playing in the mud

When I arrived early for small group the kids were playing in the water and mud from this afternoon's downpour. It reminded me of our first day in the place on the side of a hill north of the Catskills. We had the site for the mobile home leveled and carved out of the side of the hill, an embankment above the house, an embankment below. The front steps were not very far from the lower embankment and I was terrified that the kids would fall and just roll until they hit bottom breaking any number of bones on the way. It was spring and the ground was mushy and wet from rain and melting snow and I was inside the trailer unpacking boxes. I heard laughter and screams outside and decided I'd better go see what was up. Both kids were walking back up the embankment covered with clay and a trough was worn where they had been sliding on their butts down the incline. Through the mud over shale out croppings and not a single broken bone. I told them to strip on the steps. There was no way they were coming into the house until they removed their clothes and got hosed off. I never worried again about someone falling down the hill. The clothes right down to the underwear had to be thrown away, there was no way to get the stains from the clay out. It was a small price to pay for a good laugh and some peace of mind.

very logical

Unemployment will take 4-6 weeks to start, if it does and in the mean time I am supposed to be actively pursuing a job. So today I actively pursued a job listed on the state's job board only to be informed I need to fill out one of the employers applications withing two days unless I want to "risk losing" my benefits that I am not getting. OK so I have enough cash in the bank to get me through a week or two and I'm supposed to buy gas to drive 50 miles each way to do an application for a job I will most likely not get to make sure I don't risk benefits I'm not getting....Maybe I'm just looking at this all wrong but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. The very best part is the fact it took me three days to get through on the Agency For Workforce's phone line to find out it would be 4-6 weeks. I'm thinking they could lower the unemployment rate substantially if they hired enough people to pick up the phone. Friday, Monday, and most of today I got a recording that everyone was "busy helping other customers, call back later...click". When I did finally get through it was to another recording telling me my wait time would be 15 minutes and they were on the money, it was. After all that I spoke with someone who couldn't tell me anything about my claim other than it takes 4-6 weeks.

declining funds

Having very limited funds has yielded a lot more time in my day. There's no point in spending time on the pile of coupons or ads that come bundled in the Sunday paper because unless it's free I can't afford it. There doesn't seem to be much point at looking at things I can't have. Same time savings at the store. I go in get exactly what I came for then I'm out the door. No wandering about looking at things maybe I can use if the price is right....again, unless it's free, don't need it. I plan my excursions to accomplish several chores in the same area rather than use gas to make several trips. Now if I just had a very important use for all these saved minutes, that I'm still working on.