5 Things I’ve Learned After 2 Weeks of Unemployment

1. The Ohio Department of Job & Family Services is there to help! I had an issue submitting my application for unemployment and I was worried the department would be extremely difficult to get a hold of. After sending an email about the problem, someone from the office actually called me. She spent 15 minutes talking to me and gave me her direct phone number in case I needed any further help. This was very surprising to me and I’m very glad to find that I’m not seen as a number or statistic.
2. There are a lot of marketing positions open right now. Are you looking for a job or thinking about switching? Now is the time for marketers! I have applied to over 40 marketing jobs in the Columbus area in the past two weeks and there are more added every day! Get out there and search!
3. If you went to college, the career services department is for alumni too! I called Ohio Wesleyan Career Services last week and found out that they help out alumni for life. I was put in contact with a fellow alum who volunteers in the office. He has been emailing and talking to me about how to improve my resume and giving me advice on how to proceed for days now. He seems to genuinely care about quickly getting me back in the workforce. If you are currently unemployed, check with your alma mater — they might be able to help!
4. The more house painting I do, the more opportunities I see to paint. When we first moved into our house, we painted all over the wood paneling in all of the rooms. This made me feel very accomplished and like everything was finished…then I started doing touch-ups. I started painting the doors. I started painting the window casings. I started thinking about painting the insides of the closets. I never want to paint again because of all of the painting I’ve done, but I feel like my whole house needs to be painted.
5. I am very loved and have the support of a lot of people. The day that I got laid-off, I talked to more people on the phone than I ever have in my life. Everyone wanted to hear what happened and make sure I was okay. Everyone offered to help in any way they could. I’ve had friends edit my resume and cover letter, send me jobs, and offer to be references. Several people have checked on me since and I want you all to know that I appreciate every text and phone call and I am doing fine 🙂

Buy the Big Round Noodles

Just a quick PSA: Buy the big round noodles!

Shad and I have been renovating and buying things for our home for over a month now. This included giant expensive like all new carpet and a water sulfur system and reverse osmosis system so our well water is drinkable and no longer smells like rotten eggs.

Needless to say, we need to be on a budget now. We also have to put our funds together to make things easier. This means I can’t buy tons of clothes all the time, even if they look cute and keep popping up in my Facebook news feed.

We went to Meijer last night for some Thanksgiving essentials. I asked what we were hanging for dinner that night and if we could buy pasta and sauce. He said sure.

I perused down the pasta aisle while he searched for the russet potatoes I forgot for our vegan scalloped potatoes recipe…On the bottom shelf, I found a bag of really big round noodles. These look like fun! I thought. So, I grabbed those and some sweet basil sauce and went to track Shad down.

As we were driving home, Shad said, “Wait…were those noodles you bought fresh noodles?”

“Yes…”

“Abby, how much were those noodles?”

“….$3.00….” (They were actually $3.99.)

“Abby! We are on a budget! You cannot buy fancy noodles!”

I got out of trouble by calling him out on buying a $30 SLICING MACHINE THING for the potatoes.

Anyway, we got home and (after dealing with issues with our new water system) made the pasta. Not only were they delicious, but they were actually fun noodles! Shad ended up putting one in his mouth and chasing me around trying to blow on me through the big round noodle. This, friends, is entertainment that could only be brought on by BIG ROUND NOODLES.

In conclusion, buy the big round noodles. If a $4 smile is the worst thing you buy all week, I think you’re doing okay.

I Have an Issue with Faith; or, Shad is Eating a Very Cold Bowl of Soup

I have an issue with faith. I can’t bring myself to believe in something I can’t see for myself. I joke about this, and people think I’m being ridiculous, but I truly have a hard time believing space and the galaxy is real just because some teachers told me it is. I see the sky, the sun, the moon, and the stars, but that is all I know. I can’t just take it for granted that Pluto is there because scientists say it is. I don’t know these scientists and I haven’t seen Pluto. Even if I saw it in a telescope, I would still be skeptical. I’m pretty sure I would need to sit my ass down on Pluto to actually believe in it.

