Originally posted
September 24th, 2019 at 02:07 pm

Another blog post already?! Let's see if I can manage it!

The past year or so I've kind of felt like I'm living a charmed life. Yes, some problems cropped up but overall I was just super happy. Now life is feeling more like a series of ups and downs. Not terrible but a lot bumpier than before.

Up: Our kitchen reno is finally getting back in gear. I have some hope we could get it done this year or early 2020! We'll have to borrow about half the funds, but at least it's not the whole amount. I'm super excited about the design. I think it's going to be awesome and well worth a little extra debt (which we can probably roll into the mortgage eventually).

Down: My work situation still worries me. I'm slower than usual and my main client (a big company) continues to face financial issues. Plus, I've taken on a new project to fill some of my downtime, and I just hate it. It's not creative, the process is completely muddled, the account exec is hard to communicate with. Plus they "fixed" the AC and now my office is freezing cold. Plus, I've spent all day in a constant loop between HR, the commuter benefits provider and our local transit company trying to figure out why my bus pass suddenly stopped working when I continue to pay $90 per month from my paycheck, and no one is claiming responsibility.

Up: I've been seeing loads of great live music and nurturing friendships. Someone I "met" on Instagram because of a concert pic she posted last year just invited me to a show last week, and she was so nice and fun, I think I might have made a new friend! I gave her a copy of my novel and she wrote a really nice review on Goodreads and Instagram. And I've become a little closer this week with one of the local musicians I really like.

Down: This is entirely my fault, but with everything going on, I haven't been working at marketing my book so haven't sold many copies. So I'm still in the hole about $340 for this book. And I'm in the hole another $310 for the extra ISBNs I purchased; I need to make some progress on my other books so I can get more published.

Up: I'm still practicing guitar almost every day and making some decent progress after plateauing for seemingly months. It's one of my favorite hobbies. Another woman I might be becoming closer friends with wants to play with me, so I've now got a handful of "jam buddies" even if we don't get together very often!

Down: I've only gotten one response from the 10 or so jobs I applied for, and it was a rejection. I've only gotten one person to write a LinkedIn recommendation though a few others said they would. I know I need to adjust my cover letter and maybe resume and keep going, but it's a little hard.

Up: AS's freelance business continues to go gangbusters this quarter after a slow year, so our shared spending and vacation deficits are gone, and she has a lot of money coming in soon.

Down: AA brought lice home from school, and AS and I unexpectedly had to spend our entire Saturday treating everyone's hair, doing all the laundry, vacuuming/spraying all surfaces, bagging up stuffed animals etc. We'll treat AA's hair one more time Friday but I'm really hoping I got it the first time so we don't have to go through the whole house thing again!

Up: I became a great-aunt last week! One of my nieces had a baby! I won't see the baby for a long time probably because she lives far away, but I'm really happy for her and looking forward to cute pics on Facebook.

Down: NT's job continues to be stupidly busy. He doesn't really know when it's supposed to settle down for him.

Up: AS and I have a really cheap DIY writer's retreat with a friend coming up in early October. We're using another friend's massive house while he's away; it's on the Mississippi River about 2 hours south. It should be a wonderful experience for not much money, and hopefully we'll manage to be really productive about writing!

Up: I've managed to steadily lose weight this summer. From the end of April till now, I'm down about 7.5 lbs.! I don't want to jinx it but I've made most of my progress in the past two months and feel like I have a good routine going on.

So I guess that's it. More downs than ups really! The biggest "down" of all of them is just this job insecurity. I was really happy with my job for a really long time but I know I'm not anymore and need to find something more solid-seeming. But it seems so impossible to get another job when I'm so rusty at the job search process and places probably get hundreds of applications more interesting than mine. One of the main things I hate is not being able to project my finances out very far because I have no idea what my eventual take home pay will be. And the thought of switching all the benefits, phones, computers, routines etc. if I DO get another job is just stressful and exhausting to think about. But I know things aren't dire yet so I'll just keep plugging along and try to trust that I'll find something that works well for me financially and lifestyle-wise.


7 Responses to “Ups and downs”

Butterscotch Says:
September 24th, 2019 at 04:06 pm

I would love to get a copy of your book! Is there a link? Is it on amazon?

MonkeyMama Says:
September 24th, 2019 at 05:14 pm

Good Luck! A big job change is hard.

Lice was one of those infinite bad things we had happen that I haven't had time to blog about. I think exactly a year ago, because I am pretty sure it was the first week at my new job (which was just the icing on the cake. "BTW, I might have given you all lice!"). My son actually didn't talk to me most of 2018 and refused to hug me. All was forgiven the day he got lice. (By some miracle, he also did not pass his lice to his brother).

FrugalTexan75 Says:
September 24th, 2019 at 06:32 pm

Butterscotch - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQKBP2H/ref=docs-os-doi_0

Ceejay - I'm sorry about your work woes. My supervisor is retiring soon, and I've applied for her position. But I'm not entirely sure I want it after some of the things I've seen in the past few months. But I really need a different job. I'm totally stagnating where I am. At any rate, I can kind of understand where you are coming from.

ceejay74 Says:
September 24th, 2019 at 08:49 pm

Thanks everyone! Butterscotch: You can buy it anywhere that sells books. Amazon works as does Barnes & Noble, Glose, Indiebound, Alibris...supposedly you could even call up a local bookstore and have them order a copy! Just search "Viral Berkeley" and it should pop up.

Here's a page from my author site that lists a few of the purchase options; it's available as ebook or paperback. https:// taberkeley.wordpress.com/home/purchase/

MonkeyMama, I dealt with them a few times in high school and college but that was because my mom babysat a bunch of kids in our home. I had hoped when kids got older the chance was much lower! I think we did a good job but it's hard to tell with those suckers, so I'll check AA during the week and see if the treatment Friday turns up anymore. We have kids coming for a sleepover Saturday so I really hope I don't have to cancel!

FrugalTexan -- yeah. I've been where you are a few times before. The thing I hate most about this situation is that I still love the work, coworkers and workplace -- or would if I weren't constantly sad/stressed about this major downturn and all the recent layoffs. Even the account I'm working on wouldn't bother me this much normally -- I'm just in a more pessimistic state at work so it's hitting me harder.

CB in the City Says:
September 25th, 2019 at 10:42 am

I just ordered your book! I had a $5 Kindle offer so I got it free! Hope you still get some benefit! Glad to have it because I was coming to the end of my stash!

ceejay74 Says:
September 25th, 2019 at 12:02 pm

Yay, thanks CB! I'm still trying to work out ebook payment issues with my publisher, but yes, eventually I should get a bit of residual money from ebook sales!

ceejay74 Says:
September 25th, 2019 at 12:04 pm

PS a review on Amazon or Goodreads also helps me with visibility! I promise you it doesn't have to be a positive review; I know not every book is for everyone. :-)