives me DAILY and I mean even hourly instructions on how to keep my house clean. Today for instance, I’m supposed to wash the baseboards in the bathroom with a hot soapy rag. You know, just to keep up with it all. I don’t think I’m going to though. I think I’ll skip that one today.

And that’s the joy of being a housewife, it’s that you are your own boss. I mean really, if I decide, as the head of house or housewife-y things, you know, that we’re having peanut butter and jelly for dinner, I mean that is what we are doing. But it’s kind of sad in a way, because I guess I have a tendency to abuse my own power. Over myself.

You wouldn’t think that would be possible, but it totally is. Back to the baseboards in the bathroom with the hot soapy rag – I’ve got that on my calendar. It is a scheduled item. Meaning in order to be what I would consider “successful” in my unchosen profession (that of housewife) I should complete this task. But as BOSS of myself in my unchosen profession (that of housewife) I have the power to veto that task and sit around and read The New Yorker instead. So I’m abusing my power as boss, but inside my own head I’m also railing against myself for not doing the things I’ve decided I would do as a housewife.

I mean is that a struggle or what? A sad, sad struggle. But that’s what happens to you when you’re a 29 year-old, married female with no kids, no job, and nothing to do with your time except pretend you are June Cleaver when really you see yourself as more of an intellectual, career woman (phony as that may be) who dresses like she just walked out of In Style but really your wearing pajama pants because you haven’t been out of the house all day and why bother, except to walk the dog and should I put on heels to do that or no, that would be crazy but I should dress like who I want to be and oh WHO DO I WANT TO BE AGAIN?!?

It doesn’t matter. Not right now at least, because my profession, my career, it chose me. Now I should really go wash those baseboards.