Religion is something that I have a deep internal battle about. I grew up with it. I grew up praying and believing and “giving it to God,” but at some point, I began to question how we know God is there. My fiancé, a former pastor, told me that I need to work on my faith. And he didn’t just mean in religion, he meant my faith in love, my faith in others, and my faith that everything will end up okay despite anxiety, stress, or unforeseen circumstances.

At Sunday church services, I’ve had feelings in my chest, chills, goosebumps, random tears, people randomly praying for me when I needed it  most, and moments when the pastor says exactly what I’m thinking or offers prayer for the exact, specific challenge I’m facing at that time. Shad says it’s the Holy Spirit helping me along. Despite feeling all of those things, I still push it aside and chalk it up to being cold. I truly have no other explanation other than spiritual experiences and I continue to deny it. Shad says that where I am now with my faith, Jesus would literally need to wake me up in the middle of the night with a choir of angels around him for me to believe in him.

So, I started reading the Bible. Even if it doesn’t make me fully believe, it may help me understand or see what others see. I may find verses that calm my anxious soul, or ones that inspire me to write blogs about faith (*cough* *cough*).

As it so happens, this blog was inspired by a Bible verse:

“Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:” 1 Timothy 1:19 KJV (YouVersion).

Interestingly, I like the King James Version of this best. This version is one of the hardest to read and is also one of the closest to the original Hebrew. After reading several different versions of this verse, I found this one the most beautiful and most resonate. There may just be something about the hard “k” sound ending it or the colon leaving an open end for deeper thought.

Has my faith been made shipwreck? At what point in my life did I stop trusting my instincts and start questioning the existence of space? If I can’t believe anything people tell me on faith alone, can I really believe in anything?

Shad tells me to think about the things I absolutely know to be truth and start there. So, this is what I have:

• I’m in bed with a cold.
• Shad is eating very cold broccoli cheddar soup that has to be gross by now.
• I have an adorable bunny who is always destroying his deluxe habitat because he’s too big for it and has a vendetta against his food bowl. Against all bowls.
• I love my parents and my Shad.
• I constantly want pie.

Obviously there are more true things, but apparently that’s my top five for the day.

Wish me luck on my faith journey. I’m gonna need it.

The Clubhouse Blog

I.

I creak open the door labeled “The Red Nose Tavern.” A metallic man with a red painted nose is the doorkeeper, but he never questions my entry. I walk past the work table, lined with plastic drawer sets — the many-sized compartments are filled with screws, bolts, nails, hooks, and other metal shrapnel for creating.

I turn the small corner to find the ladder that leads up to my clubhouse. Grandma is waiting for me and she already has the pink plastic teacups and fresh-baked foam cookies set out on a wooden footstool. I was almost late for tea!

I notice that she’s hung up a drawing of someone I don’t know on the walls. It appears to be some giant-headed woman with a tennis racket and ball. She’s tossing the ball up and looking at it in a way that seems like she might bite it with her giant teeth.

After tea, grandma and I color and paint. She likes to add sketches of squirrels into my discarded coloring pages. I’m always impressed by her ability to draw — I wonder why she isn’t featured in the art museum where she takes me every week. I love her squirrels. Sometimes they wear letter jackets.

She also paints fruit on the “kitchen” wall. The piece of plywood is now adorned with oranges, pears, and apples. I pretend they are real fruits on a shelf or recipes for smoothies I create in a wooden stove.

II.

The plastic draws are now sticking out at different angles. The metal things are rusted. The shed is rundown and covered in layers of dust. A Harley Davidson charm hanging from a chain is barely recognizable from corrosion. The way to the attic is blocked by old brooms and rakes. I consider ascending, but the ladder rungs are now thick with spiderwebs.

My mom says, “There are probably raccoons up there.” I’m sure they’ve ransacked my supply of painted fruit, Disney princess teacups, and unidentified caricatures. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return to my clubhouse. I’ve been excommunicated and frightened away by nature. Maybe I can return to see what remains of my toys — what hasn’t been chewed, rotted, or stolen to decorate a nest.

P.S. I tried to go back and get pictures for this blog, but Grandma closed the shed doors because there’s a family of raccoons living inside. She feeds them daily. Bexley’s wild animals are single-handedly sustained by my grandma’s Chinese leftovers and cat food. My childhood is home to a family of raccoons. My memories are covered in spiders and trash pandas.