Whew!

Well, well, well, what do we have here?

A lot of things have happened in the last couple weeks!  And I mean A LOT!

We had some dark days leading up to this events of the last 2 weeks or so.  With my unemployment taking too long to end and my student loans coming due soon, we were hemorrhaging money despite trying so hard to spend absolutely nothing more than we needed.  We just were not in a good place.

But then things started to change.

I signed up with a temp agency and they found me a placement in about three days.  It's a part time job, which is fine for now.  I won't tell you what I'm doing or where, but I will tell you I absolutely love it.  I mean really love it.  This alone has saved us our sanity.  And our wallets. And there is a good chance I could end up there full time and permanently.

We are also moving! Part of our problems were that we were living in a place that was just way too expensive.  We hadn't been too happy here anyway.  Bad experiences from the start.  So we were able to negotiate out of our lease and find a house.  We are moving in a few weeks.

I also have been reading a book that has changed my life.  It's wonderful and I will write more about it after I finish it, but if the suspense is killing you, it's called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.



Read it, you will thank me. I guarantee it.

I also have started canning, which is an adventure I look forward to sharing with you.  I am bound to screw something up eventually that will give a great story!  I will share the recipes I try and like, and tell you which ones I think you should avoid!  I have already canned some apple pie filling.  Next up apple jelly, apple butter and applesauce.  Can you tell I have a lot of apples?  I also want to branch out and do some other things, but to do vegetables, you need a pressure canner and right now I am stuck in what I can do with water bath canning right now.  Until I can either buy my own PC or borrow my mom's.

I also had the weirdest interview ever yesterday and that definitely deserves its own post.


Alright. I have to get up very early to go to work, and even though I don't work every day, I'm trying to stay on the same schedule.  And I'm tired.

How've you been?

An Open Letter to the United States Congress

Although in the past, I have written in good humor with open letters, this is not one of those times.  This is an out and out gripe fest to the idiots that have been elected to run our country.

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Dear Congress,

I am appalled with the Republicans refusal to compromise.  Do your job or lose your job.  In case you are wondering my exact position on this whole debt ceiling thing here you go:

1) I am tired of hearing about it.  Absolutely sick of it.

2) I blame the Republicans for walking away from the table repeatedly while they try and pander to the idiots who think they are "taxed enough already" and don't actually bother to see that their views and requests of their Representatives are actually more damaging to them than what is happening now.

3) For God's sake RAISE TAXES FOR THE WEALTHY.  It is NOT fair that my tax burden as an unemployed, recent college graduate and my husband's as a grad student who works more than he is paid for, is more than people who make the high 6 figures.  That is ridiculous.  I am more than happy to pay taxes for the programs I believe that this country needs.  I am not ok with the rich people doing nothing to help their country.  I can't do it by myself.

4) STOP GIVING TAX BREAKS TO OIL COMPANIES AND OTHER MAJOR CORPORATIONS WHO USE AND ABUSE THEM.  If everyone paid the same tax structure that we did under Clinton we could reduce the deficit so fast!  Forget Clinton, what about the Republican's golden boy, Reagan's tax structure?

5) End Corn subsidies.  End them now.  Reinstate the FDA's and the USDA's ability to fine the companies and meat packing industries who break the laws.  You want to subsidize something? Subsidize healthy foods that don't make this country sick.  HFCS is TERRIBLE for you, but it's impossible to avoid it because the government has made it so cheap to use.

6) And one final request for you and all of your colleagues: Put what's right for this country instead of what is right for re-election.  Grown a pair and actually help this country instead of hurt it.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Jenny Jensen
A Concerned and Angry American

P.S. I also support excise taxes.

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Thank you all for your patience as I resist the urge to knock all of Congress' heads together until they pull them out of their major donor's bums.

This letter was sent directly to my district's Representative, Mike Rogers and to John Boehner.  Except with an extra "I'm disappointed in you" thrown in for Boehner's letter.  I did expand on a few things here that I didn't in the letters to them.

Why Structure is Important. Very Important. For Me.

For the last twenty years, I have been living my life on a semester based year.  That's a long time.

Now I that I have graduated, I no longer live my life based on semesters.  It's weird.  But I have been trying to get into a rhythm, a routine to keep me from wasting time while I look for a job.

I get up sometime between 8 and 9 am, if I sleep til 10, the rest of the day just disappears and I don't get anything done.  I eat breakfast and on Monday/Wednesday/Friday I wait an hour or so to digest and then I go to the gym to workout, shower, eat lunch and blog.  And after I eat lunch, I get really sleepy.  I have been trying to keep from succumbing every day, but today it's extra difficult.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are difficult, because yoga is at 7:30p.  I have no real structure on those days.
Those two days, and M/W/F afternoons are really where the time suck happens, because I don't have anything planned.  I try and keep busy with projects around the house. Like, making a new papasan chair cushion or a case for my kindle, unpacking things and getting ready for Courtney's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party.  But eventually, you just plain run out of stuff to do.

I need to find a job.  I am running out of things to do around here, and it's beginning to drive me mad.

I am trying to not get to the point of boredom, but I feel it's not far off.

Structure, for me is so important.  And if I had kids I would be able to have time to help them learn new things, and do all kinds of stuff, but that ship will not come into the harbor for several years.  With structure, deadlines and projects, I feel productive.  And it doesn't hurt to get paid for those things.

In the mean time I will spend my time working out, blogging, watching movies and reading lots of books!

And job hunting.