I know you all must be wondering, what has Erin been up to for the last 6 ½ weeks? How is the job hunt going? Maybe she’s already working again? And since she’s obviously not blogging, what is she doing with her time?

Well, to be honest, I’m playing a lot of Marvel Puzzle Quest. It’s free on Steam, and it’s a match 3 game, the type of game I am really quite addicted to, with a little be of strategy involved. So yeah, that’s my biggest time suck. In fact, I’m only writing this right now because I need to take a break from that game for a little bit while my characters regain health and my account regains healing packs.

But my time off has not just been fun and games. I’ve actually been pretty productive. I bought C and I dental insurance. I spent the over an hour needed on the phone to switch Pop Tart’s Medicaid plan to the group that uses the same clinics and physicians we do. I’ve made medical appointments.

I finished Infections and Inequalities by Paul Farmer- a book I’ve been reading since 2008. I finished Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I’ve read and critiqued a manuscript written by a friend of mine.

I have taken the dogs to the dog park 2-3 times per week. (Not today though, because Junebug’s not feeling well.) I’ve been exercising.

Pop Tart is not going to the after school program currently (it is one where you only pay for the hours the kids are actually there, so this saves us money), so I get to help her with homework every afternoon and enjoy time with her.

Last week, I did our taxes.  That took an entire afternoon in and of itself. We refinanced the house at the beginning of the year and the loan was sold about 6 weeks later, have the rental property, our investments through Prosper; I had two different employers and unemployment. C attended two different schools. And, oh yeah, we adopted a child. Luckily, I stashed most of the paperwork, as it came in, in the same place, separate from all other paperwork. There was only one statement I needed to search for (and it turned out to be for $0.40 in interest), and the rest I had or could pull up online. The most difficult part was actually getting the property taxes for the rental property because we pay those ourselves, and the website I use to get that information is really picky about search terms.

I can’t complain too much, though. Our refund pretty much matched the adoption credit exactly (it is a couple hundred over), and we got to claim the whole adoption credit due to adopting an older child from foster care. So it’s a pretty substantial amount of money for an afternoon of paperwork.

And, of course, there is the job hunt. I have to have at least three job contacts per week for unemployment purposes. On average, I apply for 4-5 jobs a week. At the start, I had about a 20% call back rate for phone interviews. That’s gone down a bit but I am okay with that right now, because I am 3 interviews deep into a 4 interview process for a position I would LOVE. But it’s been going slow. It is the top choice of all the jobs I have applied for, so I am glad I have not had to worry about turning down offers for positions that were moving faster. (I applied for this particular position back in December.)

I should hear this week if I am advancing to the 4^th and final interview. I have to keep reminding myself that the hiring manager for the position just got back in the office today after being gone for two weeks, and I am not likely to hear until tomorrow at the soonest.

That’s life in a nutshell. I spend a lot of time sitting on the bed with two puppies sleeping next to me (which really, isn’t a bad way to spend the day). And if anyone want to be friends on Steam, let me know.